Did you ever buy something because it seemed like a great idea to help with organizing, not use it right away and forget about it?
Well, one of the places we go to in Pennsylvania is a farmer's market which is also a general merchandise/flea market. Most of the vendors are out doors, but there are some buildings with indoor vendors. For decades and decades there was an indoor vendor who sold tools and related items – he finally retired and sold his business to someone else. The new owner has expanded the type of items he sells and sells household items and office supplies (and I am sure I have mentioned – I love office supplies, used to play with them as a child and still think of them as FUN). He is buying at auctions and such so he has a big assortment of items. I always make sure to go through his office supply aisle carefully.
When going through his booth this past Friday I was suddenly reminded – a few years ago I had bought a package of tabs to put on hanging folders which one would print the name of the folders by running it the tabs through one's computer. (These are made by a well known label company.) I had completely forgotten about these labels. When we came home I checked and the package was exactly where it belonged – in the plastic stacking trays file holder next to where our printer had been (and our latest printer is) – this holds assorted items to run through the former copier, now printer next to where they are located. One problem I have been having with going through these hanging folders is that I could not keep track of which ones I have been through and which I have not – plus since the labels on them face forward and this is the bottom drawer of the file cabinet – and add that I wear eyeglasses so when I bend down to read the file labels – my eyeglasses swing out of line – if not off my face – I get confused and start going through folders I have finished with.
I started printing these new tabs for folders that I have been through – easy to read as name points upwards on the file folder and easy to see which files I have been through.
One of the folders I went through this past week held instruction manuals for large appliances in our house – air conditioners, refrigerator, dehumidifier, and similar. I put several instruction books into the recycle pile to get rid of them and then across one which was confusing.
It was a manual for an air conditioner (we have individual through the wall units in our house). It was dated as a June 2008 purchase. I looked up at the unit in the office – not that one. I knew we had just purchased a new air conditioner for our bedroom last year – this was not that unit, but it could be the one which was there before and had been removed. The air conditioner in the smallest bedroom (the one most of my teddy bears live in) dates back to the former owner, as does the one in our studio. It was not for a portable air conditioner, so that left out the one we normally used in the living room or dining room which died last year. Before that we had window unit in the living room, but that had come from our old apartment – and would have been purchased in the 1980s. Hmmm, There were pictures, but several different ones. Old bedroom a/c made the most sense. I asked husband if I was forgetting any air conditioners. I was – the one in his wood shop (garage). We were not sure what year we bought same. We were trying to figure it out – keep as from old bedroom unit or keep as from current garage unit? I suddenly had a flash of sense! I use Quicken for our financial records. I looked up 2008 and in July 2008 – I paid for the air conditioner we had replaced last year in our bedroom. So it was the one from the old bedroom unit and it went into the recycle pile.
It is amazing how much keeping good financial records (especially ones which can easily be searched) can help with general organization.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Keeping good financial records is important to do for many reasons, including one's income tax – figuring out which major item was purchases when or how much it cost is part of that.
How are YOUR financial records? There are many programs which help with keeping track of where your money goes. Using the computer to do so takes only seconds when you make a deposit or write a check. It helps at the end of the year when you do your income taxes as well as making a valid budget to follow in future years – what you spent last year can be looked at to figure out what you can/should spend in this or future years.
Showing posts with label labels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label labels. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2021
A GOOD FINANCIAL RECORDS SET UP CAN HELP WITH OTHER ORGANZING ALSO - SUCH AS WHICH AIR CONDITIONER ARE THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AND DO WE STILL HAVE IT?
Thursday, August 10, 2017
SCHOOL AND OFFICE SUPPLIES
This week back to a bit more normal organizing - instead of our weird adventures.
First of all, we bought and I have been using a new dish rack instead of using the dead dishwasher as a rack. It is actually smaller than my old rack and I have trouble fitting in the dishes and pots from dinner and must store them away before I wash the items from night snack - well, at least it makes me put everything away.
Now -school supplies. I think I have mentioned before my love of office supplies - as a child I played with my dad’s supplies in his office and I am always looking at them for ideas of what to do with them. I was also a strange child who actually loved going to school and the new supplies for the year were exciting.
You are thinking - I don’t need school supplies, so I will skip this post - don’t! You may need school supplies and not realize it. I know our purpose is to get rid of stuff - not buy stuff, but sometimes school/office supplies can help us organize.
We are in school supply season (at least in the U.S.) and the stores are all competing for business so there are very good prices on the supplies. A wonderful time to stock up on needed supplies.
Our reenacting unit had to move out of our headquarters for a good part of a year. When we move back our modern space in the back was disorganized and simple supplies lacking. When school supply season rolled around I bought a package of pens, one of pencils, a clip board that opened for storage, a large pad of lined paper (now we were set to pass around a paper each meeting for attendance, as well as additional ones for lists of who is coming to which event), scissors, tape, glue, ruler, marker pen, small box to keep it all in and a second box in another color to put sewing supplies in (they had been in a small open basket before in a file cabinet). Now we are set for whatever we need - a sign for the door saying “use the front door” or “keep this door closed” no problem, someone needs to take minutes as the secretary is not there - plenty of paper and pens, and so on.
So think about it. Do you journal your organizing efforts in a notebook? If you think you will need a notebook before next year, now is a great time to get it cheaper. If you can never find a pen or pencil - a package is cheap to buy now - put pens and/or pencils around the house where you always need them and can’t find them. Scissors also inexpensive. If you sew and fly and have a problem with pointed scissors when flying - I bought Fiskars blunt tip scissors (even have a cover for the tip) which are nice and sharp for cutting, but blunt ended to take on planes (or in my case to jury duty) - best price of the year right now on them. Folders for filing what you sort - even in colors. Pocket folders for papers you need to bring places. (I have one for my papers to take to our reenactment unit meetings and one in a different color for same for my embroidery chapter meetings.) Small plastic boxes for storage. Backpacks. Great time to stock up.
But now, remember, don’t buy more than you will need - this time will come again next year. Also it is important to set a place for the spares to be kept so that you can find them when you need them.
We had a small month calendar on our fridge for TV shows. Husband made it on the printer and sealed it in plastic sheets. He has been using it as a “white board”. It is hard to fit the info in the small squares and the ink is hard to get off of it. I saw in with the school supplies a larger wall calendar which is a white board. It said that it was magnetic - which I took to mean it would stick to the fridge. No, it meant that one could put magnets on it. Husband was intrigued by the idea and we bought one to see if we could put it on the fridge. We did so. There are 5 weeks on it - we set the first week as 8:00 pm, the next as 8:30, next 9:00, next 9:30 and the last 10 pm (rarely half hour shows at 10 or 10:30 pm). Since the shows no longer run a full season, we list what is on and we would like to see. Petty idea I know. But what could you use a large calendar which can be erased for? It is actually made to hang on a wall with included hangers so don’t think it has to go on the fridge. (We glued washers to the back and then put heavy duty magnets on same - but even then we needed to put a string around the sawteeth it was suppose to hang from and then around two magnet hooks on the fridge.)
