Beyond Folders : color coding

Color Me Organized

Community Manager — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:27:00 GMT

Looking to get more organized? Jump on the color-coding bandwagon for organizing ease, efficiency and some colorful fun. Color-coding can be used to organize just about any area of your home or office; read on for tips for harnessing the rainbow to make your life more organized and efficient.

Fresh Take on Filing: Color-coded filing systems assign colored labels to key letters, file names or categories. The highly visual system makes it easy to quickly assess where a file belongs or to spot misfiled folders. Experts agree that color-coding offers several benefits including: fast, easy access to files; a reduced number of misfiled folders; decrease in negative emotions associated with filing such as frustration, confusion and boredom. For a color-coding filing how-to, click here.

Colorful Closets: Want an answer to the daily "what to wear?" dilemma? Color-code your closet for easy decision-making. When you organize you clothes by color, not only is it easier to find your clothing, you'll get a happy charge every time you open the door and see a Crayola Crayon box of options. Read How to Color Code Your Wardrobe for tips.

Bright Bookshelves: Say so long to the Dewey Decimal system and elect to sort your books by color. While alphabetizing works best for libraries, at home you have more freedom, so consider expressing your inner artist by color-blocking your bookshelves. Visual thinkers may find the color code helps them locate books more effectively. Plus, it looks stunning; click here for examples.

Color-Coded Kids: Have a big household? Consider color-coding your kids for easier organization. By assigning each child a color, and using it for common household items such as towels, toothbrushes, and laundry baskets, busy parents can tell at a glance who is keeping up with chores and who needs a gentle reminder to return their items to their rightful spots. Check out How to Color Code Life with Kids for more helpful ideas.

Color-Code Email: Optimize your email productivity with color- coding. Did you know that Gmail, Outlook and Lotus Notes let you apply color filters to specific emails? You can assign a color to a specific sender (or topic) making it easy to see at a glance what type of emails need your attention. Check out Color-Coding Emails for more helpful tips on color-coding your emails.

Color Code Your World

Community Manager — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:46:00 GMT

Saturated summer sunsets have got us thinking, is it possible to interject color elsewhere in our world? Regular readers will know we love a color-coded file. Our past post, Crack the Color Code: Tips for Better Filing shows how easy, breezy filing can be when you commit to color coding. We went in search of other ways to incorporate color coding into our daily life and we found a number of colorful ways to bring order (and zest!) to our days.

Color Coded Clothes: Want an answer to the "what to wear?" dilemma you face daily? Consider color coding your closet. Not only is it easier to find your clothing, you'll get a happy charge every time you open the door to see a Crayola Crayon box of options. Read How to Color Code Your Wardrobe for tips and feast on this visual eye-candy for inspiration.

Bright Bookshelves: Adios Dewy Decimal System, we're organizing our books by color! While alphabetizing works best for libraries, at home you have more freedom, so consider expressing your inner Mondrian by color-blocking your bookshelves. Visual thinkers may find the color code helps them locate books more effectively and man, does it look great!

Color Coded Kids: Have a big household? Consider color coding your kids for easier organization. By assigning each child a color, and using it for common household items such as towels, toothbrushes, and laundry baskets, busy parents can tell at a glance who is keeping up with chores and who needs a gentle reminder to return their items to their rightful spots. Read How to Color Code Life with Kids for more helpful ideas.

Easier Studying: Make studying and schoolwork easier by incorporating color coding. We like the advice in Organize Your Homework with Color Coded Supplies and older students who need to writie reports and papers will benefit from the tips in 5 Ways to Use Color Coded Index Cards.

Color Code Email: Optimize your email productivity with color coding. Did you know that Gmail lets you apply color filters to specific emails? You can assign a color to a specific sender (or topic) making it easy to see at a glance what type of emails need your attention. Check out the Gmail blog for more helpful tips on color coding your emails.

Do you organize by color? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook and Twitter pages.

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.