new beginnings {and a giveaway--holla!}

It seems like every few months, particularly once when we get into a good rhythm and routine, something happens to knock us out of our comfort and forces us to revamp and renew. That is the ebb and flow of our lives, I'm not really surprised by it anymore. I guess I have learned to see it coming.

After being laid up for nearly 7 weeks and having help around the clock, I became pretty spoiled and kind of forgot how to juggle being a mom and wife while doing all of those other things I had to do to keep things running. I am now having to retrain myself and figure out the best way to make this house run. So I've started over with organizing and cleaning, making sure that I have my system back in place. Thankfully, I have an awesome "cheat sheet" to help me along: my trusty planner from The Project Girl, Jen Allyson.

I have been using this planner  since the beginning of the year, and it is wonderful. It is set up to keep you organized and accountable to yourself, especially if you have housework specific ADD like I do, or if you are just plain busy. Each day has a list of simple "chores" to complete and by the time you are done with the week, your house will be clean. There's really no need to do a huge deep cleaning one day a week or month because you will rotate through all of those tasks through the week, instead of doing it all at once. This makes housework so much more manageable. Knowing you only need to do a few things through the day is a huge relief, unlike the burden of having to spend an entire day cleaning.

And, best of all, it is customizable. So if there is something on there that you just don't do, then you can take it off. And you can add in all of those pesky little things you forget to do, or put off and never get around to... like cleaning the dried up food from under the high chair pads... not that I've ever forgotten to do that before... so you won't forget to get it done.

There is also a space to write in your appointments and/or meals for the week and your shopping list. I love that all of my to-do lists and shopping lists and "what did I have to do again today??" lists can be kept in one place. I have printed my pages out and placed them in a binder, separated by month, but you could do something cute like Jen did and make yours into a book.

I really encourage you to go check out The Project Girl. She has lots of eye candy (and a really cute new baby) and some great ideas for organization and design. And she has some super fun and helpful freebies too, which I have pretty much shamelessly snatched up and added to my "command center" binder.

This is a time of new beginnings for me; it is my second shot at the New Year, even though the year is nearly half over. And I know many of you are coming into a transition time also, be it the end of school for you kids, a new season, husbands coming or going, moving... So as a Happy New Year gift, I am going to give away one of JenAllyson's Awesome Planners to one of my readers. All you have to do is:

1. leave me a comment on this post with your favorite organization tip or trick 
2. put your first name and a valid email address in the comment, if you don't have it in your profile, so I can get the planner to the winner.
3. promise that you will only use it for personal use and won't share it with anyone else.  

All entries must be received by Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on Friday, May 13... ooooooh! Friday the 13! ZOINKS! You are more than welcome to share this giveaway with your friends, link on your blog and on Facebook, but only one entry per person is allowed. Incomplete and duplicate entries will be not be entered.

Good Luck!