Tuesday Tip – on Wednesday. I know.  I was so tired last night I couldn’t stare at the screen a moment longer, took a little break to snuggle with my baby boy and fell asleep on his bed.

Free family calendar

I heart Cozi.

And yes, they sponsored me to go to BlogHer.  But, I loved them long before that.

I must admit, it took me a while to warm up to the website but only because I already had an on-line calendar and I’m not a big fan of change.  In fact, way back when I first set up an account I emailed their customer service and asked why I couldn’t sync my Google calendar with Cozi.  Good question and they were going to forward it on.  I still can’t, but got over it pretty quickly.  

I was in organization love.

Seriously.  I was.

The reason I loved it is because I could sync it with our iPhones.  Which meant no more phone calls from the hubby during the day wondering where I was or if I could do this, that or the other.  He knew where I was.  He knew what my shopping list looked like. He could add things directly to it.  It has saved us so much time.

Here are the many features of Cozi

The features in particular that I use daily and LOVE. LOVE. LOVE are:

I’m going to explain why I love them and how they work.

First off, the Family Calendar.

Not only do you have just 1 calendar, but you can customize it for every member of the family.  Each family member has a different color … including our dog.  I’m not kidding.

This is how it looks when you add things onto your calendar:

cozi 2

As you can see, you click on the family member who the calendar item pertains to and can amend the date and time and set a reminder as well as adding extra notes … which is always handy if you have to take food to a party, link to a website etc.  At BlogHer this was particularly helpful as we had limited internet connection available so I was able to put my entire schedule on my Calendar, including room numbers, any hashtags we could tweet with and how to get to each place.

Here’s a screenshot of our calendar for the past few days.

cozi 1

So you can see that the family members who will be attending each calendar item are displayed … I’ve removed anything too personal on this, but of course you can add in conference calls, reminders for twitter parties, deadlines, TV programs etc and add a reminder.

So if the dog has a vet appointment, hubby has a long school day or I have to run the kids somewhere, each item is added to the days calendar and a colored dot representing the family member is placed next to it.  This helps us all keep our schedule in sync. If Jay is out and comes home to an empty house, he can immediately check Cozi and see where we are and know what time each of us will be home.  The same if Randy catches an early bus home and arrives to an empty house.  Plus, the boys can keep me up-to-date throughout the day of their schedule and vice versa. 

So not only can our calendar items be added and deleted from our computers, but they can also be added and deleted from our iPhones too.  So handy.  No more forgetting to put something on the calendar or checking with the other people in the family to schedule something.  If I want to make dinner plans with friends, I check the calendar and if nothing is on at that time, I put it in and Randy knows automatically not to schedule something.

The other thing that is pretty cool about the Calendar feature is that you can import other calendars as long as the URL for them ends in .ics.  I was able to import both US and Australian holiday calendars and when I flew American Airlines to Chicago, my itinerary was imported to my calendar too.  If your child’s school has an on-line calendar, you may be able to import that too.

The screenshots above were taken from the computer but the same information as well as reminders also appear on our iPhones too … Cozi works with iPhones and Smart Phones.

Secondly is the Customizable Lists

These are the heart and soul of our family.  My husband and I have always been ‘list’ people.  We write lists for everything.  So this particular application is perfect for us.  We can have as many lists as we like going.  For example right now some of the lists we have are:

  • Groceries
  • Other Shopping
  • Change of Address
  • Things to do today
  • Household – repairs, unpacking etc
  • Long term things to do
  • Military things to do

I also had a list specifically for BlogHer when I attended to keep myself straight on particular things I wanted to do there and links to websites I needed to check on.

cozi 3

The above was part of my list for yesterday.  As you can see a couple of items are crossed off.  Now, this is the part that I love.  I don’t know if you have always done the same, but I’ve always taken a grocery list to the store with a pen and crossed off items as I go … unless I forgot a pen, then I’d also end up missing items on the list too.  From my phone I can pull up my grocery or errands list, then as I get each item or each thing done, with the touch of my finger I can cross the item off on the screen.  Randy knows where I’ve been and what I have left to do so he knows when I should be home and if I’m at the grocery store and he remembers something else that we need he can type it onto the list for me and doesn’t need to call me to ask me to add it on.

Here are some other ideas for lists that you can keep:

  • Menu plan
  • Coupons
  • Places you want to visit
  • Staycation ideas for school vacation
  • Gift ideas

Did I mention that Cozi is FREE.  Because it is!

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4 comments

workout mommy July 28, 2009 - 5:00 pm

i just started using cozi and love it too. i cant figure out how to sync w/my iphone though…any tips. Thanks!

Reply
* TONYA * July 28, 2009 - 5:00 pm

Workout Mommy: Use this link: http://www.cozi.com/Promo-Cozi-Mobile.htm it has the instructions on adding it to your iphoneFrom your iphone you can add Cozi so it appears as an app on your screen. That way just by touching the button you can link straight to Cozi without entering the website. Using safari open the site and click the little plus sign down the bottom of the screen. Add it to your screen. Hope that helps.

Reply
Stacy of KSW July 29, 2009 - 5:00 pm

HI Tonya,I hope you had a blast at BlogHer and I am so happy you got teh Cozi sponsorship. Ive had a membership sine it first came out but have never really played with it. Im so happy you wrote this post, since our families are similar (crazy busy, etc) and my husband I just got IPhones this will be a great way to keep us in sync.Hes going TDY in the AM and this new app will help us feel more connected while hes gone.Thanks agin for more great stuff,Stacy

Reply
cat July 29, 2009 - 5:00 pm

Have to try this!

Reply

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