Paper Doll Blog | Best Results Organizing

How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 3: Tangible Timers

Posted on: April 21st, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 10 Comments

So far in this series on using timers, we’ve focused on the “thinky” aspects.

In How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 1, we looked at the the why of using timers and all of the situations in which they can boost productivity.
Then, in How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 2: Picking a Good Timer we identified the general characteristics of a good timer and the specific, customizable aspects supporting individuals in their unique tasks and projects.

That was wordy stuff. Today, we get to start looking at the actual timers that can work their magic in helping you maintain focus, remember to take breaks, and avoid hyper-focusing. Today’s post is what I consider a “feast your eyes” post; read it in its entirety or just scroll through until you see a timer that appeals, and then explore all the salient details.

As we discussed previously, the timers you select should feel like they’re on your team, not like they’re monitoring you for a productivity parole board. They need to support all your functional, as well as aesthetic and emotional, needs. You don’t want — at least under most circumstances — to feel like you accidentally launched a countdown to self-destruction instead of a 25-minute Pomodoro focus session. Embrace a platform that works for you.

A timer should support your functional, as well as your aesthetic and emotional, needs. You don't want to feel like you accidentally launched a countdown to self-destruction instead of a 25-minute Pomodoro focus session. Embrace what… Share on X

Today, we’ll focus on physical (primarily analog) timers; next week, we’ll examine digital and hybrid timers. But to begin, we’ll delve into the product line that has done the most to improve the understanding of the passage of time in schools, within the ADHD community, and among anyone seeking productivity support.

DISK-Y BEHAVIOR: TIME TIMER, THE BIG KAHUNA OF PRODUCTIVITY TIMERS

If you read Paper Doll or any productivity or organizing blogs, you probably already know quite a bit about Time Timer. The basics of this beloved product invented by Jan Rogers in 1994 are told in this video.

The key is that Time Timer was the first solution to the problem of time blindness, an undeveloped sense of the passage of time. As explained in ADHD Minds Are Trapped in Now (& Other Time Management Truths) in ADDitude Magazine, those experiencing time blindness are so ensconced in the present moment, in the “now” of things, that recall of the past and anticipation (and planning for) the future are difficult. Understandably, time blindness creates trouble in estimating how long a task will take.

My professional organizing business started in 2002, when Time Timer was still getting to be well known, so I feel as though we’ve “grown up” together. While almost every professional organizer has familiarity with Time Timer, I knew they’d made the “Big Time” when I walked into a Diabetes Sisters support group meeting. The moderator was almost giddy as she showed off the “cool timer” for making sure we’d hit all the planned activities on time.

Seeing Time

Over the years, I’ve been impressed with how this simple innovation has helped children and adults “see” the passage of time in ways they’d never been able to before.

In part, it’s because younger millennials and Gen Z have experienced digital clocks almost entirely to the exclusion of analog clocks. It’s no wonder that young people don’t know what “half past” or “a quarter ’til” mean!

Digital clocks are on their devices and computers, in their classrooms, and on electronic signs as they drive down the street. If you blink, you miss the minutes changing on a digital clock, and there’s no second hand “sweeping away” the seconds, as my kindergarten teacher explained it.

For many others, whether because of ADHD, executive function disorders, or just the complexities of living in the 21st century, they’ve never quite gotten the hang of how time “feels,” so they underestimate or overestimate how long a minute (or twenty) might take. If you don’t know how long a minute is, how can you envision how many you need for any given task?

The basic element of all of the physical Time Timers is two-fold:

they display time in an analog manner
a colored disk is set to the starting point of the timed period, and the visible area of the colored disk disappears (behind the face of the timer — it’s mechanical, not actually magic!) as time is “used up.”

It seems almost too simple, but users soon see that making time visible in this way calms the nerves and soothes the senses. Whether you’re doing a timed practice test or trying to finish a presentation for your client, you need only flick your eyes to the Time Timer to know how much time you have left.

There’s no need to calculate the math in your head as with a digital clock, and even from a distance (and even if you’re extremely nearsighted!), the flash of color slowly moving in a clockwise pattern is enough to signal if you have a lot or a little time left.

In this way, Time Timer delivers on its mission: it “fosters focus and provides clarity to individuals who struggle with visualizing time.”

Original Time Timers

The Original 8″ and Original 12″ versions with the crisp white background, black type, and red disk are for purists (and anyone who wants a variation on the old joke, “What’s black and white and re(a)d all over?”).

Both sizes are 60-minute timers, good for keeping a typical work or community meeting running without unraveling. Its operations are silent; with no ticking, the Originals are ideal for classrooms, open-plan offices, and for sound-sensitive users or spaces. The alert ding at the end of the set time is optional.

The no-nonsense style makes it appropriate for classrooms or office work, and it has both a magnetic backing and foldable feet, so you can choose the optimum display style for your needs. You’ll need two AA batteries to keep your Original Time Timers in lock-step with you, but it comes with a dry erase activity card to keep you on-task.

Teachers and homeschooling parents may want to opt for the Time Timer® Original 8” Learning Center Classroom Sets, with sets of three Original 8″ timers in either primary or secondary colors.

With all the same features as the other Originals, they add a pop of color, so if the minimalistic look and magnetic backing or table-top options appeal to you for your workplace, but you need to make your stylistic mark, this might be a good alternative.

The colored Learning Center versions also prevent you from feeling like you’ve fallen into a creepy, crooked-clock episode of Severance.

You can also amplify the Original 8″ with a Time Timer® Original 8” Visual Scheduler. Encircling the timer is a dry-erase board where you can add calendar/daypart information or time progress details.

Actual minutes are hidden. In addition to the drawn-on markings you can add, there are clips that mark where you have reached in the time allotted.

In the reverse portion, there are pockets for holding the clips, dry erase markers and other timer accessories.

The Original Time Timers include access to the Time Timer apps, which we’ll review next time.

Time Timer Plus

In 2013, the line expanded to include Time Timer Plus, all of which stand upon their own and have handles to make them portable — as more than one client’s child has noticed, somewhat like a purse, or as my GenX clients have said, like a little boombox.

There are two versions of the 7.09″ x 1.7″ x 5.51″ Time Timer Plus 60-minute timers, with relatively serious faces (white backing/black type/red disk) like the Originals; the bodies come in either white or charcoal.

As with the originals, there’s no distracting ticking to interfere with focus, and there’s volume control for the alert, to assure that those who hyper-focus aren’t jarred into anxiety.

These were the first Time Timers I ever owned and used with clients. In addition to the features of the Original version, the timers in the Plus line are the only analog visual timer with a pause button (in the upper right).

The official rules of the Pomodoro Technique say that if your 25-minute Pomodoro is interrupted, you have to start counting from the beginning, but you’re a grownup and can make rules for yourself! If the interruption is worthy — your boss has a question, the school has a fire drill, etc. — hit that pause button, but do get back to what you were doing when you are able.

Over time, the company realized that different users might need different iterations. An hour is fairly long; five or ten minutes barely makes a dent. Thus, the colored part of the disk measuring just a handful of minutes would be hard to discern, especially for children or even someone learning to appreciate smaller increments of time, like while meditating or holding yoga positions. For them, 5-minute and 20-minute versions were created.

Conversely, sometimes an hour isn’t enough; if you’re taking timed practice tests or holding a multi-hour group workshop, a longer visual display of time is needed, so the Plus line added a 120-minute timer. All three additions to the Time Timer Plus family have more colorful disks.

Time Timer Mod

The Original and Plus editions always served their purposes, but (especially early on) had a decidedly academic/industrial look about them. Some people felt that it gave off either a juvenile or sterile vibe; some of my adult clients said they feared it branded them as someone who needed help with time. (But c’mon, we all need help with time.)

As I noted last week, aesthetics can matter, and while most people wouldn’t consider timers as bearing a stigma, both the Original and the Plus line are rather “in your face” about their purpose. The Time Timer Mod line was the perfect response.

These 3.47″ square timers are just two inches deep, so you can use them anywhere: at home, in an office, working from a coffee house or library, even at the beach. They are small enough to throw into a backpack or purse, and to the uninitiated, they just look like little clocks. And a Time Timer Mod only requires one AA battery.

The standard Time Timer Mod – Home Edition Timers can measure up to 60 minutes and come in six designer colors accent colors coordinating with the timer disks: Lakeday Blue, Fern Green, Dreamsicle Orange, Pale Shale Gray, Peony Pink, and Cottonball White (with a burgundy disk). (Value packs of coordinating silicone “skins” are optional.)

As some people (teenagers? college dudes? macho men in the workplace?) may want or need a timer with a harder-edged aesthetic to stay committed, Time Timer has a new Mod Home Metallic Edition in four different colors/styles that remind me of the eye shadow palettes popular in the 1980s:

Metallic Midnight (midnight blue timer with gold disks)
Metallic Indigo (dark purple-blue timer with a light purple disk)
Metallic Forest (dark green timer with a metallic brown disk)
Metallic Storm (dark blue timer with a pink frosted disk, the color of an eye shadow I suspect I currently own!)

(These are more sparkly in person than they appear on screen.)

And for parents of kids needing something a little more generous with time measurement, the cheery Time Timer® MOD Home Edition Rainbow Wheel colorfully communicates time segmentation to children in five minute increments.

While the Home Editions are equally useful at home or work, the 60-minute Time Timer Mod Education Editions has more specific uses. They come in charcoal with the classic, highly visible red disks and optional silicone skins. However, when Time Timer spoke with educators and therapists, they learned of needs for shorter-duration and longer-timed options, so they created 10-minute (white with a yellow disk), 30-minute (white with an orange disk), and 120-minute (white with a purple disk) versions.

Time Timer RETRO Eco Edition

For those seeking a combination of productivity and sustainability, Timer Timer developed the RETRO Eco Edition. These 7.5″ square timers are smaller than the Original line and come in two styles, Green Land and Blue Water. They take one AA battery, like the MOD line, and come only in 60-minute versions. Their key appeal is how they are manufactured.