That reminds me of another great office supply - but it probably is not on sale. We have a labeling machine. It prints small plastic labels. Labeling is good and helps one to find things easier. In our case it from Brother, but there are several companies which make them. Husband printed the times for each set of boxes small and put it on a tiny thin magnet and put it on the board to make it easier to see what time something is on. But since labeling things is a great way to keep track of what there is and which box, can, etc. is which - these labels are wonderful. They even come off of many surfaces cleanly. I label the various stick flash drives I use for data with them. I put them on DVDs/CDs to know what is on the disk. If it is a reuseable disk, when I delete it to reuse, I take the old label off. My husband (since the time of floppy disks, through zip disks to stick flash drives) does not label his. He “knows” which is which - the green one over there is “X”, the red one over there is “Y” and so on. Generally he has no idea which is which and has to sit and stick each one in his computer until he finds the one he is looking for - if he does. Boxes of craft supplies when labeled are easy to find the supply one is looking for - ribbons, buttons, pompoms? Easy to find when the box says what it is in it.
Of course, for cardboard boxes - marking pens work great for labeling also.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Supplies to make organizing easier are good to have - but don’t go crazy buying “more stuff”, buy what will be of help to YOU. Make sure you have a place to keep what you buy so that you will be able to find it as it is needed.
First of all, we bought and I have been using a new dish rack instead of using the dead dishwasher as a rack. It is actually smaller than my old rack and I have trouble fitting in the dishes and pots from dinner and must store them away before I wash the items from night snack - well, at least it makes me put everything away.
Now -school supplies. I think I have mentioned before my love of office supplies - as a child I played with my dad’s supplies in his office and I am always looking at them for ideas of what to do with them. I was also a strange child who actually loved going to school and the new supplies for the year were exciting.
You are thinking - I don’t need school supplies, so I will skip this post - don’t! You may need school supplies and not realize it. I know our purpose is to get rid of stuff - not buy stuff, but sometimes school/office supplies can help us organize.
We are in school supply season (at least in the U.S.) and the stores are all competing for business so there are very good prices on the supplies. A wonderful time to stock up on needed supplies.
Our reenacting unit had to move out of our headquarters for a good part of a year. When we move back our modern space in the back was disorganized and simple supplies lacking. When school supply season rolled around I bought a package of pens, one of pencils, a clip board that opened for storage, a large pad of lined paper (now we were set to pass around a paper each meeting for attendance, as well as additional ones for lists of who is coming to which event), scissors, tape, glue, ruler, marker pen, small box to keep it all in and a second box in another color to put sewing supplies in (they had been in a small open basket before in a file cabinet). Now we are set for whatever we need - a sign for the door saying “use the front door” or “keep this door closed” no problem, someone needs to take minutes as the secretary is not there - plenty of paper and pens, and so on.
So think about it. Do you journal your organizing efforts in a notebook? If you think you will need a notebook before next year, now is a great time to get it cheaper. If you can never find a pen or pencil - a package is cheap to buy now - put pens and/or pencils around the house where you always need them and can’t find them. Scissors also inexpensive. If you sew and fly and have a problem with pointed scissors when flying - I bought Fiskars blunt tip scissors (even have a cover for the tip) which are nice and sharp for cutting, but blunt ended to take on planes (or in my case to jury duty) - best price of the year right now on them. Folders for filing what you sort - even in colors. Pocket folders for papers you need to bring places. (I have one for my papers to take to our reenactment unit meetings and one in a different color for same for my embroidery chapter meetings.) Small plastic boxes for storage. Backpacks. Great time to stock up.
But now, remember, don’t buy more than you will need - this time will come again next year. Also it is important to set a place for the spares to be kept so that you can find them when you need them.
We had a small month calendar on our fridge for TV shows. Husband made it on the printer and sealed it in plastic sheets. He has been using it as a “white board”. It is hard to fit the info in the small squares and the ink is hard to get off of it. I saw in with the school supplies a larger wall calendar which is a white board. It said that it was magnetic - which I took to mean it would stick to the fridge. No, it meant that one could put magnets on it. Husband was intrigued by the idea and we bought one to see if we could put it on the fridge. We did so. There are 5 weeks on it - we set the first week as 8:00 pm, the next as 8:30, next 9:00, next 9:30 and the last 10 pm (rarely half hour shows at 10 or 10:30 pm). Since the shows no longer run a full season, we list what is on and we would like to see. Petty idea I know. But what could you use a large calendar which can be erased for? It is actually made to hang on a wall with included hangers so don’t think it has to go on the fridge. (We glued washers to the back and then put heavy duty magnets on same - but even then we needed to put a string around the sawteeth it was suppose to hang from and then around two magnet hooks on the fridge.)
That reminds me of another great office supply - but it probably is not on sale. We have a labeling machine. It prints small plastic labels. Labeling is good and helps one to find things easier. In our case it from Brother, but there are several companies which make them. Husband printed the times for each set of boxes small and put it on a tiny thin magnet and put it on the board to make it easier to see what time something is on. But since labeling things is a great way to keep track of what there is and which box, can, etc. is which - these labels are wonderful. They even come off of many surfaces cleanly. I label the various stick flash drives I use for data with them. I put them on DVDs/CDs to know what is on the disk. If it is a reuseable disk, when I delete it to reuse, I take the old label off. My husband (since the time of floppy disks, through zip disks to stick flash drives) does not label his. He “knows” which is which - the green one over there is “X”, the red one over there is “Y” and so on. Generally he has no idea which is which and has to sit and stick each one in his computer until he finds the one he is looking for - if he does. Boxes of craft supplies when labeled are easy to find the supply one is looking for - ribbons, buttons, pompoms? Easy to find when the box says what it is in it.
Of course, for cardboard boxes - marking pens work great for labeling also.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Supplies to make organizing easier are good to have - but don’t go crazy buying “more stuff”, buy what will be of help to YOU. Make sure you have a place to keep what you buy so that you will be able to find it as it is needed.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
BACKING UP COMPUTER FILES SO YOU DON'T USE THEM
I have written before about my regular daily back up of my data and my archiving it at the end of the year. There is other backing up that I do that I thought I would tell you about.
