Simple Family Schedules

A simple, understandable, flexible schedule for your family is a great tool for keeping your collective life enjoyable. There are many books, tools, and software planners available. We’ve found a simple chart is the best way to keep everyone happy and efficient. Here are examples of how we use our schedules. We’ve attached blank copies you can freely print.

The wonderful thing about a schedule is that you can plan your days and weeks at a calm moment, then not spend time thinking or arguing about “what to do next” as you go throughout the day or week. The daily (hourly?) time that was lost due to indecision is gained back by following the plan. You can more easily adapt to interruptions by having a list or chart with the whole day’s plan – just omit a planned activity, change the order, etc. Some folks can do this intuitively in their minds as they go throughout the day. For others, having a written plan is helpful.

If you don’t know where to start when planning a schedule, just take a blank chart for each day and write down what everyone is doing every hour or half hour. On the weekend, you can review the week and see where you spend your time. If the week’s progress was disappointing, looking at the chart should show you where things went wrong. You then know you need less of some activities and more of others. Use this to plan the next week. Be reasonable, trying not to change current routines too much.

After another week, review your progress and make changes. If your schedule is not converging to a routine you are happy with, perhaps a more substantial lifestyle change is required. You may need to drop some activities altogether if they are making your family life miserable or difficult.

The schedule is simply a tool to help you make good decisions. We all have only 24 hours a day and we need a little planning and foresight to spend them wisely.

Here’s an example of a basic chart we use for one weekday:

Day of the Week: ______________________

Here’s a version you can download to make your own changes and print. It's a plain Word document so you can add or remove columns as needed depending on the size of your family. You can also easily adapt it so that each family member has their entire week on a single page. This is recommended after you have converged to a workable schedule using the ideas mentioned earlier. Such a page would look like this:

Dad’s Weekly Plan

These charts are cheap (free!) and easy. Instead of bogging down with expensive planners, notebooks, or complex software, most families will benefit from something simple like this. Instead of wrestling with a complex planning tool, spend your time with these simple charts. A simple system leads to a simpler, more productive and joyful life.