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If you have a lazy employee in your office, you could find yourself working overtime to make up for missed deadlines and wondering if you should give your lackluster worker either a little extra motivation or the pink slip. While some employees simply take longer to perform certain tasks and think things through, this list is devoted to exposing those employees who purposefully show up to work late, waste time on the Internet and skip assignments, all in an effort to shave minutes off their work day. If you’re through putting up with it, check out this list of 20 fail-proof ways to expose your lazy employees.

1. Monitor their arrival and departure times: The easiest way to find out if your employee is deliberately trying to cut out time spent at the office is to monitor the exact times they show up to work in the mornings and duck out each evening. If they are arriving late and leaving significantly early each day, confront them, and ask if they will be willing to work out a new schedule or make up the time they’ve lost.
2. Cameras: If you’re having trouble tracking the arrival and departure time of your employees, or if you want to see exactly what they’re up to when you leave the room, consider putting a hidden camera somewhere in the office. You’ll have hard evidence of any slacking off, but just remember to be reasonable. No one wants to be known as their office’s Michael Scott.
3. Spectorsoft: If you have suspicions that your employees are playing on the Internet all day when they should be researching or typing up reports, install one of the spy software products from Spectorsoft onto their computers. These products will let you know who your office’s "worst offenders" are after analyzing which websites, chatrooms and keystrokes are used.
4. Send in an undercover customer: If you’re worried about how your lazy employee treats your customers, send in a fake client to request information or schedule a meeting. Have the undercover customer report back to you, detailing the employee’s efforts to make he or she feels welcome, give the correct information and adequately promote your company’s image.
5. Recruiting tests: Sometimes managers can expose a lazy employee during the recruiting process, saving them time and trouble down the road. This article describes how one hiring manager weeds out lazy workers by asking them to fill out two applications: one online before the interview, and another one during the interview. The manager ultimately "finds that people who skip the parts on the second application that they had previously filled out online, will eventually turn out to be lazy once hired."
6. Monitor lunch hours: Just because you work through lunch each day, don’t expect your employees to consistently do the same; however, if you have one or two employees who make a habit out of strolling back into the office twenty minutes after their hour was up, you have reason to expose their negligence.
7. Track them with a GPS system: Lazy employees love running work-related errands out of the office because it gives them more control over the way they spend their day. If, however, you suspect them of running non work-related errands, install a GPS tracking system on the company vehicle, which will help you in "catching employees shopping, working out at the gym or otherwise loafing while on the clock."
8. Schedule meetings early in the day or late in the afternoon: Within reason, schedule a meeting every once in a while at the very beginning of the work day or sometime in the late afternoon. If your employee takes major issue with the scheduling but can’t provide a reason for his tardiness (or absence), you will have successfully exposed their laziness.
9. Follow through with deadlines: By not enforcing deadlines, you give your employees the signal that it’s okay for them to procrastinate or turn in work late. Strictly follow through with deadlines, and hold employees accountable when they consistently fall behind. Document your efforts to remind them of deadlines, through email or by using the popular Monkey On Your Back tool, so that lazy workers can’t make up excuses.
10. Demand doctor’s notes: When an employee calls in sick practically every week, start demanding doctor’s notes from workers who have used more than one or two sick days. Just be aware of the fake doctor’s notes that can be bought online to trick managers.
11. Surf Logger: This "tiny add-on for Internet Explorer" records website history, so that you can track which sites your employees visit when they’re on the clock.
12. Guardian Software: Guardian Software is an Internet monitoring tool marketed towards parents who want to control what their children do online. Managers can use the same product to effectively expose lazy employees by blocking certain websites, recording e-mails from Yahoo, AOL and other accounts, and even "captures and records keystrokes."
13. Cyberspy: If your office is on a budget, download Cyberspy to find out what your employees are doing on their computers. Cyberspy even captures whole images of a website or document in case you can’t properly evaluate the content from the file name alone.
14. Employee Loyalty Acid Test: If your employee isn’t performing his or her duties at your desired level, they could be planning to leave your company for another job. Give your employees this survey to gauge their company and job satisfaction.
15. Employee loyalty evaluator: If handing out surveys seems too obvious, check out this article to more discreetly evaluate an employee’s loyalty.
16. Motivate them: This post from Yahoo! Answers discusses the proper ways to motivate a lazy employee in order to gain positive results in the office. Give them a vested interest in the company’s success by talking to them in your free time, limiting harsh criticism and helping understand that their slow pace affects other workers.
17. Tell your boss: AskMen.com publishes this article, entitled "How to Complain About a Colleague." Readers will find different ways to tell their supervisors about lazy employees without sounding like a tattle tale.
18. Award productive employees: If you can, set up a merit-based rewards system in your office that grants raises, gift certificates, or other perks to your most productive employees. Lazy workers may be so apathetic that you won’t see any change in their performance, despite the added bonus.
19. GPS-equip the company phone: While giving your employee a GPS-equipped company car might be way out of your budget, try investing in a company cell phone that comes with GPS. If you suspect your employee of leaving the office early, you might be able to catch them in the act with the GPS system.
20. Fire them: If you’ve tried to confront your lazy employee but he or she continues to miss work and deadlines, set a precedent in your office by firing them. Let your other employees know that you won’t put up with laziness any longer.

Before spying on your employees, discuss any problems you have with their less than desirable work performance. Laziness could be a reflection of a much bigger issue at home or in the office, and the problem could be solved in a more amicable way. If, however, your employee continues to be lazy at work, use these tips and tools to expose their listless behavior.

Having your own personal assistant can be great. With an assistant, you don’t have to handle your filing, mail, errands or all of the other little tasks that eat up your day and keep you from getting to more important projects. Of course, not everyone can afford to have their own personal assistant, real or virtual. But with the right tools, you can make your life easier without outsourcing your work to anyone else. Follow this list of tools and resources to make being your own assistant easy.

To Do

While it would be nice to leave the day-to-day tasks to someone else, managing them yourself doesn’t have to be a headache. Keep track of everything you need to do with these simple tools.

1. Backpack: Backpack can help even the most unorganized business owners get their tasks in order. Not only can you create to-do lists, but there are also features for notes, calendars and reminders.
2. Stikkit: Leave yourself virtual sticky notes with Stikkit. Whether you’re planning a meeting, organizing your day, or just trying to remember what to get at the grocery store, leave yourself a memo with this program.
3. Webnote: Never lose your notes from a meeting again with this useful program. Users can take notes on any computer and save them to the Web for easy access later.
4. The Online CEO: Organize and prioritize like the business owner that you are with this nifty program. Users can assign point values to tasks, with more points for more important tasks, and get the tally at the end of the day.
5. Ta-Da List: Ta-Da List will allow you to make to-do lists for yourself or anyone else on your staff, making it easier to manage your own tasks as well as those of others.
6. Remember the Milk: While you can use Remember the Milk to actually help you remember the milk, it can also be used for managing a variety of other work related tasks as well.
7. Swift To-Do List: This to-do list program allows you to create hierarchical lists, attach email and web addresses to tasks, send reminders, and even create to-do databases to keep track of your tasks long term.
8. Todoist: This simple to-do list has a built-in calendar and task ranking system to help you stay on top of your tasks. You can even use the keyboard shortcuts to make your work go faster, no assistant needed.
9. Voo2Do: Voo2Do makes it easy to manage and use your to-do lists. You can organize tasks by project, track the time you’ve spent on them, and even add new tasks by email.
10. Toodledo: Improve your productivity with the to-do list system on Toodledo. You can even bring it with you on your mobile phone so you can work on the go.
11. Orchestrate: Simply register on Orchestrate’s website and start creating easy-to-use to-do lists right away.

Accounting

Dont’ make balancing your business’ checkbook more of a chore than it needs to be. Keep your finances in order with these great accounting tools.

12. Wesabe: Keep track of your money with this great online financial tool. Set financial goals or track incoming and outgoing money with ease.
13. Instacalc: Chances are pretty good that in the course of your bookkeeping you’ll need to do a few calculations. Use this online calendar to make it easy to get figures, make spreadsheets, or even generate graphs you can embed on a webpage.
14. Dimewise: Maintain a handle on your finances no matter where you are with this online tool which allows you to manage multiple accounts, generate reports, and log all of your purchases.
15. LessAccounting: Since you’ve got tons of other things to do, use LessAccounting to manage your finances. Great for small businesses, you’ll be able to keep track of expenses and send out invoices.
16. Saasu: Saasu will help you speed up your accounting tasks with automated payments, purchasing, billing and even payroll. A computer that does work for you is almost as good as a real assistant!
17. Xero: Online accounting with Xero allows you to track your finances from anywhere and seamlessly integrate your banking statements to make it much less work for you!
18. Mint: Take managing your finances to another level with Mint. Not only can you track and record your expenses, but Mint will give you recommendations on how to save or make more money.
19. QuickBooks: One of the most popular accounting programs, QuickBooks is as fully featured as it gets. Get your finances in order, send invoices, create reports and much more.
20. Freshbooks: Freshbooks promises "painless billing" to help reduce the amount of time you have to spend sending out invoices by making it easy to send out reports and manage invoices.
21. Vebio: Freelancers and small business owners will find Vebio to be an especially useful accounting tool. It gives users an easy way to invoice clients and track client billing.
22. Billing Orchard: Send online bills to clients with Billing Orchard. Whether you’re billing by hour, flat fee, or on a recurring basis, this program can help make it easier.
23. BillMyClients: Make billing hassle free by using BillMyClients. Send out invoices via the post office or your email with just a click of a button.
24. Cashboard: This free program will help make logging time and getting paid simple and easy so you’ll have more time to dedicate to other tasks. Design attractive invoices and even integrate Cashboard with Basecamp to keep clients in the loop.
25. Fluttervoice: Looks matter when it comes to representing your business, so make attractive invoices with Fluttervoice.
26. Invoice Genie: Invoice Genie gives you an easy way to create invoices, track time, schedule meetings, and manage all of your fiances within one program.
27. Invoices Made Easy: Designed for small, service-based businesses, this program allows users to print, email, track and even get paid right from the office.
28. Invoice Place: Save time preparing invoices with Invoice Place. You’ll be able to manage invoices on the run, get overseas currency support, and send and receive billing on everything.
29. Invotrak: Don’t miss out on payments. Use Invotrak to keep your invoices in order. Track, bill, and manage all of your billing information in one easy-to-use program.
30. SimplyBill: SimplyBill lives up to its name by making billing extremely simple. Create new invoices, track old ones, and do so much more.
31. The Invoice Machine: Send out PDF invoices with this easy-to-use online program.

Phone

These tools will help you keep track of your messages and incoming calls.

32. FaxZERO: While sending things via email is often easier and faster, sometimes you just need to send a fax. Don’t buy an expensive fax machine for this, just use this online program to send a fax anywhere in the United States or Canada for free.
33. eBuddy: Keep in touch when you’re out of the office with ebuddy. It allows users to sign on to various instant messenger services from a mobile phone, meaning no important contact with clients will be sacrificed if you need to run some errands on your lunch hour.
34. Gaboogie: You won’t need an assistant to remind you of your conference calls with Gaboogie. This web-based program will make the calls for you and eliminate the need for long passwords and PIN numbers.
35. AbbyMe: Send phone messages over the Internet with AbbyMe. It can be a great way to send out meeting reminders ahead of time. Simply type in your message and the phone number you want it sent to and the program will read the message to the recipient, acting like your personal assistant without the paycheck.
36. K7: FaxZERO lets you send out faxes, but you can receive them without an actual fax machine with K7. K7 will assign you a phone number for faxes which will be directed to your inbox.
37. GrandCentral: Make managing multiple phone lines easy with GrandCentral. The program gives you one number that rings all your phones, goes to one voicemail box, plus lots of extra features.

Email

Make sorting through your inbox easier with these email tools.

