Best Results Organizing

Over the last three weeks, I’ve tried to give you an insight into the standout products from this year’s NAPO Conference and Expo. While there are always nifty products, even Paper Doll has to admit that aside from multicolor file folders, paper organizing tools aren’t always colorful or stimulating. In today’s final wrap-up, however, I’d like to share a few of the items that caught my attention as vivid examples of how organizing your paper and information can be fun.

PlanetSafe is billed as the world’s only non-plastic erasable wall planner. These planners all have the write/wipe attributes of typical plastic wall planners, but use no petroleum based products. PlanetSafe’s line is made from 100% (post-consumer waste) recycled paper, organic vegetable inks and a 100% biodegradable plant-based film laminate.

The planners are designed to work with either dry-erase or wet-erase markers, as well as sticky notes. (And yes, Paper Doll usually bans the use of sticky notes as floozies, but you’ll see momentarily why I give PlanetSafe a pass in this regard.)

Sure, they have the usual 1- and 2-year calendar planners, and like all of the PlanetSafe products, are made from durable, heavyweight write/wipe material with a glossy finish, and each calendar has ample room to write the essentials. The college/academic calendars are undated, so you can use them year after year, and they’re arrayed vertically, suitable for hanging on a dorm room door, so you can view all four months of the semester at once, with extra space for a weekly schedule and notes.

However, PlanetSafe’s niftiest, most colorful products are the sticky note planners.

While the boards have ample space for writing one’s thoughts, To Do items and action plans, and then wet or dry erasing them afterward, I like the notion of tracking concepts and tasks on recycled-paper Post-It notes. This allows you to quickly re-prioritize by moving, rearranging, and even color-coding the notes…it’s sort of the retro version of cut-and-paste in Word, without a single keystroke.

It also actually refines one of the non-traditional To Do list strategies, The Panel Method, suggested by professional organizing veteran Judith Kolberg in her groundbreaking book Conquering Chronic Disorganization.

The product line includes multiple varieties, including a weekly planner with abundant space for the days of the week, a prioritized task planner (above), which lets you brainstorm tasks related to specific projects, a yearly long-term goals planner, with room for notes on major projects, and a combo planner, which has weekly calendar space for scheduled tasks, unassigned tasks and specific projects.

Co-founder Stacey D’Amico was inspired by an Oprah segment on environmentally-friendly products. She started researching green office products that her husband, W. Ward Turner, could produce in his small manufacturing company. After extensive trial and error to come up with a plant-based biofilm that erased as well as plastic products and a bonding agent that didn’t involve plastic adhesives, this mom-and-pop shop hit the ground (well, actually, the wall), running. They consider their wall planners to be the first erasable line that is 100% recyclable, biodegradable and compostable.

The Card Cubby is a fashion-forward alternative to carrying a wallet. Paper Doll noticed a few different vendors on the Expo floor were carrying versions of the Card Cubby, but I’ll admit, it didn’t make a big dent in my consciousness at first. However, a week back from conference, I was introduced to a new friend, an extremely busy medical professional. When she learned that I was a professional organizer, she began gushing over her new “organizing system” — a nifty Card Cubby that matched her needs and her personality.

The Card Cubby is a miniature card file designed to fit stylishly in a purse, briefcase or diaper bag. The Cubby measures 5″ wide by 3″ high by 2″ deep, and comes with alphabetical dividers, so you can use it to keep track of business cards, gift cards, frequent shopper rewards cards, insurance and identification cards, etc. If you tend to overstuff your wallet with things you don’t need and store them all haphazardly, the Card Cubby presents the option of organizing your portable items more methodically.

The clear front pocket is perfect for storing a driver’s license or photo ID so that you don’t need to remove or expose your other cards when you need to show your identification (making it less likely you’ll forget to retrieve your ID).

The Card Cubby comes in a variety of styles and colors, from animal prints to patent leathers, from faux crocodile to more elegant simple styles. It’s no surprise that Paper Doll favors the Passion Pink:

As always in organizing, aesthetics should be secondary function, but if a designer-style wallet with the ability to alphabetize will make you more likely to keep your wallet organized and your possessions safe and accessible, then Paper Doll approves.

Unikeep, part of the Univenture design and manufacturing family, isn’t a newcomer at the NAPO expo. For years, we’ve seen their three-ring case, presentation and high-capacity storage binders , CD wallets, mailers and other media packaging and office products designed to keep the world of work running smoothly. In recent years, their EcoEndure lines of environmentally sound products have been offering up sustainable, compostable, biodegradable and recyclable options.

