Organize Your Family's Schedules

I recently tested a couple of great resources for people who are managing a busy family's schedule.

Cozi, at www.cozi.com, and AirSet, at www.airset.com, are both really solid online scheduling tools for multiple people. (logos shown here from their respective websites) Both applications would be ideal if you have a computer in or very near your kitchen or in another very highly-trafficked area of your home.

Cozi Pros & Cons: They have a desktop download that automatically syncs with its online component, so you don't necessarily have to be online all the time to use it. The grocery list feature is AMAZING...you can get your grocery list text-messaged to you while in the store, and you can text it over to your spouse as well!  Don't forget the milk, honey! They even have a recipe interface with Betty Crocker. Cozi is definitely more oriented toward families, with a photo on the home page of the application and a journal feature to capture little family memories. Each family member has a color code, and all appointments are shown with this code. The design is simple, intuitive, and beautiful. I have not found anything wrong with this application, except that I wish it featured a contact manager. I think that families often need to share contact information and this would be a natural component. Cost: Free.

AirSet Pros & Cons: AirSet can be well-used by a family, but it is set up to use as a workplace tool as well. It doesn't have the cool grocery list text messaging feature, but it does have LOTS of other tools as part of its very thorough interface. Shared calendaring is a given, and it also has contacts, which Cozi does not. It has a blog, a wiki, and even shared playlists and photo albums. It is very impressive, and many small businesses might do well to utilize AirSet as a substitute for networking with Outlook. You can also manage multiple groups from one place, such as a work group and a family group, maybe a team or other organization, etc. The only downside is that its multi-featured interface does not feel quite as simple or user-friendly as Cozi. It is very easy to use, however... just in comparison it's not as streamlined. Cost: Free, with an upcharge for mobile phone syncing.

What do you think? Has anyone used either of these regularly? I have only tested them but don't use them on a daily basis.

Comments

[jo]

I've been using Cozi for almost a year now and love it! Because I'm in Canada, we can't use a few of the features such as texting the grocery list to my phone, but still I enjoy the simplicity of the calendar feature. The kids can all (11, 8 & 5 yrs) read and navigate it easily. The one feature we LOVE which I don't believe you mentioned, is the screen saver. Cozi searches your computer for photos and randomly displays them. THe kids will sit and just watch the pictures for quite awhile. You never know what's going to pop up, it's great!!
We like the fact that my husband can check our calendar from work. (no more excuse for being late for the kid activities). The only one problem we've had with Cozi, is that he finds that it hangs up his computer quite a bit when he's accessing from the site. I haven't had this problem at home, so I'm not sure why it's happening for him.

All in all, we LOVE Cozi and have recommended it to a lot of friends.

[Kate]

I have been using Airset, strictly for the calendar feature, for two years. I love that it can send a text message reminder to my cell phone 30 minutes before my appointment! It handles repeat appointments (every other thursday) great. I use www.gubb.net for lists - it also works well with cell phones. I found the lists section of Airset to be slow and user "unfriendly". I would love to find a site with a calendar and list function that both work well.