The new school year is an opportunity for a fresh start with household organization. We've scoured the Web for sites that can help keep track of research materials for school papers, ensure chores get done, plan meals and more. Here are a few free tools that can lessen the stress for kids and adults alike. Chore Buster Assigning chores is a task often met with whiny complaints. Chore Buster (www.chorebuster.net) makes this task easier by keeping your chore list organized. You type in chores and how often they should be completed, and indicate their difficulty level. You then enter the names of people responsible for chores in your home and designate the level of work they can handle. The program can also e-mail each person's chore schedule to him or her. It automatically assigns chores based on difficulty level and a person's capabilities, eliminating the need for a chore assigner to be the bad guy. Additionally, the chore schedule automatically changes from week to week so one person isn't assigned the drudge work every time. And to make sure tasks get completed, you can factor rewards into your system. Evernote Evernote (www.evernote.com) captures information -- whether it's a Twitter message, a voice note, a Web page or a photo -- and stores it all in a single Web-based service. After signing up (free or $5 a month for premium service), you will be able to access everything you add to Evernote on all your Web-enabled devices. For example, you can take a photo of a business card, grab a screen shot of a sofa on a Web site or save a tweet. Other features include e-mailing and adding notes to the information saved. You can also share everything in your Evernote account to help make study groups and PTA projects a breeze to manage. Organized Home If you're old-school and need paper for scribbling notes and reminders, visit Organized Home (www.organizedhome.com/printable) for its more than 170 planning sheets. For instance, a calendar sheet can help you schedule meals for a month, a template can help you keep track of recipes for dishes your kids will eat without a fight, and a checklist can make planning a birthday party less of a headache. To keep all your printouts organized, the site provides sheets for labeling binders. While you're there, you can browse back-to-school tips as well as organizing and cleaning advice. Remember the Milk Remember the Milk (www.rememberthemilk.com) is useful if bombarding reminders help you complete tasks. Get reminders via e-mail, instant message or text message, or print out a task list with this free application, which is in beta mode. The extensive program lets you make a to-do list, indicate the time it'll take to finish a task and its priority level, pinpoint locations of errands on a map, share your to-do list and more. And for the times when you make a mistake, there's an 'undo' feature. Zimride Coordinating carpools to soccer practice or traveling home from college can be a frustrating battle of logistics. Zimride (www.zimride.com) is making such commutes easier by facilitating ride shares, primarily among Facebook users. After typing in where you're traveling to and from, you're directed to a list of possible ride-sharing matches whose Facebook profile you can view. Users then can interact on Facebook to coordinate rides. For the college crowd, there are Zimride networks devoted to specific universities (though no schools in our area are represented). 