Family All Hands Meeting

Organizing your finances and lifestyle as a whole is no easy task. Luckily doing a Family All Hands Meeting once a month, has helped my husband and I find a better balance to it all. Just like many of you, we all have a lot on our plates. From work to taking care of my kids, and managing everything in between. Keeping my finances and lifestyle organized is a job on its own. So instead of “forgetting” to do our budget or over-committing to family activities, and burning out. In my household, we make the time to sit down and plan out our upcoming month to the “T”. This way the whole family can be aware of our top priorities and maneuver our expectations to protect our finances and our sanity.

What is a Family All Hands Meeting

Think of a Family All Hands Meeting like your monthly family meeting. Where you discuss everything! Including your personal and business finances, family activities, your cleaning routine, and even your meal plans. It’s your designated time to strategize on all that you have to do. By actually thinking threw everything and prioritizing what’s most important for the upcoming weeks.

If you’ve worked in corporate America, monthly and even weekly team meetings aren’t rare. It keeps everyone aware of what’s going on and what’s to come. This is exactly where we got the concept of turning a business all-hands meeting into a family meeting. Not only do I love the name, but also the symbolism of all of us getting our hands in the dirt to succeed. As a family, this is what we have to do to make sure everyone is involved in the problem-solving stage. So that we all understand why we’re moving the way we do. With that being said, let’s first go over how to prep for this kind of meeting.

How to Prep for a Family All Hands Meeting

Remember those cheesy 90’s family meetings from movies? Yeah, we’re not doing that. Instead, we’re taking the concept of a family meeting and turning it into the ultimate tool to upgrade your life, one month at a time with these 5 steps.

Step #1: Create an Agenda

First things first, you need an agenda to properly run a Family All-Hands Meeting. This isn’t just busy work—it’s the key to having a successful meeting without getting sidetracked. Think of it like a roadmap—it keeps everyone on the same page and ensures nothing important gets overlooked.

You can throw your agenda together on a Google Doc, an Excel sheet, or even in your notes app. But let me tell you, my husband and I love this amazing project management app called Notion. It’s like Notes on steroids but designed for people who want to get shyt done—ya know what I mean? Notion allows us to create detailed to-do lists, have a joint monthly calendar, track our goals, and even set reminders for important tasks. We break down our agenda into sections, making it easy to follow along during the meeting.

Example: Planning a Summer Road Trip

Let’s say your family is planning a summer road trip. On your agenda, you’d include topics like setting a budget for the trip, deciding on destinations, and assigning tasks (who’s booking the hotel, who’s in charge of activities, etc.). This way, everyone knows what’s expected, and nothing falls through the cracks.

What’s on the Agenda?

At the end of every month, we go over four main points:

Family Finances + Business (if you have one)
Family Activities
Cleaning Routine
Monthly Meal Plan

Under each of these points, we tackle these three key questions:

What worked?
What didn’t work?
What’s the plan for next month?

Step #2: Set Up Your Budget

I know budgeting isn’t exactly fun, but it’s crucial. If you don’t already have a budget, that’s your first task for the next three months—get on it! You can use an app, a budgeting notebook, or Excel (my go-to). The goal here is simple: you need to know your numbers. How much did you spend vs. what you thought you spent?

Breaking Down the Budget

Let’s break it down: imagine you budgeted $500 for groceries but ended up spending $600. That $100 difference needs to be addressed—maybe you underestimated how much food your family eats or got carried away with impulse buys. By knowing these numbers, you can communicate during your Family All-Hands Meeting if an adjustment to your budget or spending habits is needed for the next month.

One thing we like to do is categorize our expenses to mimic the High 5 Banking Method. This method focuses on having two checking accounts: one for essential bills (like mortgage, utilities, and groceries) and one for non-essential lifestyle expenses (like dining out and entertainment). This way, if we’re over budget, we can see where to cut back. For instance, if we see that we’re about to overspend on lifestyle expenses, we might decide to have more home-cooked meals instead of dining out.

Having these numbers ready will make your Family All-Hands run a lot smoother. And if you’re already on top of your budget, awesome! Just make sure to review and update it before the meeting.

Step #3: List Out Your Concerns

Before you walk into that meeting, make sure you’ve got a list of all your questions and concerns, no matter how big or small. Whether it’s about the budget, the list of family activities, or anything else on your mind—write it down. This way, you’re ready to participate and don’t end up just sitting there like a bump on a log.

Addressing Concerns Before They Become Problems

For example, maybe you’re concerned about your child’s extracurricular activities clashing with family time. Or perhaps you’re worried about how much you’re spending on takeout. Whatever it is, put it on the list. No concern is too small. By bringing these up, you’re ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard, and you’re addressing potential issues before they become bigger problems. That’s one of the main benefits of doing a Family All-Hands Meeting.

Step #4: Show Up Ready to Collaborate

Remember, this meeting is all about teamwork. So come with a good attitude, ready to listen, and collaborate. Leave the dictator vibes at the door, OK?

The Power of Collaboration

It’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting everything done your way, but this is a family meeting, not a one-person show. For example, if your spouse suggests a new way to handle grocery shopping or your kids have ideas for family outings, listen. Be open to their suggestions, and consider how you can incorporate their ideas into the family plan. Collaboration means you’re working together towards a common goal—creating a harmonious, well-organized family life.

Step #5: Make the Time

Scheduling is key. One way to stay consistent with your Family All-Hands Meeting is to mark your calendars for the last weekend of the month to ensure you’re not overwhelmed with the kids’ homework or too tired from work. My husband and I are morning people, so we like to knock this out early in the day. But hey, find what works for you and stick to it.

