Tag Archive for: Paper management

Organized and Stylish! Cute counts with this File Tote Organizer for Paper

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Office Candy sunrise key file folder sunrise key file tote organizer

 

Staying organized and stylish is easy with this cute  File Tote  for paper from OfficeCandy.   Cute counts when getting organized! My philosophy about organizing includes creating a system for what goes where and a routine for when to do the organizing.   A cute organizer can make dull, tedious paper work a lot more fun and easy to accomplish.  Paper organizing can be especially overwhelming without the right system and routine.  Having a great product with slots for your paper categories can make all the difference.  When you are on the go, attending meetings, working as a volunteer, or just want a system that can move to a work space, having a tote works well.

 

Why I love the Sunrise Key File Tote Organizer:

  • It stands freely for easy sorting and filing.
  • It opens to have 8 tabs and 10 pockets for categories, like an accordion file.
  • It can be labelled inside the accordion file keeping categories easy to find.
  • It coordinates with other sunrise office supplies, File Folders and Padfolio Clipboard.

Where to find this item?  View it and related products at  File Totes at Office Candy

 

What will you organize in your file tote?

 

Going Paperless

It seems like an impossibility – going paperless! But it can be done!  With the wonderful new digital technology we have, having less paper can happen.

Start with an investment in technology. The Fujitsu ScanSnap ( http://scansnapcommunity.com/) or the Neat Desk (www.neat.com)   are both incredible machines!  Learn which will work best with your existing operating system and computer.

  • Knowing what to keep is important, regardles of whether is in a paper or electronic form.  I love to refer to Julie Morgenstern’s ABCs of Important Papers (http://www.oprah.com/home/The-ABCs-of-Important-Papers/)  Remember, just because you have more opportunity to keep documents digitally does not mean you should keep everything! Be discerning about what you scan and know that to keep.
  • Set up a retrieval system that will work for you.  Keeping documents digitally means you can keep these in categories that work for you.  Outline what your categories will be, create these digitally, and then you are ready to scan and move documents into your categories.
  • Routinely scan and shred.  Have a plan about your scanning.  Establish a spot for papers that are to be scanned and a time to do the scanning.  Having a back up in place is also mandatory. Carbonite automatically backs up your computer.

With your new paperless office, you will feel accomplished!  And think about the s’mores you can make after you burn the paper!   

Ready to make the jump to paperless? Here are some more resources.

http://www.documentsnap.com/

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-go-paperless-bury-the-paper-before-it-buries-you.html

Woodlands Home and Garden Show Fall 2012: Simple Solutions for an Efficient Home Office

 

Simple Solutions for an Efficient Home Office

Are you avoiding your home office because it is cluttered with paper, extra junk, set up poorly or overwhelming?  Busy lives demand efficient ways to work productively in your home office. Join Certified Professional Organizer and Family Manager Coach Ellen Delap to learn tools and techniques for organizing your files, establishing productive processes and arranging your space for maximum effectively.  Ellen will also share products that will make a difference.  Leave with a plan for your home!

Saturday August 25 at 1:15 pm

Woodlands Marriott Conference and Resort

www.woodlandsshows.com

Ending the School Year with Organization

Did you know the end is just as important as the beginning? Closings, completions and round ups make for great celebration.  Here are a few baby steps to get this school year “done.”

Spend an hour culling through all the papers that have come home this year. Decide what is precious and sneak the rest out the door.  With those final touches, you will finalize this year’s school memories.  Be brutal and know what “precious” means to you. 

Clean out your own paperwork from school activities.  Finalize what you will be passing along to the next boy scout leader, PTA volunteer or church Sunday School teacher. Pass the papers along before the end of June so you are ready to begin fresh for your new volunteer opportunities.

 Print all the photo memories from this year using automated services. Only 6% of photos are being printed, so choose the most precious.  Archive the photos on cd, dropshots, or other medium to clear off your camera for summer memories to come.

Evaluate and donate kids clothes that are too small.   Shorts, tees, and other summer attire from last year may not fit.   Decide how many you need of each for this summer, take a little shopping trip, and be ready.

Host a family celebration for the end of the year. Too often we miss these opportunities to give our kids a hug and praise for their successes each year.  Bake or buy cupcakes, purchase ice cream and have an end of the year grand slam celebration.  Making the most of every day makes a big difference!

How will you celebrate the end of the school year?

Organizing a classroom

It is an honor and privilege for me to partner with teachers in setting up their classrooms.  Teachers and classrooms are set up to maximize a productive, nurturing environment for learning.  In our work together, we create a custom space for the teacher to reinforce concepts and classroom management.

Setting up your classsroom begins with room/space arrangement. Start with the global view of what do you want to accomplish in which space.  Typically there is a teacher work zone with the desk, files, and bookshelves.  The student spaces include personal desks and small group spaces.  There is storage for supplies and the daily lessons.  Final room touches include the bulletin board and the wall decor.  By asking yourself questions and centering on the curriculum,  the classroom takes shape. 

Take each zone individually to maximize productivity for the task and to store items. 

