Are You An Invisible Hoarder?

Recently, Jennifer commented on my Idea File blog post about the notion of a "Invisible Hoarder." 

She said...I use Evernote and my Iphone to capture images of articles that I want to keep. Then I don't even have the paper around, can get rid of the magazine and have access to my saved ideas on my phone or computer. That way, I can be a high functioning, invisible hoarder without having to rent extra space or make my family live in tents on the lawn (I jest but it came close--it was the magazines or them) Evernote is a great capture and idea storage tool.

I love that term.  While I actually think Jennifer is very practical in her methodology, it made me realize this fact about myself:  While I am a purger and hate hanging onto physical things at home, I am very much a hoarder at work with electronic documents.  I have things saved 8 years back.  And, the biggest issue is that I don't know how to easily find them.  And, a lot of them are useless, thus adding to the clutter and complication in finding things.

Many times, Erin or Jim will ask me for a file or PowerPoint and I know I have it, but it can take me 10-15 minutes to locate it, wading through folders and files on my laptop.

Does anyone else qualify as an Invisible Hoarder?  Anyone have any solutions for us IDs??

 

Papers Everywhere

On my profile, I list "my desk" as my most challenging area to keep organized.  Here at work, we recently switched how we pay and process invoices, adding many steps in the process.  I realized this was making me even more disorganized.

One day, I got frustrated, and I decided it was time for a system. Using my Dymo Label manager, I documented all of the 'steps' in the process - "received", "submitted in system / awaiting PO", "awaiting confirmation" and "recorded".

I thumb-tacked folders to the side of my cubicle, thus creating a vertical "flow" for these papers to move through the system and remind me where each one stands and which ones need attention.

How do you organize your papers in your office ?

Keeping an Idea File vs. Tons of Magazines

I recently came across a great blog post on reducing magazine clutter in your home by @mabelhood. She makes the point that we always have good intentions for going back and referencing articles, recipes, and other tips but seldom do.  The magazines then lead to clutter.

She suggested keeping binders with the tips.  I was so excited that someone else did this as well!   I keep binders for tips from magazines including: hosting ideas, decorating inspirations, and exercise tips.  I have found it to be a good solution for keeping the idea but not the entire magazine.

I know other people who keep them in folders, or in accordian notebooks too.

Does anyone else do this and what tool do you use?

Office Productivity Challenge - Week 6 Update

I am sad to update the readers that I have really been falling down on my productivity challenge.

Things I have done well:

1-Tagging emails with colored flags to help me prioritize
2-Cleaning up my desktop to help find commonly used programs and icons better.

The Before - folders are not differentiated, everything looks the same.

 

The After - I picked icons for my folders that made sense.  This can be done by right-clicking an icon on your desktop and selecting "Properties" and "Change Icon".

   
 

There are a few things I need to continue to improve:

1-Spending the first hour of the day tackling big projects versus getting into the email.  My travel schedule has gotten a bit in the way but this will always be a consideration so I need to continue to work on it despire this challenge.
2-Checking my blackberry in meetings and multi-tasking during meetings.  Erin has caught me 5 times so I owe Goodwill $5 (see post on the Goodwill Challenge) but it has been a few more times I'm sure.

I would love any recommendations from experts on office productivity and how to improve mine.

Organizing Kristine's Shoe Collection

A friend of mine, Kristine, is looking for a solution for her shoes that have gotten out of control.  I have attached her picture and also some Q & A that she and I have exchanged on the need for organization.


Why do you think you need a change with how these are organized?

• As you can see, I once had fixtures that temporarily worked but I have now outgrown them.

How many shoes do you want to store?  Are you open to donating some?

• I would ideally like to house 50 to 75 pairs of shoes...I know I need to get a little better at purging. I did recently go through and donate at least a dozen pair of shoes....I will weed through more this week.

Does the ideal solution need to fit in your closet?

• The entire room serves as a storage area / closet, so the solution doesn't need to fit in the closet. I do need something that goes in that corner of the room against the wall and there is some floor room that can be utilized too.

Any other considerations? Do you want them open or contained? 

• I want to be able to easily access them and be able to see what I have. I'm really not sure if I would prefer open air or a closed container for some of the shoes?  I trust you with what ever works best!  Maybe a combo but honestly what ever you think would work best and make the most sense for functioning and accessibility.

In your mind, does this need to look attractive or is functionality key?

• In my list of priorities how it looks is down the list.  Yes, it would be a plus if its cute but not worried about it at all...you see what I have now! :)

Anything else?

• This may be asking way to much....because I searched every container web site and couldn't find the solution. 

