Archive for ‘Office Supplies’ Category
Organize Your Desktop with Your Perfect Desk Pad
WHY USE A DESK PAD?
It’s funny how small, random things resonate with people. In early September, in Paper Doll Explores New & Nifty Office and School Supplies, I included a small section on how desk pads have come back into vogue, and shared some examples of brightly colored, inexpensive options. I’ve been surprised by how many people had follow-up questions about this rarely discussed office supply.
Desk pads are similar to but not quite the same as desk blotters, even though the two are often conflated. However, as we’re not writing with quills or fountain pens anymore, nobody is really blotting anything. Still desk pads have a variety of benefits for organizing your desk physically as well as psychologically.
Desk pads have a variety of purposes. A desk pad will:
- Protect the desk from spilled beverages, sticky or crumbly foods, and scratches (either from your watch or jewelry, or from pens that dig into the desktop surface).
- Create a more comfortable workplace. This includes making the traditional writing surface smooth for when you’re actually using pen or pencil (like a caveman) or protecting your arms from the desktop’s surface. If your desk is metal or glass, the surface can be ice cold; an old wooden desk may feel scratchy or splintery. Desk pads vastly improves your comfort level because they’re generally made from softer or sleeker materials. This also provides a gentler surface to reduce friction against your wrists.
- Yield more slide-y space than a mousepad. Whether you’re using your desktop for working or gaming, a mousepad offers little space to slide your mouse around. A desk pad makes that smooth area much wider and eliminates your worry about making grander gestures.
- Reduce the sound and vibrations of a clickety mechanical keyboard.
- Designate zones for different tools. Some desk pads give you specific areas to help carve out the niche areas of purpose on your desk.
- Make a statement of style for the owner of the desk, to communicate personality with visitors and to delight you when you’re sitting at your workspace. Given that most of day’s post focuses on more mature styles of desk pads, in leather and and leather-like materials, I thought I’d share the kind of desk pad that the less grown-up version of me is often tempted to acquire. Because, as you may have wondered at some point, Surely Not Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting (from Society Six).
DESK PAD ATTRIBUTES TO CONSIDER
Most of the inquiries I received asked about what features they should consider in a desk pad. For those used to the traditional oversized calendar style of blotter, the number of modern desk pad possibilities come as a bit of an overwhelming surprise. Let’s look at several.
Size
One hesitates to say that “size matters,” but you need to consider a variety of size-related elements:
- How large is your work area? — If your desk is enormous and you’ve got an itty bitty desk pad not much bigger than a mousepad, the desk pad is going to be engulfed, both logicically and aesthetically. If it’s only the width of your keyboard, the friction of the edges against your arm may annoy you.
Conversely, if you’re working on a tiny desk, make sure your desk pad will actually fit. Read the actual measurements, but also keep your eyes out for keywords, like “extended,” that give you an idea of the size of a product. A standard goal is to pick a desk pad that covers 2/3 of the width of your desk, but your needs may vary, given other factors.
- How much of your stuff do you want on the desk pad? — Do you want the deskpad to cover just the area closest to you, or would you prefer your computer to sit atop it? If you want your desktop and keyboard located on top of your deskpad, you’ll need more space than if you just want to put it under your laptop (or just prefer it under the area where you rest your arms).
Some desk pads are designed to be large enough to have space for your phone, mouse (so a mousepad is unnecessary), office supplies, and any papers essential to your work.
- What kind of surface do you need for your work functionality? — If you’re using a mouse instead of a track pad and a desk pad in lieu of a mouse pad, the mouse needs to be able to move smoothly but not slip on too glossy a surface. The surface should also allow you an adequate, comfortable area upon which to rest your mousing wrist.
- Do you need a desk pad to accommodate a special purpose? — Gamers often use oversized (overly wide) desk pads; engineers and computer specialists may need specialized pads for work on computers or with tools.
- Do you need options? There are varieties of desk pads with different surfaces on each side (like for gaming vs. standard computing or intricate work vs. writing). If your work and play tasks vary widely, consider looking at dual-dided pads to make sure you’re comfortable. A distracted worker is an unproductive worker.
Think about width as well as depth of your desk (and desk pad) as you look at your purchase options.
Materials
The material from which your desk pad is constructed will impact how it looks, how long it will last, and how much it will cost. Common desk pad materials include:
- Leather looks sumptuous and sophisticated, is easy to keep clean, and tends to be durable over the long term. However, it is often one of the most expensive options.
Leatherology has a wide variety of classic and modern desk pad options, but they also have some spiffy extra-long desk pads and narrower “conference and laptop” pads. They’re all in gorgeous Italian leather and are (for real leather) fairly affordable, from $95 to $170. Even their colors sound luxurious, with Bordeaux (below), Oxblood, Mocha, and Dove mixing with Tan, Black, Midnight Blue.
Grovemade is a similarly delicious vendor of 3.5mm-thick premium leather desk pads with cork backing in six sizes: Small – 11” x 24.75”, Small Plus – 14″ x 31.5″, Medium – 11.5” x 38”, Medium Plus – 15.75″ x 38″, Large – 26” x 38.5”, and Extra Large – 26.5″ x 49″. Small, medium & medium plus provide room for an external keyboard and mouse, while Large is designed to work under the Grovemade Monitor Stand and Laptop Stand. Prices range from $110 to a whopping $400!
Of course, leather can get incredibly pricey. Smythson of Bond Street’s Large Desk Mat in Panama (available in Black or Sandstone) runs a hefty $1095!
- “Vegan” leather is what we used to call vinyl. It’s durable, though not so much as real leather, but it avoids the whole Bambi’s mother issue. You will sometimes see this described as “Eco” leather. If you’re not spending in the $100s, you’re almost assuredly not seeing a leather pad.
- Plastic or PVC vinyl is inexpensive, but may feel cold against your arms, can split or crack over time, and likely won’t last as long as some other varieties. That said, whether clear or opaque and colored, plastic surfaces are usually easier to clean and ideal for people who tend to stain their horizontal surfaces with coffee cup rings.
- Wool/Felt provides a cozy, hygge look, but can feel itchy or scratchy to your arms. (If you’re buying a wood desk pad as gift, make sure your recipient doesn’t have wool allergies.) Of course, a mouse will not slide on wool so you’ll still need a mouse pad, and you’re not really going to be able to handwrite on it unless you’ve got a notebook or want to fuss with cardboard backing while drafting your thank you notes.
If you’re up for spending $94 on some wool that you can’t even wear on date night, Graf Lantz has a sophisticated Mosen Large Merino Wool Felt Desk Pad measuring 31” wide x 19 ½” high in seven colors (Espresso, Mahogany, Orange, Granite, Charcoal, Marine, and Sage.
- Microfiber or Polyester — These materials tend to be relatively thin, on to top of spongy backing, making it hard to write with pencil or ball point pens, and can be hard to keep clean over the long run. These range from lower-end options to more fancy-pants versions, like the Harber London Microfibre Minimalist Deskmat, available in three sizes, from about $60-$84, from the UK.
- Cork — For example, IKEA’S minimalist Susig, measuring 17 3/4″ by 25 1/2″ is made of cork, which repels dirt and water. It’s only $8.99. Bear in mind that cork can have a strong odor, as anyone who’s ever purchased a new bulletin board will know. Buyer beware.
- Linoleum is an atypical options, but Grovemade makes them from linseed oil, natural pine rosin, wood flour, and calcium carbonate, with a cork backing, in ten different colors. They resist fingerprints and are antistatic and durable.
- Aluminum or Copper desk pads provide anti-static attributes. These metals have conductive properties, and will protect your computers and electronic equipment from static electricity. If you work around equipment that’s sensitive to static, like in a computer lab or server room, this is something to consider.
- Marble, glass, acrylic — These atypical desk pads are going to be cold, heavy, and slippery, but easy to clean.
I’d recommend against these icy materials unless you are far more into aesthetics than computing, but the Pottery Barn White Marble Desk Blotter may put you in “fancy society matron” mode. It comes in 24″ wide by 18″ high for $79 or 36″ wide by 18″ high (pictured below) for $99 and can be personalized.
As you examine your options, ask yourself, will this material deflect spills? Morning Starbucks? Afternoon Starbucks? Late night pizza grease?
