Easy Fall Family Calendar Reset | Simplify It All

This easy fall family calendar reset is just what you need because sometimes September always feels like the month when life goes from 0 to 100. School is back. Sports are starting. Practices are on different nights. Games are suddenly everywhere. There are appointments, birthdays, school events, work, homework, and approximately 37 things that someone needs to remember all in a moment. This post is all about a fall family calendar reset.

How do you track it all? How can you possibly get it all done on paper or in a chart? This is why the fall family calendar reset is essential to do now.

Not because I want our lives to be perfectly organized. Let’s be clear, they are most certainly not. I forget stuff all of the time. However, resetting the calendar does help me stay on track without as many errors. Nights feel easier when these steps have been put in place.

Fall Family Calendar Reset

First – Start with One Calendar

I have this planner I purchased on Amazon, and literally everything is written on it. All items, big or small, are on the calendar. Grocery list items, library book returns, appointments, practice schedules, lesson plans, and all items in between.

Be sure to put everything on the calendar.

• School events
• Sports practices
• Games
• Appointments
• Birthdays
• Days off school
• Early dismissals
• Work commitments
• Anything else that is going to affect the family schedule.

It doesn’t matter if you use a paper calendar, a family app, your phone, or a giant calendar hanging in the kitchen. What matters is that everyone is looking at the same information.

Add the Non-Negotiables First

Start with the things that can’t move. Put school, work, practices, games, appointments, and other commitments on the calendar first. Then look at what’s left. This is where you start to see which nights are going to be easy and which nights are going to be absolute chaos.

Find Your Crazy Nights

Every family has them.

The night when one kid has practice, another has a game, someone has homework, dinner needs to happen, and you’re somehow expected to be in three places at once.

When you look at your calendar for the week, find those nights before the week starts.

Those are not the nights to try a new recipe! Tuesdays and Wednesdays have turned into our nights of leftovers and turkey sandwiches in between the chaos of drop-offs and pickups.

You just want everyone to have something to eat without too much to clean up.

There is nothing wrong with an easy dinner! Can we say mini Trader Joe’s pizzas or dino nuggets?

Give Everyone a Job

The family calendar shouldn’t be something that only one person understands. Kids can know where they need to be. They also can prep what they need to have each night. If it’s a lacrosse stick and not shin guards, they can handle it.

Make them responsible! They can help pack sports bags, put shoes by the door, or get backpacks ready the night before.

Clear your head and make them own what they do too. You shouldn’t have to be the human family calendar.

Create a “Don’t Forget” Spot

Have one place where the things that need to leave the house live. For instance, our garage is filled with the sports items and shoes for each sport. Our hall closet has the library book returns and school paperwork that needs to go out.

Try to give everything a home so you aren’t searching for stuff as you are running out of the door.

It can be a basket by the door, a hook, a bench, or even a designated spot on the stairs.The location doesn’t really matter. The rule matters: if it needs to leave the house tomorrow, put it there tonight.

Do a Sunday Calendar Check

This doesn’t need to take an hour. Make it a ten-minute process.

Look at the week ahead and ask: Where does everyone need to be? Which nights are going to be busy? What do you need to order? What can I do now that will make the week easier?

Ten minutes can save you from a whole lot of last-minute scrambling.

Look Ahead, Not Just at Monday

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s easy to plan for the day that’s right in front of you. The real magic happens when you look ahead. Maybe there’s a school event on Thursday that requires something special that you can use Amazon delivery for. Maybe there’s a soccer game Saturday morning that needs a uniform washed prior to it or chairs in your trunk. Put it on the calendar now.

And Then… Start With the Bed

This is the part I always come back to. Getting organized isn’t about having a perfectly organized life. It’s about making your mornings and evenings feel a little less chaotic.

For me, that starts with the bed. Making the bed takes a couple of minutes. It gives you one small thing that feels finished before the day even begins.

Then you can look at your calendar, see what’s coming, and start moving through the day.

You don’t need a perfect routine or a perfect house. Instead, you just need a few systems that make your actual life work a little better.

So before another busy fall week gets away from you, grab the calendar. Put everyone on it and plan it out.

When the calendar is organized, the whole house feels a little more organized, too.

For more organizing tips, check out this page too.

& Remember

Start with the Bed,

Juliet