Archive for ‘Paper Organizing’ Category
Project Management Tools To Get It Done in 2019
With a new year approaching, you’re probably looking at all you want to accomplish, professionally and personally. While there may be a variety of tiny tasks, most things (particularly at work) involve projects, and for better or worse, this means project management.
If you’re anything like Paper Doll, memories of dreaded group projects in middle school make the words “project management” set your teeth on edge. So, to look at some of the tools that make project management less stressful, I’m pleased to share this rare guest post. The 6 Best Project Management Tools for Small Business by Grace Miller originally appeared at MyEmma.com, a company that specializes in productively building customer relationships through email communications.
While Grace focuses on the collaborative approach to project management in companies, most of these tools are appropriate for a wide variety of efforts: a group of friends planning a baby shower, a writer corralling her “street team” to launch a new book, a volunteer group working through the steps to develop outreach, far-flung family members planning a family reunion, and more. The keys are always figuring out who will be doing what, and when, where, and how they’ll accomplish it. Let’s see what Grace has to say.
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If you’re involved in the management of a small business, then you know that project management is a task often shared by staff and company owners alike.
Regardless of job title, many small business employees end up handling some project management tasks as they work through their assigned duties.
That means having tools to streamline and organize project management processes, particularly if they’re shared across departments or staff levels, can be invaluable.
To help you increase productivity and boost revenue, we’ve curated some of the best project management tools for small businesses currently available.
The best project management tools for small businesses to increase productivity right now
Marketing and the strategy behind it are the lifeblood of your business, ensuring that revenue flow is healthy and consistent.
While many aspects of small business management can benefit from better project management tools, your marketing staff will definitely get a boost from tools that make their job easier.
In fact, many of our recommended tools can encourage better internal communication amongst staff and between separate departments to aid in developing targeted campaigns and stay on top of metrics and goals with greater accuracy.
Some of the largest start-ups in the world, like Dribble, Uber, CNET, and Kickstarter rely on these technical helpers to keep their staff on target, so using them puts you in good company.
In researching our list, we made sure our picks were heavy on features that are important to small businesses, such as:
- Functionality and ease of use
- Free or sensible pricing options
- Ability to integrate with other systems
- Ability to be accessed remotely
Without further ado, let’s start our tour with one of the most recognizable names on the list: Evernote.
1. Evernote
Image: Evernote
Evernote is a fantastic app that functions as a clearinghouse for ideas, documents, and workflows.
Not only can you grab and save ideas from online sites in clearly organized folders to prompt creativity and idea generation, but you can also design and store templates within the app to further streamline your process.
Best of all, their premium subscription offers team storage, where any member that has access can save and retrieve all aspects of a particular project.
Anything new that’s added to your team’s space is automatically shown front and center, in what they describe as a “virtual bulletin-board for your team.”
Image: Evernote
And companies like Swiss conglomerate Migros know the value of this simple, but incredibly useful, tool. As the largest supermarket and retailer in Switzerland, Migros needed a team to keep their marketing on trend with the food and restaurant industry.
Using Evernote’s apps that spanned web, desktop, and smartphone, the team was able to easily manage and coordinate interviews and data from German, French, and Italian-speaking sources.
Each team member could keep their own photos, sketches, audio recordings, and diagrams shareable with other members for fast access and accurate real-time data, making it easy for Migros’ marketing to stay fresh.
2. Basecamp
Image: Basecamp
Basecamp works hard to bring everything small businesses need into one neatly-designed package with tons of useful features.
Image: Basecamp
You can store and retrieve documents with a simple drag-and-drop, manage schedules, conduct real-time group chats, and even invite clients to be a part of the process without dealing with learning-curve aggravation.
Plus, with features like check-in that allow you to ask your team members basic questions at a specific time each week, you can pare down meeting times.
Image: Basecamp
Some businesses that use Basecamp to keep their teams in-the-know include Groupon and Harvest, but the software boasts thousands of devotees.
