Paper Doll
Paper Doll Asks: Do You Want More Money to “Occupy” Your Bank Account?
Are you part of the 99%?
No, this post isn’t a political diatribe about the pros or cons of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The movement Paper Doll cares about is the desirable movement of clutter out of your spaces and the unwanted movement of money out of your bank accounts. If you’re like most people, maybe even up to 99% of people, chances are good that your bank account is being eaten up by fees. That’s definitely not the way to keep your finances organized!
You see, recent consumer legislation, like the CARD Act and the Dodds-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was designed to keep credit card companies and banks from levying huge, hidden and unfair fees. In the abstract, this was a good thing.
SWIPING AT CONSUMERS
One provision of the Dodds-Frank Act was the Durbin Amendment, which required reduction of the “swipe fee” that banks charge merchants when customers use their debit cards to make purchases. The average fee had been 44 cents per transaction; effective October 1, the maximum fee for merchants is now 21 cents. Merchants’ fees to banks (set by Visa and MasterCard) had exceeded the actual cost of processing a credit card transaction by a whopping 400%.
This provision is expected to cost the banking industry more than $6 billion annually. However, although the legislation limits how much merchants can be charged, it doesn’t say anything at all about what consumers can be charged.
If you tell the banks, “Hey, you can’t surreptitiously and confusingly sneak hard-earned money from the accounts of your customers [per the CARD Act]!” the banks will not say, “Oh, gee, sorry.” They’ll say, “Okeydokey, we’ll levy other fees and make them more visible.” Transparency is great. More fees? Not so much.
So, the banking industry, led by Bank of America, started finding loopholes and inventing new fees, including a $5 charge to consumers in any month in which they use their debit cards for purchases. (Using debit cards at ATMs would not incur any fees.) SunTrust also added the $5 fee, while Regions Bank had added a $4/month fee, and Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase had been conducting state-by-state tests of $3/month fees. Banking industry experts imagined that there might be some push-back on these fees, but seemed to anticipate that consumers would just turn to their credit cards for a larger percentage of their purchases, which in many cases would also mean more money in banks’ pockets.
FEE-A-PALOOZA!
It’s not just swipe fees.
Just two years ago, almost 80% of non-interest bearing checking accounts were free; today, slightly less than half are free. For some accounts, Bank of America is charging close to $9/month if account holders make deposits or withdrawals inside the bank at a teller counter. PNC charges upwards of $3 to call a representative and request a transfer of funds.
More banks are also charging for paper statements. Granted, going paperless is better for the environment, and by lowering paper and mailing costs, it’s better for your bank’s bottom line (though you can be sure the savings won’t be passed along to the consumer).
But there are problems with paperless statements. For example, if you leave your bank for another, you will no longer have access to your closed account’s history. Even if you stay with your bank, some institutions will only let you access statements for a limited period of time, anywhere from six to eighteen months. While, in most cases, that’s satisfactory, if your personal or professional situation requires that you maintain bank records longer, you’ll have to print your own statement copies.
Do you send a little money to Grandma in the old country or your college kid doing a semester abroad? Wells Fargo has just raised its foreign money transfer fee by 125%, from $20 per transfer to $45!
And then there are increasing fees for not maintaining a minimum balance, for over-drafting an account, for using a non-network ATM, for calling to ask a question about your account, for counting and depositing coins, and for monthly service fees for the great and exulted honor of holding an account at the bank.
BACKLASH AND BACKPEDALING
It’s only been a month since Bank of America’s announcement of monthly swipe fees, but response was swift, widespread and loud. From late-night comics to water cooler chat to, yes, the Occupy Wall Street people, the distaste for fees to access one’s own money has been palpable. Consumers are outraged.
But what a difference a day makes!
Just since Friday, some banks have done a Netflix-like mea culpa and reversed themselves. For example, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo have announced they will no longer test or apply their swipe fees. In the time I’ve been writing this very post, SunTrust, which had been quietly charging some customers the $5/month fee since June, announced it would eliminate the fee as of November 2, and would refund any fees customers had been charged.
The cheese stands alone.
As of this writing, Bank of America, which had drawn much of the public ire, is now the only bank not to have reversed its swipe fees. However, representatives of the bank announced Friday that they will not apply the fee to customers who have a monthly direct deposit into their accounts. This is comforting news to employees and anyone receiving direct deposit of a government check, like Social Security. For self-employed individuals (like Paper Doll) and others who do not receive direct deposit, this is no boon.
