Hello and welcome to best laid plans. This is your host, Sarah Hart Unger, and this is the podcast

where we talk all things planning and planning adjacent. Today, I have a guest for you who

contacted me because she has taken some of my courses.

She definitely listened to the podcast and she wanted to talk about how her planning techniques are put to work, raising six kids ages kindergarten to college.

I was intrigued because that is a lot of moving parts and I'm always interested as to how households of that size are

able to keep things all going smoothly and kind of avoiding chaos as might be kind of the natural

state with that many people doing different things. Well, Jessica definitely makes it all work

and I really enjoyed this glimpse into her planning universe. So I really hope

you enjoy this conversation. Here's Jessica. So I am here with Jessica right now and I wanted to

bring Jessica on the show because she noted that she had a unique perspective having many children

in many different age groups and has yet figured out household

logistics despite the challenges of managing, let's say, preschool and high school at the same

time. So, Jessica, welcome on the show. Thanks, Sarah. I'm so happy to be here, as you mentioned.

So I have six kids. Right now, they span from kindergarten to college. So I have two in elementary school, two in middle school, one in high school, and one who's out of the house. And not on the day-to-day list, but it is certainly a lot of moving pieces to manage. Oh, my gosh. Well, I guess I would love to start with an overview. That is a lot of things to manage. And I believe, are you currently focusing on the home front right now? Are you also navigating a job outside of that too?

So I'm currently focusing on the home front. I do sit on two nonprofit boards and I love fundraising. So on one board, I'm the treasurer. So lots of finances and fundraising. And the other, I am the development chair. So I've been doing those roles for a very long time. So I'm the treasurer, so lots of finances and fundraising, and the other I am the development chair. So I've been doing those roles for a very long time. So those are the equivalent of

having jobs, but not as paid work. Absolutely. But still definitely going to take up mental load

are things that need to be organized. And you have other people depending on your hard work. So,

yeah, I think that could

be certainly very analogous to many people in different types of situations, plus not to mention

the six kids. All right. So let's start with an overview of like your current planner piece.

What does your system look like from a bird's eye view? So my current planning system is a Google calendar as my master schedule. I invite my husband to lots of the events. I even invite our teenagers to events. So if they have an orthodontist appointment or a dentist appointment, I invite them to that. I have a separate Google calendar for our nanny. So we do have a full-time nanny. and that way it includes her hours, but it also includes what she's going to do for the kid.

So if it's a full-time nanny, and that way it includes her

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