Using Baskets to organize office supplies

Re-purposing a bookshelf in a closet is thinking outside the box.

This picture is actually looking into a closet.  I had a challenge with a client. Organize all these office supplies.  There was a small closet in the room and a bar across it and a couple of little shelves that had been left by a previous owner. There was no need for clothes for this office….and I wanted to utilize this space.

The client had  this bookshelf that wasn’t being used.  I did all the measurments before I had it moved into the room.  It was going to fit! I was So excited!

Now for the containers.  I wanted to use a clear plastic so that you could easily see what was in them.  I measured the shelf height and length to make sure I could get the most use out of the space…knowing I was buying the right size baskets or plastic boxes.

If you notice I have the lids off the boxes.  It would look very nice and neat to have them on, but would things get put back as easy if you had to lift a lid to do it?  This was a place that I could leave them open and easily accessible.  But….I did put the lid directly under the basket so that you don’t have to worry about losing them…and they are there if you want to use them.

Tips from Peter Walsh (part 4)

More Tips Directly from Peter Walsh

These Tips were given to me by Office Max to use if I wanted to.  The above picture is of the new line of products that Peter Walsh has coming out in the Office Max stores called you.organized.

Calendars: You might feel like multiple schedules lead to more confusion. For a little planning relief, combine home and work calendars. Simply choose various colors to mark important dates: one for professional tasks and meetings, one for personal appointments, one for social engagements, one for your children’s activities, and so on. (Peter Walsh)

I’m with him on that one. I have tried to keep a calendar in my purse and one at home.  I like having my calendar with me.  I have solved that problem with using a google calendar on my computer and it syncs with my blackberry.  The google calendar does have color coding for events, so that helps.  It isn’t my favorite calendar and I’m always looking for other options….but it has to sync with my phone so I have my calendar with me on the road.

Cork Boards & Sticky Boards: No need to hang lists, phone numbers and reminders all over your cubicle walls. Instead, create a one-stop message center with a cork or sticky board. Hang your daily to-do list, phone numbers, and a weekly calendar of events and meetings. That way, you’ll have all your need-to-know information in front of you. (Peter Walsh)

If you give yourself the limit of a bulletin board or magnetic board…and it gets full – then that is a sign that too much is on there and you can clean it off.

Email: Stay on top of your electronic inbox. Check email when you arrive, and immediately sort each message into an appropriate folder. Even if you don’t have time to deal with the contents of a message or even read it fully, sort it for later action. (Peter Walsh)

E-mail boxes are always a problem. It is easy for them to become very full very fast.  Do use the folders that you can create to sort e-mails you need to keep. Delete junk emails.  Here is a post I did on E-mail organizing.

• Closing Thoughts: Remember that your desk sends a clear signal about who you are and how you approach your work. You should have an organized desk at the start and finish of every day! (Peter Walsh)

Disclosure: I was not paid or given anything to do this post. I was given the above info if I wanted to use it…and I did!

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Tips from Peter Walsh (part 3)

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Tips from Peter Walsh

More tips from Peter?  Here a a couple of thoughts directly from Peter Walsh. These were given to me from Office Max to use if I chose to.  I did decide to pass on this info..because I figured you would enjoy learning from him as much as I do.

Filing: Use a vertical file organizer for “active” files. Reserve your desk inbox for items that need to be dealt with pronto. Name your file folders with nouns. Use the ones that first pop into your mind when you need the material. Banish the concept of a miscellaneous file from your life. If something is worth putting in a file folder, it’s worth putting in a folder than has a specific label. (Peter Walsh)

My question for Peter on the video I did with him was about filing.  Paper work seems to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks for most clients.  How to make a file system work for you. So it is something that you will use.  A perfect system set up but unused is of no good to anyone.  Filing like anything needs to be maintained.

Binders: For travel, business and leisure create a different binder devoted to your important documents. For example, when creating a travel binder, include pocketed folders to store airline tickets and receipts, a contact section storing important phone numbers, and a location portion highlighting hot spots and destination details.

I love using binders.  I have one (color coded mind you) for different projects I am working on.  Depending on how big the project is, I can use just a folder with pockets too.  But bigger projects and for my different clients I do use binders and keep them in different colors for visiual quick identification.

Disclosure:  I was not paid to do this post. It was my decision and the information from Peter was given to me. The orange comments are my own.

