With the holidays come a slew of New Year’s resolutions and goals to be more productive and organized in the New Year. As we all know, the daily grind soon catches up with us, and it seems that those well-laid plans get thrown out the window by February. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to know where to start when it comes to re-organizing your life to get more out of it; this is when we most benefit from having tasks broken down into small, easy-to-manage pieces. Habit.Former is a unique product from Buttoned Up that aims to make organization as easy as playing cards!

Habit.Former is a deck of 30 cards, each of which list one easy-to-follow tip. The idea is that you complete just one card each day, and by the end of the month, you see a snowball effect of productiveness and organization. This makes the concept of overhauling your habits less intimidating to anyone who feels overburdened and stressed as it is – which is pretty much everyone these days! The tips on here range from tidying up during commercial breaks on TV to crossing one item of your to-do list, as well as rejuvenating activities like “Plan a fun Saturday night” and those I’ll-get-to-them-someday projects like making an emergency plan. The cards are simple, and with the items broken down into just one task per day, it makes it feel much more achievable than looking at a giant list of things to do “Eventually”! I think this would be a great stocking stuffer for anyone who has expressed an interest in self-improvement products or has asked for items that can help them stay organized.

Habit.Former is available on ButtonedUp.com for $6.95. I received a complimentary product for the purposes of this review.

“Slap bracelets” used to be in vogue when I was a kid. Remember those? They were the thin pieces of fabric-covered metal that you’d be eternally slapping on your wrists. Well, our friends over at Nite Ize have come up with a great modern-day equivalent that actually serves a very important purpose: Meet SlapLit!

SlapLit is a creative take on good old slap bracelets, with a practical twist – this “Bracelet” actually contains LED lights, which glow bright red when turned on. This can be worn around the wrist, arm or ankle, and has two light settings: One emits a solid glow, while the other flashes. This product is ideal for everything from outdoor activities to athletic endeavors and even emergency situations – wouldn’t it be nice to have something like this in your car that you could pull out in the event of a nighttime breakdown? Not to mention, this would be ideal for people like runners and bicyclists to wear to help increase their visibility and avoid traffic hazards. And yes, these would be great for raves, too.

You may remember Nite Ize from our review of their INOVA X1 Flashlight earlier in the month – as with that product, I think that SlapLit is a great stocking stuffer item for guys. I’ve put this aside for Jai’s Christmas stocking – he loves fiddling around with these type of items, so I know he’ll have a great coming up with creative uses for SlapLit!

The SlapLit is available on NiteIze.com for $11.99. I received a complimentary product for the purposes of this review.

How do you keep track of your passwords? These days, it seems like we all have a million passwords to remember – from logging into your email to ordering a pizza, so many things that we do each day require a password. Many years ago, I used a blank notebook that I picked up at a dollar store to start recording my passwords. The book is a confusing mess, since it’s in chronological order – when I change passwords, I have to strikethrough the old one and scribble the new one underneath, or write it on an entirely different page altogether. The book is now getting so old that pages are starting to fall out of it. I’ve been intending to copy this information over to a more organized planner – so when I received a complimentary Password.log in the mail from Buttoned Up, it couldn’t have been better timing.

Password.log aims to help you keep better track of your passwords, with neatly organized boxes for you to list down all your passwords. Each slot prompts you for the site title, URL, your username, the password, and then allows a generous space to note password changes, along with the date of the change. There is also a small space where you can make any other relevant notes. I think this is SO fabulous! I won’t have to parse my confusing jumble of password information any longer, as it will all be laid out clearly. The only thing I would change about this book is that it would be nice to have the option to list information alphabetically.

If you’re in need of a good stocking stuffer for a techie guy on your list, this Password.log would make for an ideal gift!

With the holidays come good cheer, yummy food, and time with family. Living on the Oregon coast, there’s one other occurrence you can expect this time of year: A power outage. We experience a lot of big storms during the winter, and inevitably one of them will knock the power out. Because of this, I try to keep flashlights handy throughout the house, so that we can grab one easily when the lights go out. So I was intrigued to learn about INOVA X1, a powerful, compact flashlight by Nite Ize. This flashlight measures only 4 inches long, but boasts a powerful beam – according to their website, the beam from this torch can be seen in the dark for up to 1.5 miles. That’s a lot of illumination from such a small flashlight! So how does INOVA X1 measure up when you put it to the test?

I received a complimentary INOVA X1 to test out, and I was very interested to see how it would perform. The design on this is sleek and compact – idea for tucking in your glove compartment or pocket. I took this into the darkest room in our house – the laundry room, which has no windows – and turned off the light so that it was pitch black. I turned on this flashlight, and it did a good job of lighting my way so that I could see where I was going; I would absolutely use this in a power outage. This flashlight runs on 1 AA battery, which is included, and has a “High” and “Low” setting. According to the package, it will last for 1 hour and 45 minutes on high, and 40 hours on low. It’s also water resistant – another nice feature for us Oregonians!

Guys can be tricky to buy for, so if you’re wondering what to get the man on your list, I would definitely recommend this as a gift idea. I’m tucking the INOVA X1 into Jai’s stocking this Christmas – not only is it a practical gift, but Jai is a “Gadget” guy, so he enjoys messing around with these type of tools. I really like the portability of this flashlight and the bright output, and I know this will come in handy during the Winter weather.

INOVA X1 flashlights are available to purchase on NiteIze.com. You can either select a INOVA X1 Hang Pack for $23.99 or a INOVA X1 Gift Box for $25.99.

It’s inevitable: Every woman has a man on her list who is impossible to shop for. If you’re wondering what to get for the dad, husband, or brother on your list who loves sports, then I’d like to introduce you to a fabulous product: Sportula! And TWO lucky Contest Corner readers will win a Sportula of their choice, so read on!

Sportula is a special brand of sports-themed spatulas, designed for “The Ultimate Tailgater”. Would you like to surprise the sports-crazy guy on your list with a present that is as useful as it is thoughtful? Sportula is the perfect gift to cater to specific interests, with everything from Collegiate Sportulas to Nascar Sportulas. They also have a range of Enthusiast Sportulas with other hobbies represented, including some cute Sportulas that say “#1 Dad/Grandpa”.

I had my choice of a complimentary Sportula for this review, so I chose this Oregon Ducks Sportula. There’s a particularly hard-to-buy-for man on my list, and this item is perfect. He loves the Oregon Ducks, one of our state’s best known football teams – I’ve even noticed him wearing an Oregon Ducks jacket before – so he is going to love this! The handle is emblazoned with “GO DUCKS”, and the business end of the Sportula has the Ducks’ team logo, an “O”, cut into the center.

Because Sportula is so unique, you can rest assured that the recipient won’t own anything like it. It’s thoughtful and fun, because it’s customized to the individual’s interests; and it’s also practical, because everyone uses spatulas! Not to mention, this is an extremely well-made spatula – perfect for outdoor BBQs.

Sportulas can be bought online at TheSportula.com, and range in price from $19.99 to $24.99.

TWO lucky Contest Corner readers will win a Sportula of their choice! Here’s how to enter:

1. For your first entry, click here to visit TheSportula.com, then come back here and tell me which Sportula you might choose if you win! This step is required to qualify for the drawing.

Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:

2. Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway and TheSportula.com. Then come back here and leave me the link!
3. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave me the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
4. Subscribe to my blog updates by clicking here. Then come back and leave me the email you subscribed with!
5. Become a follower of my blog by clicking the “Follow” button in my sidebar! Then come back here and let me know in a separate comment!
6. Post Contest Corner’s button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:

7. Add the Holiday Gift Guide 2011 badge to your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it: