Beyond Folders : Organization tools

Making the Most of Mondays

Community Manager — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:48:00 GMT

Tired of dreading Monday? We hear you. Stop singing the Monday Blues and instead embrace the week's fresh start with our simple steps for making the most of your Monday.

Aim for Progress, Not Perfection: Begin each week by adopting a very simple formula: aim for progress, not perfection. Don't look at the entire scope of work for the week and think, "ugh, I'm overwhelmed." Look at what you need to do that day, or even that morning, and go task by task. Once you set the wheels in motion, momentum will carry you through the rest.

Self-Awareness Scheduling: Gretchen Rubin, the New York Times best-selling author of The Happiness Project, explores different ways of using scheduling tricks to combat the Monday Blahs in 5 Tips for Improving Monday Mornings. Rubin suggests that if hectic Monday mornings always create stress, try to opt for a Monday morning zone free of email, phone calls and meetings. Or schedule enticing Monday lunch dates or evening plans to make the day more appealing. Manage your schedule to make the most of your Monday.

Monday, Monday, So Good to Me: Make Monday a designated day for enjoyable activities. We like the feel good advice from web site Growing Happiness. In 20 Ways to Beat the Monday Blahs tips for combating the Monday Blues include scheduling calls with friends, treating yourself to a small gift (new pen, cool magnet, etc.) and making Monday, not Sunday, your day for a delicious breakfast treat such as pancakes.

How do you make the most of your Mondays? Share your thoughts here.

From Piles to Files with Divide It Up Multi-Section Folders

Community Manager — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:42:00 GMT

Ah, Autumn: a season of crisp apples, colorful foliage and piles of paperwork. Had you there didn't we? You thought we were going to say piles of leaves.

Well, consider that the school year is only a few weeks old and already the paperwork explosion is threatening to engulf the kitchen counter. And forget about the office; the paperwork that built up during your lazy beach days is just as overwhelming.

Divide It Up® File Folders

Product # 10772

This fall, tackle your piles with something much better than a rake. Tackle your piles with Divide It Up® Multi-Section File Folders.

One folder, three sections: a snap to subdivide files for easy access and quick retrieval. Each folder offers an oversize tab for easy identification and three smaller tabs, making sorting simple. Go ahead and overstuff; the folders are sealed on all sides for maximum hold.

One folder, three pockets; endless possibilities. Why tackle those troublesome piles with anything else?

For more tips on taming those mounds of paperwork, read our past posts Anatomy of a Filing Cabinet and Simple Tricks for the Filing Newbie.

Tips for A Great School Year

Community Manager — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:40:00 GMT

New notebooks, check. Backpack, check. Refusing to over schedule...a work in progress. Smart parents know the back-to-school checklist should include more than just school supplies. Create the framework for a successful school year with the following checklist.

Great Expectations: Sit down with your students and discuss your expectations for the school year. Clearly tell your kids that you expect them to be polite, conscientious students. Don't assume your child knows what type of behavior you expect, tell them directly.

Open Lines of Communication: Reach out to your children's teacher rather than waiting to hear from them. Introduce yourself via e-mail and let the teacher know the best way to get in touch during the school year. Reaching out signals that you are an involved, approachable parent who is willing to act as a partner in a student's education.

Organizing 101: Teach your children to organize their workspace and calendar for greater productivity and less stress. Organization is easy with these simple steps.

Family, It's What's for Dinner: Students who eat with their family regularly have better health, grades and lower rates of troublesome behavior such as teen drinking and smoking. Put family dinners first as often as your schedule permits.

Say No to Over Scheduling: Put the brakes on extracurriculars or social engagements that get in the way of downtime and family time. Overextended and stressed out students and parents is becoming an epidemic: ward off the ill-effects of a schedule in overdrive by just saying no.

Read Together: Reading fosters a love of learning and improves vocabulary; it is also a wonderful way to nurture deep connection between parents and children. Often parents stop reading to their children once they can read on their own. But parents can read to willing children for years. Pick books that are challenging or that focus on a shared interest: reading it together pushes children outside of their comfort zone. Consider forming a parent/child book group with a group of friends.