Of course, this backpedaling comes as a result of the backlash over the swipe fee, but multiple other fees remain in place.
THE MOVEMENT
The Move Your Money Project is one of many non-profit movements encouraging consumers to limit the power of large financial institutions and help support a “more sane, stable and localized” banking system. Consumer’s Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, operates the DefendYourDollars.org website to encourage activism by way of an online, personalized, letter-writing protest campaign.
Bank Transfer Day, set for November 5, is a grassroots initiative. The goal is two-fold, to lessen the bite big banks are taking out of your bank accounts and to communicate dissatisfaction with the onslaught of fees, which many see as corporate greed at a time when so many Americans are struggling financially. It requires no letter writing campaigns, no demonstrating in the streets, and no ability to write a protest sign with proper spelling and grammar.
Bank Transfer Day espouses one simple act. Take your money out of a bank that charges you fees that you find unreasonable, and move to an account at a more acceptable financial institution.
It’s not entirely painless if you’ve got a busy schedule, and you won’t be able to move all your money and actually close your old account until all of your checks have cleared and you’ve changed your automatic transfers and payments. But it will ensure that you get to keep more of your money.
Saturday is the big day, but consumers have already started an exodus from big banks and towards alternatives, like credit unions. Indeed, over the weekend, various media outlets reported that credit unions, on the whole, are seeing a 30% uptick in applications, and some credit unions have doubled their membership ranks in just the last five weeks.
HOW TO MOVE YOUR MONEY
1) Evaluate your situation. Go to your bank’s website and review the schedule of fees. Is it acceptable to you? Are the fees onerous? What is the fee system likely to cost you over the course of a year? For example, a $5/month swipe fee means $60 each year.
2) Identify your needs. Carefully consider what features you need in a financial institution:
- An interest-bearing account?
- A traditional brick-and-mortar bank or an internet-based bank?
- Free email or text alerts regarding account activity?
- Lots of local ATMS?
- Free or refunded out-of-network ATM withdrawals?
- Free or discounted printing of checks and deposit slips?
3) Research alternatives. Before you consider closing your “big bank” account, find the right solution for your needs. To start, take a look at:
Find A Better Bank lets you input the features you’re seeking in a bank and offers you a sortable list of those that meet your criteria.
BankRate has an excellent, searchable database of financial institutions, though it provides fewer search options than Find A Better Bank.
Once you have a few contenders, be sure to request a copy of their schedules of fees or search for them online. Also, make sure that any alternative you consider is FDIC-insured.
Realize that you have multiple alternatives to big banks:
Credit Unions are not designed to make a profit, so they are generally able to offer low-fee and no-fee accounts. While there are still restrictions on eligibility, these restrictions have generally been loosened in recent years. For example, Affinity Plus Credit Union, behind the pithy Ditch Your Bank campaign, opens membership to almost all Minnesota residents.
Find A Credit Union can help you locate credit unions near you in the United States. In Canada, use Credit Union Central of Canada.
Online banks are great because they tend to have very few fees, and those they do have are low. They’re able to do this because they don’t have to pay for the upkeep on physical buildings or employees to staff them. However, it can be inconvenient to deposit checks or make withdrawals via non-online transfers. In addition, speed can be a factor. With ING, for example, it usually takes two days to transfer funds to a non-ING account.
Community banks are small, local or regional banks. Because they lack the heavy infrastructure, mammoth advertising budgets and multi-million dollar golden parachutes for their executives, they can afford to be more customer-centered, charge lower fees and deliver a more personal level of service.
(Note: Paper Doll does not endorse any specific financial institution.)
4) Make lists. Figure out whom you’ll need to contact to change information and keep your finances organized and running smoothly. Include the following:
- Direct Deposits — your employer, federal and state government agencies, trusts, etc. [Call 800-772-1213 to change Social Security direct deposit account information.]
- Automatic Payments (and the dates for which they are set) — mortgage payments, monthly bills, credit card payments, etc.
- Automatic Transfers (and the dates for which they are set)
- Pre-scheduled payments and/or transfers
5) Open your new account with a small deposit and sign up for online bill-pay services.
6) Transfer some funds from the old account to the new one. Be sure to keep enough money in the old account to cover payments, transfers and fees so that you do not overdraw your account or dip below a required minimum balance.
