Family Calendar Ideas to Keep You Sane & Organized
In today's fast-paced world, managing your family's busy schedule can feel nearly impossible. Between keeping track of school activities, sports, work commitments, and social events, it's just too much to try to keep straight in our heads. Learn how to lighten your mental load and keep your busy family organized with these beautiful and functional family calendar ideas!
Why Every Family Needs a Family Calendar
We have worked hard to figure out how to stay organized with work and busy kids. We do everything from using a family command center and a central family charging station, to harnessing the power of helpful Alexa hacks. And all of those things help tremendously. But using a shared family calendar has been the biggest game-changer for our busy family over the past year!
Even if you use a digital calendar(s) for your family, I am a HUGE ADVOCATE for also using a physical family calendar in a highly visible and easily accessible spot in your home. Here's why…
A Family Calendar Will Lighten Your Mental Load
If you are a parent of school-aged kids, you have a ton of dates, times, deadlines and events to keep up with. Writing everything down on a monthly calendar gets the information out of your brain. The simple act of writing everything down on a calendar will clear your mind more than you can imagine. Plus, with a family wall calendar, everyone can take ownership of the schedule. If your kids are old enough, they can add their own activities/appointments.
But the best part of using a family calendar is that you no longer have to be the gatekeeper/manager of the family's schedule! If you have busy kids, chances are you get lots of questions that boil down to scheduling. Questions like, “When is my swim meet?” to “Can I have a sleepover next weekend?” come to mind.
When all of that information is included on a calendar that your family can easily see and access, so many questions can be answered by looking at the calendar. HOT TIP: You may need to “train” your family to use the calendar as a resource at first–if they ask a scheduling question, instead of answering, ask “Have you checked the calendar?” They will catch on pretty quickly :)
What You Can See, You Will Remember
A wall calendar is a visual memory aid. Having a family calendar in a highly visible/central location of your home is a game-changer because if you can see it, you will remember it. So you can avoid the stress of last-minute surprises (like needing a birthday present for a party that is in an hour) and forgotten appointments.
Electronic calendars can be useful in some ways, but they are not visual memory aids. We have learned the hard way that electronic calendars do not help us remember appointments and events. We need to be able to easily and regularly see our commitments and appointments in order to remember everything.
Frankly, we would be a mess without our family calendar. We hang three months at a time on our refrigerator (along with a weekly overview from this weekly planning notepad).
A Family Wall Calendar Helps You Communicate & Make Informed Decisions
Using a family calendar also helps a ton with communication. When everyone can see what’s happening, it's much easier to spot and talk about potential conflicts/issues, which often leads to more meaningful conversations about expectations and needs during particularly hectic times.
Having a shared family wall calendar also avoids the confusion and miscommunication that often happens when schedules are kept separately and/or communicated sporadically (I've been there, done that).
Last but not least, a shared calendar helps you make informed decisions about anything from meals to whether or not you can/should accept invitations. For example, our Tuesdays are always jam-packed because of our girls' sports schedules, so we plan super simple meals (like sandwiches or leftovers) on those days. And if we see that we have a swim meet that will end late on a Friday night, we are probably going to say “no” to an invitation to an early morning Saturday breakfast.
Family Wall Calendar Ideas to Keep You Organized
There are so many calendar options to choose from–paper vs. dry-erase, dated vs. undated. To get you started in your hunt for the perfect family calendar, here are some of the best family calendar ideas I have seen.
Colorful Monthly Calendar
This colorful monthly calendar in a spectrum of modern rainbow hues is the perfect size for a refrigerator or to include in a family command center. It's so pretty, it doubles as art! It's undated, so you can start using it any time. You can even add each month to magnetic acrylic frames to make them reusable.
Giant Chalkboard Calendar
This is one of my favorite family calendar ideas if you don't mind a little DIY project! Fill your wall with this easy-to-see giant chalkboard calendar from HGTV magazine. It has ample room to write in all your family's events and I love that they have it color-coded.
Family Calendar Wall
Create a painted chalkboard calendar wall like Once and Future Home to keep track of all the things! She made her own block grid calendar up high, with plenty of extra space down below for little artists.
Large Erasable Wall Calendar
This gorgeous large wall calendar is from our very own Kaleidoscope Living shop! It is large enough to fit everything you need for your busy family, and it is also erasable and reusable! Best of all, it's not just a calendar—it's art! Check out our giant wall calendar tips and tricks to see if it could work for you!
DIY Dry Erase Calendar
Laura from The Turquoise Home needed the perfect yearly wall calendar for work. She created her own dry-erase wall calendar with a full-year layout! Perfect for planning for your important dates, you have the whole year where you can see it!
DIY Giant Chalkboard Kitchen Weekly Planner
At the Happy Housie. Kristie needed to find a way to keep her family on track. She used the space on the side of the fridge and made a giant chalkboard weekly planner. It has plenty of space each day for menus and any important event that is happening!
DIY Acrylic Calendar
Jen Woodhouse created this gorgeous DIY acrylic calendar for her home office. The calendar hangs on the wall with metal stand-off mounts, giving it a modern feel, and the large monthly view features blocks that you can write in easily! This calendar would be simple to customize since she used her cutting machine to design it. (You can get my full review of my favorite cutting machine here!)
Chic Command Center with Acrylic Calendar
Erin from Sunny Circle Studio started with a chalkboard wall and acrylic wall calendar, and added must-haves like a leather pocket and hooks to create a super functional family calendar wall.
Command Center with Weekly and Monthly Calendars
Kati at Houseful of Handmade has the best of both worlds with her whole family command center. Her rustic command center has weekly and monthly family wall calendars, clipboards for paperwork and schoolwork, and chore charts!
Monthly Chalkboard Wall Calendar
Keep the entire family organized with this giant chalkboard calendar from It All Started With Paint. The letters at the top and the numbers can be customized to your own style.
I hope you are feeling inspired to start using a family wall calendar ASAP. I am willing to bet that using one will be a total game-changer for your busy family!
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