3. Trello
Image: Trello
Trello is a wonderful tool for marketing teams, as its visually-oriented “card” system lets team members track each part of a project as it flows through to completion.
Boards can be set up with trigger events in any way you need them. Here’s an example of this in action:
Image: Trello
You can see how easy it is for teams to set up individual project flows and for managers to get a quick overview of project statuses from any department.
Cards are moved using drag-and-drop, making keeping things up-to-date supremely easy, while multi-tiered pricing means you don’t pay for what you don’t need.
Best of all, Trello integrates seamlessly with Evernote, Slack, Jira, Google Drive, and other software. Companies that use Trello include National Geographic, Adobe, the British Red Cross, and others.
4. Slack
Image: Slack
Slack has wonderful workflow possibilities for every business, but marketers will love its user-friendly integrations.
Email marketing, in particular, gets a boost from the Slack workspace, as Slack seamlessly allows you to manage email campaigns directly from your Slack command center using minimal keyboard commands.
With integrations for most common marketing apps and tools, Slack can give marketing professionals real control and sharing options with their team, including performance metrics.
Besides fostering collaboration, Slack offers savvy marketing teams a great way to keep on top of changes in direction.
Conversations are automatically archived and indexed, so information is available when you need to reference it. Having a cohesive space for team collaboration and cooperation is a wonderful way to nip problems in the bud or share successes!
Image: Slack
Slack’s clean, easily-integrated format makes it a winner among the best project management tools for small business.
Companies that use Slack include NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs, Zapier, Emma, Benefit Cosmetics, Autodesk, and more.
5. Flow
Image: Flow
Flow is project management software that offers a simple, beautiful user experience (UX), and powerful tracking and integration.
Kanban boards allow managers to track entire projects, team tasks, manage resources, collaborate with teams, and integrate with other purpose-driven software, like Slack.
Marketing teams will love the way Flow allows them to share project milestones for feedback, as in the example above. In this way, an entire campaign can be vetted, edited, and even changed on-the-fly for faster production.
Here’s an example of a marketing team’s roadmap for several goals as seen through the Flow workflow model:
Image: Flow
Companies that rely on Flow to help them stay on track include Shopify, Bumble, and TED.
6. Asana
Image: Asana
Asana gives project managers several ways to visualize their workflow, from Kanban-style boards to other bright visuals that keep marketers and other teams on track.
Image: Asana
The example, above, shows the status of several projects at-a-glance, showing which are on target, how close to completion each is, and assigning each a priority level.
Having these metrics at your fingertips allows for quick re-assignment when necessary to avoid missed deadlines.
Asana’s pricing is flexible, but at a minimum of $9.99 per user per month, it might be a bit steep for smaller businesses.
They do offer a free trial, however, so you can explore the product for 30 days to see if it’s worth the splurge for your business.
Asana is used by the New York Times, Deloitte, Red Bull, the United Way, among others.
Wrap up
Now that you’ve gotten a taste for what these elegant tools can do for your small business, all that remains is to choose the one that is the best fit for your staff and your business goals.
If you’re on a tight budget, check out the tools that have a free option like Slack, Evernote, and Trello. If you decide they’re on target for your needs, you can always upgrade on down the line if you need more features or if your business expands.
Most of our other recommendations have a free trial period that you can use to determine if the tool will provide all the functionality you require. Remember, you’ll be saving money by using a project management tool that helps organize tasks and streamline processes.
Any way you look at it, these project management powerhouses represent some of the best project management tools for small business on the market today.
Why not take a risk-free trial, capture some of that power, and take your small business to the next level of success?
About the Author
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Paper Doll has some familiarity with all but one of these platforms. For example, I use Trello‘s simple card-and-board approach to plan my blog research and marketing, but also to follow up with prospective professional organizing clients. I also have me-only boards like “Be a Grownup” which reminds me to take care of personal and home-related tasks, as well as collaborative boards I share with clients, volunteer committee members, and friends. (Hey, baby showers don’t plan themselves!) I like that Trello has some great video tutorials as well as a cheat-sheet tutorial board.