By combining a rice husk byproduct with their plastic, they’ve eliminated any unnecessary plastic pieces, reducing the overall plastic usage these timers by nearly half compared to similar timers. Additionally, 1% of the Time Timer RETRO Eco Edition sales go to their Time Timer® Making Time for Trees Initiative, a program committed to planting more trees and offsetting Time Timer’s carbon footprint. This version also eliminates the plastic lens, making it easier to repair a disk and yield a longer product life cycle.

Time Timer BRAILLE 8”

Closing out the physical Time Timers is the newest and most intriguing, the Time Timer Braille 8″, the first tactile, high-contrast, visual timer!

This innovative, empowering design allows both users with vision impairment and fully sighted users to use the same device simultaneously to monitor time use, stay productive, and support focus without hyper-focus. It’s suitable for classroom use, students taking tests or working on their own or in groups, and adult work or household projects. Like the MOD and RETRO lines, this 8-inch square timer takes one AA battery.

This timer combines their traditional disappearing disk with a tactile-set bar and Braille writing, so that vision-impaired users can set and track time themselves, by touch. The audible alert is optional.

While this is not the only Braille timer I’ve seen, Time Timer’s version offers the advantage of the high-contrast color differences (of the disk against the white background) for low-vision and fully-sighted users with Braille for vision-impaired users, something I’ve not found in other options.

[For current prices of Time Timer, please see the individual product pages linked.]

Time Timer has other products, ones which I would identify as hybrid, offering both an analog and digital approach to timers, and we’ll examine them in the next post.

Again, Time Timer is not the only timer manufacturere, but their wide variety of options make them the first line of productivity support for children and adults, at home, work, and play.

If, based on what I explained in the first two parts of this series, you to believe that you, your child, or someone with whom you work might benefit from a timer that unites the features of a tangible, visual, and analog timer with an optional, gentle (but non-customizable) alert, Time Timer should be your first stop.

OTHER PHYSICAL TIMERS

Lest this post feel like a commercial for Time Timer, there are a variety of other tangible timers worth considering, especially for those individuals most needing both:

a timer with aesthetic appeal
a physical timer, something that approximates a fidget toy

but not necessarily one with a visual approach to the passage of time.

Focus Timer® Visual Timer

You may recall that last week, I noted a primary problem with using an hourglass timer: it requires the user to “gauge what those collective grains of sand mean.” With a real hourglass, you must judge the ratio of sand above to what already passed down. A modernized version eliminates that problem.

The Focus Timer® Visual Timer has an adjustable hourglass design allowing you to set customized time measurements from one to 100 minutes.

Made of what the manufacturers call a “magic touch material,” this 3.75″ x 2″ timer has some appealing features:

a “soothing” chime alert with three volume settings and a mute option (I put “soothing” in quotation marks because, as the video below shows, it’s a little high-pitched for my timer tastes.)
ability to recharge via an included USB-C charging cable
10 hours of use before requiring charging
100 days of standby time
a visual display such that horizontal blue rings are one minute each and yellow rings are 10 minutes each

It works by turning and “twisting” your fingers along the surface, much as you can operate your phone with drags, drops, taps, and pinches. Watch this video to appreciate how it works:

For the right user, this might be ideal for timing quiet reading and working stints, meditating, exercising, or other “gentle” activities, but not for large group meetings.

The Focus Timer® Visual Timer comes recommended by Gretchen Rubin, Cal Newport, Dan Ariely, and others in the productivity realm. It provides a beautiful visual display, making it (fairly) easy to judge the passage of time before the alert.

Note, compared to other timers, it’s a hefty $99 at Amazon or $89 at Focus Timer.

Moaas Timers

I’ve explored a number timers, and for those who don’t need a visual display of time passing but love that tactile, fidgety goodness of a timer they can hold and manipulate, Moaas has a variety of options.

The most basic are the Moaas Cube Timers, requiring two AA batteries. For about $15 at Amazon, these 2.6″ cubes come in violet, coral, mint green, white, and yellow.

Facets of the violet, white, and yellow cubes can be set for 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes; the mint green version may be set for 1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes, while the coral’s settings are for 10, 30, 50, and 60 minutes.

To operate, just turn the timer so that the side with the number faces up and the timer starts counting immediately.

A red light blinks while the timer is in use, which can either be comforting or annoying, depending on how blinking lights impact your focus. Adjust the alarm volume between low and high with a switch; another flicked switch turns off the timer completely.

These very basic timers will suffice for timing exercising, studying, cooking or taking a nap, but I suspect they may be a little “low-rent.” While I don’t have a Mooas cube timer, I do own a fairly ancient, battery-operated, 2.25″ Datexx Time Cube that appears to be much the same. The interior weight that identifies which timer specification has been turned upright (and similar to what Mooas uses) rattles and the whole mechanism lacks the “fun” I expected from a fiddly version.

That said, Mooas has a variety of timer upgrades that may appeal to those who want a timer that looks cute and is fun to handle. The Multi-Cube Timer Clock combines a digital clock readout with pre-set timed facets on the cube. These 2.56″ square cubes come in two versions:

5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes in white for $18.90 at Amazon
1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes in mint green for about $17 at Amazon

While the Mooas shows them as also coming in yellow, coral, and grey, those do not seem to be sold currently.

Mooas’ Multi-Hexagon Clock Timers are cool to look at and offer similar fidget-worthy features in a hexagonal style, but Amazon has marked as a “frequently returned item,” which is somewhat concerning. As always, function should be a higher priority than aesthetics, even when aesthetic appeal is needed to encourage commitment to timer use.

Happily, there’s no such warning on the 2.24″D x 1.84″W x 2.24″H Mooas Dodecagon Time Ball Rechargeable Mini Timers, which come with eleven different pre-sets: 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60, and 90-minute timers and three colors: sand peach, blue, and white. Charge the timers with an included USB-C charger.

There are three alarm modes: sound, vibration, and silent, and it sells for about $25 on Amazon.

I suspect that this small, fiddly timer may appeal best to teenagers and gamers.

Similarly styled cube, hexagonal, and multi-sided timers can be found all over Amazon and in Big Box stores and dollar stores. This $38 TickTime Pomorodo Cube, which is not a cube at all but a hexagon, comes in blue, black, or white; has pause and resume modes, and the adjustable sound can be silenced or replaced with only vibration.

Mechanical Timers

Finally, remember that the simpler your physical timer is — if it requires no fiddling, no batteries, and no instruction manuals — the more likely you will be to use it.

If you don’t struggle with time blindness and don’t need to see the passage of time, and if you can accept (and won’t be startled by) a ding, a mechanical timer may be your best, first, and least expensive option.

If that’s a traditional pomodoro tomato timer, so be it.

But it just as easily may be a not-so-traditional dinosaur timer.

As always, the best solution for any productivity strategy is the one you’ll actually use.

This is just a sampling of tangible timers.

Their main advantages are that they look cool or cute, so you are more likely to remember to use them, and they satisfy a desire for a physical manipulation of time. However, the downfall of tangible timers is that they are rarely customizable beyond volume and time settings.

If you’re less concerned about being able to fiddle with your timers, and your delight is more likely to come from the ability to customize features (or just have your timer built into the devices you already use), next week’s post with digital and hybrid timers may be more to your liking.

Until then, do you have a tangible timer you love? Did one in this post tickle your fancy? Please let me know in the comments.

Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, and I may get a small remuneration (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking through to the resulting pages. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Seriously, who else would claim them?)

Posted in Office, Office Supplies, Paper Organizing, Productivity, Task Management, Tech, Time Management, Timers | 10 Comments »

How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 2: Pick the Right Timer

Posted on: April 14th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 8 Comments

Future, noun. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true, and our happiness is assured.

~ Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Bierce’s satire aside, the future is unpredictable, and no matter how speedily we attempt to get there, by the time we arrive where the future was, it has moved off again, always out of our grasp. Time is slippery that way, and the only control we have over time is how and what we choose to do with it.

Last week, in How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 1, we looked at a variety of ways to use timers to help us be more focused and productive at home and at work, for ourselves on our own or with our work teams or families.

Today, we’ll look at the qualities of what makes a “good” timer, in general and for you, specifically. A lot more goes into your choice than just being able to keep track of time as it keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TIMER?

You could use an hourglass for noting the passage of time: two (attached) transparent glass bulbs, voluminous grains of sand, and gravity. Hourglasses have existed since the 16th century BCE and offer an somewhat accurate way of time keeping, whether to decorate your mantle or play a mean game of Boggle.

Unfortunately, an hourglass requires you to stop what you are doing, look over at it, and be able to gauge what those collective grains of sand mean.

It’s not very helpful for those who hyper-focus (as they’d never remember to look at the hourglass in the first place) in order to pace themselves. Worse, for those who are prone to easy distraction, hourglasses are silent; by the time you discern the ratio of sand on the top to sand on the bottom and calculate how much time you have left, you’ll have forgotten what you were writing or doing in the first place!

Hourglasses also lack the precision you’ll need if you want to make a soufflé.

So, let’s first look at the basic characteristics of a good timer.

A Good Timer Must Be Simple

It doesn’t matter whether you use a digital timer (or app) or an analog clock timer, though there are features of each style that will make you more likely to enjoy the experience and therefore stick to it.

The first essential principle is that a timer must be easy — preferably intuitive — to operate. You shouldn’t need a thirty-page manual or a YouTube video to figure out how it works.

A Good Timer Should Offer A Bonus

If a timer doesn’t offer something more than or different from what you’ve already got, why are you looking for something new?

Why buy a physical timer that’s not materially different from the kitchen timer on your stove?

If a turn of a dial and a loud, angry buzz will suffice for you, if you only need one timer set at a time, if all your work is done in proximity to the kitchen — why look further?

Similarly, why download an app that does what your phone’s countdown timer can already do?

We professional organizers caution clients that buying more and different bins and storage items won’t solve problems if you don’t purge excess and sort what remains. Similarly, if you’re not using the various timer apps you’ve already downloaded, and there’s nothing materially different about the ones you’re coveting in the app store, back away from the screen!

