Organising a family of five with a shared calendar!

When I tell people I have three small children they often respond with “Oooh you’ve got your hands full there!” and yes I suppose I do.  

Keeping track of where everyone should be and when isn’t the easiest – school, nursery, swimming lessons, hair appointments, dentist, doctor, birthday parties play dates and so on and so on.  

Dave and I often joke about how we have a 70 / 30 responsibility split as he generally has no idea where they should be unless I tell him explicitly.  (Please don’t think this is a dig at Dave – he’s awesome and it’s my job as an almost “Stay at Home Mum” to know and keep on top of all that kind of thing!)

One of the best things we’ve found for keeping ourselves organised is a shared calendar.  

Originally I spent ages making a gorgeous personalised calendar, but Dave would just forget to look at it – which meant I was frustrated that I was spending time updating it only for him to ignore it.  What we’ve found works for us in the end is a shared Google Calendar – one that Dave can check on his phone and we can both check and add to as we go along!  

I’m a bit old school though and find a still need to see it written down in front of me at times and like to keep a paper diary as well – especially for keeping track of the days I’ve worked and childcare etc. I’m a massive fan of writing lists – I have lists of things I need to do for my blog, seasonal bucket lists, things I need to do in the house, lists of phone calls I need to make, shopping lists, even lists of lists.  Dave on the other hand doesn’t like lists at all – especially ones of jobs with his name on!

What do you do to keep your family organised?  Do you struggle to remember things?