To be honest, I was tempted to by pass the booth this year in the interest of time, but I’m glad I stopped, because they’ve added an interesting product that’s both colorfully appealing and just plain neato. As part of the Envy-Pak line, Unikeep has developed a 100% polypropylene, clear mailing envelope with a permanent peel-&-stick closure and double-perforations for easier opening. It’s 9″ x 12″, designed to hold an 8 1/2″ x 11″ catalog, brochure or other paper/photo items.

It’s an envelope? That’s what Paper Doll is so excited about, you’re asking? Well, sort of. In business parlance, it’s a mailer. If you’ve got a small (or even a large) business, having the flexibility to eliminate envelope labeling and use the envelope as a window to create “high impact visibility” of the contents, you can use one single sheet of paper for both marketing and addressing what you send.

Since it’s available in biodegradable polypropylene and PLA (polylactic acid, an environmentally-friendly, biodegradable, thermoplastic made from the fermentation of various agricultural products, like corn starch) and has US Postal Service approval, the translucent mailers offer a wide variety of custom-design options for full color printing and private labeling.

And that’s what caught my eye. Our friends from Unikeep brought a sample of a custom-designed mailer

that won their client, the Hawaii Trade Winds Management Group, a 2007 PEAK (Print Excellence and Knowledge) Award. Pretty, isn’t it? While you probably aren’t going to use this product anytime soon to have Unikeep custom-design your third-grader’s birthday party invitation envelopes, it gives a great (and colorful) indication of advancements to come in terms of intriguing and attractive office supplies.

NackIt! is a labeling solution that can be colorful, depending on what methods you use, but it’s definitely a bit green, as it offers a refillable, reusable label organizing system.

If you’ve ever worked in an office setting, you know that those plastic FedEx envelopes, into which you place your shipping form, have adhesive backing (perfect for use as a poor-gal’s lint brush). Fill out the paper form (in triplicate), insert in the envelope, remove the protective backing and the plastic pocket adheres to whatever box you ship. NackIt! used this basic method to create a twist for labeling shipping boxes, storage containers, and anything else you might want to label.

Each original NackIt! kit contains two dozen 4 3/4″ x 6 1/4″ self-adhesive vinyl pockets and 28 pre-printed and/or blank NackIt! labeling cards with lined backs. The idea is that you affix the pockets on your storage containers or boxes. Then, list the contents of the container on the reverse of the cards and insert cards in the pockets.

For moving boxes and typically large storage bins, the large front of the label provides ample room for a view-from-a-distance summary, while the lined reverse of the card holds the details. The pockets are permanent, but you can change out the cards any time you change the contents of your containers. No matter what’s in the box, you need never wonder what’s inside.

For smaller containers, there are NackIt! mini-kits, which include three dozen 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ self-adhesive pockets and forty blank cards (with lined reverse sides).

The system is pretty simple — use a Sharpie to hand-write the front label and a traditional pen to list the contents on the back, or use a labelmaker or computer for a polished, professional look and adjust the font to maximize the detailed inventory on the reverse.

For those with less than stellar handwriting, or a desire to show off design skills, NackIt! has a downloadable card template that lets you create the font color and style you prefer, and you can add any graphics of your choosing. And of course, if you’re storing items for your children and they’re not yet able to read, you can even insert a photograph or a drawing of the contents to serve as the front-facing label.

In addition to the original and mini kits, NackIt! has kits for the home, with pre-labeled cards, for arts & craft supplies, baby clothes, books, camping supplies, financial papers, holiday decorations , photographs, off-season clothing and shoes, sports paraphernalia, and toys. The NackIt! office kit has pre-printed cards for accounts receivable and payable, banking documents, clients/patients, contacts, office supplies and tax records. There are also kits for moving, with labeled cards delineating to what room the boxes should be delivered, and a Christmas-themed kit for holiday-related storage. Many of the pre-existing labels include appropriate graphics, as well, to help you see what’s on that oh-so-high top shelf.

This is the last of our recaps of products from NAPO’s 2010 Conference and Expo. While Paper Doll focuses on paper-related organizing products, this year’s NAPO conference had so much more to offer. Virtual assistant and blogger extraordinaire, Janet Barclay, hosted guest posts on the whole conference experience from two views. I wrote NAPO 2010 Through the Eyes of a Seasoned Conference-Goer; Randi Hutton covered A First Timer’s Perspective On the Annual NAPO Conference.

I also encourage you to review the blogs of some of my esteemed, incredibly charming, colleagues, Jim Deitzel of Rubbermaid’s Adventures in Organization and Deb Lee’s Organize To Revitalize.

In the last two weeks, we discussed some of the stars of the NAPO 2010 Expo, both for gathering and safekeeping paper files and for improving filing productivity. Today, we’ll go a little higher tech and explore some new digital offerings just introduced.

