At the beginning of this year, I wanted to simplify everything. This idea leads to my decision to finally get with it and sync calendars with my 14-year-old daughter. Her activities have been clogging up my calendar long enough. Fortunately, she already has a Google email account. This she needed because the Android phone demanded she gets a Google account to do anything fun with games and Apps, which requires an email account. Google’s marketing web starts early, just like McDonald’s, Pepsi/Coke, etc.  The strategy I use to combat such an early marketing message is to practice recognizing marketing intentions in all advertisements.  We play a game to see who can name the marketing purpose first whenever we get a new advertisement.

Anyway, back to the Google calendar:  Here are 7 Benefits that comes along with Google’s free online calendar:

1. Share your schedule – This makes scheduling easier when you can see your co-workers or families calendar to compare open times.
2. The calendar sync with your phone or tablet or you can use a mobile version of the calendar.
3. Alarms are user-friendly and they can notify you by text message directly to your mobile phone or by email. I have a daily notification of my calendar set up so I can receive an email of what I have scheduled at the beginning of each day.
4. The calendar makes it easy to invite other people to events and register RSVPs.
5. The Google calendar can also sync with your desktop if you use Apple iCal or Mozilla Sunbird. I did not use this feature as I just use the Google calendar directly on my desktop.
6. You can even check your calendar when you do not have internet availability with the Offline Access.
7. It is free!

To set up your Google Calendar, log in to Google and choose the calendar from the app menu at the top right of your screen.  Simply move your cursor over a time on the calendar and start typing into the pop-up window.  It really is that easy.  The steps to sync this calendar with your mobile phone or tablet is a tiny bit more complicated, but not much.  Feel free to give me a call or email and I’ll be happy to help you set this up.  Next, enjoy the simple life!