Archive for ‘Cables & Cords’ Category

Cool and Colorful Desktop Solutions to Organize Your Workspace

Posted on: June 6th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 22 Comments

June is odd. In much of the county, school has let out (or soon will) and both kids and teachers have been set free. New graduates are gearing up to start their first jobs, while some workplaces have started to shift to summer hours or half-day Fridays. It’s already in the 90°s for many of us, and mojo is in short supply, but the bulk of us aren’t getting summer vacation.

I have a short series coming up soon about lack of motivation, burnout, toxic productivity, productivity dysmorphia, and ways to beat the psychological obstacles to getting organized and staying inspired. But today, we’re going to look at something a little more lighthearted. Sometimes, a little retail therapy (even just via window shopping) can improve our moods and make us a bit more motivated to tackle our stuff, tasks, and spaces.

So, here are a few of the products I’ve seen lately that made me pause and go, “Hmmm.” Be sure to jump into the comments and let me know what you think!

MOFT INVISIBLE LAPTOP STAND

Sometimes, minimalist products can maximize results.

Whether you’re working at your desk at HQ, from your home office or kitchen table, on an airplane, at a picnic table in the sunshine, or in the corner coffee shop, the ergonomics of your workspace setup is important. When you have a permanent desk, it’s easy to arrange for a monitor riser so that your screen is at the right height, but portable risers can be heavy and inconvenient, and working while mobile can bring unexpected miseries. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something lightweight and easy to maneuver?

Enter Moft, maker of device accessories. They state, “Most productivity accessories are rigid, bulky and heavy-eeping you tied to a specific location. We wanted to create something flexible, functional, and non-intrusive that goes everywhere we go, allowing us to be productive anywhere life’s adventures take us.”

MOFT’s Invisible Laptop Stand is hard to describe but quick to impress. When flat and not in use, it’s ridiculously thin at only 0.1″ thick. It’s constructed out of “vegan” leather (didn’t we used to call that vinyl?) and heavy-duty fiberglass.

When flat, you’d barely notice it, but once attached to the bottom of your laptop (with residue-free adhesive) and adjusted to either of the two possible angles, the 3-ounce stand supports up to 18 pounds of laptop weight. 

With built-in magnets, you can easily raise your laptop to the right height in a snap. There are two elevation angles to maximize your comfort. Use the “high-lifting” mode when you are sitting, and raise your laptop 3 inches (at a 25° angle); if you’re using a standing desk or working at a counter, consider the “low-lifting” mode of 2 inches to raise your laptop to a 15° angle.

Since it’s lightweight, portable, and (usually) attached to your laptop, there’s no need to create other space in your bag to accommodate it and you won’t have to worry you’ll forget or misplace it.

The Invisible Laptop Stand comes in Silver, Space Grey, Jean Grey (like the character from X-Men), Wanderlust Blue, Sunset Orange, Cool Grey, and Jet Black. (And yes, if you click through the photos at the site, you can see that all those greys really are different.) There are also limited-edition versions, sold two-for-the-price-of-one, in Pink (shown below) and Gold, sold only in the US.

The adhesive is residue-free and can be removed and reapplied (or attached to different computers) up to half a dozen times.

The MOFT Invisible Laptop Stand can be used with laptops measuring between 11.6″ and 15.6″. However, they don’t recommend using it with laptops that have vents on the bottom surface, as the stand would block airflow. For users with laptops with bottom vents, they recommend their non-adhesive version (available only in Silver and Space Grey). Because it doesn’t stick to the back (bottom) of your computer, setup in a twinge slower, but still easy, and works with computers measuring 11.6″ to 16″ (with the exception of 14″ MacBooks, which have little rubber feet).

The adhesive versions of the MOFT Invisible Laptop Stand are $24.99; the non-adhesive versions are $29.99. They are sold directly at the MOFT site; Amazon sells them at the same price, but has a very limited availability of colors.

For those using a multiple-device workspace, note that MOFT also makes stands for tablets and phones.

SPECTRUM WALL HANGER

Are you at the point in your year where you really wish you’d invested in a full-sized wall calendar for planning big-picture projects, but you can’t justify the expense of wasting half a year of calendar pages? Or, if you know there are undated wall calendars, you may be uninspired by them.

Poketo’s Spectrum Wall Planner may be just what you need to brighten your office and your mood.

Each of the twelve pages in this poster-sized wall planner looks like it has made friends with the color schemes at Pantone. (Need a refresher? Read Ask Paper Doll: Should I Organize My Space and Time With Color?) The pages are undated, so you can start planning with your summer months and continue on through to next spring.

While I’d be inclined to post two months simultaneously (this month and next month), Poketo encourages users to decorate your walls with anywhere from 4-12 planner pages to make this a more powerful long-term planning tool. You can use any poster hangers or adhesives you have available, though they do sell an Acrylic Poster Hanger for $32. (At that price, obviously, hanging only one or two pages concurrently would make more sense that a 12-month set.)

The 12 monthly pages each measure 30.0″ x 20.6″ and are made of FSC-Certified tree-free paper to be gentler to the environment. (Unfortunately, the site does not reference whether the paper is made from stone or other materials.)

The Spectrum Wall Hanger is $48. (To be clear, this is not a reusable or dry-erase product; it’s one-and-done, so only invest if you’re craving bright colors to brighten your space.)

