Last week I discovered a new product that is great for those who have a tendency to pile things. Pilers, you know who you are… if not, I described the 3 types of personalities when it comes to dealing with paper in a blog post. I interviewed the creator of Fishbinz, Lisa DeVeau, of Completely Organized. She confessed that she struggled with piling and had to find a better way. (Necessity is the mother of this invention!) I believe this product is the perfect solution for those who like to stack their papers and projects sky-high!

Introducing Fishbinz

The Fishbinz system consists of a tower with shelves, binz and optionally, lids. The tower comes in 2 heights – just under 48” or 26” tall, in your choice of black or white. The small binz are 2.5” high and the large binz are 5” high. The bins are see through and can be easily labeled.
It’s not just for paperwork. Imagine a place to hold:

• yearly school memorabilia for your kids

• your direct sales products

• scrapbooking and card making supplies

• laundry sorted by the family

• toys, toys and more toys

• pantry overflow items in your garage

• all of your projects

If you want more information, I suggest watching their video. And when you order, tell them Natalie sent you!

Leave a comment here and tell me what you would use Fishbinz for…

My desk can get out of hand quickly when I have a busy week. The messier it gets, the more frustrated I become. The reason for the frustration is that I cannot focus when there is clutter strewn about in my office. At the end of the day, I allow time to get things back in order.

Yesterday I found this note:

It was attached to this:

And so, here’s the blog post! This handy little piece is called an organizer. Like many things we buy to help us get organized, the tool is only as good as the habits we have. I found myself sticking things in this holder that I didn’t know what to do with (um, clutter is postposed decisions, right?). Soon it was so full that I couldn’t slide another thing in it. I went through the items it contained. I threw away some blank business cards, I put a few things with my craft embellishments and what was left got filed or thrown out. I decided not to hang onto this for fear of filling it up again. So now that you’ve seen it and I’ve blog about it – it’s going in my donation bag.

Can you relate? What clutter catchers are you using that maybe need to find a new home?

Kids School/Artwork

-        Use a lidded box, color coded per child and label

-        Use large envelopes, labeled by year and child

-        Transfer yearly papers to labeled accordion file keeper

Travel/Sightseeing Memorabilia

-        Have a journal with you to notate date, locations, and events

-        Gather tourist brochures, postcards, etc. in journal

-        Transfer to accordion file keeper, categorized by year

-        Tear pages from journal and include with memorabilia

I haven’t done a Tool Tuesday feature in a while, so here ya go!  I helped a client in her home office last week and introduced this product to her. She is a local realtor and although she had been in business for years, she felt that she needed to get “re-booted” in her office.  She felt it was cluttered, the work process didn’t flow, and her files were a mess (her words, not mine).

While we worked together for a couple of days on all aspects of her office environment, I want to tell you about the tool we used to revamp her filing system.  Based on my clients existing files, personality, and needs I recommended the FreedomFiler®.

FreedomFiler® is best known for being a self-purging file system. This system goes a long way in keeping your files organized and is very user friendly. It uses color coding to categorize odd year versus even year files as well as separating your active and yearly files from your permanent, or archive, files.

So you are determined to be more organized than ever but you don’t live by yourself… There’s your other half, the kids and maybe even a mother in law in the mix! You may be wondering how to get them organized. The answer … you can’t.  It’s like making someone love brussel sprouts (sorry mom). You cannot make someone be organized, and if you could, they certainly would not be organized the way YOU expect them to be.

Got 5 minutes?  Then you can stay organized!

When you hear the word “file”, what do you think of?  What image pops in your head?

There is actually more than one way to file your papers.  The traditional method of file folders and file drawers is only one option. You don’t have to file the way your mother did.  Choose what works for you! Here are just two other options:

1.              PileSmart® – a Pendaflex® product

Remember the Pilot from my other blog post, Three Personality Types of Paper Mania?  Well this is the product for that person.  The PileSmart® Organizer features a clear lucite tray that is open on two side.  There are 6 plastic dividers, with end and side tabs that are easily seen as you stack things vertically. The dividers are very sturdy so you can lift up a stack by the divider tab and retrieve papers when needed.  In addition to allowing you to color code your stacks, the labels on each divider are durable and are “write-and erase”, which means you can use re-use them after a stack is purged. Nifty product, huh?  You can get it online at Amazon.

