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We temp. We do sympto-thermal Natural Family Planning, both to avoid and to achieve pregnancy. This means temping, checking cervical mucus, and cervix position. I know some people "chart" only using OPKs and the basic info but I am of the mind that more info is better. You can't know for sure when you ovulate, as the luetal phase (LP) isn't standard for all women, mine is 11-12 days but some women have 16 day LP. Likewise I usually O on day 14-16 and some women O on day 22. The easiest way for you to learn these things about your cycle is to temp.

I've temped and it's really helped me. FIrst, it allowed me to see that I was ovulating, and it has allowed me to see WHEN it happens. It has also helped ease my mind when my cycles have varied. For example, I usually have a 28 day cycle. Last cycle was 30 or 31 days. If I hadn't been temping, I would have been sure I was pregnant. But because of my chart and my temps, I knew I wasn't and that my cycle had just been thrown off.

I do my own version of charting. I'll start about 7 days after my period, and then maybe 4 days after I see the spike. It makes ovulation really clear and obvious, and I don't see the point in doing it every day if you're only looking for your fertile window!

My alarm goes off at 6 every morning. I keep the thermometer on my nightstand, lay there for a few seconds while it takes a reading. Some days I have to get up, others I just roll over until 7. No big deal.

Also, if you're wondering, I bought the BD brand basal body thermometer from Amazon.

We temp every morning at 6:30, and then go back to sleep if possible. I bought the Target brand Basal Thermometer and we've never had a problem with it. I have a paper chart that Hubs updates temps and sex on and I update CM. I also use fertilityfriend to double check ovulation and symptoms. We used temping and mucus to avoid pregnancy for 18 months, and to try. It's a great system.

I think temping is a good idea. For me personally it taught me when my fertile window was (fertilityfriend was always wrong), when I ovulated and when I got my bfp it was able to see a clear difference in my charts before I even tested. I have the bbt from Walmart and love it. I agree with the others and recommend getting your hubby involved. At first DH thought I was crazy for charting but as time passed he became very interested in what my temps were doing. Goodluck!

I temped but then stopped because it drove me crazy! I would obsess over my chart trying to figure out if every little thing was an early sign. I stopped until the month I took Clomid. When we're ready to try again, I'll probably temp for a month or two just to see what's going on with my body.

i have been charting for my last 3 cycles. at first i did it to learn if i was ovulating after getting off of BCP and also to know when my period was on its way, because my cycles started @ 60 days! but now its a good tool to see when i ovulate and if there was any chance of pregnancy that month.

It took us 3 months to get pregnant, and on the 3rd cycle I decided to start temping. For me, my fertility signs were pretty obvious, and my cycle was regular, so temping was more of a way for me to confirm that I was ovulating exactly when I thought I was.
I would say it was fun to actually see my temperature shift after ovulation. I'm still pretty wow-ed by all of the interesting things that women's bodies do! Also, my chart gave me a pretty good indication that I might be pregnant, since my temps just kept going up, up, up.