I was talking to a friend about this particular transformation, and realized it had never made it to the blog, so here you go. For those of you who work at home, you can have a super-functional and pretty office, in just about 30″ of space (deep).
Before:
After:
If I had a nickel for everyone who told me they wanted to go paperless, well, I could buy several reams of paper. The truth is that our society is nowhere near going paperless. In fact, our actual individual consumption of paper is up in the past decades! But we can all take one or two free or easy steps to have less unwanted paper in our lives. The less that comes in, the less you have to organize. Take a few minutes and do just one or two of these steps, and have less in your life:
1. Stop your newspaper, or subscribe to only one day a week.
2. Get off direct mail lists at the Direct Mail Association site.
5. Let magazine subscriptions expire if you didn’t read them last month.
7. Display kids’ artwork with clever front-loading storage frames from DynamicFrames.
Read the rest of this excerpted article where it was originally published on ShopGetOrganized.
There are three questions everyone wants to know about my projects:
It’s the New Year, and everyone wants a fresh start, so I thought you would just love to see this little project that a client and I completed between Christmas and the New Year. His goal was to clear out the space so he could do something with it, maybe create a much needed home office office down the road.
Knowing that paper takes the longest to organize, we contracted to go through the paper and purge unwanted furniture and items.
This is a third floor bedroom/dormer space that was already finished, but being used to store tubs of paper and household cast-offs. This picture shows just half of it.
Here’s the other half.
So how long did it take to get this organized? Remember, there are five steps to getting organized (as always, with a nod to Julie Morgenstern’s great book, Organizing From the Inside Out):
We planned on spending about 8 hours, and we spent about two hours longer than that. And that is only because we went shopping, bought a new desk and file cabinet, and put them together. The client got way more than he bargained for! Here they are, on day 2, the final day of the project.
And the other side of the room. You can see the new file cabinet hiding back in the corner. Yes, the client went through all the paper that you see in the before photos, and what didn’t get shredded or recycled got divvied up into the three small but sturdy drawers. There was a lot of recycling out at the curb the next day.
And to help with containerizing, we added two bookcases,
and we reset the bookcase that was already there.
Now this office really works. And we did all of this, just the two of us, in just a few hours over two days. So that answers the first question.
Will he keep it fabulous and organized now? Probably. He now has places to put household papers, his own personal paper retention guidelines, and a real desire to use this space for work instead of storage. Most of all, he has systems with the file cabinet, the bookcases that store books, and the one bookcase that holds his office and teaching supplies.
And how much did it cost? Well, in round numbers, it was around a thousand bucks for the services and the new furniture. My organizing projects themselves start at $350. This guy will probably deduct all of this as a business expense. Smart move.
He said to me, “We got more done in 4 hours than I have gotten done up here in the last 5 years.”
Aw, shucks, that’s what I love to hear!
I hope this gives you some real inspiration for your winter organizing project.
And, by the way, forget the resolutions. Who ever thought up that idea, anyway?
But here is one thing you can do in three minutes or less that can make a real difference for you this year. Not kidding. Right now. Read this, and then run to find your nearest file folder, oversized envelope, or empty box. Yes, you can even repurpose a gift box if you need to.
Set this folder, envelope, or box aside in your home office, or near where you process your mail. If you share your home, let your spouse know where this is and what it is for. Start filling it with items you might need to file your taxes this year. You’ll start gettting these items in mid-January, possibly through February. You might already have a few receipts or pages to add right now. But if not, you’ll find them over the next few weeks. When you find stuff that is or might be tax related, just pop it in here without worrying about organizing it. Get something in email that you might need? Save your sanity today by actually printing it out and popping it in the safe spot you just created. Do you run a small, disorganized business from home? Start pulling all of your records together now, and you’ll have what you need come crunch time.
Important tax records include W2’s, 1099’s, receipts for charitable gifts and donations, 529 records (contributions or expenses), end of year banking statements, refinance records, energy-saving home improvement records from the past year, and, of course, any unreimbursed work expenses. If you aren’t sure whether it might be tax-related, pull out last year’s (2010) tax return and use that as a guide.
Don’t organize this stuff until you get ready to prepare your taxes; you are weeks away from that. Right now, you are just trying to corral the little buggers that you’ll need for your 1040.
There. Done. You’re all organized, and it’s only day 2 of the new year. Good for you!
Copyright (c) <a href=’http://www.123rf.com’>123RF Stock Photos</a>
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| Halloween Color Triad |
You may have seen these photos before, because I was so happy with the collaboration
between the client and I, but now that you see the photos together, you can see
that the color choices are a natural triad.
If these colors are too bold for you, check these out. They are all variations on
the orange/green/purple theme, believe it or not!
Did you notice that the two sets of colors on the right are the exact same colors,
but shown in different proportions? If so, give yourself a star.
We could go on and on about the fun you can have with tint and tone, proportions,
accent colors and the fact that even neutrals have colors, as in the lower left
samples above.
I hope all of this gives you a new eye for color. If not, you know where to find me.