Poketo also carries a line of tree-free Geometric Sticky Notes in “Warm” and “Cool” tones for $8 per set to help theme or code your wall planner. The 5″ x 5″ notes sets come with 15 notes per shape and 60 notes per pad.

 

CABLE WRANGLER

Longtime readers of the Paper Doll blog know that I love magnetic things. Way back in 2014, I sang the praises of the MOS system in Paper Doll’s Cable Conundrums & the MOS: Magnetic Organization System. 

I still use two, a silver aluminum version at my desk to match my Mac products (now silver and purple) and a white plastic version at my bedside, to ensure that when I unplug a lightning (or other) cable from a device, I don’t have to go searching for where it’s squiggled itself away. I loved that it worked horizontally or vertically, and that the price was reasonable.

Sadly, the MOS is no more. Sewell, the company that originally manufactured it no longer lists it, and Amazon, Apple, and all of the other stores that offered it as a solution to cables and cords running amok show it to be unavailable. Sigh. However, while I preferred the triangular, space-age version, I have found a potential replacement in a more parallelogramatic, domed form (3.24″ along each side of the square base).

 

Smartish offers four colorful versions of the Cable Wrangler magnetic cord organizer, and it operates pretty much in the same way as MOS, but more colorfully.

The squat magnetic base is stable and sits neatly on a desk, kitchen counter, bedside table, or gaming station. It comes in one of four cloth-covered designer versions: No. 2 Pencil Grey, Lightly Toasted Beige, Teal Me More, and I’m Blushing. The grey is perfect for that back-to-school collegiate look, while the beige says, “Nancy Meyer-directed movie starring Diane Keaton or Meryl Streep, set on a California or New England beach,” or what GenZ and the Millennials are calling the “Coastal Grandmother” aesthetic. Of course, the pink-toned I’m Blushing was designed specifically for Paper Doll.

Cables stay put due to magnets, but if your particular cable isn’t feeling very “attractive” (that’s Smartish’s joke, if you don’t like it), you can use one of the three (included) magnetic “collars” (similar to the ones MOS had) to help improve the magnetic attraction and keep the cable stuck to the Wrangler. See it in action, below.

The Smartish Cable Wrangler is available at the Smartish site for $19.99, or with a 6-foot lightning cable and two-port wall charger for $39.99. For those who prefer to shop via Amazon Prime, all versions are $24.99. (Amazon also sells the Cable Wrangler with a cable and wall charger for $39.99.)

MUTESYNC: A MUTE BUTTON FOR YOUR VIDEO CALLS

“Hey, whoever’s dog is barking, can you mute yourself?”

“You’re on mute!”

“You’re still muted!”

Thanks to the pandemic, we’ve been in a Brady Bunch-boxed video conferencing mode since 2020, but doesn’t seem like any of us are getting much better at remembering to mute and un-mute. What we all need is the equivalent of that old Staples’ “Easy Button.”

Well, the folks at MuteSync came up with exactly that, an Easy Button for muting/un-muting yourself and for prompting you to pay attention when you aren’t quick to do the right thing.

Instead of rushing your hand to the mouse or touch-screen to wake up the display, make your command icons visible, and click them to change your status, just tap the big, old button on your desk. BAM! MuteSync took their idea to Kickstarter, and it was a huge success! (I mean, of course it was. Seriously, how often do you say/hear “You’re on mute!” in a week?)

When you push the mute button (or even when you mute and unmute from your video meeting platform), the MuteSync mute button light changes! (And, duh, it mutes you.)

MuteSync buttons sync with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Whereby and (with some hiccups) Discord; as of yet, there’s no love for Butter (my favorite under-appreciated video conferencing app). 

Both Mac (from MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) upward) and Windows (7.7 and above) are supported. Note that if you are using one of the conferencing platforms in the browser, MuteSync only supports Chrome and Brave, not Safari. Also, it does not work with phones or tablets, at least not yet. (But, honestly, finding the mute button on a phone or tablet is even harder, so they need to get on that!)

MuteSync requires the installation of a free, downloadable app, and the button connects to your computer (or hub) via an included USB-C cable. 

Tapping the button toggles your mute on and off, and changes color to alert you (and anyone in your workspace) that you are muted (or, yikes!, not muted).

MuteSync users get the “Easy Button,” but also get an extra bonus, a free virtual mute button that lives in the menu bar at the top of the Mac or in the Windows system tray. The virtual button stays in sync with whatever’s going on with your conferencing platform, so if you’ve hit the mute button in Zoom, or tapped the MuteSync mute button, or even if the host has muted you (don’t worry, I’m sure she muted everyone but the speaker, so don’t take it personally!), the virtual button will work in lockstep.

The durable plastic MuteSync mute button is 2.4″ square and 0.4″ high, taking up minimal desk space. The bottom has a rubber pad to ensure that it grips the desk tightly and doesn’t go sliding around.

Because different people have different ideas of which colors mean on and off, you can customize the colors and brightness levels of the button’s eight LED light options.

You’ll still have to train your kids, your spouse who acts like a kid, and your exuberant pets so they understand which colors mean they should “shush”. And, if you’re like my peeps on my Friday night professional organizers call (you know who you are!), you may have to train your kitties to avoid stepping on the buttons when they think they’re the stars of the show. 

Take a peek at the MuteSync video, and surf around the website, which has a variety of support videos and is written by folks with a fun, goofy sense of humor.

The MuteSync button is $49 at their website, as well as at Amazon.

