Color Coding

"Did you look at the calendar?" That is a question my family hears often! We have a big dry-erase calendar on the wall between our kitchen and dining room. Each person is responsible for putting their activities on the calendar in their color. (Dry erase markers are kept in a jar under the board to make this easy.) What do I mean by "their color"? Each member of the family has been assigned a color and their events are written on the calendar in that color. This saves space on the calendar, time and stress by making it easy to identify who needs to be where and when. When something is written in black then that means more than one person has to be there so you better know if that includes you or not. :)

The calendar is not the only thing in our house that is color coded. Notebooks, folders, and even towels are bought in the right color for each person. If you left your stuff where it doesn't belong, Mom is going to know who is responsible!

We have done this for years and I never really even thought about it - it just made sense to do it that way to me - until a friend was commenting on what a great idea it was. Who knew?

If you're interested in trying it out, the first step is to buy dry-erase markers and/or pens in enough colors for each member of your family and black. I buy a pack of 6 Bic dry-erase markers and picked up a pack of 6 pens at Staples. If your family is small enough one of those pens with 4 colors in it would be wonderful. Then using the colors you have assign each family member a color. In our house, Daniel is green, I am purple (my favorite color!), Amira is red, Levi is orange and Jacob is blue. I keep the pens and a calendar in my purse so I can write down appointments when I'm not home. The markers sit in a jar on the counter beside the big calendar. (I also have a calendar program (cozi.com) on my phone that will do the same thing as the one in my purse - only problem is I can't enter an appointment while I'm on the phone.)

Everyone in the house knows the rule: "If it isn't on the calendar, it isn't happening!" This helps keep me sane. If someone forgets to put an activity they want to do on the calendar, they are out of luck and don't get to do it. Natural consequences work much better than a yelling mom. :)