Of the six tools Grace mentioned, the one I’m most familiar with is Evernote, and I’ve written about Evernote many times on these pages. As an Evernote Certified Consultant, I often find myself evangelizing for all the ways Evernote can be used for capturing and maintaining information, as well as for collaboration (though much more so at the premium and business levels vs. the free level). Features and pricing change over time (as with all software-as-a-service options), but it’s definitely a standard-bearer.
Although I’ve tried both Basecamp and Asana when I’ve been brought on-board to collaborate on other team’s special projects, I lack the familiarity you get from working day-in and day-out with a software tool. And while I am familiar with Slack as a concept, I have never used it. Flow is completely new to me, but I see it has a very Trello-like visual appeal.
Readers, do you use any of these project management tools, either in business or for your own projects? Do you have other tools you love? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Disclaimer: The above post includes some affiliate links for which I may get some small payment if readers make a purchase via a link I’ve provided; this will have no impact on your costs but will help support the ongoing research and development of this blog.
Organize Story Time for 21st-Century Families
There’s something special about parents or grandparents reading stories aloud, a tiny human nestled warmly in the lap of a loving grownup as they turn the pages together and delight in a new story. Sometimes, the tales are as soft as the voice of the lady who says hush in Goodnight, Moon. Other times, the laughter is as infectious as this viral sensation of the Scottish grandmother reading The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith. (Seriously, I dare you to not laugh along.)
Reading to and with children is essential for their emotional and cognitive well-being. The bevy of benefits range from imparting a love of learning to developing children’s imaginations to building language skills and empathy, and so much more:
- Reading With Your Child
- The Importance of Reading Aloud
- 10 Benefits That Highlight the Importance of Reading for Young Children
- Why Reading Aloud To Kids Helps Them Thrive
- The Benefits of Reading Aloud To Your Kids
- 10 Reasons To Read With Children
There’s even a podcast devoted to the concept, aptly entitled the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast!
Children love stories, and there’s a comfort in hearing the same stories over and over. Parents bemoan having to read Green Eggs and Ham until their minds are numb, but in a world where so much is beyond their knowledge and understanding, children delight in being able to anticipate what is coming and having their expectations met. Adults may be bored by reruns, but children are soothed by tales twice told.
We’ve talked before about how to reduce book clutter without hampering our love of reading. (It’s hard to believe that Paper Doll‘s 6-part Reducing Book Clutter series, including a post on how to reduce children’s book clutter, was all the way back in 2010. Sadly, many of those children’s book rental options have vanished in our increasingly digital world, so watch for new posts in the coming year on ways to inspire reading without building a library addition onto your house.) However, we’ve never looked at the issue of organizing for reading when the grownup and the tiny human are not in the same place.
In the days before the internet, if tiny humans and their big people were separated at story time, a telephone had to suffice, but it never felt the same. If you’ve ever watched a toddler try to maintain a telephone conversation for more than a few minutes, you understand why.
When parents travel for work or are deployed in the military, when moms or dads no longer live in the same homes as their kids, when grandparents are far away or beloved babysitters go off to college, it's harder to connect over a… Share on XWhen parents travel for work or are deployed in the military, when moms or dads no longer live in the same homes as their kids, when grandparents are far away or beloved babysitters go off to college, it’s harder to connect over a good story.
With the advent of Facetime, Skype, and Facebook video chat, there came all manner of ways to read a story in front of the computer or iPhone camera and show the pages to the little one on the other end. Of course, tinier tots are still less likely to stay engaged, and if you’re not practiced at imitating kindergarten teachers, it’s hard to hold a book so that your mini-audience can see both you and the book clearly, and for you (or Gramps) to see the book and the tot simultaneously. Now, however, there are apps that take this process one step beyond.