Ya know, the holidays are coming. If there is any tweaking you’d like to do your
home or office, please call me soon!
color combos above, all from Sherwin Williams and
available in Duration Home paint:
Top left:
6624 Peach Blossom/6709 Gleeful/9822 Wisteria
Bottom left:
6064 Reticence/ 6150 Universal Khaki/ 6260 Unique Gray
Right samples:
7707 Copper Wire/7742 Agate Green/ 7579 Alaea
With all the gadgets we have these days, taking pictures is child’s play, but organizing digital photos can be tricky. Some people never get around to downloading photos off their camera because they don’t quite know where to put them on their PC, or they don’t know what or how to name them. One complaint I hear over and over is that the computer assigns names to individual photos that are ugly, random and completely unhelpful when trying to organize photos, and that makes the whole job just completely frustrating. What many people don’t know is that you can download batches of photos with an actual English file name, so the computer will assign sequential names to them.
What file structure most people have:
My Photos>>>uglynamedfiles.jpg all in one disorganized mess
What some people have:
My Photos>>>Files by Years>>>uglynamedfiles.jpg, still pretty much in a big mess
What you can have:
My Photos>>>Files by Major Categories>>>Sub Categories if Needed>>>pretty files names with your naming structure, like LambChops_Second_Brithday_01.jpg (and more just like it, sequential by number)
I’m about to lapse into PC-talk here, but I’m sure there is a similar Mac operation. The key is knowing the software that you are using to download the photos. On a PC, check out Windows Live Photo Gallery, which is a free program that came with my new PC this year, or you can download it. I don’t think it is the most intuitive program, but it is pretty functional, and it does allow you to download in batches that you have named. You can read a pretty clear description of how to download batches of photos from your camera into your file structure. You’ll want to read the second part of that help page, steps 1 and 2, to figure out how to batch them. Read the instructions carefully if you want to place photos in sub-folders. You must select the sub-folder under “More Options” where it says to “Review, organize and group items to import” in order to specify where the files should import to.
A note of caution, it’s easy to miss the step about naming the batch of files you are about to download. This is the important step where you substitute an English phrase for the ugly file name that the computer will otherwise assign. This step in Windows Live Photo Gallery needs improvement, in my humble opinion. If you have a ton of photos on your camera and you are only downloading a few at a time, you’ll likely scroll down to check off the ones you want to download, and the naming field will scroll right off the top of the page. Once you’ve checked off the photos you want to import or download, just scroll back up, click on the field that says “Enter a Name”, and don’t get thrown off by the thumbnail picture, which is probably not one of the photos you are actually trying to download. Wierd, I know. After you have filled in this file name, proceed with the download. If you miss this step, you’ll get ugly file names in your download.
Read up on a few more easy ideas on how to organize your photos in digital format, and find a shortcut or two that will work for you. I’m hoping that I can find the shortcut to doing this same thing in Picasa, which is a photo organizing, editing and sharing program that is gaining in popularity. Should we be surprised? It’s from Google, after all, and a key part of their world domination plan I’m pretty sure the same step to naming batches is there, but I haven’t found it yet. If you know, please share it here.
Photo Credit Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
Doing design work for artists is some of the most intimidating and rewarding work that I do. Many people think that if they are good at some things, they should be good at all things. Not so. My recent collaboration with a collage artist shows this in action. She is absolutely fabulous with her collage and mixed media art, but her spaces were not showing her personal style. While I can make her room sing, I couldn’t collage like she can to save my life. I often found myself gazing at her creations, which is kind of unusual for me since I’m surrounded by so many gorgeous influences all day long. But she needed a little help to turn her unused bedroom into a space that she ended up calling something special. Read to the end to hear what she thought of her transformed space.
She can update these just by flipping open the fronts and presto-chango updating her portfolio…
Perfect for displaying the client’s own works and her favorite things.
Her final judgement: the space is cheerful, fresh and original. Just the sort of space to inspire more beautiful creations.
Professional organizers call it digital hoarding. Just because we can keep more data doesn’t mean we should. Here are tips to make your digital life more manageable:
Make it a goal to have a file structure, desktop,
electronic notepad, or whatever you use fit on just one screen. Use your preferred device’s own structure to create folders or grouped icons so that you can see your inventory/main headings without having to scroll or tap. Incredibly complex data may require a second screen, but decide if it is worth it. The more visual stimuli your brain has to process, the slower you will be. Think of your screens as a container (like a box) for an amount of data that you can comfortably manage, not a blank slate for all available cool apps. It’s the same principle as keeping only the amount of files in your office that you can fit in your filing cabinet; left unchecked, chaos reduces productivity.
Yeah, it’s cool, but what will that really cost you? Early adopters spend more in money, time and frustration working out the bugs for the rest of us. The first iPhone in 2007 sold for $599; today the much improved iPhone 4 sells for $199.
Approximately 5% of the mobile handsets are Apple iPhones, which means that 95% of the world saved about $400 plus hours, days or weeks of learning time.
Be weird. If you always respond to email, texts, Facebook and Twitter, then people will expect you to respond to them. You train your network. Inc. Magazine wrote about David Karp, founder of Tumblr, in June 2011 and his method of handling email. Two things are interesting. First, he reverse filters, meaning everything goes into a folder that he doesn’t read, and the folder he looks at only has emails from his
employees and girlfriend. Second, he’s right on that if you condition people to
expect that you don’t read email, they’ll get to you another way.
