Technology Made Simple

Busy Mom Solution: WIN a Sandisk Clip Zip! {11/18}

Another great Busy Mom Solution product – the Sansa Clip Zip!

This is a super cool little gadget. The kiddo’s hate it when I rock out while cleaning the house… Usually, I turn the music up really loud, and dance and sing while I mop, vacuum, wash dishes and windows, and other real fun mom stuff. Now, I still annoy them with my singing, but they don’t have to listen to my music. They are incredibly appreciative to no longer have my super-lame music choices interrupting them while watching iCarly and Spongebob. And I love that the music can just follow me around the house. Why did I not think of getting an MP3 player sooner??

Super Cool Features:

It comes in a ton of colors – like my current favorite color, a really great bright orange!
It’s got a bigger screen than most, making it easy for my super-tired-mommy eyes to read it!
It’s super user-friendly, even if you’re not much of a techy gal. My mom could figure out the basics, and she can’t even use the DVD player. {Lol, but seriously.}
Play downloaded music or FM radio. Love that option.
It’s got a stopwatch, which is cool if you’re using this for workouts.
MY FAVORITE: It’s got a voice recording feature – so as I’m doing housework, I can leave little message reminders for myself – like, “We’re almost out of laundry detergent.” Or, “Launch search mission for towels. Bathroom is empty. Check under kids beds.” – you know, the important stuff you discover while cleaning up.

More about the Sansa Clip Zip Rocks:

Portable: This little gadget clips onto your jacket, pants, or pocket, to easily travel with you while you’re at home, on the go, or working out. I also love to just clip it to the stroller while Abby and I go for walks – Sometimes I let her listen to it too! She loves that.
Simple Set Up: The instructions are super easy to follow – and if you can use a cell phone, you can use this MP3 Player. Promise.
Music Choices: You can go super simple, and just listen to your favorite radio stations. You can listen to some of the pre-loaded songs that are already on the Clip Zip. Or you can upload all of your own music like I did – and I promise, it’s easy to do.
Super Cute: I’m not sure if cute is a word I use often with tech stuff, but I love this little Clip Zip! I received the Primetime Purple version, and it’s just so fun. I’ve gotten a ton of compliments on it already – everyone loves it.

Win one – Great for you, or for a Holiday Gift!

The Sansa Clip Zip from SanDisk retails for $49.99, and comes with all of these accessories included in the kit:

Sansa Clip Zip MP3 Player
USB 2.0 transfer cable
Earphones
Quick Start guide
Starter CD (Sansa Updater and Rhapsody offer)

And one lucky Sunshine and Sippy Cups fan will WIN a Coupon Code to order THEIR CHOICE of Clip Zip at 100% off {meaning FREE!} – and it includes FREE shipping! Plus, 4 more lucky winners will get an exclusive coupon code for 20% off their entire SanDisk online purchase! But – this will be a short giveaway: The Free and Discount Coupon Codes MUST BE USED BY NOVEMBER 25TH! So we’ll get this rockin’ today, so I can draw and confirm winners in time for the winners to use the codes.

Make sure to check out my new Giveaway List in the side bar, right over there —>, for a list of all of my current giveaways. The more you enter, the more chances you have to win!

{Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of SanDisk and received a product sample to facilitate my review, and coupons to giveaway.}

Enter to Win:

[Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 10, 2011 Filed Under: Giveaways | 10 Comments

Free Microsoft Office Tips and Tricks Book!

Maximize Your Microsoft Office Tools

As a busy mom, a blogger, and an Educational Consultant with Discovery Toys – I’m a busy girl! I’ve been struggling to find a good way to get more organized, so that I can keep up with all of the projects that I’m juggling. My solution? Make my own planning binders using free printables online, and some really great documents, calendars, logs, and worksheets from my own Microsoft Office! Seriously, I didn’t even know that I had so much stuff available! And the printable organizing stuff is just the beginning – you’d be amazed at all of the great tools you’ve had hiding right there in your computer, and probably never even looked at. I’m working on some posts to share my new blogging, household, and crafty binders – I’ll have them ready soon! Until then – get this totally free book and start learning about all of these great tools and tricks!

Free Guide: Microsoft Office 2010: Tips and Tricks – Limited Time Offer Click Here to get it!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 9, 2011 Filed Under: Freebies, Blogging Resources | No 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

Busy Mom Solution: Skype is the easiest way to video chat

Do some of your closest friends live far, far away?

Do some of your closest friends live far, far away? You probably connect through email or status updates, but wouldn’t it be better to connect face-to-face? For that video chatting is the way to go, but if you’re not on the same email provider it’s not going to work. A simple solution? Skype.

What’s the best thing about Skype? It’s FREE!

Skype has a free basic service that allows you and any other “Skyper” to chat and instant message no matter where in the world you both live. For a small charge you can even group chat, call mobile and land lines, and if you download the free cell phone app, you can call anywhere in the world for a fraction of traditional costs.

Check out this week’s Twirl and get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes in to shooting an episode when we’re missing a key ingredient…or are we?

What do you think?

I think I’m ready to sign up for Skype – finally! I’ve had quite a few people ask me if I’m on Skype lately – from my web designer, to affiliate managers; from my cousin in Seattle to blogging partners across the country – Now I can finally say YES, and chat with them easily using Skype.

So much easier than I expected!

Setting up Skype sounded like it was the kind of thing that would be a big confusing headache, so I’ve just been putting it off. But after watching this twirl, I realized I’m craaaaazy for not having done this sooner. It’s easy peasy as can be!

Do you use Skype?

