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Setting Up Your Calendar

© Judy Brown

January is the perfect time to set up your calendar for the year ahead. You don't have to spend a lot of money for your family planning calendar, I get one each year from the dollar store for $2.50. Nothing fancy, it is just a book-style calendar with each month covering two pages. When I open it up, I can see the month at a glance.

Just make sure whatever calendar you choose, has enough room to make notes each day. I keep mine on my desk by my computer and phone so it is always handy. Most desk calendars have lined pages near the back of the book for longer notes to yourself.

How To Use Your Desk Calendar

Upcoming appointments

Recording online bill payments

Notes to yourself

Important dates

I find it handy to go through the calendar at the start of the year to mark important dates: birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions. As soon as we know when our vacation time will be, I mark that in to be sure I don't set up appointments during a time when I might be out of town.

One of the best ways I've found to keep track of my bills is making online payments. I use a combination of online banking and Canada Post's Epost bill payment service. Sign up and have your bills sent to your epost mailbox and get notified when bill payments are due. I record my payment number in the dated square in my calendar along with the amount paid, this gives me a payment record that I can refer back to anytime.

Instead of cluttering up your home office and filing cabinet with paper bill notices, see if you can arrange to have your bills sent by email and read your bill online then pay through your bank account. Epost is a relatively new Canada Post service so all your creditors may not be using it but you can request they be added. Once payment is made through epost you can save your record and at the end of the year all your payments are recorded in one place so you can easily refer to your payment record online and print it out if you need to.

Check with all your creditors, you can usually find the info on the back of the bill and start paying online on the company's website. It is safe and secure and much easier to keep track of. Don't forget to record your payment on your desk calendar.

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