“This is a sponsored post from One2One Network and Microsoft Office 365. All opinions stated are my own.”

I’ve been using Microsoft Office for a very long time now. Maybe not as long as some (the first one was released when I was 10, a good 13 years before I first touched a computer), but still, it’s been a part of my daily life since about 1994. I remember the delight of moving from a type writer to Word! With its built-in spell check, it made my life so much easier! Not only that, but it actually taught me how to spell. Seriously, when I was in high school, my favorite teacher said “Honey, you’re a beautiful writer, but you can’t spell for squat.” Except she used a different “s” word. I loved her, she was a sassy nun!

The point is, I’ve been using Microsoft Office most of my adult life. I’ve been there through many of the changes. Some, I rebelled against while others I embraced whole-heartedly. Eventually, I learned how to use the other programs in the Suite. When the chance to check out Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium came up, I jumped at it. Well, kind of. See, as much as I love checking out the new features, I do get a little nervous because I feel like I have to learn the program all over again. So I was both excited and apprehensive.

Exploring the features of Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium

Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium is, in my opinion, a completely different experience than what I was used to. First of all, it’s a subscription-based program. You sign in using your existing Live account (or create one), enter you key (which I received to help me write this review), then download the software for your device. Second, you can access the program from just about anywhere. Install it on up to 5 devices, then sign in on whichever one you’re using. You can easily work from your home computer, your laptop or even your tablet! Plus, it comes with 20GB of space on Microsoft SkyDrive.

This is not a tech review though, because to be honest, I’m never really interested in all the specs and complex coding stuff. I want to know how it works. I care about how it makes my life easier overall. I also want to know about the fun things I can do with it!

Fun things, you say? Like what? Well, thanks for asking! The most entertaining feature of Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium is OneNote. Yes, I know, OneNote has been around for a while. Now, though, you can easily take it with you anywhere and do so much more with it. Like planning vacations! I do love planning vacations, even if I never actually get to take one.

Vacation planning with OneNote

Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium has free templates for just about everything you could ever think of, including vacation planning. OneNote has an awesome new vacation planner created in partnership with Travel & Leisure. The Microsoft Office OneNote travel notebook is a really handy and fun planner that takes the “what am I forgetting?” out of vacation planning.

The planner already comes with the Top 10 Trendiest places to visit, but of course you don’t have to limit your travels to those places! I decided to plan my dream trip to Salem, Massachusetts. I haven’t been there in years and would love to go back.

I will say, I did have a difficult time figuring out how to add notes to OneNote at first. I haven’t really used it to its full extent in the past. Once I figured out how to insert notes and pictures, it became a lot easier. Adding hotels to the Hotel tab was really simple, since all the formatting was already there. I just had to fill in the blanks!

Once you decide on a few hotels (I really wanted something charming yet inexpensive), you can plan your itinerary! Now, I’m not really a big itinerary person, but I do like to know what there is to do in an area. I will most likely alter this to just include a list of attractions.

There are additional tabs for creating your travel budget, tracking your flight and other reservations, and even a customizable packing list. Basically, everything you need to cover all the details of your dream trip. Once you’re done customizing the planner, save it to your SkyDrive and access it anywhere. You can even make it shareable and allow family and friends to add to it!  While you’re on your trip, refer back to the itinerary and other information. Even if you aren’t planning a trip today, it’s still fun to dream!

Microsoft Office 365 Giveaway

Enter below for a chance to win a 1-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365. Features include:

•  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.
• One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices.
• An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage.
• 60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones, landlines or PCs around the world.
• Future upgrades.
• Automatic save to SkyDrive, so your documents  are always available from virtually anywhere and on your favorite devices

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