24 Hour Giveaway: $50 Erin Condren Gift Certificate - CLOSED!

This giveaway has ended and commenting is closed. 

Chosen by the random integer generator at random.org, the winner is...

Congratulations to #44 AubreyLaine!

(Please check your email and respond within 48 hours to claim your prize!)

Thank you to everyone who entered! =]

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I know y'all love Erin Condren - as do I. I still have $50 gift certificates to giveaway. So I'm going to hold a quick, 24-hour giveaway to giveaway one that expires next month (January 24, 2012) - so please...only enter if you plan on using the gift certificate within the next month.

To enter:

• Leave a comment on this post (not on Facebook and no email entries) answering the question:
• How do you plan out your life? (Do you use a planner, an app on your phone, wall calendar, etc.?)

Giveaway rules:

• You must be a follower (through Twitter, FB, GFC, or RSS/email) of The Nest Effect to win.
• The winner will be chosen by random.org.
• Please make sure your email is either linked in your profile or on your blog OR that you include it in your comment. If I can't find your email address, I can't contact you as the winner. 
• One entry per person - no extra entries for this giveaway.
• Giveaway ends December 11 @ 11 AM (MT).

Disclosure: This giveaway is not sponsored. I purchased the gift certificate from Plum District at half price from account credits I received when my awesome readers signed up and purchased through my referral link (thanks to all of you who purchased).

Friday Favorites: Fonts - Part 6

I often receive emails and comments asking what fonts I use. For the next few Fridays I'm going to share my favorite fonts and their sources, if available, with you. Some came on my computer and may not be available for free download online, but others I've found for free online and added to my PC myself. Need help installing fonts? dafont.com has a great FAQ for both Mac & PC users.

1. TXT Annesia :: my fonts (no longer free that I can find - now $3)

2. CK Handprint :: fonts2u

3. Too Much Paper! :: kevin & amanda

4. Wacky Action BTN :: a-z fonts

5. New Romantics :: da font

This is the last font post for now. Come back next Friday to see what my new favorite thing will be!

I Miss You...and Organization + a Free Printable

My life for the past 2 weeks has consisted of the following:

• wake up
• go to school & teach all day
• stay @ school to fix my classroom & plan
• come home, exhausted
• go to bed early
• repeat

My classroom looks amazing so far...but it still needs work. I've taken my camera with me every day, and keep forgetting to take pictures. Tonight I'll be there until 7:30 for Parent Night. I'm excited to meet the parents, but not excited to be there for 12 hours straight. My students are amazing and I absolutely love my school and teaching team. It feels like I've been there longer than 2 weeks.

My holiday break begins December 17th and lasts for a little over 2 weeks. My apartment is in major need of some serious cleaning and organization. I'm continuing to collect the ideas that y'all are giving me for monthly challenges for 2012. I'm so glad I've decided to do this because it will help keep me in line. =]

Sorry, this printable set is no longer available for free.

Get organized in 2012 with me. Download a free copy of the organizing to-do list now (for a limited time) and begin your list of what you'd like to organize in 2012.

purchase this printable in the cleaning & organizing set for $8

I will post fonts on Friday...I promise. (Slipped my mind last week...sorry!)

Giveaway & Review: Buttoned Up Weekly.Agenda - CLOSED!

This giveaway has ended and commenting is closed. 

Chosen by the random integer generator at random.org, the winner is...

Congratulations to #85 Stezie88! (She did not respond.)

The new winner is...#55 Tami!

(Please check your email and respond within 48 hours to claim your prize!)

Thank you to Buttoned Up & everyone who entered! =]

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What organization loving woman doesn't love a planner? I've had an obsession with planners my whole life. I've even been known to purchase several different kinds at once, using all of them at the same time, just because I like them. Crazy? Absolutely.

A few weeks ago Buttoned Up asked me if I wanted to review and giveaway one of their Weekly.Agenda planners. Of course! (Yeah, I know...I do a lot of planner talking around here.)

Here are the highlights, that I truly find amazing...

• Size. It's 4.75" x 6.57" - perfect for my purse. The clasp on the side is magnetic, keeping everything crisp and clean on the inside when tossed in a bag.

