As of this writing, I have 5 linked Google calendars that include 3 calendars for volunteer groups, 1 Cozi family planner calendar, and 1 Outlook calendar. I didn’t start this relationship to get organized, since I’ve always been a planner. Instead, I’m dragging my partners into the virtually organized world.
Learning how to master a system of organization is an ongoing progress. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. If you’re trying to figure it all out, it’s unlikely you will find the perfect tool the first time. We’re still working on a better way to keep track of our lives.
We’ve learned that a household of three busy adults and two pre-school aged children makes for a lot of activity that needs communicated and shared. Though we try to do regular verbal check-ins about each week, having information housed in one place is essential.
So far, we really like Cozi for overall calendar management. I add Cozi to my Google calendar as well as my work Outlook calendar so everything I need is visually in one place. Our household still uses a monthly paper calendar on our refrigerator and we keep a one-week long whiteboard calendar on our cabinet that functions as our ‘command center’. We tacked a combination whiteboard/bulletin board up on the side of one cabinet to keep track of our grocery receipts, upcoming expenses or items that need ordered, and any time-sensitive to-do items so we can collectively remember what has to get done soon.
Meal planning, grocery shopping, and batch cooking is critical to the adults keeping some level of sanity each week. Feeding a family of five humans and two dogs is no small feat.
Other kitchen cabinets are adorned with one whiteboard with the list of food for adults and kids to each. We have an inventory list of food in our ‘inside’ freezer. And maybe because we’re so Midwestern, we have a garage chest freezer (aka deep freezer) as well as an upright refrigerator/freezer (aka the upright). Above the chest freezer is another large whiteboard that houses the inventory list for each freezer’s contents. A final whiteboard is stuck to the upright so we can track what additional food lives in the upright fridge.
I would love any recommendations you have for managing a virtual pantry inventory system. Thus far we haven’t found a great option for that. Cozi does offer a way to house recipes and do menu planning, but there are a few drawbacks. The app doesn’t show the menu planner nor does it give you any food or pantry inventory option so you could add menu items to a shopping list. The browser version of Cozi does give you better menu planning functionality but the shopping list process is still completely manual. There is no inventory management option in either version of Cozi. However for multiple calendar management, I like it better than Google calendar overall.
What kind of household organizing and management systems work for you? What are you still looking for? Are you doing all-virtual management, still paper-and-pen (or white boards!), or a combination of both?
Positive Poly Parenting 