Never A Pen When You Need It!

But We Have A Bazillion Pens In The House!

Why is That? Pencils and pens accumulate, we put them away, but then don’t use the ones put away – we buy more.  Right? We also get them from all over. Trade shows, expos, conferences or company reps give them away freely. Of course there are always those who use them at work and walk home with them in their pockets. (Tell me it isn’t so!)

So what is the solution? Clean them out, organize and disperse them in locations where they will be used and needed.

You first want to gather up the pens, you might be cleaning out a desk drawer, or kitchen junk drawer – but try to gather up as many around the house as you can fine.

You want to test all the pens to see what ones work and which ones don’t. There’s nothing more irritating than grabbing something to write with and having it be out of ink, dried up or with broken lead.

Only keep the ones that write nicely. If you wouldn’t want to write a letter to someone with it, then you need to get rid of it. Why keep it if when you grab to use it, you don’t like it? You’ll just put it back and go look for another one? I’m right aren’t I?

Make 3 piles

1) Keep – Keep what you need. You don’t have to keep ALL of them, if you have oodles.
2) Donate – Pens, markers that work well, but you don’t like them or you have over flow. You can donate them to underprivileged school districts, or underprivileged countries.
3) Trash / Recycle – For the ones that don’t work, you can trash/recycle them. I had a reader, Vicki; comment on my other post on organizing your pens, say that you can donate your pens to  http://www.penguyart.com/ (even ones that are broken or don’t work). This guy makes artwork with used pens.

 Disperse Them. 

You don’t have to have fancy pencil/pen holders. You can use baskets, check book boxes, plastic containers from food items, etc.

Put them in places you will utilize them.

Purse
Desk Drawer
On top of the desk
Kitchen counter
Near your home phone
By your couch or chair
By your bed
In your car
In your workshop

You can also bag some up to give to someone, donate, or keep in your car, or keep for your kids for school.

I did another post, Pens & Pencil Clean Out a couple years ago. You can find some more info concerning this, there.

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Organize your Office Desk Drawer

Start Simple! Organize A Drawer

Organizing can become so over whelming to many of us, that it’s easier to look at an entire room and all of the mess, and say – “it’s too much, I can’t do it.”  But if you focus your efforts on something small to organize, like your desk drawer, it’s a start… it will motivate you to keep going.  The feeling of accomplishment you get from having an organized and cleaned out area is awesome!

Office desk drawers can very quickly become a “catch all” for all kinds of things.  This is my desk drawer as I opened it to do this post.

There is some organization there, but I want to to show that organizing your drawer doesn’t have to be scary or “too big” to do.

I used baskets and also just the plastic trays that the sharpies came in.  But it needs some freshening up.  You don’t have to go out and buy expensive supplies. The boxes your checks come in work great. These baskets are from the dollar store.

LOL.. look at all the mini hand sanitizers!

Then in this front built in tray…. there is a whole bunch of little “stuff”

So this is what you need to do

Take everything out of the drawer

Then clean the drawer.

And this is a long narrow drawer, so I had to get it all the way out.

All the little crud and bits and pieces that get back in the corners.

Grab what ever products you use to clean with and a clean rag and clean well.

I’m use OdoBan for a lot of different cleaning projects. It is the smell of clean to me. I also just realized it was green. I had no idea, I’ve been using it for years.

Once you have cleaned…. then you sort the items.

Sorting

1) Keep – You use it, love it and Need it
2) Donate – You don’t use it or need it and it is in good shape then donate it to others who can use it.
3) Move it – It doesn’t belong in the office. (for instance a child’s wallet – or that little hand held fan in my desk drawer)
4) Trash/Recycle – If you don’t use it, and it isn’t in good enough shape to donate – then trash or recycle it.

This is all the little stuff that came out of the front little tray

I mean really…. do I need all these hand sanitizer?  And what good are they doing in my desk drawer?  They are all half full.
Then of course you always end up finding loose change anytime you clean don’t you?

Picture hanging supplies

Tacks and paper clips

And doesn’t everyone have a couple of stray keys?

Lots of pens and markers

For the pens, pencils and markers go through the exercise that I described in this post I just posted yesterday on pens and pencils organizing.

Now go through and take the items and distribute them where they belong. Do you have a bank somewhere on the main floor of your home for loose change?  I have one on top of my refridg and another one in my laundry room.  Any change that goes in here goes towards the family vacation fund.

If you have things like hand sanitizers or hand lotions in your drawer. You don’t need as many as I have here.

Consolidate them into 1 or 2 containers.

I had 2 containers that had the rubber holders on them, so I poured the others into those and got it down to two containers.

Then I put them where they would do some good. One went on my purse and the other went on my bookbag.

If there is a key that belongs in the office (for a safe, desk drawer or locked cabinet) make sure you label it.

Separate your pens from your pencils, from your sharpie markers, from your highlighters. Just be sure they all work properly.

After you have gone through and sorted out what doesn’t belong in your desk drawer you can put your drawer back together.

I did not go out and buy anything for the drawer. I just used what I had in the drawer… I want you to realize that you don’t have to go out and buy a lot of things to organize.   We always find excuses not to do things, I want you to know that you can go in and clean out…. sort….clean…..put back  ANYTIME!  You don’t have to wait to go buy things!

Now… put things back in.

I did something a little interesting here.  This drawer goes back really far and I have problems with the baskets sliding back into the drawer.  I could go and buy a really cool fitted desk drawer organizer, and I could have ravaged around my house for more organizers… but I also want to show you… your organizing can take place in about 30 minutes.

So…..I used a ream of paper that I had stored underneath the desk to put in the very back of this drawer to help keep things from sliding around so much.

** Great tip from a reader Daren. Daren said to use pieces of velcro underneath the baskets or trays to hold them in place from sliding! I love that! Never even though of that. I’ll be trying that one for sure!

I had extra room in the drawer after I cleaned it out, so I moved a couple things over from another drawer that had too much in it. The tapes from a labeler, some extra staples and thumb tacks. I also put my nursing hemostats and tweezers in here. I do use the hemostats for things like taking out knots in cords etc…so I actually do use them in my office.

Here is the final product.30 minutes…. and a reorganized and clean desk drawer.

Now it is your turn!  Go take just a little bit of time and organize that drawer!

 

This post was revamped from it’s original post date of January 27, 2011.

 

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Creating Space In The Family Room With Ikea Expedit Units

Have A Smaller House And Need More Space?

I love using cubby wall units. I’ve used the Ikea Expedit shelves for several areas of my home. In the garage for my bedroom, mud room and in my actual office, that I don’t really use anymore (I have gone back to my mini office in the family room, to be near the family).

Now I have gone out and gotten a couple more of the large 5×5 Expedit units. When I make the drive to Ikea, I usually have a big list; since it is over two hours away from me. On this trip I bought two of these! I got a white one for my kitchen (that post will be coming) and I got this one for my family room. I painted the wall deep brown that is on the long end of my family room that runs into my kitchen.

The other thing I did with this unit was to put it on casters. The reason I did that was two fold.  One, because this unit is large, when it is in “guest” mode (I’ll explain in a min) it covers a heater vent. This will still allow that heat to escape and not be completely covered up by the unit. The main reason I put it on casters is so that I can easily move it when needed.  You see, I again have created a mini “office” to work.

This is how the unit is the majority of the time. It is scooted up so that I can access the cubby units for work.

It works great for me. I have my essentials at my finger tips.

I know that it doesn’t look the best when people come to visit, so I also have a “guest” mode.  When we have guest over, I can simply pull the unit over on the wall so that it isn’t up beside the couch.

This works great for me. I also have a smaller 2 cube unit that I have as a side table. I have one of the bins on the top of it that I use for my trash can. Below it I have a portable file that I can access.

It’s a solution that works great for me. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a decorating diva, nor will I ever be. I am very practical with what I need and cost. These units are very sturdy and work great for what we need them for.

