You know you are behind the times when you spend hours looking for something that stores apparently no longer sell.
I just wasted 2 hours driving around looking for an electronic organizer. I thought it may be time to have a calendar that doesn’t just hang on my wall at work. I’m hoping to find a pocket-sized way to easily keep up with my schedule and everything my husband asks me to remember too. I don’t have Outlook at home and a paper organizer just seems bulky.
Honestly, I could probably find one that is a perfect size, but an electronic version just seems cooler. I know, I know…let’s just say my inner-consumer wants this one little thing. Preferably, I’d like a calendar that shows the whole month and highlights the days that I have something scheduled. Then I want to be able to zoom in on the day and see what I wrote. Does that exist?
Walmart didn’t have one in stock and Office Depot, Best Buy, and Office Max no longer carry electronic organizers at all. A Best Buy employee suggested I buy an Ipod Touch since it has a calendar like I wanted. Hahaha…yes, I totally want to spend $150 on something when I just wanted to use one of its features. 
I can find one online of course, but I was hoping to get some hands on testing. After looking at my options, I can either spend $15 on a mediocre calendar circa the 1990s, $60-$100 on something like a Palm Pilot, or just wait until December to get a better phone with an easy-to-use calendar for $50 when we renew our cell phone contract. I’m leaning towards that last option. If I can just get a QWERTY keyboard, I’d be a happy woman.
Do any of you have an easy-to-use digital calendar? Any suggestions for me? BTW, have any of you heard of this Royal Machines one from Amazon…is it any good?
I’m in the same boat — I need an organizer, but I don’t want to splurge on a new gadget just for that reason. We’re due for new phones and can get them for almost-free, but we haven’t done that yet. I have a QWERTY keyboard on my current cell phone, and it’s great. Although a touch-screen phone would be even cooler…
I don’t need a smartphone (or the extra $60 a month it would cost both me and hubby to get one; if I got one, he’d demand the same, LOL). But one with a good calendar option would be great. Let me know if you find one!
I have a Blackberry Curve. It doesn’t cost me any extra to have it vs. any other phone on Sprint. I use the calendar on there, but I have been transitioning to Google Calendar on my blackberry and laptop. I like that it has a listing of events coming up and color coding as well.
I use a blackberry that is provided by work. I had to give it up last year and I did miss it. I had a palm way back when I traveled globally and needed to reduce weight. It was way before the blackberry days. Maybe you can find a cheap one on ebay. I wonder if you could still use it with today’s software.
I went from a Pocketmod calendar to a Blackberry back in December. The Google Sync keeps my GCals(lots of them) on hand at all times.
@Nicole, I have the same problem that if I buy a really cool phone, Mr. BFS will want want too, so anything I get will actually be double in price…grrrr…
I’ll let you know what I end up doing. Right now, it looks like I’ll be finding a little paper calendar for my purse until I get an easier to use phone with a good calendar option…
@Julie, hmmm…I have several friends who love their blackberries, but I was under the impression that they cost more than $100 even with the $150 credit Sprint gives every 18 months? I do like the idea of event list…maybe that is what I’ll look into this December. Thanks!
@Sandy L, this should tell you how behind I am…what software? If you’re talking about being able to sync it with my computer or something, I’m not planning to do anything that high-tech.
I just want a pocket calendar that also can receive and send calls and simple texts (I really hate texting, but my friends won’t talk to me otherwise sometimes…). If I can find a used one, how would I have my number and plan transferred to it? Call Sprint? Go to a Sprint store? Thanks for your input!
Jason, Gcals are all the different Google calendars you have mentioned on your blog, right? If I don’t have Google calendars, would I still be able to use the Blackberry calendar? Is it easy to add entries and see what’s coming up? Thanks!
I still like a paper calendar, I am a dinosaur….