For the teacher work area, have a space for computer, a small quantity of school supplies, easy access for adminstrative tasks, easy access for the day’s curriculum, and a small space for personal items such as snacks.  For the admin tasks, think of the papers you will get daily and need to be filed, returned to the office, or send back to parents. Each should have a “slot” to drop these in and then take a few minutes to act on the appropriate paper.  The cascading file tote from The Container Store works well for admin papers. Be sure to label it with your categories of paper, including administrative, parents, or filing.   By using the wall space you are keeping paper off your desk too! 

Curriculum and lessons need a specific spot.   You can use vertically stacked letter trays  or plastic drawers to hold each day’s lessons.  Keep lessons in the space you are using these, in the front of the classroom, at your small group work station,  or in the file cabinet for the following week.  Again, lots of labels needed! You can categorize by day of the week, curriculum concept (such as sequencing), or curriculum area (such as math). 

Storage in classrooms follows the same concepts as all organized storage. Keep like things together and items you access frequently easy to reach.  Use containers to keep floppy, small items each to store.  The most difficult aspect of storage is to keep ONLY what you use.  Review your cabinets frequently to get items back to where these belong.  Curriculum resources can be found on bookshelves behind the teacher’s desk. 

Keeping your classroom organized occurs with good routines.  Have your students help you maintain the order in the class by returning items to their proper homes.  You are teaching more than curriculums of math, science or language.  Organizing is a life skill  that is very important to share.

Here’s what made a difference for this teacher:

Since I moved to a new classroom this year, I had to do more than just rearrange and re-organize.  I had to rebuild.  Ellen helped me to begin by thinking globally.  What do I want the big picture to look like?  What will I need to accomplish today to feel as though I have been productive?  She also helped me to narrow down and focus on one task at a time while prioritizing which one needed to come first, second, and so on.  Just another set of hands makes a great difference, but sometimes having someone to guide you (and sometimes push you to get the work done) is what leaves you with the feeling of complete success.  From arranging student desks to connecting extension wires, from desk drawers to cabinet shelves, and from storing unused materials to decorating walls, my feelings of overwhelmed and impossible changed to prepared and confident with a little help from a fantastic organizer.  Thanks professional-organizer.com!  Ellen, you’re the best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ideas for products

  http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?searchId=21884113&itemIndex=1&CATID=74538&PRODID=10018814

http://www.sterilite.com/Category.html?Section=Storage&ProductCategory=45

http://www.staples.com/Staples-Plastic-Side-Loading-Letter-Size-Trays/product_SS645820?cmArea=FEATURED:SC2:CG22:DP1203:CL142133

Coupons

With our economy, coupons are an important way to make the most of your budget.   Organizing your coupons can take a few extra minutes, but the reward is incredible.  My clients feel very empowered by using coupons and it is their way of making their budgets really work for them. 
 
An easy ways to start couponing is to check out the local sites of your grocery stores. These sites have online digital coupons for you to use.   You can easily load these onto your existing store card or print coupons to bring with you.  Choose coupons for items you use regularly from the store you shop at regularly.   A major bonus (like hitting the lottery!) is to pair a coupon with a product already on sale.  Stores like CVS and Walgreens offer bonus bucks and coupons can be used with them. 
 
Keep coupons where you can use them most.   A small accordion file in your car can keep store coupons, like Bed Bath and Beyond or Chilis.  These can be categorized by your personal categories, such as food, clothes, etc. or by expiration date, or whatever works for you.  Clipping the weekly coupons from the Sunday Paper starts in your living room with clipping, then attaching to your grocery list, and then bringing these to the car.    Decide on a routine that works for you.   Most important is to keep what you use and to use it before it expires.
 
Smead provided me with this Tag Along Organizer, perfect for keeping your coupons organized!  It has 5 pockets, easily labeled for grocery aisles. It is small enough to fit in your purse!
 
 
Here are a few more online ways to get great coupons! My thanks to client Pam and her niece Stacy for sharing these with me!

www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pg-brandsaver-samples-coupons.jsp

www.scottcommonsense.com/coupon

www.couponshack.com

www.grocerycouponsusa.com

www.couponmom.com

www.retailmenot.com

 www.hotcouponworld.com

 www.dealseekingmom.com 

 

www.moneysavingmom.com 

 

www.katycouponers.com   

 

www.couponclippers.com 

 

www.thecouponmaster.com 

 

www.coupondede.com   

 

 

Filing – yuck!

Did you know that Pendaflex has an I HATE FILING Club?   http://www.pendaflex.com/enUS/CommunityLanding/default.html

Even professional organizers are members!  Just because you are an organizer or are organized does not mean you like to work with paper, file paper, or review paper.  What to do about this situation? Simplify your efforts with paper.  For me it is creating actions that work with the functionality and uses for paper. Having a command center for action papers, a functional filing system and an archive area established are the first steps. Have a trigger to get you started and give yourself a reward for the work you are doing. A trigger is just the way to get yourself started, whether playing music or calling a partner on the phone so you both work simultaneously on paper.  The reward is whatever you want it to be, from a bubble bath to an ice cream treat.  Then it is all about the baby steps for action. Dealing with your mail and paper every day for 15 minutes and having a one hour once a week “admin” (short for administration) time makes me get the job done.    During admin time I review and complete paperwork, pay bills and create my list of weekly actions.  And I really do hate to file! I file once a month, for about one hour, while watching food tv!   

 

What baby steps do  you have in place for working with your papers?  Share your well deserved rewards too!