Side-by-Side Scheduling

You're a true juggler, coordinating travel plans, work deadlines, gym schedules, doctor appointments and more. But you can't do it alone. When you need to keep track of personal, work and school plans that inevitably overlap, you need a day planner that multitasks as well as you do. A calendar that's designed for just one person's schedule isn't going to cut it.

We like Joan Goldner's approach. Joan started keeping track of her business projects, childcare schedules, and family events using different columns for each type of activity. The idea caught on, and Joan started publishing her handy gridded planners. The column layout shows side-by-side schedules for different areas of your life -- and easily highlights where overlapping events could get sticky. Plus, on the left side of every spread, there's oodles of room for lists or doodles.

We heard about Joan’s BusyBodyBook organizers from Amanda Carrick. “I bought this deceptively simple planner because, yes, I still like to write things down in this electronic digital world,” Amanda says. “I like to have the visual reminder or record so I can flip through pages and see when a meeting was, or when I traveled for work.”

BusyBodyBook offers calendar year planners for 2011 with casual, colorful cover designs (there's also a magnetic wall planner). The slim, lightweight size might even make you forgot for a moment just how busy life is.

— Ann