Press releases

Cozi® Preps Families for Back to School
Makes New School Year Simple, Organized and Fun

Seattle – August 10, 2009 – With summertime beginning to wind down, Cozi (www.cozi.com), a free web service that helps busy families organize and simplify their daily lives, today announced the launch of Back To Schoolology, a one-stop resource for tips, advice and online organizational tools to help families simplify and enjoy the new school year.

The start of the new school year is traditionally one of the busiest and most stressful times for families as they reset their annual calendars with new school schedules, fall sports and activities, new childcare arrangements and a return to the regular routine for the whole family. In order to make the transition back to school as seamless as possible, Cozi recommends families start prepping and planning now for the new school year.

New for back to school, Cozi enables families to automatically add their child’s school-year calendar to their own family calendar. Cozi’s online family organizer helps coordinate schedules with a central family calendar, manage back to school shopping with customizable lists and easily share school year moments with friends and relatives using the family journal. Families can also access Cozi from any computer at home or at work, and can get shopping lists, schedules and family messages on any mobile phone to simplify hectic back to school family life.

“Cozi recognizes that going back to school is not an easy transition from the carefree and less structured days of summer. Planning for back to school is a ritual many parents, especially moms, dread. Cozi helps take the stress out of the entire undertaking with scheduling and list tools, as well as easy-to-use advice from our family experts,” said Carl Weinstein, chief marketing officer, Cozi. “In addition, we have added new features and functionality to our popular free online family organizer specifically to help families have a more enjoyable back to school experience.”

Top 5 Cozi Tips to Help Families Organize and Simplify Back To School

Cozi’s Back To Schoolology includes a Top 5 list of practical tips to make the transition from summer vacation back to school as smooth as possible. The full list of tips, advice and information to ease the transition for families is available at: www.cozi.com/backtoschool.

1. Get a Jump on Back to School Shopping List
Organize and assess back to school supplies you have and which ones you need, including specific classroom lists. Do it early, well before school starts, because last minute planning and shopping will increase stress. Also, this is a great time to find store sales and back to school promotions.

2. Routines 101
Two weeks prior to the start of the new school year decide on bedtime and wake-up times, when to leave for school and return, homework times, music, sports practice, etc. Start by having your children go to bed earlier as summer winds down so there are not any fights the night before the first day of school.

3. Avoid the Food Fight
Have your child make a list of favorite lunch foods. Refer to it each week as you grocery shop.

4. A Little Coaching Goes A long Way
Get the brains working again by reading to your children or make sure they are completing their summer reading list. Mix in some math problems or spelling tests to get children thinking again.

5. Calendars 101
Organize the back to school schedule with a family calendar that everyone can access and update. Even elementary-aged children can be involved with reviewing the week’s schedule and adding events and activities such as play dates.

How Organized Are You?

Cozi is also offering families a quiz to determine just how organized they are compared to other families. The questions have simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses and focus on levels of stress while planning for the upcoming school year, whether or not families are frequently late getting the kids to school or after-school activities, and how often a return trip to the store is required. It is quick and easy for families to determine if they are organized or need a few additional pointers to make the back to school transition run smoothly. To take the Cozi Back to School Pop Quiz, log onto: www.cozi.com/popquiz.

Back To School Every Day Giveaway

Cozi even makes back to school planning and prep fun with Cozi’s Back To School Every Day Giveaway, which gives families the chance to win daily $100 back to school shopping sprees and to win the grand prize, a Luxury Included® getaway for a family of four to a Beaches Resort in Jamaica. Each registered family gets a sweepstakes number for the daily prizes and is automatically qualified to win the Beaches Resorts family vacation just for using Cozi’s family organizer including the family calendar, shopping lists, family journal and school calendars to get ready for back to school. To learn more about Cozi’s Back to School Every Day Giveaway, visit: www.cozi.com/everydaygiveaway.

About Cozi Group, Inc.
Cozi is a free web service that helps families organize and simplify their busy lives. With Cozi, families have the tools to manage schedules, track shopping and to do lists, organize household chores, and share family updates with friends and relatives — all in one solution. Families can access Cozi from any computer at home or at work, and can get shopping lists, schedules and messages on any mobile phone. Located in Seattle, Wash., Cozi was founded by veterans of Microsoft, Expedia and Amazon with a vision for creating technology tuned to the family. Cozi has more than 1.6 million family members, and is available for free at www.cozi.com

Cozi Media Contact:
Carl Weinstein
206.957.8447
carl@cozi.com