This is not a review that I did for Ikea Expedit Shelves, nor did I get compensated in any way for it. I just used them, love them, and want to share what works for me.

 

 

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Fellowes Shredder Powershred 63Cb Review and Giveaway #SmartGiftsforGuys

Need a Gift For The Man In Your Life?

What about a POWERSHRED Fellowes Shredder?  Even the name sounds tough! It’s not a delicate shredder, or pretty shredder… it’s a POWERSHRED! Right there, we know we’ve got our men hooked! The nice thing is, is that it also benefits us! We have less paper clutter around right, and we don’t have to worry about identity theft because it shreds it so small.

I’ll tell you now that this Fellowes Shredder is heavy! I picked up the box when it came to the porch and I was thinking.. wow, this sucker is good! I have a shredder now that is soon going to be replaced. It gets jammed really easy and then heats up after just a couple minutes and I can’t do anymore shredding.

Here it is! It’s such a nice size.  You just put the upper power unit down onto the basket, remove some tape and plug it in… it’s ready to go.

One of the things that we accumulate way too much of is paper! Think about how much junk mail you get on a daily basis.

So much of that junk mail can be used to cause you a deal of great anguish if it falls into the wrong hands.  Any mail with your personal information on it should be shredded. Also any old credit cards need to be shredded. I’m happy to see that this can also handle those.

Here is a size scale, you can see the actual size of it.  You all know the size of hanging files right? So I put it next to my portable hanging file so you can see.

Now I’m going to test it.  One of the things that we all get so much of are those pesky charge card offers. I don’t even like to open them, but my other shredder couldn’t handle putting them in whole. In fact, I had to open them and unfold the papers to feed it in.  Here we go….

It worked!  It did stop about 3/4 of the way through and I thought it was going to be jammed. The red light came on and after about 3 seconds it started going again and finished the job. I did several more the same way and the same thing happened.  Of course when I opened one and took the envelope off, it went easier and didn’t stop. I didn’t have to unfold it to run easily.

Here are the results. They were little strips 1 1/2 – 2″ long. As a suggestion from me, I would have liked to have seen those strips diced even smaller, but this still did a better job than my other shredder.

I really like the fact that when you touch the area around the feed… it turns off automatically.  When you have young kids, that is a really nice security blanket to have.

Features:

* Jam Blocker ™ There is an electronic sensor that measures the amount of paper and prevents over feeding
* 10 sheet cross-cut – Turns a piece of paper into 399 pieces so you can’t read anything.
* Shreds credit cards, paper clips and staples
* 5 gallon basket
* 8 minutes continuous run time without shutting off
* Safesense® Technology – automatically shuts off when hands touch the paper opening
* Energy Savings System is in use rather the shredder is in use or not.

I can hardly wait to give this to my husband this Christmas! (Now to pack it back up so I can wrap it!) It is larger than I thought it was going to be. It’s heavier than I expected it to be. Both of those things combined in a shredder, mean a higher quality shredder to me.

I am planning on giving this to my Dad. He LOVES office equipment and he only has a small one sheeter shredder. He will be SO excited! I will update this post with a picture once I give it to him.

Be sure to check out my “Smart Gifts For Men In Your Life” Pinterest Board and feel free to pin any of these pictures onto your pinterest boards!

 

You can Purchase one!

The Fellowes Powershred 63Cb can be found on Amazon ($125 right now as I post this) and at Office Depot (I couldn’t find this model on the site, but they might have it in the stores) and Office Max (179.99).  The suggested retail price is $149.99
You can WIN one!
Win a Fellowes Powershred 63Cb shredder!  The contest is going to run from Monday Dec 13rd – Friday Dec 21th at 12:01am.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will notify you via email and you’ll have 48 hours to respond. If I haven’t heard from you at that point, then I’ll pick another winner.  You must be 18 years of age and have a US shipping address. (no P.O boxes)

 

 

 

 

 

Disclosure: I received product from Fellowes, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in this program. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Organizing Mission Monday – Week 10

How has your organizing been going this week?   How about those offices?

I am basically finished with the offices, but I did have a few more posts this week on organizing electrical cords. I suppose that could fall under offices… but we have electrical cords everywhere – so, let’s just be done with offices. I’m ready to move on…what about you?  lol

Featured Bloggers For This Week

Jen from Simply Living: Organized Work Space

I really like this magnetic board that Jen made.  I was actually looking at something like this when I was at Ikea. The magnets I did buy when I was there, and I held off buying the magnetic board thinking I could find a piece of metal and could do something with it for less money.  After that I see Jen’s post! lol  So perfect.

She used fabric to cover the the white board she got at Ikea, and used those fun magnetics that I also bought.

You can see all of Jen’s post with a tutorial on how she made her magnetic board on her blog Simply Living.

DaNita from Delightful Order on her Desk Makeover

It is amazing the difference a coat of paint and a rug can make to a room!  Great vision DaNita, I love it!

I thought it looked pretty good already…. but DaNita had other thoughts.  (Ok..notice the cord from the computer. They drilled a hole in the desk and another one through the back to keep it hidden! I’ve been working on organizing cords this week… maybe that is why I noticed that.)

Doesn’t that look great?  You can see the rest of the blog post on her blog Delightful Order. If you keep looking around her awesome blog, you will see the finished office/craft room!

Georgette from Pink Calaveras with Free Storage Shelf Makeover

This is such a cute shelf that Georgette made over.  She found it on her base where her hubby is stationed in the Air Force. She said he didn’t see the potential  in it, but she did. Here is the “before”

Then after she worked her magic on it… here is the “after”

It almost looks like it is attached to the wall behind it. I think it looks great!  Check out the rest of her post on her blog Pink Calaveras.

For those of you who were featured this week, please pick up your button (code below the button) for your blog!

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Link up to my Link Party

Link up any organizing or cleaning post to my link party!!

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Rules

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)
3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it
4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning
5) No sales pitches or web sites.
6) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog.
8) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Be sure to check out my list of link parties! If you have a link party.. please link it up! Underneath the daily buttons there is a list of text links I have compiled too! (Many more there!)

If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple.
I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

This will be open until Saturday night Feb. 26th.
I LOVE your comments!!

Organize with Wall Units

Organize with Style

I just think these wall unit cubby’s look so nice.  You can use them in so many different ways.  I want to show you a couple different examples.

Wall Unit in a PlayRoom at Jamie’s House

This is a wall unit in my husbands niece’s house. She has five children of her own and babysits several others while most of hers are at school.

She has all the little toys stored in the canvas bins.  I am pretty sure she told me the units were not from Ikea.  There are two of the cubby units on either side of a tall book shelf.  But it works great for her space and needs.

Wall Unit in a Spare Bedroom for Crafts at Barb’s House

I had one of my readers send this picture to me several weeks ago.  Barb has the Ikea Expedit in her spare bedroom.  It is the 4×4 size with the 2×4 extension on it she said.  She has used several of the drawer units and it works great for her crafts.

Organizing in an Office At Sandy’s House

Most of you have seen the Ikea Expedit unit I recently bought and put up in my office. (I know… you’ve seen it a bunch.. but I’m just going to show what I did with a few of the cubby units)

I already had the hot pink and lime green theme going in my office.  For right now I’m sticking with it, until another color combination hits me.  I did purchase 3 of the Ikea clear drawers. They are really a light purple and after configuring them several different ways, I settled on them doing down the center.

I use my canvas cubby’s along the bottom.  I have my books across the top shelf.  I have them organized by category

I have my organizing books in three of the cubby’s.  I then have some books on blogging and photography in another section.

I’m personally not a fan of laying some of the books horizontally and some vertically.  To me that looks messy.  I know it is a “style” and many love it, and that is fine. But I find it hard to access the books when you have to pull them out from other each other. I also feel like it takes up more space.