38. Viapoint: Don’t waste time hunting through your inbox for important emails. Viapoint will help you organize emails by contact, company, project or date range without you having to do a thing.
39. Thunderbird: If you’re looking to an alternative to Outlook, give Thunderbird a try. It’s free, and allows you to customize your email experience.
40. Plaxo: This online address book service allows you to automatically update your contacts as you or others change them in Plaxo, Outlook or Thunderbird.
41. Breeze: Don’t spend hours creating and mailing email campaigns to customers. Just use Breeze to easily send out mailings to hundreds of customers at once.
42. DropSend: Don’t bog down your servers sending out huge emails. Instead, use the service from DropSend to send files of up to 1GB.
43. iContact: Make email marketing easy with iContact. Send out email campaigns, and track and organize them easily with this program.
44. Sproutit Mailroom: Overwhelmed by your website email but can’t afford to hire an assistant? Sproutit Mailroom can help by allowing everyone on your team to manage and respond to the emails.
45. 9cays: Save time reading through email with the great features on 9cays. Instead of paging through tons of responses to group emails, 9cays allows you to create a webpage with all the messages in one easy to read place.
46. MailWasher: If your email doesn’t already have a spam filter, MailWasher offers a great free solution that will help make navigating through your email easier.
47. BlueTie: For the small business owner looking for a hosted email solution, BlueTie can be a great choice. You’ll get email as well as tons of other business boosting features.
48. Contact Grabber: Make collecting contact information easy with Contact Grabber. Simply highlight an email address and the program will save it for you easily and quickly.
49. Skemma: Save time by automating communications between your coworkers, clients, vendors and more with Skemma.

Scheduling

Plan your day with as little hassle as possible using these great tools.

50. Acuity Scheduling: Let clients do the scheduling for you with this online tool. Simply set your availability, types of appointments you accept, and clients will choose the appointment they want.
51. Calendar Hub: This online calendar can be a great place to keep track of appointments and company goals and you can access it from anywhere.
52. epointment: Create an online agenda as epointment. You’ll find tools to schedule meetings, keep track of important dates, and even get reminders sent to your phone if you’re not on the Internet.
53. Schedulebook: Schedulebook will make it easy to schedule meeting rooms, supplies, and appointments depending on your needs.
54. SmartCal: SmartCal is a great way to keep yourself organized and schedule appointments online. You can also get reminders, organize groups and much more when you sign up.
55. ScheduleAnywhere: Need to schedule your employees for hours, meetings or conferences? Try out ScheduleAnywhere to make scheduling easy and quick.
56. EZAgenda: This web-based scheduler is integrated with your email, allowing you to add appointments and share them easily.
57. MyMRM: Have trouble with scheduling space in your office? Don’t fight over the conference room, try using MyMRM to let everyone know and share scheduled time.
58. OrgScheduler: If you don’t have a personal assistant or secretary, OrgScheduler can make it easy to share an organization-wide calendar that lets employees know about important meetings, company holidays and more.
59. Memo to Me: Get a friendly reminder sent to you with the Memo to Me service. Remind yourself or others of meetings, deadlines, projects and anything else you can think of.

Presentations and Meetings

Use these tools to get ready for your next big meeting with clients or investors.

60. Campfire: If you need to have a quick online meeting, Campfire can be a great tool. Private, password-protected chatrooms can be set up quickly and easily.
61. GoToMeeting: Web conference with ease using GoToMeeting. You’ll be able to share files, give presentations, and more with a subscription to the service.
62. Demofuse: Create tours of your website, or a client’s site, and send or embed them in a webpage with Demofuse. It’s a great way to show off your work!
63. Dimdim: This open source meeting web conferencing tool will make setting up and attending online meetings easy as pie. You’ll also be able to share presentations, applications and even your desktop through the program.
64. PreZentit: PreZentit will allow you to create wonderful presentations online and share them with clients or anyone you’d like.
65. Screencast-o-Matic: Make showing clients how to use software or websites a snap with this program. It creates a video recording of your screen and the site hosts it for free.
66. SlideBurner: Create slideshows of your work or business and share them with clients all over the world.
67. Spresent: If you’re looking for an alternative to PowerPoint, give Spresent a try. This web-based program is flash based and easy-to-use.
68. Thumbstacks: Make presentations and share them with coworkers and clients online with Thumbstacks.
69. Viewbook: Viewbook is a great place to store your presentations, slideshows and portfolios online so they can easily be mailed to others or retrieved later for use.

Information Management

Keep track of important information, files, and anything else with these organizational tools.

70. Basecamp: Store and share information online with Basecamp. Collaborate with coworkers or just keep your files in a secure place online.
71. Project Stat.us: Don’t keep your clients in the dark about information on your projects. Keep your status online so you won’t have to field constant calls.
72. iOrganize: Keep all your important information like contacts, notes, and bookmarks in one place with iOrganize so you won’t be left wishing you could call someone else to find them.
73. Bubbl.us: Get your ideas out there with Bubbl.us’ online brainstorming tools. Create mind maps, write down ideas, share them with others and more.
74. Cebase: Cebase is an impressive online database program. A simple point and click interface lets you enter data and quickly share it with anyone you’d like.
75. DabbleDB:Get tons of great features with this database program. Users can enter data, share it, change views and more.
76. Domain Log Book: Own multiple domains for your business? Keep track of them and view their page rank with this program.
77. Fluxiom: Manage your digital media with this online tool. Host your pictures, marketing materials, contracts and more on Fluxiom.
78. iOutliner: Organize your thoughts, ideas, projects and anything else you can think of into structured outlines with iOutliner.
79. Lazybase: Would you like to create an online database but want it to be easy? Try out Lazybase. You can upload any kind of information you want by using a secret URL.
80. Quickbase: This web-based database from Intuit is great for project management, sales management and much more.

Project and Time Management

Your time is valuable, so don’t waste it on tasks you don’t need to. Instead, use these tools to help you make the most of it and keep your projects running smoothly without any outside assistance.

81. Harvest: Track your time with this simple web-based program. You can even generate reports to let clients know the status of your projects or just keep track of time for your own purposes.
82. Dot Project: This open-source project management tool can help you get your next project organized and on task.
83. FunctionFox: If you’re in a creative line of business, give FunctionFox a try for tracking your projects and making sure everything progresses smoothly.
84. 88 Miles: Keep track of how much time you’re spending on all of your projects for easy billing. 88 Miles lets you easily punch in and out of projects and has an on-screen timer to let you know how much time has elapsed.
85. ActionThis: ActionThis is a web-based team management program with great centralized project management as well as systems to track client information and individual assignments.
86. Clocking IT: Track your task progress and time at once with Clocking IT. Features include tagging, search, milestones and integrated wikis.
87. Emergent Task Timer: This timer from the Printable CEO can help you break tasks down into 15 minute intervals.
88. PunchyTime: Keep track of the time you spend on every project as you work, rather than after the fact. PunchyTime is a great solution for creative companies working by the hour.
89. Project Insight: Project Insight is one of the leading online project management systems. It’s intuitive and easy to use and will allow you to collaborate easily with coworkers.
90. Timepost: This project timer will automatically get all your projects and to-dos from different web project managers, saving you the hassle of having to re-enter things from each program.

Client Relations

You won’t need an assistant to bring up customer contact information with these programs. It will already be at your fingertips from just about anywhere.

91. DocuSign: Need something signed right away? Dont’ bother sending it over, get a signature online with DocuSign. Get legally binding signatures that allow you to seal the deal quickly, shutting out the competition.
92. HoneyPitch: Put together proposals, presentations, contracts and estimates with this great CRM tool.
93. ClientScribe: Keep track of all your client contacts using ClientScribe. You can keep your emails, phone records, faxes and proposals in one place, organized by client.
94. Entellium: This CRM tool has award-winning design, free support and great features to help you treat your customers like they deserve.
95. Highrise: Keep in touch with your customers with the online contact management system in Highrise.
96. Heap: This is a simple CRM system that allows you to instant message, keep track of a calendar, and organize contacts.
97. Pipeline Deals: Make CRM easy with Pipeline Deals’ simple notebook format that allows you to organize files, emails, notes and documents.
98. Relenta CRM: Relenta CRM makes keeping track of customer data easy with systems to manage contact info, documents and much more.
99. Sugar CRM: This CRM program focuses on improving your sales performance and marketing effectiveness.
100. vtiger: vtiger is a great open-source CRM designed for small businesses. Users will get access to features for automation, customer support, sales, marketing, inventory management and more.

