Jason Bartholme’s SEO Blog

We just moved into a house after living in a condo for almost nine years. Now, we have to do all the yard work and all the upkeep which was previously taken care of by our condo association. I needed a way to remember all the infrequent, yet necessary, tasks. I decided Google Calendar because I use it extensively and for it’s ability to send me SMS alerts when tasks are due.

First off, it is very easy to set up Google Calendar. It does a great job for personal schedules and allows you to have multiple calendars associated to your account. Here are the steps to create a calendar and enter your first reoccurring task:

1. Visit http://www.google.com/calendar
2. Under My Calendars click “Create” and name the new calendar
3. Click the “Create Event” button
4. Provide the following:
   

   What: Replace Furnace Filter
   When: 2/15/2010 [x] All Day
   Repeats: Monthly
   Calendar: House Stuff
   Description: If needed, possible a replacement number or size 20×20×1

5. Click the “Save” button

The Reminder section allows you to select all or none of the following methods to receive your reminders: pop-up, email or SMS. I prefer SMS, so I click “Remove” on the other two. When the time comes around, I will get a simple reminder to do whatever task needs to be done. It’s that simple.
Here are some of the types of things reminders I have in my calendar:

• Replace furnace filter
• Fill water softener with salt
• Replace reverse osmosis filter
• Replace baking sodas in fridge and freezer
• Clean the fireplace
• Get mower blade sharpened
• Blacktop driveway
• Start vegetable garden seeds
• Clean grill / smoker

Of course, these are just things that I want to be reminded of when the time comes. If there is any other events or tasks that you think are important, let me know in the comments and I will add them to a new section in this post.