A few months back, I reviewed Passpack, an online password management system that safely stores all the usernames and passwords for all the websites you visit online. At the time, I had only begun to play with Passpack’s power app, and since then have transferred every last login and use it every day. So it’s time to reintroduce… Passpack!
Passpack securely stores all my passwords and gives me one-click access to any site whose information I store in it’s Fort Knox-like coffers. You can create the most complex, hacker-resistant passwords and never have to worry about keeping track of them all. Your information is so deeply encrypted, not even the folks at Passpack can access the information! But you, my friend, can access it from anywhere.
I’m thrilled to be representing Passpack at BlogHer this week. Check out these videos to learn more about how their awesome app works.
How to use Passpack’s Auto Login and One Click Login features
How passpack keeps your information secure
How to use Passpack to securely share passwords with a team
Behind every great mom, there’s a great planner. A battered notebook or agenda, wearing formula stains and jelly fingerprints like so many battle scars. Agenda items about next week’s staff meeting sit alongside grocery lists and reminders to sign-up for soccer clinic. Pockets bulge with business cards, permission slips and a list of books you’d love to read… one day. Or maybe you’ve gone the digital route, and you need a screen and a pair of thumbs to access your life. Either way, every mom’s brain needs a place to offload, process and organize both work and home life.
I’ve rounded up some of the best planners made especially for us, usually by other moms who get how wacky it is to try and manage life with kids. Here are my favorites— enjoy finding the right one for you!
Paper
For the Big Brood
When you’ve got a pile of kids, all of whom have schedules of their own, you need a planner that acts like air traffic control— guiding in one kid’s arrival from martial arts so that it doesn’t collide with another’s departure to band practice. Oh yeah, and then there’s your schedule, which you need to see simultaneously to keep things running smoothly. Good thing MomAgenda and Mom’s Weekly Planner have got this concept down, giving you wide open pages to plan the flight schedule. Mom’s Weekly Planner has a spot for important contacts, and tear-off to-do sheets you can take with you. MomAgenda’s Day Planner offers a full address book, a fitness log, party planning pages, and many more resources, all wrapped in a stylish cover that says, “I’m not too frazzled to be fiercely chic.” MomAgenda Daily Planner $43 at momagenda.com; Mom’s Weekly Planner $19.99 at http://www.peterpauper.com
For The Perky
Crack the cover of Erin Condren’s Life Planner and you’ll be invited to “Carpe Diem!” Hard not to seize the day when you’re organizing them with this highly-customized, rainbow-colored planner. But it’s not just a pretty face— this 18-month calendar allows you to see life by the week and month, using a clean design and really functional pages. Its “to do” and “to delegate” task sheets offer a reminder to take some stuff off your plate, and a tear-off notepad makes quick work of grocery lists or meeting agendas. With an address/phone book, stickers, monthly motivational messages and helpful add-ons like a storage envelope and a clip to bookmark your place, this is one sunny little book that means business. $24 at http://www.erincondren.com.
For Those Who Travel Light
If you’re looking for a planner that doesn’t weigh a ton but packs some powerful tools, Buttoned Up’s Family.Agenda has got it all. It defies the physics of a 2-page spread by giving you big blocks of space to see your life in weekly and month views. Plus a special page to track “scheduled” events (so you don’t have to write them in over and over). Plus, leave it to Buttoned Up to pepper their planner with helpful organizing advice, and opportunities to “do” what’s important and “delegate” the rest. All in a lightweight, soft-cover book that’s smaller than a magazine and a lot more helpful. $10.99 at Organize.com.
For the Eco-organized.
Some days, life with kids can make you wonder if you’ve lost your mind. Keep your head on straight by getting a LobotoME— not the surgery, the eco-friendly notepads and planners! The MomME Weekly Planner, made with soy inks and recycled paper, has plenty of space for the days events, plus encouragement to eat right, exercise and find time for you. Grocery and list pads help make easy work of list-making and trips to the market. And if you feel like you’ve lost your marbles, head to the MantraMe poster for inspiration (you can download it as free desktop wallpaper or purchase the poster for some kick-in-the-pants wall art). Plus, if you become a fan, you can sell LobotoME products at your next fundraiser, or become an affiliate. It’s a no-brainer. MomME Weekly Planner $19.95 lobotoME.com.