As a bootstrapper, you no doubt have more than enough responsibilities to worry about in your struggle to launch a successful business, spend time with your family and manage your financial accounts, from fundraising to investing to spending. Organizing each aspect of your life is of course the optimum goal, but who has time to set up a complex organization system? These 100 posts, categorized in no particular order, are written to help you manage and declutter your life, one step at a time. Work From organizing your work space to figuring out your career, these posts will help you manage your professional life. 1. 13 Tips for Working Smarter, Not Harder: Straighten out your priorities at work and learn to minimize busy work with the tips outlined in this article. 2. Organize Your Office in Ten Minutes a Day: This post assigns a simple organizing trick to each day of your work week. Declutter on Mondays, take inventory on Tuesdays, consider new organizing strategies on Wednesdays, sort your paperwork on Thursdays, and file on Fridays. 3. Office Organizing Tips: Professional organizer Vicki Norris gives professionals tips like "invest in adequate furniture" and "establish a paper processing area" to better organize their offices. 4. Paper Management Tips: Reduce the amount of paper stacks you have piled around your office with these great ideas. 5. Organize Your Office Supply Cabinet: The supply cabinet is supposed to keep you organized right? Not if you’re constantly stashing random items anywhere they’ll fit. This post will show you how to organize your supply cabinet, down to the tiniest detail. 6. 15 Tips to Make Today the Day You Finish Your To-Do List: This article maintains that "your best weapon against the rising tide of to-do is dedicating a day to destroying that list." Learn how to tackle your massive to-do list in one day with these tips. 7. Organize Your Documents Online: This list of tools shows professionals how to straighten up the office by minimizing paperwork. 8. Organize Your Desk in 8 Steps: Tips like "keep office supplies in one drawer only" and "keep a spiral notebook by the phone" will help you clear off the clutter from your desk. 9. 6 Ideas for Conquering Email Clutter: Business owners can receive upwards of 100 junk emails a day. Learn how to declutter your inbox with these smart tips. 10. Organize Your Office and Improve Your Office Design: This in-depth post offers lots of great ideas for setting up an office that is "both pleasing and functional." 11. Office Organizing Tips: The Time Manager gives tips on reducing interruptions, scheduling meetings and prioritizing tasks in order to promote a more productive, organized day. 12. 10 Tips for Growing Your Business the Organized Way: From developing a business plan to practicing effective marketing strategies, growing a business can be an overwhelming process. Organize your goals and responsibilities with this simple guide. Home Office Many entrepreneurs have the luxury of working from home, but maintaining an organized home office is harder than it sounds. This list will lead you to articles about keeping it all straight. 13. 10 Easy Steps to An Organized Home Office: Use these tips to create a professional but personal home office. 14. Organize Your Home Office: Purge your home office of items that belong in other parts of the house, like laundry and toys. Get more great tips by reading the article. 15. Get Organized! Organizing Your Home Office: This post from Women’s Media discusses how lighting, ample storage space and a private phone line "guard productivity" and keep you organized. 16. 5 Tips to Organize Your Home Office: The iVillage Home and Garden supplies readers with 5 simple ideas for straightening up your home office. 17. Children in the Home Business Environment: Learn how to resist temptations and reduce interruptions when you work at home with your kids. 18. What to Do When Your Desk is a Disaster: This post contains great tips from a professional time management and organization expert. 19. Working at Home and Time Management: Time management is especially important when you work from home. These tips will help you stay productive while maintaining a flexible schedule. 20. Tips to Organize Your Home Office: Learn how to "control how others affect your productivity," organize your desk, set up an effective filing system and more. 21. How to Organize a Home Office: eHow lays out a step-by-step guide for organizing a productive home office. 22. Tips to Organize Your Home Office: This post from the career advisor at Monster.com is a helpful resource for home-based professionals. 23. Organize Your Home Office and Get More Work Done: Lisa Kanarek shares with readers how organization is directly linked to productivity. Follow her tips for designing an efficient home office. 24. 50 Practical Home Office Feng Shui Tips: Use the principles of feng shui to cultivate a peaceful yet productive work environment in your home. Personal Life Dates, doctor’s appointments, holidays, family time: how can a busy bootstrapper keep track of it all? These posts will show you how. 25. 5 Organizing Tips from the Pros: These quick and easy organization tips will keep your day on track. 26. Plan Well, Travel Well: This post shares tips for reconciling spontaneity with order when planning a vacation. 27. Do You Live in Your Car?: Many of us, from commuters to stay at home moms, feel like we live in our cars. This post gives tips for organizing your car to lighten the load. 28. Tips for Traveling with Children: This post will show you how to prepare for a vacation with the kids. 29. If Mama Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy: This post divulges the secret to "squeezing in time to nurture yourself" by better organizing your time and paying better attention to your own needs. 30. Personal Improvement in a Balanced, Simplified Way: Learn how to set goals for yourself with the tips laid out in this post. 31. 6 Keys to Respecting Your Time: Prioritize your daily activities by respecting your time with these 6 keys. 32. Ways to Say No: Simplify your schedule and organize your life by learning when to say no. These 5 ways will help you be more assertive. 33. Time Management Tips for the Busy Dinner and Evening Hours: Evenings are supposed to be a time for us to wind down after a hectic day, but extracurricular activities often mean that our busy schedules continue well past dark. Learn how to get evenings back with the ideas proposed in this article. 34. Morning Madness: Start your day off right by giving your mornings an updated schedule. 35. Organize Your Day With Routines: BellaOnline explains why formulating and maintaining daily routines will help you become better organized. 36. 7 Ways to Catch Your Breath: Sometimes all you need to organize your life is a little perspective. Take a minute to catch your breath before you jump back into your busy life. Family From soccer practices to music recitals to planning for a new baby, the following articles will help you learn how to take a deep breath and organize your family life so that you can appreciate it more fully. 37. Great Ways to Be More Organized — and Have More Time for the People You Love: You may have to dig for it, but finding and defining free time to spend with your friends and family is important. This post shares ways to organize your day so that you’re left with more time with the people you love. 38. Set Up a Monthly Calendar for your Family: This post gives "quick tips to make a monthly calendar succeed" in your household. Include chores, vacations, school holidays and other important items. 39. How I Organize My Kids’ Crafts: Get fantastic storage ideas from this post by Julie Bonner. 40. 4 Family Organizing Tips: Tips like holding family meetings, and giving everyone things to do will make your family more organized. 41. 8 Great Tips to Organize Kids’ Rooms: Smart tips like "take a child’s eye view" and "make it easier to put away, harder to get out" will keep your kids’ rooms from getting overly messy. and organizing by reading the tips listed in this article. 42. Get Your Better Half to Help Out: Convince your husband or wife to pitch in with the cleaning and organizing by reading the tips listed in this article. 43. Organize Your Family Life With Famundo: This post from Lifehacker features the Web-based calendar and to-do list Famundo that is designed to whip your family’s chaotic lifestyle into shape. 44. Organize Your Family with a Family Binder: The blog Zen Habits suggests starting a family binder to organize important documents, emergency phone numbers, weekly menus and more. 45. Plan to Succeed: Teaching Kids the Planner Habit: Train your children to organize their own lives by encouraging them to keep a planner even when they’re young. 46. Revolutionize Your Relationship: Even relationships sometimes need an organizational makeover. This post lists common problems that spouses have and offers ways to fix them. 47. Organize Your Family’s Schedule in No Time: Anyone with kids knows it’s difficult, if not impossible, to sync up everyone’s schedules, but this post teaches readers how you can better organize your family’s day with these great ideas. 48. Tame Morning Madness with a Family Launch Pad: Mornings can be a hectic time when the kids are trying to get to school, you’re off to work, and everyone is trying to remember their schedules for later in the day. This post shows you how to create a family launch pad or headquarters for keeping backpacks, briefcases and to-do lists. Home Learn how to organize every room in the house, from the living room to your kids’ bedrooms. 49. Get STUFF Out of Your House: From books to old clothes, find ways to get items that you no longer use out of the house for good. 50. Organizing the Entrances to Your Home: Hallways and entryways often go unnoticed when you clean your home. This post explains why it’s important to pay special attention to these areas. 51. Power Tools for an Organized Home: This post outlines the necessary tools like Sharpies, binders and sheet protectors that keep your home super organized. 52. Room-by-Room Makeover Organizing: This post gives great tips for organizing the dining room, kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathroom, laundry room and home office. 53. How to Start Organizing Your Home: Maybe you haven’t started organizing your home because you just don’t know where to begin. This article will help you get inspired by outlining a simple plan for the daunting task. 54. Lighten the Load: Laundry Systems Analysis: This post shows readers how to set up an effective laundry system so that you and your family always have clean clothes. 55. The Ultimate Workshop: Set up an organized, well-stocked workshop in your garage with these necessary tools. 56. Five Easy Tricks for Handling Problem Rooms: If you think your room is too small or the ceiling is too low, try out these tricks that will help you make the most of any space. 57. How to Organize Your Home: This guide from Lifehack.org offers simple but effective tips like "everything has a home" and "pick up as you go," which will turn your house into a clean, organized home. 58. 50 Ideas to Organize Your Home: From the bathroom to your kids’ rooms, this post will help you transform your home. 59. Organizing Your House: This post from Mrs. Clean shares secrets for discovering hidden storage spaces in your home. She also encourages readers to reduce clutter by walking through your house with a "stranger’s eye" and evaluating what fits and what doesn’t. 60. Turn Your Bedroom into a Haven: When you’re expecting company, do you clean up by throwing everything into your bedroom? This post maintains that your bedroom should have a "nurturing atmosphere," so consider starting your next organizing project by giving your bedroom the attention it deserves. Finances Get your finances in order with the valuable advice given in these posts. 61. 10 Tips to Organize and Simplify Bill Paying: Helpful tips include "designate two to four days per month to pay your bills" and "condense your credit cards." 62. Are You Really Saving All You Can?: Learn to organize your finances better and prepare for emergencies by checking out these saving tips. 63. Organize and Simplify Your Spending: Organizing your finances starts by taking a realistic look at your spending habits. Read this article to help you revamp your budgeting strategies in order to organize your overall financial situation. 64. 8 Tips for Keeping More of Your Hard Earned Money: This post shows you how to save more money through better organizing tactics like "pay yourself first" and outlining your mortgage and retirement funds. 65. Organize Your Finances for Tax Time: Access tax templates, calculators and more tips for organizing your finances when tax time hits. 66. Organizing Your Personal Finances: This post encourages readers to "break down the organization into steps" and setting up a personalized system that works for you, like stashing all of your receipts in a single basket or using a computer software program for online budgeting. 67. The Cost of Disorganization. Can you Afford It?: Find out how much money you’re losing by not maintaining an organized budget. 68. Organize Your Spending: Erin Huffstetler from About.com teaches readers "how to organize your finances in a way that contributes to your financial success" in her step-by-step guide. 69. 10 Easy Ways to Organize Your Business Finances: This clear, concise article lists the top 10 ways professionals can organize their business finances. Effective tips include: actually read your credit card statements and computerize your checkbook. 70. 5 Ways to Organize Your Finances: Tips like "consolidate your credit cards" and "keep your tax-related stuff" in one place will give your financial situation more clarity. 71. Organize Your Bills: Get a handle on your bill paying each month with these tips from consultant Diana Brock Makes. 72. Organize Your Financial Life: This post from MSN Money gives readers a realistic approach to organizing their finances. Find out "why filing systems fail" and how to create a bill paying regime that works for you. Health and Fitness Many of us have good intentions when it comes to starting a new health and fitness routine; unfortunately, though, intentions won’t help us lose the pounds or stay healthy. If you need some extra inspiration to whip your wellness program into shape, check out these posts. 73. Organizing My Diet: Keep track of what you eat by planning out daily or weekly menus for yourself and "organizing your eating habits." 74. Organize Your Fitness Effort: Debbie Rocker writes for Yahoo! Health, telling readers that "happiness takes effort, and yes, in our day and time, organization, too." Follow her guide to organize your fitness effort by cleaning out your kitchen of unhealthy foods, planning out menus, and weighing yourself only every 2 weeks. 75. A Healthy Option On How to Organize Your Workouts: Workout instructor David C. Brown shares ideas for organizing your fitness routine so that your body gets a healthy, stress-free workout. 76. Organize Your Health: Fitsugar’s post on organizing your health provides a list of tools and planners to keep tabs on your diet and exercise regimens. 77. Spring Clean Your Medicine Cabinet: Find out which meds to keep and which need to be thrown out with this guide from About.com. 78. What to Do About Stress?: This "30-Point Plan for the small and big business person" will help you learn methods of alleviating stress and improving your emotional health. 79. 10 More Tips for Your Wellness Journey: Simple tips like these will inspire you to start and maintain a healthy fitness schedule. 80. ADD and Optimal Self Care: In our hectic world, it can be difficult to find time to relax and focus on the things that really matter. This post gives tips for beating the ADD-like mindset and finding time for yourself. 81. Avoid Common Fitness Pitfalls: This post cautions against 10 exercise pitfalls like eating too little, doing too much too soon and ignoring expert advice. Avoid these nasty little habits in order to develop a long lasting, effective fitness routine. 82. Can You Organize Your Way to Happiness (And Health Too?): This post reveals the positive happiness and health benefits of leading an organized lifestyle. 83. 10 Foods for Better Health: Incorporate these 10 power foods like salmon, nuts and tea into your weekly menu to follow a healthy diet plan. 84. Finding Time to Exercise: Does a busy bootstrapper like you really have time to exercise? Check out these 5 clever fitness tips that will help you find time to be proactive about your health. Miscellaneous From birthday parties to weddings to the holidays, these posts will help you organize every other aspect of your busy life. 85. Don’t Just Get Organized, Stay Organized!: These "7 concepts that stick" will let you lead a more organized life. 86. Cut Your Clutter Calories!: Discover your clutter weaknesses: do you shop at garage sales? Accept freebies? Cut out clutter calories to make room for a more organized life. 87. Wikify Your Life: How to Organize Everything: Use wikis to store and organize all kinds of information, from shopping lists to vacation lists to to-do lists! 88. Color Your Way to Organization: Stacey Agin Murray explains the benefits of color coding your home and office so that you can be better organized. 89. Need More Storage? Think Vertical: Declutter It’s Julie Bonner shows readers how adding vertical storage space is possible in any kitchen, garage, or office. 90. A Checklist for Moving and Relocating: Moving to a new city, state or even country requires a lot of organizational effort. Use this checklist to help you pack and purge. 91. Organize a Birthday Party for Kids: wikiHow gives great tips for organizing a birthday party for kids that will keep the good times rolling. 92. Plan Your Wedding in 13 Simple Steps: Can it really be that easy? LifeOrganizers.com shows brides-to be how to minimize stress during the wedding planning process. 93. 3 Simple Pre-Holiday Organizing Tips: This detailed guide offers just a few simple ideas that will help you get through the holidays. Tips like"take inventory before you buy" and "look back, look forward" will prevent you from overspending and running your errands at the last minute. 94. How to Simplify for a Less Stressful, More Joyful Holiday Season!: Follow Ariane Benefit’s "20 tips for easy decorating, gift-giving, card sending and entertaining." 95. Time Management Tips: Organizing Errands: Learn how to plan ahead, take inventory, and car pool to make your trip to the store less frustrating. 96. Organize Your Shopping List: Stop running around the store in all different directions by organizing your shopping list before you go out. 97. How to Organize Cat, Dog and Pet Stuff to Keep Your Home Easy-to-Clean: Pets are a part of the family, but they can cause a lot of mess and disorganization around the house. Check out this post for ideas on how to minimize pet clutter. 98. The Top 3 Excuses We Use to Keep Our Clutter: About.com writer Sarah Aguirre debunks 3 common myths that keep us from organizing our homes. 99. Organizing Your Coupons: This post is great for discount lovers who need to organize their mountain of coupons. 100. 10 Benefits of Being Organized: Saving money, spending more quality time with family, and having more energy and less stress are just a few of the benefits of organizing your life.

