Difficulties Knowing (TMI)

I'm having a hard time deciding when my actual start date was....
TMI ALERT:
the 5th and 6th of this month i was BARELY spotting, and i actually started full and angry AF on the 7th. so when is my actual start date?

i would say the day you started spotting. but im no doctor so dont hold me to that. lol

Quoting Waiting 4 baby:“ i would say the day you started spotting. but im no doctor so dont hold me to that. lol”

I agree.

I think my ob-gyn told me the first day of spotting, but that was always super hard for me when I was TTC Megan b/c I spotted for a solid week, then had a heavy AF. Stupid PCOS. I would count the first spot-day. 

I have always been told to start with the day you spot as long as AF keeps coming because if your like me you can just spot every now and then.

so just to be safe i'll def make sure to BD on the 18-20. i told DH that come the 18-23 were gonna be BD'ing lots that week!
though all the ladies at the daycare center keep telling me to stop trying and i'll get preggo. haha maybe i'll start drinking the water here. they say that does it to you too. everyone here is preggo like year round! guess that's what happens when you live on an island!

The first day is supposed to be the first day that you have actual flow, not spotting.

ETA: This is from fertilityfriend.com:
Spotting: Record "spotting" when you have any pink or dark red/brown spots that leave a small mark on your underwear or pantyliner or that you only see when you wipe. If it does not require a pad or tampon, record it as spotting rather than menses. You may see spotting before or after your period, around the time of ovulation or around the time of implantation if you conceive. Do not start a new chart until you have red flow.

Menses: When you record "menses" you can choose light, normal and heavy. Always start a new chart on your first day of menses. That is the first day that you have red blood flow that requires a pad or tampon. This is cycle day one. Fertility Friend will automatically start a new chart for you when you enter menses.

Quoting Robbie-K:“ The first day is supposed to be the first day that you have actual flow, not spotting. ETA: This is ... [snip!] ... a pad or tampon. This is cycle day one. Fertility Friend will automatically start a new chart for you when you enter menses. ”

tyvm this was super helpful!

Quoting ardunham07:“ tyvm this was super helpful!”

You're welcome! FertilityFriend.com has a really great tutorial on charting.

one more silly question,
how do you know what day to POAS?

Quoting ardunham07:“ one more silly question, how do you know what day to POAS?”

Here's a chart that shows the likelihood of getting a positive at different points past ovulation:

Positive BFP Percentages according to dpo:
* 35% at 10dpo
* 51% at 11dpo
* 62% at 12dpo
* 68% at 13dpo
* 74% at 14dpo
* 80% at 15dpo
* 88% at 16dpo
* 92% at 17dpo

So, this means that if 100 pregnant women POAS at 10 dpo, only 35 of them would get a positive even though they're all pregnant. As you can see the longer you wait, the higher the chance is that you'll get a bfp if you're pregnant.

ohh okay so say im ovulating on the 20th, i'd want to POAS on like the 6th of august....which according to my charting would be three days after my next cycle...i'll figure this out eventually.