Guides for running a calmer household.
Practical, step-by-step answers to the questions every family runs into: calendars, chores, meals and more.
Chores & rewards
How to set up a chore and reward system kids actually stick with
A chore system kids stick with matches the reward currency to their age, rewards chores and effort rather than baseline good behaviour, and keeps the running tally visible so nobody has to ask how close they are. Plannie's habits and rewards board runs this as a shared, colour-coded list per child with a ticket balance everyone can see.
Read the guide →How to divide family chores fairly by age
Fair chore division means matching each chore to what a child can finish alone at their age, not splitting tasks equally, and making the whole household's workload, parents' invisible labour included, visible. Plannie's habits and rewards board does that with a colour-coded task list per child, a ticket or star balance, and editing locked behind the household PIN.
Read the guide →Calendar
How Google Calendar's family sharing works, and where it runs out
A Google family group auto-creates a shared 'Family' calendar every member can see and, by default, edit, for up to 6 people. Google's own support pages document this. The Family calendar doesn't read photos or PDFs, has no chores and rewards, and has no two-way Outlook sync. Plannie connects both accounts with real two-way sync and adds those missing pieces on top.
Read the guide →How to get the school calendar onto everyone's phone
Schools send the term calendar as a PDF, a photographed flyer, an email newsletter, or a portal's ICS feed, and each format has its own fastest way in. Plannie reads all four: forward the email, photograph the paper, share the PDF, or paste the feed link, and every date lands on the shared calendar without being typed in.
Read the guide →How to keep a shared family calendar without double-booking
Double-booking happens when a family's plans live in calendars that never talk to each other. A single shared calendar, colour-coded per person and editable by everyone, fixes it. Plannie connects each parent's Google or Outlook account with sync-back always on, and keeps Apple Calendar visible even though Apple only allows a one-way link.
Read the guide →Meals
How to turn recipes into one shared grocery list
A shared grocery list stays useful only if adding to it takes no more effort than deciding what to buy, whether that's ingredients from a recipe or something totally unrelated. Plannie turns a pasted recipe link, photo, or PDF into ingredients on the household's list automatically, and everyone can check items off in real time from their own phone.
Read the guide →A realistic weekly family meal-planning system
A realistic weekly meal plan covers five or six dinners, not seven, each matched to how much time and energy that night actually has. Plannie's meal planner sits next to the family calendar, so a planned meal lines up with the night it needs to survive, and pushes straight to a shared grocery list.
Read the guide →Comparisons
The best family calendar apps in 2026
Cozi, Skylight, Hearth Display, Sense, Google Calendar and Plannie side by side, with real prices, pros and cons, and who should pick which.
Read the guide →Every comparison in one place
Plannie next to Cozi, Skylight, Hearth, FamilyWall and more than 20 other family calendar, display and to-do apps, with prices from each vendor's own site.
Read the guide →