With increasing gas prices and a weakening dollar, retailers are concerned about fighting for the attention and cash flow of consumers. It seems as though everyone is looking for a discount, whether it’s on food, electronics or travel deals. Check out this list for 49 places to find great discounts on just about everything. Electronics Read below for sweet deals on computers, DVDs and other electronics. 1. eCOST.com: eCOST.com is "your online discount superstore," providing customers with discount laptops, GPS systems, DVDs, video games, cell phones and accessories, TVs and more. Featured brands include Sony, HP, SanDisk, Canon and Nokia. 2. CNET Clearance Center: After reading the experts’ reviews of your favorite electronics, check out the website’s clearance center to find printers, paper and other electronic office supplies. 3. DiscountElectronics.com: This Texas-based company sells individual desktop parts, wireless routers, speakers, all-in-one printers, and cables at prices much lower than those found in regular stores. 4. TigerDirect.com: TigerDirect.com supplies a wealth of electronics at low prices that are "simply not possible anywhere else." Find iPods, keyboards, gaming hardware, PCs, cell phones and more from brands like Logitech, Sandisk, Canon and Apple. 5. SavingLots.com: This discount consumer electronics site allows customers to pay for their finds– from karaoke machines to navigation systems — with PayPal or the Google Checkout service. 6. SourcingMap: Find top electronics at wholesale prices at SourcingMap, "the world’s first factory-direct online superstore." 7. Geeks.com: Computer geeks will love the selection of computer parts, media accessories and other fun gadgets offered at discount prices. Check back often for seasonal specials and other deals like the "no payment for 90 days" feature. 8. Audio Discounter: Audio Discounter encourages shoppers to "find the best", and they "will make sure you can afford it." From adapters to headphones to Bluetooth accessories, Audio Discounter has all kinds of products at great prices. 9. Lapantz 4 Less: Low cost electronics are the specialty at Lapantz 4 Less, where Guitar Hero can cost as little as $64.99 and laptops are available at discount prices. 10. Electronic Liquidators: Printers, scanners, desktops, handheld devices, memory cards and other electronics are all sold at Electronic Liquidators, where you can compare their discount prices to prices at retailers like BestBuy and CompUSA. Auto Parts Find discounts on auto parts for your car, truck, SUV or jeep by visiting these websites. 11. Advance Auto Parts: Shop online or search for a store near you at the Advance Auto Parts website, where the company proves to be "a leader in the automotive aftermarket industry in parts availability, price, and customer service." 12. Discount Tire: Discount Tire is a popular company among drivers because of their free tire repair and low prices on other maintenance projects. 13. Auto Parts Warehouse: Shoppers can "save up to 50% everyday" at the Auto Parts Warehouse. Search for bumpers, door handles, fan blades, exhaust systems, mirrors and more for plenty of automotive DIY projects. 14. CarJunky.com: This site features an easy navigation system, allowing shoppers to search by their car’s year, make and model to find the appropriate parts. 15. AllUsedCars.com: Search for used cars and trucks all over the U.S. with this helpful website. Those looking to sell their cars can also register to place an ad. Travel Indulging in a fabulous vacation doesn’t have to empty out your bank account. Look to these sites and resources to get great discounts on everything from hotels to transportation. 16. TravelZoo: Find deals on cruises, airfare, car rentals, vacation packages and even last minute trips, all at TravelZoo. 17. Hotwire: Hotwire is known for having some of the best travel deals and packages on the Web. Check out their site for advice and discounts on local vacations or international trips. 18. SideStep: SideStep is "the traveler’s search engine." Use their search tools to compare prices with other sites to make sure you are getting the best possible deals. 19. STA Travel: This travel website connects students with cheap airfare, hostels and hotels, travel loans and other discount packages. 20. Ding!: Ding! is a popular tool from Southwest Airlines that allows travelers to select favorite Southwest destinations leaving from their city. When unbeatable airfare deals pop up, travelers are notified by a Ding! on their desktop.

Entertainment

Waiting in line at a game or the movies is so old-fashioned. Use these websites to find cheap tickets, movies, games and other entertainment steals from your computer. 21. Outlet Trail: Find everything you need from discount electronics and collectibles to sporting goods, holiday decorations and more at the Outlet Trail. If you’re not happy with your purchase, you can take advantage of the 30-day money back guarantee. 22. Your Bargain Mart: Shoppers will find discount electronics, sporting accessories for surfing, hunting, and team sports, toys, games and many other entertainment products at Your Bargain Mart. 23. Complete Tickets: This website offers discount tickets for major sporting events, concerts, theatre events, movies and NASCAR races. 24. The Entertainment Book This annual publication contains coupons for movie tickets, sporting events, travel deals, restaurants and more. 25. Cheap Premium Tickets: Tickets to concerts, sporting events, Las Vegas shows, the Olympics and other special events are all sold here without service charges or other hidden fees. 26. Cheap Fun Wines: This blog features economically priced wines, wine accessories and wine-related vacations and entertainment ideas.

Clothing and Accessories

It’s time to shop ’til you drop! With discount prices on designer clothes, shoes and accessories, you’ll have a blast shopping on these sites.

27. The 15 Dollar Store: From pants to coats to swimsuits, everything on this website is just $15. 28. Bluefly: Men’s and women’s designer clothing and accessories are marked down to more affordable prices at Bluefly.com. Featured items include Vera Wang dresses up to 40% off and Jimmy Choos pumps up to 20% off. 29. StyleMaven Sample Sales: Check out the Sample Sales directory from StyleMaven to attend discount shopping events in cities like London, LA, New York and San Francisco. 30. Top Brands Direct: Clothing brands like Hugo Boss, Dolce & Gabanna and Ralph Lauren are available at discount prices here. 31. SourcingMap: Browse through funky jewelry and handbags for just a few dollars each at SourcingMap. 32. Overstock.com: Overstock.com is an online outlet store full of goodies for the whole family. Pick out jewelry, shoes, clothes, furniture and home decor and appliances here. 33. Overstock Jeweler: Deck yourself out in all the baubles and bling that your favorite celebrities are wearing on the red carpet. This site has everything from Tiffany-inspired jewels to baby charms to cufflinks and more, all at discount prices.

Gas

Find the cheapest gas in town with these helpful tools.

34. GasBuddy.com: Search by city, state or province to find the cheapest gas closest to your U.S. or Canada-based home or office. 35. GasPriceWatch.com: If there’s a gas station in your area offering gas at discount prices, you’ll find it at GasPriceWatch.com. 36. MSN Gas Prices: The MSN Autos page allows users to type in their zip code to search for the least expensive gas in their area. 37. mobGas: Sign up with mobGas to have maps of local stations with cheap gas sent directly to your phone.

Health and Wellness

Taking care of your health doesn’t have to be overly expensive Check out these programs and deals that will help you save money on health and wellness.

38. TheMedicineProgram.com: TheMedicineProgram.com offers families a free prescription card that saves you money "at over 48,000 participating pharmacy locations," including most major pharmacy stores. 39. Drugstore: This "truly convenient, always reliable [and] totally professional" online drugstore provides pharmaceutical drugs at discount prices. Patients can also take advantage of free shipping on all drug orders. 40. Outlet Trail: The Outlet Trail also sells discount exercise equipment. Get the Bowflex Blaze for just $749.99 or the Bobby Bully sparring partner for $169.99. 41. Fitness Discount Outlet: Fitness Discount Outlet is "a health and fitness super mall" for online shoppers. From gravity boots to treadmills to weights, this site has everything a home gym needs. 42. A1 Nutrition: Health and fitness fans can find all kinds of nutritional supplements like creatine, meal replacements, and herbal blends at discount prices at the A1 Nutrition store online. 43. Net2Fitness: Net2Fitness is another online store that specializes in discount home exercise equipment like resistance bands, bars, ankle weights, kickboxing gear, rowing machines and more. Miscellaneous 44. Discount Cookie Bouquets and Food Gifts: Sending a cookie bouquet for a birthday treat, office party or any other special occasion is now more affordable with this discount shopping option. 45. Deal News: Deal News is a website that reveals the day’s best sales and deals. Shoppers can also search for coupons at retailers like eToys.com, Staples, Sears and more. 46. Sale Pirate: Visit this site "where everything’s on sale." From Christmas supplies to books to kitchenware, shoppers can take advantage of the super low prices. 47. Edible Nature: Natural and organic food lovers can find herbal teas, spices, coffee, supplements and other food, bath and body items here at discount prices. 48. Deep Discount: Movie buffs will have fun searching for discount Blu-ray DVDs, movie posters and other memorabilia, at prices as low as 99 cents. 49. Half.com: Half.com is a reduced-rate online store sponsored by ebay. Shoppers can find new and used items like books, CDs and DVDs for unbelievably low prices.

 

If you’re like many busy people, your desk is full of mail, papers that hold forgotten to-do lists, and perhaps a stray coffee cup or two. This sort of environment just isn’t conducive to productivity. Follow these tips to streamline your work area and get things done.

• Keep it tidy

  First things first. A tidy desk makes it easier for you to stay focused. Otherwise, you’ll feel overwhelmed by the weight of stuff around you. Organize your papers, corral post-it notes into a journal, and get rid of any random junk. You’ll feel refreshed and can clear the path towards better work.

• Clean up your computer desktop, too

  A clean virtual desktop is just as important as a the one you’re sitting at. Instead of using lots of specialized tools, find a few super tools that can do multiple jobs and stick with them. Clean out the junk by uninstalling programs you don’t use anymore and archiving old files.

• File

  Have you ever found yourself scrambling to find a piece of paper you just know you have, but can’t seem to place? Make it easy for you to find what you need by putting everything in a specific spot. You’ll save yourself time and frustration, plus it will be easier to stay on track if you don’t have to stop everything to conduct an extensive search.

• Keep the essentials close at hand

  Your desk should be stocked with nearly everything you need to do your job. Whether it’s a file cabinet, printer, or pencil sharpener, make sure it’s within reach. If you have to get up and cross the room to use something, you’re likely to get distracted and off track.

• Don’t goof off

  Make your desk a sacred space for work, and you’ll train your brain. Avoid using your desk for personal projects, storage, or other distracting items, or your attention may be swayed. If you keep your desk purely a work zone, it will be easier for you to get into work mode when you sit down.

• Have good lighting

  Lighting is essential to productivity. It reduces your eye strain and prevents gloominess. To create productive lighting, focus on using natural light and reflection. Get rid of shadows and glare, and be sure to keep up proper maintenance.

• Practice desk yoga

  Yoga isn’t just good for health and spirituality, it’s helpful for creativity and concentration as well. Take a moment to be active and mindful, and you’ll refresh your brain. Try out a program like Yoga @ Your Desk to learn about yoga you can do without even leaving your chair.

• Get a smaller desk

  To get productive, get simple. Using a smaller desk means you’ll have less opportunity to let clutter take over. There’s less room for papers and assignments to pile up, so you’ll be forced to deal with items as they come. This can provide you with an incentive to work more efficiently.

• Decorate with stimulating colors and design

  Some colors are just more productive than others. White rooms create an environment that supports errors, while bright colors like red are stimulating. If you’re overwhelmed by stimulating colors, blue-green walls are universally productive and relaxing.

• Practice good ergonomics

  The comfort and efficiency of your body can directly influence productivity. Getting out of an awkward posture simply makes it easier to do any given task and concentrate on your work. It’s also been found to reduce errors.

• Leave your desk

  That’s right, take a break. The most productive desk is one that you’re not chained to all day. Get up, move around, have a snack or a quick chat with a friend, and you’ll be more refreshed and ready to work again.

Greetings! The 3rd edition of the Carnival of Business and Entrepreneurship is up. This is the last carnival edition of 2007. We will be back again in the new year. We have selected 51 posts for this holiday edition. Here you go:

Michael Martine presents The Secret to a Successful Business Blog: Sell without Selling posted at Remarkablogger. Is your blog overselling or underselling your business? What’s the right way to blog for your business? Find out!

