Old Dog, New Tricks? Not this Bow Wow!

I have always thought of myself as reasonably forward thinking.  I LOVE technology — when I was a child we listened to the radio a lot because my parents were of the radio generation and there were still a lot of radio programs on.  I never knew a time that I didn’t have television in my house and I loved it.  Enter computers and cell phones and streaming entertainment and I am all for it.  Even an avid reader, I have embraced e-readers and totally love the idea that I can access my library and use my card through my  iPad.  Genius!

However, there is one thing I just can’t seem to get my head around and that is digital planning.  Now, my children are grown and I don’t need to keep up with quite as much as I used to but I do need to maintain a calendar for various appointments and things I just want to make note of.

I have tried all manner of paper planners, even making my own from a moleskin and again using a binder. I have an affinity for Erin Condren planners, it seems, but carrying them around is getting more and more difficult.  I have even turned to a wall calendar that hangs on my pantry but I keep forgetting it is there!

I have tried using my Google calendar but it is annoying because when you look at the calendar it only shows a dot when an entry has been made and you have to get into the calendar to figure out what the dot stands for.

So, I bit the bullet and signed up for Zinnia.  It is a digital planner complete with the ability to apply stickers, sync to my iPad and do all sorts of arty things and for a while I was loving it.  Until now.  It is time to add all the upcoming school dates for both Bean and my daughter, upcoming medical appointments that are already creeping into the fall and I am dreading doing all of that on my iPad.  So….

I ordered a small pocket calendar from Orange Circle Studio.  It is small enough to slip into a purse and it isn’t anything fancy.

I don’t know why I have so much trouble with planners.  I suspect it is because I really don’t need one to control my life — I just need it write down the upcoming events and I feel like I remember things better if I write it down.  With a pen.  Now the Google calendar will alert you to something coming up which is good but I still struggle with it.

So, I have the little book above complete with it’s little bees on the way.  

I wonder how long I will stick with it.  What do you use?