2.              Binders

Yes, binders!  They are not just for school anymore… You can use binders with dividers to keep categories of paperwork manageable.  Don’t relish the thought of hole punching and/or pinched finger accidents?  That’s okay; use plastic pockets in the binders.  This will enable you to quickly “file” your papers away.  Binders can be stored on shelves, in file drawers, or archived in boxes.  You can also color code your binder, if that’s what you like to do or purchase colors that match your office décor, looking sleek and orderly on a bookcase or credenza.

These are just two options for filing the papers you keep.  Would love to hear how you manage your papers, please leave a comment.

Do you have a ton of paper staring at you in your office or on your kitchen counter? Most of the time this is a big complaint.

Are some of those papers your monthly bills?

Many of us have files we’ve labeled “Telephone”, “Utilities”, “Water/Garbage”, “Cell Phone”,  ”Credit Cars”… Sound familiar? We’ve set up these folders because that’s how our parents used to do it. So when we moved out of their home we did the same thing. Only, we hate to file them. Do you really need to keep those bills?

Probably not. While what I am going to say may make you feel a bit queasy or uncomfortable, I say it to help you eliminate the paper monster in your life.  No, I am not recommending that everyone go paperless, don’t worry.  I am recommending, however, that you embrace technology. Create passwords to your utilities, phone, and credit card accounts so you can access your information online at any time. Get comfortable with their websites so you begin to use this valuable resource.  You can look up past bills, see recent statements at the touch of a button. If you are reading this blog then you have access to the internet so use it and eliminate the need to keep all those paper bills.

It’s okay if you still want to get your paper statement (or your can request that they be sent to your email in box).  The point here is that you don’t need to file or keep those bills. After you pay a bill, shred it. The information’s still there online any time you need it.

So get comfortable and let go (if you haven’t already) – I double dare ya!

2. Give gift receipts with your gifts and toss the original receipts.

3. Reduce junk mail by registering with DMAChoice.org.

4. Throw away those small-dollar-amount cash receipts before you even get home.

5. Call the charities you no longer support and request to be removed from their mailing list.

6. Put your magazine subscriptions on a diet.

7. Scan your recipes and get rid of the sheets of paper and recipe cards.

8. Shred your medical explanation of benefit statements after you review them.

9. Throw away those investment prospectus reports if you’ve never read them then request online copies only.

10. Eliminate the other language portions of your product manuals.

Receipts seem to really confuse some people.  I have seen clients hold onto YEARS of receipts.  They are in ziplock™ bags, crammed into junk drawers, stacked and sliding off counter tops, and forced into bulging file folders.  They come into the home every day but never leave!

There are really only 3 kinds of receipts:

• Weekly
• Big Ticket Items
• Gifts

Weekly receipts come from the grocery store, doctor visits, medication, clothing purchases, and other such purchases made needed for your home and car maintenance.  Big ticket receipts are for large purchases like a washer and dryer, new roof, computers, TV’s… you get the idea. And gift receipts are for – you guessed it – gifts purchased.

Do you need to hang on to each and every receipt?  The short answer is “no”.  The long answer is “it depends”. And that’s where folks get stuck – it depends.  Once they are stuck, no decision is made and hence years’ worth of receipts clutter their life.

At my Declutter Your Life groups (in Sacramento and Chico, CA), this was a hot topic so I created this flow chart to help with the decision making.

The bottom line here is that receipts will hang around forever until you make a decision. The chart reflects what to do with a receipt if you are at home or out and about. The basic premise is this:

1. Set up an in-box to collect receipts.
2. Have a folder or envelope to save questionable receipts for 6 months; purging on at the beginning of each new month.
3. And for the large purchases, keep the receipts with the product manuals.

So take control and start making decisions about those receipts!