7) Notify all parties associated with your lists from step #3 regarding your new routing and account numbers. Verify the accuracy of all the data you provide.
8) Watch your accounts carefully. Check off all transactions through the old account and keep an eye on your new account’s online dashboard to make sure your transactions are being properly processed.
9) Close your old account only when you are certain everything is now being processed through the new one. Be sure to get written confirmation that your account has been closed.
Organizing involves active decision-making. When you cede those decisions to others, particularly to institutions that don’t have your financial interests at heart, you don’t just lose control. You lose money. Organize your financial accounts so that they serve your needs. “Occupy” a position of leadership over your own money!
Paper Doll Goes on a Field Trip: SMEAD
I was never much for field trips. The Williamsville, NY school district had a penchant for taking us on field trips to farms. I guess they figured that suburban kids had a strong need to see silos and cows. I visited Tifft Farms Nature Preserve so many times in elementary school that I could probably lead a workshop on the proper method of tapping maple syrup in the rain. (As room mother, Paper Mommy came on a lot of these field trips. One senses she, too, was not entirely enamored of the process.)
On Friday, however, I went on a field trip that was a little more in line with Paper Doll sensibilities. I drove down to Atlanta, and then my colleagues, Michelle Grey and Laura Ray, and I carpooled to continue the journey to Locust Grove, GA (population: 5402) to visit Smead.
Our chapter members were made to feel at ease immediately. We were welcomed
THE LESSON PLAN
Customer Sales Coordinator Jenae Brown offered up a PowerPoint presentation on Smead’s history and products. Most of us were already Smead devotees, so we were familiar with a bit of the history. We knew Smead:
- was founded in 1906 when Charles Smead created a “bandless file” for safely filing documents
- has been a woman-owned company for more than 50 years
- began producing all paper products with recycled materials 21 years ago, and has many products made of 100% post-consumer recycled materials
- makes 4999 products for organizing paper and information
We were, however, surprised to learn that Smead had an entire custom-made products division. Not only can Smead design customized printing and/or labeling, unique color options and specialized positioning of fasteners, but these options aren’t limited to big businesses with big budgets and the ability to purchase in big lots. In most cases, the minimum quantity requirement is for only 500 items (per color and/or tab position)! Your small business, non-profit, alumni event committee (or whatever) could create unique, customized folders, portfolios, or binder covers for really reasonable prices.
Speaking of customizing, all of our NAPO field trip attendees were intrigued by Smead’s new online Folder Designer. Start by picking the document size (letter or legal) and tab style (top tab — what we think of as a typical file folder — or end tab, like what you’d see in a dentist’s or doctor’s office).
Next, pick your materials. You have a choice of:
- Manila: 11 pt., 14 pt., 18 pt., 100% recycled 11 pt., Antimicrobial Protection 11 pt. or Watershed/Cutless 11 pt. (Because a file folder paper cut REALLY hurts!)
- Kraft: 11 pt. or 17 pt.
- Color: 11 pt., 14 pt., 18 pt. or Watershed/Cutless 11 pt.
- Pressboard: Types 1, 2 or 3
The folder color choices include grey, purple, goldenrod, yellow, blue, orange, green, lavender, white, red and pink (except for the Watershed/Cutless folders, which come in only manila, yellow, green, blue and red).
The pressboard folder color options are more visually subdued but have some intriguing names, like Pacific Blue, Executive Red and a pale hospital green they call “Gopher”.
The next choice regards expansion. You can choose between regular folders with simple scoring on the bottom to expand the folders for larger interior contents or W-fold, enabling a more heavy-duty box-bottom style folder.
Now you get to choose your tabbing! (Can you all imagine Paper Doll rubbing her hands together, Mr. Burns-style, in twitterpated glee over all of these options?)
We tend to think of file folders coming in two styles: 1/3 cut or 1/5 cut (with those tiny tabs requiring tiny labels). Within either of these two styles, you can specify that you only want, for example, left 1/3 cut tabs, or right-of-center 1/5 cut tabs. But there are other tab styles as well, including straight cut (where the tab runs the entire width of the folder), 1/2 cut, and two different styles of 2/5 cut, available at right-of-center or flush right. There are also Alpha Z file folder tabs, which run 8 inches, covering two-thirds of the folder top.
The next step involves selecting whether you want single or two-ply folders, and whether you want a fastener (to allow you to attach papers), in what position,
and of what type, including bonded, embedded, U-style or the Safe-Shield version we’ve reviewed previously.
