PlumLife, the scheduling and communication product I created, has been "in the cloud" for over a year now.  So, our customers know the joys of having their data in sync, all the time--from any device.

Being an iPhone, MAC and iPad user, I felt compelled (literally) to move to iCloud since Apple practically forces it upon you if you want to find-your-phone, photo, video and song storage.  I had been warned that there were still bugs in the system, but having faith in Apple, I went ahead and made the move--or tried.

What a MISERABLE experience  The calenars are now totally cluttered with HUNDREDS of duplicate appointments.  I'm not talking about my appointments doubled.  What I see is Black Friday EVERY DAY.  Or, my weekly appointments everyday...forever.

Further, Apple does not provide a way to delete entire calendars (that I've found) so if one were crazy enough to attempt to clean up the mess, it would take deleting each appointment individually.  Thankfully, I'm not using the Apple calendar product anymore because PlumLife has more features that help me manage the many schedules that I juggle for my family.

We, at PlumLife, have been sweating about the fact that our set-up is not as easy as we'd like.  It takes 3 steps and we would like it to be 1.  But, I'm feeling a bit better given that the Goliath in the field of online organization and simplification hasn't mastered it either.

At least with our set up, you only get one copy of each of your appointments in the cloud.

I'm just sayin'...

Regen Fearon

CEO and Founder

Life is crazy this time of year. Not just the getting ready part - buying backpacks, and new sneakers, and making sure we get the schedule down for pick-up and drop-off and carpool. But, there’s also this over-riding anxiety about what to do with all this paper that is showing up on the table and in folders and attachments via email. 

From the moment my children's schools and sports teams decide it’s time to make me aware of every single solitary detail in their school lives, until the end of this school year,  I’m inundated with more paper and PDF calendars and schedules than I know what to do with.   Gosh, I don’t mean to complain—wait a sec, yes I do!  If you love typing your children's schedules into your calendar one event at a time, well, you’re a better woman than I am.  I love their schools but for pete’s sake, could ya get with the 21st century and send us all this stuff so we only push the button once and the schedule appears in MY electronic calendar?

Based on this year’s lack of electronic onslaught, I’m guessing the answer is “No.” 

But thankfully, this year, it will be better. I’ve found a tool within PlumLife to help enter their schedules into my calendar a little differently and make it a little easier.

I’ll be using PlumLife’s Bulk Entry system to enter all the team schedules, meetings, teacher conferences, early out days and everything else that comes my way. I know, I know…yes, I work for this great online calendar company so why haven’t I used this feature before?  Well, for the same reason my good friend who’s worked for The Container Store for 20 years  doesn’t have a house that’s uh, contained.

What used to take me an hour to do, now only takes me about 10 minutes.  Presto chango!  I’m finished in no time at all! There’s a picture below, but if you’d like to learn the details of how I did it, click here.

Dear friends,

How are you?  How is your summer going?  For us very, very busy!  I know it's been a while since you've heard from us, but I wanted to let you know that even though it's all quiet here, we are busy working on a few surprises for you.  Enjoy your summer; we are as well.  So if you don't hear from us, don't fret.  We're listening, just very busy; so we might not be posting for a while.  But if you have a question, let us know.  We'll respond.  And we'll be back in the Fall with a great treat for you and your friends. ;)

Cheers,

PlumLife

Are you a fan of lifestyle blogs?  Well then you must absolutely start reading The Succulent Wife!  We love this blog, not only because they love PlumLife, but because they feature a diverse group of bloggers and topics!  Read their review: PlumLife - A Smart Family Calendar.

Welcome to PlumLife! If you've just started using PlumLife, and you're not sure what to do first to really make the most of your PlumLife, here is where to start.

1) Before you get started view the PlumLife: Quick Overview Video.

2) Set up the My Account area on your PlumLife. In this post titled PlumLife: Getting Started Video Tutorial I explain how to set up your My Account.  Think about what you want to name your workspace.

3) Now that you have set up your My Account area, named your workspace, think about all the different calendars you are going to want to include in your PlumLife.  We have provide you a list of all the different calendars you may want to set up and instructions on how to create each calendar.  

4) Now that you have your calendars all set up, it's time for you to import your contacts. This video tutorial explains how to Import your Contacts into PlumLife from an Apple AddressBook. 

5) The last step to getting started is to import your external calendars, like your Outlook calendar from work or other calendars.  In this post I share how to make PlumLife work with your work Outlook calendar.

Now you should be good to go!

Do you know where to find PlumLife?  Make sure you fan us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our blog on Posterous or our channel on YouTube.  And if you love your PlumLife calendar, share us with your friends!

Last week Leslie Carr shared with us how she uses PlumLife with her children.  Take a look at this video from Regen about placing an event on your kid's calendar.

Ever wish there was a button for that?  Well with PlumLife there is! Just like every other website out there, we have online resources to answer your basic questions and guide you through the set up process.

You can access these online resouces including our FAQs, Getting Started Guides and more by clicking the link HELP in the upper right bar.  But if you can't find the answer to your question or don't understand our instructions, click the FEEDBACK link in the upper right bar.

We promise a real-live person receives these messages and will respond to your inquiry or request for help as soon as she can.

Did everyone hear the collective exhale this when week school ended for a whole lot of teenagers in the South?  I love it when my children are home for the summer and always fall into the mistaken belief our days will be lazy and haphazard.  And then...as fast as you can say "Are we there yet?" I awake from my slumber.