The Kenney Family: Organizing Household Tasks with Tech

While many families use Microsoft 365, the Kenneys are unique because they use multiple products across their subscription to power their home life. Kristan grew up with Microsoft, dating back to Windows 3.1, and has continued to use Microsoft products throughout his IT career. When he sought to streamline his family’s household tasks and chores, from grocery shopping to home repairs, Kristan turned to Microsoft 365 because of its simplicity.

“I want my family’s computing experience to be easy, with tools that just work, so that I don’t have to spend extra time configuring or administering things all the time or dealing with compatibility issues.” – Kristan Kenney

With Microsoft 365, Kristan and Melissa can easily manage tasks using shared lists and spreadsheets, rather than having to email back and forth to keep documents up to date. They keep shared lists for household chores, home repairs, groceries, non-food shopping, booking appointments, and even personal lists for themselves.

“The main tools that we use throughout the day at home are Outlook, To Do, OneDrive, Excel, and OneNote.

• With Outlook and To Do, we have set up shared calendars and lists which let us easily manage our tasks, work schedules, and other appointments, giving us a better overview of the month so that we can make the most use of our time.
• Our family budget and other trackable items are stored in Excel spreadsheets, and thanks to OneDrive and easy-to-use sharing in Microsoft 365 we can work together on these and other documents from anywhere on any device.
• I use OneNote to capture notes and thoughts throughout the day so that I can easily refer to them later, and Melissa uses it with Rian to help her with French homework.” – Kristan Kenney

Speaking of the daughters, as they begin using more devices themselves, the Kenneys are also leveraging their Microsoft 365 subscription to manage their children’s technology usage.

“Our oldest daughter’s just getting to the point where she’s using computers. So I’ve got a Microsoft account set up for her under the Microsoft 365 Family plan that we have and I’m just using that right now to manage screen time and stuff on her tablet.” – Kristan Kenney

As the Kenneys’ story shows, Microsoft 365 is a tool that the whole family can use to make sure you’re spending more time with the ones who matter and less time doing household tasks.

To read more stories of people making the most of their 365, like the Kenneys, check out the Microsoft 365 Stories page.