January is a month where many of us feel compelled to start fresh, or at least reflect upon our lives and consider whether there might be certain areas where we could make changes or improve upon how we are doing things.
In general, I like to think I am an organized person. This process begins anew every year, when I buy myself a small spiral-bound datebook. With online booking for most appointments and travel plans, and Google Calendar automatically syncing those bookings and sending me email reminders, I could probably keep everything straight without this extra calendar. Still, I find it enormously helpful to physically write things down. Something about putting pen to paper helps solidify things in my memory.
Pondering Organization
Over the summer one of my co-workers, Matt (who’s in his mid-20’s) moved into a three bedroom house with two of his friends. Whenever we were scheduled together, I’d ask him how the move was going. Was packing and unpacking stressful? How was he settling into the new space?
Matt didn’t appear especially overwhelmed by the moving process. He admitted that the new space wasn’t perfect (for instance, he’d had to purchase thick, sunlight-blocking curtains and a box fan in order to make his room more comfortable) but that overall things were going great. He liked living with his friends.
Matt’s one of the evening supervisors at our hotel and usually clocks out around midnight. His housemates are both bartenders and often work even later, sometimes until one or two o’clock in the morning.
“So yeah, we’re all night owls for sure,” Matt told me. “It’s nice being on similar schedules and not worrying about making noise. But man, everyone’s schedule changes so much week to week! We got this whiteboard for the kitchen wall where we write down what days we work, so we know when someone might be sleeping on their day off or if we’ll have time to be home alone, all that good stuff.”
A Whiteboard
Brilliant! At least, that’s what I thought, when Matt mentioned it.
A whiteboard is a lightweight alternative to a chalkboard, complete with erasable markers and none of the chalk dust. They are also magnetic, allowing notes or papers to be posted alongside reminders written directly onto the board itself. We have a large one in our office at work – where daily notes and important information can be written, erased, and updated as needed.
Hearing about Matt’s kitchen whiteboard sparked a realization: in all my years of shared living, I’ve never lived in a house with a central calendar or organizing system.
Looking Back, and Forward
I did live in one house with a central calendar: my childhood home. In the kitchen, the door to our basement offered a perfect surface for hanging a large, simple desktop style calendar with a big, lined box for each day of the month. There, my parents wrote doctor’s appointments, school activities, and other obligations. With four children, there was a lot to keep track of.
As I’ve become an adult, digital technology has also become more deeply embedded in daily life. When I’ve lived with just one fellow housemate, it’s easy for us to communicate. And, even with two housemates, an email thread or group text message chain was often the way that we would communicate any change in household routine.
If there’s something truly important to communicate to my housemates I try and do it verbally, in person. This isn’t always possible so, occasionally, in the past I’ve left a handwritten note, in a prominent place like the kitchen table or taped to the front door, with the realization that physical notes can easily get lost or overlooked if someone isn’t expecting them.
Effective not elaborate
Simply having a specific agreed-upon spot to convey information can be an enormously helpful organizing principle in a multi-person household.
That might look like:
- A bulletin board
- A pad of bright pink post-it notes that are easy to spot, no matter where they are posted
- A special magnet on the fridge that only gets used for hanging important notes
Organization often requires some trial and error! You might buy a calendar only to discover that nobody uses it–or that it creates stress rather than clarity. In that case, it’s just a big blank object taking up space on the wall.
Here’s the real secret to lasting change: it can be small. Consistency is the key. So, in 2026, try something new–or buy something new. Maybe there’s a post-holiday sale at Staples. There, maybe, you will find a whiteboard. Or a pre-made chart wheel. Or a small whiteboard that fits on the fridge.
One particular consumer product isn’t the answer to every one of our problems. But, it can definitely help.
Photo by Kevin Malik
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