While this is great for conferencing, I periodically have to record videos on Zoom, and I’ve got a horrible habit of narrating to myself (not-quite under my breath) when I have to switch from video to screen sharing, and when I have to pause in between steps. Yes, editing would allow me to deal with all of that, but I’m not always so technologically savvy (or inclined) with video editing; being able to quickly hit “mute” before before doing any fancy clicks would save me quite a bit of frustration.

What do you think? Could you use a portable, practically invisible, laptop stand? An attention-getting calendar? A fashion-forward cable organizer? An Easy Button to mute and un-mute your video calls?

Please share in the comments and let me know what you think, and what features or colors you wish had been included?

On the Road Again: Organize Your Mobile Office

Posted on: March 28th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 16 Comments

Road Warrior Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

During the last two years, the watchword has been “work from home.” In this recent WFH era, we’ve eschewed office buildings and turned snuggly corners of our bedrooms and dining rooms into home offices. Many companies have closed their local operations altogether, finally trusting that there’s no need to micromanage their knowledge-worker staffs. More and more, companies are OK with letting people work where and how they operate best.

Of course, this isn’t the case with everyone. Some employers are rushing at breakneck speed to return the North American workplace experience to “normal,” despite the distinct rise in European and Asian COVID cases of the Omicron BA.2 subvariant. Count me as one of those who is curmudgeonly aghast at the state-by-state dropping of precautions, as I noted in the following reply to a friend, which got a lot of Twitter love.

 

Obviously, though, there are some people who can’t work from home. Your favorite restaurant can’t let the sous-chef work from his back deck. An OB-GYN is the perfect example of how you can’t phone in every kind of delivery!

And people who travel about for work, whose very career depends on them physically arriving at different locations, whether locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally, need to get on the road (or the tarmac), however ambivalent they might feel about the prospect. And, of course, they need to be organized.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR MOBILE OFFICE 

From smart phones to Zoom to cloud computing, modern technology has made road warriors a little less embattled, but keeping your mobile office from looking like an outtake from Game of Thrones battle requires some special equipment and finesse.

Over twenty years as a professional organizer, I have worked with a wide variety of clients who work, at least some of the time, from the road.

There have been numerous pharmaceutical sales representatives who needed to organize medical literature, promotional materials, medication samples, durable medical goods, and anatomical models and schlep them from medical offices and hospitals in their assigned local or regional areas. I’ve worked with a few mobile pharmacists serving as pharmacy supervisors, traveling each week to different outlets, and working both as members of their profession and in consultant/supervisory capacities on behalf of their companies.

I had one client who traveled her “territories” in various parts of the country for a restaurant chain, training franchisees and their staff on everything from computer systems to how to prepare and garnish certain delicious foodstuffs. And one client shared memorable tales of his experiences as a high-level insurance executive assigned to travel and review high profile claims.

What all of these hearty folks had in common is that they needed to have all of their necessary office supplies, documents, and resources available to them with the same ease of accessibility as when they were comfortably seated in actual offices. While each had unique needs, their were a wide number of commonalities.

In the Car

Let’s focus on documents. Back at a decidedly stationary office, you’d have filing cabinets, hanging file drawers in a desk, and a variety of other options with the distinct advantage that you never need worry about jostling.

Cars, however, jostle. They are buffeted by the wind on the highway and hit unanticipated bumps from potholes and running over detritus that has fallen off of other vehicles. 

If your mobile office requires bringing lots of glossy literature, forms, or other pre-printed material, you’ll want to approximate a standard filing system as much as possible.

Personally, I’m a fan of sturdy file crates. These crates, fashioned after old-school milk crates but with file rails on all four sides (to accommodate letter-sized or legal-sized files) take a licking and keep on ticking when you’ve got a heavy load of hanging files filled with file folders and lots of paper. 

My favorite version is made by Sterilite and, like the very best versions of the TARDIS’s control room, has lots of “round things.” I own them in four different shades of pink/plum/mauve, plus blues and blacks. Another client swears by teal.

In most “big box” stores like Target or Walmart or office supply stores, you can usually fine single crates for $5-10. (Storex makes a very similar version, with weirder displays of “round things,” but usually only in packs of three or more for somewhat higher prices.)

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A good alternative to file creates is to pick a few sturdy lidded totes equipped with hanging file rails. In this case, I’m not referencing portable file boxes (we’ll get to those), but larger file tubs requiring a two-handed grip. Bankers Box (yes, famous for their fold-into-place cardboard paper storage) has hearty one:

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Office Depot and Staples have their own lines of dependable tubs. They key is that you want a heavy-duty file tote or tub with hanging rails, one that will withstand the test of time and changes in temperature and humidity. A warped tote is not a happy tote.

These crates or totes should generally stay in your trunk or the rear of your hatchback/SUV, removed rarely just for cleaning of the vehicle. In general, if you keep the contents organized and maintained, updating which folders (and which file contents) are stored within, they shouldn’t require much upkeep.

Aesthetics are less important than durability. However, if you’re eager to move your resources from your trunk to your a hotel room or event venue, there are other options, with functional and aesthetic appeal.

Last year, I guest-blogged for the great folks at meori, and wrote From Dad’s Study to the Modern Home Office, performing a deep dive into the essentials of a home office. One of my favorite products I got to know was meori’s Hanging Office Box. 

It’s available in a few different colors, accommodates hanging files, and is collapsible.

