I love Google Calendar

I've struggled in the past two years with going to a totally computerized calendar and task system.  I liked having things written down on paper but paper planners are expensive and I don't want to carry a paper planner with me all the time. But as much as I love to be organized, I tend to lose pieces of paper and I found that I didn't like to look at my paper planner every day. I struggled to figure out what would work for me. 

I read on a blog last night that one lady used MS Works Calendar and loved it.  The main reason she liked it was that when her schedule changed somewhat, she didn't have to rewrite everything in order to put it on a different day.  It was a simple point and click and move everything from "Thursday to Friday."  Yes, that is the best way I kept telling myself and while I love technology in so many other areas of my life, I was still trying to find the best system that would work for me.

My husband loves all things technological and he loves the latest gadgets.  It doesn't mean he goes out to buy them, but he does read up on everything. 

Last night I happened to say to him "I need a calendar on my computer that I can use, but I can't access MS Works for some reason."  I thought I would give the MS Works Calendar a try.  Then he said "Try Google Calendar."   I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier in the evening.  In September I switched to a gmail account and I had also started to use Google Chrome, a little.  I have been so busy during the months of September and October that I really didn't spend much time getting acquainted with Google Chrome but last night that changed.

As a side note, I had been using Internet Explorer and recently while writing a post for this blog, I was unable to add an image to my post.  However, since I have started to use Blogger Dashboard via Google Chrome, there hasn't been a problem.  Another good reason to use Google Chrome.  In fact, I am so glad that the issue of my using a calendar came up as it has forced me to spend some time to finally sit down and look at all the great features that Google Chrome offers.  It is so much easier to move around in Google Chrome versus Internet Explorer.  What was I thinking!!!!!  Time to get with the program.

That was at 9:00 last night and at 11:00 I finally went to bed. I was having so much fun entering events and tasks into my calendar.  I love Google Calendar as it syncs to my Palm Pre cell phone. That is what my problem had been all along. I loved being able to enter events and small tasks into my cell phone calendar but hated to have to re-write them in a planner or re-enter them into a computer planner systerm.  Or in the reverse, I didn't like the thought of entering something into a planner and then having to re-enter into my cell phone calendar.

My cell phone was set so that each task had a reminder feature.  I liked that.  I could set reminders for as much as a day ahead of an event which was very convenience to remind me of a doctor's appointment or I could set a reminder for 15 minutes ahead of having to be somewhere.  In my busy life, I loved being reminded of events. 

Google Calendar has two great features that I need.  If my computer would crash, I can still access my calendar in Google Calendar and Google Calendar is synced to my Palm Pre cell phone.  The thought of entering something into my calendar on my cell phone when I am away from home and then having to re-enter it into a planner system at home did not sit well with me. 

As I entered events and tasks into Google Calendar, they would appear in my calendar on my cell phone complete with reminders if I needed them.

Another feature that is going to be a great help is that I can set up different calendars that can be viewed separately or all at once on my main calendar.  For example, I set up a calendar for all of my son's activities and it is color coded.  His events can appear on my calendar or they can appear as a separate calendar.  I have his calendar set to appear on my calendar and it is color coded.  My husband has a work calendar, personal calendar and a cross country calendar.  They can be viewed all on one calendar or they can be viewed as separate calendars.

I can share my calendar with my husband and vice versa so we can view each other's calendars and see what events we have going on in our schedules.

Yes, I know, a lot of people out there know all about Google Chrome and all of the features it offers.  I have a bad feeling that I am going to spend a lot of time today checking out the "more" section, but that is okay.  It's time for a half day of getting organized which will help me a lot as I go into the holiday season. 

This system is perfect for me.  It keeps me organized and didn't cost me a penny.  Paper planners are way too expensive which leads me to a question.  What is going to happen to Franklin Planners and Daytimers?