Leather and vegan leather are sumptuous, but will they withstand ink stains and the pressure of a ball point pen?
Do you need gutters (indentations) for pens or cord organizers or side panels on the edges to give you a sense of boundaries (and let you tuck in note cards)?
Whatever material you choose will reflect your personal style. Select something that uplifts and inspires you (or at least doesn’t frustrate you) when you approach your desk.
That said, consider that how you organize your desk reflects on your office mates or your employers. There’s some wiggle room, but if your desk pad quote Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Eat the Rich! but you work at a high-end accounting firm, you may encounter some conflict.
Grip/Traction
A super slick desk surface such as one made of metal or glass will improve your mousing capabilities but may make it hard for you to keep things from rolling away. A good desk pad has backing that provides traction for keeping your keyboard from jiggling, your pens from rolling, and your podcast microphones from sliding away.
Think about how the backing material will affect the grippiness of the pad on the desk’s surface. Look for a desk pad with backing that’s sufficiently rubbery to keep the desk pad from sliding around, but not something so inexpensive that it will get sticky or goopy near a heater or in direct sunlight as the years go by.
You also want a smooth top surface for writing, but not so smooth that your keyboard will slide around.
Organization
Psychologically, a desk pad has a calming, centering effect, much like a tablecloth or table runner in a home, dissuading you from piling junk or excess materials in your space. A desk pad also helps you create zones, both on the pad and around the perimeter. You might find yourself keeping resources on the back third of the desk, beyond the far edge of the depth of the pad, or papers to the left of the pad and your phone and gadgets to the right.
Let your desk pad support your organizational structure, and you might find that it supports your physical as well as cognitive sense of order.
Design Aesthetic
Design also has both a functional and psychological impact.
Functionally, the design and manufacture of your desk pad can affect your comfort while you work. Those with some extra padding may be more comfortable under your arms while you’re typing. Of course, you don’t want a pad so thick that it adds bulk or adversely impacts your ergonomics. And, as mentioned, size will matter if you’re trying to create a sleek, uniform look on your desk.
Aesthetically, the combination of materials, colors, and styles determine whether your desk pad looks:
- Professional — Let’s define this to mean anything from serene to stuffy, but generally appropriate for an attorney’s office or anywhere you’re expected to dress conservatively for work.
- Sleek, modern, minimalist — If the bulk of your workspace is glass, metal, or full of spare IKEA-styled wooden furniture, you’ll want a desk pad that sets a similar tone.
- Activist-oriented — Does everything in your office convey a written message? Is your tone political (in the wider use of the term)? You may want a bold look.
- Too Cool for School — If you’re working with younger people (by which I mean adults younger than you, as parents may bristle at middle school guidance counselors decorating with edgy messages), you may want a more youthful, expressive style to maintain integrity.
- Personal — Whether you want Barbie pink or a Darth Vader Sith Lord desk pad from NovelKeys, in the end, you need to ask: does the desk pad fit your tastes? If not, you’ll never feel entirely at ease at your desk.
In the end, this is a desk pad, not a wedding dress. Pick a color, pattern, and material that reflects your style insofar as you’re allowed to express your true style at work.
And if you find the perfect desk pad but expect it will be received poorly at work, use it in your desk area at home — and start looking for a job that won’t stifle your soul.
Portability
If you set up a desk once and never remove anything, this won’t be a concern. However, if you hot-desk at your office, or if you’re a student who relocates to different work areas and likes your desk pad to come with you, portability may be an issue.
Some desk pads easily roll up like small yoga mats and you can keep them rolled with a rubber band or yoga mat band. Conversely, some fancy-pants desk pads, the kind made to emulate old-fashioned leather pads, are not only stiff and unrollable, but are often weighted heavily on the left and right edges and not ideally portable.
Special Features
A desk pad is not always just a desk pad, especially in the 21st-century. Some, like the KeySmart Charging Taskpad have charging capabilities. Measuring 35.43″ x 16.54″, in comes only in black. What it lacks in panache, in makes up for in features.
The KeySmart Charging Task Pad has built-in wireless charging capabilities. You can just set your phone, Airpods, or other doohickies on the mat and they will charge quickly, even when in their cases. It’s also water- and stain-resistant, and anti-scratch, with a no-slip-backing and PU Leather surface. There’s a “micro-textured mouse pad built in, with cushioning for wrists and forearms. It’s $120 from KeySmart and currently on sale at Amazon for $69.
Gaming keyboards like are built with colorful, lighted margins to help set the ambiance. For example, see the Razer Goliathus Chroma line, which runs $54 at Warmart and Amazon for the extended version. (You may want to turn down your volume if you’re over 30 years of age.)
Price
Do you want to make a long-term commitment to one desk pad or “date” around with different options depending on your mood of the week? The more committed, the higher a price point you can embrace. I’ve seen desk pads ranging from $10 to $200, so you should be able to augment your work space at a cost that works for you.
A FEW MORE DESK PAD EXAMPLES
Smead Desk Pads
Just as I was considering writing this blog post, I got an email from one of my favorite companies to recommend about the brand new Smead Desk Pads. The waterproof surface, described as being crafted from “premium vegan leather,” has a sturdy design to protect against keyboard scratches, water marks, and spills.
Smead notes that the faux-suede, non-slip backing will ensure stability, so it won’t wiggle while you work or write. They stated that it comes rolled for easy shipping but will lay flat without curling once it’s on your desk.
The Smead Desk Pads come in three sizes:
- Small (23.6″ x 13.7″) for $10.49
- Medium (31.5″ x 15.7″) for $12.99
- Large (36″ x 17″) for $14.99
and five colors: Blue, Dusty Rose, Saddle, Sandstone, and Charcoal.
If you’re seeking a serene, serious, vibe, like for the office of a therapist or ADHD coach, this might be ideal.
OrbitKey Desk Mat
The OrbitKey Desk Mat comes in Black or Stone, in two sizes: Medium (27.01″ wide x 14.69″ high) and Large (35.28″ wide x 16.65″ high). It’s made of premium vegan leather and 100% recycled PET felt and comes with a two-year warranty.
The OrbitKey Desk Mat has some intriguing features, including:
- a quick-access indented toolbar across the top
- a magnetic cable organizer
- a document hideaway feature, suitable for keeping your cheat sheet formulas and codes, or sensitive papers you need at your fingertips
It’s also somewhat pricey (at just under $80 for Medium or $100 for Large) from OrbitKey and Amazon.
Adir Professional Reversible Self-Healing Cutting Mat
Adir’s dual-sided green and black desk pad is made of “self-healing” vinyl and comes in four sizes: 12′ x 18″ ($15), 18″ x 24″ ($25), 18″ x36″ ($45), and 36″ x 48″ ( $76) from Amazon. If you’ve got someone on your shopping list whose desk is equal parts computer desk and work bench, this option will “self-heal” if an art or mat knife or rotary cutter slices through it, keeping the surface smooth. It’s marked with 0.5 inch, as well as measurements in centimeters and millimeters, 45- and 60-degree angle guides, and diagonal cutting lines.
Excel Tips Deskpad (and Morning Brew)
This is actually two recommendations in one. Do you subscribe to the Morning Brew newsletter? It’s a stellar daily newsletter for catching up on all the (mostly non-stressful) national, international, business, and entertainment news delivered in a delightfully Dad-joke tone to make starting your day easier.
If you spend too much time on Microsoft Excel, you might want to look at the Morning Brew Excel Tips desk pad. It measures 27.20″x11.75″ and provides more than 60 Excel functions, 100+ Excel shortcuts, and top dialog box definitions, all for $35.
Paper Doll hasn’t had the opportunity to use and rank most desk pads, so you may wish to peruse recent coverage of the best of desk pads for 2023.
9 Best Desk Mats of 2023 for a More Organized Workspace (Good Housekeeping)
The 10 Best Desk Pads to Elevate Your Workspace (The Robb Report)
The 11 Best Desk Mats of 2023 (The Spruce)
The 12 Best Desk Pads to Make You More Productive and Organized at Work (Esquire)
The 15 Best Desk Pads For Your Home Office (GearMoose)
21 Stylish Deskpads and Blotters for Writers (Accessory to Success)
The Best Desk Pads & Mats for Your Office (Werd)
Do you use a desk mat? What are the most important features for you to work comfortably?