I was very careful about backing up - day after day - and then I realized I had problem with the data to my organizer. There was a problem (I forget what by now) and unfortunately both my daily backups (A and B) were bad - for over a week. Now I had to go and try to figure out what went wrong and when and come up with replacement info about what I had done. (Remember I use my organizer for appointments, to dos, anniversary/birthdays, my contacts directory and memos - things to buy, info I need, etc.) I managed to get it corrected. I was lucky that I make a monthly backup on an exterior hard drive.
Once a month I run software to copy my computers to an external hard drive. The idea is that if my computer hard drive crashes I can restore it quickly and easily. Of course this sometimes goes awry since one does not know if the backup worked unless and until one needs to use it. I also copy my data and organizer separately at the same time to the same external hard drive. So lucky me, I had organizer data from less than a month before to help me catch back up.
To prevent the loss of data backup from overwriting the backup daily - even with A and B alternating backups - I came up with the idea of - yes - another backup. I took a flash drive (you can see I love these things) and made a folder - “Backup” and another “Calendar” (meaning everything from the organizer), and another one “client name” for each client. On a Friday I backed all my data from these assorted sources to this drive. I call it my weekly drive. The following Friday I went and added the date of the first backup to the names of the backup files I had made and made new “backup”, “calendar”, and “client’s name” files. I ran the backups again. Now I have a backup as of the end of “this” week and one from the end of last week. If I overwrite the data and backups with the same error - I have a backup from only a week ago. I kept doing this for 4 weeks. At then end of 4 weeks I had the latest weekly backups which just had the names of the backups and 3 backups from the prior 3 weeks - each labeled with the date they were backed up. What then? Well, I again added the date to last Friday’s backups, but this time I removed the date from the oldest backups - putting them back with their original names and ran an update backup. This is what I do each week now - add the date to last week’s backups and remove the date from the oldest backups - and update them.
So now I am backing up my data and calendar daily to flash stick drives (A and B) and then backing up my data weekly to a different flash stick drive, and monthly to an external hard drive, when I back up my computers to same.
I think, but I am not sure, that I have mentioned I do a backup once a month to still another flash stick drive (and yes, they are very well labeled so I know which is which and what is on them) that also has a copy of my annual archive on it, which I bring to my bank safe deposit box for “offsite” storage. I used to send this drive to work with husband when he worked in an office which was not in our house. He would take the drive to work and bring back the one he already had there. Now I take the one I just updated to the bank box and bring home the one from last time. The one from last time will be updated just before it goes back to the bank box.
One would think this was enough backups - right?
My external hard drive was getting a bit old (and therefore is rather small). It suddenly dawned on me that if the external hard drive went bad, I would lose the data and if the computer crashed, well I would be stuck (sort of like when we bought a new internal hard drive due to problems with my old one and the backup had not worked).
So - I bought a new larger drive (the storage was a lot larger, the physical drive only a bit larger). So now I back up my computer and assorted data onto this drive monthly - and I have new software so hopefully if I need to use it, it will work. I then backup to the old external hard drive quarterly - just as, well, a backup of the backup. I work on the idea that more backups make it harder to lose data or computer hard drive.
Now, I know I am backing up way more than anyone short of a major corporation does, but I don’t want to lose my data or my hard drive again.
Do you back up? You really need to. I lose business type data - if you have your photos on the computer you could lose the photos if you lost your drive. At least get a couple of fairly inexpensive flash drives and make copies in an alternating pattern .
Oh, another advantage to my keeping my data on flash drives is that they are small. I can take them from once computer to another - very easily. I can also put all of my flash drives in the pocket of my jeans - at the same time - if I needed to take them - which leads to -
I have mentioned that I have a grab and go folder for financial stuff - last bank statements, insurance policies, copies of deed, mortgage payoff and car titles, duplicate birth and wedding certificates and such. I also have a copy of the latest archive on DVD. If we need to leave the house in an emergency we can grab this folder (actually a sectioned “file wallet” with a top that closes) drop in the lastest data drive and run in an emergency and have as much info with us as we can. If you have precious photos you can keep a copy of them in there also - DVDs are more definite than flash drives (another reason I keep a lot of backups - flash drives can go bad) and you will not have lost info you need plus personal photos and infos you would miss. (Remember you can scan in your child’s art work, etc. also.)
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It is May. While I know the weather is odd this year, we are over a quarter of the way through the year and well onto halfway through the year. Don’t wait any longer. Do something towards getting rid of clutter and beginning to organize and clean up.
Today I had my embroidery chapter meeting. We have the room until 2 pm. Most, sometimes all, the other members leave at the end of the program- between noon and 1 pm generally. I always have some embroidery project (or two) with me. Today two other members were staying and working on their needlework after the others had left. I took out one of the projects from my bag and started stitching. I did not get a lot done as this particular project is a slow one with tiny stitches and one strand of cotton embroidery floss at a time, but I am now that much further along on the project - not even a ful petal of a flower - but I am that tiny bit closer to finishing it.
Each step you take towards getting organized - throwing even one item out or otherwise getting it out of your house - is a bit less that needs to be done. Small amounts add to large ones. There is a quote (I think from Patrick Henry) “I have never seen a man devour an entire bunch of grapes at one time, but I have seen a man accomplish the same thing, by plucking the grapes and eating them one at a time.” In the same way we cannot accomplish everything needed to declutter, organize, and clean everything at once - but we can do this a bit at a time - so do something as the first step and then tomorrow do something else, and so on.
I was very careful about backing up - day after day - and then I realized I had problem with the data to my organizer. There was a problem (I forget what by now) and unfortunately both my daily backups (A and B) were bad - for over a week. Now I had to go and try to figure out what went wrong and when and come up with replacement info about what I had done. (Remember I use my organizer for appointments, to dos, anniversary/birthdays, my contacts directory and memos - things to buy, info I need, etc.) I managed to get it corrected. I was lucky that I make a monthly backup on an exterior hard drive.
Once a month I run software to copy my computers to an external hard drive. The idea is that if my computer hard drive crashes I can restore it quickly and easily. Of course this sometimes goes awry since one does not know if the backup worked unless and until one needs to use it. I also copy my data and organizer separately at the same time to the same external hard drive. So lucky me, I had organizer data from less than a month before to help me catch back up.