Tips from Peter Walsh (Part 2)

Here are some Office  Organization Tips & Inspirations directly from Peter Walsh

These are some tips that were sent to me from Office Max that Peter Walsh gave them for us to use. I wanted to share them with you!!  I have added a couple of my own thoughts after each one…

• Desktop Organization: There’s no faster way to inspire an immediate change in attitude than with an uncluttered, clear and pristine desk. Think of your desk as a reflection of your head. No matter how creative and brilliant you are, you’ll perform better with an organized desk. You shouldn’t have anything on your desk that isn’t “active,” meaning it still needs to be dealt with.  (Peter Walsh)

Isn’t that the truth?  I have said before, Clutter in your home = Clutter in your head.  Think how nice it would be to walk in to work in your office and see a nice clean desk to work out. Ahhhhh…. is the feeling you get rather than…..Gggrrrhhhh!!

• To-Do Lists: When writing a to-do list, group alike tasks together such as making calls or running errands to increase efficiency. But avoid getting overwhelmed with your workload by breaking it into small, manageable tasks. Write to-do list items on individual sticky notes and put them on a wall calendar. Rearrange them as your priorities change. At the end of the day, review your checklist and cross off completed items. Move any pending items to a fresh list for tomorrow.  (Peter Walsh)

I like this idea.  I am hoping to try (hoping to review, but if not…I will probably buy myself) his new you.organized wall modular unit.  I think you could use this with his sticky note idea.

• Paper Clutter: Deal with new papers first. No matter how high the old piles are, begin by devising a system for the new arrivals. Decide immediately what to do with each piece of paper that comes across your desk. Do not postpone these decisions. Paper piles are messy monuments to a long series of small procrastinations. Once you are faithfully dealing with new papers in a systematic way, haul out all unfiled older papers and take them through your new system. (Peter Walsh)

Reminds me of what I used to say when I sold Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies.  Start with the new pictures first. If you look at that huge back log of pictures, you will never do anything because it is too over whelming. You start at the present.  Works the same with the paper clutter.

The above picture is a picture of the line of products that Peter Walsh created and is being carried in the Office Max.

Disclosure:  I was not paid to do this post, I was offered the information to use if I would like to use it.  It was my decision to use the information because I think Peter Walsh rocks and love what he has to say.

Interview with Peter Walsh!!! (part 1)

Interviewing the King of Organizers!!

I was thrilled to be able to interview Peter Walsh today via web cam.  He could not see me (thank goodness because I was sitting with my sweatshirt on and no makeup!) but I was on the phone.

I was asked by Office Max if I wanted this opportunity. Heck yes!!

Peter is coming out with a new line (they are soooo cool) of organizers for the office called the you.organize series and we are lucky enough to get a preview here.  I am glad….I was sure hoping he would.  My favorite is the wall modular system! I love the look of it and it is so functional.

I asked him about filing though. That seems to be my biggest challenge when I work with clients. I wanted to see what his thoughts were. Also on the programs where you log all the information into your computer and each file folder gets a number. Then you put in a key word and it shows you where your file is.  They work great and I have used a version or one with one client. But….I do not like that you can’t open the file drawer and find your file without logging onto your computer first.  *The client I had use this system, I still labeled the front of his files with the file name & the number.

Enjoy my interview (as nervous as I was…) with Peter Walsh. Plus the fact that I could see him in the video but was talking to him on the phone. Well when we were  making this…his voice didn’t match his mouth! I felt like I was watching a foreign film. LOL  So I had to keep looking away from the screen because it was throwing me off. (You know as I get older it doesn’t take as much to throw me off! ) Thank goodness on the final video he talks just fine!

Thank you SO Much Office Max and Peter for this opportunity!

You can follow Peter’s Facebook Page to get answers to even more of your questions.

Tomorrow I am going to share some tips that are from Peter.

Disclosure:  I was not paid for this interview with money or products. I also did not have to pay them to have this interview.  My reward? I got to interview Peter Walsh!!!  yippee & squeels!

What do you have trouble Organizing?

We all have an area of our house that gets messy just because we either can’t stand to organize it ….or we don’t know how?
I would say for me the area that I like the least is paper management. The file system! I have one that works for me. But what works for me certainly doesn’t always work for my clients.

There are file systems that you can have your broad topics: Home management, Cars, Bills, Kids.
Then you can have those systems that people like to micro file: Business meeting Aug 7, 2009, Billy’s monthly karate etc…

There are some that love the paperless concept: Neat receipts or a Snap Scan by Fujitsu that can scan all your receipts, business cards etc.. into your computer – thus ending most paper content.