If this weren’t already a mind-boggling array of customization options worthy of the world’s niftiest ice cream parlor, the Folder Designer also lets one select the number and placement of interior folder dividers and upload any graphics before arranging for a vendor quote for the desired specifications. Whoa!
I’d like to think we pleased Ms. Brown and her colleagues with our enthusiasm, though a discussion of individual products led to a rather rambunctious free-for-all with otherwise calm and staid professional organizers offering up their own suggestions for changes and new product lines. I think we fancied ourselves Smead’s newly appointed adjunct Research & Development team.
THE TOUR
As a paper geek who finds the annual NAPO Conference and Expo to be akin to attending ComicCon, I’d say visiting Smead to see the workings of the factory and warehouse is a bit like going behind the scenes on a Spielberg film set. The only factories I’ve ever visited have been those producing ice cream (Ben & Jerry‘s, Mayfield). Our friends at Smead did not require us to wear hairnets, but as we entered the factory floor, we did have to wear ear plugs. Also, in order to protect Smead’s proprietary methods, we were not allowed to take photographs on the factory floor.
My colleagues and I joked that if one had never visited a factory (or even if one had), the whole experience seemed very much like the opening sequence of Laverne & Shirley, with conveyor belts moving materials from place to place.
The Locust Grove Smead plant employs 178 individuals, the vast majority of whom work on the factory floor. I think we were all surprised to see, even in this age of advanced mechanization, how essential the employees are to the manufacturing process. We learned that Smead follows Lean production practices, an organized (and organizing) philosophy focusing on efficiency, but this efficiency was obviously not at the expense of the dignity or individuality of the employees. In the warehouse, we saw enormous two-story rack systems emblazoned with signs noting that “Row 17 is proudly overseen by…” and various employees’ names.
I think many of us were also surprised to see and learn exactly how the absolutely gigantic rolls of paper (which, when stacked, made us all feel like we were actually behind the scenes at a Land of the Giants remake) became the file folders, hanging folders and other office supplies we use every day.
See those towers behind us? Those are multiple rolls of (wrapped) file folder material.
Our tour guide, Distribution Manager David Wilson (pictured below, with your intrepid blogger),
showed us how just one machine is able to punch out left-, center- and right-tabbed manila and colored folders without being reset, which he explained was a significant change from when he was first on the floor 33 years ago, and the machine had to be reset after each folder style was cut.
We also learned how vast wheels of colored plastic about the width of a grocery store receipt get heated, folded and cut to turn into the hanging file folder tabs we know so well, and got to see first-hand how those fasteners aren’t just glued onto folders, but actually “punched” into and embedded in the folder material.
THE GOODY BAG
All of our chapter’s field trip attendees got a goody bag of Smead products. Our tour liaison, Regional Sales Director David Warwick, engaged us in discussion of the attributes of these items, most of which have been reviewed previously on the Paper Doll blog:
- SuperTab file folders with oversized tabs
- FasTab Hanging Folders with build-in tabs
- Tuff Hanging Folders with Easy Slide Tab
We each also received a sample pink file folder from Smead’s line of File for the Cure in support of breast cancer research, a pressboard classification folder with dividers and SafeShield fasteners
and a spiffy Secure Pocket with Easy Grip 
like the one I reviewed last April. (Scroll way down.)
Our goody bags also included some items in Smead’s newest line of attractive and functional presentation products, which will be the subject of an upcoming presentation-themed post.
SAYING GOODBYE
Before we shuffled off to have a delicious lunch at Locust Grove’s famed The French Market Tavern and Grille, we took a moment to get a snapshot of our Smead hosts
(From left: Jenae Brown, David Wilson, NAPO-GA President Sherry Lee Denton, Calvin Ruffin, David Warwick, Donald Plummer, Danny Beheler, Eric Thompson)
No cows. No silos. And no tapping maple syrup in the rain. It was a great field trip!
Now go ahead and sing the Laverne & Shirley theme song…you know you’ve been wanting to do it, and as far as Paper Doll can tell, Smead doesn’t have it’s own theme song yet!
One…two…three…four…shlemiel, shlemazel…Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!
Announcing Rubbermaid’s New Bento Boxes…and a CONTEST!
