Earlier in the year I wrote about Cozi and gushed about how fabulous I though the site was for creating lists. I’ve long been a fan of their clean, simple design and layout, their useful and relevant ideas and “how-did-I-live-without-that” tips.

Amazingly, the site just keeps getting better. They have added more content, including an online magazine (Live Simply) and menu planning (Nourish), but have still managed to do so in a way that is easy to navigate.

Two other new features:

• If you have a smartphone, you can now take Cozi with you, as they have launched (beta) Cozi Mobile Access.
• Print your family journal to save as a keepsake or memento.

Still not convinced if you should try it?

From the site:

Wish you had some help organizing your busy family life? Cozi is a FREE online family organizer that helps you manage the family calendar, organize your shopping list and to do list, share favorite memories in a family journal, and enjoy family photos—all in one spot. With Cozi’s mobile access, your information is not only available from any computer with an Internet connection, but also from any mobile phone. All you need to get started is a Cozi account and signing up is quick and easy with no downloads required.

Using Cozi has really helped me stay organized and keep track of my children’s busy schedules. Having it all in one place, without the mess of scratch paper, crumpled notes shoved in my purse has saved my sanity many times.

Let me know if you’ve used Cozi and how it’s changed how you organize your time and family.

photo credit

Are you looking for a blogging conference that will cover social media, social networking, the business of blogging and managing your time?

Do the costs of such conferences make you sick to your stomach?

Enter: The Girlfriend’s Guide to the Business of Blogging conference

Learn the ins and outs of Social Marketing. Learn how to set up your blog, the basics of page rank, SEO, ethics, and very basics of business will be discussed. How to’s of offering ads, advanced sponsorship opportunities plus legal and professional insights and much much more. Every session includes actionable take aways, hints and tips you can put to use right now, today to drive traffic, make money and become a success!

This event is totally online. You don’t need to travel and you won’t need accommodations.  The whole event will be broadcast via a webinar type format complete with videos, graphics and more from your session leaders. At the end of each session we’ll offer a question and answer period where you can submit your questions to the speakers directly and get answers.

Cost: $15.00

Date: December 8th, 2009

Wants more details?

Sessions

Speakers (including me)

Register

When I first started blogging over 4 years ago, it was easy for me to manage my time. I sat down to write a post, edited it, posted it and that was that. I didn’t know anyone else who had a blog, so I didn’t spend time reading other blogs. There wasn’t Twitter. I wasn’t using Facebook. I didn’t know what a feed-reader was. My online life was manageable.

But soon, I realized that there were blogs. MANY blogs. Written by other people. And they were interesting. My “Bookmarks” list in my browser became flooded with links. I quickly realized that method was futile. I spent my time going through that list each day only to realize that there was nothing new to read. Wasted time.

Fortunately, I discovered feed-readers and that solved that problem.

Enter Twitter. And Facebook. And the hundreds of blogs that I ended up subscribed to. And all of the other social media sites that I became involved with.

If I hadn’t realized a way to wrestle all of those things under control, I’d be sitting in a corner sucking my thumb and rocking, mumbling something incoherent. That’s not to say that I have time management down to a science. I don’t. But I have found some things that help me maintain my sanity, while also continuing to grow my sites and business online. You won’t necessarily find anything new on this list, but we all need to be reminded of these things on occasion.

1) PRIORITIZE: Your to-do list is probably a mile long. Face it – you aren’t going to get it all done today (and that’s ok.) But what you can do is look your list over and find the items that have a glaring need for your attention. Put those things at the top of your list. AND DO THEM. If you can’t complete the entire task, break it into little chunks and check those off as you complete them.

2) STOP PROCRASTINATING: If it needs to be done now, do it. Ignoring it will not make it disappear off of your list. It will only serve as a further distraction as you start to worry about the fact that it isn’t getting done. So just do it. You’ll feel better once it’s checked off of your list.

3) USE APPLICATIONS/TOOLS THAT ALLOW YOU TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT: When I first started using Twitter, I hated it. I found myself on the Twitter website obsessively refreshing to see if someone had replied to any of my comments (“Why doesn’t anyone else see how witty I am on there?”). I wasted so much time doing that, I had to just quit Twitter for a couple of months. Then I learned about Twhrl and was hooked on Twitter once again. Only this time, I was able to use it in a way didn’t take me away from other work I was doing. If someone responded to me, I received a little notice on my screen. There are so many applications that make using Twitter so much easier and I’ve tried most of them. Tweetdeck has been my favorite, and each new version adds something that makes me enjoy it even more. Try them out and see which one helps you the most.