Finally, smart parents model a positive attitude to school and learning. Share stories from your own education; let your children see you continue to try to learn new things, be it a sport, a recipe or a new language. Being a life-long learner is enjoyable and presents a positive role model for your children.

Top 10 Back-to-School Products for Tweens and Up

Community Manager — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:32:00 GMT

1. Livescribe Pen: Write your class notes while recording what you miss with digital recorder pens. How cool is that? Be sure to ask your teacher's permission before recording.

2. Alarms: Forget your parent's snooze button. There's a battery of creative alarm clocks on the market these days: opt for a fire alarm ring, clocks that talk and even one sporting wheels to roll away from attempts to hit the snooze button.

3. Power Strips: Multi-gadget kids need a surge protecting power cord to keep the juice flowing safely. Check out the Pivot Power, a flexible strip that lets users opt for different configurations, easily pivoting cords around furniture and hard to reach spots.

4. Laptock Locks: Combo locks aren't just for lockers; make use laptop locks to tether your computer to a desk when you duck out of the library.

5. iPad: A multitasking master: read eBooks, stream music, take notes and pictures; organize class and activity schedules with time management apps. Anything else? Oh, right, studying.

6. iPad Accessories: Trick out your iPad with accessories like headphones, eye-catching cases and our favorite, the Padfoot, which holds the tablet in a variety of positions including upright for better viewing and slightly lifted for easier typing.

7. USB Flash Drives: Store digital materials including presentations, notes and pictures on portable flash drives.

8. Laptop Bags: Many bags now come with laptop and cell phone pockets. Also, solar-powered backpacks, yes, you read that right, allow you to tap into Mother Nature to recharge devices in between classes with a solar power backpack.

9. Lunch Pack: Encourage healthy eating by sending your child off to school with a homemade lunch. A wide range of stylish lunch totes, including Japanese-style bento boxes and insulated lunch totes, puts a fresh face on brown-bagging it.

10. Smart Phone: For many tweens, the first phone is a major rite of passage. Be sure to set parameters for use and keep an eye on texting. Family-plans can help manage usage while allowing parents to keep an eye on their child.

Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Kids Organized

Community Manager — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:28:00 GMT

Back-to-school shopping catalogs are flooding the mailbox. Time to think about getting the kids organized for school and the fall sports season. Smart parents keep busy households organized with these top ten tips.

1. Designate a Drop Spot: Backpacks and sports gear can easily engulf a home; designate a convenient drop spot for off-loading when the kids arrive home. Nothing fancy is needed: a simple hall bench, set of cubbies or even wall hooks can do the trick.

2. Kitchen Command Center: Deputize a bulletin board or white board to track all family commitments, sports schedules and major tests and projects. The shared schedule lets all family members see major events at a glance.

3. Calendar Smarts: Teach your children to maintain their own calendar to practice optimum time-management. Even the very youngest students can be taught how to chart tasks on a calendar. Talk about how to assess how long a task will take and allocating sufficient time for completion.

4. Designate Study Time: Get your children in the study habit by designating a specific block of time for homework each day. Encourage children not to race through work, but instead to proceed slowly and methodically, leaving time for proofing.

5. Checklists: Encourage your child to use checklists to prioritize tasks and keep track of each item's status. Crossing off items on a to-do list provides a sense of accomplishment.

6. Quiet Zone: Find a quiet area for students to do their work. An interruption-free zone enhances focus and productivity.

7. Homework Caddy: Set each child up with a portable homework caddy with must-have tools such as pencils, pens, erasers, stapler, etc. Keeping study tools close at hand will prevent students from wandering off in search of needed items.

8. Backup Supplies: Keep a supply of notebooks, binders, report covers, poster board, glue and markers and crayons on hand during the school year. You'll be glad to have a ready supply when a child inevitably announces late in the evening they are missing X item for a project due tomorrow.