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll Explores New & Nifty Office and School Supplies
There’s something about the start of September that makes many of us hearken back to our youth and the rich potential of a fistful of new school supplies. Cast your mind back and I bet you can recall your favorite crayon. Mine was periwinkle, more for the funny name than the demure hue. (As you might imagine from my wordy posts, and as Paper Mommy will quickly confirm, I’ve never exactly been demure.)
It doesn’t matter whether you’re in kindergarten or graduate school; it doesn’t matter whether you’re being forced to return to the office after a few years of remote work or ready to embark on setting up your own home-based workspace, there’s something powerfully motivating about new office supplies and decor to help you get and stay organized and enthused.
The point of today’s post is not to encourage you to purchase clutter and pile unnecessary items up around your workspace; nor is it to give you lists of supplies you and/or your tiny humans already have. Rather, it’s an opportunity for you to see the potential of your space in a new way and consider what features or colors might boost your enthusiasm.
STICKY NODES
Post-it® Notes are fun and colorful, but they’re not entirely environmentally friendly, even when recyclable. Dry-erase (and wet-erase) boards are better for the planet, but they’re usually drab white and lacking delight.
Meet Sticky Nodes — the best of both worlds — they’re dry-erase sticky notes!
Sticky Nodes are:
- Erasable — Write with dry- or wet-erase markers, then wipe (or spritz and wipe) to start fresh.
- Restickable — Affix Sticky Nodes to any smooth surface, reposition at will, and they won’t leave a mark. Sticky Nodes use a unique “smooth-stick,” adhesive-ree technology, so you don’t have to worry about damaging your paint job.
- Reusable — Re-use face of the Sticky Node by erasing with a dry-erase marker or a damp cloth; re-use the whole Node by moving it to where it’s needed, over and over again.
Around the office, at school, or in your home, put them on file cabinets or walls, whiteboards or chalkboards, mirrors or windows.
Capture and organize your genius thoughts, scribble notes, brainstorm on your own or with your need, or mix-and-match to help you study or tech. At home, post the WiFi password of the day draw a comic to greet your tiny human at the end of the school day. Your kids can keep track of weekly schedule items in their lockers, and at the office, you can make clear when you’re available to be bothered or to be left alone. Stick Nodes have all the same uses as sticky notes, but you don’t have to fill your trash can.
Sticky Nodes come in three colors: blue, yellow, or green, and in three (unicolor) package options: 5 Sticky Nodes for $28, 10 for $49, or 20 for $84, and include a two-year limited warranty. Orders over $75 ship for free in the US. (Note: Sticky Nodes doesn’t accept returns, except when covered under the warranty.)
Personally, I’d like to see them add more colors to the line-up. (Periwinkle, anyone?) Additionally, it would be nice if they had mix-and-match packs; for example, if you got the ten-pack, you might prefer 5 blue, three green, and two yellow rather than an entire batch of blue.
If you’d like to try Sticky Nodes, they offer a sample kit, which includes one yellow node and one black fine-tip marker for $12, shipped for free in the US! (At that price, it might be more affordable just to get a 5-pack!)
No offense to Sticky Node, but Paper Mommy‘s drawings are better!
Sticky Nodes also recommends and sells fine-point Expo-branded dry- and wet-erase markers (scroll down at that link) but you can also easily find these at any big-box store or Amazon. Pick a wide-enough array of colored markers so that you can color-code your Sticky Nodes for your own purposes. Assign a color to each kid in your family, or give a color to each daily task or task-group (to do, to eat, to wear, to read, etc.).
POPPIN’ FRESH!
Some products are just motivationally magical, and Poppin’s line of office furniture and supplies accomplishes this through color (and high-quality).
Poppin’s desk collection includes monitor risers, stackers, letter trays, organizer caddies, desk-drawer organizers, mixed-use organizers, accessory trays, file sorters, and two of my favorites for stand-up organizing style, 9.75″L x 12.25″H x 3.75″D magazine file boxes ($21):
and 12.25″L x 9.75″H x 3.75″D lacquer-like file boxes ($26):
I’m also always amused by the 6.25″L x 2.8″W x 1.25″H Softie Grip Grass doohickey ($16.50), designed to hold pens, cards, and the random fiddly things on your desk.
The desk organizing color scheme includes white, blush, dark gray, aqua, slate blue, sage, and sky, with some products available in fewer colors.
But as cool as their desktop products are, I always seem to covet Poppin’s wall organizing products. Here’s a little video to introduce you to the variety of options in their Small Space Organization Collection, designed to make use of vertical space.
As noted in the video, products in the line can be affixed to the walls with adhesive or mounted (using screws), and some of the products are magnetic and can be used to attach the to metal items (like filing cabinets) or to other products in the line. Poppin has:
- wall shelves ($25), measuring 3.25″W x 4″H x 12.5″D, in blush, dark grey, slate blue, and white
- wall pockets ($25), measuring 12.5″W x 7″H x 2.5″D, in blush, dark grey, slate blue, and white
- wall cups ($14.50), measuring 4.5″W x 4.5″H x 2″D, in white, blush, dark grey, and slate blue
Each of the above products in the line are made of sturdy plastic polystyrene with a matte finish and come with removable adhesive strips, magnets, and screws for mounting. The removable adhesive strips hold up to 2 pounds; the magnets hold up to 1 pounds, and screws hold up to 15 pounds.
Poppin also makes dark grey fabric pinboards in two sizes, a 12.5″L x 12.5″W x 0.5″D square ($29) and a 25″W x 12″H jumbo version ($55).
And, of course, they have a variety of pretty pushpins in assorted colors. But what I like best about Poppin’s “small space” line for making good use of vertical space is a product (actually three) they barely promote. There’s the white magnetic dry erase board ($26), measuring 12.5″W x 12.5″H x 0.5″D. But let’s face it, a plain white dry-erase board, even a magnetic one, isn’t that much to write home about.
But two other versions, with the same measurements and at the same price, up the ante. There’s the lined White Magnetic To-Do Dry-Erase Board:
and the lined White Magnetic Weekly Dry Erase Board, pre-printed with the days of the week.
Of course, Poppin has pretty magnetic holders for the dry-erase pens and matching-color magnets.
Can’t you see these doing triple-duty at home, work, or in a dorm room?
TIKTOK MADE ME BUY IT
OK, TikTok didn’t actually make buy anything, but that’s what the voiceovers on so many of the little “advertainment” videos say. But TikTok did help me find two intriguing products.
PrintRGo
The first nifty office/school supply I saw recently kept appearing in my TikTok feed. It’s a tiny printer, and while I’m not the kind to push gadgets, I immediately saw the appeal of the PrintRGo thermal pocket printer. (Make sure you use the menu in the top right corner to switch from UK to US pricing.)
The use case may seem narrow, but if you’ve ever taken a biology course and had to label parts of a cell — and remember that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell — or an studied for anatomy class where you had to learn a complex series of muscles, you know that you learn by spaced repetition and visual support.
Free-hand drawing and labeling is a pain, as is making copies. This little 3.4″ × 3.5″ × 1.6″ printer uses no ink, so you never have to wait for the ink to dry; instead, it uses adhesive-backed thermal paper to print at a maximum resolution of 203 DPI. (It does double-duty, so it also works some fun magic as a low-resolution photo printer and a label printer.)
Unfortunately, TikTok videos don’t embed particularly well, but this link will give you an idea of how the PrintRGo works.
In each box, you get a PrintRGo printer, charging cable, one roll of thermal paper, and a user’s manual. PrintRGo works via Bluetooth using the Phomemo app, and functions Android and IOS devices. It’s wireless, so you just pair it with your phone (just as with other Bluetooth devices like a Fitbit or keyboard) and you’re ready to print!
Take a photo with your phone, use the app to print it from your PrintRGo, and it thermal prints to sticker paper (at a speed of 10mm per second), and once you have your little masterpiece, printouts can adhere to your notebook or study cards.
Full-price for the PrintRGo is $78, but it’s currently selling at the official website for $48.
If you’re not comfortable purchasing from a TikTok advertiser, Amazon has a number of similarly adorable options that seem to work on the same principle, using the same Phomemo app. One version is the Phomemo M02 Pocket Printer ($49.99).
