Anniversary Day 3 & 4

Happy 10th Anniversary to Me continues with a 2-part webinar series.

This year has brought one big change to my business and personal organization and I would like to share it because it rocks!
It is Pinterest!

As an idea collector and curator, I find that this visual archiving website is the perfect fit for my style of saving, without taking up space in my office, my house, or my head!

If you haven’t heard about it yet, Pinterest.com is a website that allows you to clip pictures and articles, upload your own, and categorize them onto virtual bulletin boards. The fun part is exploring the site and seeing what other people are “pinning” and commenting and re-pinning for yourself.
The interface is simple, but some don’t find it completely intuitive.

For that reason I’m presenting two webinars.
Get Pinteresting – Part 1 – for beginners.
Get Pinteresting – Part 2 – For business

The descriptions, dates, and other information is below.
I hope you will join me and get pinning with me!

Monday May 14, 2012
8:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada) for 30 minutes plus time for questions.

Cost: 0 – my gift to you!

Description:
Get on board the Pinterest train! It’s a visually exciting site that can help you to organize your ideas, inspiration, recipes, projects and much more. Find out how to get started “pinning” and join the millions who have found pinspiration!

Attendees learn how to use Pinterest features and organize information. It promises potential use for homeowners, business people, writers, crafters, cooks, researchers and hobbyists of all types.
Follow along on your computer screen as Allison carter “drives” the programs while teaching you the how to make the most of the site.
Pinterest is the hottest, fastest growing website for collecting web clippings on virtual bulletin boards. It allows users to create visual boards for any subject under the sun.

Register HERE

In Part 2 Tuesday, Find out how clever business people are using this service to store and organize ideas and share them with clients.

registration: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EE51DD81884B

Boost your Business with Pinterest & Get Pinteresting!

Description:
In Part 2, we explore what businesses are doing to get noticed and why it’s important.
We show you specific examples of good and not-so-good pinning and how to be a great pinner.

Attendees learn how to use Pinterest as a marketing vehicle for business.
Follow along on your computer screen as Allison carter shows you how to make the most of the site.
All eyes are on this virtual pin board service as it gets more and more popular.
We show you how to make it work for you.
Learn:

• How to get more traffic to your website and blogs
• How to connect with other social networks and save you work
• What people are doing on pinterest and how to make them notice your pins.
• How to be a curator and not just a broadcaster.
• How to promote more than just your product or service
• What NOT to do on Pinterest
• Why it’s important to your business to get followers

If you are new to Pinterest you will want to sign up for part 1 – Get Pinteresting for Beginners.

Tuesday May 15, 8pm ET
Cost: $20.12 for 10th anniversary Live Webinar
$10.00 for the recording only (link will be sent to all registrants to view on the web)

REGISTER HERE

Happy Anniversary to Me

It’s day 1 of the 10th Anniversary – Virtual Birthday Bash for The Professional Organizer!

I’m so grateful that I’ve been a part of so many lives and helped so many people get more organized.
To celebrate today, we are having a plain ol’ give-away.

 

Chocolate cake with cream cheese icing from Suburban Grandma

 

I would give you chocolate birthday cake with cream-cheese icing and colorful sprinkles if I could… but all I can give you is a virtual bite of organizing.

In today’s goodie bag I give to you my first booklet, Scared of Your Clutter.
It contains tips, tips, tips for organizing your whole life.
I hope it inspires you to do at least one new thing or teaches you one new trick.

If you already know about organizing, it’s a nice little book to give to a friend!

 

Get your complimentary download  of Scared of Your Clutter (pdf) TODAY from my e-junkie store HERE:

If you are using Firefox or have pop-up blockers or it’s just not working,  click on this link.

THIS IS ONLY GOOD TODAY – WEDNESDAY MAY 2, 2012.
This goodie goes away Thursday morning at 8am so act fast!

 

We’ll have more goodies for you very soon.

Keep an eye on this blog all month for more organizing treats!!

 

Evernote + Pinterest Webinar is Tuesday March 6

Join me for a how-to webinar showing you step-by-step how to set up and make the most of Evernote and Pinterest.

Date: March 6, 2012

Time: 8pm – 9pm EST

Who: Hosted by NAPO Georgia Chapter

Instructor: Allison Carter, CPO®

Cost: $25

Registration: http://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=EC51DB83844D

Contact: napoga@gmail.com

Description

The purpose of the webinar is to train attendees how to use Evernote and Pinterest. Both of these services are extremely popular cloud technologies right now and promise great potential use for homeowners, business people, writers, crafters, cooks, researchers and hobbyists of all types. Follow along on your computer screen as the instructor “drives” the programs while teaching you the how to make the most of these sites..

