4 Tech Tips to Keep Your Family Organized

Hey, everyone! So, last week I covered some really useful ways to use tech if you’re going off to college. This week, I thought I’d focus on families that still have kids living under their roof, and offer them some great ways to help keep the family organized and connected, as school starts back up.

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Shared Calendars

First, there is the schedule. If you’re a parent with at least one child, I’m sure you know all too well the craziness that ensues when trying to keep both your own calendar and the school calendar updated. Luckily, I’m here to tell you that this problem is an extremely easy one to fix, if you have just a couple minutes of spare time.

The solution first requires you to create a Google account. If you have a Gmail account, then perfect–you’re already set. But if you don’t, it takes about 3 minutes to sign up, and you can do so using your own email.

Once you have a Google account, then check out your Google Calendar. On the surface, it may seem just like any other calendar you’ve ever seen: you can add all sorts of events that repeat, email and text reminders to yourself, and send out invitations to other people.

This is the backbone of your scheduling system. From here, you’ll create Google accounts for each of your family members, and then you’ll simply share your calendars with each of these accounts. This will give everyone in your family acess to his or her own personal calendar, as well as your shared “family” calendar.

I chose Google calendar for this task because it syncs with almost every device on the market, you can easily access it from the web, and a ton of people already have an account with Google.

Once you’ve set this calendar up, anyone can add events to it, and it will stay synced across all devices and with all family members. It will even sync your appointment reminder settings. You can also include notes, times, directions, pictures–you name it! This is a great way to make sure everyone is on the same page. And it’s free.

One Number to Ring them All

This next tip involves setting up a Google Voice account. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s a service that Google provides that allows you some pretty awesome phone calling features.

Essentially, they give you a Google Voice phone number that anyone can call. From there, you can have your Google Voice number set to forward any calls to your cell phone, office phone, home phone–you name it.

I created a Google Voice account which is set to forward my Google Voice number to all of my other phones. I then give out this number to family and friends as an emergency number to use if they need to get a hold of me. They can call that number, and through the magic of Google Voice, all of the phones I’ve linked to my account will ring. If I happen to be at work, I can pick up that phone and start talking, just like always.

Whether I’m at home or on the go, all of those numbers will ring until I pick one of them up. What’s beautiful about this is that I can limit what numbers call me, and what numbers get sent straight to voicemail, and–best of all–if someone needs to contact me, they can always do so using one number, and one number only.

If you’re a parent, this is great. Just give your child’s school your single Google Voice number. From there, you can manually update all of the other numbers that will ring on your Google Voice account. That way, as numbers change, you can just update your Google Voice account, and you don’t have to worry about giving your child’s coach, school, dance teacher, and tutor all new numbers. One number, all of your phones–it’s pretty awesome!

Cell Phone Tracking

This is a very sticky subject. When it comes to children and smartphones. I’ve heard almost every argument in favor of tracking your child’s phone–and I also know people who never even turn the service on.

On one hand, I can agree that as a parent, you’d want to know where your child is at all times. However, I can also understand that at some point, there needs to be an element of trust between you and your children. These are discussions to have as a family, and I in no way support one decision over another. Every situation is different.

That being said, I love Apple’s “Find My Friends App.” This app allows you to see the locations of all of your friends who invite you to see their location. You can also set expiration times, so that friends can only follow you for a certain period of time.

It sounds really creepy, but it has some very valid uses. If you’re hanging out with friends at a large amusement park, for example, it can make finding everyone and meeting up much easier. At home, you could only turn this app on when your child is waiting to be picked up from school, so you can easily see where they are in relation to you.

The downside with this app is that it only works for Apple products. Android also has its own version of this, also titled, “Find my Friends!,” however, it only works between Android devices. I highly recommend checking these out, though, just so you know if it’s something you might be interested in.

Many phones also have features that allow you to find a lost phone or device. I highly recommend turning this feature on, as well, as an emergency means of location should the need arise.

A Group List

Last but not least, set-up a simple shared Google document (now that you all have Google accounts) that you can include any lists on, as well as any to do items, or emergency information. This will help keep all of the information synced up for everyone at once.

As a low tech suggestion, I would print out any emergency documentation and store it in multiple places, such as the glove box, lockers, backpacks, wallets, etc. This list should include names, phone numbers, and addresses of important people and places. This way if your phone dies, you’re not lost!

Recap

With that, here;s a recap of your 4 Quick and Dirty Tips to keeping the family oranized and up-to-date:

1. Create a share Google calendar for your family so that everyone knows what’s going on
2. Set up a free Google voice number to ring all of your phones
3. If you’re interested in sharing your location, check out “Find My Friends” or similar apps
4. Create a shared Google document with important information, lists, and contacts.

Well, that’s it for today! Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast, or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post them on Facebook QDTtechtalker.

Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!

Photos of connected devices and Family key courtesy of Shutterstock.