Time-crunched clock-watchers know every minute counts. When it comes to saving time, no tip is too wacky or weird.

1.   Sock Sense: Tired of sorting socks for your family? Missing sock syndrome wastes valuable time. Say good-bye to missing socks (and wasted time) by safety-pinning socks together before they get tossed into the wash.

2.   Meal Makeover: Dinner food preps can be time-consuming.  Skip dinner in favor of a major midday meal and use your evening hours to nibble fruit, cheese and crackers while spending time on leisure pursuits or exercise. While you're at it, skip cooking for your next soiree. Go potluck or even prepared; no one will care if your side dish is from the deli counter as long as it tastes good. So long, from scratch!

3.   Beauty Station: Put an end to the morning, "where's the sunblock/hairbrush/lipstick," scramble by housing all your beauty needs in a basket. Keep it by the front door mirror for last minute primping on your way out the door.

4.   Water Works: Cut your plant watering time by as much as half by adding Osmocote, a slow-release fertilizer, which feeds plants with each watering, and Soil Moist,  a water-retaining polymer. Also, top your pots with hardwood much; it holds moisture in and creates a finished look.

5.   Desk Job: No time to work out during your busy workday? Get a treadmill desk that lets you log laps while working on your computer. Yep, it's possible to clock exercise hours while working.

6.   Liquid Diet: Put your shower on a liquid diet, using liquid soap (or glycerin bar soap) to cut hard-to-clean soap scum. The binders in traditional bar soaps cause soap scum which often leads to clogged drains.



7.   Less Mess: Fight microwave mess by lining the bottom of your microwave with 10 or so paper towels to protect the turntable. Cleaning up is as simple as taking the top paper towel off after each use.

8.   Fake It: Skip buying and watering houseplants and cut flowers by purchasing silk plants. A vase full of silk stems blooms all year round and best of all, only needs a periodic vacuum from time to time.

9.   Long Lashes: Tired of the morning mascara routine? Wish you could skip the even more time-consuming nightly cleaning?  Dye your lashes for lasting color, no clean up required!

10.  Commercial Free: Skip watching TV live, by taping your shows, you can fast-forward through commercials and shave your viewing time.

Spring's colorful blooms have long served as inspiration for artists. Now, this spring a crop of apps puts creativity at your fingertips... literally. With a quick swipe of your finger or double-click of the mouse, artists, illustrators and other creative types, can fashion wonderful works with a smartphone or iPad.

Picture This

Hands down our favorite new app for artists is the Ampad Shot Note App. The free, user-friendly app lets artists digitize and share all drawings made on an Ampad Shot Note sketch pad.  Artists simply draw, doodle or sketch to their hearts content. Once done, you snap a quick picture of the Ampad Shot Note paper using the Ampad Shot Note App and save and tag the file. Voila! The images are digitized, taking you from handmade to handheld.

Sharing your work has never been so easy; send your images to multiple recipients via email or upload to Evernote, DropBox or Twitter. You can even save it to your camera roll and send it as a message.

Sketch Pad to iPad

If iPads are more your thing, there are a host of creative apps to make your tablet zing. Check out the round up in 10 Best iPad Art Apps for Painting and Sketching  to unleash your inner Picasso. Digital artists will love that most of the ten apps offer all the bells and whistles of pro painting programs, but with interfaces designed for iPad users. The apps are simple to use, with intuitive interfaces that belie the complexity of the art that can be produced with their wide range of digital pencils, pens, markers, and airbrushes. Artists working on the go will appreciate that many of the apps offer Dropbox integration and the ability to import and export Photoshop-friendly files.

Beyond the Brush 

Artists and art lovers looking for more than just a new painting or drawing tool will want to read 15 Art Apps You Should be Using.  Sure,  the article does list the better painting and drawing apps, but its best recommendations go beyond the brush. Read on to learn about art related apps such as Art Authority,  a database of high resolution images of some of the world's most stunning art. The app also allows users to quickly and easily find cool art exhibitions or museums near their location.

