Here at OrganizedHome.Com, we love 3-ring binders. That's why we adore this travel tip for families with children: use free printables to create a kid's activity binder before traveling.

Use these links to print free coloring pages, word games, puzzles and activity sheets. Assemble a binder for each child, and add a zipper bag containing crayons, markers, pencils and game tokens to keep the kids amused for hours of peaceful drive time.

Find free printables for kids at these Web sites:

KidsDomain.com Printables

PBSKids.org Games, Stories and Coloring Pages

TheKidzPage.com Coloring Pages

FamilyFun.com Printables

Summer's here: it's time to take to the road!

Summer vacation travel can be enriching, enjoyable and exciting--but only if you're organized. The family that fails to plan for summer travel can end up frazzled, frustrated and longing for the quiet comfort of home.

This year, get ready! We've assembled OrganizedHome.Com's best, easiest tips to organize summer vacation travel. Bon voyage!

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.

Who can imagine summer without summer food? Steaming corn-on-the-cob, each kernel bursting with sweet flavor. Burgers and barbecue. Ice cream sundaes. The crisp red smile of a watermelon wedge, dripping with sweet juice.

There's a darker side to summer meals. Food budgets groan under the strain of substituting quick-cook steaks and chicken breasts for thrifty stove-top casseroles. Ravenous children make the refrigerator door thump-thump-thump like a dog's tail. Catch-as-catch-can mealtimes, eaten on the run, substitute convenience for nutritional value. What's a summer cook to do?

With creative meal planning strategies, summer doesn't have to bust the food budget, toss nutrition to the winds, or reduce the family chef to a melted, quivering puddle reminiscent of the Wicked Witch of the West. Try these suggestions for simpler, saner, cooler and more nutritious summer meals:

Summer's here, hot, high and sweaty. Vacations beckon. The garden takes on a life of its own.

Busy families don't have much time for home chores these months. School's out, travel's in and it's easy to let life slide on the home front.

Still, summer will run more smoothly if you keep tabs on these important areas in the Summer Cleaning Chore Checklist.

Our checklist list tackles hot-weather issues, summer health and safety:

Smart cookies know that getting organized doesn't have to break the bank. That's why we were delighted to see this article from BHG.com:

Dollar Store Closets

You'll find tips to use Dollar Store finds to organize closets for kids and for adults. Colorful, fun and cheap!

It's silent. It's sneaky. It creeps about in corners: clutter. When the state of the house aggravates you to your last nerve, it's tempting to launch an all-out battle in the war against clutter.

First, though, know your enemy! There are as many reasons for household clutter as there are clutterers. As Pogo says, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us!"

Take aim on your household's clutter problem by going to the root of the problem: your own thinking.

What's your clutter personality ... and which of these internal voices strikes a chord?

Do you know where your tax records are? Chances are, they're swimming in a stack of paper ... somewhere.

Rafts of paper flood into the average home each day. The mailbox discharges letters and bills and bank statements. Briefcases explode with professional journals, pay stubs and calendars. School backpacks unload children's artwork, meeting notices and sports schedules.

Paper clutter costs money, time and stress. A missing permission slip derails the entire family on the way out the door. Hide-and-seek bills lead to late payment fees. Lose the roster, and it's back to the Yellow Pages each time you need to contact the soccer car pool.

Without a plan for paper management, a household can drown in a rising tide of paper. Take back your time with these simple tips to pull the plug on paper clutter:

For most families, food budgets are relatively elastic. Compared to fixed expenses like mortgages or car loans, they're the area where you have the most choice about how much to spend each month.

Think so? Think again! Visit the supermarket, and you'll be subjected to a barrage of proven tactics, all designed to encourage over-spending.

Check out this article from MSN Health and Fitness, listing 10 Things Your Grocery Store Doesn't Want You to Know.

It'll help you wise up to the many ways the market is after your wallet.

Our favorite:

There’s nothing haphazard about the layout of your grocery store. ... Walk in the front doors and chances are you’re faced immediately with hard-to-resist items (not on your list) like fresh-cut flowers or just-baked loaves of bread. Just try walking past them en route to a carton of milk without tossing something extra into your cart. In fact, research has shown that 60 percent to 70 percent of what ends up in our carts is unplanned.

10 Things Your Grocery Store Doesn't Want You to Know

A freezer can be a powerful kitchen friend for food storage, menu planning and convenience, but to use the freezer to best advantage, you have to know what's inside.

Okay, so our free printable freezer inventory form isn't for everybody.

Check out this clever freezer inventory solution from blogger Lunch In A Box: refrigerator magnets.

Using magnetic freebies, color photos from the weekly food ads and a bit of creative inspiration, she's created a simple, visual reminder system to keep track of freezer contents:

Magnets To Track Freezer Inventory