9. A Look Ahead: Get in the habit of spending the end of the day planning for the next morning. By taking just 15 minutes to round up school supplies, paperwork and special items such as rain boots and umbrellas, you can stave off the stress that often adds to the morning rush.

10. Weekly Clean Ups: Keep chaos at bay with weekly clean-ups. Update the family command center calendar, restore missing items to their rightful place and restock school supplies that are running low. Revisit your children's personal planners or calendars and provide feedback on how they managed their schedules and workloads for the week. Praise successes and offer suggestions for improvement where necessary.

Crack the Color Code: Tips for Better Filing

Community Manager — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:26:00 GMT

Files are the building blocks of office organization. Maximize your office's organization by creating highly visual, efficient color-coded files.

Fundamentals of Color Coding

Color coded systems assign colored labels to key letters, file names or categories. The highly visual system makes it easy to quickly asses where a file belongs or to spot misfiled folders. Experts agree that color coding offers several benefits including:

Fast, easy access to files. Color coding makes it a snap to determine where files belong.
Dramatically reduce the number of misfiled folders.
Lessens negative emotions associated with filing such as frustration, confusion and boredom.

Seeing is Believing

We've rounded up a few examples of successful color coding from across the web to get you up and running.

Professional organization site Color Coded has a wonderful post, Color Coded Spaces, Smiling Faces, that demonstrates how color coding can be used in the filing cabinet and beyond. From organizing appliance cords to bookshelves and more, color coding helps keep life organized.

LA lifestyle blog Cupcakes & Cashmere trains its finely honed aesthetic sensibility on home office files. Read the post Office Etiquette for details on synching an attractive streamlined desktop holder with a more comprehensive, color coded system in your filing cabinet: it's a vibrant example of form meeting function.

How-to site eHow has a useful video primer on color coding. Check out How to Color Code Your Files to get started.

Have you made use of color coding in your files? Do you have tips for getting a color coded system up and running? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Productivity Plus: Making the Most of Your Days

Community Manager — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:53:00 GMT

Put that extra "spring" in your step to good use. The season's longer days provide ample time for enhanced productivity as we posted about last month in Making Better Use of Longer Days.

Stay on a productivity roll with our round-up of useful posts from across the web.

Productivity blog Stepcase has three new terrific posts worth a read:

Lifehacker, another site devoted to doing more with less, is taking a look at different productivity strategies linked to each the day of the week. For their seven-days-a-week strategy to a more productive you, read here.

Does procrastination often get in the way of your productivity? We have a fantastic post for you at Gretchen Rubin's blog, The Happiness Project. Read what Rubin, a NYT's best-selling author, learns as she interviews Piers Steel, the author of "The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Getting Stuff Done."

Finally, we leave you with the thought that happiness can contribute to productivity. Leading Fortune 500 consultant Paul David Walker calls it one of the crucial ingredients. Read here for more on the link between feeling good and performing well.

Have you come across any useful productivity resources on the web? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Candie Harris

Organize Your Grad

Community Manager — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:48:00 GMT

June's graduation season is right around the corner. Do the grad in your life a favor and equip them with tools to manage life's paperwork, bills and time-management demands. Organization is the gift that keeps on giving.

File in Style: Gift your grad with a filing cabinet or a portable filing tote. Better yet, fill it with files and labels and direct them to past Pendaflex posts for tips on becoming a filing maven.

Time Flies: Watches may be the classic retirement gift but for young grads, time-management tools are the better bet. Consider a PDA or leather day planner. http://bit.ly/knp4Gj Or gift cards let your grad opt for apps to organize the day. Finally, past posts on time-management resources will have your grad up to speed in no time.

Label Maker 101: Long-hand is so 2000. Gift your 2011 grad with a state-of-the-art label maker, perfect from organizing everything from files to dorm room cubbies. This is one gift with a very long shelf life!

Grad or Nomad? Today's high tech grad bears a striking resemblance to a digital nomad, able to work and recreate untethered from traditional desks and phone cords. Equip your grad just as you would a digital nomad, with a wireless laptop, battery charger and even, gasp!, an old-fashioned pen and paper. Read on for more to make your grad a well-equipped nomad.