@Everyday Tips, nope, not a dinosaur. I use my wall calendar at work. My problem is that I need a calendar that can be with me all the time. I am seriously contemplating buying a paper organizer that can fit into my purse and seeing if that’s good enough…$100 for what amounts to a cool calendar is probably kind of stupid for me – I won’t be taking advantage of the cool syncing software or anything else that most other users seem to like…
Before I got to the part about Best Buy, I was going to suggest an iPod touch as well. But then again I’m an Apple fanboy so what do I know. It really is a pretty sweet device. My wife has one and loves and she is not a geek by any means; she rather dislikes technology actually.
Rob, I didn’t ask the teenager for any details so I’m clueless, what does your wife love about it? I know it’s an MP3 player and now I know it has a calendar, but what other features am I in the dark about? I don’t mind paying for something that is multi-purpose, so I could use the MP3 player for audio books from the library and the calendar, but is there other cool stuff I’m missing?
I wonder if the 80gb Ipod I got for Christmas a couple of years ago had a calendar. I gave it to Mr. BFS since I don’t listen to a lot of music…I doubt he’d give it back now that he’s addicted…
BFS – if you have any friends that have an iPhone ask them to show you the stuff they like about it. The games are especially fun (and most are 99 cents). An iPod touch is essentially an iPhone without the phone and the (expensive) data plan. So you’d only be able to access the internet if you have WiFi. But Wifi access is becoming so ubiquitous these days that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
I’m pretty sure Mr. BFS’ iPod won’t have a calendar. The other “non-touch” iPods are pretty much just MP3 players, albeit good ones.
Another idea is you could try using a task list of some sort. Are the things you need to keep up with more errands that can be done at any time or actual meetings that you have to attend at a certain time?
If it just tasks that you need keep with check out http://www.rememberthemilk.com. it is all web based so you can access it from any computer (assuming your work doesn’t block it). Also, you can set it up so that you get your tasks sent to your phone through a text message at a set time each day and/or when the task is due. And come to think of it, you can also do that with Google Calendar (the text messaging and/or email part) which I saw some others recommend.
Oh and last but not least Remember the Milk and Google Calendar are free! Although you’ll probably want a text plan if you have them send messages to your phone.
Crystal – The curve has been a steady $50ish for over a year now. I have seen ads for 1cent each with a new 2 year agreement from Best Buy before. To be fair, I do have a work Blackberry, too. I try to keep the 2 seperate. My work blackberry connects to my work outlook calendar and email.
Rob, I’ll have to look at the Remmeber the Milk website from home…stupid web blocker. That text message feature does sound pretty awesome though! I’ll check out Google Calendars too.
I more need the calendar for events, not lists. We seem to have parties, volunteering, and family crap popping up all the time. These last 3 weeks have been sooooo busy and I can see this happening more now that our friends schedules are opening up.
Julie, I used my lunch hour to look around the Sprint store. You were spot on, $50 after rebates for one Blackberry and $99 after rebates for one with a flash for the camera. They were awesome to play with but then I got the bad news that you have to upgrade your plan to have one…
We currently pay $69.99 jointly for 2 lines, 700 anytime minutes, and 300 text messages apiece. The Blackberries, Palms, and the Droid require the unlimited plan which is $69.99 per person. Ouch. But Mr. BFS is in love now, so we’ll see in September when we apparently get $180 instant discounts. I’ll have to check out Best Buy if he really wants to go this route…I should never have let him touch the good phones, lol.
I liked the new Rumor since it has a touch screen and the calendar like I want, but hubby didn’t like the way it scrolls. We’ll see what happens in September…
Like some of your earlier commenters, I’m a blackberry user too…
If you really want a digital organizer, I would check on eBay! I would be surprised if they didn’t have at least a cheap used one. And there may be a good chance they might have some new ones…
Either way, good luck!
Your current phone might very well have a calendar / organizer function built into it. Check the manual. I would be surprised if anything but the cheapest bare bones phone sold today didn’t have a calendar function.
A standard ipod will also have a calendar. I don’t know how functional it is though.
Another alternative is to buy a used PDA like a Palm or Dell Axim off eBay. All PDAs will have an organizer. You can get an older PDA for pretty cheap since most everyonee is moving to smart phones for that functionality.