So, looking for input from our organizing experts out there !  Before I start designing and researching which Rubbermaid solutions can help, did I ask the right questions?  Anything else to consider?

Office Productivity Challenge - Week 2 Update

Last week, I proclaimed in a post that I was experimenting in how to be more productive at work by focusing more on the task at hand instead of being distracted by multi-tasking (mainly email). 

The first step was to delay opening email, and instead do my 1st and 2nd most important "to-do" of the day prior to checking and replying to email.

I was able to do this four out of five days.  When I did it, it started my day off in a more effective manner.  The only negative aspect was that I wasn't quite up-to-speed on everything as I normally was, but:

1. I felt more calm during the day knowing I had already accomplished 1-2 big things

2. I actually was able to do a better job and provide more strategic thought into my projects.

So, the positives certainly outweighed negatives.

Ellen Delap commented on my post suggesting that I go through email in a way, marking urgent items and leaving non-urgent items for later.   I have actually started doing this, and have found the colored flags that Outlook features to be helpful in this exercise.

I am going to continue this exercise for the month to see if it still provides more productivity.  

In addition, I will start by throwing on an extra challenge -- focusing in meetings by not checking my Blackberry continually.   I will especially need @rubbermaid and @rubbermaiderin to help with this.  Anytime some one in the office catches me checking blackberry in a meeting in the month of June, I will donate $1 to Goodwill.

Also, I would love any additional advice office organizers and productivity experts have regarding email, as I look forward to incorporating your advice in future challenges.

Organizing My Day (In the Office)

On this blog, we often talk about organizing space and things.  From a project as simple as a junk drawer that provides a little calm in the chaotic kitchen, to a closet re-do that helps you get dressed easier in the morning, the feeling of being organized is definitely empowering.

The folks in the office often joke about how I am organized to a fault.  I do admit, I do have a little bit of a compulsion in this area and love having a place for everything!

However, one thing I do poorly at is organize my time. 

One example is in the office.  

I am an email junkie.  Self-confessed.  Case in point for the madness:
--When I am working on a project and I see the envelope pop up at the bottom of the screen, I immediately go check Outlook to see if the email is urgent
--I carry my blackberry around all day long, keeping tabs on the newest messages that come in. I am ashamed to admit I sometimes do this in meetings while other people are talking which is a really bad habit. 
--I sometimes have a hard time getting through my actual work to-do list because I am constantly answering emails throughout the day that pop up.

I have read a lot lately about the psychology around multi-tasking.  We have learned to be such great multi-taskers in todays' time, but are we more productive?  Many sources (see interesting article from AMA) say that actually doing too many things at once is counter-productive and then it actually takes more time to get all the items accomplished. 

My morning routine is generally to go through my email first thing in the morning.    On average, I usually receive 100 emails between 5:30pm and 8am, so the average time to plow through the pile is 1 hour.

This morning, I decided to try something different.   I had a hot project that needed attention so I decided not to open Outlook until it was done.   It only took me a half hour to do my project, and I felt remarkably good.  I started my day with the first thing crossed off my to-do list before I opened Outlook.

As this relates to organizing my day, this month of June I am going to try to be conscientous of focusing on one thing at a time to see if this "organization of time" gives me the same empowering feeling that "organization of space" does.  I'll let @rubbermaid (Jim) and @rubbermaiderin (Erin)  give me a scorecard at the end of the month.

As I start this personal challenge, do you have any advice with how you either FOCUS or MANAGE EMAIL that can help me in this endeavor?

Stress Less + Save Time

 
One of my major sources of stress is the work week morning. I never seem to be able to easily and calmly get out the door. Its a rare occasion I'm not rushing and feeling scattered.

The Clutter Princess had some great advice to set everything up in the P.M.
My favs from her list were:

• Lay out your clothes - it may seem silly, but I waste a lot of time searching around for the right shirt that looks the best with a certain pair of pants.. and where is that one key piece of jewelry that would really make this outfit?
• Make your lunch - those 10 extra minutes to put a lunch together are crucial in the morning, the night before you can do it during American Idol commercials.
• Get your coffee ready - There's something magical about the coffee being set up when you are in need of it the most. (Janice, I need a programmable coffee pot too!)

So in the mighty year of 2010, I am going to proactively get it together in the mornings and achieve a calm sense of nirvana. I have heard that most people feel a higher sense of calm when they are not surrounded by clutter (which I'm still working on to achieve). Anyone else have any org tips they use to keep your blood pressure down?

(Btw, major shout-outs to Caty from Catalina Photography! She did the photo at the top to help illustrate the idea of laying out your clothes. Now doesn't that look calm, fashionable and inviting for something to see in the morning?)

