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They say it takes 21 days to keep a new habit, but how do you remember to start?
One successful strategy is to link your new habit with an established habit. For example:
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Do you have Post-its everywhere? Are you a "back of an envelope" kind of note-taker? If you are looking to get your paper organized, one key place to start is to record all notes and to-dos IN ONE PLACE. If you shy away from smartphone apps that promise to do this or just prefer paper, check out FocusNotes. They have various sizes to choose from but I recommend selecting a size that will fit in your purse, briefcase, or backpack easily so you can TAKE IT EVERYWHERE YOU GO. The format of each page reminds you to date your notes and provides a "cue column" where you can later jot down action items or summarize the important information. It provides structure and flexibility to help you get your notes organized. 
 If you are a busy Mom who has introduced the Elf on a Shelf to your family, and you are anything like me, you are already running low on ideas. While Pinterest-ing, I found a 30-day calendar of ideas that "Mommy's Craft Obsessions" posted. I like it because you don't have to following it religiously but at least it gives you a starting point.
Best of luck this holiday season Elf Hiders! Have you ever dreaded organizing an event because you know you will be completely overwhelmed with coordinating everyone's schedules?
Well, Doodle.com might be for you! Per Wikipedia, "Doodle.com is a free Internet calendar tool for time management and coordinating meetings. Users are polled to determine the best time and date to meet. Meeting coordinators (administrators) receive e-mail alerts for votes and comments." The best part about it is that it can interact with your calendar so you are always in-the-know about meeting date/time changes. If you have an upcoming event that you are trying to coordinate, check it out. It might just save you hours of time and the associated headache. Is you email inbox cluttered with promotional emails every morning? Simplify with The Swizzle (www.theswizzle.com).
The Swizzle Sweeper helps you easily and securely unsubscribe from emails you no longer wish to receive and rolls up the emails you do want into an aggregated daily digest. I use and love it! There is a point in some organizing project when you should stop and say "this is organized enough." If you over-complicate a system it often makes it too hard to maintain. Another side effect is that you may dread your next organizing project because you remember how much time and energy your last project took (aka: perfection causing procrastination).
 My family is trying something different this week as an attempt to streamline dinner-making. Saturday morning I took inventory of staple food items that were needed and I added them to the grocery list. (We use the app called "GroceryIQ" as our list. My husband and I have the list synced so we each have it accessible at all times.) In addition, I chose 3 meals that I will make this week and added the ingredients to the grocery list.
As you can see in this photo I wrote the selected meals on a wipe board that I stuck to my fridge. One requires a recipe so I clipped it from a magazine and used a magnet to attach it to the list. I am excited to try this new approach to meal planning. It is simple and takes the pressure off when the kids ask "Mom, what's for dinner?" If you find yourself struggling with paper, your desk, and productivity levels consider the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. David proposes a unique system using lists to increase your effectiveness and efficiency.
When writing a list of items needed at the grocery store put items in order of how they are arranged in the store. For example, usually the produce is the first thing you shop for (put veggies and fruits at the top of the list) and frozen items are the last (put ice cream and frozen pizza at the bottom). Doing this will speed up your next trip to the grocery store.
Get a coupon organizer. Sort coupons within each category (i.e., cereal, beverages) by date (those that expire first in the front). Each time you are planning a trip to the grocery store, thumb through you coupon organizer, pulling coupons that you plan to use during the trip and tossing expired coupons.
Make a "to do" list so you can relax and enjoy the moment.
Assign a color to each family member and color code each person's activities on a shared calendar. You'll have an "at-a-glance" look at who needs to be where when.
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