B2S - Family Calendaring

Today I'm resharing my "calendaring" post from last year because...

1) This is a commonly asked question I get asked this time of year

2) School has been kicking my tail this week (reentry is tough - hahaha) and I didn't have time to rewrite it as planned 

I'm hoping that you can glean a tip or two from here and I'd love it if you'd share your organization/planning/calendar tips in the comments!

 So I don't know if "calendaring" is a real word but I'm running with it.  Our family has a lot of moving pieces - three kids in activities, two working parents, you get the idea.  I get asked often about how we stay organized and although I was super resistant (#teampaperplannerforever) we switched to using shared apple calendars last year and it's been THE BEST THING EVER!

The main problem that I had with my paper planner was that I didn't have access to it all the time - and if I had it with me inevitably Dave would need to see it for some reason and it just wasn't working at all.  I know that some of y'all are like, "seriously?!?! she's blogging about Apple calendar... I've used that for years" and I get it!  I wish I had listened sooner!  So today's post is for those of y'all on the same struggle bus we were on, ok? ;) 

Here's how we set ours up... every kid has their own "calendar", I have my own calendar and then we have a family calendar, meal plan calendar and "school work" calendar (for Griffin mainly).  Dave and I share all of these so we can see them from our phones, laptop and desktop computers.  

The kids calendars are for their individual practices, parties, events., big due dates for school, etc.   My calendar is for things that just pertain to me (hair appointment, dinner with friends, etc.) and the family calendar is for things that involve our whole family (i.e. school play, church small group dinner, etc.)

The "Griffin School" calendar is where we put her memory verse and spelling words for the week.  That way if we're waiting at football practice or stuck at the oil change place or WHEREVER we have the spelling list and memory verse handy without having to track down an email or look through our camera rolls.  We've had one of these for Mason as well, but he's handling his own studying this year so he's in charge of keeping track of his words and verse.

The other calendar that we share on our devices is our "meal calendar" - we typically meal plan on Saturday morning and shop/prep that afternoon but keeping it as a shared calendar helps us remember what we're making the next day so one of us can pull out frozen chicken, etc. 

Okay - so here's what I love about using apple calendar...

- It's shared!!!  If Dave's at the coaches meeting and finds out that practice times are changed for the coming week he just makes the change in the calendar without having to tell me, write it down, etc.  I love that the family calendar really is shared between us and it's not "my planner" and he's unaware of all the things that are going on.

- You can set reminders!  This has been another big help for me - I love that I can add an event (i.e. bringing dinner to a co-worker on the 18th) and have a reminder set for the 16th (and the 17th!) so I remember to prep that and get it to them.  

- I feel like it's compatible with EVERYTHING! Maybe I've just had my head stuck in the sand for years and years but I love that I can RSVP yes to an evite or confirm an appointment from an email and in one click can add it to a calendar.  

We have a large calendar on the fridge where we also write down the meal plan and any big events that are coming up (birthday parties, games, etc.)... things that the kids will more than likely ask about and things that they like to have a visual of.

I've also started keeping my to-do-list on the "reminders" app on my phone... I like that I can schedule them out on future days and, again, I love that I have access to the list wherever.  I've always been the worst about making a list and then losing it halfway through the day so this has been working really well for me. 

As far as my blog goes, I'm still paper all the way (in general).  I have a notebook where I "schedule" things out and then make notes, check posts off as I write them, etc. but a lot of the daily tasks for the blog will then go on the reminders app on my phone/computer. 

And yes, I still use a paper planner for my school stuff.  I'll share that later if y'all are interested but it's pretty much the same as it's always been.

I REALLY hope that this post was helpful for at last one person.  I know that last year I felt like something had to "give" in the organizational department with keeping our family running smoothly and giving up my paper planner and switching to digital has been exactly what we needed to get back on track!

If you have any calendaring tips or tricks please leave them in the comments.  

HAPPY Tuesday, friends!