Spring ushered in not only daffodils but warm weather fashion. Before plunking down your hard earned cash on sandals and sundresses, savvy shoppers should enlist one of these bargain-hunting apps.

ShopItToMe: Think of Shop It To Me as your free personal online shopper. Tell it your favorite brands and sizes and then it takes over. The app scours the Web to find the items you love and sends you personalized e-mail alerts that feature the latest markdowns, secret promotion codes, and VIP sale events.

ShopStyle:
This site aggregates clothing and accessories from more than 100 e-commerce sites (Asos, Bluefly, and Neiman Marcus among them). Fashionistas can use filters such as "sale" or price points to hunt for bargains, or can simply browse. If you spy a bargain you can't resist, the site forwards you to an online retailer. The free app lets you define your needs ("black sandals... ideally under $100") and then casts a wide net to see what's out there.

Coupon Sherpa:  Bargain hunting can be tiring. Let Coupon Sherpa handle the heavy lifting for you. The free app compiles Internet coupons from a variety of stores into one convenient location; the deals aren't limited to clothing either. The coupons are regularly updated and best of all, the app is free.  A real bargain!

Looking to get more organized? Jump on the color-coding bandwagon for organizing ease, efficiency and some colorful fun. Color-coding can be used to organize just about any area of your home or office; read on for tips for harnessing the rainbow to make your life more organized and efficient.

Fresh Take on Filing: Color-coded filing systems assign colored labels to key letters, file names or categories. The highly visual system makes it easy to quickly assess where a file belongs or to spot misfiled folders. Experts agree that color-coding offers several benefits including: fast, easy access to files; a reduced number of misfiled folders; decrease in negative emotions associated with filing such as frustration, confusion and boredom. For a color-coding filing how-to, click here. 

Colorful Closets: Want an answer to the daily "what to wear?" dilemma? Color-code your closet for easy decision-making. When you organize you clothes by color, not only is it easier to find your clothing, you'll get a happy charge every time you open the door and see a Crayola Crayon box of options. Read How to Color Code Your Wardrobe  for tips.

Bright Bookshelves: Say so long to the Dewey Decimal system and elect to sort your books by color. While alphabetizing works best for libraries, at home you have more freedom, so consider expressing your inner artist by color-blocking your bookshelves. Visual thinkers may find the color code helps them locate books more effectively. Plus, it looks stunning; click here for examples.

Color-Coded Kids: Have a big household? Consider color-coding your kids for easier organization. By assigning each child a color, and using it for common household items such as towels, toothbrushes, and laundry baskets, busy parents can tell at a glance who is keeping up with chores and who needs a gentle reminder to return their items to their rightful spots. Check out How to Color Code Life with Kids  for more helpful ideas. 

Color-Code Email: Optimize your email productivity with color- coding. Did you know that Gmail, Outlook and Lotus Notes let you apply color filters to specific emails? You can assign a color to a specific sender (or topic) making it easy to see at a glance what type of emails need your attention. Check out Color-Coding Emails  for more helpful tips on color-coding your emails.

Think a bright, airy, organized space is solely the province of glossy shelter mags or movie sets? Think again. A streamlined, clutter-free space can be yours with five simple steps from the organizing pros.

Less is More: Nothing gives a space more bang for the buck than a thorough purge. Clutter creates stress and detracts from a space's aesthetic, so commit to a ruthless edit of your belongings and watch your free space grow. Be honest; do you really need three spatulas and two whisks? Ditto all those unused toys, neglected books and out-of-style clothes? Edit, edit, edit; asking yourself three questions: Do I use it? Do I need it? Do I love it? Anything that gets a "no" gets tossed, donated or sold. Consider asking a trusted friend to help with the review to keep you honest. Click here for a before and after shot to get you motivated.