For The Non-Committal
Sometimes you don’t need an agenda so much as a war room— a place have a strategy meeting or brainstorming session with yourself, get clear, and go go go. You need scratchpads, and lots of them, all designed to get you clear on different things. Mom Essentials has got you covered, and then some. Built by Amy Keroes of MommyTracked fame, it’s a series of tear-off sheets that help you plan your week, track to-dos, and plan menus with grocery lists. There’s even space for the phone numbers of your favorite take-out places (keepin’ it real) and pages to track your favorite websites. Knock Knock’s 5 Days A Week Paper Mousepad and other fabulous pads also offer indispensable, disposable support for a mom with a lot on her mind. Their “All Out Of” pad reminds you when you’re out of milk, and their “Planning the Menu” pad makes easy work of “What’s for dinner?” Mom Essentials Mom Essentials Planner $14.95 Pokkadots;5 Days A Week Paper Mousepad $11 at Knock Knock.
Digital
For the Master Coordinator
Cozi isn’t just a web-based family planner, it’s grand central station for simple family management. Adding items to your calendar is a breeze with an update field that understands english (When you type “PTA Meeting on Thursdays” it adds the recurring appointment automatically). Make multiple to-do lists so that you can track your errands separately from your phone calls. It’s mobile version is accessible from any smartphone plus there’s a snazzy iPhone app, so you’ll never be standing at the market wondering what you need (and you can text a list to your husband if he volunteers to stop on his way home). Plus a great journal feature allows you to capture life’s little moments and effortlessly create a website to share with friends and family. It’s FREE and easy to get started. Sign-up for free at Cozi.com.
For the List-Obsessed
If lists are your addiction, thenListPlanItis like the pusher who gives you your fix. There’s a checklist, worksheet or to-do list for every possible scenario in your busy life, from planning a move to keeping track of what you lend to your neighbors, to budgeting to packing your diaper bag. The weekly and monthly planner templates offer you printable time management help in day, week, month or year formats. Membership offers you access to all these and more so that you can print, itemize and check-mark to your heart’s content. Memberships from $20-50/year at ListPlanIt.com.
For the Tough Cookie.
If you’re looking for one do-it-all solution for managing your schedule, meal plans, contacts, finances, household inventory, goals and lists, plus a personal journal you can confide in about your impossibly high standards, you’ve met your match with the Daily Home Planner. Homeschoolers will love it’s functionality for planning lessons, and lots of demonstration videos will inspire you to use it more ways than you might have thought. Available as a Windows desktop application ($19.95) and web-based app ($5/month), either is a small price to pay for organizational zen.dailyhomeplanner.com.
What do you you do with all the articles and blog posts you want to read… later? How do you track all those pages so that you can find them all when you have time? And what if you don’t have an internet connection when it’s time to start reading? Read It Later answers all those questions and more– watch this 2 minute video where I show you how to use this simply powerful application to track things you want to read later.
Are you feeling the schedule crunch? Cozi.com wants to help you simplify and organize family life. They have “just enough” technology– everything you need and nothing you don’t– to keep in touch and coordinated with your family members. Plus to-do lists, shopping lists, and a great journal to help you jot down quick memories and photos to share with family and friends. It’s FREE and easy to sign up and get started!
Evernote is like a part of my brain— I use it to store all kinds of digital information I want to retrieve later. Web clippings, voice memos, notes, emails… there’s nothing digital that Evernote can’t store and organize for you, taking the strain off your brain and putting you in control of all your digital scraps. In this video, I’ll show you some ways I use my Evernote, and maybe you’ll get some ideas for how to use yours!
Is your Inbox bulging with correspondence overload? Does looking at it make you want to curl up in the fetal position? Fret no more: OtherInbox.com has come up with a nifty web application that analyzes your inbox and organizes all the letters that aren’t from “real people” (ie. Amazon receipts, Ebay notifications, Facebook friend requests, department store coupons…), giving you room to see the important emails from friends, co-workers and family. It’s a snap to set up, and will help you manage your Email Overload!
I HATE when this happens: I miss an important date in spite of my best intentions, because my busy life precludes getting a card, writing a card, stamping a card and mailing a card.
Giiv.com takes care of all that! I can send a gift to someone I love, right to their cell phone. Then get on with my life! It’s the busy moms answer to life’s biggest problems!
