I won’t lie to you. I don’t have all the secrets for keeping your busy family on schedule, but I do have a few tips that might help! 

With one kid in high school, one in middle, and one in elementary, our family is all over the place. Literally. Our calendar is inundated with parties, assignments, extracurriculars, appointments, and more. It’s a wonder we ever make it to anything. But I’ve learned a few tricks to make sure we do! 

3 TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR BUSY FAMILY ON SCHEDULE:

1. Create a family planning nook.

For us, we have a space in our butler’s pantry that is just for our family calendar. I keep everything organized on my phone, but I found that we also needed a physical place where everyone can see our schedule.

In this space, I have a dry-erase calendar where I write out everything our family has for the day. I get super specific with it, even including lunch schedules so everyone knows what to expect. The creative in me used to keep it all color coded in fancy handwriting, but after the 50th time one of my kids erased my hard work, I let it go and just write it out plainly.

This calendar includes everything we have on our schedule and my kids and husband check it every day, keeping us all on track!

2. Write on your windows.

Okay, hear me out on this one. I know it sounds crazy, but this will be so helpful for keeping your busy family on schedule.

I simply grab a dry-erase marker and write everything my kids have on their schedule right on their bedroom window. And you better believe I include their chore list as well! This has not only kept our family on schedule, but it has helped to keep my kids accountable for remembering their own tasks and events.

It wipes off easily with a rag or paper towel and keeps me from constantly nagging my kids and starting the pre-teen argument battle.  Can I get an amen?

3. Share your calendar with your spouse.

My husband and I have our smartphone calendars linked so anything we add, gets shared with one another. This has been so crucial for keeping our busy family on schedule. Long gone are the days when we’d have to call one another to see if the calendar is free on their end.

Now we can quickly and easily open our phones, check out calendars, and see what our family has going on. And no more playing the blame game of “you never told me!” We simply add it to our calendar and it instantly gets shared. No more surprises in our day!

BENEFITS OF KEEPING EVERYONE IN THE LOOP

I don’t know about your family, but before we started implementing the 3 tips above, we were all over the place! And it usually was the wrong place at the wrong time.

Since we created a plan that is shared with everyone, in a place we all pass every day, we aren’t missing events, showing up late, or arguing about who has to be where! There is so much more peace and organization in our home and it has freed me up mentally to focus on other things. Keeping my family on schedule has been so crucial for helping me run my business and protect my peace!

If you are simply flying by the seat of your pants when it comes to keeping your busy family on schedule, I highly encourage you to implement at least one of the tips shared here. You may not even realize that some of the chaos in your day will be resolved by simply having a plan and sharing it with your family!

In an effort to help you lead a life of success, I created The Direct Dish Community where I’m dishing out my best tips and tricks to thriving in life, business, and everything in between. Join the community today and take back your days once and for all!

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” And I couldn’t agree more. Help set your entire family up for success by creating a plan for your busy life. I promise the overflow into everything else will be well worth the effort it takes!