Readers, as I mentioned last week in the Paper Doll 4th Anniversary post, I’ve been looking forward to spilling the beans on this product’s launch ever since this year’s NAPO Conference and Expo. The new collection — which I’d previously left unnamed because information about the product was embargoed — even made it into the I Feel Pretty edition of my post-conference recap, albeit with a big
stamped on the post. Since April, friends, fans and Paper Mommy have all attempted to inveigle information about the new line, so I’m thrilled to no longer have to keep my adoration of this product under wraps.
Welcome the Bento Box Collection!
BENTO? YUMMY!
I’ll admit, I was a tiny bit predisposed to liking the product line as soon as I heard the name. I’ve always loved the idea of Japanese bento “boxes” — small but carefully designed lunch box-like tray containers with smaller sub-compartments.
Perhaps it’s the way that a bento box so neatly organizes the food so that sauces or flavors don’t drip onto one another (don’t you hate that?) which has always appealed to Paper Doll‘s sense of order and organization. But it’s not just order, but compartmentalized, aesthetically-pleasing order, that is the apparent goal of the yummy mealtime bento box.
FROM LUNCH BOX TO ORGANIZING TOOL
While Paper Doll was not on Rubbermaid’s research and development team, it seems likely that a combined appeal of aesthetics and functional organization was a main goal in creating the Bento line, and I believe they’ve succeeded. So, without further ado, how about a look at the whole product line?
INTRODUCING RUBBERMAID’S BENTO BOXES AND TOPPERS
The Bento Boxes comes in three color schemes — Paprika,
soft brown and khaki-checked Chadwick,
and crisp Linen —
and four sizes, including the Extra Large (19.61″ wide x 12.68″ long x 9.9″ high) and Large (12.05″ wide x 12.05″ long x 9.5″ high), which are eminently suitable for storing files. Very often, my organizing clients want something practical but attractive for keeping their household paperwork and files, but metal filing cabinets and plastic file crates fill them with woe. Professionals also desire something appealing for their offices, but find little that is neither cutesie nor so leathery that it belongs in a cigar bar. Bento’s clean lines achieve the perfect balance.
The Medium (11.42″ long x 6.22″ wide x 4.9″ high) and Small (5.63″ wide x 5.63″ long x 4.5″ high) Bento boxes are smaller, suitable for storing office supplies, electronic gadgets, remotes and cables, gaming equipment or hobby paraphernalia.
The reversible “topper” lids are available for the Extra Large, Large and Medium Bento boxes, and are made of the same heavy-duty material. The dual design allows the toppers to serve as either trays or lids, maximizing your options. For example, if you use your Large or Extra Large Bento boxes for files, turning the topper tray-style makes a tidy in-box or to-file tray. The toppers can also be used as trays separate from the Bento Boxes, themselves, to keep rooms tidy.
NOT JUST ANOTHER PRETTY FACE
At first glance, the most obvious “new” thing about the Rubbermaid Bento line is that the boxes are pretty. Yay. But you know that Paper Doll doesn’t care much for aesthetics without function. It has to DO something! And that’s why professional organizers at the NAPO conference were so excited about this new design.
The biggest problem with boxes, even pretty boxes, is that the bigger your storage container, the less order that can usually be maintained. One big empty box provides no opportunity to define separate spaces. I have a lovely storage ottoman, and while I can happily tuck away a blanket or a small stack of magazines, there’s no way to keep the interior from becoming cluttered if I want to store multiple smaller items. Rubbermaid has found a way around the problem so you can organize, and not merely store, the materials of work and life.
FLEXING ORGANIZING MUSCLE
Rubbermaid’s Bento Boxes were created with flex dividers that divide the interior space into multiple sections when needed, but they can be popped (well, the noise it makes is more akin to “Fwapp!”) into place, against the interior walls, when a larger interior space is wanted or the boxes will be nested and stored.
One Large Bento box, completely open? Check. One box with a smaller inset in one quarter? Check. Four equal boxes? Check. The Medium has nifty dividers that allow two smaller sub-sections on each side, with a larger space in the interior.
Since each flex divider can be adjusted individually, the design options, while not endless, certainly give myriad opportunities to those who like to customize the number and sizes of their sub-sections.
STACK ‘EM HIGH
One of the problems we often see with “pretty” design-oriented storage containers is that they stack poorly, keeping you from efficiently using vertical space.
