Quick Tip...think broader

I am currently working with a client to reorganize their home office files.  They have a very busy and active life with several kids, a home business, pets and multiple homes.  Their "paper" life is quite full.

Just to make things interesting, I am actually working with them to re-do a filing system installed a couple of years ago by a different professional organizer.  Yes, this sometimes happens.  The filing system the organizer installed has turned out to be too complicated for the owners to keep up.  Too many files, too many headings, too much color coding - just too much.

So, in order to avoid the 1000 folders syndrome,  I am encouraging everyone to think in broader categories when filing.  Here's how it works...

First, divide your papers into its broadest categories, i.e., Pets, Banking, Insurance.

Then look at each of these groups of papers and decide how important it is to create a sub-pile, so if your major heading is Pets, do you really need to separate the papers by "Fluffy the cat" and "Rover the dog" - if you feel you need to, then create ONE folder for each animal - "Fluffy" and "Rover".  File all the papers for each animal in the appropriate folder and drop the folder into the PETS hanging file.

It is not necessary to create any other folders for these animals.  If you start making folders for "Fluffy - microchip", "Fluffy - insurance", "Fluffy - license", "Fluffy - grooming", "Fluffy - boarding", then you've just created too much filing detail.  A piece of paper will always show up that doesn't fall into any category you've created and you are forced to add another folder to the file just to cover that one piece of paper - when the broader category of Pets, simply holds everything that pertains to the pets.

The more folders you create, the more sub-categories you make, the more complicated filing becomes and the less likely you are to do it.

Quick Tip... filing

Paper filing can be very confusing. Often we just don't know if we have to save something or not, so we end up putting it into a file and then, more often than not, we never look at it again.

As a professional organizer,I recommend keeping filing as simple as possible.  Files have only 2 categories for me, they are either Current/Active or Historical/Archived.

Current/Active files are those kept closest to you, on hand and available for your quick retrieval.  Historical/Archived are files in storage or furthest away from you.  You are keeping this material because you are required to by law or because it is of value to your family.

Turntables

I love using turntables in kitchen cabinets.  Especially in upper cabinets, corner cabinets and other places that are hard to reach.  

One of favorite uses for turntables is in liquor cabinets.  But anytime you have bottles of like things you need to reach, a turntable can be the solution.

Organizing magazines

Most of us have our share of magazine clutter.  Many of my clients have a great deal of trouble housing and letting go of magazines, especially if they are for one particular hobby or craft.

If magazines are a problem in your house, I suggest limiting the number of subscriptions.  Generally 1 to 3 magazines a month are as many as can be reasonably read on a regular basis.

Choose a place for magazines to live, then choose a reasonably sized container in which to house them. When the pile hits the top of the container it's time to recycle the from bottom.

Storing books and papers

If you are storing books and papers in a garage, don't do this. These books are ruined due to weather exposure and pests.  Books, like plants, need to be tended to regularly, not just left to fend for themselves.

If you must keep papers or books in a garage, then you should keep them in containers that do not expose them to elements.  I always choose clear containers so that items are easily visible and I add silicate packs or a box of baking soda to absorb moisture.

Truly valuable books and papers must be stored in acid free archival boxes.  http://www.archivalmethods.com/

The Library of Congress has great information on the proper storage of books and papers at
http://www.loc.gov/preserv/presfaq.html

Green dry cleaning

Dry cleaning clothes is still a tricky business when it comes to being green. The bad stuff is known as PERC or perchloroethylene. It's what you smell when you take your clothes out of the plastic and it's bad for you and the environment.

The best recommendations I can find are to use cleaners who use either the "wet dry clean" method or Liquid CO2. And yes, it will probably cost a bit more.

Slimline hangers

At last, the lowly clothes hanger is now new and improved.

Slimline hangers are made of a stable, flexible plastic and coated with a soft flocking, to give your clothes support, but yet take up less space in the closet.  The flocked surface grips even the slipperiest fabrics, so tops don't tumble off the hanger to the floor.  You can fold pants over and buy separate packages of clips to hang skirts.