LeeLogic has created two suites of digital applications to keep information organized “in the cloud”, meaning that data is stored and manipulated in a web-based (rather than software-based) environment, working equally well on PCs and Macs. MobilLogic is for business use and StuffLogic organizes personal data.

MobilLogic’s digital indexing and storage system creates a hierarchy of information based on how businesses already categorize. It was designed by a professional organizer to make electronic files, scans, links and other digital information, as well as hard copy information, accessible and retrievable via one simplified, searchable web-based system.

MobilLogic uses a standardized numeric filing system with keyword-based identification. New files are assigned a number/name, but users also get to select keywords that will best help them quickly search for and retrieve the exact item…and learn its location. When in search mode, the system even highlights keywords to ease identification, and users can save searches to provide one-click access in the future — that’s great for when you have a file you need just infrequently enough that you might have had to take a few stabs to recall your keywords.

Many businesses use both digital and paper documents, so MobilLogic works with both — you don’t have to scan or upload everything in order to know where things are. Users can select which files to upload into the system, but because the information about each file is documented (even if it’s not living on the MobilLogic server), you can still click-through MobilLogic directly to the electronic file, whether it’s housed on your computer, your company’s network, or living as a web-based file. For non-digital documents, the system will identify locations based on what you’ve previously told it. (So don’t move stuff without telling the system!)

Because MobilLogic is web-based, users can access the system and search, view, revise or add from anywhere. The system has user-level security, from departmental to individual, ensuring that everyone who needs (and has a right) to access material can do so. It’s even HIPAA compliant.

So, some departments or employees can have full admittance, but you can restrict access to others who lack the James Bond-esque, eyes-only, need-to-know clearance. The security protocols and cloud-based system, combined with four-times-daily backups of MobilLogic’s multiple server locations, mean that companies need not worry about disgruntled former employees wreaking havoc, computer crashes destroying the system or the inability of new employees to access a former employee’s essential files. Because backups can be set for various retention periods, you can restore data from last week, or hit reset to time travel to anywhere up to when you first began using the system.

MobilLogic doesn’t just organize information for storage and retrieval. You can set up email reminders and text alerts associated with individual document-related tasks or deadlines, so nothing falls through the cracks.

MobilLogic has a one-time $25 set up fee, plus a $25/month/license fee, up to four users, with discounted monthly fees the more concurrent user licenses you add. If only three people need access most of the time, but you have a virtual assistant or part-time employee who needs access certain days per month (or quarter, or whatever), you only pay for the number of people using the system at any given time, and you can change the number of licenses you’re using — up to once per day.

StuffLogic operates just like MobilLogic, keeping track of personal files and possessions (digital and hard copy), from electronic files and bookmarks, to magazines, hobby material and those boxes of memorabilia in the hall closet. Just as with the business version, you can set email or text reminders based on tasks or deadlines related to the stuff you’ve “filed” and might later want to access. It’s priced at $20/month for a single license fee, or $25/month/concurrent licenses for the Premium plan, which includes additional security and administrative features.

CareBinders is a personal recordkeeping software package — the digital equivalent of the boxing-it-up method we discussed two weeks ago to collect and track the data for all elements of your life. For each category, the software has specially-created screens to trigger your recall and help you identify exactly what data you need to store. Input information directly, import it from other programs, or scan and attach photos and digital versions of vital documents. For example:

Financial–Account numbers and data for banks, credit cards, brokerage houses, and insurance policies; Descriptions/photographs/videos of tangible assets and financial assets; Contracts and other legal documents; Inventories of valuable collections; Data regarding subscriptions and ongoing payment plans.

The system can then generate a data locator report, which aggregates all the information you’ve input into the CareBinders system (with or without the dollar valuations) so that you can safekeep a copy for loved ones, in case anything happens to you, or place in your safe deposit box to use in case of theft or disaster in your home.

Medical–The system prompts you to report every medical detail, including allergies, diagnoses and medical/prescription histories, medical practitioner contact information and dates/notes from doctor visits, test results, and more.

Personal–In one sitting, you can enter all the vital details of your life, so you (or someone acting on your behalf) can gather information necessary on everything about you: Educational and employment history; contact information for residential service providers (like that guy who stopped the heat pump from making that scary noise that one time), pet information, groups and affiliations, volunteer projects, passwords, all your personal contacts (including how you know them and from where), awards and achievements, etc.

Fun–CareBinders has special modules to keep track of whatever you collect or want to remember and track, whether it’s tangible items like baseball cards, DVDs, wine or stamps, or plans for or memorabilia from wedding, parties, vacations or holidays.

