Best Results Organizing

So far, we’ve talked about the NAPO 2012 Conference, itself, and have explored some dreamy paper products, as well as meat-and-potato organizing essentials. Today, we’ll be looking at more NAPO 2012 Expo innovations — so get ready to pocket some organizing solutions.

CAPTURE THE WRITING ON THE WALL

The prettiest paper-related booth at this year’s Expo had to be 3M’s Post-It extravaganza. Post-It has come a long way from basic blocks of yellow, as we discussed in the Paper Doll Winter 2012 Carnival. Indeed, there was so much to discover, we’ll have to have a “stick ’em up” day to cover all of 3M’s sticky innovations. But today, the topic is pockets. (Trying saying THAT aloud three times, quickly.)

The first time I heard about Post-it Wall Pockets, I was jealous, and not just because a colleague had received a sample and I hadn’t. It was such a simple but brilliant idea, I kicked myself for not having come up with it!

Now that I’ve finally seen the product up close, I have not been disappointed. All varieties come with 3M’s durable adhesive-backed strips, which hold securely but remove cleanly. My curiosity as to whether the Post-it pockets would have the stamina to support multiple pieces of paper has been satisfied, and I can envision the wide variety of applications, including:

• Inside kitchen cabinets for keeping emergency numbers, cooking/measurement equivalencies, important dates, etc.
• On the interior of school locker doors for holding permission slips, ID cards, notes, photos, etc.
• Behind the garage door for keeping recycling and trash pick-up schedules handy

The pockets are designed to stick anywhere other than on wallpaper or delicate surfaces, though I can’t imagine you’d want to apply adhesive pockets on Great-Grandma’s antiques in the first place.

Post-it Translucent Greek Key Pockets — Don’t know what a Greek Key is? Neither did Paper Doll, but Google made clear that the 3M folks were talking about the decorative pattern on the colorful pocket fronts.

Longtime readers know what a fan I am of pink, but I have to say that the mossy green isn’t to my tastes. Paper Doll is hopeful that 3M will expand the line, as they’ve done with so many of their compellingly sticky products, to include blues, reds and other “serious” colors that might make these incredibly useful pockets more appealing to tough guys and bank-serious office-supply shoppers.

These designer pockets come in three distinct layouts:

Vertically arrayed for bills (5 3/8″ wide x 7 7/8″ high) so you can keep pending invoices and bills to be paid in one tidy spot, perhaps on the side of your filing cabinet next to your home office bill-paying center or in the information hub of your kitchen.

Horizontally arrayed for letters (9″ high x 12″ wide) to handle all letter-size invoices, handouts, flyers, etc.

Horizontally arrayed for organizing receipts and coupons (4″ high by 9″ wide) with a shorter vertical profile to prevent items falling out of reach.

The Greek Key pockets come two-to-a-pack (of the same dimensions) or in multi-packs (with three different shapes/sizes).

Post-it also has clear pockets in the same dimensions, in single packages or multi-packs, in case you’d rather have your pockets blend in to your home or office surroundings. These clear pockets have a delicate (but translucent) dotted pattern, allowing you to still see which documents are contained.

HOLD ON TO YOUR DIGITAL DEVICES

As we saw last week, folders are great for corralling presentation papers as well as academic materials. When all of your information is paper-bound, you’re set. But what happens when you need someplace to put your flash drives? Sure, most have a little plastic hole in the casing to let you attach a cord, but flash drives as jewelry aren’t always optimal.

Carrying them around in backpacks, purses and attach cases keep them relatively safe, but flash drives are tiny, and if you’re carrying multiples, it’s easy for the cords to get tangled or the drives to get lost in the bottom of your pack. Of course, keeping your digital files in the cloud (via Dropbox or a similar service) can make it easy to access your files, but as many of us at the NAPO 2012 conference learned, free (and even paid) internet access is not always dependable. It’s best to have your digital files close at hand.

Smead’s Self-Adhesive Poly USB Flash Drive Pocket solves that problem.

At a slim 2″ wide by 3 9/16″ high, this clear, acid-free, PVC-free, polypropylene pocket has a white peel-away liner which reveals a permanent adhesive backing.

Having pockets for your USB flash drives offers an efficient way to safely store your digital files with the corresponding hard copies. The pockets are sized to fit most common USB sizes, and feature a reclosable flap for added security. The Self-Adhesive Poly USB Flash Drive Pockets come in packages of 6.

POCKET YOUR PAPERS ON THE GO

There are lots of other times you might want to have a pocket handy. For example, the Smead Self-Adhesive Poly Corner Pockets may look like the beginning of an origami lesson, but they pack a powerful organizational punch.

