aboutone - Stuff Parents Need

Tim and I are both really big fans of using Google Docs to try to manage our household in various ways. For many things, it works just great. But as life is getting a bit more complicated (just a part of getting older, I suppose), I find it not to be a totally comprehensive system. I’m finding myself overwhelmed with all the different documents and spreadsheets we are creating for various aspects of our lives and for Darah.

This is why I was excited to have the opportunity to review AboutOne. AboutOne is described as an affordable online storage system for families. Its design is more specific that what you will find at a place like Google Docs. It has categories for storing detailed information about everything from your best friend’s cell phone number to the amount you sold your home for (oh how I long to be able to fill that section out….PLEASE sell, house!!!). Best of all, the system is VERY secure, so there’s no need to feel concerned about putting your private information in the system. It’s on lockdown!

There are many great features to this site, but I want to tell you about a few that stuck out to me, in particular.

1. There’s a place to keep you medical records. This is so valuable! I can imagine taking Darah to the doctor for the first time here in Chattanooga (which reminds me…I need to schedule an appointment!) and being able to pull up a copy of her shot records from my phone (because yes, the odds are good that I’ll forget to physically bring them).

2. You can send pictures straight from your phone to your AboutOne account. Love that! This comes in especially handy when something cute is happening that you want to capture as a memory. I have so many cute pictures on my phone, but they never go anywhere because I don’t know where to send them!

3. You can keep track of the gifts that you get (or even that you have in mind) for loved ones. You guys would be so embarrassed for me if you saw the random scraps of paper that I often you to keep track of this kind of stuff. I’m very lucky if I don’t lose it before Christmas! With this system, you can also see what you got for the person last year. So helpful!

4. You can easily compile newsletters for your family based on the memories that you have entered throughout the month, or coming soon, throughout the year! I’m putting together our Christmas letter this way. Hooray!

When I first got started with AboutOne, I’ll admit that my launch was a bit bumpy. I was having a difficult time remembering to log in and make updates. About a week after I got started, I got an email from the company just asking how everything was going. I told them I was struggling a bit, and do you know what they did? They set up a web meeting with me to go over some of the features I hadn’t really noticed right away and to help me feel more comfortable getting around the site. That’s some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced! I learned how to create newsletters for family and friends, which is something I’m using to the fullest for our holiday letter this year (which I wanted to have out last week…AboutOne, I wish you could magically prevent me from procrastinating, but I suppose you aren’t magic!).

I’m very happy to be using the AboutOne system, and I think it is going to be such a great landing pad for all the important things we need to keep up with as a family. I also really like that the company is very open to feedback and is continually making improvements so that AboutOne can be exactly what families need it to be! Digital organization, here we come!

And I just want to point out, I have BARELY scratched the surface of what AboutOne can do. I highly recommend that you check it out!

Buy it!: AboutOne truly is affordable, with a one year membership fee of just $30/year. You can also go for the $5/month plan, or even try AboutOne free for 15 days!

Win it!: Oh my, you lucky ducks! FIVE Stuff Parents Need readers are going to each win a one year subscription to AboutOne! How awesome is that?! The contest will run until December 23rd at 11:59pm EST when winners will be selected using Random.org. The winners will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me about any struggles you are having with keeping your household organized (especially as it relates to any sort of data you need to keep up with). My answer: Oh my gosh, if you could see how I squirrel away tax info. Yikes, people. It’s ridiculous, and of course, doesn’t really work.

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: “Like” AboutOne on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Google Friend Connect (find it on my sidebar)

Be sure to enter the other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary subscription for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.