Life comes at you fast – don’t we all know it! So this week, get ahead of the chaos, schedule your annual dentist and doctor appointment this week. Schedule the kids too! Find out from your physician and dentist when their slow season is and schedule it for that time. This way they will take the time you need and not feel rushed to get to all the other patients waiting.

Hate static cling? Put a few drops of hand lotion in your palms, rub them together a little and then run your hands over your clothes or stockings.

Summer is right around the corner. That means it’s time for the slew of warm-weather toys, tools, and sundries that have been stashed away for winter to come out of hiding and re-enter the regular rotation of “stuff” in your home. Before the season is in full swing, try setting up a few organizational stations to keep these additional items in check. Here are ten easy ideas for keeping everything from flip-flops to swimwear and BBQ tools contained and at the ready.

Set Up a Bucket for Flip Flops

Flip-flops are the designated shoes of summer in our households. The only problem, they end up in big piles by the front door, the back door, or in the kitchen. Find a large bin or tin bucket, label it with the words “Flip-Flops” with paint or a sticker and place it by the door most used by family members. Then whenever anyone comes inside, they know exactly where to put them. Or marvelous Hollie has created a free sticker printable (pictured above) to use on a colorful bucket so you can create your own in minutes.

Organize Some Ready Made Activity Bags

A lot of summer is spent on the run – to the pool, to the beach, to piano lessons, to your vacation destination. Knowing that, you can prepare yourself in advance. Pack a few small zippered activity bags (or plastic sandwich bags) and store them in your coat closet or in a basket or bureau near the main entrance. One activity bag could have bug repellant and sunscreen, another goggles and swim caps. You could have one for piano books or art supplies and still another for small travel games. Once you’ve got them assembled, use these cute free printables from BHG to label them.

Put Some Grill Wranglers in Place

In our homes the center of the kitchen shifts outside, to the grill, during the summer months. If you’re not careful, scrub brushes, grill baskets, and grill spatulas linger around outside in a jumble and other items get shoved in kitchen drawers that are often too small to contain them. Get ahead of the mess. At a minimum, set up a tall tin bucket to hold grill tools or hang some hooks that you use to keep grill tools organized. In addition, if you have the space, use a metal sorter to organize larger items like pizza stones and cutting boards. {image via: Martha Stewart}

Make a Bin to Contain Sunscreen/Bug Spray

Sunscreen and bug spray are hot commodities during the summer. But if you don’t have an organizational plan for them, you will likely end up buying many more containers than you really need. Keep a bottle of each in a bag near the front door and another pair in the trunk of your car. We’re fans of the old-fashioned liquid as it stretches farther than the sprays, especially the aerosol sprays. Yes, it’s messier going on, but is it really that much harder to use than the sprays? We think not.

Set One Big Bag for Swimwear and fresh towels

There’s nothing like a big, canvas bag when it comes to swimsuits and pool gear. Keep a large one in your coat closet. Put all dry bathing suits in the bag so you don’t have to go searching for them when you need them. In addition, keep two or three towels in there as well. That way, you can just grab it and go when you’re ready to go for a dip. {image & bag via: Etsy}

(Pre) Organize Your Car Trunk

Since it’s summer and outside is the place to be…set up your car in advance to maximize the fun you have outdoors. Keep one or two folding chairs along with a canvas bin in the back. Inside the canvas bin keep a bottle of sunscreen and bug spray, a mesh bag with some small sand toys, and a towel. {image & more trunk organizing tips via: Brassy Apple}

Create a Bin For Outside Toys

Toys that get played with outside often are caked with sand and dirt and maybe even have a bug or two hiding in them. That’s hardly the profile of a toy that you want to come inside your house. Keep them outside where they belong. Set up an outside toy station in your garage or on your porch and encourage your children to put their toys away in that each evening when they are done playing with them. Sarah uses a giant $0.50 blue plastic tote bag from Ikea to contain her children’s toys and Alicia uses a mesh bag for her daughter’s outdoor items. These systems have saved both of them lots of cleaning time.

Set Up a Healthy Snack Station in the Fridge

If you have children, you know that during the summer months, they’re home more and therefore more likely to raid the fridge when feeling peckish. Help them make healthier choices by having a snack box organized on a shelf that’s eye-level for them. Keep cut fruits and veggies, cheese sticks, yogurt, and maybe a small sandwich or two. Then let them know that whenever they are hungry, they can always grab something from the snack bin in the fridge. Who knows, this could be a summer organizational solution that you just keep using right through the fall, winter, and spring too. {image via: ohdeeoh}

Hang Some Double Duty Outdoor Lighting

There’s nothing more delightful than lounging outside in your yard during summer evenings…except for the mosquitoes. Before the hot weather gets here, invest in some hanging candle holders designed to be used outdoors along with some citronella tealight candles. Encircle the area you are most likely to be sitting in with the candle holders – then each night bring out the candles and light them to keep the mosquitoes away. You can also use citronella sticks too. {image & tutorial via Chez Beeper Bebe}

Set Up a Potting Table

If you have a garden or even a series of potted plants, you should have at least a small potting table to organize you gardening tools and to serve as a staging area for your plants. It doesn’t have to be big to be effective. Just make sure it has either a small drawer or a lattice back to contain your tools and gloves and ideally has two shelves in addition to a main countertop for holding and organizing plant pots. {image & table plans via: Sunset Magazine}

What’s your biggest summer clutter headache? Do you have any good tricks for containing it? Please share! We’d love to hear.