If a timer can’t do anything but replicate the features you already have available to you, it’s not a benefit; it’s clutter. So, either identify what’s not already satisfying about the timers you have at your disposal, or investigate what else is prompting you to keep shopping for a solution.

A Good Timer Integrates with What You Already Have

A timer should have the capacity to work with your calendar or to-do list, if necessary. You shouldn’t have to learn an entirely new app’s system for scheduling, time blocking, or task completion. If you’re using your timer in conjunction with a virtual meeting, it should integrate with the meeting software (as we discussed last week).

Does the timer you’re considering play nicely with whatever you’re already doing, or does it force you to jump through hoops.

Got a physical timer that fits in with your desk vibe, so it doesn’t look like a leftover from your 7th-grade math class? Stellar! But if your tangible timer topples off your shelf or is too big to fit in your school or work bag, you’re going to leave it behind.
Do you need a timer app that syncs with your calendar or to-do list, or at least fits with your digital-only life?

There’s no best timer solution because we all need and want different things. The key to your timer helping you succeed is if it helps reinforce routines and habits you already love (or at least are learning to try to love).

The key to your timer helping you succeed is if it helps reinforce routines and habits you already love (or at least are learning to try to love). Share on X

A Good Timer Shows You the Shape of Time

Time is measured in hours, minutes, seconds, even milliseconds, and yet it can seem amorphous. With the exception (as we’ll discuss later) of those who feel anxious working against a visible countdown clock, the prospect of using a timer delivers a great advantage: helping you see the progress of time at a glance.

You want a visual cue that says, “Look! Time is passing… but don’t panic,” — not one that leaves you feeling like Indiana Jones watching the stone door close.

The less cognitive effort and physical attention it takes to check in, the more you stay in flow. And the more you stay in the flow, focused on your goals, the more productive you will be. The timer is there to help you be motivated to start working, and then to prompt you step away when it’s time to rest.

When you look away to see if here’s any time left on the timer, you should be able to quickly refocus on your work. That means your time remaining needs to be displayed clearly and cause no confusion so you can slip seamless back into task mode.

Conversely, if you’ve been resting (or goofing off) and need to get back to work on the next Pomodoro, or must keep the roast from turning into a charcoal briquette, you’ll want a loud (enough) yoo-hoo to help you transition to the next stage!

A Good Timer Should Be Frictionless

If a timer is annoying or awkward to use, you’re going to find reasons to avoid using it. Setting a timer should be as easy as turning a dial or scrolling to the correct time and pushing a button or toggling it to ON.

A tangible timer should either be mechanical and battery-free, or the batteries should be easy to replace with the kinds of batteries you already tend to have on hand, usually AA or AAA. (A client of mine recently bought a large number of small flashlights to keep around her house in case of a power outage; she didn’t realize that they required 3.7 volt lithium ion batteries, so she had to purchase special batteries and a charger. Always check what kind of batteries a gadget requires!)

The annoying truth is that humans are willing to go to ridiculous levels of effort to avoid easy solutions to their problems.

Look at the number of children (and adult significant others who act like children) who won’t lift the lid off the laundry hamper in order to put dirty clothes inside. They’ll pile laundry up on top or just drop things on the floor rather than taking that teeny bit of one-second, lift-the-lid effort to use the hamper.

Thus, anything that creates friction — batteries that die quickly, an app that requires you to log in every time you want to use it — is going to slow you down or prompt you to avoid using it altogether.

When you're looking for a timer to help you be more productive, anything that creates friction — batteries that die quickly, and app that requires you to log in every time — is going to slow you down or prompt you to avoid using it… Share on X

A Good Timer Is Process-Agnostic

No, this has nothing to do with timing a Sunday morning or Friday night sermon. Rather, whatever timer you choose should let you develop your own personal system. Francesco Cirillo, the inventor of the Pomodoro Technique, used a process of trial and error to develop the idea of working in no more than four 25-minute sessions with a five-minute break between each.

It’s a popular strategy and definitely helps conquer procrastination. But as convenient as 25/5 Pomodoros are for students struggling to hunker down and study or work on problem sets, these are not magic productivity numbers.

If I wrote this blog in 25-minute chunks, I’d likely be interrupting myself just as I started to get my creative mojo flowing. Instead, I tend to use modified Pomodoros or the 52/17 Method when I’m writing because I can get into more of a flow. However, for boring admin work like accounting or filing, I’ll often opt for 15-minute time blocks because I know I will try to “beat the clock” to get as many tasks as possible done in an hour.

As we’ll see, a timer needs to fit the way you want to use it for you to achieve maximum productivity.

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE BEST TIMER FOR YOUR NEEDS AND PERSONALITY

Beyond the basics of a good timer, what makes a timer fit your path to productivity depends largely on your style and the kind of work you’re trying to accomplish. As we discussed last week, this could involve anything from a team brainstorming meeting at work to getting the laundry folded before company comes, preventing hyper-focus when dealing with email or just getting out the door on time.

Even with all of the basics in play, there are a variety of customizations that will make-or-break your timer experience.

Aesthetics of a Timer

A timer, whether for strict Pomodoros or just to make sure you don’t let the pasta water boil over, needs to invite you to use it.

If you’re a no-nonsense type of person, you may want a digital timer that lets you pick the work and break durations quickly, with no fuss, and that’s all!

If your aesthetic tastes tend toward the cozy and traditional, you might prefer something nostalgic like the traditional tomato-shaped timer; if you have a cute and twee aesthetic, your ideal timer may look like this:

Nuoswek Mechanical kitchen timer

If you’re opting for a digital timer, you might want to be able to adjust the brightness and color. Some people can’t abide the standard screen for a digital app and immediately opt for dark mode; others want a timer set to their personal color aesthetic.

For example, when I’m in the Time Timer app, even though I almost always prefer to use light mode on my screens for writing and surfing, I like dark mode for timers. For me, that makes the timer blend into the background and I can quickly regain my focus after checking the timer.

Similarly, I usually select pink or purple timers, but I have clients who color-code timers for specific tasks: red timers for high-impact work, blue timers for meditation, green for exercise, and so on.

Perhaps the visual aspects of a timer are less important to you than the auditory ones. Maybe you prefer your timer to have an alarm or musical alert that won’t be jarring.

In the comments on last week’s post, my colleague Sabrina Quairoli noted that using timers can make people anxious. That anxiety can come from the concept of a timer itself, or from the sound the timer makes. If it’s the sound, it’s a matter of selecting a timer with customizable auditory options.

If the concept of a timer with the time ticking down quickly makes you antsy, you’re going to want to avoid a digital timer showing the seconds slipping away as if you’re trying to make your Oscar acceptance speech before the orchestra plays you off the stage.

Instead, opt for a timer with a soothing visual approach, one that doesn’t show the second-by-second passage of time. Rather, select one that indicates the overarching passage of time (the minutes or chunks of time) without the more granular metrics.

For example, all of Time Timer‘s analog timers that use a colored disk would be appropriate for a more gentle approach to illustrating the passage of time.

Note: The TimerTimer Twists, have both an analog and digital countdown; if seeing those seconds disappear stresses you out, skip those versions.

Customizability without complexity

You want a timer that will adjust to your rhythm, whether you’re a 25-minute Pomodoro purist for blogging or a “give me 43 minutes because that’s how long (without commercials) it took Columbo to solve a crime” computer code bug tracker.

Consider whether you just want your timer to just block time and alert you when your scheduled time is up, or if you prefer it to automatically set alternating work and rest intervals. Some timers will let you set any increments you want, at least up to 99 minutes. Others are fixed, and will only let you set the timer in five minute increments.

If you’re hoping to use the timer to for cooking, exercising, or for medical purposes (like the seconds after self-administering an injection before you can remove the needle, or the number of seconds to do breathing exercises), you’ll want to be as granular as possible, so seconds and minutes will be key.

Teachers and parents may prefer short-format timers to help kids see and feel the duration of time: of five minutes in time-out, ten minutes of quiet reading, fifteen minutes until bedtime. Meanwhile, knowledge workers will likely need larger chunks of measurable time, from 25 minutes to two hours.

Affective Design Customization

Affective design is an approach that focuses on creating products, services, and experiences that evoke emotions (or, for some purposes, avoid evoking the wrong emotions) in users.

In other words, you want to pick a timer (or selection of timers) with emotionally-supportive vibes (as the kids say). Think about the reason you’re setting up your timer, and how you want to feel while you’re working and, in particular, how you want to feel when the timer goes off and you’re being alerted to the need to transition.

Some people want Mister Rogers with a gentle ding or buzz to remind them that, “Hey, friend, you’re doing great, and you deserve the reward of a five minute break.” (Bonus material: Mr. Rogers Neighborhood episode: Waiting for Time to Pass.)

Others want Judge Judy slamming the gavel to say, “Time’s up, sweetie!” in so harsh a manner that there’s no chance you’ll go back to TikTok or forget to use the restroom if you’ve been hyper-focusing way too long.

As we’ve alluded, may want to adjust your sound options to create the best vibe. Do you want to be be shaken to attention to make sure you’ll stop doomscrolling and get out the door to pick your kid up from ballet? Or might you prefer a soothing trill of music to signal the end of a writing session (without a din) so that you won’t forget that brilliant turn of phrase you were just starting to write?

One-and-done or loop-de-loop?

Just as you may need to consider how in-your-face a timer should be to help you be as productive as possible, you also should think about how attentive a timer you want.

If you’re cooking something and are afraid either your body or your mind will stray, a one-and-done timer will suffice.

Conversely, there are a number of reasons you might want to set repeated or looping cycles, such as if:

you’re training yourself to tidy up your work area for five minutes every hour
you want to take breaks between sessions, whether you’re doing a 25/5 Pomodoro, following the 52/17 Method, or considering any of the other productivity techniques in Frogs, Tomatoes, and Bees: Time Techniques to Get Things Done.
you’re following the advice in Take a Break — How Breaks Improve Health and Productivity and following the 20-20-20 Rule for your vision. (Every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds to prevent eye strain!)

A looping function is especially nice if you tend to overstay your planned breaks between tasks. Setting a repeated work/break timer prevents “I’ll take a five-minute break” from becoming a Netflix bender.

