How many of you chose “be more organized” as a New Year’s Resolution? I have been using Google Calendar as my planning source for a few months now and I love how easy it is for me to use it in multiple aspects of my life but still keep them separate.

I have two calendars: my personal calendar and my blog editorial calendar. In addition to my own calendars I also have access to Brad’s calendars. Since his job involves going out to people’s homes and businesses his schedule can vary greatly between days. Being able to see his calendar helps me plan my evenings based on when he will be home. I also have access to his personal calendar so that I can add activities to it if he needs to be there.

When adding an event in Google Calendar, there is a drop down to select which calendar this goes into. This shows up for any calendar that you have write access to. If you only have read access, the events will show up on the calendar but you can’t add one to it. In addition to individual calendars, there are also twelve colors that can be used to differentiate events.

Since there are so many ways to differentiate events this could also easily be used for tracking things like bills, birthdays or you kid’s activities. Simply give each child their own color assignment. Multiple reminders can be set up which is perfect for bills because you could do one for 1 week before and then another 3 days before to make sure it gets paid.

When I use this for my blog editorial calendar, I put the general topic as the event title then various outlined points in the description. Having these outlines help when I go to write the actual post.

Since I have an Android phone, Google Calendar is native to it and integrates seamlessly with the desktop version. If you have a non-Android device, Google Calendar can still be installed as an app. Since I don’t always have access to my computer I can update or look something up on my calendar with something that is always with me – my phone!

If wanted, Google Calendar can be used to track items on a to-do list. I don’t use this feature very often because I like the satisfaction of crossing things off of a paper list but it is still helpful if I need to jot down a note and or make sure I do something later that evening.

How do you stay organized? Do you like digital solutions or the old-fashioned pen and paper?