To prevent the loss of data backup from overwriting the backup daily - even with A and B alternating backups - I came up with the idea of - yes - another backup. I took a flash drive (you can see I love these things) and made a folder - “Backup” and another “Calendar” (meaning everything from the organizer), and another one “client name” for each client. On a Friday I backed all my data from these assorted sources to this drive. I call it my weekly drive. The following Friday I went and added the date of the first backup to the names of the backup files I had made and made new “backup”, “calendar”, and “client’s name” files. I ran the backups again. Now I have a backup as of the end of “this” week and one from the end of last week. If I overwrite the data and backups with the same error - I have a backup from only a week ago. I kept doing this for 4 weeks. At then end of 4 weeks I had the latest weekly backups which just had the names of the backups and 3 backups from the prior 3 weeks - each labeled with the date they were backed up. What then? Well, I again added the date to last Friday’s backups, but this time I removed the date from the oldest backups - putting them back with their original names and ran an update backup. This is what I do each week now - add the date to last week’s backups and remove the date from the oldest backups - and update them.
So now I am backing up my data and calendar daily to flash stick drives (A and B) and then backing up my data weekly to a different flash stick drive, and monthly to an external hard drive, when I back up my computers to same.
I think, but I am not sure, that I have mentioned I do a backup once a month to still another flash stick drive (and yes, they are very well labeled so I know which is which and what is on them) that also has a copy of my annual archive on it, which I bring to my bank safe deposit box for “offsite” storage. I used to send this drive to work with husband when he worked in an office which was not in our house. He would take the drive to work and bring back the one he already had there. Now I take the one I just updated to the bank box and bring home the one from last time. The one from last time will be updated just before it goes back to the bank box.
One would think this was enough backups - right?
My external hard drive was getting a bit old (and therefore is rather small). It suddenly dawned on me that if the external hard drive went bad, I would lose the data and if the computer crashed, well I would be stuck (sort of like when we bought a new internal hard drive due to problems with my old one and the backup had not worked).
So - I bought a new larger drive (the storage was a lot larger, the physical drive only a bit larger). So now I back up my computer and assorted data onto this drive monthly - and I have new software so hopefully if I need to use it, it will work. I then backup to the old external hard drive quarterly - just as, well, a backup of the backup. I work on the idea that more backups make it harder to lose data or computer hard drive.
Now, I know I am backing up way more than anyone short of a major corporation does, but I don’t want to lose my data or my hard drive again.
Do you back up? You really need to. I lose business type data - if you have your photos on the computer you could lose the photos if you lost your drive. At least get a couple of fairly inexpensive flash drives and make copies in an alternating pattern .
Oh, another advantage to my keeping my data on flash drives is that they are small. I can take them from once computer to another - very easily. I can also put all of my flash drives in the pocket of my jeans - at the same time - if I needed to take them - which leads to -
I have mentioned that I have a grab and go folder for financial stuff - last bank statements, insurance policies, copies of deed, mortgage payoff and car titles, duplicate birth and wedding certificates and such. I also have a copy of the latest archive on DVD. If we need to leave the house in an emergency we can grab this folder (actually a sectioned “file wallet” with a top that closes) drop in the lastest data drive and run in an emergency and have as much info with us as we can. If you have precious photos you can keep a copy of them in there also - DVDs are more definite than flash drives (another reason I keep a lot of backups - flash drives can go bad) and you will not have lost info you need plus personal photos and infos you would miss. (Remember you can scan in your child’s art work, etc. also.)
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It is May. While I know the weather is odd this year, we are over a quarter of the way through the year and well onto halfway through the year. Don’t wait any longer. Do something towards getting rid of clutter and beginning to organize and clean up.
Today I had my embroidery chapter meeting. We have the room until 2 pm. Most, sometimes all, the other members leave at the end of the program- between noon and 1 pm generally. I always have some embroidery project (or two) with me. Today two other members were staying and working on their needlework after the others had left. I took out one of the projects from my bag and started stitching. I did not get a lot done as this particular project is a slow one with tiny stitches and one strand of cotton embroidery floss at a time, but I am now that much further along on the project - not even a ful petal of a flower - but I am that tiny bit closer to finishing it.
Each step you take towards getting organized - throwing even one item out or otherwise getting it out of your house - is a bit less that needs to be done. Small amounts add to large ones. There is a quote (I think from Patrick Henry) “I have never seen a man devour an entire bunch of grapes at one time, but I have seen a man accomplish the same thing, by plucking the grapes and eating them one at a time.” In the same way we cannot accomplish everything needed to declutter, organize, and clean everything at once - but we can do this a bit at a time - so do something as the first step and then tomorrow do something else, and so on.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
CATCHING UP
Well tax season is behind me now and I am trying to catch up on everything which fell by the wayside.
It amazes me that when I was working full time in the first 4 months of the year I would do payroll taxes for 10 business clients twice each - January & April - and the January ones involved typing W2s for all the employees of the clients, corporation or partnership returns for the businesses, year end sales tax for most of them (NY has a sales tax year which ends the end of February and is due in March), and personal returns for about 40 clients while also keeping house, dealing with Easter and Passover, a trip out of state for my husband’s birthday, and towards the end of April - a trip to Maryland for a reenactment event, plus dealing with my embroidery chapter and reenactment unit’s treasuries and renewal of membership for the reenactment unit. It exhausts me to just list all of this.
These days I have about 6 tax returns, two corporations and a partnership (and only one of the businesses is not ours), three sales tax returns, payroll taxes for one company which has one employee, little to do for the holidays or husband’s birthday, and no trip to Maryland (too cold for RV to be dewinterized). Still dealing with the two treasuries and the renewals for the reenactment unit. Yet, I still have trouble finishing it all up timely. It is true that work expands to the time allotted to do it. Maybe this thought comes to mind just because I am watching the series on TV about Einstein and that brings to mind his relativity theory.
Think about it - you look around. The house needs decluttering and cleaning. If you have guests coming over on Friday - you are going to do what you do before Friday, if they are not coming until the first of next month - the same work will take you until then - right? We used to have a room where no one could go when we had people in also. When I was a girl it was my bedroom closet. Mom would tell me periodically (I am guessing when people were going to be coming or she just could not look at it any more) to clean my room. I would do as much as I could - then what was left would be tossed into the bottom of my closet. (Sound familiar?) Once or twice a year I would even be told to clear out the bottom of my closet - generally I would find items such as the bag with most of my Trick or Treat candy in it around May or June - that was a toss out as mom told us we would get sick if eat anything that old. One problem was that no one ever actually explained to me the concept of throwing things out or passing them along, to me cleaning was put everything out of site. I have since learned better.
So now I am dealing with the catchup. The stack on my desk - on top of my “todo folder”, which means that these items must be done before I can start on what I have to do - is shrinking.