The one thing I like about the size of these cubbys is that they are taller than the ones I have from Target. My taller books can fit just fine in here.

I also purchased the 4 way divider unit for the cubby from Ikea.  It was how I was able to make the smaller units by my chair for the little baskets and my bill area.

Then of course I have my “drink” area for my water or coffee.  Since I am sitting right there in my recliner working, I wanted some place to put my water.

Do you have any Wall Units in your home that help you out?  I would love for you to show and tell!!

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Organize Your Wall Unit

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above or going to my Organizing Mission Link Party. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in. If you aren’t sure how to link up to a link party, be sure to stop by and read my link party tutorial

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

Password Directory

Where Do You Keep Your Passwords?

In your head?  Do you keep them on the computer?  Yep… I tried it once, until my computer got a virus and I lost the list because I didn’t have it backed up. I’ve learned.

I know there are secure sites that you can keep them.  I haven’t tried that yet. Trust issue I guess.  I know that if I was backing up my computer every night instead of every week.. I wouldn’t have to worry.

But.. I keep them written down, the old fashion way I suppose.  In a notebook.

Any notebook will do. This is one that I had made up through Avery for a review. I love it, and thought it would be fun to use.  I used to have it in a plain pink notebook, but the binder clip was slipping, so I just changed to this one.

I don’t do anything fancy.  I used a protective sleeve for the first few pages just for protection

On the back of the main sheet I have my blogger “will” as such.  Have you thought of that?  If something happens to you, who knows how to get into your sites and let your friends know or shut them down if need be?  My husband wouldn’t have a clue, nor would he care as he said. He said the last thing on his mind if something happened to me would be worrying about my blogs.

I have at least gotten through to him where the information is, and who he can contact in order for them to help take care of any accounts, blogs etc.. that need to be seen to.

I did not go out and buy anything when I made up my password directory.

What I did need:
1) notebook
2) paper
3) dividers
4) computer/printer

I didn’t have enough dividers, so I made my own.  I just got colored paper, and used a sticky tab for the letters.

I did this about 2 years ago and they are still working great.  Of course dividers would be ideal, but I want to let you know that simple works!
I also like to reinforce the edges of the papers.   I didn’t have to do it on all of them, but I did it on the most frequently used pages.
So you have the notebook set up.  What I did next was to create an excel form.  Nothing fancy or flowery (not that  I don’t love that stuff, but I just don’t think about it when I am making up a form for myself)

I save this and make copies to use in each letter of the alphabet.

Here is how I set it up.  On the far left the date – so anytime I add an entry, I date it. I write down the html for the site, not just the site name.

I then write down what email I use. I have a personal and a work email.  I also write down the user name if there is one for the site.

Then in the next column I write the password.  Be sure to write if things are capital or there are spaces. A zero might look more like a letter “O”. So be careful when you write them out.
The last column I wrote because I have 3 blogs. But I will sometimes just write notes in this space.

That is it.  I write any new password down, I write new sites I join, I write anything that I might need to remember having to do with getting onto or into a site.

I have heard some people say that they just keep it all in their heads.  If they are able to do that, wonderful.  But.. what happens if something should happen to that head and it can’t remember things anymore?  #just sayin!

I keep my password directory near my chair for easy access.  I do not announce it to my kids, nor do I have the front of my notebook labeled. It isn’t something that everyone should know or have access to (other than my husband)

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Make a Password Directory!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above or going to my Organizing Mission Link Party. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in.

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

I am linking this post to:

Organizing The Bills

Bills are like Laundry – Never Ending and they cause us stress

We all have to pay the bills (yucky poo) and keeping good credit while doing so is important.

If your bills aren’t organized, they will get out of hand. Then you end up with late payments and a mess on your credit score.  I had a client that as we cleaned off her kitchen counters and island (where she did her bills) along with a couple other rooms in the house.. we found no less than a dozen credit cards (I bet it was closer to 2 dozen.. no lie) that had her name on it.. and just needed to be activated.  I saw her one afternoon pick up one of the cards still stuck to the paper and use it to pay a bill that was late.  I felt bad for her. Her bills and financial situation were so “cluttered” .. and had become something that was totally out of control for her.

I am not going to tell you how to manage your money.  But I will put out my piece of advice – if you use credit cards… pay them off in full each month.

What I will do is show you the system I use for paying my bills.  There are a zillion different ways.  I would love to see your system! So be sure to write a post and show us… so we can help others.  Then link it up.

The bills come in and I put sort them like I showed you in my Mail – Mission Office post. I reorganized my one mail slot to have a little more order than I did in my other post. (I’m still adjusting in my new office… there are lots of little tweeks that I am making)

The top left is where my bills go after I have sorted out the mail and these are things that have to be paid.  The bottom basket is everything (other than envelops) that I need to get my bills done.

I brought up this little mail sorter from the basement and it fit in this cubby perfect.  It took me from this:

To this: Looks much nicer doesn’t it?  I hadn’t figured out what I was going to use when I took the first picture.

I separate – on the left are bills that haven’t been opened.
The first slot of the sorter are bills that need to be paid
In the middle slot I now have our payment book for the car and my bill payment sheets
In the last slot I have a few things that I need to keep close at hand when paying bills.

It is just a little metal sorter that I have had for years.
I keep track of my bills and what I have paid by hand.  I make up a “bill pay” sheet each year, or just copy last years as I did this year (even forgot to change the year a the top – but it is just for me to see, or my hubby…so no need for glamor)

I keep it right in with my bills, so I can always look to see what I have paid and what I still need to pay for the month.

I put the months across the top and the bills that we pay down the side. As I pay it, I write in the date I pd and the amount I paid.

I know this could all be done online, but there are some things I still just like to hold in my hand.  I like having it there with my bills, easy to see, hubby can see anytime.  I actually have two of them.  The tan one is all my regular home bills.  Then I have one with purple spaces on it, it is my bills for my business and some other finances.

I use a combination of actually paying the bills.  I do mostly online bill pay.  I have a few automated each month that are always the same.  It makes it nice to be able to go in and check the payment, write in the amount, pick the date you want it paid… and be done.  Be sure to always document your confirmation numbers though.

There are always some bills that aren’t in the system (usually medical) that I don’t want to set up an account for. I just pay them by check. (Aren’t my M&M checks cute? Love them)

Here is the process I use when paying my bills:

1) Bills come into house – sorted
2) Pay twice a month
3) Pay online – all regular bills
4) Pay by check any others that have to go out
5) Document confirmation # or Ck # on the bill stubs
6) Document payments on my bill sheet
7) Put bill stubs in my “to be filed” bin.
8) Stamp up my bills going by mail and send them off

I also have everything close at hand to get bills ready to go out the door.  The basket on lower left below my bills has everything I need other than the envelops to get the bills out the door if they go by mail.

I have a calculator, return address labels, stamps, stamper for checks (for deposit only for my business) and staple remover.

I have my envelops in the drawer right beside my office chair.  It is easy to get to them.  Two different sizes, I always get the envelops that you can’t see through. If I end up with others, I give them to the kids to use for lunch money, etc.
Tip: Tear off the lids to the boxes for easy access.

That is my process – I hope it can be of help. But I would love to hear yours.. share it to help others with what system might be best for them!

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Show me your Bill Paying Process!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above or going to my Organizing Mission Link Party. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in.

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

I am linking this post to:

Organizing the Paper Clutter

Those Papers Coming Into The House – They are  never ending!

I discussed my mail system here, but I wanted to go into more detail with you today on how I handle the rest of the paper trail.

Over the next week I am going to go over how to handle in more detail, so be sure to follow along!

1) Bills
2) Files and how to Organize Them
3) Daily paper file or “Command Center”
4) Receipts /Income and how to handle that for a home business
5) Password Directory

Mail Comes in from the Mail Box or School Papers

You can see my post on “mail” here.