Whichever you choose, use these kinds of file storage for stockpiling multiple copies of leave-behind resources: glossy one-sheets, brochures, catalogs, blank forms, and templates. To ensure that you’re always prepared for a surprise trip, restock your mobile file space weekly if you stay local, or upon each return from out of town.

On Client Calls

When you head into a client meeting while on the road, you’re not going to want to keep zipping back to your car for the documents you want to share or disburse. If you think of the trunk storage totes and crates as the big deep-freezer in your basement, these next options are more like your lunch box or picnic basket. You’ll use them for your laptop or tablet, essential files, and office supplies and related resources, like chargers. It’s the stuff you carry with you.

Recently, I shared with you my beloved ZÜCA Business Backpack. 

For an even more refined look, the Samsonite Business Slim Backpack (in Cognac or Black) is a sleek option.

A full analysis of business backpacks is probably better left for a post on travel, but I can tell you that there’s enough of a variety of business backpacks that you can be assured they’ve come a long way from the backpacks of the days of pep rallies and bus rides. To find a professional backpack to your liking, consider these expert round-ups:

Specialist Satchels: The 19 Best Men’s Backpacks for Work from The Coolist

19 Best Laptop Backpacks the Provide Both Fashion and Function from Marie Claire

The 10 Best Business Travel Backpacks from the blog The Broke Backpacker

The Best Minimalist Laptop Backpacks from Proactive Creative

If you’re looking for something with a little more accent on fashion, primarily for hanging files, there are alternatives to the standard backpack or briefcase. Sadly, the long-beloved (by clients and professional organizers alike) leatherette file totes from Jamie Raquel exist no more, but Levenger’s LevTex Portable File Totes scratch a similar itch.

Available in Black, French Blue, Purple, Red, or Hickory, with a tan twill interior lining, the LevTex line runs $99.50 each (though I’m spotting it on sale for $69 at the time of publication of this post).

At a lower price point, Home District has a similar faux leather Chic File Folder Organizer Tote in Red, Brown, and Black for just $39.99 via Amazon:

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If image is less important to your line of work than durability, and you’ve got a lot of paperwork to share in meetings or at events, consider a portable file box with hinged lids, sturdy handles, and hanging file rails. Search for “portable hanging file box” and you’ll come up with a wide variety of brand-name and generic versions like this:

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These are practical for bringing in just what you need for a specific client call: notes, blank contracts, and a subset of literature from the mobile file space in the trunk. 

If you carry blueprints or other large-format documents, carry both a standard portable file box for business papers and an art portfolio case. If you will be leaving designs behind, use inexpensive red rope portfolios; invest in a durable leather or nylon case if you will be using it long-term.

When you’re on the road, is your need to schlep a more heavy-duty experience? Expanding rolling crates are suitable when your display materials include heavy catalogs and sample products. They offer a robust upgrade from portable file boxes and won’t break the bank — or your back.

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For a more elegant or refined look, try a rolling catalog case or a leather litigation briefcase like you see lawyers (or, more likely, their paralegals) using on TV.

And while you’re gathering all the resources to show off to your clientele or supervisees, make sure you don’t lose sight of all the chargers, cables, gadgets, tools, and small personal items that keep you efficient.

One favorite line of professional organizers everywhere is the Grid-It! from Cocoon Innovations. I am constantly amazed at how much I can pack into a small space with just a Grid-It! board covered in elasticized bands, but Grid-It! never fails to secure possessions, prevent tangles, and ensure that nothing falls into a black hole.  

Cocoon also has an impressive array of slimline backpacks with Grid-It! stylings built in, for the road warrior who is living on the road, or in the air. Speaking of which…

On the Road…and On the Tarmac

Are you spending time in hotels, dropping in at co-working spaces, or hot-desking at divisions of your company as you jaunt around the country or around the world? When space is at a minimum but you want to feel like can keep your eye on all of your documents and resources, it can be helpful to adjust the vertical control. Look upward instead of outward!

For my clients who are always on the road, I suggest the Smead Cascading Wall Organizer. This snazzy revamp of the original can hang on the wall or anywhere from a nail, hook, or even a hotel hanger to reduce clutter in your workspace.

Made of durable, bright, and easy-to-clean polypropylene, the six colorful (yellow, orange, fuscia, green, blue, and purple) letter-size pockets can be removed to take to individual meetings. (Each folder holds up to 50 sheets.)

Use the clear front pocket to show the current month’s calendar, a project timeline or GANTT chart. (Fuzzy on that? Check out Checklists, Gantt Charts, and Kanban Boards – Organize Your Tasks from last year.) There’s a 3-part hanger (use one loop or all three), and an elastic cord closure for putting it all together and stowing it away.

The whole thing is PVC-free and acid-free, and measures 14 1/4″ wide by 24″ high (when fully expanded). Available directly from Smead for $19.03, or you can find it on Amazon for $15.28.

There are two variations on the theme. If the above brights are too vibrant for your super-stuffy colleagues, the clear version (with pastel pockets) of the Cascading Wall Organizer is also $19.03 at Smead or $11.10 at Amazon:

Conversely, there’s one with sumptuous jewel tones for $10.94.

The Container Store has a similar product, the Multi-Color Cascading 6-Pocket Letter File Wall Organizer Tote, for $16.99.

It measures 13 3/8″ wide by 10 1/2″ high, and when it’s not fully extended, it folds and collapses into a 1 1/2″ thick tote. Two snap closures open to reveal six cascading pockets (red, orange, yellow, green, teal, and dark blue) that hold letter-sized interior file folders (sold separately). You can label the tabbed pockets, and there’s both a handle for carrying the closed tote and a ring for hanging it for display.