I spent an afternoon dealing with items waiting for me from our reenactment unit. In addition to being treasurer I am also the membership chair as it is easier for one person to do so. Dues are long ago collected, the dues collected for our national went out on time back in March. Membership cards had been typed up (yes, typed on a typewriter) and given to the unit commander to mail to members. I had managed to get to the bank and deposit the dues check - and one for an event the unit did in January. But, some members have been waiting to be paid for money laid out and I had to pay them. One of our unit insurance policies had come in and I paid it. I had the forms that members had filled in which had to be scanned into the computer so I could shred and toss the originals. I had to make up the membership list for the year. I worked on all this - all done except it took until today to get a clarification from one member as to whether the new phone number she gave me was her home or cell number that had changed. I heard from her today - the new list will be out to the commander to email out by this weekend - I hope.
I managed to keep up on paying the bills for my embroidery chapter - most were to third parties, and were paid right away. A couple of checks to members for, again, money laid out just were written. Our national embroidery group has a membership year that runs from June through the following May (yeah, it confuses the heck out of me why that is the year for membership dues - the financial year is a calendar year, and somehow in the change from quarterly renewals based on when members had joined to an annual one - we paid for the month of June twice one year) and while I am not the membership chair, I help her as the treasurer. I do serve as the newsletter editor and today wrote the May newsletter for the chapter, which is also the meeting notice for our upcoming meeting. This one was a bit harder than most. Last week chapter president had emailed her message for the month which included talking about the program for the meeting - which was not exactly what I remembered and had on our website as the meeting program. I had a hands on project - she had a “fashion show” of what I had us doing - she had in mind the idea that we had sort of worked on this all year and members should show what they have done on the project. I doubled checked with her and yes, that was the meeting program. Yesterday I got an email from the VP of the chapter and she had the info to do the project I thought we were doing - and she was the leader of the project. I also had an email from the chapter president saying a sort of “whoops - I guess I thought about it differently” and that I should go ahead with the project as the meeting and maybe include bring in items started. I had to combine both ideas. The president had told me to dump her message, but I managed to work it into a version of what she wanted for the meeting as a side to the hands on project. Plus I had a lot of related exhibitions to list, so what should have taken half an hour to put together - 2 hours! Then after it was emailed out (and I email out one version to our members and some region people and the same with a “you asked for this, let me know if you don’t want it” message to people who have asked for info about our chapter) I realized that I had forgotten something urgent. Yes, I forgot to tell the members that it is renewal time. So I sent out a separate addendum to the only the members.
That leaves bank statements to reconcile, a month’s worth of filing for our reenactment unit papers (I managed to do the month’s worth of personal, business, and embroidery chapter filing over last weekend), and an assortment of other items to do - including scanning in our personal tax return and papers and printing a copy of same for my records. (Right now there is a stack - you know about stacks right? - of the tax papers in front of the office closet waiting for me.) If I had one day to sit and work.... Tomorrow I have to go to Manhattan to my remaining business client (other than our businesses) and do the books and payroll taxes.
I also need to pull out the 2007 box of old records. I will shred almost all of what is in the box. I scan the credit card and other bills to see if there is anything I need to hold onto. With the credit cards I will scan each for amounts over $100 to see what they are. Sometimes there may be a reason to keep a larger receipt - generally not and they will be shredded also. I will also pull out any checks, W2, or 1099 forms which paid income taxes (for the business if it paid corporation taxes, sales taxes, or annual filing fee) and keep them. I always do that. It is good to always keep proof that taxes were paid.
I will then refill the box with the matching paperwork from 2016, change the label on the box to 2016 and put it back in the top of the office closet. To make this easier I have different color labels on file folders in my files for permanent (leave everything in this folder in it) and annual (check this folder every year to see if anything should stay in it - or be put in the annual box). I use red or yellow for annual and blue or green for permanent - red and blue are used for our personal files and for my embroidery chapter files, yellow and green for our corporation files and our reenactment unit files. I also have a folder with items which need to be added to the 2015 box. Then I will be able to open the office closet door again without having to move stacks of paper. :-)
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Take a deep breath and start doing a bit of “spring cleaning”. If nothing else switch whatever you need to from winter to spring. If you put away winter clothes - see what you will not want next year and either donate it now or put it in a labeled box for the fall to donate then, if where you donate will only take seasonal items. This way you can donate it without having to look at it again then.
Remember that time is relative, but one can only do so much.
And - if you live near where Carvel is located and you read this post early enough - Thursday, April 27 is free cone day this year.
It amazes me that when I was working full time in the first 4 months of the year I would do payroll taxes for 10 business clients twice each - January & April - and the January ones involved typing W2s for all the employees of the clients, corporation or partnership returns for the businesses, year end sales tax for most of them (NY has a sales tax year which ends the end of February and is due in March), and personal returns for about 40 clients while also keeping house, dealing with Easter and Passover, a trip out of state for my husband’s birthday, and towards the end of April - a trip to Maryland for a reenactment event, plus dealing with my embroidery chapter and reenactment unit’s treasuries and renewal of membership for the reenactment unit. It exhausts me to just list all of this.
These days I have about 6 tax returns, two corporations and a partnership (and only one of the businesses is not ours), three sales tax returns, payroll taxes for one company which has one employee, little to do for the holidays or husband’s birthday, and no trip to Maryland (too cold for RV to be dewinterized). Still dealing with the two treasuries and the renewals for the reenactment unit. Yet, I still have trouble finishing it all up timely. It is true that work expands to the time allotted to do it. Maybe this thought comes to mind just because I am watching the series on TV about Einstein and that brings to mind his relativity theory.
Think about it - you look around. The house needs decluttering and cleaning. If you have guests coming over on Friday - you are going to do what you do before Friday, if they are not coming until the first of next month - the same work will take you until then - right? We used to have a room where no one could go when we had people in also. When I was a girl it was my bedroom closet. Mom would tell me periodically (I am guessing when people were going to be coming or she just could not look at it any more) to clean my room. I would do as much as I could - then what was left would be tossed into the bottom of my closet. (Sound familiar?) Once or twice a year I would even be told to clear out the bottom of my closet - generally I would find items such as the bag with most of my Trick or Treat candy in it around May or June - that was a toss out as mom told us we would get sick if eat anything that old. One problem was that no one ever actually explained to me the concept of throwing things out or passing them along, to me cleaning was put everything out of site. I have since learned better.
So now I am dealing with the catchup. The stack on my desk - on top of my “todo folder”, which means that these items must be done before I can start on what I have to do - is shrinking.
I spent an afternoon dealing with items waiting for me from our reenactment unit. In addition to being treasurer I am also the membership chair as it is easier for one person to do so. Dues are long ago collected, the dues collected for our national went out on time back in March. Membership cards had been typed up (yes, typed on a typewriter) and given to the unit commander to mail to members. I had managed to get to the bank and deposit the dues check - and one for an event the unit did in January. But, some members have been waiting to be paid for money laid out and I had to pay them. One of our unit insurance policies had come in and I paid it. I had the forms that members had filled in which had to be scanned into the computer so I could shred and toss the originals. I had to make up the membership list for the year. I worked on all this - all done except it took until today to get a clarification from one member as to whether the new phone number she gave me was her home or cell number that had changed. I heard from her today - the new list will be out to the commander to email out by this weekend - I hope.
