10th Anniversary Party
The Professional Organizer is turning 10!! Yaaay!
I’ll be having a virtual birthday bash throughout the month of May to celebrate.
This means I’m giving away classes, downloads, and holding contests with awesome gifts from organizing businesses, authors, and more!
I can’t wait to party with you!
Watch this blog each day with directions for getting your free stuff and entering contests starting on May 1, 2012.
Tell your friends because there will be several items for absolutely no cost!
Preview List:
Webinar – No-cost sign up day – Pinterest 102: I’m on Pinterest, Now What? – tips for using Pinterest for business and for organizing information so you can stop clipping articles from magazines.
Contest – Conquering Chronic Disorganization, by Judith Kolberg, 1st edition signed by the author
Ebook Downloads – Scared of Filing, Scared of Your Clutter, by Allison Carter
Audio Class Download – Organizing with Creative People, presented by Allison Carter
I’ve got more fun things coming, so watch this blog.
(If you would like to offer a product, book, or other item for my party, please contact me!)
Organizer’s Favorite Things Resources
ORGANIZER’S FAVORITE THINGS
Ultimate Resource List
“Organizer’s Favorite Things,” a dazzling parade of the latest and greatest
in organizing products and resources.
CREATED BY Allison Spitzer Carter, CPO® + Krista Colvin NAPO CONFERENCE 2012
Organizer’s Favorite Things [Tools of the Trade for the Modern Home and Home Office]
This is the portion of the presentation about home office, information, tech and more.
THE MODERN OFFICE
DESK + FILES + DOCUMENTS
Laptop Cooling Pad – Targus Chill Mat
Space Saving Desks -
Space Desk
Fold-out Convertible Desk (black photo)
http://www.solutions.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=15931
Sekretar Flatmate Desk (white photo)
http://www.magazin.com/sekretaer-flatmate-p1457932/?a=28299
Files from Knock Knock
FUN File Folders from knockknock.biz
Martha Stewart Verticle File Ensemble at Staples
Martha Stewart Filing collection at Staples
http://www.staples.com/File-Folders-Filing/cat_CL166444
Smead Filing www.smead.com
Smead Stadium File
Drop Box – www. dropbox.com
Jot Not – app – scans docs www.jotnot.com
Ikea Rationell Variera – File holder (and lid organizer)
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70154800/?query=70154800
NeatDesk – www.neat.com
Neat Receipts – www.neat.com
Postit.com
Post-it pockets – www.post-it.com
)
File Storage Ottoman
The Leash
The Leash – for phones and other devices
http://www.quicklipleash.com/
Leaf Keepers Cable Ties
Florafil Cord Cover – no link, still in design mode
Florafil Cord Cover
Grass Charging Station
Plug Bug
Poly Ply Stand – Design Concept not yet for sale
Poly Ply Stand
Wall Organizer
Cable Box Mini
Cordies
Cordies by Quirky - keep your cords on your desk even after unplugging.
Cable Drop
DIY cord labels using bread bag closures
APPS AND SOFTWARE
Dragon Naturally Speaking
Dragon – Speech to text
Software for PC
Apps that can be used by many devices
Flipboard and Google Currents
Great apps for viewing RSS feeds (blogs), facebook, twitter and much more!
Pinterest App
Pinterest App available at Pinterest.com
Heytell App
Heytell - voice to texting app
Goodreader App
Goodreader - Read and Annotate pdfs
CamCard
CamCard – Reads photos of business cards and organizes them
Delicious Library – Catalogs movies, books, music and other stuff
Libra – Catalog for movies and more
Cozi - life organizing/planning
About One - life organizing + document storage, photo storage and sharing + more
Rxmindme app - Reminder for taking medicines
My Health Records app – app on itunes
Care Calendar.org - coordinate care for ill people and others
TakeThemAMeal.com - coordinate bringing meals to people
PleaseBringIt.com - coordinate bringing items to parties, events, or to the sick or elderly
LotsaHelpingHands.com - coordinate care for sick, or for parties and events
ECO ORGANIZING
Earth 911
Best Buy Recycling
Ebay Rethink / Recycle
The Green Office.com
TheContainerStore.com
OrganizedAtoZ.com
SeeJaneWork.com
KEEPING UP
Getting Organized Magazine
LifeHacker
Make Use Of
Mashable
App Smitten - recommendations for best apps
THE MODERN PO
Square - turns any phone, ipad, ipod touch into a card swiping machine
Clever Container
Thirty-one Gifts
APPO.org
Come back soon… more links to come
Organizer’s Favorite Things
ORGANIZER’S FAVORITE THINGS
“Organizer’s Favorite Things,” a dazzling parade of the latest and greatest
in organizing products and resources.
