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I just purchased my prudy pink diary for the financial year.

Why a financial year diary? Basically for tax reasons. My diary is not just a tool I use to keep track of appointments, it also helps me keep track of expenses for tax purposes. An appointment with the accountant and invoice are noted on the appropriate day. Hours worked. Weekly pay (if it varies). Bonuses. Car travel. When it comes to tax time all the information I need is in my diary, which also doubles as evidence if necessary for the tax office for many expenses. So how do you get the most out of a diary? Follow these steps to make effective use of your diary:

1. Find a diary that is suitable. Don’t buy a week to a page if your work/day runs in 15 minute increments and appointments. Similarly, if you’re appointments are one or two a day, don’t get a day to a page lump – you won’t use it. Mine is a week to a page, because I rarely have a day that needs something more these days. I just need a quick note like: “M&M Doctors 3:10pm” or “Pay rego bill”, rather than keeping track of appointments.
2. Create opportunities to USE it. Carry it in your bag/briefcase/car. The key to using a diary if you haven’t until now is to make it easy to use. An analogy I use is water – when people want to drink water they have a bottle next to their computer. You need to create the opportunities to make you do something you’re not used to.
3. Use colours to make it pretty. Highlighting different activities (work, kids, home etc) with different colours not only makes it pretty, it’s a useful tool for seeing at a glance who/what is going on in advance. This is an example of a week from my diary last October. Green was for the kids, pink for Tupperware and blue was for house/family stuff.
   
4. Set time aside time to update it. Once a week, once a day, whatever time you need to make sure everything is in your diary and it’s up to date. It can be after dinner when going through the kids bags and pulling out school notes. Or first thing in the morning when you check your emails. Whatever works for you. I find twice a week works well for me. I consult with the calendar, empty the kids bags, check my email and make sure everything is in there. I often follow this with a pile of phone calls to make appointments or information, and jot that down too. That way all the appointments are straight in my diary and I don’t need to remember to do it later. Set your phone to remind you if necessary.
5. Check it EVERY DAY. There’s no point going to lots of trouble to make sure all your appointments are in there if you don’t check it each day to remind yourself what your commitments are. Better yet, check it the night before. Again, if necessary, set a reminder on your phone