Evernote is an online service for creating notes and storing web clippings and keeping them organized. The information is stored in the cloud and syncs to your computer and is accessible from all of your devices.  Evernote was recognized as an award-winning service by the attendees at the 2011 annual NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) conference.

Pinterest is the hottest, fastest growing website for collecting web clippings on virtual bulletin boards. It allows users to create visual boards for any subject under the sun. Find out how clever business people are using this service to store and organize ideas and share them with clients.

All attendees will get an invitation to join Pinterest which is still by invitation only.

Registration: http://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=EC51DB83844D

• How to make the best use of these amazing organizing programs for capturing ideas and information

• Step-by-step set up of Evernote and Pinterest

• Tips and tricks from power users

• How to use Pinterest for business

• When to use Pinterest and when to use Evernote – what are the differences?

You don’t need anything special on your computer. Just watch, listen and learn the easy way.

Why You Should Be on Pinterest (Businesses)

If you haven’t heard about it yet, Pinterest is the newest, hottest, most happening, uh, social media site. I hesitate to say social because it’s up-and-coming socially speakiing. Right now it’s mostly a lot of very interesting people posting pictures of pretty cool stuff on “virtual bulletin boards”.

Imagine you’re in a room with a stack of of magazines cutting out articles and pictures and you get to put the pictures up on an unlimited number of bulletin boards on the walls around the room. You This is what Pinterest would be like if it was just you. But it’s not just you. There are now 11 Million other people out there also creating bulletin boards and “pinning” cool stuff on them… and you can look at all of their boards and they can look at yours.When they like something on your board, they can ‘like it’, ‘re-pin’ it, or comment on it, or a combo.These virtual pin boards are the reason so many visual people are drawn to the site. It’s a never-ending series of shiny objects to distract you.But it’s much more than that. When used to it’s max,it is also a place to categorize, classify, and organize your hobbies, projects, collections, and much more.

So now that you know what it is, why should you bother knowing what it is?

1. 11 million people are there today and it’s growing exponentially. That’s a lot of potential to brand you and your biz.

2. People share and re-pin things they like, a lot!! It creates instant buzz and traffic to your website. Each “pin” leads you back to the site where it came from.

3. It’s fun, so people are spending a lot of time there. The average person spends more than an hour on the site (from latest stats I saw). I personally flip through it for hours like reading a magazine while watching TV. Can you say addicted? Yes! That’s because I am the prime demographic which leads to #4.

4. Women make up more than 90% of the website users!!! If you’re business and you like to market to women, this is the place to be right now.

The learning curve is pretty easy – compared to Facebook and Twitter.

I have many tips for making the most of your business branding on Pinterest that I will share in Tuesday’s webinar – using Evernote and Pinterest to Capture Ideas and Information (and organize them too).

More information on the webinar HERE

The webinar is hosted by NAPO Georgia – (National Association of Professional Organizers, Georgia chapter)

Cut Closet Chaos

Cut Closet Chaos

By Allison Carter

If your closet is cramped and cluttered, it is hard to find clothes you like to wear, clothes that are ready to wear, and it can be stressful each day just trying to dress yourself. Here are some quick tips for creating a closet you will love to use.
– As the seasons change, weed out your summer and winter wardrobes. If you haven’t worn something in two seasons, you probably won’t ever wear it again.  If you’re saving an item for sentimental reasons, put it into a keepsake box.
– Weed brutally: If you don’t love it, lose it. You’re not likely to wear something you don’t like.
– If it doesn’t fit but you may change sizes, take it off a hanger and put into a bin marked with the clothing size. If you don’t get down to that size within a year, give the items away. The clothes are often outdated by the time they fit again.
– If it isn’t something you wear or use to accessorize, it doesn’t belong in the closet. Remove homeless items that have been squatting in your closet waiting for you to decide where they really belong.
– Invest in good sturdy hangers. Get a full set and your closet will look neater all around. Your clothing will also last longer because it won’t be pulled out of shape.
– Purses can be neatly placed along a shelf, hung from hooks, or be stored in a purse bag that hangs from the closet rod. It’s like a shoe-bag with larger pockets.
– Not enough hanging space in your closet? For just $10 you can purchase a rod that hangs from your hanging rod and immediately doubles your hanging space.  Check Target, The Container Store, and other retailers.
– Keep shoes from cluttering the floor by using shoe-bags or shoe shelves.
– Keep special occasion shoes in labeled boxes up high on a shelf.
– If you don’t like to fold neatly, use drawers more than shelves. Shelves are for neat people.  Folded items on shelves need to constantly be tidied because when you take something from the middle or bottom of a pile it loses alignment.

