Family & Care Planner — Care for the people you love, with a plan.
A parent coming home, a new baby, an adoption or a rescue dog: the setup, the monthly costs and who’s paying, and every visit, form and first day on one timeline the whole family can see.
- Free to start
- No sign-up to try
- Plan together
Everything in one plan
The agency quotes, the paperwork, the home changes and the family group chat usually live in four places. Here they’re one.
Includes a care checklist.
Idea board
Weigh the options together.
A day program three days a week, a home aide in the mornings, a stair lift rather than moving a bed down, a respite weekend each month, pill packs from the pharmacy. Keep each with a photo, a price and a note the whole family can read.
“Nobody has said out loud that we need this. We need this.”An idea on the board of the “Elder care” example
- Providers, home changes and help on one board
- Track each one: considering, researching, contacted, shortlisted
- Share it, so the decision isn’t one person’s
Idea board 1/2
Care budget
What care costs, month by month.
The aide or the facility as a monthly cost across the months you budget, the home changes, an assessment and the supplies — each one planned, booked or paid.
$55,600 · Ongoing costs $54,000 · Setup & gear $650 · Providers & caregivers $350 · Supplies $600The “Elder care” example’s budget
- Monthly costs over the months you choose
- Planned, booked and paid
Care budget 1/2
Timeline
From the first tour to the first day.
Tour the day center, check the provider and the written terms, confirm advance directives, hire the aide and walk the house for fall risks — then the first day of care and a check-in a month later.
Tour Riverbend Day Center · Verify provider & written terms · Meet and hire the morning aideThe “Elder care” example’s timeline
- Every step dated back from the first day
- Paperwork and decision authority in order
Tour to first day 1/2
Recommendations
What families wish they’d been told.
Home safety changes to plan, the legal and financial paperwork to get in order, what Medicare does not cover, whether to assess before choosing, in-home hours against a facility, and how to choose an agency. Open one and it answers for your plan, with its own numbers and dates.
What Medicare does not cover, which is most of long-term careA guide in the “Elder care” example’s recommendations
- Home safety and paperwork
- Costs, coverage and choosing care
A guide, answered 2/2
About the Family & Care Planner
Care situations share a shape: one-off setup costs before a start date, then recurring monthly costs for as long as the care lasts. This planner models both — gear and home setup as one-time lines, care itself as a monthly price multiplied across the months you budget — for a new baby, an adoption, childcare, elder care, or back-to-school.
Adoption agency fees carry a deposit-plus-balance schedule, a registry or hand-me-down credit offsets setup costs, and provider and paperwork checklists keep the non-money work visible. Edit every line in place, then save, share, or export to CSV or PDF.
What you can do
- One plan shape for baby, adoption, childcare, elder care, back-to-school
- Setup gear as one-time lines; care as monthly cost × budgeted months
- Registry / hand-me-down credit offsets setup costs
- Provider and paperwork checklists alongside the budget
- Save, share, CSV, and PDF export
Frequently asked questions
How does it separate setup from ongoing costs?
Setup lines (gear, home safety, deposits) are one-time and land before your start date. Care lines (daycare, a caregiver, assisted living) are monthly prices multiplied across the number of months you budget — so the recurring commitment is a visible total, not a small monthly figure.
Should I use this or the Baby Planner?
For a new baby specifically, the dedicated Baby Planner goes deeper on pre-birth savings and first-year cash flow. Use this planner for adoption, childcare changes, elder care, back-to-school, or when you want the simpler setup-plus-recurring shape.
Related calculators
Other planning tools that pair well with the Family & Care Planner.
Photo by Jelly Marketing on Unsplash.