I am not an organized person. I really, really wish I were. It would make life so much easier. I envy people who have daily planners and actually manage to use them. I, however, always seem to have the best of intentions but little follow through.
I was blessed with the ability to remember. Growing up, I never really needed to plan ahead because I could somehow always remember what I needed to do without having it written down. But alas, I now have three children. And with the birth of each one, my ability to remember minute details seem to die just a little bit. Add to that the daily mayhem of keeping up with them and I now find myself many days struggling to remember whether or not I brushed my teeth that morning. So I am making a concerted effort to at least attempt to be more organized.
And Mead and OrganizHer have stepped up to help me out. I recevied in the mail a box filled with all manner of goodies to make sure I do not forget another birthday (my nephew’s is next week – he’ll be 10 and this will be the first time he’s ever received a card from me – that is, if I remember to put it in the mail) or school function. Or to pick up my child from school…
I have a large calendar that I’ve already filled in and hung on the wall. There is also a monthly calendar for the refridgerator in case I forget to look at the wall calendar (highly likely). I even got a weekly calendar that I plan to put on my nightstand so I can keep my work schedule in order thus hopefully eliminating the need to stay up until the wee hours of the night because I have a deadline that I forgot about.
The thing I love about these calendars is that they offer enough space for me to keep up with everyone in my family as well as plan out my meals ahead of time (another thing I never do) and even keep track of my expenses. And they’re super cute to look at! I think OrganizHer may actually be able to accomplish what no man (or woman) has accomplished before…keeping me on track.
The new OrganizHer line from Mead was designed to offer functional, flexible, fashionable – and affordable – organizational solutions for today’s modern household. There are more than a dozen new OrganizHer products that have just been released. All products feature a sleek decorative swirl design, and many are customizable with additional content available at Mead.com. From “spend†planning to meal planning, you can find a product that is sure to help you with the day to day challenge of managing your family.
5 Minutes for Mom is teaming up with Mead and OrganizHer to offer one lucky reader 5 brand new OrganizHer products plus a $25.00 gift certificate to Target. From monthly expense management to meal planning, Mead and OrganizHer want to be your own personal secretary – only you don’t have to pay them or offer benefits. You do, however, have to remember to write everything down.
To enter to win this fabulous organizational giveaway, simply leave us a comment telling us what you like to do to stay organized (or, what you wish you did to stay organized). We will pick one lucky winner randomly on Saturday, July 3rd.
This giveaway is open to US residents only and is void where prohibited. Please see our site’s terms and conditions of use.
Many thanks to Mead and OrganizHer for sending me sample products for review and for supplying prizing for this giveaway.
make lists and use a planner
I have a to-do list, a planner, and a home management notebook, but I still feel disorganized! I need something that it all that in ONE!
I have tried just about everything- notes, stickies, multiple paper calendars, PDAs, and dry erase boards. But now, I have a ridiculous amount of items entered on my iCal. It’s got an amazing feature to send me a test message whenever I tell it to, so my phone is beeping all day long as it sends me reminders to do just about everything! It works better than anything else I have tried.
I could never find a planner that was large enough AND portable enough to manage a family of 5…so I MADE ONE :). My planner fold out and folds in for maximum space and mobility.
I shrink down my kids’ school and sports schedules by 50% on a scanner and then slip them in the clear view pocket in the front of my mom’s planner for easy viewing. The back of each fold out month has a generous to-do list and a notes section.The lead pages have all of the important contacts that a mom needs, such as schools, coaches, vet, chiropractor,dentist,ink cartridge # and even website user name and password reminders.
I can even fit it easily into my purse. 🙂
up untill two years ago i was a stay at home mom to my three children a job i truly lovedand miss. after my youngest child turned 6 months old my husbands small plumbing business wasn’t doing well so i proudly and bravley although still guiltfull made the decision to go back to work. up untill then i new everything about the day to day life of everyone in our home now with a full time job and still having three very busy growing children i tend to forget more often, I have tried calenders and planners in the past but can’t stick with them either mis placing them or running out of room to where i have to have a seperate one for differnt people in the house.
I try to make sure everything has a “place” and try to put everything in its place right away. That doesn’t always happen though.
I keep calendars and lists for EVERYTHING to stay organized.