You may not always want to create repetitive cycles, but a timer that can repeat or remind you to reset will help automate your habits. (Generally, you’ll need a digital timer if you want cycles to loop automatically.)

Discretion is the better part of timing

In addition to considering what’s the best timer for your own situation, you may need to seek one with discreet modes for the benefit of not disturbing the people around you. For example:

Sleeping baby by Ivone De Melo

sleeping babies (or easily startled pets)
roommates or housemates (particularly those on different sleep, class, or work schedules)
co-workers in cubicles or open-format offices
fellow library or coffee house patrons

In such situations, you’ll want a timer with the stealth of a Mission: Impossible agent (not the drama of a WWE competitor making a grand entrance.

If you often find yourself working (or otherwise needing to focus) while in the company of others with different focus agendas, consider whether it might be to your advantage to find a timer with alternatives to an audible “time’s up” alert. A gentle blink or color shift can be just as effective as a sound.

Picking a timer for someone else

We all want the timer equivalent of Mary Poppins — practically perfect in every way — but the truth is that we will always have to consider the task involved and personality of the user. Additionally, you may need to identify timer solutions for people with special auditory or visual challenges (like the Time Timer BRAILLE 8”) or medical needs.

In other words, the timer your seven-year-old needs to focus while doing math homework may be very different from what your fifteen-year-old needs to get up from an hour of gaming and leave for band rehearsal.

And both of them may need something very different from what you need from a timer at work or that Grandpa needs to remember to take his medication after dinner.

None of this means you have to spent a fortune on timers; just knowing the advantages of particular features will allow you to discern what will work best. In the next post in this series, we’ll examine traditional and novel timers for improving productivity and yielding the just right amount of focus.

What timer features are the most important to you? How does do these change depending on your work or life contexts?

Posted in Office Supplies, Paper Organizing, Productivity, Task Management, Tech, Time Management, Timers | 8 Comments »

How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 1

Posted on: April 7th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 12 Comments

Everyone seems to agree that January slogged on, but people are shocked that we’ve suddenly arrived in April, with February and March having disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The truth is, most people aren’t very good at gauging the passage of time. In her A Working Library blog, Mandy Brown wrote Out of Time about writing, taking breaks, and resting. Prompted by another author’s piece about having gone on a retreat to find time to focus and recommending an analog timer (unsurprisingly, a Time Timer), Brown ordered one, but suffered frustration because she couldn’t get it to work. She kept putting in batteries and trading them out for others, finally ending the anecdote with:

I thought perhaps the timer didn’t like rechargeable batteries—some devices are persnickety that way—so I went rummaging around the house for a regular battery, found one in the toolbox, swapped it into the timer, turned the dial. And waited.

And waited.

Nothing.

I gave up, and went to fix lunch.

About a half hour later, as I was putting dishes away, I heard a steady beep from somewhere upstairs.

It was the timer, going off.

The damn thing had been working all along.

I just didn’t think it was working fast enough.

Time often fails to work as we think it should. It drags on, or it disappears. But of course, time is uniform; time is a constant. There are always 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and so on. We are the ones with the problem, not time. We lack motivation and procrastinate. At first, the time available seems endless; then we panic and finally settle down, but allow ourselves to be interrupted, and the available time is suddenly gone.

In one of my most popular posts, Frogs, Tomatoes, and Bees: Time Techniques to Get Things Done, we looked at what we need to understand about our problematic time behaviors, and at nifty system solutions, including the Pomodoro Technique and its offshoots (Tocks, 90-Minute Blocks, 52/17 Method, and Flow State).

The exact number of minutes may vary, but the strategies remain the same:

Do a brain dump to know everything you have to work on.
Break large projects and concepts into smaller, distinct tasks so you can identify specific activities from which to choose.
Prioritize what’s important to find the essential next task to tackle.
Start that task and stay focused.
Take a break. (Not sure how or why? Read Take a Break — How Breaks Improve Health and Productivity.)
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Some methods may also involve noting what internal or external disruptions occurred. (Did you get hungry and wander off for a snack? Did a stray notification steal your attention and take you down a social media rabbit hole? Did your kids or co-worker need help finding something right in front of their eyes?)

To improve our use of time, we can incorporate short-term accountability, bringing in co-working buddies to body double and keep us focused and on-task.

Other methods involve giving ourselves rewards. Some digital apps support Pomodoro-based work using gamification, rewarding focus and completion. Maybe you’re not a carrot person but a stick person, and need a negative consequence for not sticking with it?

No matter your method, there’s one more commonality to all of these approaches: keeping track of time! And for that, we get the biggest bang for our buck by using timers.

WHY AND HOW TO USE TIMERS FOR PRODUCTIVITY

“C’mon, really?” clients ask, giving me the side-eye when I pull out one of my visual timers. “Can’t I just work until I get it done?”

Sure. Maybe. But probably not, especially if I’m not there with them.

If telling yourself to get down to work — and working a certain amount of time and not getting distracted but also not hyper-focusing to the point of getting burned out, eye strain, and a headache — actually worked for everyone, then time management wouldn’t be a “thing.”

Timers help us in all manner of ways, at work at and home. At its most basic, a physical timer or a visual digital timer/app creates a tangible representation of time passing so you can see and feel time.

Use Timers for Productivity at Work

You’re probably not shocked at the idea of using a timer, but you may feel silly employing one. Do you think that unless you’re a professional athlete, a surgeon struggling to perform a procedure within a safe time span, or a special effects master overseeing synchronization, that timers can’t help you?

There are many ways to improve your productivity at work with the help of timers.

For yourself

Avoid falling into the email rabbit hole — Set a timer so you don’t “come to” three hours later in the midst of an email-induced stupor, wondering why you just read an entire newsletter about artisanal butter when you were just looking for a sign-up email to send to your colleague.

Time block your tasks like a pro — We’ve talked extensively about time blocking here at Paper Doll HQ. The only way to make sure you have time for all of your priorities is to schedule time on your calendar — the space where time lives — for attending to them.

But your calendar isn’t the only tool you need for time blocking. It tells you when you’re supposed to start a task, but how will you remember when to move to the next thing?

Want to tackle your bookkeeping and still have time for a snack? Set your timer, get it done, and reward yourself with something yummy like an apple. Or cheese. Or cookies. (As they say on TikTok, we listen and we don’t judge.)

Prevent perfectionism paralysis — When societies were agrarian, we knew we were “finished” when we’d reaped the harvest; most modern work ends with deadlines — or (seemingly) never ends at all. Give yourself a hard stop on tweaking that PowerPoint so you don’t turn a simple deck into a TED Talk that nobody asked for. When the timer buzzes, you’re done. Move on with your day (and your life).

Give yourself a hard stop on tweaking that PowerPoint so you don’t turn a simple deck into a TED Talk that nobody asked for. When the timer buzzes, you're done. Move on with your day (and your life). Share on X

Keep deep work from locking you in the deep freeze — You’re focused, you’re in the zone — until you look up and realize that it’s dark outside and you forgot to eat lunch or pick up your kid from soccer practice. A timer keeps you from pulling a Christopher Nolan-style time dilation.

For your team

Prevent your meetings from dragging on like Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” (run-time: 3 hours and 29 minutes!) — Keep a visual timer in sight so everyone knows when the meeting should actually end, not just when it starts to improve satisfaction and engagement. Otherwise, the Monday status meeting begins to feel like a hostage situation.

If you’re the one moderating the meeting, install and set up the Zoom timer in the app:

Add the Timer – Clock, Agenda, Countdown & Stopwatch to your paid Zoom account
Using the Zoom Timer App

(Google Meet has a similar option you can add to the Chrome browser. While Microsoft Teams does not have a built-in timer, you can integrate third-party timers into a PowerPoint presentation or add one to the meeting itself.

Help participants in your virtual meetings keep it snappy — Have you ever been on a Zoom call where someone talks in circles or drones on? Use a timer built into the screen and the meeting won’t devolve into a filibuster.

Help team members segment their time for time tracking — Use timers to track how long tasks take and identify areas for improvement.

Having a timer go off (no more than) every thirty minutes or hour to prompt logging/tracking activities will help team members be more aware of how they spend their time, and make them (and you) less likely to get distracted by low-urgency, low-importance tasks. (For more on the benefits of time tracking, see my recent post, How to Use Time Tracking to Improve Your Productivity.)

However, it’s important that you don’t use timers to micromanage your team. A timer can be a powerful tool, but the moment you use it to time someone’s bathroom breaks or note that they come back from lunch two minutes after the buzzer, you’ve veered from Motivational Mama to Big Brother.

Use Timers to Improve Personal Time & Daily Living

Keep your meals from turning into messes — The number one most common reason for using a timer at home is for cooking, and yet people really underutilize timers. Baking brownies? Sure, you’ll set the timer for 25 minutes. You know that it’s important to measure how long something should cook when there’s a recipe in the cookbook or the back of the box.

Kitchen Timer of HotPoint Electric Range, Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

But how often do you set a timer to make sure you don’t get distracted and walk away altogether? Have you ever put the pasta in the boiling water or started the soup, only to get pulled away from the stove by your kids, a telephone call, a story on the news? Have you ever just turned your back on the stove to scroll through your feed and totally lost track of time until you heard the unmistakeable splish-splash of a pot boiling over?

It’s not really true that a watched pot never boils, but it is absolutely true that an unwatched pot boils over before you’re ready. And an monitored oven or air fryer will turn whatever you put in it into ash.

There’s a reason your microwave has a timer built-in. The manufacturers know that you’ll set a timer for something set to cook for a long while, but that you’ll overestimate your ability to get back in two minutes and forty seconds and completely forget that you were cooking.

If you’re not going to watch your food cook (and you are forgiven for not wanting to do that), set a timer. Use the timer built into your oven or just shout out, “Hey, Siri, set a timer for 7 minutes!”

And honestly, if you are sometimes so distracted that you don’t know why the alarm is going off, even if you set it fifteen minutes ago, you can say, “Hey, Siri, set an alarm for 7 minutes and call it ‘Pasta'” so that when you look at your phone to turn off the alarm, you’ll know what’s what.

