I think you will agree with me that sometimes getting your whole family on the same page feels like a never ending battle that we can never ever win. For years, I struggled with the fact that I could talk until I was blue in the face, but my family consistently acted like I was giving them brand new information every single time.
“I told you, we have that meeting today”.
“What?! You never told me that!”.
Cue exasperated groan and questioning why I ever even open my mouth if nobody will bother to listen!
Okay, in reality, I am making it sound MUCH worse than it really was, but to be fair…I could just sense it was going to continue getting even more difficult to communicate the goings on in our lives the older the kids got (because we all know, the older the kids get, the busier the whole family becomes!).
Thankfully, I had a friend YEARS ago that told me about Cozi Family Calendar!
I attempted Cozi Calendar once before when my children were small. Honestly, we just didn’t really have enough going on at the time for me to need to keep up with it. It wasn’t until years later (and a few failed attempts with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and a few other calendar apps) that my friend’s advice came back to me.
I downloaded Cozi Calendar on my phone (it is also web based), and pretty immediately subscribed to Cozi Gold (Cozi Gold is NOT necessary, but we think it is worth it for our needs and our family. More on that later.).
Now, we have been using (and paying for…although this is NOT a sponsored post, but there are affiliate links in this post) Cozi for well over a year now and we just love it. (My favorite feature? Using Cozi for CHORES! Read on to see why.)
Sign up for Cozi Calendar here.
Here’s a quick testimonial from my husband:
“A little work in Cozi can go a long way. With just a few entries, suddenly everyone in the family had an easy reference point to remind ourselves of the kids’ baskebetball schedules. No need to ask each other or go digging around in old emails to see what time the next game is. The shared Lists feature is also pretty handy. Aside from keeping track of your own to-do lists you can easily see what the family has left on theirs. Great way to keep each other accountable or to see if anybody needs some help.”
I highly recommend Cozi Calendar for any busy family and here is why:
What Is Cozi Calendar?
Cozi is the must-have organizer for families. It helps coordinate and communicate everyone’s schedules and activities, track grocery lists, manage to do lists, plan ahead for dinner, and keep the whole family on the same page.
For us, this looks like our shared calendar, color coded for each family member and synced on everyone’s devices. My daughter does not yet have an actual phone with a data plan yet, but she uses an old iPhone of mine here at home with WiFi. If she did not have a device, she would also have the option to access Cozi Calendar from one of our computers.
This looks like to-do lists for every member of our family AND shopping lists for all of the stores we frequent that anybody can add to.
This also *could* look like our grocery list and meal plan, but at the moment I am using the app Paprika for this (I am planning to transition all of my recipes over to Cozi, but it is going to be a pretty big undertaking, so for now, I don’t mind not using this feature of Cozi Calendar. Paprika is a great app too.).
How to Share Cozi Calendar With Your Family
With Cozi calendar, you have a shared password for everyone in your family.
To add family members, sign into your account from Cozi on the web or from your Cozi mobile app, click Settings, and add names and email addresses. Once you enter names and email addresses for your family members, they will be able to access the account by signing in with their own email address and the shared password
Cozi is meant to be shared as a family, so if you are wanting a personal calendar that your family does not see (maybe for your workday, you don’t necessarily need your family seeing every scheduled conference call!), you might want to keep that on a separate Google Calendar.
Sign up for Cozi Calendar here.
How to Use Cozi for Family Scheduling
Using the Cozi Calendar for family scheduling is SUPER easy. You just click to add an event and then you can input as much or as little info as you want!
You can even specify which family members need to be reminded about this event so that not everyone needs to be reminded about your upcoming Well Woman’s visit (but like I said earlier, they will still see this appointment if they go in and look, they just won’t be notified by reminders!). 
With Cozi Gold, you can even add additional reminders so if you are the type of person that needs a reminder the night before, the morning of and 10 minutes before, you can totally do that with Cozi Gold!
