by Jody Halsted

When I begin planning our vacations a calendar is beyond necessary. I can’t function without it! Because my husband is a contractor, he is only paid when he works, so our trips require creative scheduling.

I love using the Cozi calendar for trip planning because of its many features. My favorite feature, by far, is the color coding. Everything is color coded, not just family members. My babysitters are purple, family birthdays are orange, holidays are teal and vacations are burgundy.

I begin by putting our tentative vacation days on the calendar. Because my husband can access this anywhere, he can check those dates against his calendar at the office and tell me yes or where I need to make changes. My mother travels with us often, as well. This is a great way for us to communicate our plans without endless phone calls and emails.

Next I begin our “game plan." Because we travel with our young daughters, it is a bit difficult to travel without some sort of itinerary. The Cozi calendar makes it very easy to add items and move or remove them if time or other opportunities require. And, again, because my husband can see what I’m planning, he can make suggestions before I have our plans “set in stone”.

Another really fun way my family uses the calendar is as a “countdown” tool. My girls love to see the date we are on and count how many days until we leave for a trip. Since neither can read yet the color coding makes it easy for them to determine the day we leave. Every morning a Cozi check is done to determine how many days we have–for me to prepare and for them to go!

Get your family organized and on the same page with Cozi, the free online family organizer.

Jody Halsted plans adventures near and far to share on her travel-oriented website Have Kid Will Travel. She also writes a lifestyle blog, Iowa Geek, and is the founder of the I_Blog Conference, the first blogger conference designed to serve the US midwest. Jody is also "Mommy" to two preschool age daughters, "Wife" to Doug, and "brush wielder" to Toby, a 12-year-old St. Bernard mix.