Alright so I figured since November is right around the corner, I better get my calendar situation sorted. Every year I tell myself I’ll be more organized, and every year I end up scribbling appointments on random sticky notes. Not this time.
I started by just opening up my laptop and doing a quick search for “November 2024 calendar templates.” I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, just something clean and functional for both work deadlines and personal stuff like bill payments and family events.
The first few results were okay, but they felt a bit too corporate. You know, the kind with stock photos of people in suits shaking hands. I needed something that didn’t make my to-do list look like a board meeting agenda. So I dug a little deeper.
I found a few sites that offered free templates. I downloaded a handful of them to test out. My process was simple:
- I opened each one in a spreadsheet program.
- I checked if it had enough space for writing notes.
- I looked for a weekly layout because monthly views are too cramped for me.
- I made sure it had a section for priorities or a to-do list.
One template was almost perfect but the weekends were shaded so lightly I could barely see them. Another had these tiny boxes for each day – my handwriting is not that neat. It was a process of elimination.
After about an hour of clicking around and comparing, I finally settled on two. The first is a simple grid style with a clean font. It’s boring, but it gets the job done for work tasks. The second one has a little more personality, with a subtle color scheme for different types of activities. I’m using that one for personal stuff.
I printed out a copy of each. The printing part was smooth, no formatting issues. Now they’re sitting on my desk, ready to be filled in. It feels good to have a physical planner again instead of relying on my phone, which is always buzzing with notifications.
So that was my little project for the afternoon. Nothing groundbreaking, but sometimes the simple things make the biggest difference in staying on track. Hopefully, this setup works out better than my sticky-note system.