What is the can't-live-without organizing gift for your grad? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Carly Fadako

Spring Cleaning: Not Just for Home

Community Manager — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:37:00 GMT

Think spring cleaning is just for the home? Look around your work space. Is it shipshape or in sorry shape? After a long winter, many of us need to refresh our offices with a good spring cleaning.

Ready, Set, Spring

Toss: Spring time is a period of renewal, so get ready for "out with the old, in with the new." It's time to toss: good-bye old newspapers, magazines, coffee cups, unused office accessories and clutter. Take out the shredder and give your desktop pile and cabinet files a thorough onceover. Shred what's not needed.

Clean Slate: Give your desk a spring make-over. Take everything off, creating a clean, blank slate. Move personal items such as framed photos or children's arts and crafts to your shelves. Consider adding new pencil holders or attractive desk accessories. Little changes can transform your office ambiance.

Purge Drawers: Organize your desk drawers, tossing unnecessary items and grouping like supplies (i.e. post-it-notes, pens, staples) together. Go drawer, by drawer, until your desk is in tip top shape.

One and Only: Keep office supplies in one drawer only. Buy a dozen of your favorite, inexpensive pens and keep them in a tray in the drawer. Store back-up supplies in a clear storage box. And say no to junk; free cups and pens and other free giveaways are distracting clutter.

Purge Post-Its: Use post-its sparingly, so they catch your eye, not obscure your monitor. For a running to-do list, keep a notebook by the phone. Jot down phone messages or notes here.

Weed Piles & Files: If you're a piler, try to move them off the desktop and onto a side table. Desks should have no more than a three tier in-box: one slot holds items not yet reviewed, one for items "on hold" that you have reviewed and need to act upon soon and a third for items needed on a daily basis over the short term. Documents not falling into one of these categories should be filed permanently or tossed.

Keep At It: Once your desk and office are squeaky clean, keep things shipshape with a nightly ten minute spruce up. Make a clean sweep each night, tossing trash, sorting paperwork and readying must-have-documents for the next day.

Do you give your office space a spring cleaning? Do you have any tips or strategies for keeping your workspace in top shape? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Carly Fadako

Spring Fever: Time to Renew Those Resolutions

Community Manager — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:37:00 GMT

If you are like most Americans, you went into the New Year armed with well-intentioned resolutions only to have your motivation fizzle out during the winter doldrums. Now, it's time to renew those resolutions. After all, spring is the perfect season for succeeding at many of the most popular resolutions.

Lose Weight: Whether it's dropping a few pounds or dropping several dress sizes, losing weight consistently ranks among the top New Year's resolutions. Take advantage of fresh spring produce to whittle your waistline. Healthy eats such as asparagus and beets are front and center this time of year along with delicious treats such as tangerines and strawberries. For more low cal, high nutrient dishes visit Fitness.com.

Exercise: Take advantage of the longer days and warmer weather to walk, run, swim or bike your way to better health. The user-friendly advice from Prevention.com, arms you with everything from tips on stretching to gear to workouts; you'll be out and about and fitter in no time.

Adopt a Healthier Lifestyle: Whether it's the desire to kick cigarettes or alcohol or merely to adopt healthier habits such as an "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle, spring is a time of rejuvenation. Reboot your circadian rhythms to promote energy and decrease stress and replace unhealthy habits like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption with healthy alternatives. Think about reaching for a picnic basket for al fresco dining after a tough day of work, rather than a cigarette. Replace unhealthy habits with healthy stress busters. Read on for healthy, fun spring activities that can help give bad habits the boot. C'mon, you can do it!

Save Money: Who doesn't want to squeeze value out of every dollar? Spring is the perfect time to get more bang for your buck. Vacation getaways are more wallet-friendly as the end of Easter marks the start of discounted vacation packages in warm weather getaways like the Caribbean. And think long-term: refinance your mortgage before rates head up this summer and if you received a tax refund, adjust tax withholding to ensure that more money is in your paycheck each month, rather than going to Uncle Sam.

