Essential Adulting Tools

Published January 24th, 2020

They don’t call this the information age for nothing. At any given point in time, I feel like there are a hundred different things that I need to know off the top of my head just to keep my life moving in an orderly fashion. I also feel like having a family increased that burden of knowledge ridiculously. Everyday my wife and I need to schedule and confirm a whole host of plans; who’s getting kid A, who’s getting kid B, who’s taking who to what after school class, what time is said after school class, who can go to the gym today, who can make dinner and at what time, etc, etc, ad nauseam.

If you’re a parent, then you know this already. After a while, it turns into a kind of dance where the steps get just a tiny bit more complicated every so often. The term I’ve heard for this is “adulting”, and I like that word. Google defines adulting as “the practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks.”

Adulting can be hard sometimes. From time to time, the dance gets a little too complicated for me and I’ll miss a step, which usually means somebody doesn’t get to go to the gym or dinner doesn’t get made. So, over the years, my wife and I have looked for tools to help us adult more effectively and efficiently. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, these are the three essential adulting tools that we have adopted, and how they’ve vastly improved our life.

1 – Shared Family Calendar

The first and most important tool that we adopted is the shared calendar. My wife and I each have android phones, and I set up the calendar app to use the same login credentials. This means that when my wife adds an appointment to the calendar, I can see it, and vice versa. We’ve also adopted a color code that we use for each appointment. Different colors indicate who needs to be at what appointment. We have colors for each member of the family, and one for the family as a whole. We put everything in the calendar. Doctor appointments, after school activities, family events, out of town trips, date nights, movie times, holidays, days school is out, and even reminders for taking the trash out to the street.

This tool has been a life saver over the years. Being able to quickly and definitively know what our schedule is at any time has been so incredibly convenient. I am able to schedule an appointment without having to check with my wife first; if the time is open on the calendar, then I know I’m good. Plus, the fact that its a shared calendar means that its updated in real time. We can add appointments whenever we need to and know that the other person will be aware of the appointment when the check the calendar.

2 – Shared Lists

In a very similar light, we also have a shared list app. Its as simple as it sounds; the app contains various color coded lists that are updated in real time and shared between us. The most used (and most important) list that we have is the grocery list. Whenever either of us notices that we need something from the grocery store, we take the 5 seconds to add it to the list on our phone. This means that we both have the latest grocery list at all times.

For those of you who schedule regular, recurring trips to the grocery store and always get everything you need, please comment below. I would love to hear about what life is like living in your ivory tower.

For the rest of us, we get to the grocery store when we can. I can’t count the number of times I’ve gone emergency grocery shopping at 9pm because we ran out of milk or eggs or some other essential thing. Having the latest grocery list at all times has made my life so much easier. Whenever I find myself at the store, I know exactly what I need to get.

As a bonus, since the app updates in real-time, I can warn my wife that I’m heading to the grocery store and she can take a quick inventory at home and add any last minute items that we need.

3 – Location Sharing

I can hear all the iPhone people snickering through the internet. Yes, I realize that iPhone has had native location sharing for years now. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for that on Android. Google maps has a feature now where you can share your location if you’re navigating to a location… so… that’s something…

Anyway, location sharing. If you’re not aware, there are apps that allow you to share your GPS location with another person and they can see your location in real time. This has been very handy in a few situations.

Have you ever been out shopping and decided to “divide and conquer”? Both adults take a part of the list and split up. Twice the shopping in half the time. The only trouble is meeting back up afterward. Sure, I suppose you could call or text a location to meet up once you’re done, but that’s so inefficient. We just share our location with each other and head straight for the other person.

Another time that its very handy is if one of us is out for a run. With after school activities, we have a tight schedule. Knowing where the other person is on their run and being able to plan for their return is very convenient.

Also, track the location of your kids. We just bought my son a Gizmo watch, and the location tracking feature has been awesome. Ben and I talked about kids and phones in Episode 4, and at the time I was conflicted. My son is getting to the age where I need information from him, but I still think he’s too young to have a full cell phone. This was an excellent option for me; it has all the features I want, but its still basic enough that it won’t distract him from school.

These are easily the top three adulting tools that my family has adopted which has made my life easier. What are some of yours? Feel free to comment here or on our Facebook page and we’ll be sure to follow up on the podcast.