(*NOTE* I will be posting tutorials on some of the helpful features for each Twitter application/tool in an upcoming series)

4) KNOW WHEN TO CLOSE OTHER APPLICATIONS: The internet allows us to be in multiple places at one time. On so many levels, this is a fantastic thing. But when you are trying to get work done, it leads to overload. If you have too many programs open on your computer screaming for your attention it will become a major distraction. If you need to write a blog post, close down every program except for the ones you need in order to write your post. Don’t keep Tweetdeck or Skype or GoogleChat open, unless you have to have access to write your post. (And if that’s the case, consider doing that portion of your post separately) Those are tools meant to help you. Just as you can turn off your phone to keep from being interrupted, you can turn these other distractions off as well.

5) ALLOW YOURSELF TO BECOME PICKIER ABOUT WHERE YOU SPEND YOUR TIME ONLINE: When I first started reading other people’s blogs, I had the time to do it. Soon, my reader had become too full. At first I tried breaking them down into types of blogs (eg: design sites; blogging friends; cooking sites…) but my reader still caused me anxiety when I’d open it and find 500+ new posts waiting to be read. I was so afraid of missing something that I’d try to make it through that list (Oh yes I did…). But when I got to the end, I realized that I couldn’t recall most of it. That is because not all of it was relevant to me anymore. My needs had changed. I no longer needed every single design site (And really — did I ever??). So I whittled my list down to the select few that I consistently found myself referring to. I did that for each type of site I had in my reader. If it was not useful to me, I removed it.

6) ALWAYS HAVE SEVERAL POSTS STARTED IN YOUR DRAFTS: At any given time, I have at least 4 posts in my drafts folder that I can work on. This allows me to work on them as inspiration hits, but it also keeps me prepared for those times when something unexpected happens and I need to get a post up. If you are a blogger with a regular posting schedule, this can be a life-preserver in a pinch.

7) DEDICATE PARTS OF YOUR DAY TO VARIOUS TASKS: If you were at work in a corporate office, you would most likely have some sort of schedule that you’d follow through the day. It should be no different when you are sitting in front of your laptop at your kitchen table. Come up with a schedule/game plan for how you will spend your computer time. Twitter won’t die if you aren’t on there every 20 minutes. Facebook will carry on without you while you complete your current project. Set aside times of the day to spend on each of the sites you frequent. Consider what times of day are most active on those sites. (eg: Twitter is most active in the evening/night hours… but you may have people you call on who are most active in the morning) Feel free to allow for flexibility with it, but be aware of how much time you are spending on each site and how much time it is taking away from the other things you need to get done, and plan your time accordingly.

Time management doesn’t always come naturally to us. We want to do what we want to do. But sometimes, we have to do other things. With some focus dedicated to those things, you will soon find that your day feels more in control.

How do you manage your time? Share in comments.

According to an email sent out Monday to all users of Mint.com, the site has entered into an agreement to be purchased by Intuit (makers of Turbo Tax and Quicken)

Never fear though – Mint.com isn’t going to become just another Quicken. As the company acknowledges, each site serves different needs and targets different users and each site will be marketed separately.

From the Founder/CEO’s email:

What’s not going to change

Mint.com will stay the way you like it: free, easy-to-use and constantly improving.

What will change

As outlined in today’s press release and my blog post, after the acquisition closes, the Mint.com team will contribute to improving the financial lives of tens of millions of consumers and small businesses. I’ll personally be taking on the role of GM of Intuit’s Personal Finance group responsible for online, desktop and mobile consumer personal finance offerings. Joining Intuit enables us to bring our vision of helping consumers understand and do more with their money to millions of Intuit customers.  This is a compelling combination of our innovative product, technology, and industry leading user interface design with one of the most trusted brands in software.

Read the press release here.

Read my recent post on Mint.com’s features here.

Most of us take some sort of medication. Whether it is over the counter (OTC) or prescription or a combination of both, it is important to understand the risks associated with each, as well as the potential for interference to occur from other meds we may be taking along with them.

As consumers, we are responsible for trying to be as informed as possible. If you were to purchase a new car, you would go to the dealership having done some research already. Our health should be no different. Especially when it comes to putting chemicals into our bodies.