Save your laundry from shrinkage and wrinkleage — Modern washers and dryers have all sorts of bells and whistles. Well, bells and music, at least, with their deedle-deedle-ding musical trills as the washer changes cycles. However, if your laundry machines are in the basement and you’re on the second floor, you might not even hear those twinklingly annoying “dulcet” laundry tones.

And if, like me, you have a practical but not very modern washer/dryer set-up (the kind without myriad settings and just normal/delicate/heavy duty settings), your dryer may have one loud ear-splitting BUZZ to alert you that your clothes are dry and absolutely nothing (but the absence of white noise) to let you know that your washer is done. And again, if you’re not right by your laundry area, you may not even hear that.

But do you know what you always hear?

Your phone, because it’s never more than a foot away from you for long, and usually it’s within arm’s reach. Get to know how long your washer and dryer cycles are and create alarms for them: 17 or 35 minutes or whatever. Name the cycles something simple, like “Get clothes from dryer” or “Switch clothes from washer to dryer.”

The next time you start a load, just slide the toggle to ON and you’ll be alerted just about when your laundry is ready for you. This way, you’ll have no wet clothes sitting all night in the washer growing mold, and no set-in wrinkles from clothes that could have been folded or hung.

Get a shower time reality check — Ever take a shower so long you accidentally turn it into a spa day?

A timer keeps you from running your water bill up like you’re auditioning for The Little Mermaid. An alternative to keeping a regular timer in your steamy bathroom is investing in a Bluetooth shower speaker connected to your cell phone, with an alarm set to play a favorite song. There are a lot of popular, inexpensive shower speakers that look something like this:

Though I have to admit that I’m pretty partial to the aesthetics of this Ernie-approved rubber ducky version:

Make it out the door…on time (for once) — Somehow, getting dressed and grabbing your keys takes exactly as long as the time you don’t have.

The underlying problem may be that you are always trying to do just one more thing. Or perhaps your physical space’s disorganization holds you back. Maybe you don’t have a good morning routine, or it could be that you’re subconsciously trying to sabotage yourself because you really don’t want to go to work or Jazzercise or your mother-in-law’s house.

But if you truly want to get out the door in time, a timer can help keep you focused on the “time benchmarks” of your day, like when to be done with breakfast and get in the shower, or when to make sure you’re putting on your shoes or grabbing your bag.

A timer is you in the present, sending a message to yourself in the future, which will be received by your future present-self as a message from your past self. (Christopher Nolan has nothing on Paper Doll!)

Limit doomscrolling before bed∫— Set a timer so you don’t accidentally binge-watch TikTok or Instagram until the sun comes up, causing you to regret your entire life.

And if you tend to doomscroll in the morning and forget to get out of bed, setting a series of morning timers (annoyingly two minutes apart) can’t hurt.

Speed-Clean Like a Sitcom Montage — Set a 15-minute timer and pretend you’re in a time-lapse TV-cleaning montage. Bonus points for using Eye of the Tiger as your background music.

This works especially well if you want to play 52 Pickup with your kids. Chores are boring; competition (against their siblings, against you, or even against their all-time best score) makes them more challenging. Let’s face it — hours between getting home from school and bedtime can be messy. Set a timer to see who can pick up the most number of things (that don’t belong there) and put them away; the winner gets to pick the background music for the next day’s challenge.

Running around to find things to pick up will either wear your kids out so that they’ll sleep more soundly or make it more likely that they’ll (eventually) put things away after using them; either way, it’s a win, teaching them that it’s not your responsibility to follow them around playing maid!

Convince your kids that bedtime is not a negotiation — Maybe your third-grader seems more like a tiny corporate attorney when bedtime approaches, acting surprised by the deadline and immediately offering wheedling compromises.

A visual timer lets kids see how much time is left before bedtime, so they can’t argue with Father Time. The idea of 8 o’clock is pretty abstract. Make it more tangible.

When I was growing up, I knew what time I had to go to bed based on what time a particular TV show ended, but with streaming more popular that broadcast, that sense of time in increments of hours and half-hours and even segments between commercial breaks (the served me well when I worked in television) is meaningless to today’s kids, when not only can you start a show at any moment you want, but you can pause it and finish it the next day (or never).

Pacify the “Just One More Game” gamer — If you, or your partner, roommate, or kid always needs “one more round” of their game before stopping, a timer makes it clear when it’s time to save and quit for the day. It’s harder to argue with a timer alert than a person, and more difficult to resent a non-human telling you it’s time to pack it in.

It's harder to argue with a timer alert than a person, and more difficult to resent a non-human telling you it's time to pack it in. Share on X

Keep screen time from turning into screen day — Whether it’s kids, spouses, or yourself, a visual timer helps prevent an innocent 30-minute YouTube break from spiraling into an entire season of The Office.

To summarize, whether we are at work or at home, we can use timers:

To make sure we focus.
To make sure we don’t hyper-focus (or goof off) too long.
To remind us to take breaks and remember to rest.

Of course, this is just the beginning of the productivity magic of timers.

As this series continues, we’ll look at what makes a great timer — for the way your brain works and for improved productivity for particular tasks. It’s not that tangible timers or digital timers are better, per se, but they each have different positive attributes and potential pitfalls, depending on the purpose for which you’re blocking out time.

As we move on, I’ll share classic, beloved timers as well as the newest and niftiest options for both analog/tangible timers and digital timers/apps, and help you figure out which will help you achieve your productivity goals.

Now that you can envision a wider variety of circumstances for using a timer to amp up your productivity, please share if there are other circumstances you use timers to help you buckle down and focus or, alternatively, keep you from worrying that you’ll hyper-focus right through dinner. What has worked for you, your work team, or your family?

Posted in Paper Organizing, Productivity, Task Management, Tech, Time Management | 12 Comments »

Paper Doll Investigates Birthday Freebies: The Hidden Cost of Free Stuff

Posted on: March 17th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 12 Comments

My birthday was last week. I don’t need to say exactly how old I am; let’s just say I was born sometime between the Pleistocene Era and the invention of the internet. I came into the world with big mouth (as evidence below) and a fondness for sharing my thoughts.

Paper Doll and Paper Mommy, mid-March 1967

Birthdays are nice. They come with gifts and cake. In my case, they come with cheese, too. All my favorite people know how much I love cheese, and Craig, my friend since grad school, has started a tradition of sending me a box of 50 mini (3/4-ounce) wrapped Cabot Seriously Sharp white cheddar cheeses every year through Vermont’s Dakin Farm.

In the 21st century with relatively little effort on one’s part, birthdays can also come with freebies. So far this month, I’ve received emails and texts alerting me to the following birthday freebies and discounts:

Birthday Food Freebies

Auntie Anne’s — one free hot pretzel
Bad Daddy Burger Bar — one free burger, salad, or sandwich
Ben & Jerry’s — one free scoop of ice cream
Chicken Salad Chick — one free meal (I get the Pimento Cheese on a croissant!)
Fresh Market — one free (gigantic) slice of cake
Jimmy John’s — one free sandwich or wrap
Krispy Kreme — free 3-count of Original Glazed doughnuts
Moe’s Southwest Grill — one free order of queso (cheese!) or guacamole
Publix — one free container of ice cream or a cake “bar” from the bakery
Regal Theater — one free small popcorn
Starbucks — one free drink or snack
Waffle House — one free classic waffle

Birthday Non-Food Freebies

The Container Store — 15% off
IKEA — $10 off any purchase of $10 or more
Kohl’s — $5 off
Lane Bryant — $20 off any purchase of $20.01 or more (Ample-bosomed ladies, this is definitely the big ticket winner!)
Target — 5% off any shopping trip (and yes, I acknowledge Target’s “issues”)
World Market — $5 off as well as a separate 15% off

By now, you may be wondering, what does this have to do with organizing?

FREEBIES: A DOUBLE-EDGED SLICE OF CAKE

I didn’t have to go to much effort to secure these freebies and discounts. Most apps and reward programs ask for your birthday when you sign up. We can debate whether giving up our month and date of birth to a corporate entity is an invasion of privacy (and whether it’s worth it to get a Bloomin’ Onion or a Chocolate Thunder from Down Under).

By the time my inbox finished shouting “Happy Birthday!” I felt less like the birthday girl and more like a walking coupon book. Birthday freebies, and freebies in general, feel like a win. And when I nibbled a bite of cinnamon coffee cake or try on a deeply-discounted article of clothing I coveted, but didn’t want to splurge on, I felt like a winner.

But these freebies can come with strings attached — financial, organizational, and productivity-related strings.

Obviously, birthday freebies are a marketing tool. We generally ignore that, though, as we all get that little dopamine rush when someone (even a random corporation) recognizes our birthday.

And we all love “free” things, even as we recognize that being the object of a marketing campaign means that, while we are not necessarily paying for something with money, we are paying with our loyalty and our attention. As the saying goes, if you’re not paying for it, you’re the product.

Advertisers are buying our attention; rewards programs are buying our loyalty. Conversely, my grad school friend Craig is only getting my good will and my resplendently awful — or awfully gouda — cheese puns in my thank you cards.

Maybe you feel like you’re wise to the freebie game, but there are some sneaky gremlins hiding among the balloons and presents.

The “I’ll Just Spend a Little Extra” Trap

Let’s say your freebie gives you a free fancy burger, like the Fried Mozzarella Burger at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. (It’s my go-to, with the Impossible Burger pinch hitting for the meat version.)

You’re probably not going out to eat by yourself. Yes, you may make a Starbies run on your own, but you’ll probably bring your spouse or significant other, your kids, your bestie, or whomever is available so you don’t have to eat dinner alone while scrolling your phone. On one hand, this prompts a social activity; on the other, depending on the economics of those with you, you may be digging into your wallet. (I mean, when it’s not your actual birthday; on that day, people are likely to treat you.)

Second, everything on this particular menu is standalone. Who eats a burger (even a plant-based one) without fries or onion rings or, in this case, fried pickles? So, you’re going to pay for that. And when you’re having a burger, are you really going to wash it down with water? You probably want a cola, or perhaps an adult beverage.