You can view your calendar in day/week/month format. I love this list view!
You might also like – School Morning Routine Hacks – Get Out the Door with a Smile (and On Time!)
How to Use Cozi For Chores!!!
Okay, right here is my favorite Cozi feature! My kids might not admit it, but even they love using Cozi for chores.
Why would my kids love using Cozi for chores? I have found that giving my children a list of chores/responsibilities takes away from the emotion of the “ask”.
Let me elaborate:
“Could you please empty the dishwasher.”
Finishes emptying the dishwasher. Kid thinks he is done and moves on to something else (fun).
“Okay, now I need you to bring down your laundry”.
Kid brings down laundry. Starts another (fun) task.
“Okay, now please feed the dog.”
Kid feeds dog and then hides from you for the rest of the night.
It’s funny because it is TRUE! I actually remember doing this as a kid myself!
With Cozi calendar, you can create chore lists in the app and either tell your kids to look in the app for their chore list or you can even text their list to them! Then, as they complete tasks, they check them off. Which is not only satisfying for them, but also satisfying for ME as their mom!
I find my kids do great with lists, and they are also obsessed with getting their lists cleared.
My daughter will even add to her list sometimes. Look at her adorable addition to her Cozi Chore list (Cookie is our dog):
Sign up for Cozi Calendar here.
How To Use the Cozi App for Meal Planning
Like I said before, I don’t really use Cozi for meal planning. I reverse menu plan and have been saving recipes to the app Paprika for a long time. While it would be nice to have our meal plan and recipes on Cozi, I have known it would be a big task to transfer everything over. I might get to it one day though, and if I do, I will definitely update this section!
You might also like: How To Become A Better Cook – Learn To Cook Better At Home To Save More Money!
Other Perks of Using Cozi Family Calendar
Shopping Lists – I have different shopping lists for all of our favorite stores and anybody can add to them at anytime. My daughter is a strawberry FIEND, and if we run out of strawberries, she can easily go in and add them to our HEB calendar.
Whoever finds themselves in an HEB for whatever reason will quickly pull up the shopping list and see what we might need.
You can also add to your shopping list via Alexa!!
Journal – We have not done much with this (but I am currently using the 1 second everyday app and that is super cool), but I want to get better about it. You can keep a journal/photo journal of your family in Cozi! It’s a great way to preserve those special memories and you can even share your journal with family and friends if you choose to! It’s a neat feature that our family definitely under utilizes.
Cozi Calendar vs Google Calendar
Why did we choose Cozi Calendar vs Google Calendar? Well, to be honest it has a lot to do with simplicity.
Google calendar is robust and there is a lot you can do with it. You can also subscribe to the Google Calendars for your school district, your PTA, your favorite baseball team, etc. Honestly, it ends up getting super cluttered and it is just a lot of noise.
My husband uses Google Calendar for work, and it is best if he keeps his Google Calendar dedicated to his work. The Cozi calendar interface is just so family friendly and easy enough that our kids can do absolutely everything on it without us even needing to show them.
It just works well for our family and is a one stop shop to help us keep our lives in order.
Is Cozi Gold Worth It?
For us, Cozi Gold is worth it. The additional reminders are lovely and that alone makes it worth it to me.
I enjoy that it is an ad free experience, I like the month view on the calendar and the ability to change the theme. The best part is that you just pay ONE Cozi Gold fee for your whole family.
You can grab a 14 day Cozi Gold trial for FREE to see if it suits the needs of your family.
Sign up for Cozi Calendar here.
I have been wanting to write a post about Cozi Calendar for awhile. Whether you use the free version of Cozi or Cozi Gold, I think you will find that Cozi Calendar is the best calendar/meal planning/chore app out there to get your family all on the same page and to keep them there!
Do you have any more questions about Cozi Calendar? Do you have any tips/hacks that I don’t know about for Cozi Calendar! Comment below and let me know!
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