Spring Clean! Clean the carpets – get the rugs cleaned and shampoo’d. If you have wood floors, now is the time to check them for any nails popping up and do a thorough cleaning and polishing!

The winner of the $50 Visa Gift Card is Jacqueline Griffin!
Congratulations Jacqueline! Please email alicia @ getbuttonedup dot com with your details.

This contest is now closed.

I was on vacation in Australia for 17 days and arrived home on December 31st. It was an amazing trip, BUT after twenty-four hours of traveling and more than two and a half weeks away from home, all I wanted was to take a hot shower in my own bathroom and sleep in my own bed.

I opened the door to our house, walked in to a pile of mail and holiday packages, and started the long process of sorting bills and washing my dirty, smelly clothes. In that mess, I came across a box I was expecting from BlogHer containing Head & Shoulders Green Apple Shampoo and Conditioner, the perfect products to take with me into my long awaited steamy shower.

I am a long time (15+ years) user of Head & Shoulders, so I knew I would like the products, and I was excited to try the new scent (I often use the minty variety).

I would not say I have a big dandruff problem per se, but it keeps my hair looking really nice, flake-free, and is a great value. So off I went into my shower. There is nothing like a steamy shower in your own house after a long time away.

It felt great, and I loved using the new Head & Shoulders Green Apple products. My hair was really not in good shape. My scalp had been burned and was itchy and peeling.

The products were amazing (loved the scent and I could still smell it the next day) and helped me, in just fifteen short minutes, to feel like myself again.

It didn’t help the jet lag, but it did make me feel relaxed, clean, and back to normal.

Now why is all of this important in the scheme of getting “Buttoned Up”?

When you take a long trip and you plan and get organized for the days away, it is also important to think about a few things that can help you out when you get home.

Have a few items of food that won’t go bad (e.g. cereal, frozen food, bottled water) in your kitchen, make sure you have plenty of laundry detergent on hand, and stock your shower with a few of your favorite products (like Head & Shoulders Green Apple) so that first shower is a great re-entry back into reality.

Now we want to hear from you for a chance for you to win a $50 Visa gift card.

What’s your routine for feeling great after a long trip away?

All you need to do is leave us a comment to be entered for a chance to win.

Contest rules below.

Hope to hear lots of great tips to help all of us next time we have to leave home.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a)Leave a comment in response to this post

b)Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c)Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d)For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to us, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

This sweepstakes runs from 1/30/2012 – 2/28/2012.

The Official Rules are available here.

Be sure to visit the Promotions & Prizes page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggersí reviews and find more chances to win! And visit the Life Well Lived section on BlogHer.com for more great tips on looking your best.

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August can be a tricky month. It’s technically still summer vacation, and summer-brain definitely still reigns. But it’s also a time of transition back to “normal” routines. To help you keep your vacation cool as long as possible this month, we’ve put together this 31-day guide to a Zen state. Do something every day that will have you feeling calmer, more centered, and happy.

Turn off the TV. Was it really worth cutting your sleep short to watch the shennanegans of those crazy Real Housewives of New York? Instead of staying up to watch TV or veg out on your computer, make an effort to get 8-9 hours of sleep every night this month. You’ll feel more energized and won’t need that extra cup of coffee to keep you going. Plus the time you save from skipping the boob tube will add, leaving room to work on spirit-enhancing projects you’ve been putting off.

Hang a summer picture. Pick one summer shot from your digital stack, print it out using Kodak Gallery, or other photo printing service that delivers the finished product right to your door. Order a frame (hint: get lovely custom ones on Etsy like the frame pictured here at the same time). Once they arrive, hang your picture up immediately.

Edit your closet. Chuck anything that is too big or small for your body type right, now — today. Don’t focus on what you did or will fit into- focus on the now.

Bake bread. You probably have the four ingredients required already in your pantry. It’s easy to make and we’re betting you find the entire process meditative.

Make water your main drink this month. You’ll save money on buying soda and other unhealthy beverages, and feel more cleansed and energized at the end of 31 days.