There are those that are scared to throw out a single piece of paper. I had one client that has a huge amount of paper and files. I thought a Snap Scan (my sister recommended….she loves hers) would work well for him and he agreed. But I knew with him, it would only be for magazine articles and articles related to his profession. The volume of these things alone was immense. No one can MAKE someone throw something away if they aren’t ready. We can encourage them to and try to get to the bottom of why they feel they can’t part with it…but bottom line is…it is theirs and their decision.
But to get on with my story – After hours of scanning and several boxes of papers, magazines etc..that I was thrilled we were going to be able to get rid of since we had just scanned them….. You guessed it – he didn’t want to throw them out…just yet. We did talk and I did convince him that he had all the information and as he backed everything up automatically every 30 minutes (I think) he wasn’t losing any of that information.

So what do you hate to organize? Share your thoughts, your pictures….I’d love to help if I can.

Disclosure: I am not presently representing either the Neat Receipts or the Snap Scan, I have used them both in the past and did a past review on the Neat Receipts.

Reorganizing my Own Office

This is the “before” picture of my office. We have a very small office and have desk for my husband and I, file cabinets and a bookshelf. But I still needed some more space.
Think “up” is always what I tell my clients. Shelves right? But I wanted to do it on my own without having to have my husband help me and I love cubbies. I would have loved to have gone to Ikea and gotten one of their cubby units, but they are over an hour and half away. So I went to Target and got 2 of their 8 cubby units. They were on sale for $39.99 each and they worked great.
I turned my 4 drawer (2 side by side) file drawer perpendicular to the wall and moved the desk against the wall. I now have the wall to use for a large calendar and message board.
I also had a 3 drawer unit on the left of my desk. Since I moved the desk over to the wall, I put that on the right of my desk and brought the printer down so it is actually more accessible than it was up on the 5 drawer file cabinet. I know in these pictures it is hard to see the detail of what I did with the other furniture, but it did make it better and more accessible to wear I sit.
Here is the finished picture.

MooreMagnets magnetic boards by April Review and Giveaway!

I have to admit that I am totally in love with the magnetic board that April made me to review. So much so that I don’t even have it with me to do get pictures and do this review. Why you ask? Because I packed it yesterday and sent it to Blogher. I am going to use it on my table to sell my pouchees. I will use it to display the business cards of my sponsors!
I have a picture with it in it…not the greatest pic..but you can still see how cute it is!

You can get tins to put your paperclips, rubberbands etc… in to keep organized.

You can hang them or use them as a standing magnetic board with the cute wooden stand she includes (on standing models).

There are several variations as in this magnetic strips or the window pane

You can purchase this from Moore Magnets

Peter Walsh’s In Place System and Office Max Team Up – Review

Peter Walsh is a guru of organizing. You have probably seen him on the Oprah Show as her organizing consultant. He has teamed up with Office Max to bring his new organizing system to all of us. It is called “In Place System“.

I got to take part in a web cast with him a few months ago and it was great. (You can see it here yourself)
This is a office organizing system that is designed to be simple, affordable and usable.
He makes folders clear so that you can easily see what is in them. He uses specially made sticky notes so that you can change labels as you need.
There are several components and you need to see them at your local Office Max.

I was also given some really fun and colorful folders and clips to use from Office Max. It is the DiVoga line of fun accessories. I love them. I use them for my children’s files that I keep current information in. It is fun to have something different than you plan old cream color folders.
The plastic snap folders are great too. I am using one to put all my BlogHer paperwork in. I am dividing up the 3 days schedules, confirmations and party schedules into the clear folders from Peter Walsh with sticky note labels and then putting them all into the fun snap closure folder from Office Max. Great combo!
The paperclips are just so cute and fun. I use them in a clear magnetic tin that I display on my magnetic board.
Great stuff Peter Walsh and Office Max!

Office Organizing – Colors can make your office Great!

Colors are important to most of us. They can affect how you feel, how you think. You want your office to be fun to go into. Make you feel productive and happy. What colors make you feel good? What ones do you love?
If you notice in my office I have bright colors…but I didn’t paint the walls, I didn’t add expensive curtains or carpet. I got cubbies in the colors I liked and made my own “Ikea” tower with the cubby units from Target. (Love cubbies!!)
I also added pails that I found at a garage sale and the little ones from Target. I have a hot pink magnetic board on my desk (an upcoming review and giveaway by the way).
If I go into another color mode..I can change it up real easy.
But when I walk into my office it just makes me feel happy!

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