To spend £300 on a calendar?

[PearTreeSally]

I would really like a digital family calendar for our home - mainly to stop all the arguing about who planned what first and who definitely didn't forget to tell the other about an important event. I like the idea of a physical, in-the-kitchen display, as I don't think a shared app on our phones would work. Having meal planning and joint shopping lists would be useful too.

I've come across the Skylight, which looks perfect, but nearly £300!! Cheaper alternatives don't have great reviews, and if I was techy I suppose I could buy a tablet and put a calendar app on it, then wall mount it, find a way to switch off the screensaver etc, but that seems a faff.

YABU - don't be daft, you must have more money than sense
YANBU - it's the best purchase you'll ever buy, it saved my marriage and sanity

@Soonenough glad it is just not me! I admit my job has to be quite fluid (child protection) so this level of rigidity is quite alien in my workplace at times. The thought of running family life this way actually makes me really sad

We have a skylight calendar, we use it in conjunction with a shared apple calendar on our phone which had calendars for meal planning and things we had booked in as well as appointments and kids clubs. It did the job but we wanted our young children to have access to the meals for the week (stopped the 'what's for dinner' conversation. My job is quite fluid and my wife is a foster career with training, appointments etc so it helps us know where and what is going on.

Why we bought one - well it looked good lol! You need to want to use its 'extra' functionality to make it worthwhile. Whilst the digital photo frame is great, there are cheaper options. The real game changer for us was the chores/routine and awards functions for the children that they can interact with themselves. We have 5 birth children between 4-8YO and foster children in and out but usually 1 more and so for a household of 8 it makes a real difference. Getting the kids to feed the dogs/make beds/tidy the front room seems like a small thing but it all adds up and their help really makes a difference. Now they are motivated to do it alongside the rewards functions. It also has the added benefit of encouraging them to save and work towards a goal, which has been hard to install without regular pocket money (something we don't really do). Most of the rewards are not financial and are about activities and time we have gained because of the help they are now giving.

I know that's a long response, but simply put - shared phone calendars do the job, unless you have children and want the extra functions of routines and chores that the calendar offers. For us, the £300 is a small price for the organisation of our large family.

Me too ! I am a complete dinosaur but even I manage to use a google calendar, shared with my husband! Completely saves the day, I do still have to remember to look at it, I must get into the habit of setting up alarms for it, but at least I can see if there’s something on a particular day if I have to make an appointment. Faffing about with bits of paper and notebooks when out was an absolute disaster!

I've had a Dakboard for coming up to a year and I love it. Every Sunday I update the calendar, meal plan, to do list, shopping list etc. You can have so many different things displayed - I have a sideshow of photos, positive news, joke of the day, weather. It is literally the only thing that has worked in 27 years to keep my neurodiverse family on track with what is happening - highly recommend!

We use the free Family Wall app for the calendar, shopping list and lists function. Works brilliantly and can use for Apple and Android.

I bought one after being at my wits end with trying to keep our family organised. It’s usually on promotion so wait until Black Friday for a better price.

You don’t need to justify the cost. If you can afford it, it’s worth every penny!

We use it every day . My little ones use it easily as well as my teenager

I’ve spent £195 on an advent calendar so knock yourself out.

I have one. It’s stupidly expensive but I got it with a big discount on an amazon deal week. It works so well for me with teenage kids. They were always arranging things that needed me to drive them etc that clashed when I had a paper calendar. Now we have the screen in our kitchen and the app on all our phones.
they add to the grocery list when they want something and I can check it when im in Asda.
my eldest is away at uni and checks it to see when we have things on (relatives visiting, panto etc) that he wants to book tickets to come home gor in advance to get them cheaper.
I use the meal planning feature and set tasks for the kids. All without a subscription.