With the falling of leaves comes the filling of calendars. It is a relationship you can’t ignore. Fall sports are back, so there are practices and games. Then there are music lessons, after-school activities, birthday parties, and (sooner than we can imagine) the holidays and holiday gatherings. There are so many moving parts, especially when you are talking about the schedules of several people in a family. How do we organize it all? It can be absolutely maddening. Well, let’s explore how we can hopefully get a little more organized.
Calendar It Up
Calendars, calendars, calendars! Wall calendars, desk calendars, bag calendars … get all the calendars. Research has shown how writing by hand has far more advantages than writing notes on your computer or phone. Physically writing something on the calendar helps you remember it. Write down everything that is going on in a central location so people can see what is happening.
Some ideas about calendars: paint a wall with chalkboard paint and keep track of what everyone is doing. A giant whiteboard would work too. Have a command center to put several calendars, reminders, and more. Check out The Spruce to create your own family command center.
Planners-Old School and Digital
Planners are like a calendar but go to the next level. There are themes and stickers, and accessories to help organize your life … in a fun way. Happy Planner has all the stickers and really niche planners, or look at these planners. Also, there are several digital planners you can get on digital downloads. Explore Etsy for some examples of what is available.
Color Code Your Family
Yep, you read that right. Organized Mama has some great ideas about giving your family their own color. Each person gets their own color then you use colored pens and sticky notes in the colors to organize your family members’ events. So, on your calendars, you don’t have to write out people’s names; you can only use the colors instead. This seems like you can use this for several applications … family colors on folders for papers, luggage, toothbrushes, etc.
Reminders Are Your Friend
Set up your reminders on your phones or other devices. Taking a kid to school? Set a reminder. Need to get some baked goods for a team party? Put it in your reminders. You can set up chore reminders for kids who have devices. It is a great way to nudge you to do your calendar tasks.
Apps That May Help
Cozi can track everyone’s activities in one shared place. The Cozi website says it manages school events, the practice schedule, dentist appointments, vacations … or whatever you need! You can share grocery lists, to-do lists, and even recipes. You can use Cozi on any mobile device or computer.
TimeTree was built to be an integral part of managing one’s schedules through sharing and communication. Time Tree wanted your living room calendar, work calendar, and social calendar in the palm of your hand, with features that allow you to share and communicate within the calendar itself.
This is a real-time family location-sharing app. You can assign and share to-dos and lists with the family. This app stores everything from medical to household info. Picniic can create lists for all your favorite stores. This app evens connects with Team Snap so you can see when game time overlaps with other scheduled events.
This old faithful is a great and simple way to schedule your family. You can create a Family Calendar, and as a member, you can edit the calendar. Everything can be scheduled in one place and accessed on different devices. You can add subsets of calendars as well to help keep everyone on track.
Organizing our families is such an important skill. Not only do we want to avoid missing an after-school pick-up or a deadline for a field trip, but we also want to get organized so it is easier to run our families. It is an important skill to teach our children. We want to set them up for success by being in control of their lives when it feels out of control.
How do you keep your family going smoothly? What are your organizational tips and tricks to get your family where they need to be? We would love to hear from you.
Johanna is married with two kids, three dogs, three cats, one leopard gecko, several chickens, and a few fish. She has been in the Pacific Northwest since the dream was alive in the 90s but has Southern roots and hails from Arkansas. The family spends a lot of time at some sort of sporting event for the kids. Johanna likes to fast craft, garden, host parties, and bake. Johanna and her crew go hard traveling, DIY-ing, and are always up for a new adventure or challenge.