Bookmate
The other TikTok school/office supply that caught my attention disappeared from my feed (as often happens) when I fat-fingered (fat-thumbed?) the corner of my phone. No matter, because my fabulous friend and colleague Hazel Thornton independently sent it to me in a private TikTok message with a note, “New product for a blog post?” Indeed, it is!
Bookmate from AchieversMust appears to be designed primarily for teachers and students, but really anyone who reads and tends to annotate, take notes, or mark pages for followup will find it useful for reducing clutter. Bookmate combines one magnetic case (which holds sticky tape flags for marking pages and pen loops so you always have a writing tool or highlighter handy) and a magnetic base.
The case allows for you to refill the sticky flags, and you can use any standard tape flags to refill the Max or Pro cases, or purchase the same specific colors from AchieversMust. (You can only refill the Lite version with their tape flags. FYI.)
You put the magnetic base inside the front of your book or notebook and the magnetic case (with your tape flags and pens) sticks to the front. (The company claims the magnet is strong enough to adhere through a hardcover book, but I’m a twinge dubious.)
Some photos show users hanging glasses or sunglasses from an outer loop. Again, TikTok videos are wackadoodle when it comes to embedding, but you can see Bookmate in action on the Instagram page.There are three versions of the Bookmate:
- Max — has four pen loops (two on each side) and a 200-count of flags in ten different colors, for $39.95
- Pro — has four pen loops (two on the left, two on the right) (two on each side) and a 100-count of flags in six different colors, for $33.95
- Lite — has two pen loops (one on each side) and an 80-count of 2 different tape flags, for $19.95
They offer free shipping on all orders above $60. Also, from now through September 10, 2023, you can buy two at 10% off each or buy 3 at 25% off each. (There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee.)
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
I remember visiting my father’s law office when I was a child, and I noticed that every attorney’s desk had a serious-looking leather desk pad. As a student in the 80s, my real work desk was wherever I found myself — a library study carrel, my bed, a random table in an empty classroom. By the time I started working in television, the closest anyone seemed to get to a desk pad was a giant desk calendar.
Nowadays, nobody is using a desk pad for blotting a fountain pen, but desk protectors are back in style. I was roaming through a big box store this weekend, looking for a lightning cable to use in my rental car (as mine is still in my stolen, damaged, recovered, and still-not-repaired Kia), when I noticed a stack of what looked like miniature yoga mats.
It turns out they were oversized desktop mouse pads. The one that caught my eye was a 35″ x 16″ pink, flowered, onn.-brand (yes, it’s “onn.”) XL Desktop Mouse Mat with an anti-slip base. The style is called Surf. (It also comes in grey and rainbow-stripes.)
And it was only $9.88!
It’s been a long time since I looked for a mouse pad or a desk mat, so I was surprised and delighted by how many products, marketed as either oversized mouse pads or desk pads, were available to brighten up the work space.
Yes, the real purpose is to give you a larger space to roll your mouse while keeping your glass or wooden desktop free of scratches, spills, dust, stains, and all matter of the detritus that ends up crumbly and sticky and yuckified on your desk. But why not feel like you’re basking luxury while doing homework or eking out a living?
First, I found this Bubm Desk Pad Protector Office Desk Mat made of faux leather. It comes in three sizes: 23.6″ x 13.8″, 31.5″ x15.7″, or 35.4″ x 17″. The description stated that it was “waterproof and easy to clean, made of heavy-duty, durable PU leather,” and cleaning it is allegedly as easy as wiping with a damp cloth. Particularly nifty is that it’s reversible, so the version I picked, below, labeled “purple”
is actually light pink on one side and a mauve-y purple on the other. It comes in ten other versions with both soothing and oh-so-bright color combinations.
The price of the one above is $13.99, though other color combinations are about a dollar less.
Even if you only peruse Amazon, you’ll find a wide of color schemes to fit your workspace mood and decor, from the perky (one has a neon-themed scribble of “Good vibes only”) to more muted options like the one above. To close out, let’s look at French Koko’s 36″ x 16.5″ Floral Dream desk mat.
Do you find yourself looking for a refresh this time of year? Do you wish you were starting the year with a bouquet of freshly sharpened crayons? Are any of the above options appealing for you, or have you found a new favorite while you’ve shopped for school or office supplies lately? Please share your thoughts below.
Happy September!
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll is Clearly Organized — Translucent Tools for Getting it Together
THE LOOKS OF THINGS
Quite often, when people talk about tools for getting organized and productive, they talk about the way products look. However, if you’ve been a longtime reader of Paper Doll, you know that I’m a firm believer in focusing on function rather than aesthetics. No matter how pretty or spiffy or intriguing a product looks, if it doesn’t work well, and help you work well, then it’s a bit pointless.
That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the psychological value of how things appear. For example, I’ve talked about how color can play a motivational role:
Cool and Colorful Desktop Solutions to Organize Your Workspace
Paper Doll Adds a Pop of Color with Bright & Sunny Office Supplies
Ask Paper Doll: Should I Organize My Space and Time with Color?
Organize Your Days With a Little Color
For me, I can’t resist things in the pink and purple range. I’ve written before about how I am a steadfast adherent to my Roaring Spring purple legal pads, and I have a purple iPhone and iMac.
Almost anything I can purchase (for the same price as the bland and boring version), I’m likely to acquire in pink or purple. As much as I try to avoid duplication, even though I have a lovely pink Swingline stapler that is perfectly serviceable,
when a generous colleague gifted me a pink Mustard-brand Bunny stapler, I couldn’t resist keeping it in my office space, too. (And yes, I do make “boing-boing-boing” sounds effects when I use the bunny stapler. Need you ask?)
In Gretchen Rubin‘s latest book, Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World, which I’m currently reading, she calls attention to all of the ways
we can enrich our lives by exploring sensory experiences. In each chapter, Rubin walks through quirky personal quests as well as scientific experiments to illustrate how making ourselves more deeply aware of each of the senses can have an impact on the richness of our lives.
I still stand by the idea that function must come first, but I grant that by enmeshing the visual aesthetic with how something functions, it can make us much more likely to not only use, but embrace, items designed to make us more productive.
Intriguingly, as I’ve been reading Rubin’s book (and particularly during the section on sight), I’ve noticed what seems like a trend (but may just be an example of the frequency illusion or the Baader-Meinhoff phenomenon): an upswing in translucent and transparent office supplies.
Admittedly, this may not be a trend or a set of coincidental examples, but a freaky confluence of all of the social media algorithms talking to one another. Perhaps TikTok recognizes I’ve repeatedly paused to look at the ad for the Temu translucent calendars and has shared that with Twitter (I refuse to call it “X”), Facebook, and those ad insertion companies during their daily coffee klatches.
Whatever the reason for the translucent and transparent items, it hasn’t been a sign of a return to stark, boring, black and white (or grey) products; rather, it feels like the deep dive into color-free supplies is creating a more dazzling aesthetic. Of course, in each case, users get to add color in their own preferred ways. Perhaps that’s the advantage of going color-free, to be able to transcend a pre-created intellectual/emotional connection and impose your own?
In any case, the following are some of the products that have been capturing my attention lately.
TRANSLUCENT CALENDARS
The product that most fits my inclination toward goal-conquering office supplies was the translucent Russell + Hazel Acrylic Clear & Gold Weekly Calendar.
The wall-mounted weekly calendar has seven columns for each day of the week (marked in thin white lines). It measures 24″ wide by 10″ high, weighs three pounds, has gold-tone accents, and is available from The Container Store for $49.99. (It’s sold out at Russell + Hazel which is just as well, as they were charging $114!)
The calendar is shown above with other translucent Russell + Hazel products, including an acrylic clear rail for $29.99, which is designed to hold associated wall organizers, including a wall mail box, pencil/pen holder and more. However, I’m more fond of the translucent office supplies that organize your thoughts and information than those that organize tangible stuff.
The Container Store Luxe Acrylic Magnetic Monthly Calendar takes the approach from weekly to monthly with a 14-inch square, clear, acrylic calendar.
Four low-profile magnets hold the calendar securely in place on any steel surface. (Remember: magnets generally don’t work on stainless steel appliances!)
