Birthday Organization

I have a pretty good memory when it comes to birthdays so remembering them wasn't my problem. My problem was keeping them on my radar so that I would send a card or gift in time for the person's birthday. With my busy life it gets more and more difficult to keep things stored in my brain...things I have to remember. Forgetting is becoming more and more common.

I have been forced to turn to technology to help me remember many of these important dates. So for birthdays and other important dates I turn to my favorite program of all - Microsoft Outlook.

I love Outlook. It has every function I need all in one program. I can read, sort, delete and folder email all right there with one drag and drop. I can set up my calendar there and there are so many user friendly tools that go along with the calendar. I can set up a birthday on the calendar and have it recur year after year. I can set up a reminder so that Outlook reminds me weeks in advance of the birthday. I can color code the appointments so that I can glance the calendar weekly view and quickly see what is happening for the week...doctor appointments are colored in yellow, kids activities are colored in green, school activities are colored in blue, and so on and so forth.

I can also create a task list in Outlook. I love this feature because I can create a task and then assign it a start and end date. Outlook stores these tasks and I can view them on a side bar. When the task becomes overdue it turns red. This is a great function for keeping all of your more important tasks in order and stored.

I know there are probably more functions within Outlook. I cannot imagine it getting better than it is. I know that every program has its critics. Not everyone is sure to think it is perfect. But for my use I happen to love it. And I am sure to not miss a birthday ever again.

What do you use to keep your appointments straight? I would love to know. Send me a comment.