Keri Houchin

Living your best life, not a stressed life.

  • Home
  • About
  • Bloglovin’
  • Digital Subscription Box
  • Mindfulness
    • Time Management
    • Budget
    • Meal Planning
    • Self Care
  • Projects
    • Home Decor
    • Crafts
    • Organizing
    • Outdoors
  • Celebrations
    • Holidays
    • Parties
    • Cards & Stationery
  • Planners
    • 2020 Printable Planner
    • Planner Inserts
    • Bullet Journals
    • Planner Accessories
    • Digital Subscription Box
  • Shop
Home » Mindfulness » Why we went back to a paper calendar

Why we went back to a paper calendar

9 August, 2018 by Keri 5 Comments

Are you desperate for an easy way to coordinate your family’s schedules? Last fall, my family gave up our paper wall calendar to use a group Google calendar on our phones. This school year, we’re switching back. Read about why we went back to a paper calendar to help you decide which works better for your family.

Why we went back to a paper calendar instead of digital

There are four people in my family and each of us has our own smartphone.

Last fall, my kids were starting sixth and eighth grade. I work from home part-time and from an office part-time. My husband has a full-time office job and we occasionally travel for his side craft business. All that together added up to a crazy busy schedule some weeks!

I decided that since everyone already had a phone with a calendar on it, it was time to give up the big wall calendar in favor of a digital one. I created a family Google calendar and everyone synched it with their phones. Each person was responsible for putting their events on the family calendar.

This seemed like such a practical solution. After all, it’s easier to type something into your phone right away rather than waiting until you get home to pencil it on the wall calendar.

Except I was the only one checking the family calendar…

I thought with a phone in hand it would be easy for everyone to keep up, but in reality, it was the opposite. Out of sight, out of mind. With no visual reminder to check the calendar daily, it didn’t happen.

Family command center

Since I set up or family command center, I’ve moved it to the opposite wall {so it’s behind the door and papers don’t blow when the door opens}. Instead of pinning notes to the bulletin board willy-nilly, each person has their own clipboard. The clipboards are on pushpins, so you can take them down and add or remove papers as needed.

paper calendar in our family command center

wall calendar in the family command center

Why a paper calendar

I love love love my printable planner for several reasons. I think that is also why a paper calendar works better for my family.

  • You are more likely to remember something if you write it out by hand.
  • Color coding events and activities works as a visual cue.
  • Using a paper calendar helps you avoid online distractions. {How often do you get online to look up something and get sidetracked for half an hour?}
  • Having a big calendar in our family command center by the front door makes it easy to check each morning.

paper calendar in the family command center

Choose a paper calendar

You can get a really big paper desk calendar at most office supply stores. We’ve used these in the past and they’re best if you have several things written in on the same day.

One Mama’s Daily Drama email subscribers receive a new free printable calendar page each month as part of The Quiet Moment newsletter. Sign up via any form on this site.

I’ve added the calendar I’m currently using in these photos to my Etsy shop. It includes all 12 months and the pages are undated, so you can start right now with August and use it year after year.

paper calendars in the family command center

printable monthly calendar pages

Filed Under: Mindfulness Tagged With: printables, time management

« Pineapple stencil wall art tutorial
Fail-proof lunchbox packing list »

Comments

  1. Nana says

    9 August, 2018 at 11:03 am

    Love your new command center. Need to do the same thing.

    Reply
  2. Wiki Calendar says

    26 December, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing this!! We are very excited about doing this. Thanks again!

    Reply
    • Keri says

      30 December, 2018 at 4:19 pm

      Let me know how it goes! It’s been really helpful for my family to use a paper calendar.

      Reply
  3. Karen Cline says

    16 October, 2019 at 9:36 pm

    Thank you for doing this. Your work is so lovely and it’s really kind of you to share.

    Reply
    • Keri says

      17 October, 2019 at 8:25 am

      Thanks, Karen! I love doing this.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Policies

Disclosure
Privacy
Advertising

Copyright

All images and text on this blog are the property of Keri Houchin / One Mama's Daily Drama unless otherwise stated. If you're a blogger/media outlet and want to include something in a roundup or feature, feel free to use one image from the post you are mentioning and include a link back.

Copyright © 2019 Keri Houchin / OneMamasDailyDrama.com ·Delightful Pro Themeby Restored 316