Labeling...

Organization at its finest.  Have you ever let a friend borrow a book, and then never get it back?  Well,  a friend of mine with an extensive library likes to loan her books to anyone who will enjoy them.  However, she likes to keep them organized, and of course wants the books returned to her.  After many years of handwriting which books she leant to friends, she finally got some custom labels  with small bar codes to affix to each of her treasured books.  Now she has the most organized library of anyone I know.  Maybe a little too organized.  It is like she is running her own private library now.  She now can easily inventory her library and when she lets a friend borrow one of her precious books, she now can scan it, and will know exactly where it went!  No more lost books!  I think it is a great idea that could be put to use in many home situations.  How about for keeping your ever growing wine stash in order, you could place a custom label on each bottle as you brought it home, scan it, and you would have your instant inventory.  Of course, it would take a little effort to set it up, but once the system was in place, you would be very organized.  Once you scan the wine with the label, the description could tell you which wine fridge it was in down to the shelf location, and the notes you may have made on what you liked about the wine.  There are so many possibilities.  If you have a special system that you use to stay organized I would love to hear it.  We could all use a little help when it comes to keeping everything in it's place!

Break Down Shopping

These days if I don't have my shopping list I can't make it through the store efficiently. Whether the list is long or short, if an item doesn't make it on the list, I will forget about it. I try to make my trips for errands as efficient as possible, making lists for each store I will visit and in which order I will go (so that I don't do a lot of backtracking while driving). This has worked out great for me. When the list is complete. However, there are those times when the shopping list is not complete, and I walk aimlessly through the store trying to remember if it was toothpaste or nutella that I wanted to get.

I really like the idea of a website that could simplify the list making for me and break down the items into the store columns so that I could just print out my list (on scrap paper of course) and be on my way.
This would really be helpful for the grocery shopping list staples. That is your regular shopping list, milk, eggs, butter, nutella, etc. That way it is always ready for you online. I assume that if you forgot your list at home, a dreadful occasion, you could log in via your iphone, and get your list online. Your trip to the store would not be wasted. Good old technology saves the day.

Keep up with the latest about these shopping lists on facebook, the networking that helps you stay organized.

On Task

One of the best items I have is my pocket calendar. This small but useful object keeps me on task, and I never forget appointments. I, however, would like one for the house that the entire family can use. We can put up game night, meetings, appointments. It would be a great place to write down every ones chores for the week, too. Everything that keeps the household running. We would use it at the nerve center of the house. I really like the idea of a dry erase calendar, one that can be updated easily when appointments changes, no more pencil erasing all over the place. Yes, we change our calendar that often.

The dry erase calendar can be put up on any wall surface, and can be customized, another really great feature for me. Why not use a great photo for your calendar background. One of the best features of a dry erase calendar is that it is reusable! Of course, it is eco friendly. You can just erase last months happenings and then you have a clean slate for next month. Add the meetings as they arise, and you will be super organized! No more throwing out last years calendar. One less thing to clutter your desk, if you are like me there is no room on the desk for a calendar anyway. I think it is the perfect solution to staying on task and keeping the house running smoothly.