Get Organized: At Pendaflex, we are advocates of year-round spring cleaning but spring is a great time to double your efforts. Swap out winter clothes and gear for warm weather goods and be sure to donate or recycle items no longer in use. Purge your paperwork and piles while you're at it. A lighter load around the house translates to a freer mind. Declutter to destress!

How are your New Year's resolutions holding up? Will spring's season of renewal restore your resolution motivation? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Candie Harris

Tech Talk: New Tools to Get You Organized

Community Manager — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:56:00 GMT

Still just using your iPad for Angry Birds? Take a break from that most addictive of pastimes for a quick productivity update.

Bigger, Faster

The latest iPad 2 boasts a larger screen and faster processor, making switching from apps zippier than ever. Put that processor to good use with productivity apps such as 2DO and Reeder which streamlines RSS feeds for the iPad. For more ideas read The iPad 2: Ten Best Productivity Uses.

iPhone Fabulous

Did you know women prefer iPhones to any other brand of smartphone? When we read Top8 iPhone Apps for Busy Women we can see why. Productivity apps ranging from Snapp!, a rolodex-like app to Dropbox, an app which lets users store 2GB of data, free are major productivity enhancers. And then there is the iPeriod, an app that tracks menstrual cycles.

Cloudy With A Chance of Productivity

Cloud computing is getting more air time, with Amazon.com's recent announcement that it is rolling out Amazon Cloud Drive an online media locker that allows users to store and stream media from any computer, anywhere. Take advantage of Cloud technology with the free storage apps featured in Top 5 Free Cloud Storage Options.

What's your favorite tech tool? What app can't you live without? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Carly Fadako

Taxes: To Outsource or Not?

Community Manager — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:00:00 GMT

The U.S. tax code isn't easy to navigate. Just ask current U.S. treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, who oversees the IRS. Geithner's nomination was almost derailed by his failure to pay four years of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, a failure that Geithner chalked up to error, errors which tax experts agree are all too easy to make when filing.

Geithner had been filing his own taxes. Would hiring a pro have made a difference?

The Pros & Cons of Professional Tax Preparation

The Upside

Hiring a pro can save you time. The IRS estimates that individuals spend nearly 25 hours preparing their taxes. Time is money!
Tax preparation costs can be tax deductible.
Pros can find deductions or credits that you might otherwise miss.
Pros make fewer mistakes than the average tax filer.
In need of audit assistance? A pro can help you navigate the paperwork and can event represent you to the IRS.

The Downside

Ka-ching. Professional tax preps costs money. Depending on the complexity of your taxes, a filer can expect to pay a flat fee of $130 for simple forms with no deductions and up to $120 per hour for complex taxes.
You don't always get what you pay for. Not all tax pros are equal (or competent). In 2008, the Better Business Bureau reported that complaints on tax preparers were up a whopping 80 percent. Vet your pro before entrusting your highly personal information.
You need to plan ahead. Pros are not for procrastinators; they book up early in the spring and generally require paperwork weeks in advance of April 15^th.

If you wish to find a CPA to help with your taxes be sure to check their reputations before entrusting your documents. If you chose to use one of the big nationwide tax prep firms such as H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt or Liberty Tax Service, consider requesting a senior-level tax preparer.

Need a laugh this tax season? Check out ten humorous (and true!) tax tales including one intrepid filer's attempts to declare pet food tax deductible and attempts by the IRS to collect four cents.

Do you prepare you own taxes? What tips do you have for foolproof tax filing? If you use a professional, how do you get your paperwork ready? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

The Tax Man Cometh

Community Manager — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:50:00 GMT

We know, we know, death and taxes. Sure as day follows night, April 15th rolls around every year so what are you waiting for? Time to get your tax paperwork in order.

