The Family That Shares Together Stays Together

The Concept of a Digital Toolbox – Part 9

What tools do you guys use to bring your family into harmony?  

If you don’t have tools for bringing your family together in this day and age, you’re missing out.  What I mean by this question is how do you keep your family in sync? Today everyone has a busy schedule.  Everyone has schedules that differ; the children even have busy schedules and we all have activities that we share in common.  How then do you share information regarding the obligations you share with others in the household?

Plan a shared calendar so that planning your family’s calendar doesn’t fail.

You know that saying is true.  If you don’t have a plan, you plan to fail.  Whatever you don’t have a plan for, you have a plan to fail in that area and this includes your calendar.  Why fail when it comes to doing something so simple as having a calendar for the family?  As I think about it, a family calendar should be the priority calendar and everything else works around that one.  But if you don’t have one, then how can you make your family priority?

Plan to share communication that impacts the family, so that your communications as a family doesn’t fail.

How many times have you received an email that the family needed, but you read it too late?  How many billing alerts, credit card expiration alerts, and other alerts have you let slip by and could have been alleviated had it gone to another family member?  There is no need to let this occur when there are so many tools available now due to improved technology. Let me add, if you have a “smartphone”, there is no excuse.

If these situations plague you and your family, then you need the tools I’m getting ready to share.  But before I do, let me give you a tip that’s free and very useful for any individual or family. Because most people have gmail accounts, they also have access to all the free tools that Google offers.  You might be spending big dollars or small dollars on tools that come free with your gmail account.  

Now for the tools you could use and why.

• Shared calendar.  A shared calendar is the answer for any family whose members have busy schedules.  We created our first shared calendar using Google calendar.   It’s free, it’s easy, and it syncs with all our devices (mobile and stationary).   It wasn’t until last year that we decided to go with Microsoft Outlook calendar.  Once we tried it, we were sold and it’s free, but more importantly it’s “Outlook”.  Remember I’m not trying to sell you our tools, but rather giving you ideas for finding the best tool to support your family, your life, your business.
  • With a shared calendar you can add activities that everyone needs to see and know such as:
    • School calendars
    • Special events, celebrations, and special days
    • Birthdays and anniversaries
    • The family’s annual calendar for vacation plans and other family activities.

Just like any other calendar, it’s available on your devices and you can see in a quick glance what’s going on in your life, your home, your business.

• Shared email address.  A shared email address becomes import when different family members manage different responsibilities and wish to include the family.  I guess you’re wondering how that’s done. We did it in two ways:
  • A shared gmail account.  The easiest and 1st way we created a shared email address has been through Google’s gmail.  We created an account for our family and each person has access to it. This way emails for things like bills and family subscriptions go to everyone and ensures someone sees it.
  • A family distribution list.  Because we have our own platforms, we can create our own email addresses.  With that comes the ability to create email addresses that can forward to each of our personal email addresses respectively.  We feel this is the better options so that we don’t have to manage multiple inboxes.

Before we can leave this topic, we must discuss “the annual review.”  Every family needs a time to review what it does. Just like any great company, you need time to reflect on loses and accomplishments, what went well, and what didn’t.

Today is Friday!

Since we’re discussing calendar tips and email hacks, you need to add this to your yearly review process.  We always ask ourselves, what went well and what didn’t work so well. In this way, we can spend our time improving our processes, our tools, and making our lives, our family, our business better.

The Family Plan Binder is available now!

Our team has worked very hard putting it together. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward in making your life your business. Find out more about the Family plan here.