Finding the Right Time

For instance, if you’re more of a night owl, maybe a late evening meeting works better for your family. The point is to find a time when everyone is available and can focus. Consistency is key here—by making this a regular event, it becomes a natural part of your routine, rather than something you have to squeeze in.

When we first started, going over each topic took us 45-60 minutes to get through, which sounds like a lot. But trust me, strategy takes time. After a few months, though, we got it down to about 20 minutes per topic—easy peasy.

Get the Kids Involved

One of the best parts about our Family All-Hands? The kids get involved too! They share their thoughts on meals, activities, and even the chores they’re responsible for. It’s a great way to teach them how to communicate and problem-solve in a group setting, which is super important for their development.

For example, our kids love contributing to the meal plan. They get to choose one dinner each week, which makes them feel involved and excited about what we’re eating. Plus, it’s a sneaky way to get them interested in healthy eating. When it comes to chores, they each pick a few tasks that they’re responsible for. This not only helps with the workload but also teaches them responsibility.

Wrap It Up with a To-Do List

Finally, don’t forget to create a to-do list and update your calendars after the meeting. A lot gets discussed, and it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks. If you need to spread out the conversation, that’s OK. Some topics just take time to figure out.

Keeping Track of Your Plans

For example, if you decide during the meeting that it’s time to start saving for a big family trip, add that to your to-do list. Set a budget, figure out how much you need to save each month, and start tracking your progress. Or if you realize the cleaning routine needs tweaking, jot down specific changes and assign tasks to different family members. Now that you have a good gist of how to prep for a Family All Hands Meeting, let’s go over the four main topics you’re going to want to cover. Starting with my favorite, the family finances.

Going Over the Family Finance

Talking about your personal finances will evolve during your Family All Hands Meetings. When my husband and I first talked about money it started out as a budgeting date. We were in the beginning stage of planning for a wedding and paying off our student loans, so naturally talking about money was necessary. Every single month we would sit down and go over our whole budget to see how we did. But as we jointly budgeted, paid off debt, and hit our goals, we started including a lot more in our conversations. Our financial future became something we also need to discuss and track every month. This includes our investment strategy, the economic news, and our businesses. Like it or not, the more responsibilities you pick up, the more you have to be aware of all the moving pieces. Having this Family All Hands Meeting every month allows us to re-confirm that we’re on the same page before the new month starts.

Balancing Family Activities

As a young family living in San Diego, there is always something fun to do almost every weekend. Instead of feeling FOMO or saying you’ll go somewhere and don’t, make it a habit to add it to your family activities list for the month. We are annual Zoo pass holders. To get our bang for our buck, we have to spread out and plan out our visits. This is the same thing we do for date nights, family activities, beach days, and even small road trips. If you plan it out, it will most likely happen vs wishing it would happen.

We love mixing 1-2 free fun activities a month and some laid-back activities to give our budget a break. Just knowing that I’ve planned out several fun activities for the month allows that “mom guilt” to fall off. We’re all doing a lot, so make sure you add some fun, relaxation, and time to your busy calendar. But family activities aren’t just about planning fun, it’s also an opportunity to talk about what needs to happen in the upcoming month as well. This can be having a conversation about doctor visits, business travel, home projects, or eve

Stick to Your Cleaning Routine

I am one of those Latinas who was raised by a mom who wanted to live in a model home with no mess. Even though that does sound nice, as a mom of little ones it’s not realistic. I have to make time to deep clean anything outside of vacuuming, washing dishes, and doing laundry. To make sure that my husband and I do what we said we would do. We have to spread out and schedule our deep cleaning dives. So you won’t catch us getting burned out trying to clean the whole house all at once. Instead, we focus on cleaning and organizing sections of our house. By scheduling the garage to get cleaned once a month and then cleaning the cars the next weekend. This way it doesn’t take up our whole weekend and it doesn’t burn us out either.

Creating a Monthly Meal Plan

Just as schools have a monthly meal plan, we make it a commitment to have a monthly family meal plan as well. But it didn’t start that way, so please don’t burn yourself out trying to be a super chef. Instead, embrace making a monthly meal plan and think about what you enjoy cooking and eating. When I first started meal prepping, I would make a plan for my meals every week. I would create meals based on what’s in season, on sale, and what I already have in my fridge. As my meal plans evolved, I’ve collected seasonal recipes, bulk-bought essentials, and gotten a food saver. Now instead of creating weekly meal plans, I save even more time, energy, and food by planning out all of my meals for the month.

Here are a few pro tips I’ve learned over the years. First, is to list out all of the seasonal foods and recipes you like during the upcoming month. From there talk to your family about which meals they’re most excited about and those meals into the meal plan. Also, consider creating meals based on items you already have in your fridge or pantry to help you utilize everything that you have. Lastly, don’t forget to include which days you’ll eat out or order in to get everyone in your family excited. Your meal plan won’t be perfect and you shouldn’t expect it to be. Instead, every week make adjustments to your meal plan as needed and discuss improvements at your next Family All Hands Meeting.

Last Words

When creating your Family All Hands Meeting, add topics that interest you and that need to be discussed as a family. Some of the topics can be fun like eating out, family activities, and even cleaning. But make sure you don’t skip the hard conversations about your finances and meal prep. To keep you organized, I recommend checking out Notion. It’s a project management site that allows you to create, collaborate, and keep track of any project you’re working on. It’s free and easy to share with your partner and even kids if you wish.