Product Review: Cozi

Everybody feels the urge to start the new year fresh and organized. I am a fairly organized person, with a calendar in the kitchen for everyone to use, a planner on my desk for myself, and what I call my "handy dandy notebook" in which I have 3 sections; homeschool planning, meal planning, and personal. So I have never thought of using any kind of computer based organizational tool...why do the same chore twice?

Then I heard about Cozi, a free internet based organizational tool designed for families. Cozi is so much more than just a calendar and a to-do list, although it does of course offer those items. With Cozi you can also search for dinner ideas from Betty Crocker and keep a family journal. They have cool downloads for your computer, like a screen saver made up of a collage of your own photos and the ability to link up with Microsoft Outlook. And the best part, besides that's it's free, is that it's super easy!

I set up an account in no time and without revealing any personal or vital info. Every family member that you want to include gets their own color for using with the calendar feature, so you can easily see who will be doing what and when. Well, I can do that with the calendar in my kitchen, true. But with Cozi my husband can access the calendar with Microsoft Outlook at his work! That is so helpful for us, as he often is out the door before I even wake...now he can see where we will be on any given day (and even get reminded of his own appointments lol.)

Now imagine this scenario...you walk up to the supermarket, grab your cart, look in your purse...and realize you left the shopping list on the kitchen counter. AGAIN. Yeah, you know you've been there, done that lol. Well, you can access Cozi and see your list from anywhere you have internet. Aw, but I don't have an internet ready phone. Cozi provides a toll-free number you can call to access your account! How cool is that? I actually tried this and it works! I called the number and heard the list read to me. You can also access your calendar this way. The list page gives you the option to make as many customized lists as you want.

There is also a neat family journal feature, where you just click and enter in any little piece of info you want to remember, and you can include pics (like embarrassing ones of your cat lol!) If you weren't interested in keeping a journal of family memories, you could also use this feature to track your exercise, the weather, even ideas that come to you that you may want to blog about.

Besides being able to link up to your Outlook, Cozi also offers a really cool screen saver download. I just clicked on download, hit yes or run or whatever when prompted, and then suddenly there is a wonderful collage of my family pics from the folder on my computer! It's a great way to see the pics that usually just sit in a folder. Love it!

Cozi turned out to be a very helpful organizational resource for me and I am glad I signed up. It's free, why not give it a try? If you sign up before February 4th you will be entered to win an in-home organizational makeover! Who doesn't need that?