Snip It, Snag It #AtoZChallenge

Do you take/use a lot of screenshots? I take a ton of them at work when I create How To documents. I take quite a few at home too.

On your home PC, if you have Windows 7, 8 or 10 you have a screenshot tool already loaded. It's pretty simple, but it does the job. Just search for "Snipping Tool". Then click on New, your screen will go pale, just click and drag the area you want to capture. Easy!




If you do a lot of screenshots and want some easy to use editing tools to go with it, I highly recommend SnagIt. It links with your PrtScrn button and works like a dream. You can even capture videos with it. The editing tools are great, you know those torn page graphics? One button. You can add call outs, dialog boxes, circle items, blur or zoom in, this list goes on and on. SnagIt costs $49.95, but if you do a lot of screenshots it is invaluable! You an do a free trial to check it out too.

Organizing Your Closet - a Few Helpful Tips #AtoZChallenge

Is your closet a mess? Does it take far too long to figure out what to wear every morning? Here are a few things that have helped me:

• Better lighting - I swapped out my standard light bulb for a LED bulb - what a difference! Now I can tell my dark blue skirt from my black ones!
• Sort your clothes by color - have you ever shopped at Goodwill? Notice how they organize all their racks by color? It will only take a little bit to do the same in your closet, and can save you time looking for things in the morning. 
• Get a shoe solution! Organize your shoes in a shoe rack (or racks) so they're easy to find, and not all over the place. 
• Speaking of shoes... swap out your shoes - do you wear boots in the winter and sandals in the summer? Keep your shoe boxes and swap your shoes out every season. This makes managing your shoe collection easier, and the dust off your favorite kicks. 
• Swap out your clothes too! Pack away your sweaters when Spring comes (and you're sure it's here to stay). Some under the bed boxes work great and are inexpensive. This will free up space in your closet. Room for new clothes! :)
• Put empty hangers in one spot - when you take clothes off a hanger, put the hanger in one area. No more hunting for hangers on laundry day!
• If it bugs you, figure out a way to fix it - there's a great book called Two Second Lean that's all about making small, incremental changes in your life towards continually improving. I highly recommend it. While the book is geared largely towards a manufacturing environment, one of the common side effects is organizing your closet. You can find the book, tons of videos and lots of info at http://2secondlean.com/. Check it out.

What do you do to keep your closet organized?

Just a Few Random Tips #AtoZChallenge

If you frequent a movie theater that offers free refills on a large popcorn, take a bowl with you to the theater. Order your popcorn, toss it in the bowl and get your refill immediately. Perfect when you don't like butter, but your husband does! You can even pick up a cute Popcorn bowl at Party City for about $3.

Put your smartphone to work for you.

Don't have a texting plan? Use Facebook Messenger - no per text fees and it works just like texting does. Bonus: cute emoticons.

Do you blog, tweet or share stuff online? Join Amazon's Affiliate program. If people follow your links to items on Amazon and buy something, even if it's not what you linked, you can earn a percentage of what they spent. It does not cost anything for you or for the people you link to. I link to stuff on Amazon all the time, but as far as I can tell no one ever follows those links and buys anything LOL, but a girl can hope. You can find out more here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

Get yourself one of those wallets with a strap and hook your keys to it. Now you'll never leave the house (i.e. drive away) without your wallet. Bonus, if your cars beeps if you try to leave your keys in it, you'll never leave your keys and your wallet in the car!

Do you use Chrome? (You should, it's awesome). There's a Plug In you can get that will search for coupon codes when you buy things online. It's free and could save you some money. It's called Honey; search for it in your extensions or go here.

Calendars, Voice Commands and a Crappy Memory #AtoZChallenge

If you don't keep a calendar on your phone, you should; Google will do the rest with just a few pieces of information. I'm pretty sure that Siri will too, for you iPhone users.

• In settings, tell your phone where you live and work. 
• Add an address when you set appointments that require travel.
• Turn on Location.

Now that you're all set up....

• Google will go into semi-stalker mode, letting you know what's happening nearby, what the menu is at the restaurant you just walked into, what time you need to leave for your appointment so you're not late, if there's an accident on the road ahead of you and alert you of anything else of interest around you.
• You can press and hold the home button, say "OK, Google" and tell Google what you need. Some examples:
• What song is this?
• When I get home, remind me to do laundry.
• When I get to work, remind me to call Bob.
• Text Lenny and tell him I love him.

A friendly female voice will confirm your request and boom you have a better memory (and, in my case, your husband is wondering why you just texted him when you're sitting next to him).

You can also use Voice to Text, instead of hunting and tapping. Click on any field you would type text into to open your keyboard. See that little microphone button next to the space bar? Tap it and start talking 

Now, and this is important, proofread what the phone typed for you. Trust me. I am not ducking kidding you :)

I blame chemobrain for my poor memory, but it's possible my brain has just gotten lazy. Why should it remember stuff when there's Google?