There’s a narrow horizontal strip at the top — circle whatever month it currently is. Next, mark the dates in the appropriate squares of the month. Use it as a family command center, a bill-payment reminder screen, or a project calendar. The Luxe Acrylic Magnetic Monthly Calendar is equally appropriate for kitchens, offices, dorm rooms, or workshops.
It’s designed by, and sold at, The Container Store, for $19.99.
The calendar comes with a white dry marker, but you could similarly use a wet-erase marker or a colored or metallic liquid chalk marker.
These are just a few examples of the magnetic approach. I’m inclined to only purchase from companies and brands with which I’m fairly familiar, so even though I originally became aware of these products via too-tempting “TikTok Made Me Buy It” spots from online shops like Temu and “Amazon Home Finds” videos (all similar except for their “thought influencer” spokespersons), I’ve not yet made the jump.
If you’re not as persnickety as I am, Amazon has a variety of copycat brands of these types of calendars from lines like Zochovhi, 
All of these seem to be fairly similar, ranging from slightly under 16″ x 12″ to just about 17″ x 12″, and vary in price from $16 to $22. Most seem to come with anywhere from three to eight colored dry-erase markers, and some include similarly-sized clear acrylic boards (suitable for lists/notes/messages).
Perhaps you’d like a clear calendar but prefer something on a grander scale? Girl Friday has what you’re seeking.
These acrylic calendars give you the ultimate big-picture view, whether you’re scheduling your busy life, your family’s activities, or your work team’s projects. These big calendars use professionally-cut acrylic and are printed on the back of the acrylic. This means you never have to worry about the printing coming off due to excessive wear. Even better, you have a choice of black or white print, allowing for the best contrast depending on the color of your walls behind the boards.
In addition to a horizontal strip of months above the calendar block (so you can mark which month you’re in), there’s a right-side panel for tracking specific activities or important information for the current week. (If you prefer a calendar without the right-side weekly panel, the three middle sizes below can be purchased as calendar-only for the same prices, per size, listed.)
There are five different Girl Friday calendar sizes. Note that the larger landscape means a higher price than the small products previously mentioned, but the quality here is superior. Pricing is as follows:
- 18″ wide X 15″ high (The writing area for each day is 2″ X 2 1/4″.) — $95 black text/$89 white text
- 23″ wide X 18.5″ high (The writing area for each day is 2 1/2” x 2 1/2”.) — $135 black text/$125 white text
- 31″ wide X 23″ high (The writing area for each day is 3 1/8” x 3 1/2”.) — $200 black or white text
- 35″ wide X 23″ high with thicker acrylic (The writing area for each day is 3 1/2” x 3 1/2”.) — $325 black text/$295 white text
- 42″ wide X 27″ tall with thicker acrylic (The writing area for each day is 4 3/8” x 4 1/4″.) — $385 black or white text
The acrylic measures 3/16″ thick for the three smaller sizes and 3/8″ thick for the two larger sizes.
You can pick from high-quality silver, gold, or black hardware, and Girl Friday promises clear instructions on how to hang the calendars on your wall. (Note well: these are non-magnetic!)
One wet-erase marker is included. While you can use either wet- or dry-erase markers, Girl Friday recommends wet-erase to provide darker and more precise writing.
Girl Friday also has a wide variety of fridge-sized, magnetic, clear acrylic calendars, menu boards, shopping lists, and weekly note boards. They also sell standard and customizable boards for business use.
MEMO BOARDS
Just as with clear, acrylic, magnetic calendars, you can find a variety of memo boards similar in style.
The Container Store Luxe Acrylic Magnetic Memo Board feels like a real find at $9.99. It measures 6″ wide by 9″ high (though, obviously, you could flip it 90°).
While they tend to show it off on a fridge, it seems like the perfect low-price, low-key way to track reminders and notes in lieu of an old-fashioned memo board. You can imagine it stuck to the side of a file cabinet in the office or on any of the steel/metal surfaces (including doors) in a dorm. Made of durable clear acrylic, it nonetheless has a flexibility that allows it to fit on somewhat curved surfaces, like those newfangled fridges.
I’d like it for tracking daily to-dos in the office, but it’s suitable for serving as a household message center, a make-sure-you-have-it-before-you-leave checklist for kids or grownups, or a reminder space. Use the included white dry marker, a wet erase marker, or (if you like to get fancy), a liquid chalk marker. The magnetic backing will stay secure to any steel surface.
If you’d prefer a desktop-top memo board, the Russell + Hazel Acrylic Memo Tablet has a more sophisticated, classy appeal, and can be used in a greater variety of spaces and ways.
- Leave it on the kitchen counter so everyone can add items to the grocery list (as above).
- Keep it on your desk to focus on your top three tasks of the day.
- Use it in lieu of sticky notes to capture thoughts throughout your workday.
- Leave important numbers for the babysitter in big, highly visible writing.
- Place it on the front hall table with greetings and instructions for when the kids get home from school.
- Move it around the house to use in visible spots — the center of the breakfast table, the front hall table, the counter as you all head to the garage — with motivating quotes for the day.
- Place it in the center of the hors d’oeuvres at your next party, labeling dishes and drawing areas to clearly note which is which.
The acrylic memo tablet measures 12″ high by 11.5″ wide and stands at an angle in the 6″-deep acrylic base (which includes a nested area to place the white wet-erase marker that comes with it).
The Acrylic Memo Tablet is available for $40 directly from the Russell + Hazel website, Amazon, and Target, and for $38 from Barnes & Noble.
CAVEATS ABOUT CLEAR PRODUCTS USED VERTICALLY
The problem with looking at cute products online is that we don’t always think deeply about how they’ll fit into our spaces. The biggest difficulty with a translucent calendar or memo board on the wall is that anything with white writing (and most of these are formatted with white text) will be unsuitable if the background wall, cabinet, or fridge is also white. Using colored dry- or wet-erase markers or liquid chalk markers will allow the text you create to be visible, but not the pre-created text or lines.
If you’re set on these clear calendars or memo boards but have white vertical surfaces, you do have options, depending on how DIY you are. (Paper Doll is not DIY at all. As some of you have heard me say, my hands only excel at typing and applying eyeliner; otherwise, I’m hopeless.) For the magnetic versions, you can cut a piece of construction paper or solid-colored wrapping paper and affix it to the fridge, cabinet, or metal door. The magnets of the calendars/ memo boards should hold the background paper neatly in place. (I’d discourage using anything with a pattern, as it’s likely to make it harder to read whatever’s written on the acrylic board.)
For non-metal backgrounds where you’ll be affixing the item directly to the wall, like the Russell + Hazel Acrylic Clear & Gold Weekly Calendar or the Girl Friday boards, you won’t be dealing with magnets, so your most labor-intensive option will be to paint the wall behind the calendar or affix it to a colorful wooden board or similar surface. (It’s not a choice I’d make, but you do you!)
Consider these issues before making purchases.
Again, I know there are all sorts of lucite and acrylic boxes, drawers, and containers for tangible stuff, but today’s post centered on using these kinds of products to corral thoughts and information. If you’ve got other favorites in this category, please share in the comments!
If we can see our way clear to finding products that inspire us, perhaps we’ll clearly see how to accomplish our goals!
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll Organizes Temporary Papers and Explores Third Spaces
WISDOM IN THE COMMENTS SECTION
Although the comments sections of most locations online can be scary, organizing and productivity blogs tend to avoid that unpleasantness. In fact, some of the niftiest ideas for posts come from the comments sections of other posts.
Last week, commenting on the cute magazine files in Paper Doll Refreshes Your Paper Organizing Solutions, Sara Skillen mentioned:
I’ve always loved magazine holders for all kinds of paper…but also, high quality, shallow, flat trays work for a lot of my clients (those who pile). I know, I know, we all think piling is not a great idea, but for temporary kinds of paper like bills, notices, etc. it can be an amazing solution. Less barrier to putting things into broad categories, and easy to dump in the recycle bin when things are no longer relevant. I’m also a fan of very small filing boxes (like the Bigso ones at the Container Store) for temporary paper. Easy to place on the desk for quick access.
I think that Sara and I might slightly disagree about what constitutes “temporary” paper. I believe that if you receive a paper bill, the best practice is to have a system in place so that you not only pay the bill, but file and store it for later (potential) retrieval for tax purposes, troubleshooting, budgeting, etc.