At a similar price point of $16.95, the Pendaflex Hanging Organizer looks and works much like the others, with color-coded file pockets in an indestructible, poly carrying case.

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Expand it like an accordion file, collapse it to store in a briefcase, or hang it with the files neatly cascading from a hotel doorknob or coffeehouse chair when you set up a temporary workspace.

And sometimes, you just need a space of your own when you’re away from your own space. For such occasions, the Plan Station Pro is kind of interesting. It reminds me of the graduate student study carrels in college libraries, but set up on an ad hoc basis.

This nifty workstation measures 24″D x 48″W x 24″H and lets you create a sitting or standing desk wherever you land, whether that’s a hotel or a job site, for just $40. You carry it like a large portfolio, then hang or use the included dowels so it will free-stand to create a mini office.

Finally, even if you have to work in a public space, avoid the temptation to invest in a wheel-mounted desk. If you must work from your car, it is roomier and more comfy (though admittedly more awkward-looking to ouotsiders) to sit in the center of the rear seat and balance your laptop on your knees. 

Be Tactical With Your Tech

As Paper Doll, I’m always going to focus on your tangible, paper resources, but that doesn’t mean we’ll forget about the tech and other essentials. Your digital resources may live in the cloud, but you still need to reach them from down here on earth (and, OK, sometimes when you’re up in the clouds, too).

Generate a packing list to use with your backpack or satchel so that every night before you get on the road, you can make sure you’ve packed what’s necessary. Consider the following

  • Phone (or a note to remind you to pack it in the morning once it’s charged)
  • Laptop or tablet
  • Mobile hot spot (you can tether your phone’s internet access, but you may want to buy a more powerful mobile router to make sure your computer, tablet, and any other Wi-Fi-able device gets the connection it needs)
  • Bluetooth keyboard
  • Bluetooth mouse (if you, like me, never got the hang of a trackpad)
  • Bluetooth or wired number keypad (if you crunch a lot of numbers when working)
  • Chargers and charging cables
  • Adapters (because, between USB and USB-C, not to mention Lighting connections, nothing attaches to anything else these days without some fiddling)
  • Headphones or ear buds (so that you can dial in to conference calls or Zooms with minimal distraction for yourself or other attendees)
  • Flash drives (because you can never count on your laptop communicating nicely with the presentation set-up at any conference venue or work location)
  • A legal pad or notebook (because sometimes, the internet or WiFi isn’t your friend)
  • Post-It® Notes — always have a stack in your favorite color. Combine a sticky note and a Sharpie for everything from leaving a note on the bathroom mirror for hotel housekeeping to capturing an idea when the data on your phone peters out
  • Your favorite pen, a colorful Sharpie (or several), highlighters (for calling someone’s attention to something in the analog/paper world)
  • Headrest hangers, so you can keep your jacket or suit neatly hanging and wrinkle-free

Making Time for Putting it All Back Together

Block time every evening to review the list of people you will be seeing the next day. This is also a good time to check tomorrow’s slot in your tickler file. C’mon, you didn’t think I’d miss a chance to remind you about the value of tickler files, right? I’m always going to prompt you to tickle yourself organized, even when you’re on the road! (Especially when you’re on the road!)

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Clarify the end goal of the meeting, so you know what you need to display or distribute. Verify that you have (or can acquire) enough copies of each. Make sure all essential items are in tomorrow’s tickler file slot.

After each appointment, before belting yourself into your car, ensure that any papers you acquired in the meeting are either filed for reference or added to your tickler file for prompt follow-up.

Laminate a checklist or create one in Evernote or your favorite digital system so that you can follow the same procedure every time you return from a client visit or sales trip. 

Finally, taking a few moments to remove the pop cans, meal wrappers, and other schmutz of the day ensures that you will enter a fresh-smelling, chaos-free mobile office tomorrow.

Happy travels, and stay safe…and organized!

Paper Doll Carries On About Everyday Carry: What’s In Your Bag?

Posted on: March 14th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 18 Comments

Are you familiar with Everyday Carry? Yes, it sounds more like a branding title for a line of messenger bags than an entire movement that ranges from “the things you schlep each day” to a massive platform for self-identification. But it is both the latter and, to a less dangerous degree than some political affiliations, very much the former.

WHAT IS EVERYDAY CARRY (EDC)?

When I first heard of the term “everyday carry” about a decade ago, I was reading Kevin Kelly’s superb Cool Tools blog. The blog is really aptly named, as it’s a smörgasbord of, well, really cool — and usually inexpensive — tools for solving life’s problems. It’s like having a circle of really resourceful friends writing about their latest finds. 

I’d happened upon the blog via one or another random newsletters that had mentioned Kelly’s “What’s In My Bag?” section of his blog, which often hinged on average people (or possibly semi-famous people I didn’t recognize) talking about their organizing-related products and systems.

The above term “bag” should be taken loosely. For example, a recent post by writer and photographer Nicole Harkin answered, “What’s In My Drawer,”  with a variety of oddities in her kitchen drawer. Sometimes, the bag is a larger space, like Chris Askwith’s “What’s In My Workshop?” 