David B. Bohl presents Financial Planning Gets a Makeover from Financial Consultant, the Coaching Industry posted at Slow Down Fast Today!. In today’s uncertain world of changing careers, on-the-go lifestyles and shifting family roles, smart financial planning frequently takes a back seat to immediate demands.

Dominic Tay presents Work-at-Home Entrepreneur: Looking at the Real You posted at Personal Development Blog for Winners. Success isn’t a complete word without the “U” part. This is the reason why with the hundreds of personal development articles, programs and workshops available, the you part shouldn’t be taken for granted.

GP presents A Christmas Cookie Cutter Guide posted at Innside Montana-Your Home at the Range. A christmas cookie cutter guide.. applicable to business.. follow the directions.

Richard Lee presents How Long Will Your Business Survive posted at Richard Lee.

Vahid Chaychi presents The First Steps to Become a Professional Blogger posted at Weboma.com. Blogging has become one of the best work at home jobs. It is safe and cheap or even free. Spending time is the most important thing you have to spend and if it starts making money, it will become your full time job and you will enjoy it even more.

Joshua Dorkin presents Loose Lips Sink Ships (or The Strategy of Silence in REI) posted at Real Estate Investing For Real | A BiggerPockets Blog.

Andrew Erickson presents The Holiday Countdown – Getting Your Visitors to Buy posted at WebSite Werx.

Jose DeJesus MD presents How to Make Resume Cover Letters posted at Physician Entrepreneur.

Edith presents Are You Offering Something that They Really, Really Want? posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Kurt Brouwer presents Could The Subprime Lending Crunch Have Been Averted? posted at Fundmastery Blog. Could regulatory agencies have foreseen the subprime lending mess?

Cocoy S. Rambuyon presents Can JV Really Work Online For Each Contributing Partner? posted at COCOY S. RAMBUYON.

Erik presents Setting Up Multiple Streams of Income to Maximize Financial Security posted at Erik Folgate.

SJ Yee presents 7 Motivational Quotes To Start Your Day, Everyday! posted at Personal Development for the Book Smart. 7 quotes to start any successful entrepreneur’s day!

Tom presents Why Are Article Submissions The Key Tool In Traffic Building? posted at The Home Business Archive. If you are running a home business online, you probably know that it is very important to get links from related sites pointing back to your site.Articles are one of the best ways to get a steady stream of traffic to your website.

Amy Pedersen presents Selling on eBay?Thinking of Starting a Business From Home posted at Selling on eBay ….. or “How To”.

Kenton Newby presents Google Analytics Goodness…Can You Believe This is Free? posted at KentonNewby.com.

FSBOJane presents The truth about hiring a (real estate) agent posted at FSBO Jane. Jane says, “Let’s talk about the reasons given for the importance of an agent, and let me tell you why they’re not enough to make you sacrifice 6% of your home’s worth.”

Stephen Dean presents Copywriting Technique: Blow It Up… posted at Stephen Dean’s Copywriting And Internet Advertising Blog – Copywriter.

Richard Lee presents How Long Will Your Business Survive posted at Richard Lee.

Charles Eglinton presents eBay Power Seller posted at AuctionIncome.com – eBay Bidding Tips & Selling Tips.

Warren Wong presents Conversation Skills / Tips: How To Have A Good Conversation posted at Personal Development. Tips to improve your conversation skills and help you have a good conversation!

Mark Ashbridge presents The New Think And Grow Rich posted at First Home Based Business. Home Based Business Opportunity Blog based on the principles of The NEW Think And Grow Rich.

Tali presents Yaro Starak?s Blog Profit Blueprint Drags The Marketer Review to the Gutter posted at The Marketer Review. Why I violated my own rules and bought an information product?

Ian Richardson presents Yahoo and Adobe Selling Ads For Adobe PDF Content posted at Make Everything EzyAs123.

Joshua C. Karlin presents Why You Need to Ask posted at Marketing & Fundraising Ideas.

GreatManagement presents Having A Great Career Means You Have To Have Passion posted at The GreatManagement Blog. Do you wake up on Monday morning and dread going into work? Are you constantly watching the clock all day waiting till you can go home? Can you not wait until Friday comes around? If this is the case, you most probably hate your job and have no passion for it.

Kingsley Tagbo presents Take Meaningful Action Towards Finding A Career posted at HOW TO LEARN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING FAST OR GET A JOB EASILY.

Tiffany Colter presents Leaving the information age posted at Writing Career Coach. Time to stretch your thinking.

Woody Maxim presents What will you do with the message? posted at Woody Maxim.

Terry Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Internet Business Coaching by Terry Dean.

Don Morrison presents Promoting With “Blog-Blaster”! posted at Discount Shopping Card. This is the most incredible tool you will ever find to spread the word or share your blog, or any kind of blog, with millions of other bloggers! I can not believe the results I have gotten! I use it while promoting my own “work-at-home” business: http://hikids57.myworlddiscounts.com , and the savings along with the earned income is absolutely wonderful!

Brandon presents Deliberate Relationship Enhancement 2.0 : Christmas Cards for Generation Y posted at Newly Corporate. How to participate in deliberate relationship enhancement this holiday season.

Mark Riffey presents Immune from change? Better check with your lawmakers. posted at Business is Personal.

Adam Rosadiuk presents Film/Video Distributors and Producers: Make Sure You Know These Nine SEO Recommendations posted at Film and Video Marketplace Blog. This checklist of 9 straightforward Search Engine Optimization tips are essential for anyone trying to improve web presence. It is written to help B2B organizations like Film and Video Content Distributors understand how SEO improves not just traffic but quality of traffic.

James D. Brausch presents The $200 Horse posted at jamesbrausch.com.

Andrew Erickson presents The Holiday Countdown – Getting Your Visitors to Buy posted at WebSite Werx.

Matthew Paulson presents Investments With Artificial Intelligence posted at American Consumer News.

American Entrepreneur presents The Taxes That You Probably Aren’t Paying on Your eBay Items posted at American Entrepreneurship.

Steve Pavlina presents Career Transitions posted at Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development Blog.

Blaine presents Something From Nothing- Think Big, Start Small posted at BlainePower.com. Inspirational article with stories of how I made money as a youngster. Great article that motivates people to seek other sources of income.

Richard Lee presents Everything You Will Ever Need To Know About Business posted at Richard Lee.

Carol Bentley presents Money to spend in the education sector posted at Carol Bentley.

Ralph Jean-Paul presents Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions posted at Potential 2 Success. Start sticking to those New Year’s Resolutions by learning what resolutions really are, why resolutions don’t work and how to follow through on them.

Ted presents Best School for Entrepreneurs posted at College Blog. A look at the best undergraduate programs for entrepreneurship.

Charles Eglinton presents eBay Power Seller posted at AuctionIncome.com – eBay Bidding Tips & Selling Tips. Is reaching Power Seller status all it’s cracked up to be?…

James Alenteal presents Do your prospects scan or read your sales pages? Part 1. posted at James Alenteal’s Conversion Rate Clinic.

Sutocu presents Domain Name as a Business Brand posted at Your Website Profit. Domain name is one of the first things a customer notices about your online business. Therefore you should put much thought into coming up with a good domain name.

Alex Marlin presents 11 Tips To Getting Anything You Want posted at Life Improvement Tips For Thin and Small People.

Charles H. Green presents Client Service vs. Client Servility posted at Trust Matters. When you areare forced to act with servility, either towards management or towards customers then service has gone too far.

Erek Ostrowski presents Tips for Aspiring Leaders (#1 Keeping Your Word) posted at Verve Coaching. What has people follow a leader is the leader’s ability to influence the shape and appearance of the world around them…

That concludes this edition. Next edition of this carnival will be hosted here on January 2, 2008. Submit your blog articles using our Blog Carnival Submission Form. We wish Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our readers.

Deadlines are looming, your clients aren’t happy, and there’s a nasty cold going around the office. It seems like everyone around you is in a completely miserable mood, and they have no problem taking it out on everyone else. You don’t have to let the ill temper of your office mates affect you and how you’re feeling, however. After all, going to work in a sour mood and concentrating on the stressful elements of your job can have an adverse affect on your health. So how can you keep the general unhappiness of your work environment from affecting you? Here are 25 things you can try to improve your mood and maybe even the mood of those around you.

1. Choose to be happy. It might sound overly simplistic, but the easiest way to rise above the cloud of negativity at work is simply to not let it affect you. Other people may have an impact on your mood, but the only one in charge of it is you, so choose to ignore the crankiness and find your own personal happiness.
2. Make friends. People are generally happier at work when they have a few coworkers that they can count on as genuine friends. Get together for lunch or take a quick coffee break. You’ll be surprised how much talking to a friend can help elevate your mood and make your outlook more positive.
3. Do things you love. If there are particular elements of your job that you love doing more than others, focus on these for at least a good portion of your day. Or, if you need to, use your lunch break to get away from the office for a massage, shop for a new pair of shoes, or spend it playing games at your desk so that the negativity of work won’t totally weigh you down.
4. Avoid particularly negative coworkers. Everyone has that one coworker that always seems to be in a bad mood, even when things are good. Whether the people around you are perpetually negative or are just having a bad week, try to avoid interactions with them that could make everyone more unhappy.
5. Meditate. Sometimes the key to being happier is to simply just spend more time relaxing. Meditation can be a great way to focus your thoughts and shake off all the unhappiness of the grumpy people around you.
6. Take a walk. Few things can help lift your mood like a little bit of exercise. Whether you walk around the building or around the block, getting up and moving around can help you clear your head and improve how your body feels.
7. Clean and organize your desk. A messy desk can sometimes make you feel overwhelmed and overburdened, even when you’re not. Set aside a few minutes to clean up your work area in the morning or before you leave at night. You’ll get to feel a sense of accomplishment that you got it done and get to enjoy having a desk that isn’t swimming with papers.
8. Listen to music. One way to avoid cranky coworkers is to tune them out with music. Put on your headphones and crank up your favorite tunes. You’ll likely get more done, and you won’t have to listen to the grumpy chatter around you.
9. Personalize your desktop. Working in the same boring gray cube day after day can take its toll. While you don’t have to go overboard, a few personal touches on your desk like photos of friends, family, or pets can make a big difference in your mental outlook plus you’ll have something to motivate you to get through the day.
10. Eat better. Studies have shown that foods can have a huge impact on not only our physical well-being but our moods as well. Try incorporating foods like milk, chocolate, whole grains, blueberries and fish in your diet, as they have been shown to have a marked effect on anxiety and stress levels.
11. Smile. Even if your smiles are only met with frowns, smiling can actually have an impact on your mood. If you think about it, it’s really hard to stay angry or upset when you’ve got a smile on your face, so even if you’re faking, it can help improve your day.
12. Concentrate on working towards a goal. Even if you’re bogged down with loads of work you can still maintain your happy mood by just concentrating on one thing at a time. Set a goal for yourself, say finishing a certain amount of work each day, and concentrate on working towards it.
13. Make someone’s day. Sometimes the best path to making you feel good is by making those around you feel good. Give a coworker a compliment or bring someone a coffee as a treat. Your kindness could be infectious and improve the mood of the whole office.
14. Count your blessings. Even if work is a complete nightmare at the moment, it’s unlikely that there isn’t anything in your life that makes you happy or that you enjoy. Try concentrating on these things instead of the negative things at work.
15. Find the humor in it. A good laugh can do wonders for your mood. Even the worst situations have a lighter side, so try to find it even if your coworkers can’t.
16. Use aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is an age old practice based on the idea that smells can impact your mood. Whether it’s true for you or not it doesn’t hurt to try. Try bringing in potpourri, air fresheners or even some fresh flowers. Any smell that reminds you of home or happy things will work.
17. Treat yourself. Whether your secret indulgence is a chocolate donut or an extra large order from your local Chinese restaurant, letting yourself indulge a little bit will make work seem less awful and put you in a better mood overall.
18. Change your lighting. While not everyone has the luxury of an office with a window, if you do, arrange your office so that you can see out or pull the blinds up to let natural light in. If you don’t have a window, try bringing in a softer and more personalized light to offset the glare of the fluorescent lights in your office. Either will help your work area to seem less harsh and much more pleasant to be in.
19. Shake it off. If people around you truly are miserable, chances are good that at some point they’re going to take it out on you. Learn to simply shake it off and not take things too personally, otherwise your coworkers will quickly bring you down to their level of unhappiness.
20. Help out coworkers. If it’s possible that your coworkers are unhappy because they are overworked and you happen to have a little extra time on your hands, offer to help out. You’ll foster a sense of teamwork and hopefully make others feel less stressed and upset.
21. Try to relate. While you shouldn’t let others’ bad moods affect your own, that doesn’t mean you can’t try to empathize with why your coworkers are so cranky in the first place. Try talking to them. Sometimes all people need to feel better is to get what’s bothering them off their chest.
22. Look your best. Want to improve how you feel about yourself when you go to work? Try spending some extra time getting ready. Wear your favorite clothes or spend a little more time styling your hair. Whatever makes you feel like you look good will undoubtedly improve your outlook on the day.
23. Get plenty of rest. It’s pretty easy to be cranky and short tempered when you haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep, so make sure to set aside a solid block of time where you can sleep uninterrupted and wake up feeling rested.
24. Take your vitamins. Studies have shown that vitamin D can help boost your mood. Vitamin D boosts your brain’s level of serotonin, your body’s natural feel-good hormone, thereby improving your mental and emotional outlook.
25. Get out of the office. If nothing else works to boost your mood around your angry and unhappy coworkers, then just try to spend as little time as possible at the office. Leave on your lunch break and try to be more efficient with your work so that you can leave on time at night. If neither of those are possible, sometimes a quick walk outside can be just as helpful.

