There’s no denying that life as a mom can be chaotic at times. Between managing a household, staying on top of any work or work at home jobs, and getting each child to school/soccer/karate/a friend’s house life never seems to slow down.

The key to staying in control and managing everything and everyone without losing your mind is organization, but most mom’s need a little help. These are some of the best tools I have found to help busy moms stay organized and keep their family under control. The best part? None of these time saving tools for moms will take you long to set up and start using so you can regain your sanity without adding more to your already busy schedule.

Cozi

I’ve heard good things about Cozi from several friends so I signed up for an account (a FREE account) but I had yet to make the transition to actually using it. I took the opportunity to speak with Carol Schiller from Cozi to have her walk me through some of the most useful features on Cozi for busy moms who desperately need organization but probably don’t have the time to learn anything new. Fortunately for all of us, Cozi is simple to use and really integrates well into your family life so all family members can stay on top of their schedule.

Cozi is really more of a communication tool than anything else. It has a calendar, to-do list, and shopping list but what really sets it apart is the way it helps you keep your family informed of the things that are actually on your family’s schedule. Most of us have probably had a calendar hanging on our fridge at some point and while that’s great for checking your schedule in the morning, it isn’t available when you really need it – like mid-afternoon when you remember there was something that was supposed to start sometime in the next 20 minutes somewhere in your neighborhood, you just can’t remember what it was. Cozi enables you to check your calendar in an easy mobil platform on your phone or have appointments sent to you before they happen by text or email. These reminders can go out to anyone in your family, so if you have teenagers, imagine retiring from nagging and letting an automatic text message remind your teen to go to baseball practice instead. Your family’s entire schedule can also be sent out by email at the beginning of the week so no one can claim they didn’t know something was going on.

Eat Well! Meal Planning Calendar

We all know that menu planning can save hundreds of dollars every month on the family budget but sometimes finding the time to put a weekly meal plan into practice is nearly impossible with all the demands of an already busy life. The Eat Well! Meal Planning Calendar from Orange Circle Studio is a great solution for busy families. This 2-in-1 organizational tool features a full sized monthly calendar to help you keep track of who needs to be where and a weekly menu plan (with tear off grocery list) below. I love the idea of having the calendar and menu plan together because in order to create a menu plan that really works, you have to incorporate it into your family’s schedule or it just will not work. Who hasn’t planned an elaborate, time consuming dinner on a night when you later realize you have 15 minutes to cook AND eat before you need to head out to something or other across town.

Mint.com

Family finances, especially in a bad economy, can be one of the most overwhelming aspects of family life for a busy mom to stay on top of. There are hundreds of ways, old school or digital, to create a budget and track your family’s finances but some are simply too time consuming for many busy moms. Mint.com, which is now owned by Quicken so you know you can trust it, not only automatically updates your balances in all your bank accounts but it also allows you to set a budget in different spending categories so you can get your spending under control and start saving for the future.

FlyLady

FlyLady is not your standard organization plan and over 15,000 members will tell you, it has the potential to change your life. FlyLady encourages baby steps so you won’t be overwhelmed by the process of getting the details of your life under control and with tools like a Control Journal and daily routines, it’s not quite as overwhelming to keep things going once you’ve started changing your habits. A very active mailing list will help keep you on task throughout the day, which is helpful if you have children if you find it hard to stay focus on one task at a time.

Mozy.com

If you ask most busy moms about whether or not they worry about losing their digital files and photos you’ll likely get a string of responses such as, “I keep meaning to do that” or “I’m so worried I’m going to lose my son’s baby pictures but I just haven’t been able to create a good system to do it”. We all worry about losing our online files, especially our photos because many of them are irreplaceable and may not be backed up in a second location. The problem is, most of us don’t have the money for an expensive automatic backup system or don’t have the time to make sure that our every file is saved to at least 2 locations, so we’re in serious trouble if our computer is damaged, stollen, or malfunctions. Mozy.com automatically backs up your computer files and keeps them available to you in an online storage system. I don’t know about you, but I have plenty of things to worry about without stressing about whether or not my computer files are safe. Mozy.com has a free version that offers up to 2 GB of storage space or an unlimited option for only $4.95 a month.

Photo by Brandon Christopher Warren