Giveaway: Spring Clean Your Calendar with Cozi {ends April 12, 2013}

Doesn’t it feel great when you take something that is a constant nag, and tidy it up nice and neat? Like the kitchen drawer where the scissors are, the hall closet, or the crates by the back door that are supposed to organize the kids’ gear – when these things are all cleaned up and organized, they are a big help, and it feels good just to see them in ship shape!

Did you know Cozi can help you feel that same way about your family calendar? With Cozi, you can organize your family’s appointments, routines, schedules and activities in one place, then add on your birthdays, meal plans, and even the daily weather report, and you’ve got a single go-to resource that’s easy to use and has everything you need to stay on top of daily family life. Now that’s a calendar you’ll WANT to look at every day!

Cozi has premade to-do lists and checklists. I love the spring cleaning and vacation packing checklists. All you have to do is add it to your account and then it can be assigned to one person, or shared across the family. Other Cozi features are shopping lists, family journal, meal planning, and more. I absolutely love Cozi. It's a great tool for managing information among family members. All of the features can be set up for an individual or shared with other family members. They even have phone and tablet apps.

Prizes: Cozi is giving away one Kindle Fire HD (8.9”) to a winner selected randomly from all entries from all participating blogs. Cozi is also giving away one year-long subscription to Cozi Gold to a winner selected randomly from the people who sign up for Cozi through The Nest Effect.

Number of Winners: one for each prize

To Enter: You must sign up for a Cozi account through this link to enter the giveaway for both prizes. (mandatory)

Giveaway Ends: Friday, April 12. One winner will be chosen randomly for each prize by Cozi. They will send me the contact information for the winner of the prize and I will contact the winner. The winners have 48 hours to respond to my email to claim their prize.

Giveaway Rules & Disclosure:

• You must sign up for Cozi through The Nest Effect to win.
• The winners will be randomly chosen by Cozi.
• This giveaway is open to readers everywhere.
• This giveaway is sponsored by Cozi.

February 2013 Challenge: Office & Closets {Office Space Refresh}

Yesterday I spent the morning cleaning and reorganizing my office space.

I know my space doesn't appear to be super messy - it's mostly just piles of stuff that needs to be put away. My whole focus in refreshing this space was to make it feel less busy and get rid of the junk that doesn't belong.

These are the "before" pictures...

Under my table I have a 3-drawer bin that holds my office supplies and electronics accessories. These drawers were beginning to feel like they were just collecting things I wasn't using on a regular basis, or at all anymore. I went through the drawers and sorted everything out, only keeping the items I need at my desk.

The top drawer holds my office supplies. I wasn't getting a ton of use out of this drawer because I had a bunch of stuff in there that I wasn't using, and it was just taking up space. I only kept the essentials.

before

contents

after

 The middle drawer is for electronics accessories, such as USB drives, camera cables, etc.

before

after

The bottom drawer was holding craft supplies, but being that I haven't even touched any of this stuff in months, it was time to find a new home for it.

before

contents

This drawer now holds new ink cartridges and those that I need to take to Staples to recycle.

after

 Nothing new here - just added the February calendar.

I cleaned out my pencil/pen cup and decided to take some to school. So many colorful writing utensils! =]

I printed a new to-do list to keep on my desk. You can download this same list for free here.

Overall, there isn't a huge difference in my space, but I noticed that I was able to work better today. I have more space for my planning materials for school. I have more space for blogging. It just feels more simplistic without all of the junk surrounding me.

Have you worked on your office space in the last week? If so, share what you changed about your space.

February 2013 Challenge: Office & Closets {Inspiration}

In getting ready to revamp my office space and closets, I've been searching for inspiration. Where better to look other than Pinterest?

In an effort to not have others' images repinned from my blog post, I'm not going to post any pictures in this post. Many will just pin an image without seeing that there is another owner to the image, linked through Pinterest. I, personally, will only pin an image if I know I'm pinning it directly from the original owner of the image because I think they deserve all credit.

Here are my pin boards, which you can view, with or without a Pinterest account...

Home: Offices

Home: Craft Rooms

Home: Closets

DIY: Organize

DIY: Paper Clutter Solved

If you have a Pinterest account, which you've used to pin inspiration, please share below! =]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wonderful Words for Wednesday {Just Let It Go...}

credit: Sweet Blessings

I need this as a constant reminder and currently have it as my PC wallpaper.

Have a great Wednesday!

February 2013 Challenge: Office & Closets {Identify Purpose}

I read your comments in last week's intro post and it sounds like most of us struggle with the same basic issue - your office {room or space} and your closets have become catch-alls. Paper clutter, holiday decorations, "extras" of items, etc. - nothing has a real "home". I can totally relate. In our one bedroom apartment, we have a small coat closet, a small bedroom closet {which Chris uses} and a hallway walk-in closet {which I use for my clothes and storage}. My "office" is a kitchen table I've transformed into my workspace - for blogging, bill paying {and all other paper management}, running my small businesses, planning for school, etc. Since it's located right inside our front door, it catches everything that comes in - mail, school materials, purchases, receipts, etc.

I mentioned above all of the ways I use my office space, so I definitely have a lot going on in this area. I have a lot of unneeded items on my desk and in the drawers underneath - something that needs to be repurposed. I need to only keep those things I need for my office at my desk. Everything else needs to go or be housed elsewhere.

The coat closet kind of accumulates random stuff we purchase and needs a thorough cleaning. My closet is fine on the clothes side, but the shelves are an absolute mess and also accumulate random things that don't have a home. Part of my whole New Years goal was to simplify. I think it's time to purge and donate!

I have Monday off for President's Day, so I plan on working on my office space and closets this weekend. I will be sure to take before, process, and after photos and share next week.

Your challenge this week is to look at your office and/or closets that need help and identify the purpose for these spaces. For your office - what tasks do you manage in this area and what needs to stay? For your closets - what items will you store in each closet? What can you donate?