As 2015 quickly approaches, I purchase a new calendar and write down all the birthdays of people I want to send a card/give a gift to. I use the 2014 calendar and go month by month to do that.
For other appointments and important dates that I need to remember throughout the year, I purchase a small pack of sticky notes and I write just the appointment time and doctor's name or whatever on the sticky note and then I put it on the corresponding date of the appointment. For example,
Dr Smith 2:45PM and I put the sticky note on the date i.e. January 13th. Dinner with Connie 6:00PM at Forrester's etc. etc. That way, if I have to change the appointment time, I don't have to scratch it off. I just move the sticky note and write the new time down, if necessary. That way, my calendar stays fairly neat looking without ink scratched off all over the place.
There are a lot of sticky notes per pad and they are fairly inexpensive.
Source: A co-worker from a long time ago
Life sometimes has a way of overwhelming us and making it difficult to get organized. The tutorial on this page offers a solution, by detailing how to make your own daily activity calendar.