And another subset of the kinds of cool tools list appearing on the blog would be “everday carry” pocket tools: small pens, tiny versions of flashlights, pocket knives, itty-bitty compasses and levels, pry bars, battery chargers, multitools, carabiners, S-biners, miniature lighters, and all manner of things that good scouts might carry to be prepared.

It seemed quaint when I first noticed these occasional posts, but the more I surfed the “technology bro” corners of the web over the years (as productivity and technology realms often overlap), the closer a look I got at some of the trends in this area. 

A tech friend who spends a lot of time on his bike told me that outdoorsy types (already, a category of human unlikely to cross paths with indoorsy Paper Doll) who biked, hiked, camped, and did similar activities where bugs and crawling/biting things live, tended to hang out in online forums to talk about the stuff they “carried” daily.

As in, things they carried every day when they were taking the subway or getting cake in the break room or flying to conferences in Pittsburgh or Dubuque, generally indoors, where they had no need to start life-saving fires, send an SOS, or rig a floatation device out of their cargo pants!

In the summer of 2019, before the pandemic meant that we were all at home and didn’t need to carry anything a greater distance than from the couch to the kitchen, Vox‘s Stephen T. Wright (not to be confused with the comedian Stephen Wright, who would likely have a bizarre field day with the topic) wrote, Meet the Men Obsessed with Carrying All the Right Stuff. 

For some people, EDC (as those in the know apparently call it) is all about being prepared for any and every eventuality, in a scoutmaster-approved manner. But for others, it can become a realm of competition; instead of buying the fanciest car or the newest phone, some folks seek out the teeniest, weeniest “thing” that can do the most stuff. Hence, for example, all the different types of multitools.

I’ll leave you to the Vox article to explore the EDC subcultures, which tends to be predominantly male, knife-heavy, and painted in black or camouflage-adjacent colors; less often, they are miniaturized and as geeky as possible. In some corners of the web, GQ-friendly stylings are also popular. If you want to explore the concept, you can visit:

 


 

WHAT’S MISSING FROM THE EDC ARENA?

Over the past decade, I’ve seen the references to everyday carry expand to the point that many of the design and technology blogs and accounts I read have regular everyday carry features. What do they all have in common? I note three things:

  1. A focus on tiny metal objects
  2. A focus on efficiency and preparedness at all costs
  3. A focus on the needs (and wants) of dudes

Before you tell me that women need the same things on a daily basis as men, I’ll stop you. All of us who grew up on 1970s television shows, boys and girls, expected that at some point we’d have to save ourselves from quicksand. We were prepared equally. But for the reality of our modern lives? 

Yes, men and women have similar survival needs for making it through a day of hiking or white water rafting. But a day in the workplace? A walk through a parking garage at night? Not so much.

How many men do you know who carry pepper spray, a rape whistle, or one of those doohickeys where you pull out a tab and a horrendous, high-pitched alarm goes off? 

When you look around, whom do you generally see carrying diaper bags? Who is blowing the noses of tiny humans with their inexhaustible supply of tissues? Who is prepared for rest rooms that have no soap or toilet paper? 

Who is carrying the aspirin and tummy meds, the bandaids, the emery boards (for snagged nails), the extra masks, not just for ourselves, but because they’re are more likely to be the guardians of not only their own kids, but their kids’ friends and even random strangers?

The not-dudes.

My point isn’t that the male-centric EDC communities are bad, just that the competitive, posturing nature of some sub-groups can be a bit silly.

Preparedness is good. There just don’t seem to be many communities where the people coming together to talk about women’s EDC needs are discussed.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t resources. I’ve gathered some EDC articles written especially for women. These pieces have great tips for hiding your cash (in places dude-thieves are definitely not going to look), dealing with hygiene emergencies, and protecting personal safety, as well as coping with the universal 21st-century problems like a dead phone battery or the need for an itty-bitty flashlight.

Primal Survivor’s Women’s EDC Checklist: 17 Survival Items to Carry Every Day

Pew Pew Tactical’s Best Everyday Carry (EDC) Items List For Women

Tactical.com’s EDC Gear Women Should Never Leave Home Without

Everyday Carry Experts’ These EDC Items Should Be In Any Woman’s Purse

WHAT ABOUT THE EVERYDAY EVERYDAY CARRY?

So, let’s move beyond the emergent and urgent needs of so-called everyday carry. What about the plain old quotidian things we actually need to carry?

I’ll be honest, I can’t figure out why Paper Mommy‘s purse is so heavy. She’s been searching for the perfect purse since the Eisenhower administration, and I’ve accompanied her on a variety of purse-shopping adventures, so I know her requirements for inside and outside zippered compartments, pockets, and divided sections. What I can’t figure out is why it weighs more than my friend’s toddler (when he’s wearing a full-on snowsuit and boots).

Baggallini Cross-Body Bag

(After this Baggalini cross-body purse got me through two weeks in Italy, I realized that it was the ideal bag for everyday living. BTW, to nobody’s surprise, Paper Mommy picked it out.) 

My own personal everyday carry is probably typical for a woman sans tiny humans, and doesn’t involve most of the things recommended in the articles above. I keep my phone charged, trust my car charger, and have my AAA card in my wallet and the app on my phone. 

I probably can’t MacGyver much, but with the exception of the time Paper Mommy dropped her keys down the elevator shaft and we had to call upon the ingenuity of someone with rare Earth magnets and an approximation of a fishing pole, I’ve rarely needed much more to survive a typical day than the items in my purse, catalogued just now as:

  • Cell phone
  • Wallet
  • Keys
  • Business card case
  • Compact (e.g., face powder, for the younger readers)
  • 2 lipsticks
  • Eyeglass case
  • Hair scrunchie
  • KN95 mask
  • Stack of Starbucks gift cards (because people keep giving them to me as gifts and I almost never go there, so I give them to unhoused persons when it seems someone could really use a hot beverage or a meal)
  • Individually-packaged antibacterial hand wipes (which I carried pre-pandemic) 
  • Tiny satin cosmetic bag for corralling hand sanitizer (and ensuring it doesn’t leak into my purse), ear buds for my phone, half a stack of pink Post-it® Notes, and a pen (so I don’t have to touch the pen at the reception desk in the doctor’s office or when signing a credit card slip).

My purse is a fairly light, but I’m no minimalist. I check a bag for every flight, and plan multiple outfits of every day of any vacation. When I was younger, I tried going out with just an ATM card and driver’s license tucked into my business card case, a lipstick in my pocket, and keys on a coiled bracelet. I felt naked.

WHAT ABOUT A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER’S EVERYDAY CARRY?

Ah, now there you’ve got me. My everyday carry for my in-person work with clients is a masterwork of precision. It’s the perfect combination of bag and contents.

When I first read Geralin Thomas‘ post ZÜCA Takes The Lug Out of Luggage, I was intrigued by her dazzling review ZÜCA‘s products. (Rolling suitcases with drawers and a built-in seat? Sign me up!)

The next time I saw Geralin, she was stopping traffic at the NAPO conference expo with her gorgeous ZÜCA Business Backpack.

Within weeks, I owned one too, and it looks and works pretty much as it did 13 years ago. If anything (heaven forbid) ever happened to it, I’d get another one exactly like it without a second thought.

So, what makes the ZÜCA Business Backback so nifty as an everyday carry (for all my EDC essentials)?

 

A lower-front zipped portion that, once unzipped, opens toward the user, like a glove compartment or an oven door.  It’s suitable for small gadgets, but ideal for hardcover or paperback books you’ve selected to read on the plane or train. It’s also the perfect size and shape to stow your ticket, itinerary and other travel documents.

For my everyday carry, it’s stocked with my ancient Brother P-Touch PT-65 label-maker (20 years old and it keeps on ticking, but nowadays you’d want the PTD210) and some 12mm black-on-white label maker tape.

That compartment usually holds index cards and sticky notes for helping temporarily label client’s sorted paper piles, a small toiletry kit with a toothbrush, mini-toothpaste, and other hygiene tiems, and my Anker PowerCore5000 Portable Charger. 

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It’s about the size of a HoHo or Twinkie, comes in it’s own carrying case, and can charge my phone, tablet, or anything USB-ish. (Yes, one of these days, I’ll have to replace it with a USB-C charger, but today is not that day.) There’s usually a Nature Valley protein bar hidden away in there, as well. Organizing is hungry-making work!

Two side zipped compartments on the left (as you’re looking at at the bag; you can see the zippers in the first ZÜCA photo above) are ideal for multiple uses. For me, the lower, square compartment holds measuring tape, a mini-stapler and staple remover, paper clips, and other paper-specific organizing tools.

The upper compartment is cut on the diagonal. I used to use it for electronic cords and cables (now made unnecessary due to Bluetooth) so it houses my diabetes glucose meter, ensuring quick and easy access.

A right side “door” panel opens revealing oodles of space. The outer side has a mesh pocket suitable for a mini-umbrella or a bottle of water. The interior has two mesh compartments and is padded so you could use it for office essentials or for items that need a bit more TLC, like a stash of thumb drives or an external hard drive.

 

The side “wall” of the backpack, exposed by the opening of the “door” has compartments for pens as well as credit, loyalty, and identification cards. There’s a detachable keychain, so you never have to worry about losing keys in the dark recesses of the bag.

The interior is cordoned off into sections.  From back to front, it has:

  • A padded laptop sleeve—Suitable for a laptop or table, this section measures 10″ x 14″ x 2″ and is positioned firmly along the rear of the backback, so you’ve got no lumps or bumps against your spine. The padded sleeve also has a Velcro closure, so even if you stand on your head (or your backpack takes a tumble from the passenger seat to the floorboard of the car), your laptop should stay securely in place. I use this section for my iPad and Bluetooth keyboard, which is great when I’m helping clients organize documents in the cloud.
  • A zippered mesh compartment on the front of the padded laptop sleeve, is a great way to hide away small documents like a passport or receipts. I use it for when clients give me “precious” items to research, like ancient photos or recently, a 1959 junior prom dance card!
  • The middle interior portion is surprisingly wide enough to hold file folders “sideways,” as if they were within hanging folders. While I generally carry folders vertically in the backpack, it’s nice to have flexibility.
  • There are padded sections attached to the interior front wall of the pack. While the width of these sections does not accommodate files in the normal fashion, they can easily be turned upright. They are also the perfect size to securely hold catalogs, magazines, legal pads, notebooks, and any other papers required by a mobile professional. I use the sections for my 7-ring Emily Ley paper daily planner (yes, I’m retro!),
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my tickler file,

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 and my purple (they call it “orchid”) Roaring Spring legal pads.

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The ZÜCA Business Backpack is light and comfortable enough for everyday carry. It has padded shoulder straps as well as padded sections on the reverse for shoulder blade and ribcage comfort.

