Modern family life can sure be confusing. Sure, all this new technology that we're all blessed with does make us more efficient, but it also comes at a price.

As each of us gets better at managing our own schedules and such, it gets harder and harder for today's family to stay coordinated.

Mom has her own schedule and list of priorities, Dad has his own stuff going on, and with each family member added to the list, keeping family activities and priorities coordinated gets harder all the time.

Thank God our pets don't have their own agendas or things could get real confusing!

Now, I'm not saying that this is something new - families have always had to juggle the priorities and commitments of all the family members, but in the past -- back in the day when everyone sat down to dinner every night and communicated face to face rather than by text or through messages posted on each other's Facebook "walls" -- families were more likely to see each other every day and talk about what's going on.

What I'm saying is that today things move so fast that the modern family can have a hard time keeping everything straight.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could use the same technology that makes us so efficient (and therefore so much busier) to manage the family's differing schedule efficiently, too?

Well, I'm happy to report that the answer is yes! Fire up your web browser and head on over to www.cozi.com and take a look around. What you'll find is a central hub that was designed to help families keep all the differing tasks and priorities of each family member in one place and yet available "everywhere" at the same time.

Cozi offers a private, shared online calendar, grocery shopping list and to-do list that the whole family can access anytime and anywhere. This way the whole family has instant access to the family schedule and can check things off as they get done, keeping everyone informed as to the status of everyone's priorities.

Kind of like the good old "kitchen calendar" of days past, only with Cozi you don't have to be in the kitchen to see it.

Cozi offers an automatic color-coded system so everyone can see at a glance where they are supposed to be and when they're supposed to be there. This is great for avoiding conflicting schedules and makes managing multiple tasks simple. Cozi will even synchronize with Outlook's calendar so you don't have to make entries twice. Add an event in your Outlook calendar and it shows up in Cozi color coded for you, without having to update the family calendar manually.

Things like shopping lists and to-do lists are centralized with Cozi, too. For instance, with your shopping list in one place and accessible by everyone, you can shop and check things off your list from your Android or iPhone app while shopping. Don't have a new ultra-fancy smart phone that will run the free Cozi app? That's OK, too. If your phone has web access, you can log on from your phone's browser and still be able to check things off in real time. You can even call a toll-free number and have your list read to you over the phone or sent to you by text.

Cozi isn't just about calendars and shopping lists, either. The "Family Journal" section is an awesome way to be able to capture special moments and memories and have them uploaded to a central family bulletin board. Again, the iPhone or Android app makes this super easy, but even without a smart phone Cozi makes accessing the family journal a snap from any web browser.

It really is simple to use and with each family member posting pictures and making updates, Cozi is a great way for a family to have their own private blog.

If you've been looking for a way to manage family events, lists and other communications while staying coordinated with family members that are always on the go, then Cozi if for you. It keeps everyone on the same page and does it for free.

Log in and take Cozi for a spin - I think you'll be pleased.

Sean McCarthy fixes computers. He can be reached at (888) 752-9049 or help@ComputeThisOnline.com (no hyphens).