They come in several different colors and styles, depending on where you buy them.  I found mine at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Vertical filing

Papers and folders stacked horizontally don't get found, they just get lost. Keep papers and folders in vertical files, on your desktop, instead of in piles everywhere.

Moving crates

Traditionally, most homeowners use cardboard boxes for packing their possessions. A growing trend in home moving is using plastic crates, just as businesses do when they pack their offices. Crates are reusable and offer more protection than cardboard. After unpacking, the crates are returned to the moving company.

Check out Zippgo.

Closet organizing

Here's a quick way to organize your clothes closet:

1. Separate your dress/work clothes from your casual/exercise clothes.

2. Separate by type of garment - pants/skirts/dresses/blouses/shirts/tops

3. Separate darks from lights, heavy to lightweight, long sleeve from short.

Brightening your work day

I've become a big fan of Mudlark Stationery products. Beautiful colors and thoughtful designs to brighten/lighten up your home office. Find at any good stationery/card shop, as well as on-line.

Kitchen drawers

It's perfectly okay to use drawers in the kitchen as you would a pantry shelf. This kitchen has more drawers than cupboards and no pantry area at all. So using the drawers for food storage makes sense.

To keep like items together and bags of grains from spilling, I used plastic containers as drawer dividers. An airtight container is used to hold crackers and cookies that would get stale if left out in the air.

Cole Hardware

Hats off to Cole Hardware in San Francisco for creating and maintaining one of the best recycling resources pages I've ever seen! If you want to know how to properly dispose of just about everything, check out Cole's page first. (Just click on the title of this entry.)

Receipts file

I keep my tax deductible receipts in this accordion file. Each section is one month and at the end of every quarter, I transfer the data to Quicken. Then I bundle the receipts and leave them in their section until tax time. I get the accordion file at Office Depot.

Caution is the word of the day

I want to remind everyone to be especially careful during the current economic downturn. I am hearing from my fellow professionals that new scams and schemes are popping up all over the country at an alarming rate. Pay special attention to:

Craig's List - this is a free internet service for selling items, renting apartments, finding jobs, etc. However, reports of robbery and theft involving using Craig's List are disturbing. Everything from being robbed in the home or at so called safe public locations to having checks copied and used to buy expensive goods or empty checking accounts.

Phone and Mail - Never, never, ever give personal information to strangers calling over the phone! Don't answer mail ads.

Internet and Email - Never click on links for things you don't know and never click or respond to an email that looks as though it's from your bank or credit card company. Always build your own direct link to the companies you work with regularly and use that link to contact them.

It's deductible

It's almost time to think about taxes....

Remember that your donated household and clothing deductions need to be accounted for correctly on your taxes. We use It's Deductible by the Intuit people. Best of all, it's free. Just click on the post title to visit the site.

Recycling the turkey oil

If you are deep frying your turkey, don't pour that oil down the drain - recycle it for biofuel. Check out SFgrease.org for instructions. If you are not from the Bay Area, check the internet for places to take your oil or put it on Freecycle.org for pickup by a hungry car.

Cut clutter, cut cleaning time

My friends at The Clutter Diet advise that the National Soap and Detergent Association reports that getting rid of excess clutter could save 40% of the cleaning time in the average home! Gotta love that...

Clever ad for recycling

This scavenger truck got my attention on a San Francisco street last week. If you live in SF you can call 415-330-1300 to pick up your junk - including electronic waste. It's not free, but they take EVERYTHING!

Shred it

EVERYONE should be shredding their mail and sensitive papers, but not all shredders are up to the task. I go into many homes with broken shredders and the owners are reluctant to get a new one.

When buying a shredder, even for home use, go for power! I don't recommend shredders with a mesh basket - chopped paper gets stuck in the mesh and they are a pain to empty.

Office Depot now offers customer reviews of products on their website, so before you buy you can check out what others have to say about their purchases and perhaps make a better decision about yours.