Do you tend to carry the same things in your bag, whether you’re heading to the office or to the playground? I know this isn’t really a thrilling topic for a blog post, but I was noticing recently as I shoveled the contents from a milk-stained “casual” purse to my fancier “work” clutch that no matter where I’m going, I drag the same inventory along with me. Here’s my can’t-leave-home-without-it list:
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I took Rob and William, entering fifth and third grade respectively, to buy school supplies last night. My heart was pounding. My hands were sweating. It was difficult for me to let them choose their own colors/designs, rather than pressuring them into buying what I liked.

Relief came from the realization that I could buy school supplies for myself anytime I wanted to, even if I didn’t have my own list to consult. The nice thing about school supplies is they’re PRACTICAL. I bought two packages of Hello Kitty pencils, but I USE pencils. I bought a large package of many-colored Sharpie markers, but I USE Sharpie markers. I bought six 1-subject notebooks in assorted colors, six folders in colors to match the notebooks, a 3-ring binder with unicorns on it, and a Hello Kitty lunchbox, but I USE….uh.

Some more justifiably practical choices:
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Business are going through layoffs, freelance clients are cutting back on their budgets, and sitting down to balance the checkbook has never been so depressing. Short of outfitting your office walls with Xanax-dispensing pellet guns, is there anything you can do to make your work environment more tolerable?

Well, maybe so. A little extra organizational happiness can’t be a bad thing, right?

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Picked your 2009 calendar yet? It’s one of my favorite shopping trips of the year. I shop the week between Christmas and New Year’s, when calendars are 50% off at most bookstores. This started when we were younger and poorer, but now it feels like the sporting way to do it.

Shopping as sport makes me more open to unusual choices:  I might not choose a calendar of baby pigs if I’m paying full-price and choosing from the full line of options, but I might do so if I’m choosing from the picked-over shelves—and sometimes a calendar of baby pigs is the very thing I never knew I needed in my life.
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I am not saying that good things don’t come in small packages, because of COURSE they do.  But sometimes a $20 CD can look, well, smaller than $20.  And sometimes a $20 throw blanket can look bigger than $20.

If you’re cutting down on gift spending this year, you might want to get more bang for your buck, as it were, by saving yourself money—and also giving the recipient a way to save some money themselves.  Or you might be trying to snow your in-laws into thinking you spent more than you did.  I’m not going to look too closely at your motivations, I’m just going to give you some big-looking, small-costing ideas that happen to go along with all the things people say they’re doing to save money these days.
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If you like pink, October is a good time to shop:  a lot of pink stuff is available for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  If you’re like me, you like supporting that cause and also really like the way it justifies a purchase.

Coffee-Mate is offering a pink mug for $12.95; $5.00 is donated.
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For those of you who like tangible organization tools (as opposed to software), and you’re tired of the same old Day Runners, Day-Timers, Franklin Coveys, etc, this post’s for you. I’ve been looking at day planners recently, both because of a request to cover them here and the growing realization that the combination of two small children, a part-time office job, ongoing freelance assignments, and a swirling maelstrom of doctor’s appointments/errands/grocery lists/home and garden projects/ET-BLEEPING-CETERA is resulting in what you might call a need for improved personal productivity on my end.

Ahem. So, planners! Preferably interesting and/or unique ones! Let’s check them out:
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My maternity leave is drawing to an end, and I am both dreading and anticipating returning to work, if that makes any sense. There are things I’m really looking forward to: being around other adults, working on projects, and having an ongoing reason to get dressed before noon a few days a week. But of course I’ll miss being around the kids, especially since Dylan has officially entered the Adorable Cooing Phase of babyhood.

At any rate, when I get back to work at the start of May I’ll need to update some of the family photos I’ve got in my office. I mean, now there’s a whole new child to proudly display. Plus, I’d like to spruce things up in general — my workplace had just moved to a new building before I went on leave, so my office is kind of drab since I hadn’t bothered to personalize it much before leaving it empty for twelve weeks.

Do you have any cool ideas for spiffing up a workspace, and including items that remind you of your family? I’d love to hear them! Here are a few things I’ve been looking at:

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