Prepare to seize the moment. Keep a blanket in your car trunk, just in case you see a nice field or park you want to sit down and relax in. {image via: Etsy}

Stay out of stores for 7 days. If you must buy food, shop for what you need at a farmer’s market. Focus on enjoying the things you already have.

Go for a stroll after dinner each night this month. Drink in nature’s sunsets, stop and smell a flower, chat with a neighbor…and burn a few extra calories while you’re relaxing. {image via: La Dolce Vita}

Edit what’s on your kitchen counters. Get rid of unnecessary or seldom-used equipment. How many times are you really going to use that ice cream maker? Make space for the essentials. {image via: Project Home}

Go au natural. Save time in the morning by learning to love your natural hair. If it’s curly, leave it curly. If it’s straight, leave it straight. If it’s frizzy (like mine), embrace the beauty of he frizz.

Say no to a request you don’t really want to do. If it makes you uncomfortable, re-read the chapter in our book, Pretty Neat for strategies that will help you reclaim your inner 2-year-old.

Find a fun way to tell someone you love them. Use one of our free printable lunch notes, write it in lipstick on a mirror, pick up the phone and leave a goofy rendition of “I just called to say I love you” on a voicemail… Don’t over-think it; just do it. {image via: Sally Jean Typepad}

Put the Crackberry down between 6-8pm. Every day. Eat with others during that time and be present with them.

Institute spousal QT. Pick a date and a time once a week for the next four weeks that you and your spouse will honor as your “quality time.” It could be an official “date” – or just a commitment to spend an hour on the back porch truly catching up with one another. {image via: apartment therapy}

Get a task you’re dreading out of the way. Schedule the time to tackle it first thing in the morning and when that time comes, get it done – no excuses. Chances are it will take less time/energy to do than you think AND you’ll enjoy the rest of your day/month more once it’s out of the way. {image via: Junia Isabel}

Make drive-time spent alone gratitude time. When you’re alone in the car (or on a plane or train), turn off the music, the phone, and any other noisy distractions. Use the time to reflect on everything you are grateful for. {image via: Pinterest}

Unclutter something. Whether it’s a small sock drawer or your entire office, decluttering is one of the fastest ways to feel better about your life and more in control.

Police your to-do list. DO write down all those things rattling around your head that you don’t want to forget to get to. But DON’T that list as a the blueprint for your days. The % of things on your list driven by the urgencies of others and unrelated to your true priorities may just surprise you. Start your day by identifying true priorities.

Save $1 a day. Find a way to save $31 this month, or more if you can. Saving money is empowering and makes you more mindful.

Pick one day to fast. Intermittent fasting has been shown to lower your risk of heart disease and even reduce the symptoms of asthma. It also sharpens your senses and will get you to be more circumspect about food. {image via: Moxie}

Focus on what your housemates & family do well. Rather than fixating on what your roommate/spouse/kid doesn’t do “right” (e.g. dirty dishes left in the sink) and instead make a mental note of all the things they do do well. Bonus points for thanking them for their positive contributions! {image via: ffffound}

Make your life easier. Store fresh bags in the bottom of your garbage cans. {image via: Seltzer Studios}

Go barefoot. Going without shoes puts you in a different, more relaxed minset. And according to some ancient philosophies, life-force energy called Chi (also called Qi or Prana) can be absorbed through the soles of the feet, which allegedly can increase your vitality and make you think more clearly. Scientific or not, it sure feels good to us! {image via: Beautynust Blogspot}

Switch paper subscriptions to digital. Instead of having physical newspapers and magazines delivered, subscribe to them online. It saves paper, and allows you to browse through more quickly to find the articles that match your interests. {image via: Dress Design Décor}

Rearrange a room. Play around with the layout of a “problem” room until you find a set up that gives you the most amount of free space in which to move around in. It will feel like a fresh start.

Tweak your dinner menu. Find new recipes that can be used with ingredients you normally keep in stock. You might discover some new family favorites! {yummy cowboy quesadillas via: our best bites}

Coordinate your chores. If you have to go to the grocery store, post office, doctor’s, etc., try to work it out so you do everything in one trip. It’ll save both time and gas money.

Stop multitasking. Enough has been written about this for you to know it’s a myth. Wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it every time you find your focus shifting away from what you’re currently working on. {image via: Novh Tumblr}

Say “I’m sorry.” Let go of pride and learn to apologize the moment you know you’ve done something wrong. It’s a step towards self-improvement, and strengthens friendships. {neat note via: yegorka Livejournal}

Get on the do not mail list. Use the cool new online service, Updater, to organize your real mailbox. Sort of like the “Do Not Call” registry, it will stop all those pesky intrusions, like catalogs, coupons, and even unwanted charity solicitations. Your kitchen counters will thank you.

Cut your makeup routine down to only 2 or 3 steps, or go without for a day…or 31. There’s no need to cover-up that glowing summer skin. {everyday makeup tutorial via: Sugarlaws}