Once you’ve entered all of your data (and reminded yourself to create updates on a regular basis), the CareBinders system works in a few ways. First, it lets you get everything out of your head and into the system, so you can stop wracking your brain to remember a company’s or contact’s exact name, or where you put the new insurance policy.

Second, once you enter something, the CareBinders system populates other screens with the data you need, so you don’t have to enter the same darned information over and over on multiple screens. Once you’ve told the system something, it knows where to put that data in other files or documents. So, if your family moves, you don’t have to enter the new address for the records for yourself AND your spouse AND Jimmy, Johnny, Jessica and Janine (whoever those kids are)…unless you aren’t all moving to the same place.

Third, the system saves the data you enter and manipulates it to create new documents, in addition to the document locator, like a:

–Medical Intake Form you can bring to a doctor’s visit so you (or someone helping you) can fill in everything from blood type to insurance IDs to medical history)
–Asset/Inventory lists to help your insurance salesperson or claims adjuster complete your paperwork more quickly
–Emergency medical wallet card
–Pet profile, with demographic data and an immunization and medical history
–Resume
–“Grab & Go” reports you’ll need if there’s a natural disaster and you must leave home quickly

A CareBinders Master license runs $199 for downloadable software. For $5 more, you get the download and a program CD, suitable for gifting. CareBinders offers volume discounts ranging from 15% for purchases of 4-5 copies, up to 35% discounts for large volume purchases.

LegacyIt provides a digital opportunity to collect the elements of your life history in a simple, fun, interactive way. While LeeLogic’s suites are designed to keep your data easily organized and retrievable from the cloud, and CareBinders keeps your digital information safe and organized for practical reasons, LegacyIt is all about preserving the impractical…the sentimental…the ineffable qualities that make you who you are. Instead of tracking the data of your life: the numbers, the assets, the diagnoses – LegacyIt helps you gather the meaningful experiences of your life to share with others.

LegacyIt involves three steps:

1) Preserve your legacy by digitizing and preserving your memories in one collective space. Once you set up your account and download Microsoft Silverlight (at no cost), you can upload your existing digital photos and scan your traditional photos (or negatives) to make them ready for uploading.

If you haven’t yet, or only recently, upgraded to digital photos and can’t bear the thought of scanning forty or fifty (or 90!) years of your life in photographs, LegacyIt has partnered with Digital Pickle, a photo and video restoration service. Ship them your shoeboxes of personal archives, and they’ll scan your photos, slides, or negatives for you.

2) Build your legacy in two ways:

First, organize your photos by category — for example, you can create an event and gather together all of the photos and commentary about a particular family vacation.

Second, record the detailed history behind each photo, using LegacyIt’s audio, video and text features. For example, you can use text to tell the story on the “reverse” side of any digital photo, so it’s just like when people used to write on the backs of their snapshots (before we all knew that was bad for the photographs). Or, use the audio or video features to share the anecdotes related to the pictures. You might get creative and let others, like grandchildren or old friends, interview you so that the story has a more conversational feel.

3) Share your legacy in a secure environment and create Legacy Trees, which grant permission to individuals to view what you’ve created. LegacyIt has taken on many of the qualities of popular social networking sites to create privacy settings so that you can share (or restrict) access to individual photos and stories. You select who gets to see and hear which elements of your legacy…so that if you only want one grandchild to know that she’s your favorite, you can do it!

Create public and private “sharing galleries” of photos, write journal entries and guide others to share their own legacy stories. LegacyIt has a module to design your bucket list, identifying all the things you’d like to achieve in your lifetime, and then you can add photos of these accomplishments as you attain them. LegacyIt even gives a nod to the other, more practical, data organization systems with a secure place to store personal and financial data, passwords and other vital information.

LegacyIt has four pricing plans, with monthly fees ranging from $5-$25/month and 16-20% discounts for annual, rather than monthly, billing. Every plan includes access to all photo, audio, video and text features and enhanced security, but pricing determines how number of users per account and the amount of storage granted. The Basic plan allows only two users, the Deluxe allows three and the Premium and Premium Plus package allows up to five users; at the Basic level, accounts gets 2 GB of storage, while Deluxe plans get 5 GB, Premium 10 GB and Premium Plus plans include 20 GB of storage.

LegacyIt is an intriguing blend of social networking and digital memorabilia storage. For families with plethora of history but a dearth of technological know-how, this all-inclusive training-wheels approach can be a boon. However, as with all cloud computing options, Paper Doll is concerned regarding what happens long-term. If you help Grandma upload photos and record a detailed history, can your family afford to keep paying the fees in perpetuity? LegacyIt says you can cancel your membership at any time, but suggests retrieving your data within 60 days. Long term, it would be wise to appoint a tech-savvy family member as family archivist and account beneficiary, to oversee the process and truly maintain your legacy.

