And I don’t mean family planning in the way that you might think that I mean family planning. No, we are not having another kid. I’m talking about keeping the schedules of the kids that we already have in order, along with my husband’s insane travel and work schedule. And the dogs having to go to the vet and the groomer on what would seem to be a weekly basis.

I use a Mom Agenda. And I love it. It has a spot for everything, and being quite the traditionalist, I’m all about paper and a pencil. (I never use pen in my planners because I’m fickle and constantly changing things around and cannot stand it when things are not neat and tidy.) My husband? He keeps all of this information on his computer, in Outlook. And in a perfect world, I would check it daily and update my own planner. But that rarely happens. And so while I try to stay on top of his whereabouts, you can often hear me saying, “What do you mean you’re leaving tomorrow morning for Hamburg? We have plans! Why didn’t you tell me this?” It really annoys him, I can totally understand that.

I’m looking for something that’s going to get us all in sync but it has to fit a pretty tall list of requirements. Among those, I want to be able to access it from anywhere. My husband’s PC, the Mac in the kitchen, the Mac in my little home office, my iPhone, my husband’s Blackberry.

Right now, I’m trying out a family planner on-line. It’s free. Free! It’s called Cozi, and it’s from some of those really smart guys who left Microsoft to do their own thing. Thus far, I’m feeling pretty good about it. You don’t have to download any software onto your computer to use it, you just go to the website and log in. I bookmarked my home page right on my bookmark toolbar, so it’s just right there. I can keep a schedule for everyone in the house on it. Including our two dogs and two cats. And there’s a shopping list to update (because I hate nothing more than when I return from the grocery store and my husband asks where the diet tonic water is and I respond that I had no idea we needed any and he gets a little pouty and then I have to remind him that if he wants something from the grocery store, write it on the list! Please!

You can also send notes to one another on it, you can invite other family members to have access. And there are other features, as well, such as a family journal (which I won’t use, I keep a separate password-protected one elsewhere), but the calendar is the most important aspect for me. The only complaint I have thus far is that while it’s compatible with my Mac, some of the features are only available when you’re using it on a PC. Not a big deal, I think I’m getting the benefits I’m looking for. Even on my Mac.

Now I just have to ask my husband to sign on and get into it. And you know that saying about the old dog and the new tricks? Well… I’m not saying he’s an old dog, but he kind of is. He likes his already-in-place systems and while he’s also into new and improved, I think he’d be most content if I came around to his way. You know, going into his office, signing onto his computer, looking up his calendar and then manually entering it into my own planner with my little pencil. No thanks, my To Do list is overflowing as it is…

Stay tuned…