Pharmasicts and doctors are willing to speak with us on these topics, but it helps to have other resources available. That’s why iGuard.org should be bookmarked by anyone who wants to stay informed on medications.

iGuard.org is a healthcare service that helps monitor the safety of your medications (including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, nutritional supplements and herbal extracts).

iGuard.org helps you stay safer by:

1. Routinely checking the safety of your medications, screening for drug-drug and drug-disease interactions.
2. Alerting you and your doctor (optional) as important safety information arises for your medications.
3. Providing an easily accessible summary of your medications and conditions that you can share with your healthcare team.
4. Helping you learn and share treatment satisfaction and side effect information within our patient community.

Additionally, you will see any warnings associated with the medication, along with some basic facts and figures:

The profile is quick and simple to fill out. Just be sure to have all of your medication names gathered so that you can have a complete profile.

The risk ratings are used to rate side effects of any medications, from low to high risk. Beside each medication you will see one of these ratings:

If you are uncertain about the medication and what it is used to treat, there are charts with each medication profile that tracks the number of people taking the medication and the reasons they are taking it:

If any of the medications your are taking interfere with each other, you will be alerted. Email alerts are sent to you to help you keep track of the medications and any issues that are found with any of them. Additionally, if a medicine is recalled, you will be notified.

Reactions to medications, though rare, can happen. You want to be sure to take every precaution possible and stay informed. While iGuard doesn’t replace your doctor’s advice, it is another part of being well-informed.

photo credit

Burda Style is a sewing site that has adopted the Open Source philosophy:

While creating BurdaStyle, we were captivated by the open source philosophy: the sharing of intellectual property and allowing the public to adapt it to their specific needs. We assimilated the concept to BurdaStyle, removing the copyright from our patterns. Our open source sewing patterns are free to be used as a base for your own design. Whatever you sew, you can sell if you like. We believe that removing copyrights from our designs will inspire creativity and spawn multiple new designs – and that’s wonderful!

(Summer Dress with a Bow)

Not only is it a site for learning techniques and gathering ideas, but readers can contribute their own tutorials, tips and techniques. The “How-Tos” section is fabulous – with a plethora of instructions. There is even a category for Maternity Wear Alterations.

It is also a community with an active forum and a blog.

Whether you are a seasoned sewer, looking for new patterns, or a newbie wanting to learn some basic “how-tos” Burda Style has it covered.

This week we will be focusing on getting organized when working from home. And what’s a better way to kick that off than to give away some goodies from one of the leading daily planner companies?

There are lots of daily planners out there. But FranklinCovey has some of the most comprehensive planners on the market. Additionally, they offer webinar classes on organizing and planning.

I am so excited to be able to offer a planning system and online session to one lucky winner.

The winner of this giveaway will receive a FranklinCovey Complete Planning Kit and a session of LiveClicks of their choice.

The Kit includes includes all of the tools that the Focus Seminar Attendees receive when they go through the training course. It will has dated daily planning pages, tabs in the back to keep track of your goals, roles, values and finances, a storage piece to keep your extra pages and accessories and some other accessories as well as a vinyl binder.

About LiveClicks:

Now anyone can experience the world-renowned benefits of FranklinCovey training, no matter where they live or work around the globe. LiveClicks webinar workshops by FranklinCovey are one-to-two-hour online training sessions that offer compelling content award winning videos, and live engagement with expert consultants.

FOR YOURSELF

Are you trying to improve your abilities but can’t afford to take too much time away from your home or office? With our weekly schedule of LiveClicks webinars you’ll experience highly engaging training right from your desk on a wide variety of topics. Award winning videos, exciting activities and live communication with the instructor will help you learn better and retain the knowledge you’ve received.

• Save time and money
• Get trained without the obstacles or cost of traveling
• Increase your effectiveness and impact in your current roles
• Decrease time away from your office and your family

To enter to win:

Leave a comment on this post.

You can also receive additional entries for each of the following that you do:

1) Twitter about the contest and link to the actual twitter (not just your twitter account) Receive an additional entry for each day you twitter about it, as well.

2) Write about the contest and/or Modern Media Mom on your blog and link to it in comments.

3) Link to it on Facebook

Contest will run until Saturday, May 30th. I will announce the winner at 5pm.

Many thanks to FranklinCovey for this fantastic giveaway.

I received my copy, began to digest what I was reading and realized that there are many many of us out there who are truly struggling every day to balance our homes and our businesses. With blogging and all things related becoming a viable starting point for working at home, the numbers of people needing help in this area will only continue to grow.