Last week, Paper Doll reviewed some of the products at the NAPO 2010 Conference Expo designed to help you gather and box up your important papers for organized safekeeping. Today, we’re going to review some solutions specifically for filing, whether for your business or home office.

It’s not uncommon for major dichotomies (PC vs. Mac, Dymo vs. Brother) to spring up in the organizing world, just as we see in the real world (Ford vs. Chevy, Yankees vs. well, everybody else). It might seem that there are no two adversaries looming as large as Smead vs. Esselte’s Pendaflex. For example, in last year’s post-NAPO Conference Expo recap, Smead’s Tuff Hanging Folders went head to head with Pendaflex’s Hang Tuff™ (now Sure Hook™) Hanging Folders. However, in the words of the Arbiter in the Opening Ceremonies theme from the musical Chess:

This is not the start of World War III
No political ploys
I think both your constitutions are terrific.
So now you know — be good boys.

We professional organizers love Smead and Pendaflex’s paper management products equally, and we just want them to keep pumping out ever more fabulous product innovations.

No More Tears (boo hoo)…Or Tearing (rrrrrrip!)

The first thing that caught my attention at Smead’s booth was innovative less for what it does than for what it doesn’t do — cause owies.

Files with fasteners keep papers from becoming separated from the folder or associated papers, and maintain proper chronological order for easy reference, but they’re a pain. Paper cuts are the first danger we face when organizing papers, but if your office uses folders with fasteners, common in legal, medical and accounting offices, you know the pain that can sometimes be inflicted by those twist-ties on steroids. They’re cold, sharp and they poke at your skin. They tear the paper, become crinkly after being bent multiple times to add new papers, and can scratch your desktop.

Smead’s coated SafeSHIELD™ Coated Fasteners are being billed as the “feel-good solution for your documents and fingers”. The metal strip fasteners are covered in a smooth, leathery sort of coating to prevent scratching skin and surfaces or tearing papers. I tested a sample, bending and twisting, and though I’m sure the metal strips were crinkly after my abuse, the SafeSHIELD coating kept the fastener smooth and my fingers safe. SafeSHIELD™ fasteners now appear on fastener folders with dividers, end-tab fastener folders with pockets, and various other legal and letter fastener folders.

Organized People Like a Firm Handshake

At first glance, the Easy Grip Pocket looks like every other heavy-duty redrope (reddish-brown, to the rest of us) accordion-edged, Tyvek-enhanced pocket for maintaining thick stacks of papers, reference material or directories. Innovative? I was dubious when Smead’s Julie Hicks pressed me to test it out at the Expo booth.

A regular pocket folder and the Easy Grip stood side-by-side, filled to almost bursting with the same heavy load of documents (and possibly some small bricks, from the feel of it). I reached out with one hand, adjusted my “I’d like a hamburger THIS big” motion to fit the expanse of the opening and attempted to lift it. Because the smooth paper of the pocket folder slipped in my fingers, I had to tighten my grip and put forth more effort with my hair dryer muscle (AKA: biceps).

However, when I repeated the process with the Easy Grip, I was delighted that the addition of a non-slip, faintly rubbery, “grippy” texture on the upper portion of the pocket meant that I neither had to squeeze tightly with my hand muscles or strain my thumb or wrist. It’s not exactly magic, but we all know that every little annoyance in our office makes us more likely to become distracted, and less inspired to organize our files.

Easy Grip folders come in letter and legal sizes for 1 3/4″, 3 1/2″, or 5 1/4″ expansion.

The Roar of the Crowd

Stadium-seating movie theaters have become popular in recent years. They’re beloved because you no longer have to fear that the point guard for the high school basketball team will be sitting in front of you at the movies. The graduated, tiered seating makes sure that nothing obscures your view of the screen.

Smead’s Stadium File does for desktop filing what stadium seating does for movie patrons. Too often, our file systems start out methodically organized, with successive folder tabs running left, center, right, left, center, right — until the day you need to add a new folder and end up with a left-tab folder behind another left-tab folder. The more files you have, and the more crowded the are, the less easily you’ll spot the folder you need at a glance, and the more likely you’ll have to let your fingers do the hiking, slogging through the paper equivalent of muddy terrain.

The Stadium File has twelve tiered pockets, holds 900+ sheets of paper, and includes labels for A-Z, Jan-Dec, 1-31, household subject categories (like Auto, Banking, Insurance, etc.) and blanks for customization. It’s accordion-style with fully-lined Tyvek gussets to keep it sturdy, and the two I’ve tested (at the Expo and with a client) managed to stay upright no matter how many papers or files were inserted.