The Bento Boxes, however, can be stacked vertically when in use or nested within one another between projects. Plus, because the Bento Boxes are built to be modular, they can be stacked securely with or without the toppers as lids, offering quick access to items in lower-level boxes.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INJUSTICE
Unfortunately, photographs really don’t do the Bento justice. They are (and feel) much sturdier than they look in photographs. Bento will be in stores in November, so (unless you win the contest) you’ll have to trust me until you can check them out in person to get the full “store, stack, Fwapp!!!” experience.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Too often, we have to choose between function and visual appeal and on the rare occasions that we find the right item that will blend in with our homes or offices, it’s more than we want to spend. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Rubbermaid Bento Boxes are priced so reasonably, from $9.99 for the Small to $26.99 for the Extra Large.
THE CONTEST
The Bento Box Collection is made from sturdy CARB-certified MDF covered in durable polyester fabric. Rubbermaid notes that, “The heavy-duty decorative fabric enables it to remain out in your social spaces while complementing your home’s decor.” Paper Doll thinks the design scheme and style also make the Bento Boxes perfect for home offices and even perking up corporate cubicles.
(Fans of the movie Office Space, don’t you think a Swingline Rio Red Stapler would be best kept safely within a Paprika Bento Box?)
That’s why I’m so excited that Rubbermaid is making available a set of Bento Boxes for me to give away to a lucky Paper Doll reader in celebration of the blog’s four years. Hurray!
The contest is open to all readers with a shipping address in the United States or Canada, and the rules are simple.
1) Use the comment section below to share your favorite Paper Doll post of the past four years and tell us why you liked it. Trouble deciding? Feel free to read last week’s anniversary post to get you amped up. (There are also some helpful recaps in the 3rd anniversary post and the Bastille Day post of 2009.)
2) Tell us which Rubbermaid Bento Box style (Paprika, Chadwick or Linen) you like best, and how and/or where you’d like to use it. For some creative suggestions, check out Rubbermaid’s ideas for entryways, bathrooms, media centers and other living areas.
3) Note your Twitter ID in the body of your submission comment. (If you don’t use Twitter, please provide your email address or some other easy way to contact you online. OnlineOrganizing’s blog system doesn’t allow clickable links in the comments, so remove the http:// from any link you provide.)
The deadline for submissions is Monday, October 31, 2011 at Noon, EST. One winner will be chosen randomly and announced in early November.
Good luck!
Happy 4th Anniversary, Paper Doll Readers!
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been providing strategies and advice for getting your paper organized for four years.
In the past year, we’ve covered everything from the Gift Card Revolution to common paper management mistakes, from organizing and dealing with tax paperwork to bill-paying strategies. We’ve talked about how not to be listless and how to adjust the vertical hold.
I love each bit of research that goes into my posts. This weekend, for example, I learned that up to 70% of the books in British households remain unread, which you just know will help me determine the direction of whatever I write next about decluttering bookshelves. (By the way, what percentage of the books on your shelves are unread?)
Every statistic, every organizing article, every blog post of my esteemed colleagues serves as potential inspiration for a post here. The more I read about subjects ranging from organizing to paper supplies to financial management, the more I realize that there’s a never-ending supply of practical, useful material for this blog.
However, it’s been a tradition at Paper Doll to use the anniversary post to share material that isn’t necessarily about organizing paper, but appreciating it, or at least appreciating what others might do with it. Because, while keeping your paper organized is the bread and butter of Paper Doll‘s work, it’s important for all of us to take a moment to delight in what else paper can mean to us.
For example, there may be the blend of practical and silly, like these Tetris-shaped sticky notes:
And then there’s the art and artistry that catches the eye. For example, there’s the miniaturization of paper art demonstrated by tinyworldinabottle on Etsy. I’m enamored with this itsy-bitsy park scene, entitled Tiny green tree and a family in a tiny bottle:
The most interesting paper-related story I found this year was a mystery that unraveled over time. It was a story of a paper crime. Or, if not quite a crime, then a reverse crime. Instead of a theft, the staff of the Scottish Poetry Library found a piece of artwork left behind! It began with a fragile poetree carved from hundreds of pages of a mystery book:
Nobody knew who left the piece behind, though an anonymous note addressed to the library’s Twitter account was nestled into the tree, stating:
But this was just the start of Scotland’s artistic and literary surprises. A few months later, staffers at the National Library of Scotland found a papercraft piece of art in the shape of a coffin and gramophone, carved from the mystery novel Exit Music, by Scottish detective novelist Ian Rankin. Yet another attached tag addressed that library’s Twitter account, in support of libraries.