READEO
Chicago-based Readeo has created “BookChatting,” which combines a Skype-like video chat with the opportunity to co-read a book. So whether a loved one is deployed in the military or just on a business trip, big people and their tiny humans can see one another’s faces and share a story on the screen. During a BookChat, the pages of the story appear on the computer or device screen. Participants can see, hear, and talk to one another through video chat windows at the bottom of the screen, and either participant in a BookChat can turn the pages of the book, creating an interactive story time experience.
Readeo has a growing library of books, mainly for toddlers and very young readers, selected by a former children’s book reviews editor for Publisher’s Weekly. Personally, I’m intrigued by Does A Camel Cook? and The Ugly Vegetables. (For all Paper Doll knows, camels cook ugly vegetables!) Readeo claims that thanks to this highly interactive experience, its users report that BookChats “last almost 10 minutes longer per session than [on] Skype” and that 9 out of 10 of their users say BookChatting is better at capturing children’s attention than using Skype due to the interactive nature of the storybook combined with video and audio.
Membership is a pricey $9.99/month (or slightly discounted $99.99/year) after a 14-day free trial, but friends and family of Readeo members can use the app as guests at no cost.
CARIBU
Caribu considers itself “Facetime meets Kindle…for kids.” The educational ecosystem provides an “engaging livestream, shared-screen experience – in a carefully designed, curated, and secure platform.”
The in-app library contains hundreds of books, in seven languages, from leading children’s publishers, as well as educational workbooks in which children and adults use together in real time to read and draw. Child profiles in the system allow books to be personalized, and a story guide pointer works in real time to help children follow along in the book. Not only can children (and grownups) read, but they can draw “on” the books (via the screen) in real time as well.
Available for iOS and Android in 148 countries, Caribu offers video calling, but also provides an audio-only fallback for times when a user is in a low-bandwidth location. The app itself is free, but an all-access purchase is $6.99/month. Up to six family members are able to use the app with iOS family sharing enabled. (It’s not clear how many users can be registered for the Android version.
Gift subscriptions are available for 3-, 6-, and 12-month periods (and are currently available at discounted holiday rates. Caribu provides free subscriptions to active duty military personnel.
ROOTZ
For our European readers, there’s Rootz, which combines multiple functions in one app. At its heart, the Dutch-run Rootz is an interactive app designed to connect family and friends so that they can read children’s books “together” while located in different places. There are currently over 100 books in the Rootz app, and the in-app bookstore includes books in English as well as Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian, geared for children from infants to age 12.
Rootz also offers the ability to play educational games – there are currently about 50 available – or share photos during a video conferencing session, and there’s a calendaring function to schedule the sessions (for those busy, overscheduled grandchildren).
Right now, each linked family/group can include up to nine people, whom you can invite via email directly from inside the app. Currently, the video calling sessions can include up to three people, but Rootz anticipates upgrading to allow up to six users concurrently.
The iOS-only app comes with a limited number of built-in books and games, with in-app purchases possible. (There’s a child-lock to ensure that little ones don’t go wild book-and-game spending sprees.) It’s not available for download in the US, and is only available for iPads; although the site mentions plans to make the app available on other tablets, it’s been a few years since the FAQ has been upgraded. Paper Doll advises trying out the free version to see if your child enjoys the experience before further exploring your Rootz.
Whether you read in-person or from a distance, know that reading with the children in your life will help them lead fuller lives, socially, emotionally, and intellectually. What could be more organized?
Paper Doll’s 5 Essential Lists For Planning an International Vacation
Recently, I returned from Italy. For most of 2018, I knew I was going to be going on a Smithsonian Highlights of Italy tour, and so I had a lot of time to prepare. I imagine you’d expect that as a professional organizer, packing for a two+ week trip to Italy would be no big deal. But I’m also a panicked packer. I may do laundry many days before the trip, only to decide at 1 a.m. before a 10 a.m. flight that I need to take a dress I haven’t worn in two years and may not have shoes to match. As a long-planned trip approaches, I have been known to shop for a new wardrobe of shoes, or socks, or foundation garments, or shirts, making me Kohl’s favorite shopper.
