Friday, April 9, 2010

Defying Entropy

Entropy is a fancy scientific word that, at it's most basic form, involves the concept that nature tends to move from order to disorder. It partially explains the infuriating phenomenon that occurs when you find your house trashed 5 minutes after you finished cleaning it top to bottom.

Or maybe I've gotten entropy mixed up with having young children. Which can also be an infuriating phenomenon.

Either way, fighting the natural tendency towards disorder can be an exhausting battle. One look at my valuable collection of paperwork piles lying all over my counters, dining table and desk is enough to make anyone want to toss back a strong drink and take a nap.

EXHAUSTING!

And finding a system that works is even more difficult. So imagine my skepticism when Jason bought me a small gift a couple of months ago.

He admitted that he bought it for me on a whim. It was a good deal and he thought it looked like it was right up my alley.

And he was EXACTLY RIGHT!

The Family Life Organizer (henceforth nicknamed Flo), created by Pam Socolow at Family Facts, is less like a calendar (although it HAS a calendar section) and more like my personal external hard drive. It's like having 500 gigabytes of extra memory, so that my feeble brain space can be freed up to remember even more important things, like the names of my children or what I'm supposed to be fixing for dinner.

Flo is divided into 7 major sections: Calendar, Contacts, Kids, Good Like, Home and Auto, Healthcare, and Finance. And each section has a durable plastic pocket to keep track of any paperwork that needs to be saved.

Each section has tons of space to keep track of ALL the information you could ever imagine needing to run your household smoothly. And even some information you didn't know you needed, but boy, is it ever handy to have at your fingertips!

But the really fun thing about Flo is the unexpected bonuses! For example, you can keep a running list of wines you like or might want to try. There are travel planning worksheets, vehicle repair logs, sheets to record the brand/color paint you use in each room of your house, and almost 300 tiny stickers to use at your discretion on the calendar pages.

The layout is clean and simple, but not too girly/frilly, so your man (or YOU, if you are the man) can use it without having to turn in his (your) man-card. Each page gives you ample space to record the information requested.

Seriously, I never would have even thought of keeping track of some of the stuff within the covers of the binder, but Pam did, and it's helping me to be more organized than I ever have been. Plus, I'm fighting the piles, which pretty much makes me feel like a super hero. Pile Fighter!

And lucky for you, Pam @ Family Facts has graciously agreed to send one (1) Family Life Organizer and Planner to one of my readers!

AW YEAH!!!

I'm going to keep this simple- to enter my giveaway, simply leave me a comment on this post. You can post about it on Twitter for an extra entry, but PLEASE be sure to leave me an ADDITIONAL comment letting me know that you have done so (and please include your Twitter name (handle? ID?). If you tweet, but do not leave another comment, you will only have 1 entry. Thank you ever so much for understanding!

*Edited to add: Giveaway will end on April 16th at 11:59 PM CST

**Also edited to add: I am in no way being compensated for this review. Because I'm so in love with this product, I contacted Ms. Socolow myself and asked her if she would be willing to donate to a giveaway, and she was gracious enough to agree. *

Good luck!

26 comments:

  1. Oooh! Pick me! I SOOO need this...I am utterly disorganized. Funny because before having a child I was borderline OCD! Go figure.

    Christy
    Twitter @aidenscross
    http://www.talesofthetoot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Back to say...I tweeted! Tweet, Tweet!

    From @aidenscross :0)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is fabulous...might just be the solution I've been looking for!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just tweeted ;)

    Aimee
    twitter: @themommytrade
    email: themommytrade at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've been trying to create my own version of this but can't seem to find the time. LOL

    Angi
    http://www.timandangi.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Also tweeted.
    http://twitter.com/amboutwe/status/11923716146

    twitter: @amboutwe

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unorganization is the fly in my wine! I need this BADLY!

    ReplyDelete
  8. that looks stinking AMAZING!!! Pick me, pick me :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is one of those things I need tons of help with. I have boxes of random paper everywhere, and loose paper too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I also tweeted it. My handle is @jwilliams057.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh my, I think this may be an absolute necessity. We are in the process of trying to learn organization; that is extremely difficult after 32 years of unorganization. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, I wold love to win this. I follow flylady.net but haven't put together my control journal. (I'm so bad!) This would be perfect for what I need!
    Nicole
    www.jaxsonisaiah.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Just tweeted this! My user name is NicoleRoss79.
    Nicole
    www.jaxsonisaiah.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. All right, I'm in. No kids, but plenty of piles. Somehow I manage to be organized at work, but entropy is kinda the rule at my house. Pick me :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm with Christy - 7 months ago my life was in perfect order then my precious son happened!! haha Now it is a M-E-S-S!!! :) This could be the solution!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Me again to say that I THINK I tweeted - still trying to figure all that out. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Forgot to leave my ID - KatieBug1509

    ReplyDelete
  18. That sounds like an awesome organizational tool!

    ReplyDelete
  19. On top of all the regular chaos, I'm finishing one job and starting another which is turning into insanity! We could really use this to keep our family in order!

    charmtime at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. Okay, entering here.

    But, I have to say, will you come over and put all the stuff IN the organizer for me? Because, organizing the organizer is just a whole extra day's work. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  21. AWESOME!!!! What is the Good Like section for?
    souns like something up my alley too!

    ReplyDelete
  22. At this point in my life I will try anything! I was trying to think of a way I could quit my job, but maybe I should give this a try first. ;)

    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh my! That is awesome! Pick me! :) I don't tweet because, well, fb is all I can handle at this point!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. this would be so much better than the paper scraps that I try to keep my to do lists on ... with a two year that likes to go thru my purse..my little pieces of paper become her drawing pad...and a very busy 13 year old that fills my schedule full and a 1 year old who is just along for the ride...

    hope you pick me.

    Stephanie

    ReplyDelete
  25. amazing giveaway! we just got pregnant, so i know our life is going to be insane, i'd love to be organized before and after that.
    eod_army_wife04(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete

Comments help prove my worth. Leave me some love, because I'm worth it!