Part 1 of this 10-part blog post series on the Modern Mom’s Guide to Time Saving Tools is all about saving helpful links. Learn how to access and organize all of your favorite links on the go!
Okay, I'll admit it. Even though I complain, I truly love being busy all the time. I love CHAOS. I love ORGANIZED Chaos. Occasionally, I'll get a kick out of having downtime. But I love staying busy. With a husband, kids, a primary career, a side photography career, and a side blogging career - I signed myself right up for this.
Every day people ask me, "How do you manage all of this?"
Easy: A supportive family. Grandparents who watch our little ones whenever we need to go do something. A husband who understands and shares this love of being busy (pretty much the only thing we have in common).
Beyond that, I also have some magic tools that also help me as well. I like to call these "Home Management" tools. In the next few posts, I'll be sharing some that I have come to depend on to help me manage my household.
A few posts back, I shared YNAB (short for You Need A Budget). Yep - that's what we use to manage our finance accounts. I call that a Home Management tool.
Today, I'd like to share with you another one: the Delicious Toolbar. And before you get your hopes up, its not food related.
It's a free service designed to save web links and be able to access them everywhere. So whether you are using your home computer, work computer, laptop, or iPad, it saves your link collections and so that you are then able to access them on the go. Here's what it looks like:
So how do I use this on a daily basis?
For example, it allows me to save my most commonly used sites, and be able to access them without having to type them out on the address bar. It also allows me to categorize them in the order I want to review them. Everyday, I'll access in this order for this category:
You can call me lazy, but every second counts for managing your time!
Second example: when I know a bill is being generated for a utility bill, I'll go online to check what I owe (instead of waiting for the paper statement). From Delicious, it links to the water, electricity, cable, internet, cell phone bill websites so that I don't have to type it in all the time. It takes me two clicks, and I'm right there! Whether I'm using my home computer, work computer, I can access it wherever. Can you tell I love having things in "the cloud"? Yes, I know I can use Bill Pay to send it directly to my bank account, but I like viewing the details on the company's site.
Last example: I'll create a tag (e.g. collection) called "Curtains". This is a DIY project for curtains that I had planned on doing. I've researched the best websites that illustrate how to make curtains or that have great tips and tricks. Then I'll save all the links in that specific tag and refer to them later! It's pretty ingenious if I ask me.
Additionally, with Delicious, I love love love being able to access my links on the left side of my browser. I am not a fan of click an arrow and having folders pop out. Scroll = awesome. Flyout Folders = not cool for Seng.
I know, its a personal preference that some people may not share, but its JUST so much EASIER to be able to scroll up and down. And yes, I know that Google Chrome and FireFox have the ability to "Sync" bookmarks as well, but I'm a fan on the left-sided toolbar.
One caveat to this home management tool: To see the "left" toolbar, you must be using the FireFox browser. So occasionally, I'll switch to Chrome (because I find it a snidge faster), but I can always rely on FireFox.
When I'm on my iPhone on the go, Delicious also has an app where its also categorized. So no more searching for the specific site - its all organized for you "in the cloud". Amazing!!! Your favorite links all in one spot. For the iPhone, it will launch from the app to whatever your default browser is. Caveat here is there is no "toolbar" per se, but you wouldn't want one anyway.
What's your favorite way of storing links?
You can get the Delicious Toolbar here. Happy managing!
P.S. Love this post? Great! Check out the other part of this series here: the Modern Mom’s Guide to Time Saving Tools.