Best Results Organizing

There are eight days of Hanukkah, twelve days of Christmas, and what seems like 365 shopping days each season to get it “right.” And yet, so often the gifts we give (and get) turn into clutter that we must store, dust and caretake. And not merely clutter, but forgettable clutter.

A few years back, I excerpted a portion of my little e-book Simplify the Season and Save Your Sanity and blogged the (mostly) clutter-free Holiday Gift List: Favorite Things Edition. I stand by my recommendation that gifts of experiences — like entertainment, adventure, education, and pampering — are key to making presents memorable. Even practical gifts for those who lack the time or inclination to deal with (or pay for) practicality, can be refreshing, as I wrote:

Any driver would benefit from gift certificates for oil changes, car washes and detailing…even memberships in AAA or a similar auto club. Multiple months or even an annual subscription for internet service, Netflix, cable or satellite TV, or cellular service are practical but charmingly unexpected. For college students or those on a fixed income, comping these expenses can really lighten the load.

Today, I’d like to share what my colleagues in the world of organizing and productivity have said recently about the best gifts for the holiday season.

Unclutterer, the first (and last) word in living a reasonably — rather than ridiculously — uncluttered life puts together an amazing gift-giving guide each year, with editions dating all the way back to 2007. This year’s roundup included:

Introducing the 2014 Unclutterer Holiday Gift Giving Guide by Erin Doland

Organizing gifts for the kitchen and bathroom by Jacki Hollywood Brown

Gifts for kids by David Caolo

Experience Gifts by Jeri Danksy

The ultimate uncluttered gift by Erin Doland

Productivity Gifts by Jacki Hollywood Brown

Technology Gifts by David Caolo


It would be impossible for me to pick a favorite item (though I was incredibly flattered that my 57 Secrets for Organizing Your Small Business was included on the Productivity Gifts list). However, one of the products David Caolo included on the Technology Gifts list was the Magnetic Organization System (MOS), which I reviewed in Paper Doll’s Cable Conundrums & the MOS: Magnetic Organization System.

I have the iMac-matching aluminum MOS next to my computer, and a white MOS bed-side to ensure that when I unplug my iPad charger, the cable doesn’t slip or slide beyond my reach, as it had previously — and annoyingly — done for a full year before I discovered the deceptively simple magnetic wonder.

As much as Paper Doll loves paper, I recognize that going paperless (or at least having less paper) in our lives is a worthy pursuit. If you or someone on your shopping list is hoping to lighten up and be responsible for fewer tree homicides, friend-of-the-blog and all-around Canadian nice guy Brooks Duncan of DocumentSnap has put together his own 12 Days of Paperless Gifts series to solve your woes.

Brooks is a few days short of making it all the way through the series, but as of today, you can check out:

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Desktop Document Scanners

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Personal Document Scanners

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Mobile Document Scanners

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Book and Object Scanners

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – External Hard Drives

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Personal Cloud Storage

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Online Backup

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Online Document Services

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Note Taking

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Helpful Resources

It wouldn’t be fair of me to pick a favorite from an unfinished gift guide series, but so far, the list of technology and paperless resources, like Brooks’ own The Unofficial ScanSnap Setup Guide and Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials, is in the running as a heavy favorite.

I don’t know for certain if Brooks will be tackling the topic of shredding, but after preventing paper from coming into the home or office, shredding it once the data contained becomes digital seems the obvious next step. However, just in case shredding isn’t on the agenda, I’d be remiss if I did not point out Jeri Dansky‘s Shredder Design for Function and Fashion post for Core77, an industrial design blog. Trying not to judge a book by its cover or a shredder solely by its sleek lines, I must admit a hankering for the Black & Decker iShred that Jeri reviewed.

Writers, speaker, blogger and podcaster Mike Vardy of Productivityist put together his own holiday shopping compendium, The 2014 Productivityist Holiday Gift Guide. I like the fact that Mike took the approach of looking at productivity from a holistic, whole-life approach, and didn’t limit his list to apps and software, or even to the office environment.

I won’t tell you which item on his list was my favorite, as I’ll (coincidentally, honest!) be writing about it soon. But I must give a nod to his recommendation for designer Mike Rohde’s Sketchnote notebook and workbook products, whose system my colleague Deron Bos  illustrated in my NAPO2014: Notetaking and Pendaflex/TOPS’ FocusNotes. I don’t have a visually creative bone in my paper body, but I’m fascinated by the Sketchnote method for visually depicting concepts while notetaking.

Lifehacker‘s Alan Henry (who interviewed me, as well as Unclutterer’s Erin Doland and others, for What Professional Organizers Really Do, and How They Can Help) recently curated The Gift of a More Organized Office, and it is chock-full of splendid items that could make you more efficient…or more cluttered, depending on whether you’re the sort of person who would use the items to their best effect. (Isn’t that always the case?)

I can tell you that I purchased one of the items appearing on the Lifehacker list, the Quirky Space Bar, on the recommendation of a client, and am already loving it, both aesthetically and functionally.

It’s not merely a monitor stand (available in black, white and iMac-matching aluminum); it had six USB ports, two high-power front ports for quick-charging of devices, and four ports (two front and two rear) for charging and syncing USB devices. The Space Bar is available from Quirky and Amazon. (Note: Following my own advice from 8 Brainy Tips to Organize Your Holiday Spending, using Ebates and RetailMeNot, I got it at a significantly discounted price and free shipping.) It’s great having my Fitbit’s bluetooth dongle and charger, my camera cable, the iPad charger and flash drives all potentially accessible without having to reach behind my iMac.

I can give a big thumbs-up to most of the product categories on the Lifehacker post: cable management tools, portable scanners, computer stands, whiteboards, and standing desks. However, while I am a major proponent of label makers, I would caution most readers against the one-handed model shown, with letters arrayed in alphabetical order. Most of us, even if not touch-typists, are adept at using a QUERTY keyboard, and trying to hunt-and-peck letters on an ABCDE keyboard can be maddeningly slow. Finally, the Lifehacker gift list reminds us of the not-very-sexy but ultimate importance of a surge protector and/or uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

Finally, nobody does a better job of gathering and collating the collective knowledge of professional organizers than Janet Barclay of Your Organizing Business, and I’m proud to have been one of the 68 bloggers to have contributed to this year’s series of monthly Professional Organizers Blog Carnivals as one of the SuperStar Bloggers.

The most recent Professional Organizers Blog Carnival on Holiday Gift Giving includes posts from 31 organizing experts (including yours truly). That edition covers organizing-related gifts, clutter-free and clutter-reducing gifts, and gift-giving tips. Along with the practical advice, you’ll find some wise philosophizing on gift-giving for minimalists, maximalists and all your recipients in between.

If, after all this, you’re still unsure of what to get (or ask for) for the holidays in order to keep clutter at bay and satisfaction maximized, never fear. Tune in next time for last-minute gifts that won’t break the bank, pile on the clutter, or arrive too late.