1) One Central Location For Mail

Have just one central location that the mail is to be places when it comes into your house. Make sure each family member that might bring mail into the house has 1 place to put it. That way it isn’t left on the kitchen counter one day, dining room table another, couch – underneath the newspaper another day.. you get the point.

2) Sort It

Separate out your spouse’s mail  or if you have another person in the household that routinely gets mail and have a specific spot that you place that when you sort it from the main “mail hot spot”

A) Bills To Be Paid

B) To Do

This will go into your Daily Files  or “command file center”. School conferences, appointments, things you have to follow up on.

C) To File

Papers that you need to keep. There are no “pending actions” to be taken on these papers.

D) Junk Mail – To be Shredded

You can see my post on shredders here.

If you have a specific plan for your paper trail, it will make it run much more smoothly. If you don’t have a plan, things will get lost, be late, appointments missed and life will be a bit more chaotic.

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Track your Paper Trail!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above or going to my Organizing Mission Link Party. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in.

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

Organizing Your Paper Command Center

How Do You Deal with All the Daily Papers?

I have my daily paper command center, but it needed a bit of an overhaul now that I have my new office set up.

I have tried several different solutions for paper command centers.  Several I have used because I have reviewed them.  You can see them at the end of this post.

I use this Paper command file to deal with daily papers coming in.  This is not for my bills.  This is not for all the drawings that Johnnie and Suzie bring home from school.  (I only keep 1 or 2 of those and they go into the file drawer in their folders) This is for all those papers that you need to follow up on, do immediately or need to reference quickly.

For the other papers

But I have a cubby by my chair in my office that I have plans to put my paper command center.  So I had to have a system that would fit and also would be easy to file papers in.

I went down to my basement where I have some organizing supplies that I have used in the past or plan to use.  Here I found the back plastic filer that has drop in separate file hangers.  These all fit into a file box, but I’m not using it that way now.

I got it all cleaned up.

I also cleaned the individual files boxes that fit down in. Each one of these has a specific function

1) Home

2) Business

3) Medical

I went through each file and decluttered it.  I made the following decisions when I sorted

1) Keep

2) File

3) Toss (recycle)

Then I made new labels using my label maker.  I’m not one who makes labels for every little thing in my house, I’m not teasing when I say the label maker tape can get expensive – but I do think it really makes the file tabs look awesome!

I color coded the labels.  Blue is for home.  Yellow is for work.  Green is for Medical / expenses for step kids

I already had everything, but didn’t have enough of the same color file folders to do them all purple, or red etc.  I did have enough to do the ugly old green..and I had to use those in the last section.. but I at least got to use the purple ones up front where I’ll see them.

I do suggest that you put the file tabs on the front part of the file folder.  I also suggest that you put them all lined up in a row. It is easier to see them lined up rather than darting all back and forth if they are spaced out.

Here is how I broke them down.  Of course we all have different needs and priorities in our homes, so more than likely my system won’t be your system.

This is my Family section of my Paper Command Center

Keep in mind these are not for long term paper storage. That would be the file cabinet.  This is for

1) Home Business – anything pertinent to the home, but not designated to a specific person.

2) I grouped the triplets together because most of what they get pertains to school or karate and it is all the same anyway

3) Each other family member has their own file, including Dave and I

Now for the medical.  For me this includes insurance, dealing with 2 ex’s and the kids medical and other expenses that have to be split.

The last folders are the ones I use most often. They will go in the front of my command center.  It is for my business.

In the very front I have a “To Do” folder.  This is the place that I will put papers that have immediate need.  This is not for bills (that is in a separate location that I will go over in another post). Then I have broken down the areas of my business that I need.  This might include for you

1) To Do

2) Projects

3) Banking

4) Specific projects might get their own folder

5) Income/Expenses (mine are separate, I’ll show you in another post)

Then each of these 3 separate drop in sections fit down in the main one.

I place the “home section” in the back.  The “medical” section in the middle and the “business section” up front – so it looks like this when it is complete.

Then it fits right beside my chair where I can have instant access to it.

I just pull it out a bit and can slip papers in very easily.

So what do I do with all those other papers that need to be filed and go into the file drawers?  Like receipts for bills that were paid, or that special paper that Johnnie or Suzie brought home that I don’t have time to run over to my file drawer and file right now.

Those go into my general file bin that I will sort and file at the end of each month.  At my old desk set up it was a stackable plastic tray.   So I just put them right down below in this pink cubby.

From this pink bin.. they go straight to my file cabinet.

Just to refresh your memory:

Paper Command Center “Before”

Paper Command Center “After”

Here are a few other Paper Command centers that I have reviewed in the past and that might work better for you.  Remember, none of us are the same, we have different needs and we have different systems that might work better for us than others.  Don’t ever think you have to fit into a cookie cutter mold and do something exactly like someone else.

One of these other systems that I have reviewed in the past might work better for you.

The “In Place System” by Peter Walsh

The PileSmart® Desktop Organizer Tray by Pendaflex

You might also like the Smead File System

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Show me your Paper Command File!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above or going to my Organizing Mission Link Party. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in.

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

I am linking this post to:

Organizing Mission Monday Week 8

This Week We’re Working On Paper!

This week on Organizing Mission Monday I am going to be concentrating on all that Paper clutter we have to constantly deal with.

But here is a list of the Mission: Office posts that I have done so far:

1) Your Files
2) Your Mail System
3) The Shredder
4) Pen & Pencil Clean Out
5) Organizing Your Desk Drawer
6) My Office – Before
7) My Office – After
8) Shelf Organizing
9) Organizing Sales from Home
10) Office Chair

Please visit my Featured Bloggers for this Week:

Featured bloggers please pick up the “Proud To Be Featured On Organizing Mission Monday” button

<center><a href=”http://www.organizewithsandy.com/blog” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.organizewithsandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/featured-mission-monday-1.jpg “/></a></center><br/>

Talking Dollars and Cents – 52 Weeks of Organizing Challenge

Alexandra tackles her files!  Now she is ready for her taxes! lol

My Chaotic Home – Home Management Binder

Patty did a great job making a Home management binder.  I love her her page that she made up for who she does this for.

A Tall Drink of Water – Office Makeover … well, sort of

Rachel reorganized her office in her bedroom.  Working with a small space is really hard to do.  Check out how she lined her drawers and made her space look great.

Thank you featured bloggers.. don’t forget to pick up your button above!

Link up to my Link Party

Rules- Just a couple basic ones. Your link doesn’t have to be office related, just organizing… but I will be looking for the office related on this Office Mission for my Featured Bloggers.

This link party is continuous for the Mission: Office series. It is open until Feb. 24, 2011.  Feel free to add more links as long as they are to the specific post and organizing related.

<center><a href=”http://www.organizewithsandy.com/blog” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.organizewithsandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/mission-monday-1.jpg “/></a></center><br/>

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Link back to my blog with my button or link (cuz it’s just linky nice)
3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it
4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning
5) Family friendly
6) No sales pitches or web sites.
7) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog!

Be sure to check out my list of link parties! If you have a link party.. please link it up! Underneath the daily buttons there is a list of links I have compiled of link parties.

If you are confused how my Organizing Missions link party is set… check out the agenda here.

If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple.

This is a continuous link party until the 24th of Feb! Feel free to link up other posts, even if you have already left a post.

Organizing Sales from Home

Sell things out of your home online?

I do, many of you know I sell pouchees and Card Cubby’s out of my home. I did not invent them (yeah.. I wish), they are both products that I have found that I love and wanted to be able to share with others.

If you do sell something out of your home at craft fairs or directly online, you need a place to store them and a system when someone puts in an order for them.

Since I had a 2nd 4×2 shelf cubby units to use, I decided to move it  to on top of my file cabinet. It is out of the way, doesn’t take up valuable floor space and I think looks kind of cute.

