Cria Planner
Guides
Plan a little better, together.
Short, practical reads on getting through your day, feeding a household without a daily crisis, and planning trips with people who never read the group chat. Written by the small alpaca that builds Cria Planner. Mostly the humans, but the alpaca supervises.
Maple is shutting down: the best alternatives
Maple closes on 31 December 2026 and deletes your data with it. What to save this month, and six family organisers compared.
Read the guide → ComparisonSplitwise alternatives: six expense-splitting apps compared
Splitwise now caps the free tier at a few expenses a day. What stays free elsewhere, and which app fits a couple rather than a trip.
Read the guide → ComparisonMealime is shutting down: the best alternatives
Mealime closes on 21 October 2026 and deletes your data with it. What to save this week, and six replacements compared.
Read the guide → HouseholdHow to divide household chores fairly
Chore charts fail because the work you can see is the easy half. What the research says, and a four-step split that survives a bad week.
Read the guide → ComparisonCozi alternatives: six family organisers compared
What changed with Cozi's free tier, what is genuinely free elsewhere, and how to pick by what broke rather than by the feature list.
Read the guide → ComparisonThe best shared calendar apps for couples
Five apps compared on what they are genuinely free to do, and the one question that actually decides which you should pick.
Read the guide → How-toHow to share a calendar between iPhone and Android
Three ways across the great phone divide, only two of which let both of you edit. Steps, limits, and the read-only trap most guides forget.
Read the guide → ComparisonThe best shared shopping list apps
Six apps compared on what they are genuinely free to do, and why the winner is usually the one everybody actually installed.
Read the guide → MoneyHow to split money with your partner without keeping score
Money is the argument that predicts the others. Four ways couples split shared costs, and how to pick one you will both still use in a year.
Read the guide → Daily planningHow to plan your day so it actually happens
A five-minute routine for turning a scattered to-do list into a day that runs itself, plus what to do when it doesn't.
Read the guide → FocusTime blocking: how to give your to-do list somewhere to happen
A list tells you what and never when. How to block a day, how long to make the blocks, and what to do when the day ignores you.
Read the guide → WellbeingHow to manage stress when your week is the thing stressing you out
It isn't the amount you have on, it's having no control over it. What the research says about unfinished tasks, sleep and mental load.
Read the guide → Weekly planningThe 20-minute weekly reset
Twenty minutes once a week beats five minutes of panic every morning. Empty your head, pick three outcomes, block them, done.
Read the guide → Getting startedSet up Cria Planner in 10 minutes
From your first event to a shared plan the whole household can see. The fastest path to a planner you'll actually keep using.
Read the guide → HouseholdHow a shared planner keeps a household organized
Why the mental load piles onto one person, and how a plan everyone can see quietly spreads it back out.
Read the guide → Planning togetherPlanning trips & events without the group-chat chaos
Give a trip or a party one home instead of scrolling back through 200 messages to find who's bringing the speaker.
Read the guide → Meal planningHow to plan a week of meals (and actually cook them)
A 15-minute routine: pick a rhythm, start from the fridge, plan dinners only, and let the shopping list write itself.
Read the guide → ShoppingHow to spend less on groceries without clipping a single coupon
Fewer trips, a list built from a plan, and knowing what things cost. The savings happen before you've found your shoes.
Read the guide → Meal planningNever plan from scratch: reuse last week's meals
Build a small rotation of weeks that worked, then copy one and change two dinners. Shopping list included, smugness optional.
Read the guide → HabitsHow to build habits that stick, according to the research
It's about two months, not 21 days. What the studies say about cues, if-then plans and why one missed day doesn't matter.
Read the guide → RelationshipsHow a shared planner can help your relationship
Couples don't argue about the dishes. They argue about who has to remember the dishes. A plan you both can see takes the score-keeping out.
Read the guide →