Chaos comes in all shapes and sizes. And, Kelsey and I have very different ways of dealing with chaos in our daily lives. It’s been top-of-mind for us the past four months as we’ve encountered the challenges of both of us transitioning jobs and all the changes that come within the first year of being parents. We’ve certainly approached the chaos differently and recently we discovered that neither of us is wrong; just different.

We each have different strengths and different personalities. While sometimes it causes conflict, if we seek to understand each other, these differences in personality can also compliment one another.

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Our ebook is still available for $0.99 through the end of the month. It’s not too late to plan out 2013 for your family. Grab a copy today to get started!

Here’s What Others Are Saying About The Family Playbook

We sat down Jan. 1 to go through The Family Playbook and we both really loved it. And it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time since it appears that my husband’s job will be finished at the end of March! (He is/was a youth and family ministries pastor, but budget cuts in the church are forcing some hard decisions regarding staff. We have a tiny bit of hope that this will change, but it’s not looking promising.) We made a few contingency budgets, listed all of our known expenses for the year, and are hoping for the best regarding income. Thankfully we’ve worked hard in the past year and have a decent emergency fund that will carry us through with my salary for quite a while if it comes to that.

I particularly liked the non-financial planning aspects of the Playbook. Reflecting on the past year, deciding what we want to continue and what we’d like to avoid, setting goals and creating a vision for our family – I’ve always been the dreamer and planner and my husband (almost!) always agrees with my ideas, but it was really exciting for me to see him actively participating and offering suggestions. He read through it a few days before and knew what we were going to discuss, rather than me just assaulting him with all my rambling thoughts at dinner one night, as is typical here. The whole process opened up our communication on a new level which seems especially important given all the uncertainty that we are facing.

We’ve read through a ton of couple-y sort of books during our years in Bible college and ministry and have rejected most of them. They were all too wordy or too focused toward one gender or too impractical, it’s really awesome to see something that is concise, but thorough. The Playbook isn’t overwhelming for a couple (or half of a couple) who isn’t really into planning for the future or setting goals, and it can be done in two hours! Totally manageable amount of time. It will be a great resource for us to give to couples as we do marriage counseling, you know, assuming this whole being in ministry thing works out long term

Thanks for all the work you put into it. I can tell that it took a lot of time and thought and it really paid off. If I remember I’ll send you an update in December to see how well we did with it throughout the year since that will be the real test!

–Kaylan Fitzgerald

As facilitators for nine Financial Peace University classes we have seen dozens of couples make dramatic improvements in their lives. We have seen hundreds more muddle through the course while they continue to flounder financially, socially and spiritually. The successful couples seek wise counsel, implement a sound plan and find the discipline to follow their plan. The plan must be in writing, be respectful of each partner’s goals and result in mutual agreement on the final plan. You can find what you need to get started on a new and rewarding lifestyle in The Family Playbook by Eric and Kelsey Williams. Do it today!

–Bob and Debbie Conroy

The Family Playbook was just what we needed after feeling like we had floated for a full year. After a move across the state and two new jobs, we allowed ourselves to “settle in” for too long and realized we allowed valuable time to pass us by. The Family Playbook gave us a place to organize all of our thoughts in a simple format, and we knew it was coming to us well researched and well advised. We love having our annual plan, both the quantitative and qualitative details, in one place, easy to reference now and always.

–Doug and Jessica Rolwes

We are a young family of three. After a “roll-with-the-punches” year, we decided it was time to try something different. Enter The Family Playbook. I wasn’t convinced it would be easy to talk my husband into having a purposed family meeting (I’m the planner in the family, not him), but knew I needed to try.

Thankfully, with the way it was written (thank you, Eric) there was no struggle. The Playbook provided an excellent agenda and jumping-off point for constructive and organized conversation. I used it alongside our planner and budget for this next year and it was seamless. There were parts of it we didn’t use this year (the life goals) because we are using this year to develop our goals. I’m completely satisfied and stoked about this Playbook. I’m already excited about revisiting it in January when we check on our progress.

Thank you, Eric and Kelsey!

We would both like to thank you for putting together such an encouraging and clearly laid out playbook for others to use and be successful with on their family planning. You did an excellent job!

Keeping up with housekeeping has been a thorn in our sides since we were married in 2006. Neither of us had many chores as kids, and we never really learned the true meaning of housekeeping. I totally appreciate my mother for all the cooking and cleaning she did while I was busy running around causing a ruckus, but I did miss out on learning the how and the why of keeping a clean house.

I think we all know why we should clean the house, but it’s actually been argued about quite a bit in the Williams house. I like to have a clean and clutter-free house. Kelsey… not so much. Sure, she would “like” to have a clean and clutter-free house, but not at the expense of the time and elbow grease required to make it so. We’ve had extensive, in-depth, and even heated conversations on the topic, and we have never reached a resolution… until recently… we think…

I’m not even sure how we came to the conclusion, but somehow Kelsey came around to the idea that we needed to get housekeeping whipped into shape before it destroyed our marriage (she says cutting back to working four days a week was the key). The discussion led us to figuring out a system that would motivate us to clean and keep our house clean: MONEY!

We’re human, so, of course, we can be persuaded by money! We decided that if we don’t do our chores, we don’t get our personal money, and instead it would go toward whatever financial goal we are working on at the time (right now: emergency savings).

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