This is the other part of my set up. This is directly across from where the pouchees are.

When I get an order I have a pretty simple routine that I follow.

Step 1: Print out order

I print out the order as I see it (so I don’t forget it in a stream of other emails)  I have a lap top and even if I’m not hooked up to my printer – I hit to print and it stores it until I plug in.

Step 2: Pick out the pouchees or Card Cubby’s that were ordered.

I like to keep the sorted by color – these are some of the cotton pouchees

I also keep them organized by style – these are some of the Outback collection

And I keep the Card Cubby’s in their own section.

Step 3: Get a padded envelope to mail

I can use a small one if it is only one of the items. If any more than that I use the bigger size.

Step 4: Pick up the Copy of the order, the packing slip and the shipping label that were printed.

Put those with the order and envelope.

Step 5: Prepare the order to be shipped.

I have this little unit ready to go with everything I need to get my order out the door.

I have my pens and a couple sharpies in the little cute buckets

Tape and stapler (even though I have a tape and stapler for the kids and also one by my chair….. it is all about convenience  and placement.  It is so much easier not to have to jump up and down to do something you do frequently.

I have my labels that I use on the cards with my reorder information on it.

I also have packing tape, scissors and a staple remover close at hand.

I got these cute little tins with another little unit I have. They work great for my business cards and also the shipping confirmations.

If I can’t get to an order right away, I will still make sure I have that item in stock and pull it and set it here so that I don’t over sell a certain item.

Step 6: Document the sale to keep track of your income.

I have used a receipt book in the past, and realized I was duplicating my efforts. (I will still use it for private sales not online or craft shows if I do any this year) This year I am taking the paypal order form and filing it in my “income” folder.  I document them each month in my spreadsheet. More about that on another post.

Step 7: Mail

I try my best to get the orders out either the same day they are ordered or the very next day. Of course that can’t always happen, but I know when I order something I don’t like to wait.. so I do my best to not have my customer wait.

Watch for my pouchee and Card Cubby post coming soon on how to organize your purse.  You can also see a good testimonial on the pouchee from Toni of A Bowl Full of Lemons. She has been really pleased with the pouchee that I gave her. She gave me some pointers on photoshop in exchange.

Just so you know… I have restocked my pouchee supply and lowered my price!  You can find them in my pouchee and Card Cubby Store

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Organize Your Home Sales System!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above or going to my Organizing Mission Link Party. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in.

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

I am linking this post to:

Shelf Organizing

Here Is How I am Using The Cubby Shelves In My Office

I already had these cubby units, so I was going to put them to use. I have the large Ikea Wall unit now, but these will still be used.

Top Shelves

I already had the pink and green cloth drawers also.  Top shelf I have a couple boxes with video equipment (green box) and business cards from conferences. I have them divided into separate conferences and labeled.  I do admit there have been very few times that I have gone back to them after I have done my initial contacts following the conference.  If at any point this box becomes full, I will have no problem purging them.

On the other side I have 2 baskets with computer DVD’s and the other with photos backed up.

And the the photos in this one.  I have obviously had them in here for awhile. I do most of my back ups now on my external hard drive.

But I did label these with color coded (per year) labels.  The baskets I got at The Container Store several years ago.  The label on the front obviously isn’t the best. Against the wire basket the label didn’t stick, so I used tape. It’s been on there awhile, and serves the purpose, but I’ll fix it at some point.

I know.. these would look much nicer with labels from a label makers. But… I don’t get in here very often, and that would be an expensive venture. These work just fine.

2nd Shelf Down

The 2 cubby baskets are on the next shelf down. I have padded envelops in each of them. The pink one has the larger ones and the green one has the smaller sizes. I used these to ship out my pouchees and card cubbys.

3rd Shelf Down

I have tried a couple things here. The first thing you can see in the above picture. I had stapler, pencils etc.. on the shelf, but it seemed to cluttered. Then I tried this but decided I didn’t like it either.  I had a lazy-susan and thought it might work good to get to the things I would need to mail out my pouchees. I tried it for several days and decided I didn’t like it. The labels were falling off, it just didn’t work for me.

Sometimes you have to experiment.  Don’t be afraid to say… this isn’t working, I need to change it.   Currently I now have a picture of the kids and a pencil holder on the shelf. I’ll show you what I did with the other supplies in another post.

On this other shelf I have a basket for scrape paper. The kids can use it for what ever they need, I can use it.  I like to cut it length-wise in half… get about 10 sheets thick .. staple the top and then I have this little note pad to take notes on.  Good way to recycle it.

I used this basket because I already had it.  I didn’t want one of the cloth cubby drawers because I wanted the kids to see the paper easily so they would use it.  Again.. a cute label would be nice on this basket. I am going to have to check out some of those tutorials on making cute labels.

4th Shelf Down

This cubby is for anything that the kids leave sitting on the desk when they come in to use it.  I would like to say they never leave their things out. LOL  But let’s get real.  I have told them, anything they leave on the desk… (CD’s, papers, mp3 players etc..) will go into this bin.. and they can find it there.  Once it gets full, if they haven’t claimed it.. it may get donated.. depending on what it is, or trashed. But I’ll give them a chance to get it put away first.

Next shelf over is the “kids” shelf.  I put all the supplies they should need to do anything for school.  They have their own scissors and tapes on the desks in their room, but they are forever borrowing mine.  I have realized I am a bit of a “Archie Bunker” when it comes to my area.  I guess you would say I’m a bit territorial.  I think I have so few areas of the house that I can claim as just mine that when I have one… I like it.  I don’t want to have to worry about coming in and not having my things where they should be when I need them because someone has used it and not put it away.

Yes.. I labeled everything.  I want to figure out something better than this arrangement. But I had the clear shelf… and underneath is a red tray that has dividers in it … for like a desk drawer. As you can see I labeled most of it. So there is no question what they can use, and if it is left somewhere else in the house – we know exactly where it should belong.
There is:
1) Pencil sharpener
2) Tape
3) Tape Measure
4) Stapler
5) Hole Punch
6) Thumb Tacks
7) Eraser
8) Staple Remover
9) Calculator
10) Ruler

5th Shelf Down

This post office scale I used to weigh things I’m shipping.  It is down below the level of the desk.  I don’t use it real often and I do have an extension cord so that I have plenty of “give” to pull it out and put up on the desk to use it.

The other side of this level is school supplies.  I have notebook paper, spiral notebooks and envelops that the kids can get to.

Shelf 6 (below desk level)

Why waste the space right?  I have 4 more shelves under here.
The left top is more CD’s and computer files that we won’t use as often. The basket is one that I have had.

I have extra school supplies in here.  If I have them out where the kids can see them real visibly, they would be gone… and scattered all over the house.  When they need them… we can get them out.

7th Shelf Down  (Bottom Shelf)

The bottom shelves have my TomBoy Tools (tools that are high quality made especially for woman. Not like those cheap ones you can find at discount stores.)  Nice thing about them is that I don’t have to worry about my husband or the boys taking them!  But I like having them at hand if I need to do something.  I don’t go into the garage or basement much, so for me, even though they aren’t “office” related, they work best for me in this space.

I actually sold them for just a little bit.  Although my friends evidently weren’t into pink tools.

I have used them plenty to do little jobs around the house.

On the other side of the shelf is a bin of photos. I don’t print photos out very often anymore and haven’t scrap booked in several years, but these are more recent. The kids like getting them out and going through them, especially if they need one for something.

So… you have seen my shelf.. and what I have on each one of them.  This might not be something that will work for you.  But it didn’t cost me anything to set this up. I already had everything.  I wanted to utilize that space between the wall and the desk. Because of the angled wall the desk could not go flush against the wall.
The cubby unit slid in the perfectly.
I don’t expect anyone to do the exact same thing I am doing. I just hope that maybe I can give you some ideas to use in your space.

