WHY a household management app?
I currently live in a house with seven adult family members and it is often overwhelming managing all of our schedules, meals, finances, etc. Recently, we figured out a meal planning system (which I incorporated a more complex version of into this app), but there are so many other aspects to keeping a household running smoothly. I wanted to create an app that would incorporate all of these aspects so that it could not only benefit households like mine, but would be universally useful for all types of households.
USER Research
I conducted a series of in-person interviews with parents who have kids of varying ages. In these interviews, I asked them what are different aspects that they struggle with while trying to manage their family and household. I used these responses to ideate features that can be put into an app that can help make the family management challenge more streamlined for not only parent(s), but for child(ren) as well.
Mother of 2
Martha
Martha is a busy working mother who needs a way to keep track of her family’s activities and meals because she wants to stay organized and save time once she gets home from work.
Single parent of 1 kid
Kai
Kai is a single parent who needs a way to keep track of their finances and kid’s schedule because only have one stream of income and are the only person who can drive their kid to their activities.
Father of 4
Joseph
Joseph is a working dad of 4 who needs a way to keep track of all the important contacts for his household because him and his wife have a hard time deciding who’s responsible for it.
Our Services
User research - MAin Problems
1
Too many calendars
Each family member often uses a different type of calendar to keep track of their upcoming events, making it hard to know each other’s schedules. This app will combine everyone’ calendar into one.
2
Going over budget
Many people have a difficult time budgeting their money and then when kids come into the picture, it makes things that much more difficult. This app will have a finance section that will help users realistically allocate their money.
3
Worrying about meals
The burden of cooking and grocery shopping for the family often falls onto one person. This app will allow all users to add to the shopping list and will organize the meal planning in hopes of removing some of the mental load from the cook.
4
Too many to-do lists
To do lists are usually dispersed between the notes app on the phone, the back of junk mail envelopes, or whatever scrap paper that’s laying around. This app will have a to do list section so that all tasks are kept in one place.
SOLUTIons
Mockups of my design
Schedule PAGE
- family calendar with color-coded schedules for each family member
- to do list that is organized by day, week, and month to help users keep their priorities organized
- weekly schedule so that users don't have to try to remember what takes place on a weekly basis
- thoughts and reminders page to keep track of things that come to mind throughout the day
Finance page
- finances are broken down into four main categories: monthly recurring payments, essentials, spending, and savings
- toggle on/off button for default monthly payments/subscriptions that most users have -- reduces cognitive load of having to think of monthly payments when trying to budget
Weekly menu
- this was adopted from what I use in my household and has been working!
- all meals are planned out on a weekly menu so that all household members can see what is on the menu
- the one cooking has a clear, organized view of what they will be making and can better plan for each meal
Recipes page
- There are so many places you can find recipes nowadays, and it can become frustrating when you want to cook something that you saw recently but can't remember where you saw the recipe.
- This feature would allow users to store all their recipes in one place
- Recipes can be taken from the internet or scanned from a cookbook and be added to the user's library for future reference
To do list
- to do list is organized by day, week, and month so that users can prioritize what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by
- this would hopefully limit the many different "notes" pages on one's phone or random papers laying around the house that have half-finished to do lists
Shopping list page
- "Our Must Haves" feature is a list of all ingredients that are most commonly used in the household. Ingredients can be moved to "stocked", "running low", or "out" depending on their availability
- Users can easily add must-have ingredients to shopping list with the push of a button
IMPACT
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "[c]hildren are engaging in more extracurricular activities like lessons and sports than they did more than two decades ago". With children being more involved in extracurricular activities, the demand for parents' attention and responsibility for getting them to these activities is directly correlated. Parents need a way to stay on top of their own activities while keeping track of their children's activities, and this household management app would allow them to keep their schedules organized while also offering other features that should take off some of the cognitive load of the parents. For example, the weekly menu and shopping list can be a time consuming and energy draining process, but with this being included in the app, parents don't have to do as much thinking, since most organizational processes are already embedded in the app.
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According to a Bank of America Institute survey, roughly half of consumers in the third quarter of 2024 said they were living paycheck to paycheck. This is a rise from about 35% in early 2022. In this economy, it is difficult to barely even scrape by with the money that we have, so it is important to budget and keep track of spending. The household management app takes this struggle into consideration and attempts to improve users' spending habits so that they don't have to be as worried about their finances.