I just use Google Calendar. It works great
I used to use Outlook at the office; right now my connection to that account (which the university let me keep as an involuntary “retiree”) is through a Web interface and the calendar function doesn’t work. The Mac comes with iCal but i’ve never figured out how it operates.
In spite of Outlook, I also had (and still have) a wall calendar. We dinosaurs resent being nagged by electronic doodads. With Outlook I would just turn off the current “beep” or close and forget the e-mail reminder and then the appointment or task would fade right out of mind. With a note on a calendar that I see every time I walk in and out of my home office (I used to keep it in the bathroom–that was even more inescapable), I ALWAYS see the day’s activities and am less likely to forget appointments than to forget electronic nags.
A small spiral-bound notebook from Target (some of them come perfect-bound, actually) will fit in your purse and work handsomely as an impromptu calendar. Just put the dates at the top of each page. Tacky? No doubt. But it accomplishes what you need without a $150 gouge. If you want to look cool, use a Moleskine.
@Money Reasons, thanks for the suggestion! I checked Amazon but not Ebay yet…I hadn’t thought of buying one used…I must be losing my mind…oh well.
@jim, yep, my phone has a scheduler. It sucks to enter things though since I don’t have a keyboard…it takes me forever to tap out one tiny note. Again, a great idea to find a good used one. I have no idea why I hadn’t thought of finding one used…my inner-frugalite is going to kick my butt.
@Jackie, I liked Google Calendar when I looked at it last night, but I don’t have access from work (which is where I end up making all the appointments and stuff). Stupid work. I could just email the appts to myself and add them from home though…I’ve been doing the reverse of that to put stuff on my paper calendar at work…
@Funny about Money, nope, I don’t care about looking cool (if you ever meet me, you’d probably be able to tell, lol). That imromptu notebook or a small purse-size notebook calendar may be exactly what I need. Maybe my inner-consumer can just shut the hell up, lol.
I’ll definitely update everyone once I have a working system. I’ll be starting with either a small purse calendar or used organizer off of Ebay and will see if I successfully keep up with it…my brain needs the rest.
I use google calendars with my google phone (htc hero on sprint). I know you are worried about the extra phone cost, but I pay about 100 bucks for The Wife and I combined to share 1500 mins which we go no where near with unlimited data and text. So if you and hubby are both paying 45 its not that far off for you both to have smart phones.
@Evan, Google Calendars seems to be a hit for a lot of people. I will look into the $100 plan that you have…$140 just seemed too steep for a whole bunch of stuff that we just won’t use. $100 seems reasonable and I could probably check my gmail from work which would be VERY nice. That would be worth the extra $20-$30 a month.
Everything Data Family – with Any Mobile, Anytime – It is $130 and then if you or the husband works for a large corporation or part of a group or alumni association you can get 10 to 20% off.
@Evan, thanks for the details!
I get a 15% discount from my job, so it would be about $110 plus taxes ($120 I’m guessing)…that’s $40 more a month than what we have now. I think I’ll let Mr. BFS decide whether he’s good with upgrading or not…I apprently am a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to electronic doo-dads and monthly plans…
I guess I forgot to check the “notify” box.
The GCals are the Google Calendars I’ve talked about. I think I’ve got 14 of them, now.
With the Google Sync app, they integrate completely with the Blackberry calendar. Anything I add on the Blackberry syncs with GCal. My wife’s phone syncs with the same calendar, so we are always in sync with each other, at least as far as the calendar goes.
Crystal,
I use google calender and love it, personal, and work. Unfortunately I dont know if it works on a smart phone, as I only have a phone, that texts and talks.:).. My contract is up in February and at that time we will look at a new smart phone(depending on the plan T mobile is willing to give me), I have a tough time justify the smart phones as we dont have a business, and we really dont need them. It is a want by my hubby.(I’m wondering what he is willing to give up to have one, games maybe).
@Tonia, my husband is going to have to pick between something fun and a smart phone too. We’ll see what wins next year, lol.
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