Welcome to my blog’s new series… I will be featuring (and maybe even reviewing) some of my absolute favorite organizing tools and products on Fridays! Here’s the first…

TasteBook.com is the best place online to discover, organize, and share favorite recipes—then turn them into beautiful personal keepsake-quality hardcover cookbooks.

You can search more than 100,000 recipes from major lifestyle magazines and leading recipe websites, upload your own favorites, or shop professionally edited TasteBooks created by top cookbook authors and food editors.

TasteBook.com is free to use, and personal cookbooks start at just $19.95 each. Every TasteBook can hold up to 100 recipes. Order them all at once or in batches. It’s easy to add more pages to TasteBook’s expandable hardcover binder system at anytime.

• Custom covers: Choose a beautiful cover image and edit the title of your cookbook.
• Cooking notes: Add helpful hints, cooking tips, and personal notes to any recipe.
• Personal photos: Upload your own pictures along with your personal recipes.
• Colored tabs: Organize your recipes any way you want with ten tabbed chapters.
• Perfect gift: Create one for bridal showers, family reunions, and holidays.

So, fill a TasteBook with all your family’s favorites, and you’ll soon discover just how “easy-breezy” it’ll be to get dinner on the table every night of the week (now that your recipes are finally organized)! Mmmmmm…

Courtesy of The Organizing Team @ Organize.com:

This Mother’s Day, The Organizing Team at Organize.com wants to recognize the most organized woman you know.

Tell us about your mom, aunt, sister, co-worker, neighbor, or any other mother you know who is a champion over clutter. We want to hear all about her perfectly planned systems, strict routines, quirky habits and how she looks at organization with a positive and confident attitude.

We want to pamper one lucky lady this Mother’s Day so she can continue her quest for organization.

While her home and office are perfectly color coordinated with matching boxes and bins, she also finds time to rule the boardroom, pick up the dry cleaning, drop the kids off at practice, plan the next dinner party, read a good book, laugh with friends and still find time for herself because she aligns her goals and priorities to make organization a lifestyle.

The selected winner will receive a Mother’s Day Gift Basket filled with great Organize.com products valued at $350.

The deadline for submission is April 24th, 2009.

So what are you waiting for? Email us now and shine the spotlight on the most organized mom in your life.

Happy Organizing!

Currently, paper products are trying to devour my home; I have a problem throwing out and/or recycling paper. What do I do with all my husband’s CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes? What do I do with all my notebooks? My books? How do I store my enormous yarn stash? Material? Thread? These are the items I have little piles of all over the house!

Not to worry… You can definitely learn how to organize your paperwork, your husband’s CD, DVD, and VHS collections; your books and notebooks; and your yarn, material, and thread. Just follow these steps…

get prioritized.

What is bothering you the most? Your enormous yarn stash or your books? Jot down a list, in priority order, of what needs to be organized. Think small. For example, you should break down your husband’s “mess” into three different organizing tasks : [1] VHS, [2] CD, and [3] DVD.

get focused.

Now that you have all your ducks in a row, tackle the first item on your organizing priority list. In fact, pretend that you’re a squirrel (kids or grandkids could help with this one) and gather like items into a single area. So, if you decided that your enormous yarn collection was most bothersome, gather all of your yarn together in a plastic bin or a pile on the floor.

get real.

Time to make some tough decisions. Realistically, what do you need to keep and what can go?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I currently use it? If not, how long have I had it?
• Do I really need it? What’s the worst that’d happen if I got rid of it?
• Do I truly love it? Is it beautiful? Does it hold great sentimental value?

Remember : Anything that you decide to keep will cost you in space, time, or sanity. Make sure it’s worth it.

get neat.

Now that you’ve pared down your collection, find an appropriately-sized container in which to store the remaining items. This will define your limits. You may only keep what will comfortably fit into your chosen container.

So, if your husband comes home with a new DVD, only to discover that the DVD storage cabinet is completely full, he must get rid of an old DVD to make room for the new one. Or, he can return the new DVD if he really doesn’t want to part with any of the old ones.

As you can see, by limiting your stuff to a container, you have created an easy maintenance system that will ensure your control over your belongings and your space.

Finally, repeat this process for any area of your home that you need to organize, and you’ll soon find yourself reveling your new home oasis!

* * * Update: Mamasource.com is now Mamapedia™ * * *

…a safe and easy way to connect with other moms in your local area where you can find the advice, referrals, and insight you need in a supportive community of moms helping moms.

As a Mamasource member, you can:

• Ask other local moms any question you need help with.
• Read the questions other moms have asked—and see what answers they have received.
• Share your own advice and practical referrals with other moms who need your help.
• Promote your business to other moms who could use your products or services.

Shortly after our family moved to Kentucky in June of 2006, I stumbled upon Mamasource.com while “surfing the ‘Net” one evening. I was able to touch base with other moms in the area for referrals to hair stylists, moms groups, pediatricians, and more.

The following year, once my professional organizing business was officially up and running, I added my [ real neat ] listing to Mamasource.com and shortly thereafter received an inquiry from a local mom interested in learning more about my services! Needless to say, Mamasource has been a wonderful repository of information and a great source of referrals!

Sign up today (for free!), then be sure to check out the listings and reviews for [ real neat ] and GCC MOPS. In fact, feel free to add your own review!

As a fairly new small business owner, I have quickly learned that managing client information, marketing campaigns, and general business administrative tasks can easily become extremely overwhelming. Any suggestions?

Pen and paper aside, I’m in the market for an online hosted CRM solution. I’d love to integrate my website directly into the CRM application in order to manage my newsletter mailing lists with greater efficiency. At this point, though, it’s beginning to seem as though my head is in the clouds…

My professional organizing business is currently 95% service-based. At some point in the future, I do plan to expand into selling organizing-related products. I know, I know… there are definitely solutions out there that meet all my “requirements,” but I simply can’t afford to use them! I need some guidance!

My current CRM wish list:

• visually-appealing interface
• web-based & hosted
• lead, prospect, and customer tracking
• sales process management
• marketing campaign management
• automated drip marketing
• customizable reporting
• at-a-glance daily task list
• inexpensive (if not free)!

If you currently own a small business (or have owned a small business in the past), how do you manage your client information and marketing campaigns? I’d love to hear from you!