• Bookmarks. Yes, plural. There are two. Two ribbons that you'll never lose because they're attached in the spine. Brilliant.

• To-Do & To Contact lists...for every week - with lots of space. Believe it. This is one thing I've been missing with my current planner.

• Perforated page corners. Get out of town. Back when I was in high school, my school planners had this sweet feature and I loved it. If the bookmark ever falls out of it's place, it's so easy/fast to find where you were, because the torn corners mark weeks of your past.

• Notes. I'm a list making girl...so this section is a must.

• Organizational tips. Shut up. No, seriously...I am in love with it. Get a tip every week (on the to-do list pages) and read tips in a section in the back. Just what I've always wanted. Reading material when I'm waiting at the doctor...and something that I'm into. *sigh*

• Shopping & errand lists...perforated, so you can take them on the go. I'm out of words at this point. Honest.

• Pockets. On the front and back cover. For real. Coupons, appointment cards, etc...never to be lost again. 

Don't you love it? I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when I received mine. I've seen it advertised online a bunch, but the plain cover never caught my eye like the other planners I love do...so I guess you could say I judged it by it's cover. My bad. The inside is amazing though. Want simple and budget friendly, yet organizationally savvy and fun inside? This is the planner for you.

Consider giving the gift of organization this holiday season with Buttoned Up products.

Buttoned Up has provided me with one Weekly.Agenda planner to giveaway to one lucky reader.

To enter...

• Leave a comment on this post (not Facebook and no email entries) answering the question:
• What feature(s) of the Weekly.Agenda planner would help you get organized in 2012?

Giveaway rules:

• You must be a follower (through Twitter, FB, GFC, or RSS/email) of The Nest Effect to win.
• The winner will be chosen by random.org.
• Please make sure your email is either linked in your profile or on your blog OR that you include it in your comment. If I can't find your email address, I can't contact you as the winner. 
• One entry per person - no extra entries for this giveaway.
• Giveaway ends December 10 @ 9 PM (MT).

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Buttoned Up. Everything written in this post is my own honest opinion. I was sent 2 Weekly.Agenda planners (one of which I'm giving away) to facilitate my review.

Organize: Under The Kitchen Sink

So many readers have been asking about organizing under the kitchen sink. This hasn't really ever been an issue for me - and maybe because I don't access it a ton. (I should clean more than I do.)

The space under my kitchen sink isn't that big. I have an obnoxiously large sink with no divider (which drives me nuts...hence why I don't do the dishes by hand). I also have a food disposal. Not much room left. Here's what it looked like under my sink before "cleaning" it out.

I have two caddies under my sink. I don't ever take them out to tote around the house with me, so I suppose a regular plastic basket would also do. I do like the compactness of the caddies though. I sort everything under my sink and put like items together.

This small stackable shelf is my favorite thing under the sink. It makes towels and cleaning accessories easily accessible and fits nicely in the front of my space.

please excuse the ghetto tape job on the wall...lol

There's not much to it for my under the sink space, but here are some tips for you...

• Use command hooks to hang what you can on doors or the wall - it makes things easily accessible and doesn't take up valuable surface space needed for cleaning supplies.
• Purge - seriously. Get rid of what you have extra of if you don't have the room to store it under your sink. Or store it elsewhere. This space is meant to be easily accessible and not to store every odd and end you can't find a home for. Since sinks can be leaky or troublesome at times, you don't want to have to haul out a ton of junk just to wipe up a drip.
• Look around your kitchen for drawers/cupboard space you could store things in that don't need to be under the sink. If I had an extra drawer, I'd be storing my towels there rather than under the sink.
• Keep cleaning supplies in a container/basket/etc. - if they leak, they won't ruin the cabinet. Also, if you need to remove everything from under the sink because of an issue (such as a leak), you can do so a lot faster since everything's containerized.

the towel that hangs on my cabinet door...love it

For more ideas and tips, visit the posts the following blogs have previous written on this topic:

• A Bowl Full of Lemons
• Ask Anna...
• Delightful Order
• Organize with Sandy

P.S. Thank you so much for all of the ideas for the 2012 monthly challenge - I have a ton of ideas to get us organized in the new year. Please, keep them coming if you have more ideas!