Clever Storage: Keep your space feeling open and airy by using clever storage to conceal clutter. Enlist multitasking furniture such as trunks to serve as a coffee or side table, while holding bedding or board games. You can also shop for ottomans or other upholstered pieces such as benches and even sofas and chairs, which have hinged seats to conceal needed storage. Or use a skirted table either bedside or beside a sofa to conceal a basket with remotes, books, and other small items. This link shows some wonderful storage options.

Shelf Life: Adopt the mantra "a place for everything, and everything in its place" by adding enough shelving to your home to neatly corral your belongings. While custom shelving is a fantastic option for maximizing your particular space, even inexpensive units from Ikea can do the trick. Simply measure your space, and buy as many units as will fit. Use attractive baskets or bins to hide away smaller items and to present a cohesive design. See here  and here  for ideas.

Skirted Tables: Don't underestimate the organizing power of a skirted table. Even if your aesthetic favors, streamlined modern pieces, a simple, skirted table can provide a wealth of organizing options. Here  a skirted consoles table holds decorative accessories while concealing a full bar. And this clever homeowner  had a seamstress create a skirt for her Ikea Expedit bookshelf, providing concealed storage for her TV console.

Careful Color Choices: Create a bright, airy feel by organizing your home and décor with careful color choices. By sticking to a cohesive palette, you can make your space seem bigger and brighter. Tone on tone color allows furniture to recede into walls, creating the illusion of more space. Click here  for examples. This doesn't mean you need to avoid color, just use it judiciously: see how these homeowners use bright pops of color for organizing here  and here. 

Now that the iPad mini is old news, tech-savvy trend spotters are in search of the next great thing to organize, entertain and generally make life easier. Tech-out this trio of trends that will have you on the cutting edge of what's next.

High-Tech Bathrooms: One of the last frontiers for technology in the home, the bathroom, is becoming increasingly high-tech. Bathrooms, once considered merely functional spaces, are increasingly designed to offer homeowners spa-like amenities. Now, high-tech products such as wireless scales and waterproof electronics, lets users customize their bathroom experiences like never before.  Sync your scale with your Fitbit app  to monitor your weight and fitness routines. Wave your hands near your smart faucet; sensors turn the water on for you. Hey, even singing in the shower goes state-of-the-art with the electronics featured in Tech-Out Your Bathroom. 

Beauty Apps: Makeup counters are so old school. Modern beauties turn to apps to put their best face forward. Need help picking a lipstick or a foundation color? Try MatchMaker by True Match http://bit.ly/JZC1un or Make Up Forever Pocket Studio. Can't get a dermatologist appointment to deal with that zit? Check out PerSKINality  for tips on getting blemish free by the weekend. We also like OPI Nail Art Studio and How to Do Your Own Cute Nails for tips on getting salon-worthy manis at home.

LED Your Life: Okay, LED lights aren't exactly new (they've been around since the 1960s) but they are booming in popularity like never before. Witness Katy Perry's multihued, LED light dress  worn to the recent Met Costume Ball; the sparkling dress took 3,000 LED bulbs to create. For other eye-catching, light-up fashion, check out We're Obsessed: 10 Glowing Geek Chic Gowns.  LED isn't just for celebrities, a slew of bright products in equally cheerful price points put LED décor within everyone's reach. Check out these colorful coasters and LED ice-cubes  to put some bright in your bevy. Or unleash your inner DIY-diva with the ingenious projects in Light It Up! 15 Awesome LED Projects. 

Getting a healthy, delicious dinner on the table each night is the Holy Grail of working parents. Our four simple tips help answer the nightly "what's for dinner?" question.

Greatest Hits: Do yourself a favor and commit to a weeknight rotation of four to six basic recipes that can be easily assembled and altered for variety. Roast chicken is simple; dress it up with an array of sides. Ditto grilled lean meats and fish. Chopped salads are also easy; just vary the ingredients for a fresh take. Shop on Saturday, prep foods Sunday (chopping veggies for the week or roasting a chicken for use in weeknight meals) and keep a running grocery list during the week so you can fill pantry holes during next weekend's shop.

