My calendar and my phone are my best friends

Maybe I said that a little for effect, but there is a lot of truth in that statement.  I have always been a fairly organised individual and pre-smart phones I was heavily dependent on my Filofax to help me keep track of life and all that.  Detailed plans were made as to when everything should happen, and detailed plans were made as to when I would go to do my groceries shopping- and what I need to buy- or go to training, or meet up with friends, or go to the movies, etc.  Life was busy and there was a lot to fit into a day.  Work took up a lot of my time and I was determined to use what's left of it effectively.   My diary was crammed full of such plans and it was actually quite a heavy thing to have to carry around.  I was never a small handbag kind of girl.  Then came the smart phone and digital calendars and my bag got a bit smaller and lighter.

Then we had Baby and things were a bit chaotic for a while until we established some kind of rhythm.  The big bag came back but it wasn't for the Filofax.  However, for the first time we really put our smart phones and calendars to full use.  I don't know how people coped without them before.  Things were liable to change at short notice because there is no telling when e.g. Baby may be ill; being able to get in touch with people to cancel and apologise for standing them up is important.  Having a calendar that I can synchronise with my husband's, so that we both knew when things were happening, is important.  It is also handy to be able to make appointments with people quickly so that we can still actually see our friends and family, mostly without double-booking ourselves.  With Baby now at school, having detailed plans of when things should be done is critical: all appointments- doctor's, dentist's, school trips, school holidays etc- are noted so that appropriate action is taken at the appropriate time.  There are those occasions when we need to book things promptly at an appointed time- after school clubs at Baby's school are in high demand and scheduling a large enough window  to prepare the computer and to ensure that I am ready to press submit as soon as the booking portal opens is important.  Most spaces are filled up within minutes of the portal opening, I kid you not.   Most parents would be painfully aware that getting a good deal for family holidays during the school break is heavily dependent on the bookings being made at the right time.  I prepare a packed lunch for Baby every day during the school term: groceries need to be planned according to what we need to prepare the packed lunches and speedy dinners.  His time-table is packed, his days are quite short as he goes to bed early, so we need to be super-organised for him.   Being reminded of these day-to-day things by a phone means that I don't have to stress about forgetting to do things, and it means I can better focus on whatever task I am attempting in the moment.  Some people say that it is stressful to have a device beep at  us all the time.  In my case, being connected all the time actually takes some of the stress/mental load away.

We have now gotten in to some kind of routine, a routine that we can maintain because our smart phones make it easier for us to coordinate each other's lives.  Perhaps life was simpler back in the day but then a lot of everyday things were not as convenient as they are now, e.g. groceries can be delivered to my door 2 hours from the order being placed should I forget to buy something, i.e. things are not left to get from bad to worse, I can even place the order on my phone while I am on the bus on the way home if I am in too much of a rush to pop to the shop.  Hats off to the people who had to cope with just their Filofaxes.