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Utilize shelf space!

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above. Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

I am linking this post to:

Reorganizing My Office “Before”

The Before Shots

I may be an organizer, but I’m a very busy organizer, and things can get out of hand in my home too. So don’t feel like everyone else has perfect places. I’m going to show you I am human and very much like you when it comes to things getting out of hand.

I have a very small office and share the space with my husbands desk and the kids computer.  We have 2 huge desks, 3 file cabinets, 1 large bookshelf and lots of cubbys.

Here is my mess of a desk. As you can see I don’t use it very often.  I normally always set out in the living room so I can keep my feet up. If I have them down too long I have problems with my feet swelling (yes..sucks getting old and being too heavy). I come in here mainly to do bills and send out my pouchee and Card Cubby orders.  I have an extra computer screen because I found out when I got my Mac Book Pro that I could hook up another screen and use duel screens. But, I’m not in here enough to use it and hadn’t purchased the cable.

This picture is directly behind my desk, so I can turn my chair around and get to the 2nd set of file cabinets. These are my main files. But as you can see, my papers have taken over and are way overdue for filing.

This is to the right of my desk. Printer and large file cabinet. I have extra paper sitting on top of that. Then you can see the corner of my husbands desk.

This is his space and I don’t bother it. Although he wasn’t using it much either.. the kids use the computer. But the flag poles and whatever else that other stick is there (lol) and the boxes on top of the 2nd file cabinet are his. I try to give him his space. But now we have made him his own office and work area in the basement and it is time for this to go.

Now on the other wall when you walk into the office is the big book shelf. It has a combination of his stuff, my stuff, the kids stuff on it. You can see how congested it has become.

This is that same corner when you walk in, I set up cubbys so that I had more space to put my product samples etc for reviews.

You can see how crowded it all is.

And then another view from the doorway of what the file cabinet and my paper system looks like behind my desk.

Pretty bad huh?  Sharing a small office space is not easy.  And when I worked in here, the system worked for me with being able to access what I needed to from my chair.  But…. it was driving me crazy.

I really had it … I wanted to figure something out. I would try to work in the living room and with the TV going if the kids and hubby were home in the evening etc.. it was just not easy for me. I would put on headphones with music. I have to have quiet….to really concentrate.

I sat down on the 31st and decided I was going to rearrange the office.

Step 1: Get out graph paper and measure your space. Measure what will stay in.
Step 2: Plan what you want your space to look like. Do you need to purchase anything?
Step 3: Move everything out. Decide where to put the big items that aren’t staying. (example, trash, donate, another room.
Step 4: Clean the space (paint if you are going to before you clean.. lol – No painting for me)
Step 5: Sort all the little stuff. Clean as you go
Step 6: Decide what items are needed, now that you know what is left to put back in
Step 7: Move your big furniture back in, or move to where it needs to go in the room.
Step 7: Purchase your items
Step 8: Complete moving in the smaller items that have been sorted.
Step 9: Customize it so it works for you. This may take a few weeks of changing it up.
Step 10: Sit back and smile because it feels SO much better when it is finished!

The Clearing out

I decided I was doing this on the 31st of December and started that day! I was trying to figure out a better solution for my living room, but did a 180 and decided to redo the office. My two oldest boys were home from boot camp and were leaving on the 2nd. Dave had a sore arm and wouldn’t be able to move much. So… I decided I need to do it now while I had help, otherwise it wouldn’t happen. Let me tell you…. they weren’t so thrilled that I was interrupting the Rose Bowl. lol

First step was to decide what to do with my husbands desk. It was going to go in the basement to provide him with extra desk space in his new office.  But…. it wouldn’t fit down the basement steps. They tried to take it apart and it just wasn’t going to happen.  We had no where to store it… so …yes.. out to the curb! I told you I was determined.  We knew someone would pick it up before the trash men got it.

First to clear off everything off my this massive heavy wood desk. Then I cleaned it all up.

Cleared off the bookshelves.

Next step was to move the bookshelf. It went down to the basement for my husband to use.  Then we got the vacuum out and vacuumed the empty space .. and cleaned up the walls behind and baseboards.

We took the black 3 drawer file cabinet down to the basement also. That cleared out the spot for my 4 drawer file cabinet.

Of course vacuuming and cleaning had to be done. Only one flaw in my plan, I was going to be covering up the vent. oops

Because it was my space, I didn’t mind. I knew I could use a blanket to stay warm if I needed it.  I was too determined to make my idea work. Something as minor as a vent wasn’t going to deter me! lol  (now if it were a clients home, I would have figured out another solution, but I was ok with it in my home)

Next thing was to clear off the file cabinet that was behind my chair and take out the drawers. This furniture is SO heavy! So glad my boys were there to help move things.

Now of course you realize that I am making a huge mess in my dining room. Piling everything up that I will need to go through. I told my husband for at least 2 days I was taking it over. So we adjusted. I could get a lot of stuff out right away, but I was going to go through everything before it went back in.

This was just the beginning and the area around the table had all kinds of stuff too. Unfortunately when you clear out a space, you have to deal with more mess before it gets better.

File cabinet in place. I made sure to plug in the lamp before we moved it back to the wall and put the drawers in it. It is too heavy to even budge when the drawers are in.

The desk was moved on the wall where the bookshelf used to be.  My big 4 drawer file cabinet in the corner stayed put.

Next step.. Trip to Ikea for the wall unit I have been wanting forever!! (I really wanted white, but they were out of stock, so I got the walnut to match my furniture.
Step 2 – Dave was to bring back a recliner that I used to have in my living room from our farm.

I know.. you are thinking.. a recliner in your office?  Yes…. I told you I have the problem with having to keep my feet up, I solved that problem!

Stay tuned!!

Your Mission if you chose to take it is: Reorganize Your Office

Link up Your Office Mission Post

You can find the linky by clicking on the button above.  Feel free to keep linking up your different office projects that you accomplish during this Office Mission. I am ok with also linking up organizing projects that aren’t office related. This link will be up until Feb. 24 so you will have time to add your office projects in

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

I linked this post up to:

What Would Sandy Suggest – Week 5

I’m in an Office Mood I think

When I think about what I would suggest when I walk into a room…. I have to stop…. and think.

You first off have to find out what the client wants out of the room.
1) What do they want to use this space for?
2) What is their vision for this room?
3) What storage is available?

You can’t fit 20 gallons of gas into a 10 gallon tank right? So if you have too much “stuff” and not enough space to store it… then something needs to go.

Organizers aren’t miracle workers, we can’t create more space in a home. We can help to utilize the space that there is to the fullest.

“Life” happened to this person. A spouse died expectantly a year or so before, and things went kind of crazy. But they wanted some help and guidance.

There were several cats in the home, and thank goodness I didn’t have allergies. But getting used to the smell wasn’t easy either.

Suggestions:

1) Sort through the Clutter. Separate into A) keep B) Donate C) Store D) Trash/Recycle

2) Rearrange if needed to make a usable space – Move bill area to the sturdy desk and decrease need for the folding table.

3) Use existing supplies (client didn’t have finances to purchase new)

4) Clean the space (cat droppings, dust, dirt)

5) Support the client in her decisions

It was a very long day but we were able to accomplish making a livable, usable space. Simple but workable.

If you are wondering… this person was not a hoarder. The rest of the house wasn’t not this bad. This was the “catch all” room that got out of control.  They were open to getting rid of stuff and were very excited to have the room back.

What Happened:

1) We cleared out most of the clutter.

2) We kept the arrangement of furniture the same. The client liked having 2 separate desks and was not open to combining the work spaces.

3) We did basic cleaning. (Carpet cleaning and deep cleaning were still needed)

4) We separated paperwork into boxes  to go through later.