I managed to keep up on paying the bills for my embroidery chapter - most were to third parties, and were paid right away. A couple of checks to members for, again, money laid out just were written. Our national embroidery group has a membership year that runs from June through the following May (yeah, it confuses the heck out of me why that is the year for membership dues - the financial year is a calendar year, and somehow in the change from quarterly renewals based on when members had joined to an annual one - we paid for the month of June twice one year) and while I am not the membership chair, I help her as the treasurer. I do serve as the newsletter editor and today wrote the May newsletter for the chapter, which is also the meeting notice for our upcoming meeting. This one was a bit harder than most. Last week chapter president had emailed her message for the month which included talking about the program for the meeting - which was not exactly what I remembered and had on our website as the meeting program. I had a hands on project - she had a “fashion show” of what I had us doing - she had in mind the idea that we had sort of worked on this all year and members should show what they have done on the project. I doubled checked with her and yes, that was the meeting program. Yesterday I got an email from the VP of the chapter and she had the info to do the project I thought we were doing - and she was the leader of the project. I also had an email from the chapter president saying a sort of “whoops - I guess I thought about it differently” and that I should go ahead with the project as the meeting and maybe include bring in items started. I had to combine both ideas. The president had told me to dump her message, but I managed to work it into a version of what she wanted for the meeting as a side to the hands on project. Plus I had a lot of related exhibitions to list, so what should have taken half an hour to put together - 2 hours! Then after it was emailed out (and I email out one version to our members and some region people and the same with a “you asked for this, let me know if you don’t want it” message to people who have asked for info about our chapter) I realized that I had forgotten something urgent. Yes, I forgot to tell the members that it is renewal time. So I sent out a separate addendum to the only the members.
That leaves bank statements to reconcile, a month’s worth of filing for our reenactment unit papers (I managed to do the month’s worth of personal, business, and embroidery chapter filing over last weekend), and an assortment of other items to do - including scanning in our personal tax return and papers and printing a copy of same for my records. (Right now there is a stack - you know about stacks right? - of the tax papers in front of the office closet waiting for me.) If I had one day to sit and work.... Tomorrow I have to go to Manhattan to my remaining business client (other than our businesses) and do the books and payroll taxes.
I also need to pull out the 2007 box of old records. I will shred almost all of what is in the box. I scan the credit card and other bills to see if there is anything I need to hold onto. With the credit cards I will scan each for amounts over $100 to see what they are. Sometimes there may be a reason to keep a larger receipt - generally not and they will be shredded also. I will also pull out any checks, W2, or 1099 forms which paid income taxes (for the business if it paid corporation taxes, sales taxes, or annual filing fee) and keep them. I always do that. It is good to always keep proof that taxes were paid.
I will then refill the box with the matching paperwork from 2016, change the label on the box to 2016 and put it back in the top of the office closet. To make this easier I have different color labels on file folders in my files for permanent (leave everything in this folder in it) and annual (check this folder every year to see if anything should stay in it - or be put in the annual box). I use red or yellow for annual and blue or green for permanent - red and blue are used for our personal files and for my embroidery chapter files, yellow and green for our corporation files and our reenactment unit files. I also have a folder with items which need to be added to the 2015 box. Then I will be able to open the office closet door again without having to move stacks of paper. :-)
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Take a deep breath and start doing a bit of “spring cleaning”. If nothing else switch whatever you need to from winter to spring. If you put away winter clothes - see what you will not want next year and either donate it now or put it in a labeled box for the fall to donate then, if where you donate will only take seasonal items. This way you can donate it without having to look at it again then.
Remember that time is relative, but one can only do so much.
And - if you live near where Carvel is located and you read this post early enough - Thursday, April 27 is free cone day this year.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
USING OFFICE SUPPLIES TO HELP IN ORGANIZING
Growing up I used to love to go to my dad’s office. Actually I loved it so much that I went into the same job as he had - accounting. His office had such fun things (yes, I was odd even as a child) - rubber stamps and pads, pens, pencils - even in colors, stickers, paper, envelopes, staplers, clips, and so on. So much fun to play with.
I still love office supplies - the last time my husband went out to try to find a gift for me for some occasion or other was at an office supply store (before he finally gave in and realized there was nothing that I wanted and he should give up). Office supplies can be used for so many things that they are not intended for as well as those they are intended for. (We were at an event and the flag being carried in a color guard was too long for the height of the room and it touched the floor. I asked at the desk of the venue - no pins - then I asked if they had any sort of paper clip or such - bingo, fixed the problem.)
So how do office supplies help one get organized?
Labels - you do use them don’t you. You can write info on things or make nice labels which make things look more organized. There are computer labels which can be printed. There are labeling machines - mine is a Brother TZ type - to make labels. Some are permanent labels - be sure you want them as they won’t come off easily if at all. Others are temporary.
When I have a file folder which I will be keeping for awhile it gets a permanent label printed by computer. I use different color edge labels printed with the computer in some drawers I use red edge labels for folder to go through at the new year and blue for permanent folders, in other drawers I use yellow and green for same (so they get used up more or less evenly) this cuts down on time clearing out folders for the new year (well, actually I do this around May, so I have info for taxes). In my desktop file holder I have folders which are permanent for folders subjects which are needed on an ongoing basis which also get computer printed labels with color edges - in this case they color signifies what the folder is for - blue is personal, red for our business, green for one club, yellow for the other - no color on the end means it is for my accounting business and each color/type of file goes into a different section in the holder and some which are temporary - something which needs to be done and then the folder will no longer be needed - I use small removable labels - I write on it, put it on the folder and it remains there until it is no longer needed and then is removed from the folder which can be used again and the label is tossed out - I use markers on them to color code them to match the permanent folders in the desktop holder sections. These removable labels can also be folder in half vertically and stuck on a page it becomes a tab to find the place again and it can then be removed when no longer needed. I use larger removable labels on the boxes that I store prior years financial records and write the year on the label. When I am ready to reuse the box - 10 years later - I pull off the old label and put on the new one.
