Organizing

4 Ways to Use Baskets and Bins to Organize Your Home in a Flash

Tips on organizing your home using bins and baskets…. Ok. I admit it. I have a little bit of an OCD problem. I like my books and dvds organized by color, my drinking glass in order by height, and all of the clothes in my closet have to be facing the same direction, in categories marked with dividers. Maybe it’s because of all of the other chaos that I deal with daily – running my own business from home, Mike running a business of his own from home too, and life with an incredibly energetic toddler. So keeping the house clean, neat, and organized helps me feel a little more in control. And the best tip I’ve found for helping keep things picked up and put away is to use baskets and bins to organize around the house – they work in every single room, and can solve just about any challenge you have. Check out a few of my favorite ideas…

Home Office by Minneapolis Interior Designer LiLu Interiors
[Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 14, 2013 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution, Homemaking | 4 Comments

You Don’t Have to be a Domestic Goddess to Take Control of Your Life

Doesn’t that feel good to hear? Let me say it again, “You Don’t Have to be a Domestic Goddess to Take Control of Your Life.” And it’s not me saying that – it’s the crazy-smart experts over at Modern Parents, Messy Kids. This is one of my absolute favorite sites -so full of creatively genius ideas for simplifying life, while keeping it fun. And now, she has a super awesome new ebook. I bought it yesterday, and love it so much I wanted to share it with you guys!

[Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on January 4, 2013 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 2 Comments

How this service can help organize your life online

Organize Yourself Online is a comprehensive service designed to make it easier than ever for you to get yourself organized

Your personalized program offers unique tools and ideas to organize yourself when and where you need it most – right at your PC desktop.

What You’ll Get with this Program

This service is packed full of great tips, ideas, tools and helpful resources to help you finally get organized – and stay that way!

Get updated information on organizing techniques that really work.
Track daily progress toward your personal goals.
Get support from others in the exclusive community discussions.
Review your new skills with customized quizzes.
Develop organizing strategies with your personal journal.
Answer your toughest questions with access to the experts.

You’ll also get a FREE copy of their book, Discover 28 ways to avoid procrastinating filled with quick tips to help you get in gear, and get motivated to move forward towards your goals!

Do you need help getting your life organized?

This resource has helpful information sections to address all of the areas that busy moms need help with, including:

Office
Household
Children
Managing Time
Financial Records

The past year has been a whirlwind for me – Having a baby, moving to a bigger new home that needs a lot of work, having family move in with me, starting a blog and other online businesses – and I’m realizing that I need to bump all of my organization methods up to a new level. When you have so much to do, and juggle so many different roles and responsibilities, you have to have awesome organization systems or you just can’t keep up with it all. Being organized keeps can help you feel SO much less stressed – You know where things are, and how to find them. You know you’re keeping the right records and information on file. You know what tasks need to be accomplished each day, so you never miss a deadline.

If this all sounds great to you – Check out OrganizeYourself.com today!

And, for more great tips – Check out more of my Busy Mom Solution resources:

Learn how gCal can help you sync your families schedules – and is great on the go!
Get the best collection of online printable planners.
Find more Smart Solutions for Busy Moms, and great Tech Tips Made Simple, on my Pinterest page!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 5, 2012 Filed Under: Blogging Tools, Busy Mom Solution | 5 Comments

Win a Kindle Fire – New Giveaway – Easy Entry!!

Win a Kindle Fire!

I soooo want a Kindle Fire – and have been watching for every opportunity this season to win one, and I figure that many of you probably are too. This giveaway is brought to you from AboutOne.com – if you aren’t using their totally free, totally cool, and totally helpful program to organized your life, you are missing out!!

They’re giving you a chance to win!

AboutOne has some amazing upgrades coming soon to their already awesome online organizing system – and they’re excited about it. So excited that they want to give away some prizes!

How to Get Entered:

Head over to the AboutOne site – click the graphic above. Enter your email so they can notify you when the new site launches – and you’re entered to WIN! Easy peasy, right?

Don’t forget to confirm your entry for BONUS entries!!

After you sign up, you’ll get an email that you’ll need to click confirm on, to validate your entry, and your referral code. It’ll look like this –

Thanks for signing up to try AboutOne’s new free online organizer, and to be entered in the Kindle Fire drawing when you refer a friend!

