This is a guest blog written by Stephanie Haywood of mylifeboost.com.

As a parent, you want to do all you can to ensure every member of your family is happy, healthy, and thriving. That said, keeping your clan organized when you’re juggling work and family obligations isn’t always easy. You don’t want to let anything important fall through the cracks—but you also don’t want to get stressed trying to stay on top of everything. Below, Happy Camper Live shares some cheap tips and tools you can use to keep order without going over budget.

 

Make Your Home a Stress-Free Space

A disorganized home means a disorganized family. To make things worse, clutter is shown to cause anxiety. Tackle the problem head-on by decluttering your space. Startby addressing paper clutter. Instead of getting paper bills and holding on to every homework assignment, try digitizing things. Get an inexpensive scanner (or smartphone scanning app) and store all important documents on the cloud for additional convenience. Then, go with a PDF file converter that allows you to easily convert files into PDFs through a drag and drop interface.

Going forward, be intentional about your purchases to keep clutter at bay. Before you buy something for the home, make sure you have the space for it or determine what you’ll have to get rid of to accommodate it. While you organize the home, add some stress-busting elements to create a calmer atmosphere, like houseplants, aromatherapy candles, and mood lighting.

 

Pick One Tool for Organizing the Whole Family

Pick one tool that the whole family can use to record checkups, dentist appointments, school plays, sports practice, parent-teacher conferences, and other obligations. One option is to get a big wall calendar and hang it somewhere every family member has access to, like the kitchen. Digital shared calendars are another great option. You’ll be able to access your family schedule anytime, anywhere. Plus, everyone can contribute to it if you make it a shared calendar. Some popular tools include Google Calendar, Calendly, and Outlook.

 

Get Kids to Help Out with a Chore Sheet

Staying organized shouldn’t be dad’s job alone. Encourage your little ones to help out when it comes to keeping the house tidy. Empowering Parents offers tips for encouraging children to do chores, such as using an allowance as leverage and setting a specific time period for doing chores. Make sure it’s clear who is supposed to do what. A chore sheet can help the family keep track of individual obligations. There are plenty of free printable templates online that you can choose from.

 

Plan Family Meals Beforehand

Meal prep tends to be one of the most time-consuming and tedious jobs when managing your family. This is especially true after a long day at work. To make things easier, plan your meals for the week in advance. It can also be helpful to batch meals, preparing larger amounts of food that you can later reheat. This roundup of recipes offers easy-to-prepare and cheap options that kids and adults will enjoy. You might also get your kids to help with cooking if they’re old enough. This teaches them valuable life skills they can use later in life.

 

Create a Group Chat for the Family

No matter how organized your family is, you can’t prepare for every last-minute issue or schedule change that arises. Having a family group chat is a great way to keep in touch throughout the day, so kids and parents can exchange updates. For example, if one of the kids is going to be late for dinner, you can adapt your plans accordingly.

FamiSafe offers a list of apps that are family-friendly, like Kinzoo, Google Hangouts, and Family Talk. Many of these are free, so they won’t add any expense to your household budget.

 

Find the Right Organizational Strategies for Your Family

Managing your personal life and your family’s life at once isn’t always easy. It’s no wonder that busy parents might feel overwhelmed. Try the above hacks, like decluttering your house and using a central family calendar, and parenting will get a little bit easier.

Keep your kids busy and help them to learn independence by getting them involved in various camp options! Check out Happy Camper Live for a massive list of options, including some that you can do at home, to keep everyone active and busy throughout the year.