Check out our friends Buttoned Up (www.getbuttonedup.com) for lifestyle and family organizing tips and tricks. I’m also their featured Guest Guru of the Week. How I got title, I’ll never know. As my wife will attest (or complain), I am not super-organized. Or, maybe I’m organized, but have way to much stuff. Having kids, though, forces you to get a few things in order.

1. Photos are top of the list because if you don’t get a system you’ll be awash in digital ink like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. Find one computer and keep everything on it. Don’t let anyone put photos on any other machine until you make sure to have one major repository that you know is complete, and that you BACK UP. With mulitple cameras,phones, and computers, the temptation is to have multiple collections as you load and erase cards. Not a good plan if you don’t want major gaps. Start now and never look back.

2. Okay, wills and trust should have been first. Get this done before the baby arrives and update it with every new child or change in situation. Not enough can be said about the value of this, even if assets are short right now. Your biggest assets are your family and you have to plan who would take care of them in the worst of situations. In fact, that is the one thing you need in your will.

3. Start a 521B education savings plan for the kids, even if it’s just $100. Saving for college will take 18 years. Don’t put it off even for a few years.

4. Organize your medical information in a file box in the kitchen where you can get to it easily with each doctor visit. Even if you are lucky not have any major health concerns, keeping good records of doctor advice and kids’ development will come in handy when you forget what to do for some periodic malady that rears it’s head in the middle of the night. Likewise, keep all the medical research books in a handy place where you can find them.

Get Buttoned Up has lots of tools and ideas to organize yourself better. If you’re the kind of person who needs that for a kick in the pants, or needs it feel you have it all under control, that’s the place to go!