However, Sara has truck on a topic that we discuss far too infrequently — paper that doesn’t fit into either of the two main, overarching paper categories.
Last week, I referenced a guest post I’d written for Yve Irish’s blog. In that guest post, How To Make Paper Less Overwhelming, after discussing the reasons why paper management can be so difficult, I wrote:
Paper categories can be much more complex and require more thought than most other tangible items. It starts off easily enough, with two basic categories:
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Action paperwork — This reflects all the paper that triggers an activity. From the lowly coupon for a free car wash at the new Wash-o-Rama to the reminder postcard for your medical appointment to the registration forms for your child’s summer camp, action paperwork is relatively easy to corral in an in-box or my preferred method, a tickler file. (Getting motivated to actually do the tasks is another issue altogether.)
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Reference paperwork — If a piece of paper doesn’t trigger an action, but it’s something you need (or want) to keep for later retrieval, it’s reference.
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In between the action paperwork that’s designed to trigger us to do something and the reference paperwork (whether current, or archival) for us to keep records at least semi-permanently (until they expire or are replaced), there’s a third category of papers that neither requires our activity or our long-term storage. For want of a better name, let’s go with Sara’s simple title, temporary papers.
WHAT ARE TEMPORARY PAPERS?
Beyond describing what they are not, let’s look at what constitutes an example of a temporary paper.
- Receipts — Certainly, there are different categories of receipts, each treated differently. If you’ve purchased something in cash that is not, for whatever reason, going to be returned, you can immediately shred or toss the receipt. A lunch at fast food restaurant comes to mind.
Other receipts need to be filed and kept semi-permanently, such as for any big ticket items for which you’ll need to prove value or ownership (like a piece of jewelry) for insurance purposes or use as support for your taxes.
But there are a whole slew of receipt types that you may need to keep temporarily, for short-term purposes. For example, if you’re cautious about making sure your credit and debit card receipts are accurate, you may keep a month of receipts (please — tidily in an envelope for that month and not crumpled all over your dresser) until the credit card bill comes or you remember to check online. (Restaurant receipts seem to be the most common culprit for inexact matches. Although sometimes the charge reflects a tip much higher than what you wrote on the slip, I recall one restaurant that regularly (at least 25% of the time) failed to apply the tip. Eventually, I gave up and started tipping in cash.)
Another common temporarily-maintained receipt is for any purchase you might return. Except around the December holidays, most retail locations have a return policy limiting returns to no more than 30 days. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to file away a receipt only to dig it out a few weeks after you make a purchase; you’ll want to have those receipts handy in case something fails to fit or flatter. (Some people, like Paper Mommy, hold onto their grocery receipts in case something turns out to be yucky or spoiled; only you know whether you have the time and willingness to return a $3 bottle of salad dressing.)
- Temporary Driver’s License — To get a driver’s license, you generally have to go to the DMV, fill out all the forms, pay a fee, and take a written test and a driving test. If your experience doesn’t turn out like Reverend Jim’s on Taxi, you’ll be approved for a license and then have your photo taken.
(If the last minute or two of this video doesn’t make you feel like the laughing-crying emoji, I don’t know how you ended up on my blog.)
However, because driver’s licenses are hard, fancy plastic cards with bar codes and holographic images and sometimes magnetic stripes, you generally don’t get your real driver’s license the same day. Instead, you usually get a paper printout of what your card should look like.
When you come from another state, most DMVs will require you to turn in your out-of-state license, and your temporary license is all you have to prove that you are a licensed driver until the real license arrives. You’ll want to keep this temporary license with you, in your wallet until the new, real license is in hand.
However, if this is a driver’s license renewal, the paper version is just your proof that your new license, with an extended expiration date is coming. If you’ve renewed at least a few weeks ahead of the expiration of your current license, there’s no need to carry the temporary paper around with you (unless you’re afraid you’ll forget that the process isn’t complete. In that case, set a reminder on your phone for a day before the expiration date to make sure you’ve received the new license and replaced the old one in your wallet!).
- Shipping and Return Slips with Tracking Information
When you ship packages and documents, the United States Postal Service has a variety of ways to ensure that you can protect your package and track its progress. For example:
Registered Mail Receipts and Tracking Numbers — Registered Mail provides security when you send something that’s difficult to replace, valuable, or otherwise needs to be tracked for additional security. You might choose Registered Mail if you’re sending something via First-Class Mail, First-Class Package Service, or Priority Mail. In theory, at least, your mail or package is secured in a sealed container or locked cage or safe during transportation, and the USPS obtains electronic and physical signatures to show you the chain of custody along the way.
You get a receipt for the item when you send it, and the then your recipient must sign for it. And if you want proof that the item was delivered, you can purchase Return Receipt or Return Receipt After Mailing service and get electronic verification of either delivery or an attempted-but-failed delivery.
Mailbox Photo by Abstrakt Xxcellence Studios
When you send a letter through Registered Mail, the post office gives you tracking information. This is important to keep handy so that you can type the tracking number into the online system or scan the QR code or bar code to track the item until it arrives at its destination. At that point, whether you keep it or not depends on the situation.
You get similar information when you send something through a delivery service like UPS or FedEx. Have you ever returned an Amazon package at a UPS store or another retail location? Brandish a printout of an email or show a QR code on your phone, and a staffer enter the essential information into the computer and hand you a sticker with the vital details, including the tracking code. Type the string of letters and numbers into the delivery service’s tracking system (or even directly into Google!) to track your item.
So, if you’re making sure your grandchildren got their birthday gifts and your son-in-law calls to let you know the LEGO arrived, the temporary paper (the tracking slip) can be discarded. (Let’s hope you don’t have to wait for toddlers to get old enough to write their own thank you notes!)
If, however, you’re returning an ill-fitting or broken item to Amazon or other vendor, you’ll want to hold onto that temporary paper until your account has been properly credited or a replacement item makes its way to you.
USPS Certified Letter Receipt — Certified Mail is similar to, but not the same as Registered Mail. With Registered Mail, you get all that yummy tracking goodness, but you’re (allegedly) getting extra security for your item. However, with Certified Mail, you’re just paying for tracking and proof of delivery, generally for important documents like tax returns, legal notices, and financial transactions.
To send a certified letter, you fill out two forms, a flimsy piece of green and white paper and a stiff green piece of card stock.
The flimsier piece of paper is your receipt, and it shows your unique article number so you can prove the piece was mailed and track the delivery status online. When it gets delivered, you’ll get notified of the time and date of delivery and then you’ll get the signed green card back in the mail.
If you’ve taken the measure to send something via Certified Mail, it’s pretty likely that you’re going to want to prove, longer-term, that the thing you sent was delivered, so your receipt (and the eventual green card) may not be so temporary.
It may be temporary while you’re waiting to confirm delivery, but if you don’t get proof of receipt, it’s likely to turn into an action item, because you’ll have to fuss with the post office, but even if it is delivered, you’ll then have to wait for the attorney, the IRS, or the person you’re paying to acknowledge that the item was received and that they are actually acting upon said receipt.
So, your Certified Mail paper may go from being temporarily temporary paper to being action paper (and go into your tickler file) and/or permanently stored in your reference paperwork in case there are long-term legal or financial implications.
- Problem/Conflict-related Papers — How often do you receive a bill that appears to have a mistake on it? Do you ever get a notice about a recall for your car or a household appliance? Ever get invitations to showers or weddings that give no indication of where the person’s gift list is registered?
Sometimes, you open the mail and immediately make a call or send an email asking for clarification. And then you wait. And wait. It would be nice if all questions and conflicts could be handled within moments, but sometimes you have to wait hours or days for a response before you can determine whether the temporary piece of paper is now fodder for the trash or recycling bins or needs to be scheduled as task or filed away.
So what do we do with this temporary paper while we wait?
WHERE SHOULD YOU KEEP TEMPORARY PAPERS?
There are two main approaches to keeping temporary papers. As much as I’m tempted to say, “my way or the high way,” it really is a matter of either Paper Doll‘s way or a Third Space way.
Tickler File
Longtime Paper Doll readers know I like using a tickler for action-oriented paperwork. It avoids paper clutter on the desk, and it triggers the owner of the paper to make decisions about when and how the piece of paper will be acted upon. How strongly do I feel on the topic? Well, I did write a whole ebook about it!
