Five Free Tools to Help Keep You Organized

Google Calendar

I no longer fool myself that I can remember appointments. I've given up that dream. Yes, you may have Outlook or some other calendar software. But this is free, and it's really helped me to keep me from forgetting appointments. I enter every appointment into Google Calendar and have it send me either a text message or email to remind me of them, usually an hour or so beforehand. You can also share your calendar with other people.

Keep Your Family On Track

Okay, maybe it's more that you want to keep yourself on track, but you know all those times that you forget to tell your spouse or the babysitter what time the soccer game is? Or your spouse gave you a shopping list and you left it at home? Cozi, whose tagline is "Family life. Simplified" is an indispensable tool. The free account includes a calendar, customizable To Do and shopping lists, reminders and messages and, perhaps most essential, the ability to easily access Cozi from a mobile phone.

Access Your Home Computer from Anywhere

Log Me In is a lifesaver. You know when you leave something on your computer's hard drive that you really need to look at from work? Or you turned off your antivirus software because it interfered with something, forgot to turn it back on and you're in a cold sweat now because you're at work and you know your kids are visiting sites that are going to totally infect your computer? No problem. Install Log Me In on your home computer and you can access it from any browser. Naturally, it runs a little slowly, but you can start up programs and access files easily.