- my advice:
- “Besides laughing at yourself often, I’d say keeping the big picture (your priorities) straight with a weekly to-do list is the #1 thing you can do to get on the path to staying organized where it counts.”
My life is too hectic and full to make a fresh to-do list every day, so I make a really detailed one for the week on Sunday night that includes personal and professional to-do’s. Sometimes I type it in my computer and print it out, but most often I write it in a large, college ruled notebook with clear “areas” for professional and personal items. Then, each morning, I take out my NothingElse.pad and write down my top, top priorities and do them first. That way, even if I don’t get anything more done beyond those key things, I know I’ll be ok.
Sarah is the slightly more “free-form” yang to Alicia’s organized yin – in other words, more of a focus-on-the-big-picture and let’s-just-keep-moving-in-the-right-direction type of gal. She’s a seasoned entrepreneur who founded her own marketing consultancy in 2001, and has co-founded one other company that’s also moving beyond the startup phase. Sarah is always on the go and her friends wonder at how she manages to stay relaxed with so much going on in her life.
Before striking out on her own, Sarah worked as an advertising executive with clients like Kellogg’s, General Motors and Ameritech. She also spent time as an independent marketing consultant, entrepreneur and product designer. Sarah managed client relationships and developed advertising strategy for big brands like Kellogg, Ragu, MSN, and GMC. Sarah holds a B.S. from Georgetown University.
Sarah, her husband Gardiner, and their son William reside in Dobbs Ferry, NY. She confesses, “I’ve got a really full personal life and professional life, so I need solutions that fit into my cram-packed existence, not ones that try to force me to follow an endless series of complex, overly-involved set of rules that lead straight to what I call Organizer Hell.”
Sarah can be reached at sarah[at]getbuttonedup[dot]com.
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- Evite.com
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The easiest way to send and receive invitations bar none.
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- KodakGallery.com
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The central hub for our digital family photos where you can also get great prints at the push of a button.
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- Facebook.com
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What better way to quickly see what your friends and colleagues are up to day-to-day, even though they may live on the other side of the globe.
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- iPhone
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All the music without the jewel case clutter, low-risk listen-first environment, and super-easy to make killer mixes/playlists.
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- Diaper Caddy
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Who knew a molded piece of transparent plastic could be such a lifesaver? But the amount of time mine has saved me is truly astounding.
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- California Closets
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Ok we inherited them with the house, but it’s amazing how having smaller compartments makes it so much easier to keep closets neat. If our next house doesn’t have them already, I’d seriously consider investing in some.
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- Paper family calendar
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It's not pretty, but it’s the tried-and-true method for ensuring all of us are in the right place at the right time.
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Between the house, kids, husband, bills, work, and everything else that gets tossed on your plate, there always seems to...
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In the hurly burly of everyday family life, it’s easy for romance to fall by the wayside. Who has the...
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You've no doubt got a handle on the fundamentals you'll need for your new little one: crib, bassinet, stroller, changing...
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In the hurly burly of everyday family life, it's easy for romance to fall by the wayside. Who has the...
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We keep our Shopping.pad out on the kitchen counter and my husband and I add to it all week long. Before we leave the house on Saturday morning, we tear off the latest list and put it in our baby’s travel bag. That way, we are sure to have it with us whenever we find the time to go to the grocery store during the weekend. The one or two times we forgot to bring it with us, we were utterly lost! We ended up buying too much of what we didn’t need and not enough of what we did. I know we save money because we use it – and I’m pretty sure we make it through the store more quickly too.
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Our Life.doc is kept on top of the desk in our kitchen. We turn to it, literally, once a week, mostly to look up a quick number in the Home Sweet Home section. I also pull it out when babysitters come to watch our son. It’s got all of his health information, key emergency numbers to call, and a permission to treat form at the ready, just in case. If anything were to happen, I feel better knowing that we have our most important information at the ready.
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I don’t know what I did before the arrival of Greetings.stash. Wait – yes I do! I never had an appropriate card when I needed one, and was forever trying to make due with whatever scrap of wrapping paper or greeting card I could find in a drawer or in whatever store was on my way. Now, whenever I want to remember someone’s birthday, anniversary, say a quick thank you – or just send an XOXO – I pull out my Greetings.stash and voila! I’ve got the perfect card.
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My husband’s receipt piles actually inspired this product. He’s a pile person, not a file person – so his poor receipts never made it to any kind of filing cabinet. Instead, they floated around the house, sadly drifting, waiting for a home. I’d occasionally throw an important one out by mistake, much to his chagrin. But now that we have the Receipt.catcher (well, three actually – one in the kitchen, one in the living room, and a third on my husband’s dresser), the receipts are neatly tucked away. Once a month I go through the piles on the bottom and file them away appropriately. I know our accountant will be very proud of us at the end of the year.
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Our kitchen would be pretty darn neat most of the time if it weren’t for the dreaded mail pile. Between us, we get literally 5 catalogs a day and plenty of junk mail. Those things tend to overwhelm the important things like bills, announcements, and documents that need our attention. To complicate matters, if I’d see a bill was for my husband, I’d just chuck it back in the pile figuring he’d get to it eventually. We’ve managed to completely contain the pile ever since we brought the Mail.sorter home. Now whomever picks up the mail knows exactly where to put things: pay me, respond to me, read me, notice me. It’s foolproof – and I love the color!