Watch me send my mom an early Mother’s Day present in SECONDS with Giiv.com.
As we wrap up the Mom vs. Digital Photo series, we’re looking at fun things to do with all those digital photos (cause those pictures are supposed to be fun, not stressful, right?) Fotobabble.com is a fun website that allows you to add voice messages to your pictures. Use them to keep in touch with friends and family or add a whole new dimension to thank you cards… the possibilities are endless!
I’ll admit it, I am a recovering food gadget junkie. I used to haunt kitchen supply stores, scanning the shelves for the next “great thing” that promised to take my cooking to new heights. Many a fetching hand-held beauty would come home with me, only to find itself jamming my kitchen drawer or collecting dust in the back of a cupboard. I have since seen the light, and after several kitchen cleanses the gadgets that remain are the tried and true (and often the least expensive). Here are 10 gadgets under $20 that absolutely make me a better cook (including one that will cost you nothing!)
1. Oven Thermometer
You turn the dial to 350 degrees, but is your oven really at 350 degrees? The only way to know for sure is with this low-tech tool that will save you from baking disasters and timing mishaps. If you’ve ever cooked (and cooked, and cooked…) a turkey on thanksgiving while hungry people give you the stink eye, you need one of these, pronto.
2. Silicone Spatula
Say what you will about silicone in your bra, but it’s fabulous in the kitchen. This spatula is heat-resistant and squishy-soft, so it won’t scratch your non-stick pan and wont melt in it either. (I’ve burnt many a plastic spatula in a batch of scrambled eggs— not tasty.)
3. Salt Cellar
Shaker, be gone! The very best way to control your salt intake is to get up close with how much your using. I keep my salt cellar full of kosher salt (milder flavor and better for you than the usual table stuff) and right on the counter so that I can grab a pinch for whatever I have simmering on the stove.
4. Bottle Pour Spout
Like the salt cellar, attaching a spout to your bottle of olive oil or vinegar gives you greater pouring and measuring control. They fit on most bottles you’d buy at the grocery store and they reduce the likelihood that you’ll accidentally glug too much oil into your salad dressing. Plus, it gives you that Molto Mario feeling in the kitchen.
5. Mini Chopper
Before I owned one, I might have dismissed the mini chopper as yet another unnecessary gadget, but it performs two powerful functions in my kitchen: It takes the tears out of chopping onions, and it gives my kids one more way to get involved in the kitchen. They can make fast work of chopping garlic, carrots, or whatever you throw under the blades.
6. Kitchen Timer
This is possibly the most valuable thing I own because in spite of my passion for cooking, I’ve been known to get distracted at the most critical of moments and burn an entire dinner. Whether your boiling an egg or baking a batch of shortbread (and especially if you’re trying to do both at the same time!) your kitchen timer is the most humble and powerful of tools.
7. Silpat Mat
You will never, ever burn your cookie bottoms and nothing ever, ever sticks to it. Enough said.
8. Microplane
I’m not sure what I did before microplane graters— how did I get billowing clouds of parmesan on my gnocchi? How did I annoint my latte with chocolate shavings? There are so many uses for these fabulous tools, you’ll send your old box grater packing.
9. Mandoline
It slices! It dices! It makes you look like a pro in the kitchen! When you need paper-thin cucumber disks, julienned carrots or waffle-cut potatoes, a mandoline makes fast and easy work of it all… just watch your fingers!
10. Empty Jar
This is my most treasured and totally-free kitchen gadget. I have used an empty pickle jar to make every salad dressing my family has eaten for years. Just throw all the ingredients in and shake— no need to whisk to get that perfect emulsion.
The world is not set up to support your vision and goals. Life will keep piling things on your place and it’s up to you to protect your goals and stay focused. I got a fun takeaway from the “Getting Things Done” seminar I attended in Toronto: send yourself a letter!
One of the great things that I got from coaching sessions with Carley is very usuable action steps to put into practice as soon as I got home. Organizing time, lists, and action steps… she does a great job at taking what feels like the “overwhelming” and calmly breaking down so it’s doable. She’s so empathetic to what a mom goes through, so it doesn’t feel like some outsider giving you unrealistic suggestions, like Martha Stewart, or something! — Alex Brook, Mom of Two