Organize the Nursery

Top 10 Things Every Nursery can use to Get Organized

It seems simple, but many people forget some of these essentials.

1. A calendar for easily marking milestones – First laugh, first tooth, etc.
2. A vinyl pocket shoebag to hold ointments and other items near the changing table
3. Garbage can
4. Laundry basket
5. Enough drawer & closet space for clean clothing
6. Small plastic bins. They keep lots of small things organized together and they stack to maximize space.
7. A place to display treasures
8. A place for books
9. Super – sticky post-its for marking what is in every drawer
10. A babysitter information document or notebook including:

a. your address
b. phone number
c. emergency numbers
d. poison control number
e. allergies
f. bedtime and bath procedures
g. meal preferences
h. permission to give medical treatment. (Read information below)

(Information and medical form are from: http://www.rogerknapp.com/medical/permission.htm)

Hospitals and physicians have been successfully sued for assault and battery for treating sick and injured children under the age of18 and unmarried without specific permission from legal guardians. Because of that, parents must now prepare legal documents for their babysitters or temporary guardians to use in urgent care visits. The following is an example authorization form. It’s always advisable to check with a lawyer, but the elements of an informed consent exist here and should be honored by most medical facilities.

Of course, if the situation is life threatening, the hospital would likely provide needed treatment. But in non-urgent situations, the staff, by law, must await permission. That permission must come from parents or legal guardians. It cannot come from brothers, sisters or even grandparents.

Please instruct your baby-sitter or other family member who regularly cares for a minor child to take the form with them to the Hospital Emergency Department should an emergency arise.

 

EMERGENCY CARE AUTHORIZATION

Name of Child (children):

I the undersigned give permission for caring for the above named Child(children) to
{Name of the person(s) who will be caring for the child}

Here is where I can be reached while away including phones and locations.

I hereby authorize the person(s) named above to sign for medical treatment of my child(ren)
between the following dates:
From: _______________ Until: ________________

Parent Signature: ___________________ Date: ____________________

Witnessed By: ________________________________________
Phone: _____________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________

Insurer: ______________________ Number: _______________________

EMERGENCY CARE INFORMATION

Child’s full name: _____________________________________
Date of Birth: _______________ Date last Tetanus Shot: ___________________
Child is allergic to the following medications: ________________________________ ( ) None
Child is taking the following medications: __________________________________ ( ) None
Child is diabetic, has other chronic condition or major illness:
_____________________________________________( ) None
Name of primary care physician and phone number___________________________________________

Organize the Office

Top 10 Things Every Office Can Use to Get Organized

1. A good wall calendar to keep track of events.

2. A label maker. Label every cord, file, and bin so you know what’s it in.

3. Tickler Files: files that sit out on your table, desk, or counter to hold action items such as To Do, To Pay, To Go, To File, To Enter, etc.

4. A business card notebook, file box, or scanner.

5. Garbage cans

6. A shredder

7. Supply cabinet

8. Off site records storage area. Don’t keep it nearby if you don’t use it monthly.

9. Small plastic bins.
* They keep lots of small things organized together and they stack to maximize space. Use very small bins in drawers as dividers for pens, paper clips, office tools, etc.

10. CD sharpie’s to label them immediately.



Organizing Mail Q & A

Dispose of Paint

By Allison Carter, CPO®

Every house is loaded with this stuff and so far, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to help clients get rid of it (in most areas.)

After much research, I have found a very very limited number of places that will accept paint and haul it away and even fewer that recycle.

(opportunity for some business is awaiting!!!)

So how do you dispose of old house paint properly?

You have a few options:

Use it up

Mix it up with other leftovers to create a brown and paint a storage room or area that doesn’t need a decorated look. Use it as an undercoat on your next paint job. Keep painting on coats until it is all used up. Buy just enough for the room.

Dry it up

• For cans more than 1/4 full: Dry with Waste Paint Hardener or cat litter, mulch, or shredded paper.
• For cans less than 1/4 full: Take off the lid and leave it out to dry.

After latex paint is dry you can safely send it off with regular trash pick-up.

Pass it on

donate to schools, theater groups or anyone else who wants paint.

