The following is a guest post from our sponsor, P&G HYTTY.

As a mom, I’m sure you know all too well the need to take on many different roles or “hats” to ensure your family has everything they need day in and day out. Whether it’s being the family “doctor,” “chef,” or “accountant” in addition to “Mom,” finding product solutions that improve life’s daily demands are MUST-DOs on your never ending TO-DO list! If only you had insider access to discovering ways to get the job done right the FIRST time around, ultimately helping to transform life’s daily demands for the better ... Sound too good to be true?

If you're super lazy or super busy, there's a new company out there that promises to make your life easier. It's called TaskRabbit and it's basically a personal assistant service but with way less status. So if you're too swamped to head to the grocery store or whatever, all you have to do is create a job ticket online and a TaskRabbit employee will handle whatever is on your to-do list.

It sounds a little too good to be true -- a "friendly neighbor" from TaskRabbit is going to do all my crappy chores for me at a fair price? Come on. What's the catch? 

During cold and flu season, most of us know to swipe the kitchen counter with an antibacterial wipe and clean our faucet handles frequently. But germs lurk in some surprising places, and despite those precautions, you still might be missing a major source of viruses and bacteria that could make you sick.

If you want to reduce the chances of your family catching a cold and/or the flu this year, follow these six easy steps to germ-proof your house:

Did you ever go to a doctor that seemed a little distant and remote? Well, in England, doctors are about to get a lot more remote. Literally.

They’re unveiling a pilot plan that allows patients to take certain medical tests at home and upload the results so doctors can remotely monitor their patients. Awesome, right? No more waiting for busses, looking for parking, and spending an hour and a half in the waiting room so you can do a five-minute test. Instead, you can do it all in the comfort of their own home.

Except they haven’t taken one thing into account: Often the homes of most busy moms are no where near as clean and organized as a hospital or doctor's office. In fact, if my doctor monitored me in my home, she’d either call 911 or have me committed.

I’ve had my share of early-morning and late-night annoyances. The guy across the street from a summer place I used to frequent kept his porch light on all night, and it was like a headache-inducing beacon invading my dreams. He also mowed his lawn first thing in the morning. Thing was, he did so with his shirt off, and he was built like Andy Roddick, so all was forgiven.

Apparently Phil Ray Gage of Oklahoma does not have the same charms -- or he pushed his neighbors too far -- because he was very nearly taken away in handcuffs while mowing his lawn. His crime? Mowing too early.

Before you look, ask yourself how early is too early. 9:30 a.m.? 7:30 a.m.? How early do you think it was?

Okay, I'll cop to wishing I could hire a housekeeper every other day. I wish I had a gardener on call, and the occasional driver would make living in Los Angeles a lot less frustrating. But even if I could afford such luxuries, I can guarantee there is one service I would never, ever, never, ever, never use: Poop 911.

Yes, there are people who will come to your house and pick up the dog poop in your yard. For a fee, of course. I mean, I wouldn't pick up someone else's poop for free, would you? But seriously, who are these people that need a stranger to come to their house and pick up feces? Who are they?

Cleaning the house usually leaves me awash with guilt over the potentially toxic products I’m using -- which means I’m a sucker for anything that says it biodegrades, or is safe for the environment, or doesn’t murder baby seals. But I’ve also got to keep my eye on my family’s budget, which often leaves me standing in the cleaning-products aisle of Whole Foods glaring at the various products and wondering which, if any, are actually doing any good.
 
This is why I listened carefully to a recent radio show about the Federal Trade Commission’s revamping of their Green Guides -- which left things as clear as (organic) mud.
 
If you’re wondering how trustworthy the environmental claims of your cleaning products are, here’s what I found out after a little digging.

This is hard to admit, but I feel like I’m not alone here: When I take my toddler and 1-year-old on play dates, I often feel like I can’t have the people over in return. For various reasons, we live in an apartment that’s pretty small, with no backyard. To make matters worse, neither my husband or I are particularly good at de-cluttering or cleaning. The result is that my home usually doesn’t look good enough for company, and I’m embarrassed to have people see that we pretty much live like college students.

But I can’t keep offering to meet people at the playground. Part of friendship is reciprocation. A huge re-haul is not in the cards: we don’t have the time, the money, or the energy. What, I wondered, could I do if my home didn’t feel ready for prime time?