I’m a fan of the lean architecture and flat bottom, so that no matter how much it’s stuffed, it won’t fall over. If you’re planning on using it for travel, note that there’s a hard handle for carrying it (like a bucket of water) and horizontal straps to attach it to a rolling bag’s telescoped handle.

Obviously, this is the perfect everyday carry for me, a professional organizer who focuses on client’s paper and information. I will admit, I used to carry one nifty tool, a girly, purple, flowered hammer with lots of miniature screwdrivers nested in the handle (similar to this one).

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However, when I reported for Grand Jury Duty, the courthouse guards deemed it a weapon and told me I could either return it to the car or toss it in their trash. It was over 95° that day and I was parked seven blocks from the courthouse. You do the math. I’ve yet to replace it. That was more than five years ago, and I haven’t needed it. Nor have I needed a multi-tool, pocket knife, pry bar, or miniature lighter. But my iPhone does have flashlight, compass, and level apps, and thus far, that’s been plenty.

While I work with all sorts of residential, home office, and business clients, I’m not doing packing for relocations or installing shelving units, as some of my other colleagues might do. For the best everyday carry options for that kind of work, you’ll want to visit the March Productivity and Organizing Blog Carnival, which will go live on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

Do you have anything surprising in your everyday carry? What’s in your bag (or cargo pockets) that you can’t live without?

NEET & Cozy Cables: A NAPO 2015 EXPO Organizers’ Choice Award Winner

Posted on: May 4th, 2015 by Julie Bestry | No Comments

Everybody complains about cable storage. You can’t swing a lightning cable without hitting a blog post or video or Pinterest page on keeping cables untangled, separated, and safe, whether via retail products or DIY methods. For example:

However, most of the standard stabs at keeping cables and cords organized seem to focus on cables that stay put in your home or office. Other than Paper Doll-recommended Grid-It!, a past NAPO EXPO fan favorite, we rarely see much about how to corral cables in transit so they don’t get tangled in our book bags, purses and when we’re on the go. Happily, the NAPO 2015 Annual Conference and Organizing EXPO had an exciting new entry in the world of cable organization.

NEET Cable Keeper

NeetChin2015

(©2015 Julie Bestry. Peter Chin, founder of NEET Products.)

Winner of the 2015 Organizers’ Choice Award, the NEET Cable Keeper is the equivalent of a tea cozy for your cables, if your tea cozy were crossed with a hoodie crossed with a corset. Each long, colorful strip of cloth material — NEET calls it a “shell” — isolates a single cord or cable from any other, and then includes these essential features:

Zipper — Here’s where the hoodie action comes in. There’s no threading your cable or cord through a complicated maze of plastic molding. (If you’ve ever tried to replace a drawstring in a pair of sweatpants, you know how frustrating that can be. Yes, you can attach a safety pin to guide the string, inch by inch, but ARGGGGGHHH, just recalling that makes Paper Doll grumpy.) Merely lay the cord or cable down across the NEET Cable Keeper and zip it up!

The bottom of the shell is flared, which allows you to encase larger USB ends, and it has ample space for multiple cables to be enclosed.

NEETCableKeepers

Structured Wire — Sewn into the length of the cloth strip is a bendable wire, much like the stays in a (modern) corset, that provide support stiffness and support. The structured wire services two purposes:

  • It protects your cables and cords from damage. There’s no chance you’ll repeatedly fold your cord so tightly that the plastic coating will wear away, or accidentally crush it in a slammed filing cabinet drawer, damaging the delicate internal wires.
  • It provides support for the whole cable or cord, making it suitable for wrapping neatly around your wrist as a bracelet, turning it into a loose necklace, or otherwise, bendy, gooseneck-lamp-style, making it beautiful as well as useful. NEET’s website even shows how to bend it into a stand for a smartphone.

Colorful Wardrobe — The NEET Cable Keeper comes in a variety of colors, so you can tell at a glance from across the room whether the cable you’re spotting is your Kindle charger or your Apple Lightning cord. The NEET Cable Keepers come in black, blue, gold, green, light blue, pink, red, purple, silver, white and yellow.

NeetColors

After you zip your cable cozily into the NEET Cable Keeper, like a toddler into a snow-suit, you’re set. It becomes part of the cable itself, so you have no additional pieces to carry or potentially lose; there’s no reason to take it off, unless you’re one of those people who likes to change the colors of your accessories on a daily basis. (Really, stop that.)

Take a peek:

You can get the Keeper two ways, both designed for mobile device cables measuring 3 feet (or about 100cm) or longer and 1/4″ in diameter. If your cable is longer than 3 feet, the width of the Keeper will accommodate you gently folding it before zipping it up.

  • NEET Cable Keeper M, with just the Keeper, is $12.
  • NEET Cable Keeper M with either a Micro USB cable or an Apple Lightning cable is $18.

It’s available directly from the NEET, and via Amazon, The Grommet and a few other retailers.

Although they are not yet available for purchase, NEET is developing a line of cable organizers for ear buds, laptops, home entertainment, and professional use such as for DJ’s and audio/visual work.

If you own a business and think it would be cool to brand these NEET Cable Keepers for your own customers, NEET founder Peter Chin says, “The NEET Cable Keeper is customizable! We can customize NEET for you to promote your company, event, and brand. Great for corporate giveaways, employee retention programs and brand awareness. Send us a message and we will gladly connect you to our authorized customization partners.”

Zip, wind and organize. Neat (I mean, NEET), eh?