And hey, it’s your birthday! (Or, at least it was when you found out about this freebie). On your birthday, or whenever you’re dining out for a special occasion — even if that special occasion is just that you’re dining out — you’re going to want a delicious dessert, too, even if it’s not your habit to get dessert.

Last week at the Greek restaurant, my dining companion had a Bananas Foster cheesecake and I had a baklava cheesecake. And I barely looked at the price because it was a special occasion.

It’s rare to get a free food item and not end up buying a beverage, a side dish, or a dessert. Suddenly, that “free” molten lava cake costs you $24.99 in dinner, beverage, tax, and tip. That “free” milkshake? It came with a $15 burger and a side of buyer’s remorse.

When you get a freebie, what you “spend” is almost certainly going to dig into your financial budget, but it’s also draining your calorie or carbohydrate budget.

The “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” Effect

Freebies create a sense of urgency: “If I don’t grab this TODAY, I’m missing out!”

I received some of the notices on the first of the month and they are good for all of March; others I received on my birthday and are good for thirty days after. Just a few of the meals are only good until the middle of the last week of March, and one, for Starbucks, had to be used on my birthday. (My dinner with a friend at my favorite Greek restaurant just happenned to be next to Starbucks, which made that easy, but some years, I’ve been known to take a Starbucks run at 10 p.m. just to grab my freebie.)

If you aren’t organized in your approach to taking advantage of them, you may feel pressured to go out chasing your freebies like they’re Pokémon and — spoiler alert — you can’t catch ’em all.

This attitude can lead to impulse shopping. You plan to just use the $5 off at a store to buy something you want, but maybe when you get there, the item you had in mind isn’t in stock. Or maybe you didn’t have anything in mind (beyond getting something worth $5), so you roam the aisles and end up buying something random you didn’t need because you’re not going to be cheated out of your opportunity to get something for free!

This doesn’t just apply to birthday freebies, of course. Sometimes you’ll see a great deal in an ad, and you’ll think, “Ooh, SuchAndSuchAStore is having a 30% off sale; I have to go!” But unless you were already interested in buying something that you know they have, and you were just waiting for a convenient time to go, that sale is sneaking into your subconscious, and you’re not going to leave the store without some purchase, even possibly something you didn’t (and still don’t really) want or need.

The Clutter Conundrum of Freebies

Your voicemail is full. Why?

Your junk drawer called — it’s staging an intervention. (Speaking of which, this is a good time to plug a classic Paper Doll post, Is Your Junk Drawer a Drunk Drawer? 3 Steps to An Organized Junk Drawer.)

Oh, and your pile of free T-shirts called — it’s tired of being the wardrobe for your imaginary gym life.

This is less of a problem with birthdays freebies, as you already participate in the rewards programs of all of the companies inviting you, their loyal customer, to partake of their largesse in wishing you a glorious natal day! And what they’re offering you is something in the general area of what you already want — food you like or the kind of merchandise you already buy.

But if you’ve ever gone to a conference, a convention, a fair, a festival, a workshop, or anyplace that they were giving away free swag, you know what those kinds of freebies that pile up:

pens — The ink will dry up before you’ll ever use them
canvas bags — Your trunk is already overloaded with more canvas bags than any amount of groceries you could possible tote in them — or even afford. You don’t need to adopt every orphaned tote bag on the planet!
keychains — How many keychains does a person need? That’s why the extras end up in your junk drawer!
T-shirts promoting somebody else’s business, so that you becoming a walking billboard (which is why you never wear any of them in public)
candles — It may be adorable or smell delicious until you realize you’ve collected enough unused free candles to illuminate the final season of Stranger Things.

The Time-Suck Spiral of Freebies: What Is Your Time Worth?

Hunting down all of your freebies takes time and energy.

Let’s go back to what I said about feeling that you need to “catch ’em all.” That prompts you to run errands to places you might otherwise have skipped. For example, while I love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, the only Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor is downtown, and I don’t get there very often. If I want their ice cream (and when don’t I?) I could go to the corner grocery store and buy a pint; but with self-induced pressure to use up all my freebies, I could be tempted to come up with a reason (OK, an excuse) to go downtown.

But I’d be missing something important. My time has value!

I don’t have any errands to run downtown. Do I need to use up the time and gasoline to go there just to get a scoop of ice cream?

Consider this: if you’re driving twenty minutes for a free coffee or pastry, is it actually free?

Develop a Freebie ROI Rule. Discern what the return on your investment is, in order to figure out if it’s worth the effort.

To be fair, it might be. If you’re an overworked, over-scheduled parent, taking advantage of a food freebie like a coffee or an ice cream doesn’t just mean you’ll get a food treat at no cost. It means you get a reason — or yeah, an excuse — to put yourself first. That round-trip drive, and that time to a far-away store or coffee house and the time to enjoy it, might very well be the only “you” time you get all week. You have this stranger on the internet’s permission: take inner peace where you can get it.

The only way, for sure, that you will know whether it’s worth your time to collect on your freebie is that if you make sure you remember that your freebie is an option, not an obligation.

HOW TO ENJOY FREEBIES WITHOUT THE CHAOS

It doesn’t seem like birthday freebies were this chaotic a decade ago, or even just before the pandemic. It feels like it’s really become a key marketing technique to get people into restaurants and stores. Embrace them, but employ caution.

Be Organized

At the start of March, I made an inbox folder and routed all birthday freebie/discount-related emails to it. Once I had several, I made two lists, one for edible freebies and one for merchandise freebies.

Most of the emails alerted me to freebies in the apps, but this is one of those times where Paper Doll really prefers paper. I printed the pages of the emails with essential info: QR codes, bar codes, deadlines, and crucial legalese. I made note of the expiration dates in the upper right corner of each printout, separated officers by food and non-food, and sorted them with the earliest expiration dates on the top of the stack.

Of course, I could have just as easily routed the emails to Evernote and set a pre-deadline reminder on each note. A short list of the freebie and expiration date maybe organized enough for you.

On my actual birthday, I got a whole new slew of alerts, and followed the same procedure, so what I needed to attend to the soonest was at the top of each clipped stack.

I’m keeping the folder in the car, so if I unexpectedly find myself near the place to redeem the freebie, I’ll have what I need.

This doesn’t mean I’ll absolutely take advantage of each birthday freebie; it just means I won’t miss any opportunities due to the clutter or chaos of announcements in random places.

Be Selective

Prioritize freebies you genuinely want or will use.

There are some apps or accounts I have because I needed to take advantage of a very specific discount or availability of something that I’ll never need again. Maybe it was for buying a gift for an ex-boyfriend who is no longer in the picture. (Who’s to say?)

Just because you have the opportunity to use a freebie (really and truly) doesn’t mean you have to. You have options:

Ignore it — Toss out the mail or close the app, and just don’t think about it. (Yes, if you’re a Frugal Felicity, that may be difficult, but Paper Doll gives you permission.)
Go halfsies — Don’t feel like you have to make an immediate decision. Look up the restaurant menu online and if something appeals to you, order just the free item in the app and arrange for curbside pickup so you won’t be tempted to eat/buy more than you want. For a store, surf the app or the website and see if there’s anything you were already planning to buy. If so, let the idea percolate and see if it boils over or your better angels turn off the burner. If not, let the freebie expire.
Arrange to let a friend use the freebie or discount. — Even if you have to go there with your friend, you get the benefit of their company without the obligation to spend from your financial or caloric budgets.

Declutter as you go. If a freebie isn’t useful, set it free or find a way to make it a blessing for someone else. But as you do acquire tangible things with your freebies, make an effort to toss whatever is being replaced.

Set a Spending Limit

Decide in advance how much you’re willing to spend when redeeming a “free” item.

This might be a monetary amount you’re comfortable with because of your actual budget, or you may just want to keep yourself from going hog-wild with temptation.

Sometimes when I’m bored or in the neighborhood and waiting for an appointment, I’ll go into Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, a sort-of factory discount store and window shop for entertainment value. But I will set a dollar limit in advance — usually $15, but sometimes even $5 or $10. I can afford more, thank goodness, but I’m much more discerning if I’ve got that limit in mind. If I really want to spend more, I know I can, but the limit forces me to be mindful, and I’m more likely to leave without that impulse purchase. (And of course, I can always come back the next day if I’m hankering for a purchase.)

Similarly, you may want to set a caloric budget when taking advantage of an edible freebie. I’m diabetic, so I already know that I have a limited number of carbs I want to eat at a meal. If I’m going to a restaurant with amazing desserts, I’ll probably opt for seafood for dinner to use my carb count for cake; if the desserts aren’t tempting, I am much more likely to get pasta or something else equally carbalicious.

That free caramel macchiato will feel less like a win when you add a muffin, a sandwich, and a reusable cup that’s destined to live in your car’s cup holder.

If you have (or would like to have) more willpower when dining out with a freebie offer, organize your ordering plan around your food budget.

Schedule Strategically

Just as you’re being judicious with your financial resources or nutritional boundaries, be just as cautious and wise when scheduling how and when you’ll take advantage of freebies.

Don’t cram a dozen freebie redemptions into one weekend!

If you’ve never seen the Gilmore Girls episode called A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving, Lorelai and Rory end up racing to four different Thanksgiving celebrations in one day. At Emily and Richard’s, there a get-dressed-up traditional meal. At Lane’s house, Mrs. Kim’s holds a strict, Korean dinner. At Sookie and Jackson’s, there’s a farm-to-table feast complete with Jackson’s wild and turkey-frying family, and at Luke’s diner, they settle in for a real family meal.

They found it fun (like freebies), but stressful (also like freebies).

If you’re sprinting through the mall like you’re on Supermarket Sweep, maybe it’s time to rethink your freebie game plan.

Spreading redemptions out will have three benefits.

First, you’ll have less stress. You’ll be fitting freebies into a carefully considered calendar instead of feeling like you’re battling Black Friday crowds.

Second, you’ll be less likely to bump up against the margins of your willpower (re: your financial and caloric budgets).