The more friends you refer the more chances you have to win! Share this link with your friends to increase your chances: {Then you’ll see YOUR unique code here}

Good luck!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 29, 2011 Filed Under: Giveaways | No Comments

How to Keep Your Fridge Clean and Organized

The kitchen is the one of busiest rooms in the house – which means it can also be the toughest to keep clean. And one of the biggest challenges in the kitchen during the holidays is the refrigerator – Between holiday baking, parties, and leftovers – that fridge is probably pretty overflowing! And since for many families food plays a pretty central role in celebrating the season, you definitely want your fridge to be ready – so you can keep your food fresh, your leftovers organized, and find everything else you need in a hurry. Watch this great video for a few tips…

Busy Mom Solution: Tips for your Fridge!

This video shares some great basic tips {can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube} – and here are a few more of my favorites:

Get into a habit of cleaning the fridge each week before grocery shopping – that’s when it’s the emptiest, making it easiest to clean out! {I love those canisters of kitchen wipes – makes clean-up easy peasy!}
Speaking of clean-up: A few easy tips can help keep the mess to a minimum – Line your drawers with paper towels, to make it easy to clean them out each week. Always remember to wipe off bottles and containers before putting them back on the shelf. And always wipe up a spill when it happens – if you let it set, it’ll be twice as much work when you come back to it!
Use storage containers to hold similar items. Just like you keep all of the veggies together in the crisper drawer, or store all of your condiments on the same shelf, you can use clear storage containers to hold kids juice pouches, yogurts, string cheese, etc. This keeps things neat and tidy, and super easy to find!
Label those leftovers!! This is extra important at this busy time of year. We use a roll of white tape and a marker – When I’m cleaning up after a party, I put a strip of tape on each container, and write the date on it. Then everyone knows at a glance what’s still safe to eat.
Keep your fridge fresh! With the fridge getting such a workout during the holidays, it can be a challenge keeping it fresh – but you don’t want your guests reaching into a stinky fridge when they are grabbing drinks! That brings us to my next Busy Mom Solution Product – The Oransi Ionic Fridge Air Purifier! Keep reading to learn more, and get a chance to win your own…

The Oransi Ionic Fridge Air Purifier!

Why do you totally need one of these? Well, it gets rid of odors and bacteria to keep your refrigerator smelling fresh, and your food even fresher! It’s super affordable, fits easily into even the most crowded fridge, and is just plain cool. Read more…

Top 5 Reasons I LOVE the Oransi in my fridge!

It’s super easy to use. Even my mom, who still can’t figure out that darn VCR, figured out how to put batteries in this gadget and get it turned on and working.
It’s affordable – there are no filters to replace, and it runs on two AA batteries that only need to be changed a few times a year.
It works great! I live in a full house, with a bunch of extended family. So, I have two men, and two boys ages 5 and 8, in addition to myself, Abby, and my mother. Boys are messy and stinky – it’s a true fact. And they do NOT clean out the fridge. Ever. There is a totally noticeable difference in the freshness of the fridge now that I’m using the Oransi purifier – and that impresses me. A lot.
It’s smart! It’s super high-tech – read this, “Patented Piezo-electric technology allows for a high negative ion output to freshen your refrigerator without the harmful side effects of ozone that is found in standard ionizers.” – Sounds cool, right?
It’s got a great design! I love the look of this little gadget – very clean and modern, and totally fits into my super crowded fridge easily. Love it. When people see it, they ask “What is THAT?” – in an impressed and inquisitive type of voice, because they think it’s cool.

Overview…

A totally affordable gadget that is easy to use, works great, keeps my fridge and food fresh, and makes people think I’m just a little bit cooler when they see it in use? Awesome, right?

You can learn more about the Fridge Air Purifier, and all of the other cool Oransi products on their website.
Purchase the Oransi Ionic Fridge Air Purifier today on sale! Save $10 off the regular price – Get it for only $29.99 plus FREE shipping!

Win One for Your Kitchen!!

~~Use the easy peasy Rafflecopter Form to enter to WIN your own Oransi Fridge Purifier – and make sure to come back each day for the daily BONUS entries!! Good luck!!~~

[Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 29, 2011 Filed Under: Giveaways | 38 Comments

Stacks and Papers and Piles, Oh My! Get Your Paper Clutter Under Control.

Simple steps to go paperless!

Stacks and papers and piles, oh my! What starts off as a couple bills, some magazines or school notices can very quickly turn into messy mountains of papers all over your house. Well, this week we’re going to show you how easy it is to rid yourself of all that paper and organize your home. First think of junk mail as unwelcome guests and don’t let it in your house, only touch something once (you’ll see what we mean by that), scan important stuff (we love the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300) – so you can save it digitally and shred what’s left.

Check out this week’s twirl and see how getting rid of all that paper feels all kind of good.

