Everyday Life and Happiness

If your family is anything like mine, we are constantly on the go!  Between Scouts, tutors, pre-school, playdates…our schedule is typically full all the time!

Now I used to be the queen of post-it notes. If there was something we needed to do, I wrote it on a post it note. The problem was that half the time these notes would disappear and we’d find ourselves missing important events; thus causing unhappiness for the whole family. There had to be a better way!

See where I’m going with this?

So, in order to make life as easy as possible we began using a Monthly Family Planning Calendar. It helps to keep us organized and allows us to never miss important events anymore. Best thing is ~ it takes your brain out of the equation which is a good thing in my case because I forget EVERYTHING! Just ask my husband

Here are some great tips to help you create your own Monthly Family Planning Calendar:

1. Pick a Calendar to Use ~  We knew that we were going to need one master calendar for the family so we went out and purchased a framed single-month calendar from Office Depot and hung it on the wall in our kitchen. Yes, this is my calendar on the left hand side of the page   See…I told you we are a busy family

Do what works for your family. Does each person need their own paper calendar? Are you all lucky enough to have IPhones so you can link your schedules? Whatever method you choose, make sure that every family member knows exactly where this calendar is so they can check it on a daily basis.

Image Courtesy of Hilde Vanstraelen

2.  Purchase a small yearly calendar for yourself ~ Okay, why? Because it will help you keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, etc… This way when you are ready to

do next month’s calendar, you will have all of these dates at your fingertips.

Another good thing about this calendar is that you will have somewhere to write in all of those future events you need to plan for that spring up when you are away from home like playdates or sales at the shoe store

3. Log your family activities on your master calendar ~ I typically fill out our calendar on the last day of the month as a rule of thumb. On our calendar you can see there is a color for each kid. AJ is blue and Jack is green. Our family activities are listed in black and holidays and special events are listed in red.

Color coding really helps us to keep track of who needs to go where without having to write out their names. It also helps our kids see their activities quickly ~ they just look for their color! When you are logging make sure you put any important information such as start times and locations if necessary.

4. Resolve any scheduling conflicts ~ If you notice that you are double booked, sit down with your spouse to discuss your options. Could you cancel or postpone something? Could each of you take one or the other chid to their activity?

Having this all thought out ahead of time really helps avoid any confusion when the date comes. It is also a great way to teach children about priorities and working together to meet a common goal!

5. Encourage your kids and spouse to check the calendar daily ~ Get your spouse and kids in a good habit of checking the calendar daily to see what activities they get to do that day. If you choose to color code your calendars it will help each of your children find their particular activities quickly!

A good way to get them looking is to put surprises on your calendar like family movie nights or family game nights.

6. Faithfully cross off each day when it is done ~ I can’t tell you how many times I have thought it was the wrong day because I forgot to cross off my calendar!

Do you have a calendar or a system to keep your family organized?  I’d love to hear your suggestions!