More mysterious left-behind artwork followed: the Scottish Filmhouse cinema, home to the Edinburgh International Film Festival, received a model of an oddly populated cinema, carved from books, and then the Scottish Storytelling Center found a dragon, carved from a Rankin novel, snuggled into a window bay.
The blog Central Station had a full take on the year-long mystery, with dazzling photos, and then just a few weeks ago, the Edinburgh Evening News identified the mysterious reverse-thief and artist.
Speaking of art, we’ve recently explored one piece by “found art” paper artist Jennifer Collier,
but there’s so much more to know. (Seriously. Surf Collier’s site and try not to crave putting one of her pieces on display in your own space.)
As much as I love blogging about paper, sometimes I still find myself at a loss. It’s not that I don’t have topics on my editorial calendar, but sometimes I just don’t feel like writing about whatever topic I previously selected. This is when I call on Paper Mommy, and ask her to help me brainstorm a paper-related topic. Invariably, at some point in the discussion, Paper Mommy suggests “toilet paper”, usually in a funny accent, and that helps melt the brain-freeze.
Given that, I’m sure she’ll be amused at the next item that caught my eye, from MyBadPad‘s post about 21 Cool Toilet Paper Roll Creations. I just had to share the intriguing toilet paper sculptures that look surprisingly like Andy Rooney:
I can’t get over the idea that the audio track behind these sculptures should be saying, in an annoyingly whiny voice, “Have you ever noticed that bloggers like Paper Doll always take things to ridiculous, off-topic extremes?”
Strategies, services, products, regulations, solutions…the purpose behind all of my practical blog posts is to help you readers organize your essentials so that you have space and time for the charming delights of life. For me, at least, one of those delights is the opportunity to surprise readers with something special.
Back in April, I shared the fact that our friends from Rubbermaid had debuted a really nifty and attractive product at the National Association of Professional Organizers’ Annual Conference and Expo…but that I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. It was:
News about the product was embargoed, first until August, and then until October. Patience, like brevity, is a virtue that Paper Doll lacks!
But it’s secret no more! In fact, next week, as we start the FIFTH year of Paper Doll, we’ll be celebrating with a contest. I’ll be sharing the nitty-gritty about the nifty product, and readers will be rewarded with a chance to win one of my favorite 2011 new products.
Until then…thank you for reading, whether you’ve stuck around for four full years or are relatively new to the Paper Doll neighborhood. Happy anniversary to us!
Paper Doll Tells You A Story…Bit by Bit
Reducing Book Clutter (Part 1): Book Rentals for Grownups
Reducing Book Clutter (Part 2): Book Rentals for Kids
Reducing Book Clutter (Part 3): Trading Books Online
Reducing Book Clutter (Part 4): Borrowing & Returning — A Library Love Letter
Reducing Book Clutter (Part 5): Electronic Books
Reducing Book Clutter (Part 6): Audio Books
To satisfy my frugal nature, I tend to read library books, but have also taken a foray into the worlds of electronic books on the Kindle and audio books on CDs and MP3s. But there’s another clutter-free way to enjoy books when you want to save space, money and time.
Dripread is an app that turns any book into a drip…drip…drip… of knowledge. The steps are simple:
1) Create a free account. (You can choose to skip this step, but then you may only receive readings from books already in the Dripread library.) Subscriptions are free.
2) Select a book or upload a digitized version of one of your own. Uploaded ebooks must be in the EPub format, but as we’ve discussed previously, you can use the free ebook format translation software Calibre to get your non-EPub ebooks Dripread-ready.
Dripread’s library is filled with classic titles in the public domain, in genres ranging from adventures and mysteries to romances and science fiction. While Dripread’s collections lean heavily toward fiction, non-fiction books include a growing selection of science and history titles, as well as offerings on finance, self-improvement and language study.
That’s it — just sign up and pick a book. Dripread then emails you one page of your book each day, and you can absorb it in bite-sized chunks. Of course, if you enjoy what you’re reading and want more, just click the “next installment” link in each email. The system knows where you left off and immediately sends the next reading. But if one page is all you need or want, you’re assured of making tiny bits of progress each day.
One page per day? Are you aghast at how anyone could survive on only one page a day? Or are you wondering if you could realistically squeeze a whole page of reading into your already-busy schedule?
