Making the Move to a Cloud-Based Calendar
The key to any successful calendar system is that you must trust it. When you trust your calendar, you decrease your stress level. In order to trust your calendar, you have to use it well. Remember, whether it’s on paper or online, your calendar is only as good as the information in it. That means putting everything in one place, keeping it up to date and referring to it on a daily basis.
There are many different cloud-based calendars out there, but Apple and Google’s usually rank at the top. COZI is a family organizer app and I know some people who love their shared calendars as well.
Not sure why you should make the leap into the cloud? Here are just a few of the benefits a cloud-based calendar can give you that your paper planner never will:
First, you can share your calendar with family members or coworkers. In my Google Calendar I have my personal calendar, my husband’s personal calendar, my husband’s work calendar and our family calendar. They are color coded. I can look at all of them at once or just the ones I choose. It really is everything in one place.
Second, changes made to any calendar are immediate and show up for everyone you are sharing with - so if I change the time for a family outing, then everyone automatically sees that change.
Third, your calendar is synced across all of your devices. That means when I make a change to my calendar on my laptop, that change appears on my phone or tablet.
Fourth, the ability to set reminders. I can set custom reminders for appointments so my smartphone will ping and tell me I have a meeting in 10 or 20 minutes. This can really help you be on time!
Fifth, the ease with which you can create repeating weekly or monthly events. This is great for annual events as well like birthdays and anniversaries.
And my final favorite benefit is that there is plenty of space for more information. You can easily put in a location for an appointment that can then work with your navigation app. There is room to write in notes so you can track mileage and expenses. All those things that can be tricky to fit into a paper planner, are easy to record online.
If any of these benefits resonate with you, I hope you’ll give a cloud-based calendar a try!