There is nothing that can ease social awkwardness, boost confidence and settle nerves like a good cocktail. With thousands of options, it can be hard to know what to choose, especially when your choice will be judged by those around you. As unfair as it may be, no one wants to be the one ordering the wussy drink when you’re at a business lunch that requires playing hardball. Here are a few cocktails we’ve come up with for just about every imaginable situation.

Romance

1. First Date: Love Bite- This drink is aptly named for those who are hoping to get that "love bite" on your first date. Whether it’s meant to be or not, this cherries and cream drink certainty can’t hurt.
2. Anniversary: Heavenly- This fruity drink can help you celebrate your years together whether you’re at the paper anniversary or golden one, with a mix of pineapple, and white wine to take you back to your honeymoon days.
3. Honeymoon: Sex on the Beach- Whether you’ve just moved out of your parents homes or been living together for years, the honeymoon is the time when you finally get to be alone and make romance happen. Why not toast to it with an aptly named tropical drink?
4. Valentine’s Day: Strawberry Kiss- Chances are good that if it’s Valentine’s Day you have a kiss on the mind, so start things off right with this creamy and delicious cocktail. Almost more like a dessert than a drink, it will leave your Valentine kissably sweet.
5. Proposal: Bellini- You could celebrate your love with plain Jane champagne or you could spice it up a little with some Bellinis. This champagne cocktail adds a dash of Peach Schnapps to the mix to make toasting to your happily ever after even sweeter.
6. Morning After: Mimosa- Ever the traditional brunch staple, it can also be a good way to treat your sweetie after she or he has shacked up at your place. If you’re feeling really thoughtful, you can accompany it with some waffles.
7. Romantic Night In: Orgasm- If you’ve decided to spend the night in cuddling with your sweetheart instead of out on the town, then try out this delicious cocktail. While it may not exactly deliver on its name, it will certainly satisfy your desire for a good, but sweet cocktail.
8. Break Up: World’s Strongest Cocktail: There’s nothing like a good binge to wipe the memory of your beloved right on out of your mind and this eight shot drink has enough booze in it to knock out a donkey. It should suffice to erase your puny human memory– at least for the night.

Events

9. Birthday: Birthday Cake- What this drink has to do with birthdays or cakes we’re not sure, but regardless it sounds delicious and the name alone is enough of an excuse to order up a round for the birthday boy or girl.
10. Wedding: Kir Royale- This drink sounds just as classy as it is and it’s a perfect addition to the traditional champagne you’ll have for toasting. Originating in France, this drink mixes black currant liqueur with the zesty bubbles of champagne for a formal and delicious drink.
11. Bachelor/Bachelorette Party: Mind Eraser- After the kind of debauchery that will likely ensue at your party you may want a few of these to do just what the name suggests. Who are you kidding, you probably won’t need any help. But you can still enjoy this delicious drink, meant to kill your brain cells even faster by being drunk through a straw.
12. New Job: Ruby Celebration- Why not toast to your success with a little champagne and a little something else to boost? This drink mixes the classic celebratory champagne with a twist of vodka and cranberry.
13. Graduation: The Graduate- By graduation, we of course mean college graduation, and you can reward the intrepid graduate, or yourself, as the case may be, with this fruity and sweet concoction.
14. Wake: Funeral for a Friend- Everyone knows that funerals can be rough to get through, either because you knew the departed well or because your family irritates you to no end. Either way, you can toast to the deceased with this minty but deceptively strong drink.
15. Retirement: Piña Colada- This Caribbean drink is the perfect send off to those soon headed to the warmer climes of Florida to retire.
16. Bridal Shower: Daiquiri- A bridal shower is the perfect place to serve a fruity sweet drink like a daiquiri. Because there are so many flavor options, the most popular being strawberry, however, you can mix it up and have a little bit of something to please everyone.
17. Housewarming: Bronx- One of the few cocktails invented before the advent of prohibition, the Bronx is a delicious orange twist on the perfect martini. It’s a great and classy choice for toasting to your new digs, and less likely than many other cocktails to stain your new carpet.

Weekend

18. Bowling: White Russian- Let’s be honest, this drink itself has absolutely nothing to do with bowling, yet you can’t possibly drink one without thinking about "the Dude" and his love of both the White Russian and bowling. Have one mixed up for you the next time you hit the lanes.
19. Golfing: Golf Cocktail- This simple variation on the martini can be a great way to wrap up 18 holes in style. Just make sure you aren’t driving the cart after having a few of these.
20. Gambling: Singapore Sling- Served for free on Singapore Airlines, this drink can also be a delicious addition to a night of gambling at the casino. A favorite of quirky journalist and novelist Hunter S. Thompson, hopefully your consumption of them won’t leave you as muddled in Vegas as the characters in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
21. Poolside: East India Cocktail- This prohibition era drink is a perfect addition to your next pool party. Light and fruity with loads of pineapple, it certainly won’t leave you thirsty while you’re showing off that new swimsuit.
22. BBQ: Mojito- A favorite of both cantankerous writer and Cuban emigre Ernest Hemingway and James Bond, the mojito is a great drink for summer BBQs. The refreshing combination of mint and lime will help quench your thirst after all those hot dogs.
23. Ice Skating: Irish Coffee- Brought to the US in the 1950s, this drink has enjoyed several different incarnations that vary the ingredients slightly. No matter how you choose to make it, it’s a great way to warm up after a twirl around a frozen pond or your local ice rink.
24. Girls’ Night Out: Cosmopolitan- Boosted in popularity by the women of Sex in the City, this drink is the perfect choice for a girls’ night out. Not to mention it’s delicious and you’ll look sexy drinking it.
25. Watching the Game: Touchdown- While beer is usually the drink of choice for sports aficionados, for those looking for something a little fancier, this aptly named cocktail can be a delicious alternative of bourbon, lemonade and iced tea.
26. Summer Evening: Mai Tai- This fruity drink is perfect for warm summer evenings, though it contains a long list of ingredients. With a name coming from the Tahitian for "the best" you can’t really go wrong.
27. Garden Party: Pimms Cocktail- The Pimms Cocktail is the ultimate garden party drink, whether you’re playing croquet or just lazing about on the veranda. It’s designed to be give you a bit of a buzz but "weak enough to be drunk all afternoon"
28. Beach: Kiwi Whiskey Sour- Give this classic drink a summery twist by adding a hint of kiwi, making it a perfect choice for sipping while sitting under your umbrella or soaking up some rays.
29. Watching the Races: Mint Julep- This drink is a southern classic and one that no horse race could do without, especially not the biggest one, the Kentucky Derby. So whether your favored horse wins or loses, you’ll still get to enjoy this delicious and refreshing drink.
30. Hitting the Slopes: Dreamy Winter Delight- Why settle for regular hot chocolate when you can have this hot cocktail instead to warm you up after you’ve come in from the snowy slopes? The additions of Irish cream and Amaretto liqueur keep this drink a sweet treat for those post slope cuddles by the fire.

Business

31. Work Party: Black Russian- This cocktail owes its name to the Cold War, but it won’t leave you cold when you drink it. This mix of vodka and coffee liqueur is a great after dinner treat for mingling with coworkers.
32. Business Lunch: Dirty Martini- The three martini lunch used to be compulsory for those in the business world back in the day. While it’s doubtful that you could get away with that today, having one won’t hurt, and the olive juice might even be good for you.
33. Happy Hour: Manhattan- The Manhattan is an old-school classy drink, originally created in 1874 at the Manhattan Club in New York. After its invention, it became the most popular pre-dinner drink in the United States, after the martini of course, so have a few as appetizers the next time you’re out with coworkers.
34. Sealing the Deal: Bourbon Highball- This drink is essentially bourbon straight up, which is perfect for celebrating making a big deal. Plus it looks super cool and confident to drink.
35. Networking: Whiskey Sour- Part of the larger class of sour drinks, the whiskey sour is sweet enough to let you have a few to loosen up but sour enough so you won’t end up three sheets to the wind.
36. Meeting with Clients: Gin and Tonic- This drink sounds simple, but is incredibly easy to screw up, just like meeting with clients.
37. Schmoozing the Boss: Old Fashioned- Inspired by Colonel Pepper of Kentucky, this drink is a great complex blend of the kick of bourbon with the fruitiness of orange, embodying the both the strength and spunk you need to impress the boss.
38. Business Conference: Tom Collins- This classic cocktail is a great choice for impressing and maybe intimidating your competitors at your next business conference. It’s also a great refreshing and sour treat for you after listening to all those boring presentations.

Holidays

39. St. Patrick’s Day: Emerald Isle- This minty gin cocktail is a great choice for St. Patrick’s day revelers who want something a little different than the standard green beer.
40. Halloween: Zombie- While this drink may be sweet, it’s not for the weak, and may have you staggering around like a zombie yourself by the end of the evening. Drink with caution or you might need a Corpse Reviver the next morning.
41. New Years: Champagne Cocktail- Instead of ringing in the New Year with the old standard champagne, mix it up a little with a champagne cocktail. Toast your friends with this classy mix of champagne and brandy, but make sure the champagne is the extra dry kind, as it’s key to the integrity of the drink.
42. Holiday Party: EggNog- While you could just buy some pre-made eggnog at the store, it won’t be nearly as good as when this cocktail is homemade. The ultimate classic holiday drink, it’s great for just about any party and can bring back some serious Christmas nostalgia.
43. 4th of July: Americano- While this drink has a patriotic sounding name, it actually originated in Italy. It was named as such for its popularity with American tourists during those annoying booze-free years of Prohibition. Celebrate the end of prohibition and British tyranny with this sweet and sour drink.
44. Memorial Day: Caipirinha- The Caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil, and for that reason makes it a great choice for marking the start of summer. White rum, lime and sugar make it light and breezy, but also strong.
45. Thanksgiving: Cranberry Margarita- The staples of Thanksgiving include turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberries, but only one of those would make a delicious cocktail. This icy treat is perfect for sipping while you lie around in your post meal coma.
46. Mardi Gras: Sazerac- A product of the bayou culture, the Sazerac is the quintessential New Orleans cocktail and one of the oldest known cocktails. Originally made with Cognac and absinthe, today’s version uses Pernod and Rye Whiskey or Bourbon. Order one for Mardi Gras to drink like a native in the Big Easy.

