They're here!

Tumbling from the school bus, fresh from Field Day, with papers and projects and petrified sandwiches spilling in their wake: your children. It's summertime, and the living is easy.

Yeah, right.

Summer vacation is wonderful, no doubt about it. Damp heads and wet bathing suits, backyard tents and fireflies in canning jars. "Look, Mom!" rings out a hundred times a day, from the top of the pool slide to the bug-dotted bottom of an upturned rock.

Here comes the Kool-Aid Mom! She's all sweet smile and tidy clothes, calling cheerful children from the corners of the yard with a bell-like voice and tray of sweating, jewel-toned glasses.

Then there's the second day of summer vacation.

Every year, one in five American families makes a move --- and this year, it'll be your family on the road.

No doubt about it, moving can present the organizational challenge of a lifetime.

Every habit, every routine, every tiny piece of the mosaic of your life is tossed at random into a huge, cluttered van, to be shaken out and reassembled at the other end. It's a daunting task--but you can get organized and cut stress when the moving van arrives.

Moving on? Try these road-tested tips for an organized move:

Establish Move Central, and Make It Portable

Moving has more tentacles than an octopus. Between wooing The Amazing Disappearing Handyman at the old house and penetrating the layers of voice mail protecting The High-Tech Realtor at the new, you're making more calls than an old-time switchboard operator. It's easy to lose your mind along with your train of thought --- not to mention all those little business cards that will Enter Move Central.

Even if you never use a planner at home or on the job, a business planner or moving notebook is more important to a move than boxes and tape. Find one at the local office supply store. Get one with big pages, one for each day, and throw in some business card holders, zipper pouches and receipt envelopes.

Garage sale, tag sale, yard sale--whatever you call it, the garage or yard sale is part and parcel of the American way of life.

On sunny weekend mornings, slow-moving cars ("I brake for yard sales!") circle suburban neighborhoods as their occupants hunt baby toys and French-fry makers, auto parts and cocktail shakers.

If you're in active declutter mode, the next stop is your house! A yard sale can clear clutter and score some cash, but it helps to have a road map.

Try these tips for a successful yard sale:

Spring blows in with warm wind and the promise of ... spring cleaning? With the coming of spring, even the most casual home managers feel an inexplicable urge to move furniture, clean windows and vacuum baseboards to welcome the return of sunshine and warmer weather.

Certainly, there's a lot to be said for the notion of spring cleaning. It's a good time of year to rout out the dirt, dust and disorder that's crept into the home since the holiday season. By doing a thorough clean once a year, no area of the home gets too far removed from the results earned by energetic mops, vacuums and cleaning cloths. Longer days bring a new burst of energy for many of us, and using that bonus to deep-clean our homes seems like a good match for rising springtime spirits.

Then there's another point of view: that spring cleaning is unnecessary in an organized modern home.