My favourite organising tools #6 - perpetual calendar system

Please go to main blog page for the tidy desk competition.

A perpetual calendar is one where you capture the information once and you use the calendar forever. This way you don't have to update every year as with a "normal" calendar.

I use two versions:

1. paper version (just because I like paper)

I write the names of birthdays and anniversaries on each month's page and then at the end of the previous month, I prepare all the birthday cards and gifts for the month ahead.

I then have a shelf where I keep all the presents, ready to go. If I'm really in the mood, I do two or three months at a time.

2. Outlook

I only recently started using Outlook for this purpose because I'd read about someone's birthday on a blog and immediately enter it in Outlook so as not to forget.

When you enter people's details in Outlook, remember to tick the box that says recurrence and then click yearly and no end date. Now your computer will remind you of that same date every single year. Isn't it great?

You can set reminders as early as you need; if you like to live on the edge, you can be reminded a day or two before, or if you like more time, set it to one or two weeks.

And under labels, choose the correct category and it colour codes your reminders and makes them all pretty!

Of course, I still write phone Susan or email John on my daily to-do list :-)


What kind of system do you use? Paper or electronic?