Miscellaneous

47. Hangover: Bloody Mary- If you had a bit too much the night before, help ease yourself back into the land of the living with a Bloody Mary and a greasy breakfast.
48. Waiting at the Airport: The Aviation- This used to be one of the most popular cocktails back in the early days of aviation, supposed named because of its similarity to early flight– a risky venture not for the faint of heart. Bring it back the next time you’re hanging out in an airport on a lengthy layover.
49. Feeling Sick: Hot Toddy- Drinking may not be the first thing you think of when you get sick, but southern mothers have been swearing by this drink for ages and there are infinite variations on the recipe. Even if you’re not sick, it’s also great for warming up after being out in the cold.
50. Taking a Cruise: Sea Breeze- The mix of vodka, cranberry and grapefruit juices makes this a light and tasty drink for hanging out on the decks of a cruise ship. Just don’t drink too much and take a tumble overboard!

It’s your worst day ever: your car breaks down, you got a run in your panty hose, and you start to feel a cold coming on. Don’t worry about running to the doctor or spending a fortune on a replacement for a new car part; instead, check out our list of 101 quick fixes. From exercise tricks to organizational hacks these will help you get your day back on track in no time.

Health and Wellness

Monitor your health and wellness with these 5-minute check-ins.

1. Motivate yourself: Is your exercise motivation starting to suffer? HealthHacks.com recommends measuring your progress to motivate yourself to continue exercising and set new goals. Write down your personal expectations as a way to commit yourself.
2. Tone your arms: Whenever you’ve got a few extra minutes, give your workout a quick fix by doing this fast push up routine.
3. Take deep breaths: Take a minute to de-stress by relaxing your shoulders and taking several slow, deep breaths. You’ll feel instantly energized and will gain more perspective on your many to-do lists.
4. Listen to your favorite song: Another way to dispel stress is to take a few minutes to listen to your favorite song. If you’re at home, dance around the room to loosen up and relax.
5. Fitness Fix: Oops! You weren’t supposed to eat that whole piece of cake at the office birthday party. When you get home, try one of these intense cardio moves to blast extra calories.
6. Airborne: Many people swear by Airborne tablets when they want to avoid getting a cold. At the first sign of the sniffles, gulp down a glass (no matter how bad it tastes!)
7. Take a nap: This one might take a little longer than 5 minutes, but even a short cat nap will help your body rejuvenate, especially if you think you’re starting to get sick. Continuing to pull all-nighters will only make your system crash.
8. Quick Fixes for a Cold: From multiple glasses of orange juice to Zicam, find out what these Yahoo! recommend to help you feel better when you have a cold.
9. Alka-Seltzer: Whether you’ve got indigestion or a killer hangover, a glass of Alka-Seltzer will soothe your tummy in no time.
10. Slap cold water on your face: When you’re exhausted, nervous, or just need a little more perspective on life, run to the bathroom and slap some cold water on your face to bring back the more coherent, sensible you.
11. Meditate: Studies show that meditating for just a few minutes at a time can help to "increase energy and decrease anxiety and stress."
12. A Quick Fix for Fainting: The next time you feel faint, try "crossing your ankles and clenching your thighs together, or interlocking your fingertips and pulling in opposite directions, [which] makes the fainting feeling go away."

Home and Garden

From cleaning up the lawn to repairing furniture, this list is full of DIY projects that will improve the overall appearance and quality of your home.

13. Homestyle Cleaning Solutions: These Hints From Heloise homemade cleaning solutions will save you from having to run to the store to buy cleaning supplies to straighten up before company comes.
14. Patching up the roof: Until you can save up to call the roofers, use this guide to help you install metal flashings for a quick fix.
15. Reduce Swelling on Doors: To reduce the swelling on old doors, TextFiles.com advises homeowners to blow hot air from a hand-held hair dryer directly on the places that are causing the doors to stick. Once you have removed the moisture from those spots, the swelling will go down."
16. How to Clean a Lampshade: This article reveals a smart tip for getting rid of stains on a lampshade: rub a gummy eraser over the spots.
17. Heloise Tackles Holiday Stains: From coffee to cranberries, check out these fast fixes for getting rid of unsightly stains.
18. How to Drill Without Getting Dust in Your Eye: This quick fix was designed with DIY homeowners in mind. If you’re drilling a hole into the ceiling, cut a small hole into an aluminum pan and then hold it up over the hole you’re making in the ceiling.
19. Brighten up a room: When was the last time you dusted your lampshades or light fixtures? If you’re wondering why your room is looking so gloomy, take a dust cloth and swipe it over your light bulbs for a quick brightening trick.
20. Ten Quick Landscape Fixes: Clean up your lawn and garden with these temporary solutions to overgrown weeds and more.
21. Make the most of color: After the painters left, did you break down and change your mind about what color you wanted your walls to be? Prevention.com has an idea for how you can recover immediately: "Scavenge the rest of your house for accessories that will tone down the offending color" like contrasting pillows and accessories.
22. Make the most of your lighting: If your furniture is impossible dusty, dim the lights a little so your guests won’t see. Make the most of each room’s lighting to hide spots, stains and dust or to show off your cleanest, most attractive areas.

Food and Drink

Check out our list of quick fixes for recipes, drink ideas and solutions to other food-related crises.

23. Fastest Dinner Recipes: If you’re in a bind about what to cook for dinner, visit this site for GoodHousekeeping’s list of fastest dinner recipes.
24. Fake a Steamer: If you don’t have a steamer but are halfway through your recipe before you realize you need one, read this guide on how to improvise.
25. Upgrade your vodka: All of you’ve got is McCormick’s, and you just found out that your boss is coming over. Instead of rushing out to the liquor store, pour your vodka into a Brita. The filtered vodka will be much tastier with those martinis.
26. How to Avoid Crying When Chopping Onions: Get your eyes to stop watering by cutting out a cone from the bottom of the onion before you start chopping and dicing.
27. Stop the burn: After eating hot peppers or chiles, your mouth will be on fire. Water won’t help it cool down, so what do you do? Check out this post to find out what works.
28. Make a fire from a can of Coke and a chocolate bar: If you’re trying to make dinner in the middle of the woods but can’t seem to get a spark going, use this trusty hack from WildwoodsSurvival.com to make a fire.
29. How to Cure a Hangover: About.com writer Colleen Graham offers several quick tips for curing a hangover, including drinking orange juice, taking Alka-Seltzer, making a Bloody Mary and drinking pickle juice.
30. Quick and Easy Snacks: If you find yourself starving in between meals, don’t waste time (and calories) rummaging through the vending machine or cabinets for a little of this and a little of that. Visit this website to find the most effective snacks that will satisfy your cravings.
31. 10 Minute Meals: Can you really make an entire meal in 10 minutes? Follow these recipes to find out how to prepare delicious dishes in a flash.
32. Soften cookies that have been cooked too long: If your cookies came out crunchier than you wanted, put them into a ziploc bag with a piece of bread. Let them sit overnight, and they’ll be soft and yummy in the morning.

Travel

When you’re away from home, simple problems can seem so much wore. Read below for easy tricks to help you get back to your vacation.

33. Chew gum to stop ears from popping on a plane: Unless you can continue to induce yawning for 10 solid minutes, your best bet to stop your ears from popping during take-off and landing is to chew gum.
34. Soothe dry skin after a flight: After a long flight, your skin and lips could probably use a little rehydration. For skin, The Daily Obsession blog recommends Evian Water Spray. For lips, crush a capsule of Vitamin E and rub onto your lips.
35. Franklin Global Translator: If your college French skills suddenly take their leave the moment you land in Paris, use a portable electronic translator like this one to help you on your trip.
36. Instant Humidity: The 43 Folders wiki knows how to beat super dry hotel rooms: just wet an extra towel and hang it over your headboard to balance out the humidity.
37. Beauty Tricks for Travel: This article from MarieClaire.com has several great beauty hacks that will save you from the drying effects of long plane trips.
38. Fog-Proof Bathroom Mirror: Hotel bathroom mirrors are notorious for fogging up after each shower. This post suggests soaping up the mirror and then buffing it off with a dry towel to keep "the mist from condensing on the mirror."
39. Book online: If you need to change a flight or just want to plan a very last minute vacation, skip the travel agent and the airport agents and book online. Travelers can find great deals on Expedia.com or Hotwire.com.

Automotive and Electronic

From car parts to XBoxes, take a look at these tips for temporary solutions to broken down vehicles and electronics.

40. Quick Fixes for Better Sound: Want to get better sound out of your microphone or sound system without having to pay for new equipment? Check out this article, which gives great tips including cleaning your contacts, enabling high-res mode on plug-ins and more.
41. Fix a leaky radiator pipe with duct tape: TheCarConnection.com recommends using duct tape for patching up a leaky radiator pipe until you can bring your car into the shop.
42. Get rid of body rust: DoItYourself.com has a handy idea for buffing out rust on your vehicle. Dip a piece of steel wool in kerosene and use it to "rub away small rust patches."
43. Fix a dragging tailpipe with a coat hanger: If your tailpipe is dragging on the road, wrap a metal coat hanger around the pipe, "looping through where the clamp was and twisting it at the ends."
44. Prevent foggy windows: Use shaving cream to coat your car’s windshield when they start to fog up. You can buff it off with dry paper towels and "repeat whenever the windows begin to collect fog again, or after washing your windows with window cleaner."
45. Fix-A-Flat: If you can’t remember how to change your flat, or you’d just rather get off the side of the interstate as fast as you can, air up your flat tire with Fix-A-Flat, which "seals and inflates in just minutes," according to the product’s website.
46. Clean corroded battery terminals: Make your own cleaning solution made up of baking soda and water to clean corroded battery terminals and increase their connectivity.
47. Fix a dent: Instead of taking your car to the shop every time someone dents your car door in the parking lot, DoItYourself.com recommends getting the toilet plunger and "placing it over the dent. Pump the plunger to create suction, and pull. The dent should pop out when you pull away the plunger."
48. XBox 360 Towel Trick: Can you really fix an old XBox 360 with a fluffy towel? This article from engadget.com says you can, maintaining "that blanketing your 360 with a towel, firing it up for 10 minutes or so, turning it off, and then removing the towel will mysteriously allow your machine to function for a couple hours."
49. Use aluminum foil to fix your antenna: It’s an old school method that still works. If you’re getting terrible reception on your TV, try wrapping bits of tin foil around the antenna to attract a better signal.
50. 5 Quick Fix-It Tips for Your iPhone: If you’re having problems with your iPhone, use these quick fix-it tips to unfreeze it, manage the reset options and more.
51. Going Green: Follow these tips to find a way to go green even when you’re using technology.

Fashion and Beauty

Wardrobe malfunctions can happen at anytime. Arm yourself with these quick fix solutions that will help you look your best, no matter what.