Arranged with two clear, PVC- and acid-free polypropylene right triangles to a white liner sheet, the adhesive-backed pockets fit practically anywhere you might need to store full-sized pages, index cards, spare note cards, cheat sheets, etc. If you’ve got a flat surface, whether vertical or horizontal, you’ve got a way to keep things copacetic.

The great thing about the poly pockets (not to be confused with Polly Pocket) is that they can be quickly and easily added anywhere — inside a daily planner, file folder, three-ring binder, or wherever — to provide a safe place to tuck items away.

Just peel, stick the (permanent, water-based acrylic adhesive) pocket, and tuck your items in. The Self-Adhesive Poly Corner Pockets come in two sizes, small (4″ x 4″) and large (6″ x 6″), but only in 100-to-a-box cartons.

Smead also manufacturers similar poly pockets for business cards (3″ wide x 4″ high), CDs/DVDs (5″ x 5″) and documents (9″ wide x 6″ high) such as for packing slips attached to the outside of containers, all in packages of 10.

For something with a larger pocket profile, 3M’s Post-It line has created some nifty Notebook Pockets, available in two sizes: Small (5.5″ x 5.3/4″) and Large (5″ x 8″), sold three pockets to a package.

These are ideal for students, busy volunteers or professionals, for holding note cards, coins and cash for the vending machine, receipts, coupons, or schedules. The durable, clean-removing adhesive strips allow you put them in daily planners, notebooks or binders quickly and easily.

A dotted pattern on the front of the pocket affords attractive light security, and there’s a re-writeable stripe for labeling the pocket. 3M’s Dual Lock flap closure protects papers from sliding out — and it’s surely a nicer solution than taping a zip-lock bag to the inside of a notebook.

FINDING THE (K)NACK(it)!

No recap of the NAPO Expo’s pocket organizing solutions would be complete without mentioning our friends from NACKit, whose products Paper Doll reviewed at length a few years ago.

As you organize — as you purge non-essentials, group similar items together and tidily contain them —  the final key is knowing what’s living where. Labeling boxes is essential if you don’t want to lift, move and look through stacks of boxes to find what you want. But labels can be problematic — adhesive can dry up, ink exposed to the elements can fade, and people tend to just scribble new, sometimes indecipherable, labels on top of old ones.

NACKit! developed a refillable, re-usable labeling system based on a simple premise. Apply durable adhesive-backed pockets to any container and merely change out the NACKit! label card, as appropriate.

Each original NACKit! kit contains two dozen 4 3/4″ x 6″ self-adhesive vinyl pockets and 28 blank NACKit! cards with lined backs for listing contents. Mini kits contain three dozen 2 3/8″ x 3 3/4″ pockets and 40 blank cards. Original NACKit! kits are most suitable for packing boxes and storage tubs, while the Minis work best with smaller boxes, bins and totes.

Every Original kit includes 24 pre-printed label cards and four blank cards for customizing. Label any blank card by hand or use the NACKit! card template and Card Designer to create labels that fit your preferences and inimitable style.

Get the basic NACKit! for Everything (with all cards blank) or select a kit with pre-printed cards for popular categories.

• NACKit! for Home — with cards for Arts and Crafts Supplies, Baby Clothes, Books, Camping Supplies, Financial Papers, Holiday Decorations, Photographs, Shoes, Sports Stuff, Summer Clothes, Winter Clothes and Toys.
• NACKit! for Moving — with cards for Attic, Basement, Bathroom, Bedroom, Dining Room, Family Room, Garage, Kitchen, Laundry, Linens, Living Room and Master Bedroom.
• NACKit! for Office — with cards for Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Banking Documents, Clients/Patients, Contacts, Office Supplies and Tax Documents.

The NACKit! for Christmas includes 16 self-adhesive pockets as well as 16 red and green cards for Indoor Lights, Outdoor Lights, Tree Ornaments, Wrapping Supplies, Greeting Cards, Wreaths/Garland, Decorations and Holiday Dishes, and four blank cards.

You can also buy the NACKit! Origimini, which includes a combination package of one dozen original-size self-adhesive pockets and 16 original cards, as well as one dozen mini pockets and 20 mini cards. And if you’re setting up a new home, NACKit even sells a huge combination Toolkit, which includes two Everything kits, two Mini kits, two Origimini kits and one pre-printed kit of your choice.

Happily, you don’t need deep pockets to make use of any of today’s pocket-based organizing solutions. But if you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket, be assured there are more nifty NAPO 2012 Expo product recaps to come.