Everyday I try to get more organized, but with 5 kids it is quite a feat. I keep a calendar on the side of the fridge and Google calendar that sends me reminders on my Android but sometimes getting it entered on the computer or the phone is not always as quick either. I need something that is quick accessible and easy to do to keep appts, birthday reminders and other social events handy, with that I need room for me to write my to do list… and while we are at it someone to clean for me too! It is worth wishing for right !
I have the monthly calendar on the side of the ssteel fridge, and use google calendar with alerts to my iphone for meeting /dr. a ppt. reminders.. but with kids who often get sick unexpectedly, things change. For this unexpected, day to day living stuff, I put on my kitchen counter a rectangular post it calendar strip for the week only and I use pencil. I leave this out in ” command central” and put the scheduled activities to start, then I erase, add as needed- as life changes etc. This keeps me from losing my sanity and going with the flow. I also have made a medicine chart on computer- when my kids have special meeds added to their daily meeds I print this out and post it for double checking! This new line of stuff looks super cool!
To stay organized, I try to make sure everything has it’s “place.” I also try to put things away as soon as possible rather than let them sit and clutter up the place.
The best way for me to stay organized is to put everything we need to do on our calendar. That’s the only way for me to keep track of the craziness lol!
My bank gives out a calendar with lines in each space. I just write everything on the calendar
bepoia(at)hotmail(dot)com
Quite honestly, I am not a very organized person. But what does help me is using corkboards
I have one by the computer, in the kitchen and in my bedroom-I also use a huge white board calender for keeping track of appts etc.
I wish I could be more organized and now with my first child on the way and my husband on the road all the time, things are really gonna be chaotic.
I have a pocket calendar. The pockets hold my bills & cards to be mailed. I write on the calendar days when to mail which bills/cards.
I have another calendar with day-to-day activities on it.
Put it away don’t put it down
Write it down or it goes away
say no
I really want to be more organized in the areas of meal planning and shopping. This looks great!
I make a list for everything and I use my Outlook calendar plus I have a planner that stays in my purse. I write everything down but actually following the calendar and the lists that’s a different story. My goal for myself is to follow through with my list. I figure I am half way there to success 🙂 This is a great giveaway plus motivation!!
I had to make me a list of daily tasks
I’m not organized at all. I do keep a small container for school papers to put in all year long. That way they are contained in one spot till I can clean it out. I also keep notebooks for both my kids medical visits, etc. It is all in one place that way. I’d love to win this prize to get myself more organized this summer!
I suppose my best organizational ‘trick’ is to label EVERYTHING and then put it into labeled containers!
outofthemist @ gmail .com (remove spaces)
I really wish I was better at keeping up a daily calendar style planner.
Ooooo, I want this so so bad! I am obsessed with all things organized and I need to get better about keeping a meal plan and scheduling my blog posts and giveaways!
My biggest organizing need is managing medical expenses so that I am not trying to crunch during tax time going through endless receipts when time is so limited working full time, managing a blog to educate, and raising an active toddler.
I am super organized at work because that is the way I was taught there. At home is another story. I would love to have an organizer like this.
I would love to be more organized in weekly dinners and general family calendar events
I am starting to get more organized little by little but would love a little more help and inspiration.
I try to stay organized, and do pretty well with some areas. My piano students information and schedule if fairly well organized. I wish that I was organized with meals and family activities.
wmmahaney(at)att(d0t)net
The main thing I do to keep organized is to set a weekly schedule for keeping on top of tasks both home and otherwise. That way nothing (rarely) gets left undone.
I stay organized by writing to-do lists constantly and trying to live as simply as possible. I am constantly throwing away and/or giving away anything we don’t need. My 3-year-old knows this well and will often bring toys/clothes to me and say, “I don’t use this anymore. Can we give it away?” 🙂
I try to make a schedule, and stick to it. It’s so easy to get off track, but I try to at least stay organized.
I really need to get my kids school stuff organized. Their books and curriculum basically are in a pile on my bedroom floor. I tried some storage bins but things never seem to actually stay in them. Don’t even get me started on craft supplies….
I menu plan, I have morning, afternoon and evening to do lists for the kids and I. But, oh, the paper piles!
I use a family calendar and make lists for everything.
What a neat calendar. I use a Daytimer and I’m thinking about going to something wall mounted.
I have a notebook in which I make list after list after list. My husband teases me because I have lists for EVERYTHING!
I wish I had a central calendar for everyone! My hub is constantly “borrowing” my planner to see what his plans are!