52. Patch up panty hose: Paint clear nail polish around a run in panty hose to seal up the hole and prevent it from tearing even further.
53. Dry nail polish faster with cold water: After letting newly-painted nails air dry for two minutes, dunk them into a bowl of ice cold water to let the polish harden.
54. Zap a pimple overnight: Dab toothpaste on a pimple before you go to sleep to instantly dry it up. It might take two or nights for the pimple to go away completely, but this trick is especially effective if you can catch the pimple in its early stages.
55. Tame fly-aways with clear mascara: If you’re trying to control a specific hairstyle, or if the weather is too humid for your unruly hair, swipe a small amount of clear mascara over the fly-aways to hold them in place.
56. Look more awake with white eyeliner: After you’ve finished your makeup, do you still look like you could use a few more hours of sleep? Perk up your eyes by applying white eyeliner to the inner corners of your eyelid. You’ll only need a little bit to make your whole face look brighter.
57. Fix a pilling sweater: iVillage’s Beauty page has a quick fix for a pilling sweater: "Rub a piece of Velcro along the pilled fabric" to smooth it down.
58. Fix a Streaky Self Tan: This tip from CBSNews.com advises readers to "sweep a cotton ball soaked in 100 percent lemon juice over streaky areas" to blend in a tan.
59. Clean up make up stains: Remove make up stains from your clothes by gently rubbing baby wipes on the spot.
60. Improvise when you lose the back of an earring: The blog Beauty Women Advice suggests taking the eraser off a pencil to improvise when you lose the back to your earring.
61. Preparation H your face: If your face is swollen because you’ve eaten too much salt, you could gulp down several glasses of water (which will only make your tummy bloated for the next few hours). Or, you could "massage massage a pea-size dab of Preparation-H on swollen areas…and wash it off after 15 minutes," according to a December 2001 article in Shape magazine.
62. Quick Fix for a Locker Room Disaster: This blogger writes about saving face when she realizes the only products she has in her locker room bag are a blow dryer, black eyeliner and Udderly Smooth Udder Cream.
63. Slim down your face with make up: Forget dieting. This beauty quick fix shows readers how to slim down their faces with a few makeup tricks, like playing up eyes, plumping up lips and highlighting your cheeks with bronzer, blush and highlighters.
64. Lipstick recipe: You’re in a rush to meet your date on time, and you realize that you’re out of lipstick — or worse, your lipstick just broke off in your rush to crack open the tube. Realsimple.com has a recipe for improvising at the last minute: Dab cream or even powder blush onto your lips and then top off with lip gloss or Chapstick to smooth it over.
65. 3 Quick Fix Makeup Tips: What do you do when you realize you’ve put on way too much makeup? Don’t wash your face and start all over: read this guide to help you fix your face in seconds.

Gift Giving

Have you been procrastinating or did you really not receive the invite until the day of the party? Find last minute gifts with these clever ideas.

66. The Gift Card: Gift cards from department stores, boutiques, restaurants and cinema houses are great presents that require hardly any thought. Pick one up on the way to the party for a quick fix.
67. Money: Stuff your extra cash into a card for a gift that will be appreciated by anyone.
68. Lottery Tickets: Lottery tickets are cheap and fun additions to any card or gift bag. Throw in a few scratch off games, but only if they agree to share the big prizes with you!
69. Unused bath soaps: Everyone has an extra stash of shower gel and pretty bath soaps under the sink. As long as they’re still in the wrapper and the seal hasn’t been broken, swipe your unused bath soaps and scented lotions for an indulgent gift.
70. Magazine subscription: This gift idea is the perfect quick fix, because you don’t even have to buy it in time for the party. Just slip one of the order inserts from one of the recipient’s favorite magazines into a card, and tell them their first magazine will arrive in the mail shortly. Don’t forget to order it as soon as you get home.
71. Baked goods: If you forgot to bring a gift for the host or hostess of the party you’re attending, put some Ready to Bake! Pillsbury cookie dough into the oven. Your host will appreciate the gesture, and besides, who doesn’t love homemade cookies?

Study Reviews

Last minute cram sessions require these quick-fix websites and guides when you need to review for a test fast.

72. SparkNotes: Touted as "today’s most popular study guides," the SparkNotes review guides are a great way to review for tests, class discussions or essay assignments. If you didn’t read the book, you can find in-depth character analyses, a section that outlines themes and motifs and of course, a plot overview.
73. PinkMonkey: PinkMonkey also features a vault of study guides for books and college text books.
74. Study World: Students can find Cliffs Notes, Monarch notes and other useful study guides here for a quick fix when trying to review for class.
75. Babel Fish: Your Spanish paper is due in 30 minutes, and you’re still having trouble translating the title! Use Babel Fish to help you translate in a flash.
76. FreeTranslation.com: FreeTranslation.com is another website that offers free translation services that are instant and reliable.
77. CliffsNotes: CliffsNotes claims to be "the fastest way to learn." Get help with study guides in all subjects, not just literature.

Professional Quick Fixes

Sometimes it’s just not your day. Read below to find out how to deal with stressful situations, manage clients and more.

78. 30 Quick Fixes for Windows XP and Vista: If your office computers run on Windows operating systems, chances are you’ve got a lot of little bugs now and then. Check out this popular article for how to make the most of your Windows computer.
79. Quick Fixes for Wardrobe Troubles: This article shows professionals how to make the most of their office supplies when you have a wardrobe malfunction.
80. Sign up for a spam filter: If your inbox is constantly being inundated with junk e-mails, clean it up in a flash by adding a spam filter that will prevent unwanted e-mails from barging in.
81. Set up an automatic reply message when you’re swamped: If you’re totally swamped at work and don’t have time to answer the phone or respond to e-mails, set up an auto reply message letting clients know that you’ll have to get back to them later that day. Simply ignoring the e-mails won’t work; it will probably just encourage people to start calling you on the phone.
82. Start labeling: With all that mess on your desk, you’re probably wasting lots of time trying to figure out what everything is and where it goes. Start an impromptu labeling system — even if consists of writing on folders with a Sharpie — to give your lack of organization a quick fix.
83. Ask for help: This quick fix is actually a smart idea that will pay off in the long run. When you’re overwhelmed, you probably won’t be able to get much done anyway. Consult your supervisor for a fast way to gain a little perspective.
84. Delegate: If you’re honestly unable to juggle all of your responsibilities one day, hand a few duties over to your employees. Ask the intern to organize your files, or have your secretary make a couple of phone calls for you. Just be sure to say thank you at the end of the day.
85. Send e-mails instead of using the phone: If you want to check in on clients to make sure they aren’t feeling neglected, send a brief e-mail to ask how they’re doing and if they’d like to schedule a meeting at a later date. Picking up the phone will just open you up to small talk.
86. Last Minute Marketing Strategies: This article has great ideas for businesses who need to patch up their marketing strategies quickly.
87. Donate to a charity: Does your company have a reputation for being greedy, unreliable or too expensive? All you need is some good PR. Donate your services or a percentage of your holiday profits to a local charity, and then send a press release to the newspaper to boost your public image.
88. Request an extension on your taxes: If you file your taxes as an individual, NFIB.com reports that "you can request a six-month extension using Form 4868, the Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return." You’ll have to pay your taxes eventually, but this quick fix will save you from having to pay a fine as well.

Organizing

Make your home clutter free with these instant quick fixes for organizing.

89. Feng Shui your room: Rearrange your furniture to give your room a bit of a boost. The principles of feng shui hold that moving around items in a room promote the free flow of energy, which in turn gives you more energy and increases your productivity.
90. Donate items to charity: A fast way to declutter your closet is to throw items you no longer want or need into a box or garbage bag. Toss the bag into your trunk and drop it off at a Goodwill station the next time you drive by.
91. Throw things away: Don’t go overboard with this tip, or you might regret it later. But a quick fix for emptying a room of its mess is to pick up trash and throw unwanted items that no one else can use in the trash.
92. 60 Second Organizing Tip: About.com writer Sarah Aguirre reveals easy and super fast ways to clean up the house when you don’t have much time.
93. Vacuum to make a room smell better: If you don’t have hours to sit around waiting for the new potpourri to work its magic, run the vacuum through a room to freshen it up. You’ll be surprised at how much better it smells.
94. Load up the dishwasher: Clear off the counter and empty the sink by throwing dirty dishes in the dishwasher for an instant clutter removal trick.
95. Utilize the utility room: If you have piles of dirty clothes on the floor but no time to do laundry, go ahead and throw a load into the washing machine or even the dryer, but don’t run them until after your guests leave.
96. Air freshener: Spray air freshener into the fan to improve the smell of an entire room. The fan will help circulate the scent much faster.
97. Throw everything into the bedroom: As a last resort, move all of the clutter into another room to give the illusion of a neat house. Just remember to close the door!
98. Hang a picture over cracked paint: If there’s a stain on the wall or the paint is starting to flake off, hang up a picture from another room over the spot to cover up the damage.
99. Last Minute Holiday Organizing Tips: Check out this list of tips that will help you get organized for the holidays. All it takes is 5 minutes.
100. Sort your mail: To help you organize your life, set up a simple filing system for your mail. Separate envelopes into piles for bills that need to be paid, letters that need to be responded to, and junk mail that can be thrown away.
101. Make your bed: An unmade bed can make the whole room look much worse than it actually is. Straighten up the covers, arrange the pillows neatly, and watch your room transform.

Whether you work from home or have a separate office space for meeting up with clients, your work area is probably cluttered with loose documents, disorganized filing cabinets and messy paperwork. Web workers are on the computer most of the day anyway, so why not transfer all of your files onto a Web-based system? Read below for 25 online filing systems that will make your life much easier.

1. Files Anywhere: This popular filing tool provides features like easy-to-use upload and delivery functions, secure encryption services, file sharing options and much more.
2. Xdrive: Xdrive offers up to 5GB of free online storage to its users. Back up important files, and access all of your uploads from any computer, no matter where you are.
3. FileCroc: Once you’ve organized your files online for yourself, you can use FileCroc to share documents, images, videos, software programs and other files with your business associates.
4. Your File Link: Store large documents and images at Your File Link, a system which provides "both fast uploading and downloading times" and a secure connection.
5. Box: This filing favorite offers free online file storage, Internet file sharing and more. Box gives users the option of setting up an individual, business or enterprise account, depending on your company needs.
6. FileSend: Web workers will love the fast, hassle-free delivery system from FileSend. FileSend hosts your files and lets you select the e-mail addresses you want your documents to be sent to.
7. Hotlink Files: Hotlink Files is "your hard disk on the net." Users can store and share files, including photos and videos which can be backed up for maximum protection.
8. Savefile: If you need to share and collaborate on many different projects at once, use Savefile to upload your files. All files will be given links that others can use to download the documents.
9. Upload Jar: Your files will never be deleted on Upload Jar, a free file hosting service that maximizes online storage space.
10. FileXoom: This service is "the largest host that allows direct linking." A free account will grant users up to 2GB of of free file uploads, including mp3s, documents and photos.
11. .ionEngine: Advanced Web workers should try out .ionEngine to organize their huge lists of downloads and files.
12. Haizon File Renamer: This "industrial-level file sorter, file organizer [and] file renamer" automatically renames your files based on their content, and then organizes them into different folders.
13. Atlast! File Notes Organizer 3.5: This shareware download organizes and catalogs all of your files, including photos, videos and audio files.
14. FileWind: FileWind features unlimited storage and downloads, and claims to have a fast connection and around the clock system support.
15. FileMatrix: The FileMatrix doesn’t just organize your files online. It’s also a file manager, allowing you to rewrite and redesign image filers and effects, backup files, automate file copy, and more.
16. HTTP Commander 6.0: This Microsoft-compatibile filing system features file management capabilities like moving, copying, deleting and renaming, as well as search options and a Files and Folders MetaData tool, which allows Web workers to customize their files’ advanced properties.
17. WebFileExplorer: The WebFileExplorer can be used remotely, so that you can access your files even when you’re away from the office.
18. File Folder Organizer 3 3.14: Windows users can organize files online with this software solution.
19. Web-a-File: This remote access file storage center and manager backs up your files in a "reliable data center" and is so flexible that "you can use any Internet device, host, provider, browser and location around the world to access your files."
20. Furl: If you stumble across a Web page with an inspirational design or idea, save a copy to Furl, "your personal Web file." This system also lets you share your saved files and search for sites that others may have found interesting.
21. Click2File: Whether you’re a contractor or someone’s supervisor, you could probably use some straightening out all your tax-related documents. Use Click2File to organize your documents online and pay them electronically when the time comes.
22. Basecamp: Basecamp is generally used for its excellent project management and collaboration capabilities, but its file sharing and storage features are also useful. Keep track of important documents, pay sheets, and other office records in one stop with this online tool.
23. MediaMax: Streamload’s MediaMax is "the best online storage on the Web." Users can take advantage of the 25GB of free storage, secure backup system, and file sharing options.
24. Scribd: Scribd is an excellent tool for Web workers who want to store and publish and embed their files online. An unlimited number of files of any size are accepted.
25. iDC File Manager: Features of the iDC file manager include compatibility with all browsers, a built-in search facility, no file size transfer limits, and a secure file sharing system.

Converting your papers and documents into online files is a way to securely and effectively protect your business and communicate with clients and vendors. Try out any of these 25 online filing systems in order to clean up your office and help your business grow.