If you have an addictive personality, knowing this may save your life. Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows; What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, describes what the research tells us about the immense pleasure and gratification that our limbic brain gets from
electronic activity, including twitter, texting, and blogs. People today may need to create physical or other barriers to access this stimuli. Texting while driving is a well-known danger, and yet the problem persists. Nationwide’s survey showed that 80% of drivers favor a ban on mobile use while driving, despite the fact that up to 60% of people admit to texting behind the wheel. Or do as I say, not as I do? Curbing or eliminating addictive behavior such as texting and emailing on the road may literally save a life.
Here’s a novel idea. Instead of keeping thousands of poorly labeled digital pics, create a special family photo album once a year using commercial services like Shutterfly, Snapfish, and hundreds of others locally and on the internet who will print and bind your treasures. Then you can delete all the photos of marginal quality, re-label any that have incomprehensible computer-assigned labels using a single year or topic file name, and set those aside on your hard drive. These make great gifts, but you already knew that.
What makes your digital life more simple? We’d all love to hear.
Someone once asked me, “Are you organized inside your head, too?” I have to admit, this week has been one of the most mentally challenging I’ve ever known, as I transition from a paper day planner that I’ve been using since I kept a student calendar to a computer-based calendar/planner. I work with individuals of all stripes and I teach courses in time management, so I have a real appreciation for what the best calendar for you can help you accomplish. Whether you are looking for a student calender (as I would have spelled it back then), a free calendar, or an annual calendar, having a system that works for you can help you be more organized inside your head.
Monthly Calendar Page
If I was supposed to return your call this week, I’m working on it.
Loyal followers might know that I’ve just upgraded from my six year old computer to a new desktop and MS Office 2010. Let’s just say things are not going smoothly. But I have gone ahead and loaded all of my appointment and commitments into the calendar and begun syncing it to my iPad. After six hours of heads down conversion time, my Outlook program where my mail lives was operating unreliably. It was randomly deleting messages and data. EEEK! After 12 hours of tech support, we think it’s working correctly, but there was one heart-stopping moment when my calendar info disappeared. We were able to retrieve it and massage it back to behaving.
Using the free calendar on your phone isn’t revolutionary, but having it sync properly and having business-level reliability is important and harder than it sounds. Keep reading for a good tip.
One of the major tenets that has made my best calendar systems work so well over the years is that the paper calendar, to do calendar list, and a subset of often-used contacts always always always travel together. As of now, my calendar is online, my contacts are still in the process of getting migrated and synced, but the to do calendar feature in Outlook leaves much to be desired. I’ll update you later this month with how I’m addressing that. Generally I believe a to do list separate from your actual calendar works best for most people.
The best calendar, bar none, is one that you have with you all the time. A paper calendar will work if you carry it, but an electronic calendar will work, too, if you always have your phone along. One cool little tech tip…if you do use an Outlook calendar, you apparently can sync it with your mobile device over the air automatically either using Google or one of the apps made for this purpose. It looks like Google Sync is for single users and Google Apps Sync is for companies who need to link up calendar and email systems for employees. Here’s a video that explains how this works. I’ll be setting this up before the month is out.
There are also other apps available to handle different platforms and vendors, so do a search for “sync calendar with xxx” where xxx is your device. I’d love to hear what works for you. Please comment below and share it with our readers.
One last thing…you absolutely have my permission to stick with a paper day planner if you chose, but DO have a calender/calendar/planner of some type if you want to be organized inside your head.
It’s so appropriate that on the day I start a tech series, my iPad misbehaves. Actually, it misbehaved so badly that the Apple “genius” replaced the entire unit. So now I’m on my third iPad in just under 12 months, and I’ll spend the next day downloading settings and getting it to work with me again. Grrr. You’ll hear more about on what I love and don’t love about my iPad later.
But it is so lovely when technology really does simplify your life. I’m on the hunt for tools that really save you time or aggravation so I can share them with you this month. I think I’ve found a solution to one of my worst clutter monsters…business cards. My great system for filing business cards worked, but it always seemed so passive, separated from my MS Outlook that I depend on so much, and it started growing out of the box this year. Is there a way to eliminate those cards once and for all? Is there a slick way to email trusted vendor contact information directly to clients when they need great painters, electricians, and other great resources that I work with, information that is stuck in my business card box in my office?
I am infatuated with my new NeatDesk. This isn’t some organizer slang, but an actual brand name. You might know that I am not always the tech specialist in the room, but ever since I saw the NEAT scanning capabilities about two years ago, I realized the power.
NeatDesk
The solution looks like a scanner, but the magic and power is really in the accompanying software. Setup took me about 25 minutes. Not bad considering most of that was trying to figure out how to temporarily disable security software on my desktop. I also took another 20 minutes to watch some very informative videos. You’ve gotta love when a software company provides great instruction to make the power of their tools completely obvious.
Paper Be Gone
HeartWork Organizing 