When I started my first full-time job years ago, the first thing my manager asked me to do was to order a Franklin Covey Day Planner. It was the standard issue for all employees of that company.
![](https://thefinancebuff.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/franlin-covey-daily-planner.jpg)
Technology evolved over the years. The standard tool was Microsoft Outlook at my last full-time job. We used the calendar features in Outlook to book conference rooms and manage meeting invites.
I use Google Calendar now to track personal events such as dentist appointments and recurring household chores.
A computer-based calendar makes it easy to create recurring events, whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or annually. You set it only once and you’ll have it on your calendar every month, every quarter, or every year. For really important tasks, you can set up the calendar to send you not just one reminder but several reminders — for example, seven days before, three days before, and one day before — to make sure you don’t forget.
I have repeating events on my calendar to change the furnace filter, add salt to the water softener, run a cleaning cycle on the dishwasher, check the engine oil, and replace the air filters in my car. If I think of something else that needs to be done on a set schedule, I add it to the calendar.
Bills and Taxes
I also started using Google Calendar to manage financial chores.
I set all my bills on autopay to let them charge a credit card or debit a bank account but I understand not everyone is comfortable with autopay. Some bills, especially those from government entities, can’t be set on autopay.
For example, your state DMV may not have autopay for annual vehicle registration renewals. You have to renew and pay manually each time. Rather than using the renewal notice you get in the mail as the prompt, you can set a calendar reminder to look for the renewal on the DMV website yourself a month before your sticker expires. That way you won’t forget to renew even if you don’t receive the renewal notice. You’ll have this reminder on your calendar every year after you set it up only once.
If you pay estimated tax because you’re self-employed or retired, the IRS and the state revenue agency don’t send you invoices. You have to pay them proactively four times a year. I use EFTPS to schedule payments to the IRS. If you set up the four quarterly due dates as annually repeating events, your calendar will remind you every time without fail.
The same goes for the property tax if you’re not paying it through mortgage escrow. If the property tax bill is lost in the mail or if their email notification gets filtered into spam, you still owe the property tax. Property tax is due on a set date every year. You can set an annually repeating calendar reminder to make sure you pay it on time.
Investing Tasks
If you’re not automatically reinvesting dividends, you can set a recurring calendar event to go into your account and reinvest manually.
If you invest in Treasuries or brokered CDs, the interest payments can’t be automatically rolled into the same Treasury or brokered CD but you know when the interest will be paid out as cash. If the amount is substantial, you can set a recurring calendar reminder to reinvest.
You also know when your Treasury or CD will mature. If your broker doesn’t have the “auto roll” feature or if you choose not to use it, as soon as you buy the Treasury or CD, you can set a calendar reminder to reinvest the principal repayment at maturity.
If you’re required to take the Required Minimum Distribution from your retirement accounts, you can set up an annually repeating calendar event to help you remember to take it. The IRA custodian may also remind you but the ultimate responsibility falls on you.
If you’re planning to cash out I Bonds to buy new ones at a higher fixed rate, set a calendar reminder for the best time to sell. After you sell, set another calendar reminder to download the 1099 form from TreasuryDirect next January because they don’t send it by mail.
Automation is usually my first choice. If I can’t make it happen automatically, I put it on my calendar to make sure I don’t forget. I use Google Calendar but any other calendar system works too.
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