I collected some tried and true tips for organizing your life from bloggers that are sure to help you out in the organization department—and the sanity department too! 😉

Right now, my dining room table is littered with cardboard boxes. Normally, this would be a sure sign that I don’t have my shit together. But this time it’s because I’m getting my shit together.

You see, the whole new year clean slate thing has me on a total and complete organizational rampage. I have been ruthlessly organizing, categorizing, and junking the mounds of crap we have somehow accumulated. It feels really, really good. Breath of fresh air good. Almost too good. So I had to share some tips to draw you into this feeling of fresh goodness.

I turned to some talented ladies in the blogosphere and decided to combine forces to present you with a big fat list of organizing tips that will rock your world.

Need a quick, easy gift idea for the holidays? I like to put together a few easily personalizable gifts to have on hand in a pinch when I inevitably forget to grab a gift for someone on my list. These hot cocoa mug kits are the perfect solution. Oriental Trading provided me with products for review, but all opinions are my own.

I’m one of those people who is either totally prepared and on the ball or so far from it that I didn’t even know the damn ball existed. It leaves me astonishingly prepared for some things (like having a full roll of paper towels in the car when my daughter got sick all over the back seat) and mind-bogglingly unprepared for others (toothpaste? Who needs toothpaste?!).

Talking to other moms, many of us seem to be in the same boat. Some days we feel superhuman. All the school forms are signed, appointments are kept, and we even manage to bake a batch of cookies. Other days (most days?) we’re just a hot mess and trying to keep the boat afloat. We forget to do the laundry, burn dinner, and totally space on picking one of the kids up from school. This is what balance really looks like.

Since I know myself and am completely aware of my strengths and my shortcomings, I generally try to take advantage of those rare moments when I’m hyper-organized and feeling productive. This little trick is sure to come in handy for you too.

A quick, easy gift idea to have on hand for holiday gift giving

During the holiday season, there are so many things to keep track of: what gifts need to be bought, who you need to buy them for, what party falls on what day. It’s a lot. And I always remember someone I wanted to give a gift to at the last possible moment. To save myself from completely melting down, I’ve started putting together a small batch of quick and simple gifts that can be adapted to just about any recipient.

This year I partnered with Oriental Trading to create simple hot cocoa mug kits.

Since we have friends and family who celebrate different holidays, I decided to go with a cute and cozy winter theme instead of tailoring our gifts to a particular holiday. Oriental Trading has an abundance of adorable snowflake options in different shades of blue that I thought would work for any age or gender.

The base of this gift is the winter snowflake mug (which comes in a set of six). Each of the gifts I’m creating will also include hot cocoa mix and marshmallows. From there, it can be customized depending on your recipient. For your boozy brunch friend, you might want to add a candy cane spoon and a tiny bottle of alcohol. For your kids’ bus driver you can throw in some homemade cookies. The possibilities for personalization are endless!

Shelf styling tips from an actual expert (as opposed to someone who just spent too much time browsing Pinterest. 😉 )

“Wait, what if I move this right here?” I tap my chin, unsatisfied with the newly decorated shelf that stares back at me. The house is empty, but I’m counting on the universe to answer my shelving questions. No matter what I do, it doesn’t look right.

Whenever I try my hand at shelf styling, it looks like I’m trying too hard. I become obsessive about spacing and symmetry and making everything just so, completely forgetting that I like things that are imperfect. They’re so much more interesting and a million times more real.

In the end, I usually throw my hands in the air and spend the next six hours browsing Pinterest for help (which sometimes results in shelf decorating ideas posts).

All of this is ridiculous considering the fact that my sister is an interior designer. She’s really, really good at this stuff. Yet here I am, talking to my shelf.

I decided to pick my sister’s brain a little to get some of her top shelf decorating tips and tricks so that next time maybe I won’t struggle so much. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for a free printable shelf styling checklist.

I received a Savor Keepsake Box for review, but all opinions are my own.

My husband loves it when I leave piles of paper on the dining room table.

OK. That’s a lie. I can actually see every muscle in his body tense up when he notices my (super organized) piles. In my defense, kids produce a lot of paperwork. There are all of the forms and important reminders that come from school (that’s one pile). There are the worksheets (another pile) and then all of the artwork and the little notes and all of the cards and mementos from special occasions (like that time they made those really cute tickets for the dance performance they never got around to staging).

I don’t save all of them. There are some things that I quietly slide into the recycling bin (only to act completely bewildered when they’re fished out and presented to me by an insulted-looking child). Can you imagine if you saved every single piece of paper your kid doodled on? You would be buried in that shit. Still, I’m a totally sentimental mush and I save a lot.

The problem? I don’t exactly have a system for saving my kids’ keepsakes—unless waiting until my piles are so big that even I’m sick of them and/or my husband loses his shit over them so I dump them into a big Rubbermaid bin in the basement is a system. I mean, at least I have a large bin labeled for each kid, right?

But when we went to the New York Baby Show a few months ago, I met one of the owners of Savor, a keepsake storage system that makes it a million times easier (and prettier!) to organize childhood memories.

Looking to keep your kids happy while traveling? These seven things are musts when we’re staying at a hotel with kids. From things to clean up inevitable messes to things that will keep them occupied, this list will make sure you don’t forget the essentials.

“I’m boooooored,” she whines, while suffering through a few minutes of downtime on a vacation your wallet will be recovering from for months. Sound at all familiar? Not to be a terrible human, but I really hope so.

I’m convinced my kids would find a way to be bored at Disney World. A few minutes of rest and relaxation—which, let’s be honest, parents really need while vacationing with kids—and they seem to develop amnesia. They no longer remember all of the fun that has been packed into the day.

After a mini vacation with our girls, I’ve perfected a small list of absolutely must-have items that we couldn’t survive a hotel stay without. Sometimes we don’t need every last item, but the fact that they’re there is like a parental security blanket. I know I can pull them out if I need them and I’m a much less crazy-eyed mom because of it.