Published on July 1st, 2016 | by Guest

7 Apps That Help Busy Families Stay Organized

Every day, your responsibilities as a parent cross all sorts of paths, requiring you to juggle tasks, take care of your family, schedule activities, stay organized and keep everyone safe and healthy. Maintaining a consistent schedule is one of the simplest ways to keep everyone in your family in the know about what is going on and what to expect from daily activities.

Your smartphone is one of the most convenient tools that you have to stay organized and up-to-date. There are many apps that have been specifically designed to help you stay organized with appointments, daily practice schedules, chores, to-do lists, grocery lists and more. These apps allow the whole family to sync up their phones in order to keep track of one another.

Google Calendar App

The Google Calendar is a well-known free app that allows you to organize your schedule and see what activities your family is involved with. It automatically connects with your email and works on all of your electronic devices. Everybody in your family can share the single calendar by using a different color for each person. You will be able to stay updated about who has to be where and at what time. You can set up reminders, see your full day’s schedule and check out photos or get directions of the places you need to be.

Family Organizer

Family Organizer is a day to day planner that formats your schedule in an easy to read way so that you do not forget anything. It helps you to manage your life at home by sharing a calendar, grocery list and household to-do list. With this app, you can set up text and email reminders and sync up with your computer to share your schedule with people on your contacts list.

Cozi

Cozi is another app that can help you to organize your whole family’s schedule. It works on iPhones, iPads, Androids, Blackberries and desktop or laptop computers. It automatically updates the family calendar each time you log in.

With Cozi, you can enter appointments, make to-do lists and remind yourself about special events. If you need to remind a family member about a certain appointment, the app allows you to send emails or directly text family members. There is also a separate family journal section where you can make a timeline of your photos and add your own captions.

Grocery IQ

With the Grocery IQ app, you can set up shopping lists for all of your favorite stores. You can make your trip as efficient as possible by organizing your list by aisles. The app allows you to take photos of an item’s bar code at home and then it adds the item to your shopping list. The list can be sent to anybody who shares your account. While at the store, you can scan items and find out if there are coupons or offers on the item.

To make it easier for your teenagers or spouse to do the shopping, you can add the expected price and a product description, the size of the box you want, the amount of produce, the quantity of items and the flavor. The app allows you to sync lists through its website and share the list with your friends and family.

HATCHEDit

HATCHEDit offers a shared calendar to coordinate activities with your friends, family, coworkers and other social groups. You can build your own contact list of who to share things with. The app also allows you to privately share photos for just the people on your list. This is a very useful feature because you don’t have to post photos of your kids on social media, which can be dangerous.

HATCHEDit also has an appointment book and a way to connect socially with other families for scheduling play dates. There is a customized news section and curating section as well, so that you can keep track of your favorite types of blogs for inspiration and information.

Two Happy Homes

Two Happy Homes is a web based app that helps parents who live separately to coordinate their schedules for the kids. This app facilitates communications and schedules by allowing parents to maintain a shared calendar and list of contacts. You can use this app to share reminders, medical updates, important school documents and photos. There is also a place to save and pay expenses where both parents can see what has been done.

Chore Hero

When you need a fun way to keep your kids organized with their chores, look to Chore Hero. This app helps your kids to be responsible without you needing to remind them. When kids check in and complete a chore, they build up points. The app works on a game principle, allowing your kids to advance through the levels, going from Newbie to Hero. You can assign different chores to different family members on different days or let the app assign duties for you.

Conclusion

With these free and low-cost apps, you can keep your family organized and up-to-date on what needs to be done around the house. These apps can work for any type of family, including parents who do not live together. By sharing your to-do lists and daily schedules, you will always be up-to-date with every family member’s daily activities, which can make your entire family life a whole lot easier.

Author bio:

Patricia Dimick is a Denver based stay-at- home mom, freelance writer and tech enthusiast who always finds a way to harmonize her agile family life with her passions. Feel free to reach her @Patricia_Dimick

Photo credit:

https://pixabay.com/en/mockup-iphone-app-mobile-ios-ui-865115/

Tags: busy, family, organized, stay