Teen Chefs: Turn meal-planning over to your teens once a week. In My Sons, The Sous-Chefs,  NYT reporter Leslie Kaufman recounts how with some prep work (i.e. providing basic kitchen training and guidance on recipe selection) she was able to outsource two meals a week to her teen sons. Even tweens can help pitch in; have them assemble ingredients, defrost meats and prepared foods, make a simple salad and set the table so you save time each night.

Prep Work: Who has time to plan in advance? You do that's who. Take an hour each week to plan meals, grocery shop online and prep the basics (chopping, roasting) over the weekend.  An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of take-out. You will be amazed at how small investments of pre-planning yield delicious meals. For menu ideas read, Easy Weeknight Dinners. 

Fake It: Who says dinner needs to be made from scratch? Savvy weeknight chefs rely on pre-made and store-bought ingredients to get dinner from to-do to done. Read Fake-It, Don't Make it: 25 Recipes to see how simple short-cuts can put dishes like chicken tostadas and fish tacos on your dinner table quickly and easily.

Remember that awkward birds-and-the-bees chat with your parents about a zillion years ago? Now, as your parents approach retirement, it's time for another slightly uncomfortable talk: this time about finances and legal paperwork. Even if your parents are still active and healthy, the day will come when they need assistance. Make sure to prepare five key documents to protect their finances and health. And if you have children of your own, do them a favor by getting these documents for yourself.

Will 

Everyone needs a will, regardless of age and assets. Without a will, the courts will follow state law to distribute your assets. A will makes clear how you wish your personal effects to be distributed and helps avoid disagreements over the estate after death.

Revocable Living Trust

If you die with only a will in place, the courts need to undergo a process known as probate, a legal stamp of approval, which can cost as much as five percent of an estate and take up to a year. Talk about inheriting a legal tangle! Spare your heirs this process by setting up a revocable living trust, which allows you to retain control over your estate while making transfers to beneficiaries. Upon death, the trust protects the estate from probate.

Living Will 

Also known as a medical or health directive, a living will allows your parent to spell out what type of care your loved one wishes to receive if they become terminally ill and incapacitated.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health-Care

Ask your parent to designate a trusted person with a durable power of attorney to make healthcare decisions in case of incapacitation. Make sure it has a HIPPA release that allows access to health records and physicians.

Durable Power of Attorney for Finances 

Make managing your loved one's bills possible with this document which allows you to administer your loved one's financial affairs, pay their bills, dispose of property, etc.  

March is Women's History Month and this March comes on the heels of the 50^th anniversary of the publication of what is widely considered a seminal work of American feminism, Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique."   Much has changed since Friedan first wrote her book in the 1960's and much has not. To wit: the New York Times recently ran a fascinating opinion piece titled, "Why Gender Equality Stalled."   Has gender equality stalled? Read the piece and draw your own conclusions. But no matter your viewpoint, what is without dispute is that women make up nearly half of the American workforce and are on track to be an even larger percentage in coming years.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women in the workforce in 2010:

• Comprised 47 percent of the total U.S. labor force.
• Are projected to account for 51 percent of the increase in total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018.
• 66 million women were employed in the U.S.--73 percent of employed women worked on full-time jobs, while 27 percent worked on a part-time basis.
• And of 123 million women age 16 years and over in the U.S., 72 million, or 58.6 percent, were labor force participants-working or looking for work.

Here's to the women who make work work, both at home and in the workforce.

What would happen if you unexpectedly needed to take over your aging parents' finances? With people living longer, adult children are increasingly tasked with caring for aging parents. Are you prepared? If the answer is no, do yourself a favor and get a handle on the paperwork before an emergency strikes. This round-up of advice will help you, and your aging parents, navigate the paper trail.

