There is a new online organization website that you may want to check out.

It is called AboutOne and it is in Beta testing.

It is an online website with 10 features that enables you to input and/or upload a variety of information, such as addresses, birthdays, passwords and documents. The selling point is that you are able to stream-line clutter and access the information anytime and anywhere if you are not at home.  So if your home office looks like the picture to the right, you might want to read on….

I got the opportunity to sign up for free one-year subscription to see how this website operates. After playing around with it, a couple of real examples where I can see this website being of tremendous value, include instances where: you find yourself at the Emergency Room, but can’t remember the name of the medication your husband takes; you are filling out insurance paperwork at the office and cannot recall your son’s social security number; or you get a call from daycare looking for a form. If you have inputted it or uploaded it into your account at AboutOne, you can find and get the information you need.

I actually tried it with my Dad, who is a contractor in Afghanistan. I uploaded a Health Care Proxy. He was able to download it on the other end. So, it a great tool to share information and documents with family around the world too. Makes it a lot easier (and safer) than to email it. AboutOne has a variety of online safety verifications, although I would advise to always take additional measures to protect your information, no matter what site you are on.

I have to say, I think the interface is really cute. I like the fact you can make it personal by uploading pictures for each contact, and the font and colors on the website makes inputting details more fun than tedious. There are clever “On this Day in History” links for birthdays, and the website offers (discreetly) some products for which you might be interested. For example, the site mentioned that ice cream should be covered in the freezer or it can absorb other odors. Then the site recommended some ice cream bowls via a link to Amazon.com.

You can schedule alerts to drop-off school forms or go to a doctor’s appointment. Everything is printable so you could print off contact information for the babysitter. While I am not there yet, as I only have a 1 year old, I can also see this as a great resource for keeping track of kids’ awards and honors for easy access for college applications.

One last function I specifically liked about the site was the ‘Family Newsletter’. When you enter certain information, like a school award that your daughter received, you can check off a box that will then auto-populate a newsletter later on. Perfect for holiday cards or emails to the family.

All in all, I think this website is great, but I will be honest and say that there were a few short-comings. For example, I wanted to input the paint colors I used in my house. That way, if I needed to remember the name of the paint on my living room walls, I could pull it up. Yet, there did not seem to be a place to put that information. Also, I am not sure everyone will find value with it. If you are a Mac user with a Mobile Me account, you may not find this tool to be anything more useful (albeit less glamourous) that you already have at your fingertips. Plus, like anything, it is only as functional as you make it. If you don’t spend time uploading information, than you can’t get access to it. Furthermore, it appears AboutOne does not have a smartphone app, like Dropbox, so I am not sure how you would be able to easily and quickly access the information on the go.

All that said, I think is it a fabulous option, especially with its document upload/download capabilities, to get rid of all the random pieces of paper and sticky notes everywhere in the house. Plus, AboutOne is collecting feedback about their site, so the site is going to take off. The AboutOne company has great videos to show you how to make the most of the site now, and they are relatively short videos. Thus, it is worth watching to see more about the company. They also offer other tips via their Facebook page and Twitter account.

Yearly membership is just $30, so it costs less than $3 a month, which is such a great value with the features they currently have and more on the way. Yet, they still give you the option to try it out risk-free for 15 days before signing up. However, I have some free one-year subscriptions to give out! So leave a comment below to enter!

If you are looking for an online organizational tool to store your family’s information, as well as having fun-functionality, like family newsletters, I would definitely suggest trying AboutOne.com.

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Rules:

Leave a comment about your paperwork clutter. One comment permitted per person; US entrants welcome.

Include your name and email in the appropriate fields so I can contact you if you win. (Including just first name or first name + last initial is OK!). Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be discarded. For full contest rules, click here, and your information will not be sold.

Entry period closes at 11:59pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, November 30, 2010.

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Image Credit: teaksato via stock.xchng.com