Our Organized Chalkboard Calendar

Hey all! Ever since I cleaned off our chalkboards, mentioned in this post, we've been using one of them as a calendar. Each month I update the chalked schedule and put it on display in our kitchen. This even continued after our move. We have a little nook perfect for our chalkboard calendar. 

Since I started using a chalkboard as our schedule source, I have noticed little annoyances and conveniences. Here's what we ran into and how I addressed them. 

1. Chalk Pen
The first annoyance I found was my smudging hand. Anytime I would write something or add something, the words on the date after would get smudged or erased. So I started using a chalk pen. The wonderful thing about these is they won't erase unless you use a slightly dampened cloth. 

It's not as easy to erase with them due to this same convenience, though. It typically takes two rounds with a damp paper towel for me to get the board clean. However, no smudging! 

2. Permanent Gridlines
On that same note, when I would erase the dates and schedule each month, I would either have to be incredibly careful to avoid the gridlines, or I would have to just redraw them all again. I know it sounds petty, but it became quite a pain. In order to avoid this, I used a white paint pen and drew the gridlines in place. 

The lines are now permanent on the chalkboard so there's not hassle when erasing. I wipe over the board with my damp cloth and all of the lines remain in tact. 

3. Color Coded Schedule
I just made this adjustment for October, and so far I love it! When I reference the calendar it's typically a quick glance while someone is asking me about a date. Most of the time I'm answering before I have even made out what is written on that day. Part of this is due to my inability to have beautiful Elementary School Teacher handwriting {if you know one, you know what I mean}, but also, chalk is not easy to write with and the chalk pen I was using was super bulky and didn't allow for smaller text. 

Additionally, everything was the same color {Heaven forbid!}. I picked up a chalk pen set at Michael's, all with fine points and in multiple colors. When updating our calendar for this month I categorized the colors based on what type of event it was; appointments, travel, or celebrations. 

I even labeled the pens so when I need to add something quickly, I can easily grab the coordinating pen {and any excuse to label things}. 

I store the chalk pens in the drawer just below the calendar so they're easy to grab quickly as well.

 

I love the new colors and how they stand out on the board. I also love that I can easily read them from afar and add multiple items to one date. It wasn't so easy before. 

What do you all think, improvement? How do you keep track of your household schedule? Do any of you use only technology? Someday I'd like to get to that point, but until then I'll stick to colorful chalk pens.

Thanks for visiting!