The Talk: The first step in providing assistance is to get all parties to agree that help is needed. Open, compassionate communication is essential. Speak candidly, but kindly, to your parent about why you want to get involved in managing their finances or paperwork either now or down the road. Listen actively and carefully to their concerns so you can better assuage any fears. Make clear that you want to work with them as partners. For more tips on discussing sensitive issues, read the advice in How to Talk with Elderly Parents about Tough Family Issues.

Must-Know Facts: Money talk is often considered an impolite subject but in order to help your parents, candor is required. Plan for a time when you aren't hurried or distracted to have a frank and thorough conversation about your parents' finances. For starters, where do your parents keep their financial records? Are they working with a financial planner? Do they have a durable power of attorney to manage their finances should they become incapacitated? Ask for a thorough inventory, or create one of your own, that identifies crucial financial accounts, insurance and passwords or keys to access online documents or safety deposit boxes. For more ideas of what you need to know to be helpful, read 10 Things You Should Know About Your Parents' Finances. 

Tax Man: Tax season means paperwork. Help your parents greet the tax man with the advice in Your Aging Parents and Tax Season: A Getting-Started Guide. The article has useful advice on determining whether or not your parents even need to file (many seniors have income that falls below the IRS threshold) and tips on how to claim your parent as a dependent.

Bill Paying: Keeping up with monthly bills is a big job. Let your parents know you can help pitch in or take over the job entirely. Get started by assessing their annual income and monthly expenses. Then, you can help your parent write the checks, or if you have power of attorney, pay the bills directly from their accounts.  Keep in mind that unless your parent is totally incapacitated, that it's still their money and they should choose how and when to spend it. But keep an eye on credit card statements and the bottom line; the elderly are often scammed by telemarketers or are taken advantage of by friends, family or caregivers.

Helpful Tools: Taking on your parents' finances and paperwork in addition to your own can seem daunting. We've rounded up some useful tools to keep all the trains running on time. For the caregiver who prefers old-fashioned papers to digital, The Senior Organizer is a handy workbook designed to assist in gathering crucial personal, medical, legal and financial information. For smartphone-savvy app lovers, elder-care website AgingCare.com http://bit.ly/49NVi has a useful article on apps to help with all your elder care needs: 12 Handy Apps for Caregivers. 

Hey groundhog, what early spring? Much of the East Coast is still getting walloped by wintery weather: cold and flu season is dragging on for the time-being. Read on for tips for dodging winter illnesses while at work.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat: Your mother was right. Washing your hands is the best source of defense against flu and cold germs. Make hand-washing a regular habit when you first arrive at the office and throughout the day. Lather up and scrub for at least 20 seconds-sing the A, B, Cs in your head to gauge proper scrubbing time-and you are good to go. In a pinch, use a hand sanitizer but make sure it contains at least 60 percent alcohol for maximum effectiveness.

Rest Up: A good night's sleep is clinically proven to help ward off cold germs so log at least seven, or better yet eight, hours of shut-eye on a regular basis. A rested body is a healthier body.

Colorful Diet: Add bright berries and colorful veggies to your workday diet to boost your immune system with powerful antioxidants. For more immune boosting eats, read 10 Flu Fighting Foods. And maintain optimum energy levels all day long with the ideas from our past post Healthy Office Eats. Yup, It's Possible. 

Reduce Stress: Take steps to reduce stress which can undermine your immune system. Add regular, moderate exercise to your daily routine and consider relaxation techniques such as mediation or journaling. Even a brisk 15-minute walk midday can be enough to boost your energy levels and reinvigorate your immune system. For other ideas, read Stress Less: Seven Simple Ideas to Cut Stress.

Add Tea, Subtract Wine: Even moderate consumption of alcohol can compromise immune response, so consider teetotaling during cold and flu season. Instead, add green or herbal teas to your evening's routine for both their antioxidant and relaxing properties. 

