As a working mom, I feel like my schedule is always to the minute. It’s a constant rush to work, to childcare pickup, to dinner, to bed.

There’s not much time in the day to spend on anything else besides the daily grind, making it too easy for holidays and other important dates to sneak up on me without warning. When that happens, I end up feeling stressed out and scrambling to prepare at the last minute.

I really struggled with this in the first year of motherhood. I felt like I was always trying to catch up and stay afloat, never feeling prepared and always rushing to throw something together at the last minute.

Eventually I got tired of constantly feeling behind and dedicated a chunk of time to planning my calendar in advance for the entire year. Doing that has really made a huge difference in my stress and anxiety levels, and I’ve seen big improvements to the overall flow of my days.

Tips for planning ahead

Planning ahead has helped, but it’s not as easy as putting the dates on the calendar. For me, it’s been most helpful when I go a step beyond that and put a little more thought into the process.

Putting the date on the calendar is a good start, but it isn’t enough. Unless you’re constantly looking ahead at your calendar (which I definitely am not), you don’t know what’s coming until it’s already here. That’s not very useful if you need to put in time off from work in advance or plan otherwise.

You need multiple reminders that an important date is approaching. Setting up multiple reminders is the key to staying on top of everything. It could be anywhere from a few days to weeks to months, depending on what your plans are.

You need reminders farther out for bigger events. Planning a birthday party for your kids may need several months’ notice, while buying gifts for Teacher’s Appreciation week may only need a reminder a couple weeks ahead.

Schools and daycares may not remind you very far in advance that something is happening. If your child is in daycare or school, don’t rely on them to remind you about important dates, as that reminder may not come until the week of – which is usually too late to do anything.

Generally, I put 3 reminders on the calendar for each important date – one on the actual day, one the day before, and one 2-3 weeks before to remind me that it’s coming up. This system has been incredibly helpful for staying on top of things and allows me to feel a greater sense of control over my day.

Important monthly dates you should put on your calendar to help stay organized

For working moms, holidays and popular national observances should always be on your calendar – it’s likely there will be school closures or events that you’ll need to keep track of.

Even if they’re not enrolled in a childcare program, you’ll still want to take note of these dates as you may want to plan your own celebrations.

Here are some of the most important dates you want to take note of.

January

1: New Year’s Day
3rd Monday in January: MLK Birthday

February

14: Valentine’s Day

March

Mid-to-late March: Spring Break
17: Saint Patrick’s Day
20: First day of Spring
Anytime between March 22 and April 25: Easter

May

1st full week in May: Teacher’s Appreciation Week
2nd Sunday in May: Mother’s Day
Last Monday in May: Memorial Day

June

19: Juneteenth
20/21/22: First day of Summer
3rd Sunday in June: Father’s Day

July

4: Independence Day

September

1st Monday in September: Labor Day
1st Sunday after Labor Day: Grandparents Day
22: First day of Fall

October

2nd Monday in October: Columbus Day
31: Halloween

November

11: Veteran’s Day
4th Thursday in November: Thanksgiving Day

December

21: First day of Winter
24: Christmas Eve
25: Christmas Day
31: New Year’s Eve

Other important dates

Personal vacations and time off
Medical appointments
Birthdays and anniversaries
Daycare/ school holidays and closures
Daycare/ school registrations and meetings
Big extracurricular events (like sports games or recitals)

Working moms often have so much to keep track of that it’s easy to forget important dates until they’re already upon us. Spending a little time planning your yearly calendar can make a huge difference when it comes to being prepared and avoiding last-minute rushing.