5) There was still several boxes to the left of this picture that the client had to go through. The budget did not allow for me to come back to help as we had planned. But I gave the client the basic knowledge so that they were able to ask themselves the same questions that we did when we worked together.

Not every space has to be organized to be “pretty”.  Being able to help people with the basics and to utilize what they already have is important. Often times I go into situations that the client really needs help. They might not have the finances to do anything but get the help – meaning… we work with what they have.

So… keep that in mind if you feel you don’t have the “money to organize”. I have heard that so often. Going through your things and deciding what to keep or give away doesn’t cost a dime. It just takes time.

Before:

After:

You can do a lot in one day. It wasn’t perfect, and there was still more work to be done… but together we were able to accomplish a lot.

If you have any spaces that you would like help on and would like to be featured in an upcoming week, please leave me a comment that you would like some help.

If you have any blog posts of an office that you have reorganized and would like to link it to my Organizing Mission- Monday link party – please add it to my Link party by clicking my button

I also would LOVE it if you could vote for my blog.  You can vote once a day!

What Would Sandy Suggest? Week 3 – Office

Does Your Room Need Some Organizing?

 

I had only 2 readers from last week that need some help. Wow… I’m amazed.. you all have it together.  lol

I offered help via random.org to 1 person who linked up on my linky last week.  Since there were only 2… they both had 50% chance of winning!

But the winner according to random.org was #2. Handy Man Crafty Woman

So Crafty Woman… let me have it!  Send me a space that you need some help organizing and I’ll give you my suggestions.

But for this week – I am going to show you some before and after shots of one of the first offices I organized for a client.  They were my guinea pigs when I was just going  into organizing as a business.

This room used to be one of their kids bedrooms.  Jerry began a business building houses and ended up turning this old bedroom into an office and his business took off.  So fast that he didn’t have time to really make it work.  He brought in extra pieces from homes he was building thinking they would help his office.

They were really neat kitchen pieces… but the way they were, they were not providing what he needed for his office.

He had his desk positioned by the closet to utilize it.  Not a bad idea, but again, it wasn’t really working for him.

Part of the problem.. the office wasn’t entirely his.  There were still kids books on the shelves, his wife had wrapping paper and supplies left from Christmas still all over the floor and in the closet. There were still clothes in the 2nd closet. 

His wife was also requesting to still have a table set up in here so that she could do her son’s scrapbook for his up coming graduation in 6 months.  I polity but firmly told her, “No… this is going to be Jerry’s office, and only Jerry’s office.  When we do your office downstairs next… I will provide you a wrapping and scrap booking  space.” She was good with that.

Notice the kind of shelf to the left. It is more like an open box… there is a bottom shelf, but really not serving much purpose.. I’ll show you how we used it in upcoming pics.

What the problems were:

1) It wasn’t Jerry’s office. There was clutter from other family members that weren’t business oriented in his space.

2) The nice kitchen cabinets were not functional for what he needed.  It seemed a shame not to use them, but without the proper shelves in them they were actually just taking up space.

3) The layout wasn’t working for Jerry.

4) Because of the mess he couldn’t bring clients into this office, and even if it were cleaned up he didn’t have the space to spread out house plans to show them.

What Jerry requested:

1) Have a surface that he can spread out plans and have clients be able to go over with him.

2) Clean it up of course

3) He wanted storage that he could lay his house plans out flat for the ones he was currently working on. He didn’t want to have to roll them all up.

4) He wanted older plans within reach

5) He didn’t mind going out and buying all new furniture.

What I suggested:

1) We take out all the big kitchen cabinets

2) We rearrange the desk so he can see who is coming in the door.

3) We either buy or make a conference table

4) We get out all the “non-Jerry office” items out of this office.

5) I’ll figure out storage for his house plans

6) We put up some shelves above the desk and move him away from the closet.

7) We bring up the credenza from his wives office downstairs (which was way too big for her office) and utilize it in this office.

Check out the office “After” Pictures

What we did: (I am pretty sure they pained the room

1) We cleared all the clutter out.  Took everything that didn’t’ belong in his office out. No more kids books, wrapping paper, clothes, kitchen cabinets.

2) We brought up the credenza from his wives office (see the far wall underneath the house plans)

It fit perfect in this space and made a good table for the house plan system I created.  I was frustrated with this because it wasn’t deep enough for the plans.  I would have loved to have gotten him this drawer system to lay plans flat.  But he didn’t like that idea. He didn’t want to have to open the drawers to get to plans he was working on frequently.  I showed him this idea and he loved it.  The rolled plans are ones that are in the works, but he isn’t’ working on at the moment.  The bottom shelves were measured so that the could lay his plans flat like he wanted.

The closet is being used for storage of office materials and older house plans.  Check out how what those plans are in.  They are boxes that we stacked… Great solution… no cost!  His wife actually came up with this one!  It worked great.

Jerry decided he wanted his desk against the wall… not facing out like I suggested. And that is ok.. this is his space.. he works her everyday – not me.   But we put shelves up on the wall for him to utilize.

Remember that shelf I told you to pay attention to?  See it?  Jerry used it to build this conference table (remember he is a builder) He used it as his base.  It is long enough and wide enough for him to spread his plans out on.  Also 2 chairs will go on the opposite side so he can have clients view the plans with him.

This is the same shot where I showed you the piled high kitchen cabinet? The very first picture.  We cleared off the book shelves. Got magazine holders for all his building magazines.  He was going to frame his house pictures on the wall, but just tacked them up to figure out where he was going to put them.

So what do you think?  I was very pleased with it.  It is officially his office.  I’ll show you his wife’s office on another post. Hers came out great too.

Since the link party didn’t seem like a popular thing to do… if you leave a comment that you would like help with a space, I’ll still do a random drawing for those who asked for help to be featured.

I am Linking This Post to:

 

 

 

What Would Sandy Suggest? Week 2

Part 2 of Mel’s Office

Be sure to check all the way to the end of the post! I am making this a link up so that you could have a chance to have your space featured too and hopefully I can give you some suggestions to help organize your own space!

Mel from Mama Buzz has been gracious enough to let me feature her space first! This is Mel’s office.  Last week on “What would Sandy Suggest” was part 1 and I went over some basics on what I thought she should do to organize her office.  Much of what she has is just clutter that won’t be hard to clean up. But like many of us.. it has has taken over enough that Mel wasn’t even using her office.

I will try to give advice on what I think would work…. without making a major overhaul of your space… and suggesting things that are out of many’s price range.  Of course I could tell her to get all new furniture and start fresh… but I know if someone told me that.. I’d tell them to take a hike because that wouldn’t be in my budget.

See that 2nd file cabinet underneath the games?  Remember that because I plan to move it.

This is the other side of the office.  It is her hubby’s desk.  I was trying to figure out what the 2 big black things were on his desk and then I realized they were both computer monitors….

This is the doorway in and the bookshelf close up.

Observations:

1) Hubby has no desk space. It is full of computer monitors, computer, printer and keyboard. Where does he write?  Where to papers go that come in?

2) I like the little shelf above the monitors, it just needs to be cleaned off.

3) The bookshelf facing the door seems to have little purpose other than to be a spot to put things. (That so often happens, we all want a “drop spot” in a room)

4) It looks like children books on the bookshelf.  This is a working office.  There should not be any children’s supplies in this office. (I understand if the kids come in while you are working, but let them bring in 1 book or 1 game to keep them busy – and then those items go back to the kids area when they are finished with them.

Suggestions:

1) Declutter first. Go through the sorting system that I gave Mel last week.

2)  Move the bookshelf out of the office.  It is small and I’m sure could be of use in another room, maybe even at the end of a hallway. The kids book could go in it there.

3) Move the desk down away from the wall enough to move that computer unit down onto the floor to the left of the desk.