Corralling Paperwork

The tax code may be complicated but getting ready to file your taxes needn't be. We like the simple, three folder solution outlined by leading investment site the Motley Fool. Grab three folders, label them "income", "expenses and deductions" and "investments" and dive into the user-friendly advice in Get Organized for the IRS.

Deduct and Save

Once you have your paperwork in order, be sure to pay attention to your deductions. Read 10 Often Overlooked Tax Deductions to identify savings that too many people neglect such as "green" renovations to your home and the cost of professional tax preparation.

Want a Refund?

Are you in line for a tax refund? Read 10 Tips for Getting the Biggest Tax Refund for helpful hints including deducting child-care costs and professional development. Also, the IRS is now app-friendly: check the status of your return on your phone or iPad.

What Not to Do

Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but an IRS return is not the place to do so. Common mistakes include math errors and missing or incorrect information. Read MSN.com's 10 Tax Goofs Many of Us Keep Making for tips on error-free filing.

How do you get organized for tax season? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Family, Filing and Fun

Community Manager — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:43:00 GMT

Filing doesn't usually rank high on the list of fun family activities but if you want to get your family on-board with family filing, we have a few strategies.

The Family That Files Together

To begin, educate your family members. Explain that the volume of paperwork coming into the house (bills, receipts, permission slips, class trip notifications, sports schedules, art work, etc.) is too much for one person to handle. If everyone pitches in, the job will go faster leaving free time for enjoyable family activities such as movies or game night.

Next, set up a basic system to triage paperwork that is easy enough for the whole family to follow. Consider using manila envelopes in the kitchen labeled with each family member's name for offloading documents. Or label the envelopes with categories such as to-do, to-sign, to-file, etc. and have everyone stash their paper in the corresponding file. For more on making the most of manila envelopes for organizing, read Creating a Home Paper Management System.

Keep family members involved by rotating tasks. Consider having an older child pitch in on the weekly or monthly filing. Having an older teen file bills and medical paperwork is a great way of teaching budgeting fundamentals. If one spouse typically handles the bill paying or filing, consider switching off every other month so the division of labor is fairer. This also allows both partners to be fully up to speed in the family's financials.

Incentivize you family for pitching in. The child who unloads all their school and sports papers into their correct manila folder for a week gets a special treat. Did a teen tackle a particularly onerous stack of filing or bring order to an unruly pile? Let them pick the next movie for a family outing.

Miscellaneous

Other family filing ideas include creating a customizable family notebook where paperwork is divided into categories (i.e. sports/religion/menus) when family members can always find schedules and important contact numbers. Store this in the kitchen. Families should also have a go-to file for emergencies in the event of a weather of health disaster. For tips, read Life Hacker's Organizing Family Papers for Emergencies.

How do you tackle family filing? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Bradley Eggers

Clever Uses for Binder Clips

Community Manager — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:30:00 GMT

At Pendaflex, we love organizing tools that do more with less. Consider the binder clip. Commonly used for clipping together files or stacks of papers, a job the binder clip handles beautifully, the clip can also multi-task as an organizer in the closet, your purse and even your fridge. Yes, the fridge!

From desk top to display, the binder clip holds with the best of them. Witness Real Simple Magazine re-purposing a few colorful binder clips as display stands for family photos. The magazine also recommends using a clip as simple wallet, a linen closet organizer and a device to clip window treatment cords away from small children. So simple, yet so effective!

Über-organizing blog the Unclutterer also has clever recommendations for getting the most out of your binder clip. Label a few clips "to do" and "to file," etc., attaching papers to the corresponding clip and then mounting the clips on a peg board or bulletin board as a visual to-do list. The Unclutterer even recommends organizing your closet with clips, by combining binder clips and coat hangers to safely stow boots away.

The most inventive use for the binder clip? Creating a beverage organizer in your fridge. Take a look, I'm betting you'll say, "I never would have thought of that!"

For more great ideas for binder clips, including corralling your computer cables, check out Nine Great uses for Binder Clips

In my house we use binder clips to close half eaten bags of chips or pretzels. How about you? Share your thoughts here by leaving a comment!