No matter how much one might love reading, modern life makes it hard to snuggle under a blanket and read for hours on end. Dripread’s service is designed for those who are truly at a loss for personal reading time, like busy parents of toddlers, or those who just can’t quite get back to a book in between other projects, finding themselves revisiting a title months after starting it, unable to recall the relationships between characters.
Although a voracious reader, Paper Doll never did make it through Anna Karenina. I tried, summer after summer, with no excuse, but just couldn’t fall into the book. Perhaps taking that tome one page at a time might be an awfully long slog, but sometimes it’s easier to spend a moment reading an email than weeks trying to drag yourself back to a heavy classic with heavy Russian names. Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky and Princess Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya might be easier to embrace one page at a time.
If the idea of a just one percolated drip of a story at a time sounds familiar, you might recall that we’ve discussed this process before.
DailyLit is another free service which breaks down books into smaller installments (though not quite as tiny as one-page chunks) and emails them to you to read at your convenience. DailyLit readings can be viewed wherever you read your email: on your computer, smart phone or PDA, and if you prefer, readings can be sent via RSS instead of email.
DailyLit snippets are designed to take about five minutes to read, though you can change your settings to receive one, two or four installments at a time. Pick from a list of banned books or explore a field of study that’s new to you, like the Wikipedia Tour of Greek Mythology.
You get to choose how many installments you wish to read each day — for example, schedule the emails to pop in at 10a, 2p and 4:30p, to break up the monotony of a heavy workday without taking a jaunt to the break room or coffee cart. Fewer calories, greater enlightenment!
You can also have more installments sent right away, whenever you like, if you encounter a part of the story that’s really getting good. Click “send me the next installment immediately” at times when you can read more: in line at the DMV, waiting for a delayed train, or needing to look like you’re checking important messages when a VIP has left you in a lobby, cooling your heels.
Although registering for an account isn’t required if you merely want to read books, doing so allows you to participate in discussion forums — which helps you to experience the equivalent of a book club without ever having to clean your house or make book-themed appetizers. Having an account also lets you rank and review books and manage any book lists you’d like to create. Once you’ve created an account, you can sign in via Facebook, Twitter, Google, Open ID or whatever new identification authorization system gets invented in the coming weeks.
DailyLit has a larger assortment of titles that Dripread, including titles in the public domain, as well as those covered by Creative Commons and others under copyright, sponsored by advertisers. Browse books by title, author, category or release date to find whatever you hanker to read. I was surprised and delighted to find that DailyLit included twenty installments from Lisa Kogan’s hysterical Someone Will Be With You Shortly: Notes From a Perfectly Imperfect Life, a series of essays I’d just finished in paperback.
Dear Reader is a slightly different kind of installment reading plan. Suzanne Beecher, a novelist, sends daily excerpts of new fiction to subscribers to her service. You can sign up for one or more of her “book clubs” by linking through your own public library system or directly, if your library does not participate. Book clubs, or general categories of interest, include fiction, non-fiction, teen, business, romance, “good news”, science fiction, mysteries, thrillers, classics, and audio books.
The idea isn’t for readers to read entire books over email, but to develop a taste as to whether a book might appeal to them. You indicate the genre(s) you prefer, and Suzanne selects and emails a daily five-minute snippet to whet your literary appetite.
Dear Reader’s mini-forums encourage a shared spirit of affection for reading, and charmingly, the site includes a recipe exchange (because, as we all know, it’s so tempting to nosh while we read).
Tiny bits of books. It’s a little ironic that these novel (no pun intended) services are actually not all that novel. In the 1800s, full-length novels were too expensive for most Victorian-era readers to purchase, so books were often serialized in newspapers, so that followers of the stories got chapters in smaller (more affordable) installments. Indeed, when Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop was published, fans of the book in New York City, who had not yet received the latest installments, reportedly rushed to the piers to ask sailors arriving from England, “Is Little Nell alive?”
There’s something to be said for a slow sampling of a good book, for a delightful savoring of a story, bit by bit. For those of us who tend to gobble our literary preferences, the drip…drip…drip…of a story over time might uplift the spirit, and for those who can never find time to stick with a book, slow samplings might just ensure that a book is read from “cover to cover”, even when the only cover in sight is a laptop bag.
Would tiny email or RSS installments of books help you read a little bit more? Readers, what say you?
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