Making Life Easier- Calendars

It's nice to have a wall calendar. You note important events and glance at the whole month every few days to stay on track.

I always think bigger is better... so I use the Stendig calendar. I love the design, of course, and I love that you can get it each year (always at Crate and Barrel). I suppose I don't like change!  Here's my calendar for January:

I put little party hats on birthdays and use an 'h' for holidays. I also write notes on the days, use special stickers for Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc, and make general notes in the top area. A really, really adorable idea with the Stendig is to take a picture of your baby each month sitting/laying on top of the month to see how much she grows. This never quite worked out with my kids, but I wish it had!

Other great calendar sources: Paper Source, Etsy, blogs or make your own! Here are others I'm using this year:

I particularly love this little January calendar.

I got to my desk at work and a friend suprised me with this cutie!

As much as I love electronic calendars, my daily organizing is done with a good old black moleskin.

Sleek, soft and classic!

Making Life Easier: Sending cards

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My grandfather never ever forgets an important day. Birthday, anniversary, holiday cards- all come like clockwork (he has a list and buys all his cards at the beginning of the month, addresses and includes the date to mail in the corner, underneath where the stamp goes- brilliant!). A college friend's grandmother has been sending me cards on every holiday for the past 15 years (I only met her once, but I love Bonnnie!). Taking the time to put something in the real mail is a lost art. Sending cards for birthdays, anniversaries, Arbor Day... is something I always mean to do. It just doesn't always happen. Sometimes/often I even have the card all ready and for some reason it never gets in the mail (I have holiday cards from the past 2 years that never made it to my dear friends). So this year I am setting up cards to be sent automatically from Tiny Prints.

I can personalize each card, enter the address and Tiny Prints will mail it on any date I choose. It's not perfect, but it's workable. Now, the only problem is sitting down and entering all of them! I started, I promise!

Thank you's from Atticus's "Haunted Jewel Castle" 5th birthday party.

Though, you might want to keep in mind you might have, say, an anniversary card that goes to a couple who has split, people move, etc. You can change your order so that  you don't make any embarrassing missteps!

Making Life a Little Easier

My life is pretty scheduled. I work full time, but have managed my hours to be home with the kids two weekdays. So, when the kids aren't with me, I'm working or sleeping! I really only have Saturdays to clean, shop, run errands and rest! The running around part was driving me crazy. I'm a single mom most of the time and always run out of something on a day that I'm home with a spirited 5 year old and a very active almost 3 year old. Have you ever been to the grocery store at 5 pm with two cranky kids? It's a NIGHTMARE!!

Enter: Amazon Fresh

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It has changed my life! Saturday nights while my sweet ones are sleeping, with a glass of wine in hand I plan the meal for the week, update my automatic order and my groceries are delivered before I wake up Monday morning! I have things like bananas, milk and bread automatically delivered. I can add items up until Sunday night at midnight. The best part about grocery shopping online? When you forget the butter, it's just a click away, not all the way across the store!

It is actually less expensive than going to the store because the temptation of impulse purchases is almost nil. And, if you forgot that you need a gift for yet another kiddo's birthday, add it to the order. I purchased all of the plates, food and drinks for my last party via Amazon. They are my heroes!

The customer service has been great. Every few orders they send a little something- flowers, a cookie cutter or something like that. When I ordered a lip balm that ended up not being in stock, they sent a similar one for no charge!

NOTE: I was not in any way paid by AmazonFresh to gush about them. I just love them and love supporting a local company.

Unfortunately, they only deliver in Seattle for now. But to make your life easier, try delivery from Safeway (I go with Amazon for their variety, lower threshold for free delivery and I don't have to be around when groceries are delivered- but I've tried Safeway and it works just fine!)