Try offering it on Freecycle.org and Craig’sList.org (sign up for local area)

California and Oregon have some amazing Paint Recycling stores:

* Amazon Environmental – California http://www.nvo.com/amazon/door/

* Metro Paint – Oregon http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=521

* Los Angeles -  In the Los Angeles area there are household hazard waste disposal centers that accept paint, solvents, oil, etc. during business hours and on some weekend days. There are several located around the city and the way to contact them is to call the City of LA Household Hazardous Waste Hotline at 800.988.6942.  For other city services such as “bulky item pick-up” the city will come haul away large bulky items such as old sofas, furniture, appliances, etc. for free. That number is 800.733.2489. Also, dialing 311 within Los Angeles will connect you to the same hotline.
If you know of other paint recycling / disposal resources please let us know!!

Would you like to use this in your newsletter, blog, or website? You can, as long as you use this complete blurb:  Allison Carter, CPO® is the lead trainer at Organizer U, providing learning opportunities for Professional Organizers everywhere.  If you’re ready to start your business, learn about the organizing industry, or refresh your current PO business, you can get your complimentary “10 Steps to Starting a Successful Organizing Business” at http://www.OrganizerU.com .

Photo Organizing Tricks

Photos are fun to look at. So why do so many people keep them in envelopes, stuffed in drawers and boxes, or lost somewhere on a computer hard drive.

Give yourself a chance to walk down memory lane by looking at photos of family and friends, proud moments, fun adventures, and warm, happy times.  Here are some easy tips to help make it easier to enjoy your photos.

1.    Take fewer pictures so there is less to organize.

2.    Print only the very best pictures so there is less to organize. Delete bad photos from your camera and computer.

3.    After printing pictures, put the photos into a photo album as soon as possible.  This keeps the photos in chronological order and they stay together with other photos from the same event.

4.    If you want to view your photos, aim to get them into photo albums or scrap books.

5.    If you just want to store photos, archival photo boxes are the best containers for saving space.  There are several types that have dividers to help you organize photos by date or subject.

6.    When you buy photo albums, buy several all the same to grow into. When they are all the same, it creates a unified look and gives the appearance of being organized.

7.    Label your photos as you put them into the albums.  Mark the date at the very least.  Write who-what-where-why if possible. Your children will be thankful when they can identify everyone in the pictures.

8.    Some photo albums come with spaces next to the photo for writing.

9.    If there is a story to tell, jot down a few notes and tuck it in behind the photograph.

10.    Toss out your negatives. It sounds harsh, but hardly anyone ever reprints pictures. Is it really worth hanging onto them? And with today’s technology, it is easy to make a copy without a negative. Professionals and hobbyists are exceptions.

11.    If you have gone digital, back up your computer storage! Burn CD’s or upload photos to an online storage site. Then store your CD’s in a binder. Label each CD with who-what-when-where-why.

12.    Store photos in a cool, dry environment. Attics, garages and basements can damage photos that you intended to enjoy for years.

13.    Saving souvenirs for scrapbooking? This is a trick I learned from a travel writer. Before you go on your adventure, label a series of big envelopes or manila folders with the date and place you will be each day. (Several days can often go into one folder).   Each night file away the things you have collected. If you want, you can even keep a log of the contents on the outside of the envelope. If you don’t have an itinerary, bring the envelopes and write on them each day after filling them up.

14.    When you first arrive anywhere, take a photo of a sign or another descriptive shot so you will know where you are in each photo.  A “Welcome to”… sign is always good.  When you look back over your pictures, you will know exactly where you were.

15.    If you’re taking a lot of shots of people you don’t know well, keep a running list of who they are and even the picture number from your camera. A mini spiral note-pad works well for this.

16.    Do you find you’re never in any of the pictures because you’re the one taking them all? Get an easy point and shoot that anyone can use including children.

17.    Do you have a pile of pictures to get organized? Stacks and stacks?? It can be very overwhelming.

To get started, get a bunch of manila folders and label each one based on how you are going to organize your photos. Most people like to organize in chronological order & event or by person in the photo.

Step 1: Sort
•    Label a manila folder or box for each year of photos you are organizing.
•    Lay the folders or boxes across a large table or on the floor.
•    Pick up one photo at a time, placing them on the folder that corresponds with the year the photo was taken.
•    If you need to stop, you can put the pictures in the files and put them in a file box.
•    Keep sorting  until your stacks are gone.

Step 2: Purge & sort again – Toss out photos that are fuzzy, dark, or not your best look.
•    Once you have them separated by year, you’ll have smaller stacks that won’t be so overwhelming.  Sort the smaller stacks into month and event piles.

Step 3: Containerize
•    Now you’re ready to put the photos into albums or scrapbooks.