Third, the special delight of your birthday will last longer. Won’t it be more fun to celebrate each day of your birthday month (or the weeks following your actual birthday) if there’s a little treat each day?

Turn Down the Guilt

If you were raised with few resources, you may feel guilty or uncomfortable not taking reaping the financial benefits of free things. But, again, some free things have strings attached.

Your resources (of money, physical and mental health, and time) affiliated with the freebies have value, as does your sanity and chance to have a less chaotic schedule. And nobody gets to say how you spend your resources except you.

It’s alright to enjoy your freebies. It’s okay to let some offers go. It’s your (birthday) party, and you can cry if you want to, but you can also get $20 off a pretty bra at Lane Bryant or eat a free slice of cake if you want to, too!

Your birthday’s about you, not about proving you’re the reigning champ of Birthday Freebie Bingo!

FINAL BIRTHDAY FREEBIE THOUGHTS

There’s a yummy Italian restaurant, Provino’s, with six locations in Georgia and one here in Chattanooga. They’re known for their buttery garlic knots and free birthday dinners:

We have made quite a name for ourselves when it comes time for a birthday celebration. Come in on your birthday and get the Spaghetti Classica with marinara or meat sauce or if you choose take $14.50 off any menu choice, this includes our famous salad, garlic rolls and a birthday dessert. (Please show I.D.)

This is why there’s always a massive crowd in Provino’s lobby waiting to get in. There are only 365 days in year, which means there’s a good chance on any given day, that it’s a lot of people’s birthdays, and as previously noted, when you are getting a free meal, you’re pretty likely to want to take people with you.

On the plus side, free food and festivity! (Also on the plus side, those garlicky, buttery knots.) On the downside, the crowds mean there may be a long wait. Only you know which matters more to you.

Don’t let a handful of free offers turn your birthday into a part-time job. The real gift is your time, so spend it wisely — and maybe on cake. Or cheese. Or cheesecake.

Posted in Financial, Paper Organizing, Productivity, Psychological | 12 Comments »

Paper Doll’s Ultimate Guide to Organizing Yourself to Get a REAL ID

Posted on: March 10th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 10 Comments

On Friday, I renewed my driver’s license. Typically, that wouldn’t be blog-worthy.

I’ve lived in Tennessee for more than three decades, and generally I’ve been able to renew my license at a little kiosk that looks like an ATM. I’d verify some information on a screen, get a new (horrible) photo taken, and pay with my debit card, all in the vestibule of the DMV while avoiding the packed waiting area.

Not this time, though. I wasn’t merely renewing my license; I made an appointment to apply for my REAL ID, and had to engage with the DMV representative behind the glass barricades.

WHAT IS A REAL ID?

In 2005 (and yes, that really was twenty years ago), Congress passed the REAL ID Act in the long shadow of 9/11-related security concerns. The Act did the following:

Set clearer standards for government-issued photo IDs — So, if you have a driver’s license, your great-grandmother has a non-driver ID card, or someone you know has different government-issued ID card, they will all fall under an established and uniform set of security standards so everyone will be on the same page.
Prohibited various government agencies (including the TSA) from accepting forms of identification that don’t meet the new standards. For quite some time, TSA agents had some wiggle room in letting people on airplanes even when/if they didn’t have proper identification (such as when they lost their wallet or had their ID stolen, and showed up at the airport desperate to make a flight). No more.
Added an extra layer of security to the process of flying — Having uniform requirements for flying makes it much harder for someone to use false documents to board an airplane or gain access to secure facilities.

Basically, the REAL ID Act established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses, permits, and ID cards to reduce identity fraud.

REAL ID: A LONG TIME COMING

Dear Paper Doll Readers, you know I always try to share information with you in good faith, but ever since I originally blogged about the REAL ID, the US Department of Homeland Security has turned me into the boy who cried wolf.

Originally, the federal government wanted the new regulations to go into effect in 2008, but many states and territories opposed to the immense effort it would take to comply.

First, not all states had required photos for driver’s licenses; conversely, REAL IDs require facial image capture and states need “an effective procedure to confirm or verify a renewing applicant’s information.” To anyone who has watched too many episodes of Law & Order and other police procedurals, it’s a bit surprising that not every state was verifying that faces and names matched!

Second, states would have to confirm Social Security account numbers with the Social Security Administration and cross-check to make sure old or expired licenses were “terminated” in other state’s systems before taking effect in the state where someone was applying.

Third, states were going to be required organize and maintain the documentary evidence submitted. For example, each state would be need to either retain paper copies of documents for a minimum of 7 years or scanned/capture images of those source documents for a minimum of 10 years.

Fourth, states must limit the validity of all driver’s licenses and (non-temporary) ID cards to 8 years; some states had previously kept IDs valid for ten years.

Lacking professional organizers to keep their processes straight, state governments were not particularly keen on having make these changes! Kerfuffles ensued. From 2012 through 2018, states and territories acted in fits and starts.

Eventually, the federal government announced that it would require REAL IDs effective October 1, 2020. However, as we all know, 2020 didn’t exactly turn out as anyone planned, and the CARES Act (remember that $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus package?) delayed the start to September 30, 2021. Later, after several more changes to documentation and funding regulations, the date was pushed to May 3, 2023.

And now, finally, the official date appears to be on the horizon: May 7, 2025, which is (as of this writing), 57 days away!

If you already have a REAL ID-compliant license or other identification, you’re good, but if your license wasn’t due to renew over the past five years or so, you might have figured there was no need to rush to upgrade. But now, it’s time to pay attention.

WHY MIGHT YOU NEED A REAL ID?

Now that you understand why the government has been working toward this change for the last twenty years, you may wonder how it affects you. Why might you need a REAL ID?

1) You Need a REAL ID to Fly

As of May 7, 2025, in order to board an commercial aircraft, your identification must be REAL ID-compliant. Some people seem to believe that flying for particular purposes makes the new law inapplicable to them, but just to be clear, the REAL ID Act will apply no matter what kind of commercial flying you will be doing, including:

business travel
vacation/pleasure travel
heading to college (or taking your children to/from college)
accompanying minor children during a custody transferral
traveling to care for ill relatives
getting health care from specialists in distant cities
looking for houses in a city to which you’re moving

United Airlines Red Carpet, courtesy of 1950sUnlimited, CC BY-NC 2.0

Do you need a REAL ID to fly on a private plane?

Yes!

Even if your non-commercial flight has private screening or you travel through a private FBO (fixed-base operator), the REAL ID act still sets — and the TSA must enforce — a minimum security standard for all air travel.

Do you need a REAL ID to fly on Air Force One?

No, but that’s because it’s categorized as a military (not commercial) aircraft used for official government travel. Journalists and politicians authorized to fly on Air Force One go through such thorough vetting by the Secret Service that gathering documents to secure a REAL ID will seem like a walk in the park.

Do you need a REAL ID to fly a crop duster?

Nope.

A crop duster is an agricultural aircraft, so flying in one is not considered commercial airline travel and therefore doesn’t fall under the REAL ID requirements. However, to work as an agricultural pilot, you must earn a private pilot license, a commercial rating, and a tail-wheel (conventional gear) airplane endorsement, and get specific agricultural aviation training. That seems like a lot of extra effort to just to avoid going to the DMV to get your REAL ID.

Do you need a REAL ID to fly firefighting aircraft (like air support to drop water or fire suppression chemicals on a fire)?

Sometimes, actually, yes. These aircraft, like those operated by Cal Fire during the recent fires, are sometimes considered commercial aircraft. I was surprised, too.

If you’re not familiar with these aircraft that drop water or pink suppression chemicals, may I point you to the CBS TV show Fire Country, or if you’re feeling up for something sappy but wonderful, the star-studded aerial firefighting movie Always, a remake of a WWII-era film A Guy Named Joe.

Do you need a REAL ID to fly on a rocket like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, or Blue Origin?

Yes! These non-NASA rockets are considered commercial flights. Pack your REAL ID.

But no, you don’t need a REAL ID to go hot air ballooning like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, as there are no TSA checkpoints in the sky!

Can’t you just use a passport to fly? What about a Trusted Traveler card?

What a smartypants you are! In order to fly, you must have a REAL ID-compliant document, which includes a US passport or passport card (the acquisition of which already requires the kind of documentation required for a REAL ID).

However, most Americans do not have valid passports. Currently, only ~45% of Americans hold one. If you have a passport, you’re set; if not, and you aren’t likely to do international travel, a state-issues REAL ID is a more economical choice.

Trusted Traveler program cards, like Global Entry, TSA Pre-Check, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST are REAL ID-compliant, but are pricier than a driver’s license and may not be applicable to your lifestyle.

What about a state-issued Enhanced Driver’s License?

Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington issue these for land or sea border crossings with Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. They require the same documentation and count as REAL ID-compliant; if you have one, you already know it. But if you don’t, and unless you live in these states and don’t have a passport, go ahead and upgrade your driver’s license.

2) You Need a Real ID to Enter Secure Federal Buildings

If you have reason to enter any secure federal buildings, you’ll need REAL ID-compliant documentation.

Panorama of United States Supreme Court Building at Dusk courtesy of Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0

You may be thinking, “When the heck will I ever have to go into a secure federal building? I’m not a judge or legislator!” However, you might go to a federal building to:

apply for or renew certain federal benefits — For example, some Social Security Administration offices are in federal buildings.
access services at a VA facility — While most VA medical centers won’t require REAL ID, some administrative offices do.
attend an immigration or visa appointment
work in or visit a federal agency — If you’re a contractor or consultant, or if you’re applying for a federal job, or if you need to visit the IRS, EPA, or Department of Labor, know that such offices are in federal buildings
attend a public hearing or town hall — Agencies hold open meetings for the public on policy matters.
attend a government conference or training — Federal agencies host public events, seminars, and professional development sessions.
retrieve records or conduct research — Agencies like the National Archives or Library of Congress require in-person access to certain records.
serve on a federal jury or grand jury
give testimony in legal proceedings — And no, if you’re accused of a crime at the federal level, you can’t get out of being tried for that crime just because you don’t have a REAL ID.
report to a federal probation or parole office
visit an inmate in a federal detention center

The REAL ID Act doesn’t require you to present identification anywhere it’s not currently required for accessing a federal facility.

