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By Arianne Cohen of Woman's Day If your personal goal list is anything like mine, somewhere between “get back to what I weighed in high school” and “find happiness” is “get organized.” Unlike those other goals, though, getting organized only takes a few hours. What you need is a planning system. And at the center of it is the perfect planner. It will boil down all your scheduling chaos into two forms of information: appointments and to-dos—all in one handy place. The trick? Using it. Here’s your guide to finding a system and planner that you’ll use and love. Which Planner is For You? Do you prefer paper or electronic? Is it just for you or does your whole family need access? Once you decide, follow these tips. I’m a Paper Gal Go with: A sleek planner with a durable binder or cover. Simple and affordable. Make sure that: It’s lightweight and fits in your purse, and that you love it enough to use it a dozen times a day (that’s more than 4,000 times a year). We love: The Planner Pad Organizer, an ingenious slim planner that takes you from all your to-dos into a neatly planned seven-day schedule, in two pages per week ($24.99 to $26.99; PlannerPads.com). I’m an Electronic Gal Go with: A calendar and task-management program that runs on both PD As and computers (most do), so that you can pull it up wherever, whenever. You can plan appointments, prioritize your to-dos and set reminder alarms. Make sure that: It’s set to sync to another device regularly, even if you don’t use it—that way, you always have a full backup. We love: Though it’s maddeningly frustrating that the cheapest PDAs now come with cell phone contracts, they are fantastic. We like the T-Mobile Sidekick LX, an organizational machine. It’s not only a phone, but it also fully syncs with organizational programs, or lets you use many online organizers ($49 with a two-year contract or $199 without a plan; T-Mobile.com). As for computer planner programs, there’s a reason the business world uses Microsoft Outlook: Email, contacts and schedule are all in one place. ($140 at Store.Microsoft.com, but comes free with many PCs.) For fewer bells and whistles, we like Google Calendar, a free online organizer. Read the rest at WomansDay.com. More great stories from Woman's Day: Do you prefer an electronic or paper organizer? Provided photo |
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