CREATED BY Allison Spitzer Carter, CPO® + Krista Colvin NAPO CONFERENCE 2012
Organizer’s Favorite Things [Tools of the Trade for the Modern Home and Home Office]
It’s no surprise how much Professional Organizer’s
adore Organizing Products…
But which are our absolute faves… which products float our boat…
We Proudly Present the 2012 Organizer’s Favorite Things.
Products Chosen based on
New Problem, New Solution. Old Problem, New Solution. Design, New Design. Upcycling. Resources. Services.
Dowload the presentation slides here
See the Ultimate OrganizersFavorite Things Resource List 2012 (links to all of the goodies in the presentation)
Home items here:
http://organizethewholeshebang.com/
Home Office and Information items can be found HERE:
http://theprofessionalorganizer.com/organizers-favorite-things-resources/
Get a visual look at our favorites on our Pinterest Organizer ‘s Favorite Things Board HERE:
http://pinterest.com/kristacolvin/ideas-for-fav-things/
PInterest Tips – for organizing your group
Pinterest is all the rage for capturing and organizing ideas, and many of my readers have discovered the basics.
I hope that after seeing my recent webinar you have been able to browse, pin, re-pin and comment.
Here is your next trick: Creating a group board for sharing ideas
Why do you want to do this?? Well if not for sincere sharing then at least for numbers
When you add contributors to your board, all of your contributors magically have that board show up as one of their boards.
So the group board is seen by your followers but also those who follow the other contributors.
- To invite someone to share your profile you must have a mutual following (follow each other fully, not just one of their boards.
You can unfollow the boards you don’t want to see in your stream. - Go to you profile. In the drop-down menu & click on boards.
- Go to the board you wish to add contributors to.
- Click on Edit board (should be a button at the top of the page, under the title).
- Scroll down to “Who can pin” and click Me + Contributors.
- There will be a box and you will write the person’s name or profile handle. It will magically fill in if you are mutually following.
- Then click “Add” to the right.
- Pinterest will send a message to those you invite so that they may accept or decline.
In addition, you can remove yourself from a board by going to the board and clicking “remove”.
Now about numbers.
As a pinterest user, I have about 1600+ followers.
But my board that is a group board has 2900+ followers… so anything I post there is seen by more than twice as many people. Hmmmm. Something to munch on (like all the great food photos on pinterest).
Group boards are great for personal use:
Wedding ideas
Fan followings
Hobby boards (scrapbooking, knitting, modgepodge)
Similar interests
They are also great for business sharing.
Group board ideas:Teachers sharing resources
Graphic design fonts, designs, templates
Technology new gizmos and gadgets
My group board is Organizing Ideas and you can follow us HERE.
Happy Pinning!
Then & Now – When he comes home
I found these tips from a 1050s Home Economics class about how to prepare your home for when your husband comes back from work each day.
Some of the tips are right on the money! Some are a sadly out-dated as the role of women has changed drastically. Gave me a good little laugh and the pleasure of I’m no longer responsible for looking refreshed when my husband arrives home. I can’t touch up my make-up if I’m not wearing any.
Compiled by Ms. Leslie Blankship
Columbus, Ohio
Have dinner ready: Plan ahead even the night before to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
Yes – do plan ahead! Not just for your family but also for yourself! It saves you time, money, and last minute stress.
Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-wary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
Really? So glad we’re past this era.
Clear away the clutter: Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.
Yes – do this for yourself at the end of the day and you’ll prevent the mountain of clutter that piles up from a week of overlooking it.
The rest of these are just for your enterainment:
Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
Minimize all noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quite. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him. Some don’ts: Don’t greet him with problems or complaints. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.
Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax-unwind.
Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.
Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.
The goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
Then & Now
I found some wonderful antique magazines with home organizing tips from readers. I was surprised how some of the advice was still spot-on correct. Some of the tips were far outdated (using electricity was still considered dangerous due to shocking).
From Good Housekeeping 1920:
HOW I USE MY ALARM CLOCK—I find that an alarm clock can be used during the day as well as to help one rise early in the morning. Often, when baking, I set it as a reminder to look into my oven, when doing bits of work in another part of the house. This saves many a cake from scorching. Frequently I have just a few minutes to lie down and relax. I set the alarm clock at the time I must go to work again, and find that the rest is more beneficial when I do not have to worry about resting too long. I also use my alarm clock in taking doses of medicine which come several hours apart. The alarm clock has become a most valuable household article.
This tip is an oldie but goodie! It still holds after 90 years! And now we have many more devices to use to help us remember to remember to do just about anything. You can use your phone, oven/stove alarm, and other little kitchen timers to help you stop and remember to turn something on, turn something off, take something, move something, do just about anything.
I also like to use timers to remind me to return to what I was supposed to be doing.
Let’s say you are organizing your bedroom, for example, and you go to put away a cup that was left in the room.
When you get to the kitchen you see you cannot put the cup in the dishwasher because it needs to be emptied so you begin emptying the dishwasher. You put your cup in the dishwasher and see the counters need wiping.
Suddenly your timer goes off – beep, beep, beep – and you are reminded that you were supposed to be organizing your bedroom.
Do you use a timer in any unusual ways? I’d love to hear.
Table Cloths – Then & Now
I found some wonderful antique magazines with home organizing tips from readers. I was surprised how some of the advice was still spot-on correct. Some of the tips were far outdated (using electricity was still considered dangerous due to shocking).
I want to share some of the suggestions in a new feature: Then & Now
THEN: This tip is from Good Housekeeping in 1922:
NOW: Most people still either fold their table cloths and put them on a shelf or they hang them up on hangers.
Either method lends itself to labeling by marking the fold. Though we’re not likely to embroider the mark, it is very easy to make a tag using a simple index card and using a safety pin to pin it on. Another way to mark the linens on the fold would be to attach an inch or two of masking tape (painters tape has less stickness) and mark the tape with the size.
After marking each table cloth, arrange by size (oval, round, rectangle, square) so that you can easily put your finger on the one you want in seconds.
This method can also be used for marking bed linens that can be confused if you have several sizes with the same color or pattern.
What else can you think of that can be marked on the fold like this? Towels? Blankets?
Stuffed Animals Get Caged
Stuffed animals have always been a big organizing issue in my home. Since my daughter was very little, she never played with dolls, building toys, or even dress up. But what she LOVED and LOVES still is stuffed animals. Any kind. Any size. We have mostly organized them by tossing them into large pop-up bins, under-bed bins and putting the less loved ones up on high shelves.
You an keep them organized in those cheap and simple ways, or invest in some really fun fun fun storage.
This ball of fun is actually a bean-bag chair. But instead of stuffing with beans, you stuff it with your stuffed animals.
Storage + Useful + Cute = FUNctionality! Oval Animal Bag is available from Boon inc.
Another that I love is The Zoo! It’s a little bigger than my house would hold (I need a mini please). This is from Beaverworks.
I still like the inexpensive classic toss-em-in-a-bin style organizers like this basket from Ikea:
But I find this Minifangst from Ikea that hangs from the ceiling is harder for kids to get stuff out.
It works well for the stuffed animals that the children don’t play with much anymore, but don’t want to get rid of.
Ikea Minifangst
You have any favorite ideas for stuffed animals? Leave a comment and a link to a photo if you’ve got one.
Un-Resolutions
This time of year everyone is making resolutions, setting goals, and all that. If you aren’t a resolution lover (like me), you will love this resolution Top 10 list.
Jenny Isenman of the Suburban Jungle Blog gives us her humorous take on New Year Goals.
