What’s In Your Toolbox?

This morning I was greeted with a weekly email from TheBump.com, “Hi Amanda, your baby is 50 weeks old!” How nice of them to keep track of Emerson’s milestones for me. It’s funny how I find comfort in computer-generated newsletters but week after week I look forward to reading them. We’ve come a long way; from poppy-seed to watermelon to newborn to toddler – TheBump was right there with me. Any website that I can look to for insight and experience from other women is worth reading.

TheBump isn’t the only website that keeps me on track. In fact, there’s a handful of sites that my scatter brain needs to manage everyday life. Here’s my list of favorite virtual  ‘mom tools.’  What’s in your toolbox?

Diapers.com – Is this any surprise?
I love a good deal and there’s nothing better than free 2-day shipping! I refuse to buy diapers anywhere else because I’ve never seen lower prices or better service. Add to that a  selection of items that aren’t available at other baby stores and you get baby shopping heaven. The story of the toilet seat lock is a true testament to this…
We had just moved into our home and immediately started baby proofing. I was especially looking forward to installing the toilet seat lock I ordered from diapers.com (for reasons reaching far beyond baby safety) and even purchased a new seat before starting the job. After getting very personal with the toilet I realized the lock and seat were not compatible. Disappointed? Yes. Worried? No. I knew I would have no problem returning the lock as Diapers has a great return process. When I went to their website to print off the return label, it wasn’t available. I called customer service and they explained to me that because of the nature of the toilet seat lock, it wasn’t something that could be returned. Just when I thought I was out of luck they offered to credit my account for the price of the lock since it wouldn’t be of any use to me. In my opinion, you can’t ask for better customer service!

Alice.com – Stock up!
This is a recent discovery for me, but I’m excited about the ease of which I can shop for household products without making several trips to a big-box store and in turn avoid buying things I didn’t know I ‘needed’ in the first place. Buying home essentials through this website gets you free shipping and automatically applies manufacturer coupons to your order. How is this a bad thing? Even better is that Alice organizes your products for you and will remind you to order items that may be running low. Everything is customizable to your needs and fun to use. Great deals and a wide array of products add to it’s appeal.

AboutOne.com – Get organized!
This website does it all in terms of family organization. It’s like a brain that holds information for every aspect of your life and organizes it by family member. If you take the time to enter data this could really come in handy. Not only does it function as an address book, calendar and monthly newsletter generator but it will also hold medical records, home maintenance info, capital gain calculator, vehicle history and education history (it will even fill out your college applications for you)! It’s an easy way to print out instructions and emergency numbers for babysitters or upload important documents.  They’ve really thought of everything!

HealthyStuff.org – My shirt has WHAT in it?
This organization screens products for toxic chemicals. You can quickly and easily find product testing results for home improvement, pet, apparel, toys, cars and children’s products. This was a very handy tool when shopping for car seats. The chemicals and heavy metals found in some children’s products is quite alarming! If you’re looking for a good presentation of scientific research on specific products, this is the place to look. Educate yourself on the products used in daily life!

So there’s my army of websites, now if I could only find one to do laundry, vacuum and mow the lawn!

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