Why we built Planily

The invisible mental load is real

Mental load is the cognitive work involved in keeping a household running. Not the physical tasks themselves, but the thinking behind them: remembering the school form needs to go in by Friday, noticing the household is running low on something, tracking who needs to be where and when. This kind of labour is continuous and largely invisible, which is part of what makes it so difficult to measure or even talk about.

Research consistently shows that women perform the majority of this cognitive labour, particularly in planning, organising, and decision-making for family life. And critically, this imbalance is not simply explained by income or employment status. It is shaped by deeply embedded social norms. Even when mothers are the primary earner, they still carry the responsibility of knowing what needs doing in the first place.

The gap isn't closing fast enough

ONS Time Use data shows that while unpaid household labour has decreased for both men and women over time, the gender gap remains largely unchanged. Women with dependent children averaged nearly 208 minutes per day of unpaid labour in 2022, compared to 145 minutes for men, a difference of over 7 hours per week.

Families juggling phone calendars, WhatsApp groups, and paper diaries are stitching together disconnected systems rather than using a single shared solution. Research shows that switching repeatedly between tools increases stress by 36% and frustration by 40%. The problem isn't laziness or indifference. It's a lack of shared visibility.

No existing tool solves this for UK families

There is no household name in the UK family organisation market. Apps like Cozi and FamilyWall are either not built for the UK context or are limited in what they offer. Google Calendar shows what is happening and when, but not who is responsible, who is cooking, or who is doing the school run. That missing layer is exactly where the mental load lives.

Planily is built specifically around that gap. It's not just a calendar. It's a shared coordination system that gives both partners a clear view of the full picture, so the invisible becomes visible and the load can genuinely be shared.

Built by parents, for parents

Planily was born out of our own frustration. We're parents in the UK who got tired of juggling multiple apps, a family WhatsApp group, and a fridge calendar that only one person could see. We wanted one calm place for all of it, so we built it. The research backs up what we already felt in our own homes.