Whether you purchase a tickler file with slots for each day of the month and for each month of the year or create your own DIY version with 43 file folders, you get a parking space for anything that requires, or might require, action. Sometimes, the action required is checking to see whether you still need to be waiting.
In examples above, you might use the tickler file for temporary papers in the following way:
- Receipts — Keep receipts in a #10 envelope located in a slot for a particular day of the month, like the 1st or the 15th. If you need to return something, you’ll know exactly where to find the receipt for what you purchased. Otherwise, on a monthly basis, when you get to that day’s slot, flip through the receipts, check them against your credit/debit statement (if you’re so inclined), and then toss or shred receipts for anything that went unreturned and didn’t need to be questioned/resolved.
- Temporary Driver’s License — If told you’ll receive your permanent license within 7-10 days, pop the temporary one in the tickler for that 10th day (or, if you need to carry the temp in your wallet, just leave yourself a note in the 10th slot). If the new one arrives, shred the temporary one that day; if you open the tickler file on the 10th day and your permanent license still hasn’t arrived, it will trigger the action of following up.
- Shipping Slips with Tracking Information — Unless you have a reason to track the path of whatever you’ve shipped on a daily basis, just set it in the tickler file for the day you expect the item to arrive (based on estimates) and when you get to that day’s slot, if you haven’t already received some kind of confirmation, track the item online.
- Problem/Conflict-Related Papers — Put the paper on the day you intend to act on it (by making a call, sending an email, visiting a venue, etc.). If you’re waiting for a return call/email, move the paper forward, day after day, until you hear back or choose to take another follow-up action.
In summary, I treat temporary papers as action paperwork. It keeps them tidy and sorts them according to the likely day on which you want to act.
But it takes commitment to the system. If you aren’t that into commitment (to your paper system — Paper Doll doesn’t need to know your private beeswax), there’s a second path.
Sara Skillen remarked in her original comment, “we all think piling is not a great idea, but for temporary kinds of paper like bills, notices, etc., it can be an amazing solution.”
So, how can you pile your temporary papers and make it work?
Third Spaces
I’ve been fascinated by the concept of third spaces in modern life. We spend most of our lives in two places, home or work (or, if you are a student and doing the work of childhood or youth, home or school). But a third space is an all-important “somewhere else.” The official definition of Third Space Theory says it’s a “postcolonial sociolinguistic theory of identity and community realized through language.”
Um. OK. But all a third space really needs to be is another place where you get together with others of your kind, in a space that’s neither home nor work (or school). Examples of third spaces are coffee houses (like on Friends), bars (like on Cheers or How I Met Your Mother), houses of worship, barber shops/beauty salons, or gyms.
As I got to thinking about Sara’s comment, I couldn’t help thinking that for people who aren’t inclined to use a tickler file, what they really need is a third space for their temporary papers to hang out, a place that is neither for action papers or permanent files.
Sara suggested high quality, shallow, flat trays. Examples of these would range from the standard “in” tray (available in black or white, for about $20 for 2),
to a repurposed acrylic serving tray
to any kind of fancy wooden or leather in-box tray.
If your piles get high, you’ll have to sift through them, and there’s no date to trigger your attention, but they’ll be kept front-and-center.
Sara also referenced very small filing boxes, like the Bigso boxes at The Container Store. A document box (12-1/4″ x 17-1/4″ x 3-3/8″) like this one is less than $12, and the low profile keeps you from letting it fill up with papers long after their temporary use has passed.
A smaller letter-sized box (10-3/8″ x 13-7/8″ x 3-3/8″) is similar for about $9, and both come in a variety of colors (Navy, White, Steel Blue, Graphite, Grey, Gold dots on White, Blush, and Sage Green).
Bigso of Sweden (and, obviously, other companies) also makes stacked paper drawers, also called paper chests or drawer chests, like this one in Blush (and all of the colors listed above) for about $18:
These kinds of boxes will take up about the same amount of desktop real estate as a tickler file or in-tray. However, the lid creates an out-of-sight, out-of-mind concern not present with in-box trays.
If you get distracted and fail to keep your eye on tasks that are hidden from you, set a daily alarm on your phone or computer to approximate the kind of reminder that a tickler file offers, counteracting the tidy-but-forgettable hidden aspect.
But what if you lack desk or counter space to keep your temporary paper handy?
Try a vertical third space alternative:
- Clipboards — Attach your temporary papers to a clipboard and hang one or more on hooks on your wall or from a retractable laundry line. If you have a lot of temporary paper, you might want to label each clipboard with a life or work category, like “household,” “kid #1,” “financial stuff,” and so on.
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- Magnetic Bulletin Boards and White Boards — If you’re looking for a vertical solution in your work space, and especially if you don’t want to risk poking a hole in a temporary document or piece of paper, a magnetic board will keep a page vertical and visible (provided you’re using strong enough magnets). While there are a lot of standard metal and whiteboard options, a little searching will bring you offbeat or stylish options to fit your office décor, like this framed, marble magnetic board:
- Cork Bulletin Boards and French Boards — If you don’t have a lot of temporary paper but do need to keep it at eye level or you’ll tend to forget about it, bulletin boards and French boards are far tidier options than refrigerator doors, and the kids are less likely to put their sticky jam hands on your papers. Aim for a traditional cork bulletin board, go a little upscale with a French board that matches your decor,
or if you really need a lot of space for temporary papers, a cork room divider is a nifty option.
Unlike the file boxes and drawers, a vertical solution will keep your temporary paper visible, but will you actually see it?
The problem with vertically displaying papers is that it’s common for anything on the walls to eventually turn into wallpaper, blending in with the scenery and becoming forgettable, adn what’s forgettable becomes unnoticeable.
Where do you keep your temporary papers?
Do you have a third space for the papers in your life that are neither action-oriented or for reference?
Paper Doll Post:
Paper Doll Refreshes Your Paper Organizing Solutions
Springtime gives us an opportunity to refresh how we do what we do. Today, we’re going to give some new thought to our obstacles and strategies for keeping our papers organized, and then take a peek at opposite ends of the spectrum for paper storage solutions: one fun and one seriously sturdy.
REFRESHING YOUR PAPER PROCESSES
My friend and professional organizing colleague Yve Irish in Rochester, New York recently asked me if I’d like to write a guest post for her blog.
We’re in the same Mastermind group, and we’re often talking about how we can help support one another’s businesses, and this seemed like a fun opportunity. It made sense for me to talk about my favorite topic — paper!
How To Make Paper Less Overwhelming
In that post (which is much shorter than the typical Paper Doll post, so you might not need a sandwich to sustain you as you read it), I cover:
- Why it’s so difficult and frustrating to keep paper organized
- The difference between action papers and reference papers
- How to break your files down into clear categories so that you can quickly file them and easily access them again when you need a specific document
- Secrets for success when trying to get — and keep — your papers in order.
I invite you to read the post and visit the rest of Yve’s blog at your convenience. Tell Yve I said “Hi!”
MAKE YOUR SPACE HAPPY WITH MAGAZINE FILES
Most of the time, when we talk about keeping paper organized, we focus on using files folders. (In the guest post above, I even explain why file folders are usually preferable to three-ring binders.) But there are definitely other paper storage solutions, depending on the types of paper we’re talking about.
For example, if the paper is teeny-tiny, like an index card, there are a variety of appropriate storage options, such as I discussed in The Humble Index Card: Organize Your Life, Then Organize Your Cards.
Similarly, although we don’t discuss them often, there are a variety of uses for magazine files. For example, you can use them to store:
- Magazines — Duh! But don’t keep all of your magazines forever, or the foundation of your house will buckle. Instead, magazine files are great for maintaining the most recent month of your subscriptions. When the new ones arrive, you can sub them in for last month’s issue. Magazine files are also useful for keeping oft-referenced magazine issues on a particular topic, such as holiday issues for recipes (though I’d still suggest creating your own recipe file system, as I suggested in Calm Cooking Chaos (Part 1): Organize Your Paper Recipes).
