Organizational Tips: birthdays and anniversaries

I really like to acknowledge the birthdays and anniversaries of my family and friends. Even if it’s “just” a call, text message, or email, I want them to know I’m thinking about them and I’m glad they’re in my life. If you don’t care about doing that, skip this post. If you do care about doing that but aren’t sure how to keep it all organized, here’s my simple solution.

I used to write all the birthdays and anniversaries on the next year’s calendar I’d buy each December. Not only is this tedious, but it’s extremely time-consuming. (Not to mention the suck factor if you, God forbid, are OCD like me and accidentally write the wrong letter, but think white-out is gross, etc. Not that I’ve ever trashed a calendar because of sloppy handwriting, just so I could start fresh. Stop judging me. Seriously. Shut up.)

At the end of 2009, I came up with a better plan. Rather than write all the dates, I created an excel spreadsheet. (I love spreadsheets and discovering new ways to implement them into everyday life!)

The spreadsheet has four columns:

1. month
2. day
3. year
4. name (format: last name, first name)

I did this so I can easily and quickly find, for example, all the April birthdays, or a list of everyone I know who’s turning 30 this year, or the entire Partin family so I can verify I’ve included each family member, because I wouldn’t want to play favorites! Initially, it really doesn’t take longer than handwriting all the dates on a calendar. And once it’s done, it saves a lot of time later on down the road, because you don’t have to re-create it every year. I can print one month at a time, and keep it on my desk. It’s easy to remember to glance at it every day, because I made it a habit (just like checking my regular calendar). As I meet new friends, I add their important dates to the spreadsheet. Easy as pie. In fact, even easier (yet less delicious) than THIS pie.