It’s not that I’m not organized; I have no issues with packing electronics or toiletries or meds. I put my mail on hold weeks ahead of a trip, and arrange my ride to have plenty of time to be at the airport, finding myself through security with fully-charged devices and little to do ahead of my sure-to-be-delayed flights.
Nope, it’s just clothing. I suspect it’s a body image thing: a fear that the ubiquitous photos, the only “true” proof that a vacation or conference or any other trip ever happened, will show my physique to a disadvantage. It’s a neurosis. The best I can do is to plan all of the details related to my trip with the precision of a wedding (or an invasion) – and the only way I can do that is with lists. Lots and lots of lists.
Whether you’re heading over the river and through the woods for Thanksgiving or crossing an ocean to visit a famous, giant, naked dude, consider the lists that might make your trip less stressful.
1) LIST OF WHAT TO ACQUIRE
Note, I say acquire and not purchase because many of the things you need for a trip, but only for that trip, need not add to your personal clutter.
Spread the word among your friends (via social media or in person) about your trip, and ask for guidance among those who’ve traveled extensively. I guarantee that you will learn some surprising things.
Friends of the blog Nanette Duffey of Organizing Instincts and her mom, Maxine, are smart travelers and kind people. In addition to travel standbys, they offered me a variety of supplies on loan for the trip, including a few things I may not have realized or remembered I needed:
- electric converter and adaptor with Italy-specific prongs
- opera glasses/small binoculars
- bungee cord laundry line with small plastic clips
- cross-body bag (halfway between a purse and a backpack)
- small Eagle Creek bags and money belts serviceable as purses or mini-packs
- personal, battery-operated fan
- inflatable travel pillow
All of these were great ideas, and I appreciated their help. In the end, I bought a fabulously squishy (non-inflatable) neck pillow on sale at TJMaxx for $6 instead of using the inflatable one, and PaperMommy bought me a Baggallini water-resistant cross-body bag that has replaced my everyday purse, but this largesse made planning the trip so much smoother.
My biggest regret, as you’ll understand as you read on, was eschewing the little fan, thinking it was too much of a luxury given my 44-pound luggage limit. (Trust me, ladies, even if you’re outside of the “power-surge” age group, unless global climate change experiences sudden reversion, a mini-fan is a small miracle.)
2) LISTS OF WHAT TO PACK: CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES
In the US or Canada, you can pack very lightly because if you find you’re missing something, a quick trip to Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, or the nearest mall can find you what you need. When I visited Disney World in 2005, the airline lost my suitcase for 36 hours, but a zip over to a big box store (and a ridiculous familiarity with store layouts) meant that we lost less than an hour of precious vacation to obtain a few essentials.
However, if your luggage is lost in a foreign country, or you’ve failed to bring shoes that match the outfit you plan to wear to give a speech, accept the Nobel Prize, or make (or receive) a wedding proposal, not having your stuff can cause anxiety. Planning is key.
Start with your schedule. What special events or activities require certain articles of clothing? Will you need a ballgown for meeting the Queen? Hiking boots? I saw people climbing the steps of the Colosseum in sandals, but I know I really needed grippy treads and closed-toe shoes to feel safe.
Check the weather report. The Smithsonian info packet included a list of the average highs and lows in Sorrento, Rome, and Venice for the month of September. However, although it was delightfully sunny for all but one day of the half-month tour, the temperatures were more than ten degrees higher than the average. It was hot. Damned hot. Checking the ten-day forecast online helped me decide to jettison anything with long-sleeves and add a few lighter skirts. And if unexpected inclement weather hits? The Points Guy blog has 13 tips for keeping rainy weather from ruining your trip.