Without some sort of assistance or mentoring from others who have lived it, most of us would surely lose our minds trying to balance it all. Either that, or we’d end up just giving it all up altogether.

Enter Making Work at Home Work. Inside the book you will find practical tips and useful advice. The information is easy to follow and realistic.

For instance: one of the points in the book that hit home for me is the need to acknowledge the difference between “At Home” and “Work at Home.” This is huge for me, because up until I read Mary’s book, I was still referring to myself as a stay-at-home mom. While to a degree this is true, – I’m a mom and I’m at home, I work at home in a business as well. I am a “work at home mom”.

If you haven’t already acknowledged that, take a moment, say it out loud and let it sink in.

This is a fabulous book for any mom already working from home – whether you are just starting out or have been doing it for years. It covers everything from:

• How to fit your business into your family life
• How much income is enough?
• What are your priorities?
• How to schedule your time effectively
• Manage your business expenses
• Know when and how to take a break
• Avoid strain on your relationships
• How to arrange effective child care when needed
• Plan for the future and retirement
• Work smarter and make more

This is definitely a book that should be kept on your work space desk and referred to often. It is that practical and useful.

I am excited to be able to offer a copy of this book to four lucky winners. To enter, please subscribe to this site (if you don’t already) and also, leave a comment telling me what work at home issue you need the most help with: organizing? prioritizing? the kids? Let ‘er fly.

Winners will be chosen using random number generator and will be announced Saturday May 16th by 5 pm

Also, If you’d like to win a copy of this book AND a $25 Amazon Gift Card, visit the blog tour post at Mary’s Blog and leave a comment.

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About Mary Byers: Mary M. Byers successfully juggles both a freelance corporate writing and speaking business and her responsibilities as a wife and mother of two school-aged children. She is the author of The Mother Load: How to Meet Your Own Needs While Caring for Your Family and How to Say No . . . And Live to Tell about It. Visit her website to learn more: www.marybyers.com or her blog www.makingworkathomework.com. Follow Mary on Twitter at @marybyers

I came home to be a stay-at-home mom as soon as my first child was born and I stayed utterly and completely satisfied for the first 2.5 years. Around that time, I started looking for a creative outlet. I took a [very] part time job at a print and sign shop and within a couple of months, I was already planning out how to start my own business doing the same thing from my own home.

It was slow going at first. There were many stops and starts along the way. But eventually, I was online and selling my goods and services. Managing it with 2 small kids was one thing. Since then, I’ve had two more children and my organizational skills have been put to the test on a daily basis.

When you work from home there is still laundry to deal with. Meals to prepare. Diapers to change. Faces to wipe. And (because the main reason I’m at home is to be available for my kids) kids to teach and play with.

For years I’ve struggled with how to balance it so that most of the time, my home and work are tended to by me. They both deserve my attention. Additionally, I have to fight my tendency to be a procrastinator and disorganized.

Perhaps you are in that same spot. Maybe you are just now thinking about working from home and the details involved. Perhaps you already have it figured out (hello! care to help me write this series then?)

Each day during this series, I am going to be highlighting tips from people who were kind enough to share with me their ideas on how they make it work. They run the gamut – some are very opposite ideas, but they each work for the people implementing them. Hopefully, you will be able to gather enough information to organize your life so that you can work from home productively AND keep your sanity.

Be sure to subscribe to the site feed. There are some great giveaways that you won’t want to miss: a FranklinCovey Organizing System Kit, copies of Simple Mom’s ebook “Spring Cleaning for Normal People” and Mary Byer’s “Making Work From Home Work” and several other goodies.

Staying in your pajamas.

Potty breaks whenever you want.

Fabulous break room.

Flexibility.

These are some of the ‘supposed’ perks that people fixate on when they are thinking about working from home.

But in reality, working from home requires discipline (Hello, Distraction!), quick-thinking (kids fighting in the background while you are on the phone with a client) and dedication (no more leaving your work at the office or ending your work day at 5:00pm).

It is fabulous. It is wonderful. And it’s wildly crazy.

In 2 weeks, I will be starting a series on Working From Home. I’ve got a great book that I will review and copies to give away. There will be loads of useful information.

If you are considering working from home (whether starting something on your own, or through your employer) or you are already doing it, but find yourself struggling to make it work or work efficiently, this series is for you.

So sound off:

What are your thoughts on working from home? If you do, what do you do that makes it work for you?

(photo: dr.jd)