(If you like this, you’ll want to subscribe to her blog)
10 Resolutions I Can Actually Keep
If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This time of year I amuse myself by looking back at last year’s resolutions. Ones I made with the best intentions, like learning an instrument or a foreign language. Last Chanukah I had my husband buy me a guitar. I had all the confidence in the world that by this new year, I would balk at a request to play Stairway To Heaven, saying something dismissive like… “Please, that’s so cliché, but why not?” or “Por favor, es muy cliché, pero porque no? Unfortunately, my guitar collects dust while my Spanish collects rust.
So for this year, I have made some resolutions that are a bit more achievable:
1. Nag More
For 10 years my husband has not picked up a wet towel, washed ketchup off of a dish, changed a light bulb, or remembered trash day without a friendly, “How many times do I have to tell you?” I vow to be relentless in my nagging. I will lay immediate blame using words like always and never. As in, “I always, and you never.” I will play the martyr by saying, “Forget it. I’ll do it myself.” I will amp up the guilt with, “I do everything around here.” Or something unarguable like, “It’s obvious by your refusal to change a light bulb that you don’t love me anymore.” If all goes well, I’ll be nagging him to go to couples therapy by 2010.
2. Gain weight
I will add carbs to my diet with reckless abandon. I will start each meal with a generous helping of bread and rolls onto which I will spread an obnoxious amount of butter. I will stuff food into my mouth with such fervor it will make other eaters uncomfortable to watch. I vow to eat everything a la mode including ice cream.
3. Work out less
This will actually take serious effort. The only thing harder would be to shower less. If I need the proverbial cup of sugar, I will drive to my neighbor’s garage and beep until she comes out and hands it to me. I will take elevators in two-story buildings. Lastly, I will drop my membership to the gym and use the money I save to buy more carbs.
4. Forget an old language
This year, not only am I not going to learn a new language, I will let my brain atrophy to forget the one I already know. I will watch endless episodes of Sponge Bob and Chowder. I will stop doing crosswords and speaking in complete sentences. I will break all grammatical rules; I will misplace modifiers, dangle participles, and end sentences in prepositions. I will express my thoughts through that African clicking language, modern dance, and a set of bongos that I will wear around my neck.
5. Stay out of touch
This time of year, I am reminded of the many friends I have let time and space interfere with. I intend to further that distance. I will start by rejecting any new Facebook or social network requests. I will also attach a note that reads “I never liked you in the first place.” I will cuss out and hang up on people who call in hopes of fulfilling their own resolution to rekindle old friendships.
6. Be less patient
I will be aggravated, exasperated, and ready to blow my stack at the slightest misstep. The next time my son wants help with his homework I’ll say, “That’s it! Clearly this whole Elementary Education is not for you. If you don’t know how to spell December by now, you never will…Now go get a job! Oh, and take your sister with you, she sits on the potty way too long.”
7. Hold grudges
This year I will forgive no one. I don’t care if you step on my toe, or pay me the five bucks you owe me, a day after the assigned due date. I vow to hate you forever and never forget how you wronged me.
8. Stress more
I will lose sleep thinking about planning parties, redecorating my house, trying to budget, missing appointments, teacher conferences, and health issues. I will laugh an evil cackle while erasing all the plans from my PDA, and then cry over what I have just done. I will empty our bank account on frivolous investments and watch it dwindle away. Oh, wait…that already happened. Well good, more for me to worry about.
9. Become addicted to something
Smoking, alcoholism and Starbucks are so trite. I’m thinking something unique like nasal spray or hand sanitizer. Or at least something beneficial to my endurance like crack. Look, I already have a shopping addiction, maybe I could offset the bills with a robust gambling problem.
10. Gossip More
I vow to talk about everything you do in the new year. If I see you at the pediatrician for so much as a flu shot, I will tell everyone your child has hand foot mouth, so you can be verbally assaulted when you show up at a birthday party the next day. If you look too skinny, I will assume it’s a divorce or an addiction. If you look too hot, I’ll call it a torrid affair. If you look too young, it’s an addiction to surgical procedures because you’re getting divorced due to a torrid affair. I will start a rumor phone tree and a blog called “WhatYourNeighborsAreReallyUpTo.com.” I may even have a megaphone installed on my “Gossip Mobile,” so I can drive through local parking lots amplifying the skeletons in your closet to all within earshot. Oh, wait… I’ll just write about it in my next column.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thanks Jenny for this fun post!