They tell you when youre pregnant you have forgetfullness … They dont tell you it will be that way forever! 😉
Since giving birth to my son 3 years ago, my memory has never been the same, it has only gotten worse since the birth of my daughter this past december. I tell everyone that when I gave birth, my children took part of my brain.
If things are not written down in my house, they dont get done. We have a dry erase board in our kitchen, that constantly has reminders written on it. If my husband needs something at the store, a phone call made or some thing done the first words out of my mouth are write it down so i’ll remember. Post It notes are all over my house reminding me to do something. Things still get forgotten. Birthdays often get missed because I simply dont know what day it is.
Dry erase boards are eraseable, post it notes dont stick for very long … I am in despirate need of some reorganization. I think OrganizHer could really benefit my household. Maybe for once family members would recieve there birthday cards and gifts on there actual birthday, instead of days later when I realize what day it is. Oh and maybe I would actually get things done for the husband and stop having to say , “I forgot.” Now that would be a miracle ;-P
I would love to keep our calendar more up to date/complete. There just isn’t enough room for everything that’s going on!
Everytime I look at the outside of our fridge, I see a hodgepodge of pictures, notes and random magnets we’ve had for years. So often I’ve wanted to put up a calendar, magnet frames, notepads – basically turn it into a useful, attractive and organized use of space!
Oh man! I need this in the worst way. We just moved from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom house with 3 kids while my husband looks for a job and we get settled in a new area. I wish I had a better overall system to stay organized because half the time I don’t know which way is up.
We have a family calendar on the fridge where I write things that my hubby needs to be aware of (things outside normal work hours…). Other than that I use MS Outlook on my IPhone to track (and provide me reminders) of upcoming appointments.
PS I looked for these in my local Target…they aren’t there yet. 🙁
We have a family calendar where we record everybody’s commitments and appointments. I also try to file/sort everything within 24 hours of receiving it.
i try to stay organized. it lasts a day or two. but i defintley have to maintain 2 calendars to keep it all straight!
I wish that I did a better job of keeping my important papers organized.
I wish I could stay organized! I really need help in the storage department; having a place for everything.
I have a lot of paperwork so I like to use the accordian files. It makes quick work of an extremely messy pile of papers.
One thing I really want, and it’s so cheap, it’s ridiculous we don’t just buy it already, but a dry erase board that I can put on our freezer door stating what leftovers are in there so I’m not scratching my head trying to figure things out!
I like to use Rubbermaid containers to store things in the garage. I also put labels on them so I know what is inside. They stack nicely on racks from Costco.
I use my Blackberry to stay organized . . . .BUT, that doesn’t help anyone else in the family since I’m the only one who looks at it! This would be great!
I put everything in my yahoo calendar and have it email me reminders
I really need to work on Meal Planning. I would love to not have to come up with something every night…That’s the hardest part of cooking to me!
I woud love this b/c i will have two in school next year and would love not to forget about parties and feild trips.
I have a LONG to do list with categories: morning routine, evening routine, daytime stuff, house cleaning stuff, computer stuff, errands, homeschool stuff, work. I never get through everything for the day, but having it categorized helps me prioritize and tackle stuff across the board.
janemaritz at yahoo dot com
Um… can I say I wish EVERYTHING was more organized?? I need so much help I don’t even know what to write on this comment! I’d love to win! 🙂
I make lots of lists to try to stay organized!
I use my Outlook calendar to stay organized!
I just started a new business selling handmade products and I have been trying to find the perfect organizer to help me keep my life organized. This looks absolutely perfect!
I want to become organized. I used to be very organized, but the older I get the less organized I am, and it drives me crazy. Rather than having a routine, I want to develop a schedule for myself. I think these organizers would be great for that purpose.
I need to be more organized! One thing I always have a problem with is keeping up with addresses and phone numbers. Well, not so much phone numbers, I can store them in my phone. But physical addresses are my hang-up. I’m always scrambling to find addresses when I want to send cards, etc.
I would like to stay more organized, so I need this organizer, it would make me feel better!
I wish I was more organized with planning our family meals (shopping lists, recipes, coupons, menus, etc).
You must be my clone. I have great intentions on organizing as well, but never seem to follow through. This calendar looks awesome! I used to be very organized, but with a child comes a certain loss of skills I guess. Win or lose, I would like to get one of these!
I have lists: everywhere. I’m constantly carrying around a notepad because I remember things in the oddest places. It’s just a matter of not letting anyone know I’m making my to-do list on a Sunday morning in church.