- Store Catalogs — If you like ordering from catalogs, or just have fun flipping through them and dreaming about what you might buy, neatly stashing catalogs in a magazine file keeps them tidy and accessible. Do note, however, that almost all catalogs have the same items in them month and after month, just with different layouts and updated pricing, so there’s no need to keep old catalogs once the new ones arrive.
- Travel Brochures, Maps, and City Guides — Although I’m not ready to get back on airplanes (which felt like germy tin cans even before COVID), I had so much fun on my Smithsonian tours of Italy (2018) and the UK (2019) that I keep the most recent Smithsonian Journeys catalog of trip options so that I can refresh my inner aspirational traveler. You might like to keep a magazine file of local city guides on a side table in your guest room to help overnight visitors consider where they might like to dine or travel.
- Instruction Manuals — For simple manuals, a file folder works fine, but depending on how many manuals you keep, and the sizes of them, or if you’re short on filing space, you might want to maintain a bookshelf of matching magazine files. Consider separate magazines files for different categories, such as:
- Major household appliances (water heater, refrigerator, washer/dryer, electric garage door)
- Kitchen appliances (air fryer, food processor, bread maker, microwave)
- Home theater electronics (televisions, stereos, DVRs)
- Computer hardware and software (including peripherals like printers and scanners)
- Communication devices (phones, digital assistants like Home Pod or Alexa)
- Personal electronics (smart watches, ebook readers, pedometers, heart rate monitors)
- Specialty manuals (exercise equipment, home medical equipment)
- College Catalogs — Once your kids start taking the PSATs and other pre-college tests, they will receive a shocking number of catalogs for colleges and universities in far-flung places. (A few years ago, I went back to my childhood home and found that my teenage closet was still filled with multiple paper grocery sacks of college catalogs circa 1984-1985, and I would not be hyperbolic in stating that at least 20% were, mystifyingly, from Valparaiso University in Indiana.) Try to keep only the catalogs for schools to which they’re likely to apply (and not your dream schools).
- Phone/Address Directories — We rarely see old-style phonebooks, the ones suitable as booster seats for toddlers. Many communities no longer have “white pages,” at all, and where “yellow pages” exist, they’re often about the thickness of a magazine. Church and school directories are often only available online. But if you do have bound directories, keeping them all together in a magazine file makes it handy when you need to make a call.
- Takeout/Delivery Menus — You probably use your phone to order delivery or get takeout. But new restaurants will still stick their menus under your windshield or between your screen door and front door, so whether you want them or not, you’ve probably got a pile of them. Don’t just stack them on the microwave or stick them in a kitchen drawer — but do keep them if the food appeals to you. When Paper Mommy, my sister, and I are together in my sister’s city, we often have to juggle phones to plan food delivery. My sister has an Android, so she can’t Airdrop a menu to the two of us (Apple users); instead, she tells me the name/URL of the restaurant, and I look it up and then Airdrop it from my phone to my mother’s iPad. It’s a whole process even before we start figuring out what we want to order. Having a takeout menu collection might make it much easier. Just plop the ones from which you’re likely to order in a magazine file.
I recently found a few intriguing magazine files.
First, Ikea’s TJABBA (a variation on their only-slightly pricier but less adorable TJENA magazine file) is currently on sale for only 99 cents/2 pack, so I suspect it won’t be around long, but it’s so cute!
The smiley face design is made by adding two tiny punch-out circles above the open space used to pull the file off of the shelf. You get a sneak peek of the contents but still get to keep the “messy” side of the magazine file toward the wall.
The TJABBA files are easy to assemble and can collapse and fold up to save space if you don’t need them for a while. They measure 9 3/4″ deep, 11 3/4″ high, and 4″ wide.
If you prefer to support independent small businesses and don’t mind waiting a little extra time for shipping, the Bluble shop on Etsy has magazine files designed to look like townhouses. They’re handmade of “woodlike” (or solid color) laminated high density fibreboard.
There are three styles of these magazine files:
# 1 measures 34.7 cm high, 11.0 cm wide, and 23 cm deep
# 2 measures 34.3 cm high, 9.3 cm wide, and 23 cm deep
# 3 measures 34.5 cm high, 8.0 cm wide, and 23 cm deep
You can select any of the three styles in a variety of colors, depending on what kind of cityscape you’d like to create on your shelf. The options are maple, oak, pine, cherry, apple, nut, “wenge” (sort of darker brown), black, grey, and white.
These Bluble storage solutions are $5.70/each, which seems incredibly reasonable for a hand-made townhouse-style magazine file, but Etsy calculated that shipping from Germany to my own zip code would be $28, so this might be better if you are planning on buying many of them for practical décor and not just to hide in a cabinet.
If you order, be prepared to state the number for the type you prefer along with the letter for the finish you want. (I’m fond of the wider townhouse #1 in pine or white, but you could mix-and-match to create your own cityscape).
Bluble also makes a version of these townhouse magazine files with different window and door stylings and colored rooftops. The color options are navy blue, blue, light blue, mint, green, light green, black, violet, red, orange, and yellow. These magazine files run $6.23/each.
SOLVE STORAGE FOR A TON OF PAPER
It can be really annoying when you have a lot of paper that you need to store, but there are a variety of solutions depending on whether you have a little bit of a lot of paper or a whole lot of a lot paper.
Traditional (manilla) file folders are scored on the bottom (near the crease), so with a little bit of effort, the bottom of the folder can go from a sharp fold to a boxy-bottom, but that can only help add contents for so long. Plus, if you increase the bottom surface area of your file folder by folding it at the creases, fewer folders will fit in a traditional hanging folder, and eventually, that’s going to present a challenge.
Box-bottom hanging folders and expandable files are the traditional solution, and you can generally find them in sizes that providing expanding room for one-to-four inches of paper storage space, but they’re not particularly attractive.
Recently, I came across a product from our friends at Smead, a 3.5″ Hanging File Pocket with an interesting design.
Smead 3.5″ Letter-Sized Hanging File Pockets
Suitable for collections of lots of bulky documents that you need to both hang and transport, the 3.5″ Hanging File Pocket is strong enough to expand to 3 1/2″ and has oval die-cut handles to make it easier to lift and transport a large collection of papers.
These 3.5″ Hanging File Pockets have full-height gussets (reinforced accordion-like sides rather than the typical open-sides you find with hanging folders). The gussets ensure that the paper contents of the pockets will stay secure and won’t get stuck on the file rails when the pocket is removed from a file drawer.
While the accordion style sides will expand to up to 3 1/2 inches, they take up minimal space until/unless the expansion for extra capacity is needed. For example, if you’re putting in documents for one fiscal quarter, no expansion is necessary, but as you add more paper for additional fiscal quarters, more expansion can occur.
The Hanging File Pockets come in two sizes:
- Letter-sized are 11-3/4″ wide by 9-1/4″ high, not counting the hanging rods, which add an additional inch (total) of width
- Legal-sized are 14-3/4″ wide by 9-1/4″ high, not counting the hanging rods, which add an additional inch (total) of width
Smead 3.5″ Legal-Sized Hanging File Pockets
The letter-sized file pockets come in standard green or multi-color (red, green, yellow, and blue); the legal-sized version are only available in standard green.
(Boo! I wish someone at Smead or any of the other file supply companies could tell us whether green hanging folders and jackets are somehow less expensive to produce. Like, is Army Green a less expensive coloring agent? Why are filing solutions in pretty colors almost always more expensive?)
I should note, these Hanging File Pockets are priced for corporate use for lawyers, accountants, and people who wear serious suits each day. The pockets, and specifically the die-cut ovals that make these heavy-duty hanging file pockets so appealing, aren’t really designed for residential or home office use, the assumption being that the average person or small business isn’t going to need to keep an entire ream of paper in one folder or pocket.
The pricing is:
- $38.50 for four of the letter sized, multi-color (red, green, yellow, and blue) 3.5″ hanging file pockets (Yes. Almost $40 for four hanging pockets!)
- $75.33 for ten of the letter-sized, standard green 3.5″ hanging file pockets
- $83.61 for ten of the legal-sized, standard green 3.5″ hanging file pockets
- There is no option for the multi-color hanging file pockets in a legal size
These 3.5″ Hanging Pocket are only available directly from Smead.
Happy Spring from Paper Doll HQ, and please let me know if you spot any fanciful or fun paper storage solutions in the wild and I’ll be happy to credit you in a future post.
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