So, while all federal buildings have security, they don’t all count as “secure federal facilities.”

You don’t need a REAL ID to visit the National Archives museum or its reading rooms, but you do need a valid form of identification to enter the research rooms. Similarly, you don’t need a REAL ID to visit the public areas of the Smithsonian Institute.

3) You Need a REAL ID to Enter Nuclear Power Plants

Do you work in a nuclear power plant?

Are you a government employee whose job it is to inspect nuclear power plants? Engineers, safety inspectors and maintenance crews often have to visit plants for inspections and upgrades.

Are you a government regulator from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency?

Are you a vendor or contractor for a nuclear power plant? Whether you restock the candy machines or service the bathroom plumbing or do public speaking events for the staff, you’ll need a REAL ID-compliant document to gain access.

Are you a first responder? Emergency personnel, firefighters, and HAZMAT teams often train in nuclear facilities.

Are you an energy industry professional or a policymaker taking a tour? Are you a journalist? A researcher? You’ll need that REAL ID!

Are you a teacher or professor planning on taking your students to visit a nuclear power plant? If you’re taking third graders on a tour of a nuclear power plant — wow, that’s weird — they wouldn’t need to be REAL ID-compliant, but if you’re a college professor, your age 18+ students would.

Are you Homer Simpson?

via GIPHY

One assumes this also applies to Mr. C. Montgomery Burns (Homer’s boss) and sycophantic Smithers. However, Mr. Burns is a billionaire, and they seem be getting a lot of special treatment lately. Your mileage may vary.

WHEN DON’T YOU NEED A REAL ID?

If you’re a kid — Children under 18 are not required to have REAL ID-compliant identification.

However, I strongly encourage you to make sure your college-bound students get their IDs as soon as they are able, particularly if they attend school more than a few hours’ drive away. From Spring Break to getting home for a family emergency or a funeral, help them be prepared.

If you’re showing ID to vote — You can’t be required to show a REAL ID to vote.

The REAL ID Act is for maintaining security, so as long as your assigned polling place is not on an airplane, in a secure federal building, or in a nuclear power plant, you should not be required to have or show a REAL ID-compliant identification. (For more on IDs for voting, see my post, The Ultimate Guide to Organizing Yourself to Vote.)

What if you aren’t a US citizen?

If you’re a tourist, you’ll have a passport, which serves the same purpose. If you are neither a citizen nor tourist but are lawfully present in the United States, you can obtain a REAL ID, provided you can demonstrate your legal presence and meet other requirements.

Remember, this doesn’t just include citizens of the 50 states and Washington, DC. If you live in Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands or the Northern Mariana Islands, the REAL ID Act applies to you, too.

REAL ID MINIMUM DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS

To be a valid REAL ID-compliant state-issued ID (whether a driver’s license or other identification card), it must include the following:

Full legal name
Date of birth
Gender*
Driver’s license or identification card number
A digital photograph
Address of principle residence
Signature
Physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes.
A common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements.

*Until recently, the gender marker on a passport could be M, F, or X. However, the current administration has announced that the X marker will no longer be allowed on renewed/new passports issued and the marker must match the individual’s assigned sex at birth. However, at least right now, states can make their own rulings regarding gender markers on REAL IDs.

Remember, REAL ID is a set of standards, not a national identification card. Each state issues its own unique licenses and ID cards.

SO, HOW DO YOU GET A REAL ID?

First, gather your documents. You will need to present the following types of original or certified documents to your state to apply for a REAL ID.

Proof to establish citizenship or legal presence — Again, if you have a passport or passport card, you’re covered. Otherwise, you’ll need official documentation, like:
- a birth certificate
- US Certificate or Consular Report of Birth Abroad
- a valid, unexpired Permanent Resident card issued by DHS or INS
- a certificate of citizenship or naturalization
- an unexpired employment authorization document issued by DHS
- an unexpired foreign passport with a valid US visa and approved I-94 form
Proof of your full Social Security number — Find your official Social Security card. If you’ve lost yours, replace your Social Security card as I explained in How to Replace and Organize 7 Essential Government Documents before applying for a REAL ID. However, my state gave me the option of alternatively showing a W-2, 1099, or payroll check stub bearing my SSN.

Two proofs of residency of the state in which you currently reside — My state offered more than a dozen options, including a recent home utility bill, a vehicle registration, a voter registration card, an IRS tax return, a bank statement, and a variety of other financial and insurance documents.
Documentation of any name changes — due to marriage, divorce, adoption, change of name (associated with a gender reassignment or otherwise, etc.), explaining a discrepancy between the names on all your forms of proof.

Safeguard your documents; don’t just put them in a manilla folder where they can fall out or damaged by inclement weather. I used a teal Container Store vinyl zippered document pouch because it looked like it might rain.

Next, make an appointment to apply at a local branch of your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles or equivalent. You must apply in-person, and it’s possible that only some (or even one) DMV location in your community will process these applications. Don’t just show up when you have a free afternoon, unless your idea of fun is rubbing elbows with random strangers in uncomfortable plastic seats.

Make yourself look presentable. You’ll be showing this ID all the time. (Also note: you’ll be required to take off your glasses for the photo, so try not to squint.)

Give yourself ample time to arrive. (I was told to arrive 15-minutes before my appointment. I got stuck behind a train and was only 10 minutes early.)

Be prepared to check in on your phone using a QR code. Many people were befuddled by this process and it delayed their appointments.

Be kind; the DMV staff goes through a lot. The wonderful representative processing my application spilled some serious tea about the way some people behave. (People apparently show up for their appointments while on drugs. People get high and then suddenly feel the need to renew their licenses? Seriously?)

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY ID IS A REAL ID?

Look in the upper right-hand corner of your ID. Do you see a star that looks like any displayed below?

No star? It’s not REAL ID-complaint. (In addition to the star, Enhanced Driver’s Licenses will have an image of the United States flag and the word “Enhanced” at the top of the card.)

For further information, check the Department of Homeland Security‘s REAL ID Frequently Asked Questions page.

Because my papers are organized, it took me about five minutes to gather my documents, and another five to make the appointment online. Even delayed by the train, I arrived ahead of my 2 p.m. appointment.

When my number was called a few minutes later, I was walked through the process of providing all of my documents, signing required statements, and getting my photo taken. At one point, all of the women behind the counter and several applicants stopped to call attention to a very handsome man with a dazzling smile (who looked quite a bit like the actor Donald Glover) getting his ID photo taken.

Dani Pudi, Betty White, and Donald Glover Doing the Anthropology Rap

I was back in my car at 2:21 p.m. It had taken longer to fix my hair for a good DMV photo than to apply for my REAL ID.

Getting organized makes obtaining a REAL ID REAL(ly) painless.

Posted in Legal, Paper Organizing, Vital Documents | 10 Comments »

Best Results Organizing

Follow Me

Latest Posts

Search Best Results Organizing

Subscribe to the Paper Doll Blog via Email

Paper Doll

How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 3: Tangible Timers

DISK-Y BEHAVIOR: TIME TIMER, THE BIG KAHUNA OF PRODUCTIVITY TIMERS

Seeing Time

Original Time Timers

Time Timer Plus

Time Timer Mod

Time Timer RETRO Eco Edition

Time Timer BRAILLE 8”

OTHER PHYSICAL TIMERS

Focus Timer® Visual Timer

Moaas Timers

Paper Doll Post:

Like this:

How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 2: Pick the Right Timer

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TIMER?

A Good Timer Must Be Simple

A Good Timer Should Offer A Bonus

A Good Timer Integrates with What You Already Have

A Good Timer Shows You the Shape of Time

A Good Timer Should Be Frictionless

A Good Timer Is Process-Agnostic

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE BEST TIMER FOR YOUR NEEDS AND PERSONALITY

Aesthetics of a Timer

Customizability without complexity

Affective Design Customization

One-and-done or loop-de-loop?

Discretion is the better part of timing

Picking a timer for someone else

Paper Doll Post:

Like this:

How to Use Timers for Improved Productivity and Focus — Part 1

WHY AND HOW TO USE TIMERS FOR PRODUCTIVITY

Use Timers for Productivity at Work

For yourself

For your team

Use Timers to Improve Personal Time & Daily Living

Paper Doll Post:

Like this:

Paper Doll Investigates Birthday Freebies: The Hidden Cost of Free Stuff

FREEBIES: A DOUBLE-EDGED SLICE OF CAKE

The “I’ll Just Spend a Little Extra” Trap

The “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” Effect

The Clutter Conundrum of Freebies

The Time-Suck Spiral of Freebies: What Is Your Time Worth?

HOW TO ENJOY FREEBIES WITHOUT THE CHAOS

Be Organized

Be Selective

Set a Spending Limit

Schedule Strategically

Turn Down the Guilt

FINAL BIRTHDAY FREEBIE THOUGHTS

Paper Doll Post:

Like this:

Paper Doll’s Ultimate Guide to Organizing Yourself to Get a REAL ID

WHAT IS A REAL ID?

REAL ID: A LONG TIME COMING

WHY MIGHT YOU NEED A REAL ID?

1) You Need a REAL ID to Fly

Do you need a REAL ID to fly on a private plane?

Do you need a REAL ID to fly on Air Force One?

Do you need a REAL ID to fly a crop duster?

Do you need a REAL ID to fly firefighting aircraft (like air support to drop water or fire suppression chemicals on a fire)?

Do you need a REAL ID to fly on a rocket like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, or Blue Origin?

Can’t you just use a passport to fly? What about a Trusted Traveler card?

What about a state-issued Enhanced Driver’s License?

2) You Need a Real ID to Enter Secure Federal Buildings

3) You Need a REAL ID to Enter Nuclear Power Plants

WHEN DON’T YOU NEED A REAL ID?

What if you aren’t a US citizen?

REAL ID MINIMUM DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS

SO, HOW DO YOU GET A REAL ID?

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY ID IS A REAL ID?

Paper Doll Post:

Like this: