At our house, life isn’t always a Picniic!
Dance practice at 6:00 pm in the South end of the city.
Soccer game at 7:30 pm in the North end of the city.
Both on the SAME DAY.
Loads of laundry waiting, no idea who is making dinner, and wait, do we even have anything to make for dinner? By the way did anyone respond to that birthday invitation yet?
Does this sound familiar?
This is just a small snapshot of one DAY at our house, just ONE! Can you imagine how crazy our week must be?
Families in this day and age are busy. Super busy. Thankfully, technology can help to keep us organized and plan for all of this additional madness we seem to endure every day.
Every member of our family of five has numerous extracurricular activities in addition to household chores etc. that we are responsible for.
Whether it’s doing the laundry, sweeping, mopping, cleaning the bathroom, or emptying the dishwasher, it can be quite the hassle to keep everyone on track.
We have a calendar and bulletin board in our kitchen to keep track of many things; however, when we are a family on the go it’s not helpful or easy trying to remember what was written down on the calendar. Taking a picture on our phones doesn’t seem to work either because the schedules are forever changing.
Since we all have smart phone it only makes sense to use an app to keep everybody organized.
Because I’m a bit of an app addict, I am constantly trying out apps that can help our family keep on top of the many activities that we are involved in.
Thankfully I was fortunate to be chosen to evaluate the new Picniic app.
What do I love about it?
- It’s super easy to use – everyone downloads the app and logs in with the same username and password
- It has a simple interface – large, colourful icons to guide your choices
- It can sync with everything I need it to such as Google calendars, and even TeamSnap!
- You can make numerous lists such as: groceries, chores, spring cleaning, wedding plans etc and you can set reminders for tasks and users!
What do I think could use some work?
- The name – not much can be done about it now, but I think the name makes it difficult to differentiate it from other organizing apps because when I think of picnic, I think of just that. A picnic, with food. Not an app to help organize my family.
- Right now it is only for iPhone users. Unfortunately, of the four of us that have smart phones, three of us have iPhones and my fiancé has a Samsung. The Android app hasn’t launched yet. Therefore, I really didn’t get to review this app as thoroughly as I’d like because my fiancé plays a big part in our planning and chauffeuring etc.
- I wish the homepage icons could be moved around. I would like to be able to choose what icons are at the top of the screen versus the standard format it’s in right now.
As I evaluated the premium part of the app I did notice that there were only a couple of the icons that I really would use but not necessarily pay a premium for.
Super Cool Features:
- Family Locator: It allows you to see where your family is at any given time while using the app. This works especially well for teenagers who tell you they are in one place but are actually in another!
- Meal Planner: We have been trying to eat healthier and being able to meal plan helps with that. Not only can we be more specific about what we want to eat each week but now we have an actual history recorded of what we ate.
- Info Locker: When you click on this icon you can input personal data such as: Key contacts (names of babysitters, school info etc), Medical Info, Household Info including home insurance, wifi info, and even your Netflix passwords. There is also an option to add extra security to this data by adding an additional passcode.
- Group Events: You can plan a birthday party or a wine and cheese night or whatever type of event that may require tracking invitations. It keeps all of the event information together including invitees, location and applicable to-do lists.
So far, so good, but we need a little more time to really see if this will work for our family – we are on day 3!
Would you like to know more about the Picniic app?
Check out their website: picniic.com OR head on over to the Picniic Facebook Page, OR follow the Picniic Twitter account.
If after reading my review, you already know you will love it too, then here’s the link to download the Picniic app today!
Enjoy, and if you start using it too, come back and let the rest of us know your feedback.
Happy Organizin’
Natalie
sounds like a great app
Our home was this way when the kids were little and no smartphone at that time to keep on top of things.
This app looks awesome! I just downloaded it. I hope it helps.