Teen clutter seems to proliferate faster than a hot You-Tube video goes viral. Stop the runaway mess before it engulfs your home (or your teen's room) with a few simple steps.

Make your teen a partner in clutter control. Teens crave privacy and self-determination so consider letting them have more leeway in deciding how clean to keep their own rooms. For example, clutter may be off-limits in the family room, but permitted within reason in their bedrooms. When you enlist your teen as a partner, and respect their growing ability and need for self-determination, you better the odds of harmonious cohabitation.

Bedroom Boundaries: Determine your own clutter threshold for the household and lay down clear ground rules. Examples might include a "no food" policy for bedrooms, requiring a clear exit path between the bed and the door for safety reasons, and a rule that if any bad smells come from a bedroom, it then needs a thorough cleaning by the teen. If these conditions are all met, grit your teeth about the piles of laundry and other annoyances.

Everything in its Place: Take time to evaluate your teen's room to determine if they have the needed tools for neatness. Do they have adequate storage? If not, consider investing in inexpensive shelving such as Ikea's Expedit units which can easily hold files for school papers and baskets and bins for corralling small items and clothing. Work with, not against your teen: if they don't fold and store clothes neatly, buy bins to hold clothing piles and install a rack of pegs or hooks to easily capture garments.

Less is More: If the room is overstuffed with toys and clothes, encourage a purge. Donating or selling the unused items can net your teen some money and creates a more manageable set of belongings. Maintain order by doing a big purge at least twice a year. Good times for purging are after major gift events such as Christmas or birthdays.

House Rules: While teens may have leeway in their rooms, parents have every right to set conditions about how shared rooms are managed. Rather than nag constantly, assign every family member a chore that keeps order in shared rooms. And give family members a designated basket or bin to be kept in the mudroom or family room. Odds and ends can be tossed in the bins during nightly clean up and emptied on the weekends.

Crafting is incredibly creative and fun. Creating clever ways to store your craft supplies can be just as rewarding. We've rounded up some ingenious DIY storage ideas from a bevy of clever crafters.

 Repurpose Old Furniture: A fresh coat of paint and shelves full of colorful craft supplies can brighten any room. See how this former china hutch now does duty as a craft station.  Remember those bulky TV armoires? Supersize flat screen TVs all but made them obsolete, but resourceful crafters give them new life as storage centers.  Why stop with furniture? This ingenious crafter uses a wine rack to store ribbons,  going from cheers to cheerful!

Recycle Household Goods: Old coffee cans get upgraded to storage containers with pretty paper and attractive labels. For stacked storage, use several dressed up soup cans in a pyramid shape, seen here.  Other trash-to-treasure ideas include repurposing tissue rolls to hold pencils and paint brushes and transforming empty spaghetti sauce jars into ribbon-trimmed glass canisters. Cheap and chic!  We also love using items designed for one purpose, such as a spice rack, for another purpose entirely, such as storing sewing embellishments. 

See Clearly: Clear canisters not only make it easy to organize and find craft supplies, they are a visual treat. No need to spend a fortune on store bought containers, repurpose pantry items like baby food containers seen here or other food jars, decorated with painted lids and whimsical accessories. 

Pegboard: We think pegboard is an organizing wunderkind. See how it a savvy sewer uses it here to store spools of thread, scissors and ribbons. Or attach hanging cups  to capture pens and pencils. We love how this pegboard marries storage and colorful décor.

Hang on!: Short on shelf space? Task hangers with storing goods in oversize ziplock bags, seen here.  Or repurpose pant hangars into ribbon holders. 

Clever Craft Spaces: Crafters, sewers, scrapbookers...your imaginations are limitless. There is no end to your clever storage ideas: we leave you with two we love/ One, a cunning little nook with a hinged drop down desk,  built into the eaves of a home. The other, a tiny vintage suitcase, outfitted to house craft supplies; it's equal parts storage and style.