Now, whether on the Mac or the iOS device, just follow Apple's steps for setting up iCloud. You can use an existing email address of your own, or create a new, free me.com account. Once you've created your new account, you'll want to log into that same iCloud account on all your other devices. Other folks in your family should repeat the process for themselves, with their own email addresses.

Thus, my wife uses one email address for iCloud, and I use another, and we share a third for the App Store. (One of us could, of course, have kept the App Store Apple ID as our iCloud account, but this approach seemed a bit easier for us to keep straight.)

Sadly, this solution won't work quite as well for you if you use different iOS devices but share a Mac. Although you can configure multiple iCloud email, calendar, and contacts accounts on an individual Mac, only one iCloud account per Mac can sync documents, bookmarks, photos, and the like.

: If the folks you share an Apple ID with will all use , it's a good idea to use your new, unique iCloud accounts for iMessage, too. By default, iMessage will try to use your main Apple ID, and sharing that ID across multiple iMessagers will only lead to trouble. To change your iMessage address to a unique email address that only you use, go into Settings and choose Messages. Next, tap Receive At, and then tap on the Apple ID at the top of the screen. In the pop-up dialog that appears, choose Sign Out, and then sign into your unique account instead.