How to use Google Calendar to Organize Your Family

We are a Google loving family. We have Google emails, we use Google Drive to share and store photos and documents, I use Google Keep to keep track of my blog ideas and Christmas present ideas and we use Google calendar to help keep our schedule's straight.

We love to use Google calendar because it syncs to both of our phones and we can access it anywhere. We have 7 calendars to keep track of:

• My personal calendar
• My blog calendar{posts, schedules for sponsors, giveaways, etc}
• Our daughter's programs, play dates, etc. 
• My husband's personal calendar {things he has to do}
• My husband's Master's program calendar 
• Our Joint Personal Events
• Birthdays

We created each of these calendars within our Google calendar events and have linked them to all three of our personal Google accounts. Here is how you can set up different calendars too.

1. Go to your Google Calendar app and log in. 
2. On the left hand side, click on the arrow next to "My Calendars" and click "Create new calendar"
   
3. Then fill in the information. You can choose who can and cannot see your calendar. You can also invite people to view your calendar. 
   
4. After it is filled in, you can click the arrow next to the calendar to change the settings or colors and manage your calendar 
   

Why it works for us:

Anyone can add events to the calendar - Having them linked together allows any of us to add an event to the calendar at any time. Now there are no excuses for missing anything!

It sends reminders to my phone - When we have important dates, something I need to remember to do or an appointment, I can set up reminders and my phone will go off.

You can enter in important information - Having addresses, phone numbers, contact information or even notes on what the event is or what you may need to bring is such a handy feature to have. 

Each calendar is color coded - This color coding transfers to my phone and iPad too so I can easily see who has events scheduled on a specific day at a glance.

Takes the place of a calendar at home - We don't need to remember to update a paper or dry erase calendar. Even though I am a sucker for a good planner or calendar command center, I tend to forget things before I can put them on the calendar if it's not immediate. #mommybrain

Even though I do love command centers, our home is not equipped to handle an area dedicated to that. Be sure to check out our small space "command center" I have created, sans calendar!