Baby Steps to a Better Coat & Game Closet

Like most people, our coat closet does not just house coats. It holds board games, shoes, a vacuum, my yoga mat and of course plenty of coats. I thought it was time to reorganize a bit...I found these easy steps online and pretty much followed them one by one. They are very basic and simple, but it helped to get my coat closet in much better shape.

The one shelf in the closet was a complete mess. It was like a game of jenga to get things down! When sorting through it, I found hand weights, a puzzle, an umbrella, several decks of cards, a poker chip set, empty gift boxes and even an old winter coat and ski pants wrapped up  tightly in a plastic bag (upper right corner). 

  

On the floor, the vacuum was taking up a lot of space because it has a rather large footprint in an awkward shape. I was trying to use a cardboard shoe holder (on left) for tennis shoes, sandals and other random things. The yoga mat was standing between the shoe holder and the vacuum, loosely rolled and not in its case.

 
 
I also found wrapping paper in the corner. (....which led me to my detour project in the middle of this: wrapping paper roundup!) My tennis shoes were NOT working out with this method - some were falling out, and I had shoved others on top. The flip flops fit well into the compartments, so that was plus.....I guess...? 

I got out my shoes and the shoe holder to assess the situation there. It is a good place for us to keep our sandals that we slip on to run out or go get the mail, so the shoe holder was going to stay. (I do need to paint it or something because that floral pattern is not my fave!) I just need to figure something out for my tennis shoes. 

I took all of the coats out to see if any could go to Goodwill. No dice. We actually wore everything that was in the closet. I put them back in order by length: vests together, short coats together and long coats together.

At this point, I found a tote that was going to be the home for my tennis shoes for now. I feel like it's not the best solution, but it will keep them together and from falling out all over the place. In reality, I probably need to only keep 1-2 pairs in the coat closet - the ones I wear most often - and put the others up in my bedroom closet.

With the closet empty, I took this rare opportunity to vacuum the floor and wipe down the baseboards and walls inside the closet. Now was ready to put everything back in...

I stacked the games in two piles on one side of the shelf up top. We don't use the games very often, so they can be stacked high. When I need one, I can always get the step stool. At least now they are neat and sturdy - no more jenga stacks! I used a small plastic bin (on right) for our decks of cards. The coats are arranged by length: short things on the left above the shoe holder and long coats on the right.

   
On the floor, the shoe holder is still there. I feel like there is a better solution, so I will keep looking around for other ideas. I found several options online, but I'm not sure if any of them will work for me. I like it for now to hold our most-used sandals, and I also put the hand weights in the bottom compartments since they were the heaviest. In another closet I found some resistance bands and small dumbbells, so I put those in the other compartments along the bottom. My yoga mat is now in it's carrying case and leaning in the corner (which you can't see in the pic). The tennis shoe bin and the vacuum fit next to each other, and when we need to get the vacuum out, we will slide the shoe bin out for easy access.

Through this process, I realized a few things:

1. It might be best to find a new home for our vacuum since it is the biggest, most awkward item that takes up the most room. Also, the height of it doesn't make it the best fit in the coat closet. We vacuum the most downstairs, which is why we have stored in the coat closet.

2. I need to find a new shoe/sandal holder or put in some shelves on the bottom. My husband and I need to pick only one or two pairs to keep in the coat closet that we wear the most and move all others up to our bedroom closet. 

3. If we can find room in another closet, it would help to store heavy winter coats somewhere else in the off-season.

I realize that my coat closet is in better shape than it was, but I still think it needs some work. Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions. Hopefully I will have another post in the future about my new & even more improved coat closet!

My "Stairway System"

As we have mentioned on the blog before, one thing that we have learned over the years is that organization doesn't have to be beautiful. 

Nothing against Martha Stewart, but the perfectly arranged craft tins and color coordinated closets that are sometimes pictured aren't practical for many people to maintain.  If your organization system is functional and allows you to to live in organizational harmony, I think that is most important than looking perfect.

I want to share one example of this in my house.   If you look at my staircase, I always have things at the top and at the bottom of the stairs.   It helps me make sure things are "in motion" to their appropriate places instead of letting them get cluttered in the wrong area of the house.  

I snapped a shot of what this might look like on a normal day:

 

Another benefit to this system is remembering things to take "out of the house".  My bottom step always contains the stuff that needs to leave.   I tend to be forgetful, so if I know I am going to a friend's house and need to drop off that book I borrowed or a recipe, etc., I always make sure it is in sight on my step the week before it needs to go.   That way, I take a quick glance and can just 'grab and go' without running all over the house trying to find it, or worse, forgetting it.

What things do you do to stay organized that aren't necessarily forms of "pretty" organization?