Me, Myself and I…Organize

Pendaflex’s big 2010 innovation is a new portable filing system, the I*Organize Binder, designed to give the user complete customization control with mix and match filing elements. I’ll admit, I didn’t quite get the appeal at first, as it seems too minimalist for professional use, but after a few hands-on experiments, I see this is no mere Trapper-Keeper!

The system includes two aspects, the binder and the filing tools. The binders, instead of using pockets or rings, rely on a nifty system of “channels” into which other filing elements can easily slide in or out and then click into place. No hole-punching required–just unlock, align the spine of the tools with channel system, slide and lock!

The choice of three binders includes:

–The Presentation Binder comes in a leatherette finish and has four channels for creating classy presentations.

–The Storage Binder is constructed of durable poly and has eight channels for maximum storage potential.

–The Essential Binder is made of a flexibly poly and has four channels, with a slim design created to fit easily in a backpack.

The filing tools include the following options, all of which slide vertically into a channel on the binder’s interior spine:

Clipboard–for taking notes or following itineraries
Project Pocket–segments papers with three dividers and write/erase tabs
Twin Pocket Folder–allows for protected display of horizontal 11″ x 17″ documents
Envelope–with elastic closure for receipts, business cards and easily lost items
Secure File Folder–has large storage capacity
Display Book–five clear pockets (10 page display)
Media File–holds CDs, DVDs, flash drives and memory cards
Wave Pocket–holds up to 30 easily accessed pages behind a die-cut wave pattern that exposes the upper right portions.

The spine of each filing tool has fold-out channel strips that tuck away when not used with the system’s binder.

Ice Cold Milk and an Oreo Cookie–It’s All About the Double-Stuff!

When organizing paper (a topic obviously close to Paper Doll‘s heart), it’s important to strike a balance and have categories that are neither too broad nor all-encompassing. It does no good for productivity to have a folder that never carries more than one or two sheets, nor another that carries the weight of the world in triplicate.

Sometimes, however, one category of paperwork requires a thick stack of papers and cannot easily be divided into multiple folders based on sub-categories or chronology. In the hanging folder world, there have long been box-bottom folders, sturdy hanging folders designed to hold directories or other heavy-duty contents. With regard to interior file folders, whether manila or colorful, their bottoms (if you’ll pardon the expression) have seen little innovation over the years.

Just about every file folder, whether high-end with paper-cut prevention and fancy design, or overpriced, off-brand packs of five from the drugstore, comes with those two or three ridges near the crease. When a file folder’s girth causes papers to shift upward and threatens to obscure the folder’s label, you can widen a folder’s base by folding down some or all of the ridges, expanding the typical folder’s bottom edge to about three-quarters of an inch.

But what if you have more papers than that? This is when you might need Pendaflex Double-Stuff File Folders. Each high-capacity file folder holds over 250 sheets of paper and is made of sturdy 11 pt. acid-free paper. Unlike how regular folders have the two expandable ridges on the front, such that expansion causes the front of the folder to have a much lower profile than the rear, the Double-Stuff folders have one ridge, each, on the front and rear of the folder, allowing the base to expand up to 1 1/2 inches without sacrificing frontal coverage.

Caution: Wide Load

When asked what products they should purchase in advance of an office organizing session, most professional organizers will make sure their new clients have a robust collection of hanging folders and interior file folders. We usually caution clients to make sure they buy 1/3-cut, or three-tab, file folders. The typical alternative is 1/5 cut, or five-tab, file folders, but five-tabs simply lack enough space to adequately label most file folders with pertinent details.

Certainly, we advise clients to only label folders with pertinent, non-duplicated, specific information. But what happens when the file label needs to be longer than even a 1/3-cut folder can manage? And what happens when a client is averse to abbreviating a name or project title?

There are two common alternatives organizers will employ. The first is to reduce the print size on our labelmakers (or try to hand-print very neat, very small labels). This is unsatisfactory to many clients, as the larger type-face of the printed labels is often a major motivator to stick with the organizing process, and clients with advancing age and/or declining vision find the smaller labels either unreadable or unmotivating.

The second alternative is to carry the label down to a second line. Although this allows for detailed file labeling, if the printed label is large enough to be read clearly, the second line will likely be obscured once papers are put into the folders.

This is where Pendaflex’s Stretch Tab File Folders come to the rescue — the tabs are 50% longer than 1/3 cut tables to increase the visual labeling area. As the colors are matched to traditional multicolor Pendaflex files, the Stretch Tab File Folders seamlessly merge and integrate with the folders already being used. So, if you’re trying to create a folder for Anna Banana Fe-Fi-Fo-Fanna’s Annual Family Reunion, the stretch tabs will work like a stretch limousine, to get you where you want to go — in style.

