Gen & I try to stay on the same page, and recognize our own differences in how we deal with it all.
Homework, school fundraisers, deadlines, volunteer hours, soccer practice, work commitments, and more are daily reminders of how much things have changed, and will only get more complex in the years to come. Between the two of us, I'm a bit more
We've tried the wall calendar
Pros: Great visual reminder, sits by the backdoor (just like our laundry)
Cons: No automated reminders, hard to fold up in your pocket
We've tried a family Google Calendar
Pros: Easy to set up & sync with personal calendars, set reminders, access via phone, etc.
Cons: Didn't log it in and set it right? Won't do you any good...
There are countless apps and organizers that promise to make it easy, but not all of them are a fit for our personal preferences.
All that said... looking for some help here...
Curious to see what other households do. How do you organize your lives and all the moving parts without making it a full-time job?
Conor
the 'best' solution that my husband has found at my house is to just let me handle it all... and if I can't handle it, then it doesn't get done or the kids don't get to do it :(
ReplyDeletei have 4 kids...all different ages, 2 diff schools, diff schedules...its a never ending battle! if you figure something out let me know!
ReplyDeletewww.cozi.com: you guys would love it!
ReplyDeleteWe have 1 kid and 3 jobs between us and we have not figured it out. We continue to be confused about who is supposed to be where and when. Even if I had the answers, I'm not sure I'd feel qualified to provide advice to you guys with 4 kids. However, if you ever do figure it out, please share. My guess, however, is that you're just taking time to adjust to the "new normal". Sorry... we'll miss 'em when they go off to college... right?
ReplyDeleteFirst let me say that my chaos is no where near the chaos that you have and will encounter with 4 in one grade and with different activities. You guys rock out loud!
ReplyDeleteWe live by the Wall Calendar and I buy the Monster Grid Calendar because it has large boxes for each day. The kids are old enough now that when they know they have someplace to be I ask them to write it on the calendar.
You have been juggling four for so long and doing such an awesome job that I promise you will figure all this out too!
Lunches are always packed the night before, backpacks are packed up the night before as well. When mine were little, clothes were also selected the night before. The only things that had to be focused on in the morning was eating breakfast, brushing hair and teeth and getting dressed so we could get out the door quickly.
It gets easier - promise (and then it gets harder when they hit HIgh School)
Hugs
I like the remember the milk app! Good luck organizing your busy lives!
ReplyDeleteI have ten kids and I have yet to find a system that works for us. one thing I have done that cuts down a bit on laundry work is each bedroom has a color coded basekt. ie, the girls is pink, oldest son is black, younger sons is yellow, middle sons is blue, youngest and oldest daughter that share a room have red. they are crates like you buy at back to school time usually marketed towards college kids. I do not fold laundry. not my job. I simply sort them into the right basket and it is there job to get it taken care of from there. if they choose not to put them away they wear wrinkly clothes. not my problem. sure I would rather they look all perfect and shiny and clean and wrinkle free. but I am only one person and I can not do it all. their clothes, their responsibility. as they are getting older they are also becoming more responsible for washing their own clothes.
ReplyDeletefirst and foremost- you and that beautiful wifey poo need to plan a trip to texas to hang with your BFFs. that will definitely help you plan and organize easier. ;)
ReplyDeletetee hee hee.
what is helping me- is knowing that the only time i will have by myself is early in the morning before anyone wakes up. that is when i go workout and have my quiet time.
and every sunday night, i sit down and plan out my week. what we are going to eat, etc. and i make out my grocery lists based on our meal plan.
i also carry my planner around like the bible and write events in as soon as i can. i'm constantly looking ahead.
i'm also scheduling in date nights and girls' night outs---something to look forward to, that i can physically see on my calendar.
love you guys so freaking much.
suz
We swear by our google calendars on our phones. We both have Android phones so it synches easily. There are ical and all those other ones too. The key for us is putting all of the recurring activities on there for the length of the class or whatever it is. Everything goes on our calendar or it won't happen. I work part time so it is the only way I can keep track of things at home, school and work. You can even set it up to email you a daily agenda each day.
ReplyDeleteYou are up against it with 4 kids, but here are a couple things that helped us.
ReplyDeleteDedicated bags for things, even if it means you have a lot of bags. Soccer shoes, etc. stay in the soccer bags, gym stuff stays in the gym bags, etc. This will grow to dance bags, music bags, etc. but it's easier to have more bags than be forever searching for things. Sounds crazy, I know, but it helps.
Give the kids checklists for their stuff and for the activities they can handle. This can be pictures now, changing to words later. Need to pack the soccer bags? They check the soccer list and get it done. Dressed, teeth brushed, jackets ready in the morning? Check the picture list and follow the steps. Good training for learning to be responsible for their own stuff, and learning to check things and be thorough. Plus, my kids loved having the job of packing stuff from their lists.
Your kids are a little too young to be responsible for all their own stuff yet, but probably a good skill to start practicing early to protect all your sanity!
cozi.com
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing! Different family members can log in with their own e-mails. It will send texts and emails, has a place for shopping lists and keeps everyones schedule color coordinated and it's free! Who doesn't love free.
I agree with Carol. Cozi is my lifeasver! I heard about it from comments on Suz's blog and set it up with a different category for each of our kids, myself, my husband, house duties, and menu. It's color coded, user friendly, easily sync's to your phone, works with Google's calendar feature, and a way I can look at every category on one page if I so choose. It also has a great grocery list ("shopping") feature that I can keep my grocery list on so I don't forget it when I'm at the store. In the "Home" category is where I put all the chores that I think need to get done and spread them out throughout the week. Menu is where I meal plan so I can see the month in a rolling calendar and know what's for dinner that week. I'm a lot like you Conor, more on the persistant type to get things done. My husband is more laize faire about it all. Chaos will always be there. Kids or no kids. But being organized and (like Suz) planning ahead makes things MUCH easier for us! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI know you already said it didn't work for you, but I love and could not survive without my Google calendar. At work, I use Outlook, 'cause that's what I have, but with both I categorize, colorize, and set reminders.
ReplyDeleteI NEED the reminders.
I third the Cozi.com comments! I have 3 kids, work as a nurse and have a police officer husband. I have trained him to check it and he now has no excuses for not knowing what is going on! He syncs it to his Outlook calendar at work and we both have the app on our iphones. It is fantastic once you get into the rhythm of it!!
ReplyDeleteI have a planner that goes EVERYWHERE with me.... As soon as papers get sent home or appts are made w/e the case the date/time goes down in the planner... I check it ALL.THE.TIME and I'm never w/ out it. I would be lost w/ out it!
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult, but a resource I found helpful is organizedhome.com. It has some great tips for staying organized. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult, but one resource I found useful is organizedhome.com. Especially their 'launch pad' and household notebook ideas. Of course my blackberry is very useful too for setting reminders. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteHave been reading you guys for years. My husband and I both have Outlook for our jobs, and it connects to our Smartphones
We Outlook invite everything to each other... my girls nights outs, if there is a change in kids pick up schedules, dr's apts, etc. We Outlook invite each other to anything at our workplace (IE outside our normal hours) that will effect our home life.
I Outlook invite Mark to all of our personal activities, weekend activities for us... so he always knows when we are going to a kid's birthday party, where we are on Christmas day, etc.
I invite him to our dates, and update with who is babysitting, etc.
It actually does work for us... because it combines our work life and is easily adjusted on phone or computer.
We tried Cozi, but neither of us needed ONE MORE CALENDAR. What we needed was to ADD to the calendars we already HAVE to use.
I painted a wall in the kitchen with chalkboard paint and then painted a big grid on that. I fill in the blocks each week with my "to do" list.
ReplyDelete(left the bottom half of the wall "open" for the kids to write with chalk to keep from tempting them from erasing my appointments)
You could probably buy the wallies that use dry erase pens and get the same effect.
My life has become INSANE this year, with 3 in football on different teams, 4 in track, 2 in pre-k (different classes), and one with a job.. my life isn't my own. It's CRAZY.
Good luck!
Gen, I live and die by my MS Outlook calendar. I have everything in there. I even color code certain things, e.g. orange for my husband, blue for our son and pink for our girlies. I love Outlook! You can also configure it to archive/back up. That way I can look back a 6 months ago for something. It's all installed on my computer. Outlook is also where I download my email. So I have everything in one place, e.g. emails and calendar!
ReplyDeleteHTH! Good luck! :)
-Maria, fellow quad mom of 3.5yo GGGG and a 7.5yo boy