I have marked the magazine holders we have with labels printed with the Brother machine this way we know which magazines and which years are in the holder. (There are other similar label machines from other companies, this happens to be the one I have and use not an ad for the company.) We have a number of zipper vinyl bags, which one cannot see through, in our RV and we label them with labels from the Brother so we know what is in them. I put labels on my USB flash drives which I make on the Brother - so I know what is on the drives. The blank ones get the removable labels from above with a label which reads “Blank”. It goes across the drive and its cap - when the cap comes off to use it, the label has to be removed so I never forget and leave a “blank” label on a drive in use. So wonderful to know which is which. I also use the temporary labels on the drives I take to the vault for offsite storage - they are labeled with the Brother tape as to what they are - “Offsite A” and “Offsite B” and then when I update them I put the date on a removable label and put it, again, across the drive and it’s cap so I know what date it is, when I again update it, the removable label has to come off and be tossed.
Folders - can not only hold papers in filing cabinets, but can be used to keep papers together in general. A paper alone can get lost - in a labeled folder (even a temporary label) will be harder to lose and easier to see. I have a pocket file holder for tax info for clients and another for my paid bills. Folders do not fit in them as it is the same size as the folders - I cut about a quarter of an inch off one end and they fit! I can use this to make what is in the pocket of the file holder easy to take everything out of the pocket at once without losing anything or I can use it to make sections in a pocket of the of the holder so it can hold more than one type of bill.
I have 2 sizes of paperclips. I use the small ones for smaller groups of papers and the larger ones for larger groups - obvious. What else can one use them for? Well, as I mentioned above, shortening a flag that will otherwise drag on the floor. Christmas ornament hangers - I learned this in elementary school when the teacher did it - unfold the paperclip into an S shape and it is an ornament hanger. In a related idea the large ones can be used to hang decorations around the rooms. I hang my “roping” (plastic) on the curtain rod by turning large paperclips into the same S shape and putting one at each end of the curtain rod - one in the center on longer ones - and then hanging the roping over it - I also hang an embroidered piece in a hoop from the center of a curtain rod in the same way. Also good when opened for getting stuck staples out of a stapler. Oh, and they can be put together in a chain to decorate an office Christmas tree.
Staples are also great for what they are intended for - stapling stacks of papers together - If you have papers which belong together -STAPLE THEM! Stapling is more definite than the paper clips mentioned above and won’t get caught and pulled off the papers. What else can you use them for? A hem that comes down - staple it together until you can fix it - this is an old trick.
Pencils great for writing what might need to be erased and pens for what needs to stay written. A pencil, a piece of paper and a window can let you copy something by hand. (I do this with fabric when I want to copy something to the fabric to stitch.) Put what you want to copy on the window with removable tape (another wonderful thing) and then do the same with the piece of paper or fabric. On a sunny day you will see the picture and be able to copy it to the paper - or fabric with a pencil.
Yes, tape. I am talking about clear plastic tape - often called “Scotch tape” whether it is that brand or not. There are several types. (I don’t bother with the gift wrap version.) I use the permanent one for what it is intended for - taping paper together - but it can also, again, be used for fixing clothing. But removable tape of this type is great. I tape my paper todo list to my computer desk with removable tape - when I am done I pull it off the desk, pull the tape off the paper, write a new list and put it back with the same piece of tape (there is a limit to how long one piece of tape will last). I can stick a note to something with it. (Yes, I know about the papers which stick to things on their own - last time I used one it left glue on the sales receipt it was attached to and others have not stayed in place.) If you want to tape a check or cash into a card, removable tape lets it be removed undamaged and intact.
Envelopes - of course they are used for mailing things, but they can also be used to hold papers and other things - and the larger manila ones with clips can be reused. If I have to take papers some place I put them in a manila envelope and close the clip. I then can take the papers out where I am going and then clip the envelope closed again and then when back at home remove the papers and file away and reuse the envelope.
I have several envelopes which are just larger than regular # 10 envelopes each marked on the end edge with one of our regular trips. I put anything related to the trip in the envelope as it comes along - a reservation made a year in advance sits in the envelope and then as the year goes along - discount tickets to an event? - add them into the envelope. Coupon for a restaurant? - add it in. A store looks interesting? - add it in. When it is time for the trip, I just pull the envelope and all is there. I keep these envelopes in date order in the middle section of the 3 section wall pocket - just under the bills to pay section - next to my desk.
Oh, and in the bills to pay section above is another large than # 10 envelope - it is for what I need to do on Friday - the day we go out for banking and such. I put the items needed in the envelope for Friday - checks to deposit, receipts to return items, etc. I then use a small piece of paper (at one time when I carried a small memo book, which had been cut in half, in my pocket, I used the other half of the pages which my husband had cut off on an electric saw, now I am using up old business cards - always shredding them after, but any small pieces of paper can be used) with the errands listed for example PO (remember we go there daily); Bank - transfer $X savings to checking (actually I just write S-C $X), 2 deposits, withdraw $Y; Club bank - deposit, Return to store and so on. I use a large paperclip to attach this to the outside of the envelope to follow as I go along.
Paper can of course be used for all sorts of notes. When we have paper which is printed on and not used - especially those annoying pages when one prints something and it runs 2 pages, but the second page just had the titles from the end of the page or such on it and is wasted - I put it aside. Part pages are in one section and full pages in another on top of my desk file holder. If I am going to print something which is just going to be used by me I use the back of these pages to print on or I can use them to write notes on - especially when one is calling a company and needs to make notes of the conversation due to promises made, information provided, or responses to what you said by the company employee for your records (always put date, time and employees name on the page too). Small pieces can be cut into quarter or third of a page either vertically or horizontally to use as memo paper - great for shopping lists.
So as you see ordinary office supplies can be used in a variety of different ways to help you get and stay more organized. Any good ideas you have on using office supplies?
I still love office supplies - the last time my husband went out to try to find a gift for me for some occasion or other was at an office supply store (before he finally gave in and realized there was nothing that I wanted and he should give up). Office supplies can be used for so many things that they are not intended for as well as those they are intended for. (We were at an event and the flag being carried in a color guard was too long for the height of the room and it touched the floor. I asked at the desk of the venue - no pins - then I asked if they had any sort of paper clip or such - bingo, fixed the problem.)
So how do office supplies help one get organized?
Labels - you do use them don’t you. You can write info on things or make nice labels which make things look more organized. There are computer labels which can be printed. There are labeling machines - mine is a Brother TZ type - to make labels. Some are permanent labels - be sure you want them as they won’t come off easily if at all. Others are temporary.