Both Smead and Pendaflex courted professional organizers with many more wares than can be mentioned in one post. If paper were poker, I could see you Pendaflex’s anti-microbial file folders and raise you Smead’s See File and All-In-One Tax Organizer. If we were ready to rumble, we could have a grudge match of Smead’s Fastab folders and Easy Slide hanging folder tabs against Pendaflex’s Ready-Tab file folders and hanging folder tabs. But the first rule of Fight Club is “Don’t talk about Fight Club”.

I’ll be back next week with a review of some of the digital information solutions from the NAPO Expo.

Last year, I shared with you some of the wonders of attending the National Association of Professional Organizers’ Annual Conference and Expo. Well, some wonders never cease.

One week after my return from this year’s conference, whose theme was “Innovate. Connect. Inspire”, I’m still reviewing the notes I took during the presentations of our amazing keynote speakers, Tim Sanders, Gina Schreck and Monica Wofford. I’m also wowed by my colleagues, whether it’s the brilliance of their sessions (particularly those taught by Lauren Halagarda, Scott Roewer, Brandie Kajino and Allison Carter), or the delight of their companionship as we toured Columbus, Ohio’s Short North district in search of the unusual flavors at Jeni’s Ice Cream. Mmmm. Ice cream.

Our 2010 Expo offered another fine selection products for helping make lives easier and more organized. Over the next few posts, I’m eager to share with you some of the paper-related treasures we professional organizers encountered.

Each year, I find that a theme begins to coalesce in the NAPO Expo showcase, and this year, it was all about boxing up your papers, but each had its own twist. This week, we’ll review some of the innovative ways paper (including vital documents, memorabilia and more) are gathered up, collated and preserved for easy access.

Tote That Barge, Lift That Bale (of Papers)

One of my favorite new products came from the Alpha-Omega Collection by KC Streamline Concepts. Yes, at first glance, the main product does look like a typical desktop, open file box. And it is. It’s got a few nice bells and whistles, like the front kangaroo-pocket for a notepad and pen, and dated tickler file inserts (because you know how Paper Doll loves tickler files). The Standard Edition is made of ABS plastic and comes in Licorice, Caramel or Blueberry. The oh-so-classy Executive Edition is made of solid wood in Honey Maple or Cherry stains.

Each carrier comes with the following:

One Biannual Calendar
12 Monthly Folders
31 Daily Folders
1 two-inch Extra-Capacity file folders to hold the monthly and daily folders
10 Action Folders with 10 customizable blank tabs
50 Note Cards

While the boxes are lovely, it’s the Alpha-Omega portable totes that really snapped up my attention! The faux-leather (in Blackberry, Cherry or Coconut) are a huge step up from the hard-side plastic lunchbox-style file totes we usually see. Sure, you can carry a handful of files in a nice portfolio, but if you’ve got a small file crate’s worth of paperwork, this tote is really nifty.

The tote completely zips closed, and has extra long purse-style strap handles that snap together in case you’d prefer a sturdier grip. You can select the faux crocodile accents or opt out, and the interior is nicely lined. The outer pockets wrap all the way around, with the front ones operating like the kangaroo pocket on the Alpha-Omega boxes, and the others yielding ample space for small items. Select the color of the box/case, then pick coordinating hanging file colors.

College Bound? Remember Everything, Kit & Caboodle!

When I wrote my article, Organizing Your College Search And Application Process, the one thing that dismayed me was that for those students or families who were not comfortable creating a Do-It-Yourself filing system, there were few pre-created alternatives. I’m pleased to see that College Caboodle has taken that need seriously.

The College Caboodle is designed to be a centralized organizing system for all of a college-bound student’s VIPs (Very Important Papers), including copies of:

-College Applications
-College Essays
-Letters of Recommendation
-Grade transcripts and copies of standardized test scores
-Community Service Activity Summaries
-Scholarship Applications
-Financial Aid Applications and FAFSA Forms

In addition to creating a streamlined filing system for documents, the College Caboodle includes a monthly/quarterly calendar of To-Do items for college aspirants from ninth grade through graduation, easy-to-use forms and checklists to make sure no task is forgotten, pre-labeled folders, resource web sites for application and scholarship assistance, and an instructional CD. The top of the Caboodle box includes plastic pockets for the CD and for a flash drive to maintain essay and application back-up copies. There’s also a built-in tickler system at the front for making sure those tight senior-year deadlines don’t get missed.

The College Caboodle is not inexpensive. However, for parents who have never been through the complex college application process and/or those families who are uncomfortable with organizing the mass of papers and deadlines associated with applying to college, the College Caboodle reassuringly contains all the elements to ensure that no ivy-covered stone goes unturned.

Do Not Pass Go. Collect 200 Report Cards, Photos and Ribbons!