Sometimes I make menu plans for the week — I wish I did it more often, as I can tell the negative impact on weeks I don’t do it! I’ve also set up a basket in my kitchen with papers that I need to refer to/work on often filed in file folders within it. I keep lists of what’s in my gift inventory on rememberthemilk.com so I can access it online (and easily remember).
I write *everything* down!
I create binders of various items to keep organized. The most recent one I created is to organize all of my son’s Lego Instruction Booklets. It’s a binder filled with pocket folders so each booklet has it’s own place. This is helping a ton as we always know where the instructions are and can find them easily! LOVE these organizational products.
My husband is so much better at this than me – but I do try – currently I use google calendar with my iphone and a notepad – these calendars look great!
I’d love to be more organized when it comes to tracking medical expenses and medical mileage so come tax time I can do it quickly and accurately.
The most important tool I have for keeping organized is the calendar on my phone.
These are awesome! I’ve passed by them a few times and just haven’t made the plunge to purchase yet. I am fairly organized and am a constant list maker. It would be nice to be able to have everything all in one spot…meal planning, calendar of events & appointments, to do list, grocery list, Target list, etc…
My DH and I have been trying to get better organized for the last few months because of the new baby. Unfortunatly the baby came early and we are no more organized then we were before. I do use my weekly planner to keep up with the kids doctors appointment and so far so good with that. I also use my Iphone to keep up with things
Baskets, baskets and more baskets! Without them I’d be lost!
Right now I use a weekly dry erase board to keep track of events but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. I’m thinking I need to switch to a monthly to better plan. But I think I also need one central to-do list for my various projects. Not sure if it’s better to put all to-do together, or to do a list for each project, for example…. girl scouts, work, web design, book reviews, etc…
I do need to figure something out though. Help me Mead and OrganizHer!
I definitely wish I were more organized as well. I would love to keep track of birthdays, stay on top of thank you notes, and keep up with all of my household duties! 🙂
I would like to be more organized in every aspect of my life! From birthdays to play dates to shopping lists to blog ideas, I need all the help I can get!
I use both an online calendar that sends me reminders plus a written calendar that I can take everywhere with me. I also keep paper on the fridge so the family can write down what is needed at the grocery store as it comes up. I need to get more organized with my filing system.
I would like to keep my papers organized so I know what bills need to be paid and when.
I keep track of everything I have to do on a huge calendar that is posted near the kitchen. That way, I can always look over at it while I’m cooking to mentally plan the next days tasks!
I would like to have all of our schedules in one place including home, husband, homeschool, menus, cleaning, etc. Not too much to ask for is it? lol
I would love to be more organized! I am a piler so it seems like I always have piles of paper around…
with six people in our family, writing names before apointments and events on the calendar can get crowded. i use a different colored pen for each person so the calendar is easier to read at a glance.
i make lots of lists
nannypanpan at sbcglobal.net
I use my Outlook calendar at work and a spiral-bound planner for non-work stuff. I LOVE to organize, and will even write things in after-the-fact so that I have a “record” of what happened.
I like keeping my family’s schedule organize, so I always know who’s doing what when.
I use Google Calendar to try & keep up with a lot, but I’m having a hard time going completely digital. I’m so used to using a dayrunner and being able to see my calendar on my desk.
I live in a house of 6 so we have to be organized! We would get lost if we didn’t! I currently am working on some type of cleaning schedule make-makeover. I also am new to menu planning and would love help there with this great giveaway! Thanks!!
I put things into my Blackberry calendar, but then I forget to look at it.
We have three little boys and my husband will be deploying in the fall. We sit down each month and plan out all our meals, then grocery shop and try to pre-make and freeze what we can, just in case he has to leave early and I won’t have the extra set of hands. This would really help to finally organize everythign else–appointments, documents, lists, phone numbers–the stuff we put off and then run out of time.
To cut down on all the PAPER everywhere, I immediately sort mail and throw away junk mail and unwanted catalogs. As soon as the catalogs that we like are viewed, they are trashed too (unless we have something to order!)
I wish I could stay more organized. I am really struggling right now with menu planning and shopping.
I would like something that could help me keep track of my family and work responsibilities as well as the things I need to do to take of my mom.
I’m not organized. At all. And I’m pretty sure with adding a baby in September, and having a 7 & 5 yr old, AND doing freelance work from home, I’m going to need to whip myself into organized shape.
I would like to be more organized with meal planning- I tend to “wing” it every afternoon instead of having a weeks worth of menus planned ahead of time. I do stay organized with my calendar and weekly “To-do” lists. These products from Mead look very helpful!
I don’t do enough to stay organized, honestly. Every system I’ve tried tends to be forgotten after a month or two. I know this is a personal problem but I need all the help I can get!
I’m currently 8months pregnant and live a busy life. I have tried so many things to stay organized and yet I still find myself lost in the chaos.
I’ve tried my PAA (Personal Analog Assistant.. or Daily Planner) and my blackberry. It seems I can never sync up my life! I’ve had some success with keeping my monthly schedule planned with a calendar on the fridge, but too bad my husband doesn’t pay attention to it. I’ve also started keeping 2 dry erase boards for my shopping list (next to the pantry) and to-do list (by laundry room). It has helped a lot, but I still need more direction.
At work, I have calendars and to-do lists on my desktop so I can’t ignore them and know my schedule! (What can I say.. I’m a geek and long crossing things off my lists)
This sounds like a great opportunity for me to get on track before the baby comes so that I can (like this is possible) be more organized during the first difficult months of motherhood.
I’m really bad at creating so many to-do lists – post-it notes, mental lists, notebooks – whatever is handy at the time. All my lists are never in the same place – so it’s hard to remember what I’m supposed to be up to. It’d be great to have a single place to organize everything!
I would love to get it together, but mostly I try to stay up with my family. Would love to win this giveaway!
I put everything on my calendar on my wall and also enter it into my email calendar so it gets sent to me every morning. It works most of the time but I still miss things sometimes!
I so hear you on losing a bit of the ability to remember things. I’m now back to work full time after having my second baby (4 mos ago) and I can’t seem to get ahead on things – or even caught up. I keep saying “maybe soon we’ll figure it out”… well, soon isn’t coming fast enough. I’m ready to really find a way to make life a little more streamlined and organization may help with that.
I work full time and have 3 kids, so I need as much help organizing that I can get!
I am always looking for some good products to help me get organized!
The one thing I like to do is color-code my calendar for each member of the family so at a glance I know who has what going on each day.
I always keep a running to-do list and we also keep an online family calendar!
With my daughter’s many doctor appointments, two grandsons who both have their own fair share of appointments between their pediatrician, ENT Specialist, Dentist, and school events, AND my somewhat wicked work schedule I need to be able to effectively organize all of these appointments so nothing overlaps or gets missed.
I like to try to stay organized with everything. I have a tendency to have piles of “I’ll deal with it later” which cause me to have to spend a WHOLE DAY (or 2 or 3), putting all these odds and ends away. I just need to find a way to make it easier to get these things put away…
I have a wall calendar that I write everything down on. I also am a big fan of Google calendar. They will send you an email every morning with your daily agenda. You just have to remember to put everything on the calendar! You can also access the calendar from anywhere you can get online! I’m a big fan of that.
I try to make a menu so that I am not thinking about supper a half of an hour before it happens. I try to keep a list of what I need to do. I could use some help though. 🙂
My system, includes a large (11×13) Trapper Keeper (made by Mead about 20 years ago.) And I’m not exaggerating on its age, I’ve had this thing since before I was married, and we celebrated our marriage of 20 years last fall! I keep a 3 hole punched calendar book in there, along with half a dozen file folders where I keep all the papers that I need to deal with presently in the various parts of life. The file folders have been replaced once or twice and held a huge variety of materials. From 20 years ago when I was working and sitting on the board of directors of my professional association and all the papers I had to deal with organizing events and contracts for different venues; to every magazine article I could find on pregnancy and taking care of a newborn; to homeschooling co-op papers, and all my various lesson pages for teaching Sunday School, and so much more. But my husband and I actually had a conversation just last weekend about my “life support system” literally starting to fall apart at the seams. I told him I thought it might be time for me to look for something new, and we started reminiscing about all the things “my black book” had seen me through. It was quite a trip down memory lane.
This give away would a wonderful way to make this transition a smooth one!
I am sort of organized, but I would love to be more organized for my family of six.
I would love to be more organized, now if I could only find the perfect way to do it………………..
maybe this is it?
Thanks for the chance
I have a weekly planner that I write EVERYTHING down in. Of course, the real test is remembering to look in it. 🙂
I’d like to be more organized with my shopping.
Sometimes I forget things or forget to use my coupons!