What’s your favorite thing about Skype? Or, if you’re NOT using it already, does this video give YOU the confidence to get started too?

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.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 16, 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!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 10, 2011 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 1 Comment

Get Ready for a DRAMATIC Change to Facebook

Cha-Cha-Changes are Coming to Facebook…

I first read about the new changes coming to Facebook in a couple of weeks on Six in the Nest’s new article- Holy Smokes… More Facebook Changes. That’s where this picture came from- it’s an example of what your new Facebook page will soon look like.
I wondered if this was a “possible” type of change, something that they were thinking about, just testing- or if this was a sure thing. So, I went to the Facebook blog, and sure enough, in a few weeks we’ll all start seeing ANOTHER new, and dramatically different, Facebook page when we log-in.

It’s called Timeline, and you can see more of how it works here:

This is BIG deal

One of my favorite social media news sites- (the always amazing Mashable.com) states, “I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media. And while I won’t talk about the mind-boggling things Facebook will be launching, I will say this: The Facebook you know and (don’t) love will be forever transformed.” Read more of how to Prepare for the New Facebook, or if you’re brave, How to Enable the New Facebook Timeline Now.

You can also check out a great explanation, including a really helpful set of screenshots from someone who is already using the new Timeline page- What to Expect from the New Timeline Change on Facebook.

What do you think?

Honestly, I don’t like it. I say- slow your roll Facebook. You’re beautiful just the way you are. Please- don’t change, again, just for the sake of change.
Of course Facebook needs to update often, and evolve- all technology has to change constantly to stay relevant. BUT- this seems to be changing Facebook into something totally different than what it is now. If you have a game-changing product, that everyone uses, why would you make it into something else? It might turn out to be an amazing change, but it seems like a huge risk.
This isn’t an “upgrade”, this is like buying your favorite ham sandwich at the deli and finding out it’s now a tuna melt. It’s the same idea, but a totally different product.
That said- I’m totally open-minded about it {even though it sure doesn’t sound that way, lol}- and am really hoping I like it. A few friends I’ve talked to who are developers and have made the switch already are really lovin’ it. *Fingers crossed*

Helping you find what’s Important

On the Facebook blog it says, “The way your profile works today, 99% of the stories you share vanish.” They want to make it easier to ignore all of the “I totally woke up too early today. I hate Mondays” type of posts that clutter your stream. But um, if all of my random daily posts will disappear, and only major events will show up…. correct me if I’m wrong- but THAT’S making 99% of my posts disappear, right? And if I only wanted to know major events in my friends lives, I could take a peek at their photo albums to see weddings, babies, and graduations.

Do you use Facebook for your Business?

No word yet on how these major new changes will affect Pages. I know that for many bloggers like myself, a large majority of our traffic comes from the interaction and community that we’ve built on our Facebook pages- I’ve already seen a dramatic drop in traffic after the last Facebook update a week ago, since many people no longer see my posts.

It’s hard to imagine how a business page would make sense with this new Timeline layout, but I’m hoping that Facebook will really consider the needs of business owners, and ensure that Facebook can still be as useful to us as it is now.

My bet is that Timeline will roll out to personal pages first, and business pages later on- that seems to be how most of the Facebook changes have worked in the past. I’ve heard from many designers who are halting their Facebook projects for small business clients until the changes are completed, to fully understand what this will mean for business pages.

I’d love to hear from you…

Share some comments- Love? Hate? Indifferent? Tell me what you think about the new Timeline, and whether you believe that it will really change Facebook as dramatically as people are saying.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on September 27, 2011 Filed Under: Blogging Resources, Reviews | 5 Comments

Survey Junkies, Online Shoppers, Bloggers, and Busy Moms- Let OIB Organize Your Inbox Automatically!

Tame your out-of-control inbox!

Inbox overload. No one should have to suffer from this awful affliction. And yet tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of email users are plagued by overstuffed inboxes every single day. But there is a cure. It’s a free service called OtherInbox, or “OIB” as the cool kids say.

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.

OIB works with Gmail, Yahoo and AOL and has a bunch of other nifty features we can’t wait to share with you. So watch how quickly and easily it tames Carley’s out-of-control inbox. Plus you can check out her adorable PJ’s.

See OIB in action in this weeks Twirl…

So, what do you think?

I’ll tell you what I think– I think I’m in love! As a busy blogger, social media junkie, online super-shopper, busy survey-taker and more- my email is out. of. control. Seriously.

I love this idea to automatically sort my emails, so I can check important updates first- then skim through other categories as I have time. In the mood for some online shopping? I can check my shopping folder to see what new deals and coupon code updates I have waiting for me. Or, if I have a minute to earn some free cash with my favorite survey sites, I can pop into my survey folder to find all of the invites together in one place. Easy peasy!

{Also, did you notice that Carley gets emails from a bunch of the same great places I’ve told you guys about? She has the Chili’s Free Chips and Queso coupon in her Inbox, the amazing LearnVest Frugal Tips Newsletter, and a couple more- I’ll see if anyone else can find them. Leave me a comment!}

A couple of things to keep in mind…

When watching the video on the Digitwirl site, I noticed that in the comments there are a couple of issues that might come up when getting started with OIB. Nothing major, and all have solutions- but you might want to take a second to read the OtherInbox Post to check it out. You’ll see that they have an AMAZING customer support rep on the page, responding to everyone’s questions. Gotta love that, right?

I’m signing up for OIB today- and I’ll let you know how it works for me! I’d love to hear from you if you’re already using it, or plan to start. What’s YOUR biggest frustration with keeping your email organized? Leave some comments and let’s chat!