1StopBox has developed a product line for keeping all the memorabilia of life in coordinated kits designed to all fit in a translucent bin of your choosing. The signature product, the Kid’s 1 Stop Box (in designs themed for boys or girls), includes four elements:

A Removable File Case, which holds all the VIP documents for each child: birth and/or adoption certificate, Social Security card, passport, immunization records, report cards or transcripts, etc.

A File System with nine coordinated expandable files (and pre-printed labels) keeps track of children’s artwork, school and independent projects, and non-VIP papers from nursery school through high school.

A Photo Album contains all of the official photos, including annual school pictures, camp photos, team and individual sports portraits, newspaper and magazine clippings and any other scrapbook-worthy or album-appropriate item.

A Keepsake Box holds three-dimensional memorabilia, like medals and ribbons, small trophies, videos or DVDs.

Future sets will include 1 Stop Boxes for babies, wedding-planning and even pets.

Greeting Your Memories In One Tidy Album

Paper Doll readers know that I’m not particularly eager to encourage you to keep all of the greeting cards you receive. However, if you do want to gather up cards in a collated display, the Greeting Card Keeper Card Album from Card Memories does provide one solution for storing keepsake cards and preserving them safely.

Each greeting card can be inserted into an acid-free Memory Sleeve so one can view both the interior and exterior of any card without having to remove it from the sleeve. The sleeves come in medium or large in order to fit standard sized/shaped greeting cards. Unlike the plastic sheet protectors designed for files or glassine stamp/photo album pages, these are more rigid and durable.

The individual Memory Sleeves fit any three-ring binders with holes punched for a standard 8 1/2″ X 5 1/2″ sheet size (medium) or 9 1/2″ X 6″ sheet size (large). (Binder rings must be spaced 2 3/4″ apart for the medium sleeves and 3 1/2″ apart for the large sleeves.) Each sleeve has a separated, plastic “margin” to prevent binder rings from rubbing against the cards.

Sleeved cards can be sorted by category (birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc.) or by date and inserted in any of the company’s various albums. The albums come in medium (8″ X 5″) and large (9 1/4″ X 5 3/4″), and in various styles, including .055 gauge post-consumer recycled plastic milk jugs, in Chili Pepper Red, Cashmere Rose and Stargazer Blue, which come with twenty memory sleeves. Large albums, which include 25 memory sleeves, are available in linen or faux leather, black or red polyethylene plastic, or clear, Raspberry or Blueberry polyproplyene .030 gauge plastic.

The only flaw I can see in the Card Memories line (aside from creating a containment solution that might lead some to keep a larger card collection than is suitable) is that the sleeves are adapted for traditional cards, such as those from Hallmark. Those tall, narrow, tending-towards-silly cards one sees in gift shops and drug stores would not fit these sleeves or albums. However, this is a new product, and one may expect expanded product lines in the future.

Securing Your Vital Interests

One particular item on display at the Expo was not new, but has yet to be mentioned in Paper Doll posts, is Securita’s Vital Records Portavault. Its purpose isn’t merely to collect and collate the very important papers I’m always talking about, but also to make it easy to grab them & go in an emergency. Securita identifies the four basic advantages of the Portavault, in that it helps one:

Identify the vital records and documents one ought to keep in a centralized location. (Yes, Paper Doll has done that for you here and here, for example, but not everyone remembers to take notes!)

Organize the collected essentials in a portable three-ring binder with tabbed sections for individual categories.

Store the documents in acid-free record protectors to preserve readability.

Transport all of the essential papers in one binder, quickly, in case of emergency.

The process for collecting and organizing vital documents in the Portavault is simple. Affix an identifying label to an empty record protector. Then, run off to find the appropriate document(s), and once located, insert into the labeled record protector. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The Portavault’s exterior carrying case (with handle and shoulder strap) includes a pouch for storing keys, important cards, flash drives and cash. The Portavault’s interior houses the three-ring binder, guidelines for storing vital records, disaster-planning advice, 60 pre-printed labels identifying important documents, 30 acid-free record protectors, and a glow-in-the-dark identification tag, in case the onset of your emergency takes place at night or when the power is out.

This is just the tip of the Expo iceberg. Please return to Paper Doll for more 2010 NAPO Expo treasures, including the newest in office supply solutions from favorite stalwarts Smead and Pendaflex, and a new eco-friendly calendar that lets you see the big picture (by seeing the forest and saving the trees). We’ll delve into the digital solutions for preserving your vital information and memories and keeping your daily data at your fingertips. We’ll even revisit some electronic options that have upgraded their offerings.

Until then, pardon Paper Doll while I go back to thinking about that amazing Jeni’s ice cream. Mmmmmm.