Autumn days are long and lazy? Not for today's busy families. Between work, children's activities, and vacation plans, even breezy fall days don't seem long enough to get everything done at home.

There's a solution for busy times. Just as your body needs a "minimum daily allowance" of vitamins and minerals, an organized home needs a minimum of maintenance and attention to keep running smoothly.

Think of this as a Magic Minimum: a short list of essential household tasks. It's a bottom-line list of chores and activities necessary to keep things running at a basic level.

With a working Magic Minimum plan, the household stays afloat, even when time is short. Read more »

Every family needs a family disaster plan, and that goes double during the volatile hurricane season. Solution? Try this interactive Family Preparedness Plan generator from Weather.com.

To create a plan, jump to the link below. Step-by-step, you'll add personalized information about family members, pets, meeting place and location of emergency supplies.

When finished, the plan generator provides printable identification cards, checklists and forms for your household notebook:

Create a Family Preparedness Plan

Getting organized! For many, that phrase is synonymous with "Buy Me!" Savvy retailers know that Get Organized Fever breaks out at predictable intervals, and tailor ad campaigns to capitalize on the desire to create an organized home. Too often, CEO hears the cry, "But I can't afford to get organized!"

No doubt about it, there are many marvelous products on the market to help achieve better home and personal organization. But getting organized doesn't necessarily require spending money.

Try these tips to get organized without becoming a spendthrift: Read more »