4) Move that 2nd file cabinet from Mel’s desk over next to Hubby’s desk.  Mel – you can move your scrapbook organizer up to one of the shelves. If you use it frequently, I think once you have sorted through the things on your desk, you would have room for it.  Maybe you could move the circuit cutter or laminating machine up to the shelf and move the organizer over there.

5) Move the printer on top of the file cabinet to the right of the desk.

6) This frees up some valuable desk space.

7) I also would recommend putting in shelves over hubby’s desk like you have over Mels. If there were books on that book shelf that you removed that you need, they could go up there.

Now for the closet area.

And a closer look at that bookshelf

Observations:

1) Many more things that do not belong in an office are adding to the clutter. The boxes and keyboard or exercise equipment (can’t really tell…lol) need to move out.

2) The bins in the closet need to be gone through. I talked to Mel and she said they were going through them and there was a lot they could get out of there.

3) The bookshelf is completely full.  Again – a good sort will more than likely free up a lot of room on this bookshelf. They should all be books related to what takes place in this office.  Mel’s business, Hubby business, computers, scrapbooking, finances.

Suggestions:

1) Clear out the clutter.  If it doesn’t belong in the office… move it out.

2) Clean off the bookshelf. I suggest taking everything off it… I know.. there will be a big mess.  Clean the shelves good.  Then go through them one by one.  Ask yourselves these questions as you go through the books:

A) Does this relate to what takes place in this office?  – if so… keep  If not… move.
B) Have I read this already? If so.. then donate.
C) Will I read it again?
D) Is it a reference book I will refer to again?
E) Will I ever read this?  Be honest… if you know you won’t.. donate it. Don’t feel guilty over it.
F) What purpose does this book serve here?

3) Go through the knick knacks on the shelf. Are the pictures out dated?  Do you even notice or look at them where they are?  If they are out dated you can do a couple of things. Put a new picture in, or just removed it completely.  Again…. you don’t have to feel guilty about moving a picture or taking it down.  But, if there is some space on the newly cleared out shelves above Mel’s desk then a picture or two might be nice.  Same with the other things, decide what purpose it serves. Keep a couple special items if you would like, and move the others to another room, or donate them if you realize you really don’t need them.

4) The closet – I could see something really neat here.  There are a couple of options:

A) Take out those bins first of all and take off the hanging bar.  Now… you could take off the doors and add in a cubby unit (be sure to measure first!!) This could give this office a really neat feel.

You could then put in something like this from Ikea. This is the Expedit 5×5 bookcase. It is 72″x72″.  I just got one in the Walnut color myself for my office… They cost $199.00.

With that in the closet you could maybe get rid of that big bookcase in the office and it would open up the office a lot.  This could also be used for storing other items from the office.  Mel’s scrapbooking supplies, hubby’s computer disc etc..

B) Take the doors off the closet and remove the hanging bar and move the existing bookshelf into the closet. (measure first).  Again this will free up the space in the office and make it feel more open.

C) Leave the doors on the closet and move the book shelf in and be able to close it off.

D) Leave the doors on, take the hanging bar out and build shelves into the closet. Make several at different heights maybe.  One larger one that could hold the bins. Some at medium heights such as 12″ that baskets could fit on for office supplies.  Then some closer together that books or papers could be organized on.  Maybe don’t even take them all the way across the closet – leave an open tall space on the end and if there is no other place to store the vacuum or something taller, it could fit in this space.

I could go into much more detail with things, but I don’t think anyone would want to read it all.  LOL  These are my basic thoughts for Mel’s office…

Please be sure to send an “after” picture once you have organized it.  Don’t worry if you don’t use any of my ideas… lol  Remember they are just suggestions.

Do You Want Me to Help you Too?

Just leave a comment below that you have a room or space you would like me to give you some suggestions on.

What would Sandy Suggest? – Mel’s Desk

Let’s Organize it … Shall We?

 

I have had many people ask me to help them figure out what to do in their rooms.  It is difficult to really organize via virtual means, but there isn’t any reasons I can’t give some suggestions as to what I think they could try.

Mel from MamaBuzz is the first willing participant…. lol  She would like some help with her office. She said she and her husband share this space. But because they have been just using it lately for putting “stuff” in it.

First off let me say that this room doesn’t look bad at all.  I am seeing some really positive things that I want to mention right off the bat

1) Love the shelves on the wall.

2) The file drawers are being utilized. Looks like the one might be part of the desk unit, and if not, it it tucked in nice so that it isn’t taking up extra space.  The other one may be too big to go underneath on the other side.  But even so, it is being used as a surface.

3) I see several organizing elements here, the scrapbook/craft organizer on the left and the vertical file unit on the right hand part of the desk.

From this shot the main problems I am seeing are:

1) Clutter on the desk top

2) “Stuff” on the left on the  floor and more “stuff” on the right hand side of the picture.

Let’s take a closer look at this part of the desk area.

First off I see several things that don’t belong on a desk.  It looks like there may be an apron, or some kind of cloth bag that is yellow, black and white.  I am seeing a calendar that hasn’t been changed since November, Christmas cards in front of the keyboard and a basket full of things that I bet aren’t even used.

I would suggest:

1) Sorting through all the items on the desk.  Go through the steps..

Keep – Do I use it, Love it and Need it?

Donate – I don’t like it, or use it..but it is still in good shape  (Christmas cards can be donated too!)

Move To another Room – Does it belong in this room. If that is apron, I’d say no.

Storage – Season items that do get used but only once or twice a year. (i.e. Christmas decorations, camping gear)

Pitch/Recycle – Trash, broken or torn items. Can’t be donated.

2) Decide if that vertical file has been working for you.  Are you keeping it up?  Or did you start it and never went back to it?

3) Go through that basket and decide if it really is serving a function in that location – or is it just serving as a dumping place for little things?

4) I’m not sure what is behind the vertical file. It appears to be some kind of printer or something. If the vertical file system works, I would move that calendar and basket and move the vertical file in that location against the wall. That will free up some desk space.

5) The rest of that clutter needs to be sorted and moved off the surface.

6) If that is a printer, is it hooked up and working?  Is it used?  If so.. then it stays. If not, then move it off that space.

Zones

The objective here is to keep the zones for items that Mel uses daily.. closest to her chair.

“A Zone” would be the things she uses daily that need to be within reach.

“B Zone” would be things that she uses every few days.  Out and accessible, but it is ok to roll the chair over to them or stand up to reach.

“C Zone” would be things that are used maybe once every 1-2 weeks

“D Zone” would be things that should stay in the office, but are ok to store.

1) Here again she needs to sort first.  There are games that need to go with the kids toys and games.  Looks like a tin from Christmas goodies etc.

2) The craft area looks nice. The question would be: Do you use this for your crafting?  If so, than fantastic. If it has been 2 years since you touched it, then it is time to think about at least packing it up and storing it until you have the time to work on it.

3) I see my stethoscope! LOL  So funny, that is exactly like the one I have lost at my pediatricians office.  Mine is a light purple, and last time I saw it, it was in my locker.  Ok… back to business..

4) Keep the scrap booking if you use it.  I see another machine there, maybe a circuit cutter or laminator?  If it is used, then great.

5) If it is used frequently, leave it there. If not, would it be possible to put on top of the craft organizer?

6) The pink tray that appears to possibly be an “in” box on top of the craft organizer.  First off.. is it an “in” box.  If so, would it be possible to mount something on the wall as you walk into the office for bills and incoming papers?  It might make it more convenient and get that surface freed up.

7) The little black basket beside the craft organizer. What is that being used for?

8) I think most all of this just needs to be sorted through, and relocated, pitched or donated.

Next week we are going to tackle another area of Mel’s office.

Mel – Please pick up my button and put it on your site for participating in the first, “What Would Sandy Suggest” series. If you would like to be featured on What Would Sandy suggest, then please leave a comment and email and we’ll chat.

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This post is linked to:

Tools Are For Woman Too

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.

Reorganizing my 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.

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