Bear in mind that if you’re traveling internationally, many religious sites require covered shoulders for women and trousers for men. You can often buy inexpensive but beautiful scarves (or inexpensive but ugly rain slickers) outside the Vatican and other religious sites.
Don’t pack what you can’t afford to lose. Certainly, you have insurance (right?), but even the best policy only covers the monetary value of what gets lost or stolen. I made the decision not to bring any jewelry at all. Perhaps excessive (and a fashion DON’T) but losing my favorite pieces would have spoiled the trip for me. Instead, it gave me a shopping goal to find a memorable (but affordable) piece of jewelry while traveling.
3) LISTS OF WHAT TO PACK: EVERYTHING ELSE
If you’ve never made a packing list before, start by playing “Let’s Pretend.” Start at your bed and walk yourself through your day from tooth-brushing, showering, and grooming, and on through the rest of your typical day. Keep your pen or notetaking app near you for a full day, as you’ll remember things you might otherwise have forgotten.
If you consider yourself low-maintenance, or if you’re the sort of person who can crash on a friend’s couch or sleep in a tent, bully for you, but for those of us who rarely leave home without using “product” in our hair or have activity-specific shoes to avoid blisters, there are issues to consider.
For example, I’d been warned that even with converters, American hairdryers won’t work abroad; my fancy and tress-tending dryer would be staying behind, and precious space meant leaving behind the smoothing velveteen-coated curlers that keep me from looking like Art Garfunkel when it’s humid. I felt I had no choice but to accept the hotel hair dryers, but I invested $20 at Amazon for a dual-voltage haircare product. Results were mixed, especially when the temperatures topped 90°F, but at least I didn’t waste my luggage space on devices that would have blown up.
What are your little saviors? Only you know what you need in your daily life, but I can tell you what helped me survive (admittedly) “first world problem” awkwardness on this trip:
- Zip-lock bags in multiple sizes – Yes, you have to put your carry-on liquids in a one-quart baggie, but these little marvels work for much more, from gathering all of your small chargers and earbuds neatly inside a small day pack to safely transporting the only non-enormous container of baby powder sold anywhere in Italy without making your suitcase look like blizzard scene from a Christmas movie.
- Tissue packs – When we got off the “motor coach” in Orvieto, a lovely hilltop town, our wonderful tour director advised us to skip “not the greatest toilets” and wait until we climbed up into the city. We should have listened. There was no toilet paper. (Also, no soap, and as we found all throughout Italy, no toilet seats. But that’s another blog post!)
- Anti-bacterial gel – See prior paragraph. Also, you’ll be touching handrails touched by thousands of people each day. I switched back and forth between environmentally un-sound but comforting Wet Ones and a non-alcohol gel. (This isn’t the blog to argue about the dangers of anti-bacterial products on overall global resistance. I won’t hold my gelato cone with a hand that’s covered in Vesuvius ash and dead Etruscans, and you can’t make me!)
- Insect repellant, sunblock and a hat – I may not have been pinched by any Italian men, but their mosquito cousins did their worst. Our group debated the efficacy of sprays vs. lotions vs. those telephone-style coiled bracelets designed to keep bugs at bay, but came to no conclusions. Enjoy nature without becoming a victim.
- Compression socks/stockings – As someone who once had a deep vein thrombosis, and as one of almost 20 people in a tour group of twenty with swollen ankles and legs blotched with broken blood vessels, I encourage you to wear compression socks or stockings on your longer flights.
For other packing suggestions, consult the experts:
Rick Steves’ Packing List (as a list) or as a printable checklist PDF
Eagle Creek: What to Pack: The Ultimate Travel Packing Checklist
Travels’ Interactive Checklist – This unassuming site is a marvel! Answer a few questions and get personalized lists: travel prep activities; how to handle documents, money, and tickets; packing lists; time, weather, currency, and safety advisories for your destination; flying and packing tips; a map!
