A Free Notion Life OS for Running the House and the Family's Goals
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You’re the one who knows when the library books are due, what size shoes the kids wear now, and which birthday party needs a gift by Saturday. When all of that lives in your head, one rough night of sleep wipes out half of it.
Life OS is a free family Notion template that gives those lists a home. It’s a general second brain and goal system, and its five databases are linked to each other, so each to-do links to its project and each project links to a part of the house.
The template: Duplicate Life OS in Notion. It’s free. You need a Notion account to copy it.
What’s Inside the Family Notion Template
The template describes itself as “a second brain and goal system where areas, goals, projects, tasks and notes all talk to each other.” Those are its five databases:
- Areas: the big parts of life. The Type options are Health, Career, Money, Relationships, Growth, Home and Fun.
- Goals: what you want from an area, with a Horizon (This quarter, This year, 3 years), a Status and a Target Date.
- Projects: jobs with a finish line, with Status, Priority and a Deadline.
- Tasks: the single to-dos, with Done, Focus Today, a Due date, Priority and Energy.
- Notes: ideas and reference material, with a Type, Tags and a Source link.
The Home page has sections for Today, Capture, Projects, Goals, Areas and Rituals, plus a Databases page and a Weekly Review page. Sample rows come filled in.
Start With the Household Areas
The template’s own start note says to delete the sample rows when you’re ready, then add your Areas first, since “everything else hangs off them.”
For a household, that could look like:
- Home: the house, the yard and the chores.
- Money: bills and the budget.
- Health: doctor and dentist visits for everyone.
- Relationships: grandparents, birthdays and date night.
Each Area has a Standard text field. Use it to write down what “good enough” looks like for that area, like “dishes done before bed.” Every Area also shows its Active Projects and Note Count.
Family Goals Go in Goals
Goals are the bigger things you’re working toward, each linked to an Area.
- Horizon is This quarter, This year or 3 years.
- Status is Not started, In progress, Achieved or Dropped. Dropped is there for the goal that stopped making sense.
- Why it matters is a text field for the reason behind the goal.
Goals also carry Time Left, Momentum, a Progress Bar and an Avg Progress rollup, and each goal links to its projects.
Household Projects Go in Projects
Each project is one job with a finish line: a birthday party, moving a toddler to a big-kid bed, holiday travel, clearing out the garage. Link it to its Area, and to a Goal if it serves one.
- Status runs Planning, Active, On hold and Done.
- Priority is High, Medium or Low.
- Deadline holds the party date or the flight.
Projects count their Open Tasks and Overdue Tasks, so the garage project tells you how much is left without opening it.
The To-Dos Go in Tasks
Break each project into tasks and link them to the project. For the birthday party, that’s “Send invitations,” “Order the cake” and “Pick up balloons.”
The Energy column has three options: Deep focus, Quick win and Low energy. Use them to match a to-do to the time you’ve got:
- Quick win: a nap-length job, like ordering the cake.
- Deep focus: the budget, saved for when you have a quiet hour.
- Low energy: folding laundry after bedtime.
Tick Focus Today on the few tasks you want done today. The Today section color-codes due dates: tasks go red once they’re overdue and orange on the day they’re due.
Family Facts and Quick Thoughts Go in Notes
Notes holds the things you look up more than once: each kid’s current clothing and shoe sizes, the furnace filter size, daycare pickup rules.
- Set Type to Reference, and link the note to its Area, like Home.
- Put a link in Source if the info came from a website.
- Tick Favorite on the notes you open most.
The Capture section is for the thought that hits at 7am. Drop it in Notes with no Area, and it lands in the Inbox view for Sunday.
The Sunday Weekly Review
Life OS has a Weekly Review page built for 30 minutes every Sunday. The page itself warns: “Skip it and the system goes stale in about two weeks.” It runs in three steps:
- Clear: empty the Notes inbox so every note gets an Area or a Project, and get the loose tasks out of your head, your email and your phone.
- Review: check every Active project for a clear next task, and look at your Goals to see if each one is still worth chasing.
- Plan: tick Focus Today on the 3 tasks that matter most for Monday, and move anything overdue to a date you can hit, or delete it.
The page also has a “Where things go” table for when you’re not sure which database something belongs in.
For the Kids’ Side of the Routine
Life OS is for the parent running the house. If your kid does well with visual checklists, a picture chart covers their side of the morning.
The CustomMaster 3-in-1 Routine Chart is magnetic and reusable, so you can change the routine as your kid’s mornings change. It’s on our back-to-school list for toddlers.
Who This Is For
- You run most of the household logistics yourself.
- Your lists are spread across sticky notes, texts to yourself and the fridge door.
- You want the house and the bigger family goals in one place.
Skip it if you want something that runs with zero setup. Life OS asks you to add your Areas first and to sit down for the Sunday review.