When I have a file folder which I will be keeping for awhile it gets a permanent label printed by computer. I use different color edge labels printed with the computer in some drawers I use red edge labels for folder to go through at the new year and blue for permanent folders, in other drawers I use yellow and green for same (so they get used up more or less evenly) this cuts down on time clearing out folders for the new year (well, actually I do this around May, so I have info for taxes). In my desktop file holder I have folders which are permanent for folders subjects which are needed on an ongoing basis which also get computer printed labels with color edges - in this case they color signifies what the folder is for - blue is personal, red for our business, green for one club, yellow for the other - no color on the end means it is for my accounting business and each color/type of file goes into a different section in the holder and some which are temporary - something which needs to be done and then the folder will no longer be needed - I use small removable labels - I write on it, put it on the folder and it remains there until it is no longer needed and then is removed from the folder which can be used again and the label is tossed out - I use markers on them to color code them to match the permanent folders in the desktop holder sections. These removable labels can also be folder in half vertically and stuck on a page it becomes a tab to find the place again and it can then be removed when no longer needed. I use larger removable labels on the boxes that I store prior years financial records and write the year on the label. When I am ready to reuse the box - 10 years later - I pull off the old label and put on the new one.
I have marked the magazine holders we have with labels printed with the Brother machine this way we know which magazines and which years are in the holder. (There are other similar label machines from other companies, this happens to be the one I have and use not an ad for the company.) We have a number of zipper vinyl bags, which one cannot see through, in our RV and we label them with labels from the Brother so we know what is in them. I put labels on my USB flash drives which I make on the Brother - so I know what is on the drives. The blank ones get the removable labels from above with a label which reads “Blank”. It goes across the drive and its cap - when the cap comes off to use it, the label has to be removed so I never forget and leave a “blank” label on a drive in use. So wonderful to know which is which. I also use the temporary labels on the drives I take to the vault for offsite storage - they are labeled with the Brother tape as to what they are - “Offsite A” and “Offsite B” and then when I update them I put the date on a removable label and put it, again, across the drive and it’s cap so I know what date it is, when I again update it, the removable label has to come off and be tossed.
Folders - can not only hold papers in filing cabinets, but can be used to keep papers together in general. A paper alone can get lost - in a labeled folder (even a temporary label) will be harder to lose and easier to see. I have a pocket file holder for tax info for clients and another for my paid bills. Folders do not fit in them as it is the same size as the folders - I cut about a quarter of an inch off one end and they fit! I can use this to make what is in the pocket of the file holder easy to take everything out of the pocket at once without losing anything or I can use it to make sections in a pocket of the of the holder so it can hold more than one type of bill.
I have 2 sizes of paperclips. I use the small ones for smaller groups of papers and the larger ones for larger groups - obvious. What else can one use them for? Well, as I mentioned above, shortening a flag that will otherwise drag on the floor. Christmas ornament hangers - I learned this in elementary school when the teacher did it - unfold the paperclip into an S shape and it is an ornament hanger. In a related idea the large ones can be used to hang decorations around the rooms. I hang my “roping” (plastic) on the curtain rod by turning large paperclips into the same S shape and putting one at each end of the curtain rod - one in the center on longer ones - and then hanging the roping over it - I also hang an embroidered piece in a hoop from the center of a curtain rod in the same way. Also good when opened for getting stuck staples out of a stapler. Oh, and they can be put together in a chain to decorate an office Christmas tree.
Staples are also great for what they are intended for - stapling stacks of papers together - If you have papers which belong together -STAPLE THEM! Stapling is more definite than the paper clips mentioned above and won’t get caught and pulled off the papers. What else can you use them for? A hem that comes down - staple it together until you can fix it - this is an old trick.
Pencils great for writing what might need to be erased and pens for what needs to stay written. A pencil, a piece of paper and a window can let you copy something by hand. (I do this with fabric when I want to copy something to the fabric to stitch.) Put what you want to copy on the window with removable tape (another wonderful thing) and then do the same with the piece of paper or fabric. On a sunny day you will see the picture and be able to copy it to the paper - or fabric with a pencil.
Yes, tape. I am talking about clear plastic tape - often called “Scotch tape” whether it is that brand or not. There are several types. (I don’t bother with the gift wrap version.) I use the permanent one for what it is intended for - taping paper together - but it can also, again, be used for fixing clothing. But removable tape of this type is great. I tape my paper todo list to my computer desk with removable tape - when I am done I pull it off the desk, pull the tape off the paper, write a new list and put it back with the same piece of tape (there is a limit to how long one piece of tape will last). I can stick a note to something with it. (Yes, I know about the papers which stick to things on their own - last time I used one it left glue on the sales receipt it was attached to and others have not stayed in place.) If you want to tape a check or cash into a card, removable tape lets it be removed undamaged and intact.
Envelopes - of course they are used for mailing things, but they can also be used to hold papers and other things - and the larger manila ones with clips can be reused. If I have to take papers some place I put them in a manila envelope and close the clip. I then can take the papers out where I am going and then clip the envelope closed again and then when back at home remove the papers and file away and reuse the envelope.
I have several envelopes which are just larger than regular # 10 envelopes each marked on the end edge with one of our regular trips. I put anything related to the trip in the envelope as it comes along - a reservation made a year in advance sits in the envelope and then as the year goes along - discount tickets to an event? - add them into the envelope. Coupon for a restaurant? - add it in. A store looks interesting? - add it in. When it is time for the trip, I just pull the envelope and all is there. I keep these envelopes in date order in the middle section of the 3 section wall pocket - just under the bills to pay section - next to my desk.
Oh, and in the bills to pay section above is another large than # 10 envelope - it is for what I need to do on Friday - the day we go out for banking and such. I put the items needed in the envelope for Friday - checks to deposit, receipts to return items, etc. I then use a small piece of paper (at one time when I carried a small memo book, which had been cut in half, in my pocket, I used the other half of the pages which my husband had cut off on an electric saw, now I am using up old business cards - always shredding them after, but any small pieces of paper can be used) with the errands listed for example PO (remember we go there daily); Bank - transfer $X savings to checking (actually I just write S-C $X), 2 deposits, withdraw $Y; Club bank - deposit, Return to store and so on. I use a large paperclip to attach this to the outside of the envelope to follow as I go along.
Paper can of course be used for all sorts of notes. When we have paper which is printed on and not used - especially those annoying pages when one prints something and it runs 2 pages, but the second page just had the titles from the end of the page or such on it and is wasted - I put it aside. Part pages are in one section and full pages in another on top of my desk file holder. If I am going to print something which is just going to be used by me I use the back of these pages to print on or I can use them to write notes on - especially when one is calling a company and needs to make notes of the conversation due to promises made, information provided, or responses to what you said by the company employee for your records (always put date, time and employees name on the page too). Small pieces can be cut into quarter or third of a page either vertically or horizontally to use as memo paper - great for shopping lists.
So as you see ordinary office supplies can be used in a variety of different ways to help you get and stay more organized. Any good ideas you have on using office supplies?
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