What do you think?

I think that this is a tech tip directed right towards me! I am super organized – but paper pile-up is my biggest challenge. I’m already using a few of the amazing organizational sites that she mentions – Like Manilla and Evernote – but I definitely need to get better at scanning in more stuff that I file away. I started using the super awesome site I told you about a couple months ago – AboutOne – and I am lovin’ that. I can snap pic’s of receipts and send them directly to a “Shopping” folder there, and scan the kids artwork and add it to their “School” files. My favorite is that I scanned all of our insurance policies and added to an AboutOne folder – and I can access these from my phone too! BUT – While I’m getting much better about scanning and saving digitally, I do need to start shredding what I toss! Love her product recommendations, as always.

Do you have multiple paper messes in your home? What other great tips can you share for tackling this challenge? Share ’em in the comments!

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl.

{Disclaimer: This post is shared with you guys because I’m a Syndicate Partner for Digitwirl.com – but I receive NO compensation, I just partnered with them to share their weekly twirls because they’re awesome! But, this post does contain an affiliate link which requires me to add this note – This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Manilla. But, I only share stuff I think will rock your socks!}

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 23, 2011 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | No Comments

The Best of – Busy Mom Solutions! #frugal #mom #organizing

The Most Popular Busy Mom Solutions!

These are the top 6 Busy Mom Solution posts from the past 6 months. Since many of you are newer fans, and may have missed some, I thought I’d share them again! Best of all, these sites are ALL free!

Evernote

Evernote is a website, a free app, and an extension that builds functionality into tons of programs you already use. If you can email it, scan it, type it, snap it, record it, or find it on the internet you can keep track of it all with Evernote. Read my post for more details, and to see a video of it in action! Forget About Forgetting Important Information Ever Again!

Alice.com

Save yourself a trip to the store – Buy your home essentials from Alice.com! Wouldn’t it be nice to pick up stuff like toilet paper, toothpaste, paper towels, and coffee right from your front porch, instead of loading up the kids and fighting the tantrums at the store? You can get it all with free shipping, automatic coupons, and 20% off your first order. Join Alice.com today!

AboutOne.com

A free service that helps you manage and organize your life as it happens! AboutOne gets you organized by letting you scan, upload, email, or text everything you need to hang on to- Like photos, children’s artwork and health, education, health, and home records. Kids bring home a new report card? Snap a pic with your smart phone, and email it over to their “education” folder. Easy peasy! Learn more, and watch a video – Busy Mom Solution: Like Having Your Whole Filing Cabinet in Your Pocket!

LearnVest

One of my favorite daily newsletters ever! Delivered to you five days a week, the LearnVest Daily is packed with money-saving tips and financial how-tos to help you live a life that’s frugal, fashionable, and fun! Read one of my favorite recent posts from them here – What’s a Great Buy – and What’s DANGEROUS to Buy – at the Dollar Store.

Savings Star

There’s a great new coupon company called SavingStar that recently launched and makes it really easy to save on groceries. There’s nothing to clip or print since their ecoupons are 100% digital! They work at over 100 chains in 24,000 stores nationwide.

Here’s how it works:

Select the eCoupons you like on the website or mobile app, and they are automatically linked to your store card.
Use your card when you checkout and the money is added to your SavingStar account. The savings don’t change your bill at the register and the savings are not printed on the receipt. Instead, they get deposited into your account within 7-30 days depending upon where you shop.
Once your SavingStar account reaches $5 in savings, you can pick your payout from a bank account deposit, a PayPal account deposit, an Amazon gift card, or a donation to charity. Easy peasy!

There’s over 30 coupons on SavingStar now worth over $50! Click Here.

Other InBox

OIB basically weeds through all your emails and pulls out the automated ones from the ones from real people and then files them in different folders. So, that sale site coupon will come into the OIB Shopping folder, but the credit card statement will go into the OIB Financial folder. Then you can look at what you want, when you want without having to sift through dozens of other emails clogging up your inbox. And best of all, that email list you ended up on, but never signed up for, well that can be moved into the OIB Unsubscribe folder where they’ll do the breaking up for you. See a video and more explanation here – Survey Junkies, Online Shoppers, Bloggers, and other Busy Moms – Let OIB Organize Your Inbox Automatically!

What do you think?

Are you a busy mom? What areas do you struggle with the most? And which one of these busy mom solutions is YOUR favorite? Leave me some comments, and let me know what you think! And if you know another busy mom who would love these helpful sites – feel free to use the social buttons to share this to your own Twitter or Facebook too!