Roll It, Bag It, Cube It to Pack Light and Tight — and Save on Travel from The Penny Hoarder
4) LISTS OF WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Stop deliveries. What gets delivered to your home or office? Mail? Meal prep kits? Place a hold.
Think like a doctor. Don’t wait until the week of your trip to think about refilling prescriptions, or the timing may leave you without access to essential meds. Talk to your pharmacist (and, if necessary, your physician) to make sure you’ll have what you need. (Of course, you should pack all medical essentials in your carry-on.)
Call your health insurance provider. I was delighted (but surprised) to find that my marketplace-acquired Blue Cross Blue Shield policy had Global Core coverage to ensure that if I needed to be hospitalized or receive medical care (emergency or otherwise) while in Italy, I was safe.
Be a money honey. Review your bank account activity and identify what non-automated tasks you’ll have to address before you depart. Are there bills for which you’ll need to schedule payment even though the actual statements won’t have arrived before you depart?
Call your bank and credit card companies to alert them that you’ll be traveling (so you won’t be flagged as a fraudster or thief) and find out which of your cards charge international transaction fees.
Gather your documents. Take a photo of the interior page of your passport. (Don’t worry – your photo can’t be as bad as mine.) Keep copies in your phone’s camera roll and in Dropbox or Evernote or wherever you collect trip-related documents (like copies of your itinerary, hotel contact information, and emergency numbers). Email or text a copy to people who are always immediately responsive, like your BFF or your mom. Or my mom.
5) LIST OF IMPORTANT PHRASES
This summer, I realized that my paltry Italian vocabulary of ciao, grazie, prego, gelato, and mafia was not going to cut it, no matter how much my frequently-traveling pals assured me that everyone in Europe speaks English. I started using Duolingo, a fun and free program (available for browsers or in-app) to learn languages. While it makes language learning fun, Duolingo builds language skills using some quirky phrases. Thus, I arrived in Italy knowing how to say, “My monkey is hungry” and “My mother’s toothbrush is green and white,” but not yet how to say “Where is the bathroom?” or “How much does this cost?”
If you are traveling to a locale where your primary language is not spoken, download Google Translate (or at least bookmark the less robust web page). It’s a great app, and you can type, handwrite, or just hold it up to a sign or menu and it will magically translate what you’re seeing into English. You can also speak into it and it will translate your phrase, which was hugely helpful when the hotel laundry lost my shirt and the nice lady from housekeeping wanted to foist a lovely (and obviously more expensive) shirt on me rather than giving me my own.
My cell phone carrier promised me I’d have the same texting and data plan as I have at home and would only spend extra on voice minutes, but WiFi was sometimes lackluster and I learned early on that data was racking up major moolah. So, make a list of the essential questions you think you might want to ask while traveling and keep it handy. For example:
- “Hello, pardon me, I’m sorry that my [language] is poor, but could you help me? Thank you.”
- “How much should a taxi cost to get me to [point on the map]?” or “How long would it take me to walk to [point on the map]?” “Is it safe for me to walk to [point on the map]?”
- “How much does this cost?”
- “I’m severely allergic to [X] and I will die if [X] is in my food. Is [X] in this?”
- “My language course only taught me how to say that my monkey is hungry and my mother’s toothbrush is green and white. I’m certain your English is better than my [language]. Please feel free to laugh at me after you tell me where to find the toilets.”
As it turned out, “grazie” proved to be the most valuable vocabulary words I studied. After “gelato.”
Organize your planning, your packing, and your preparation with lists – it will help you avoid being anxious or listless (literally and figuratively) as your departure date approaches. Buon viaggio!
Paper Doll & Real Simple Organize Dorm Rooms: SUPER-EXTENDED Edition
This post originally appeared in September of 2018. The links and prices have been updated as of July 2024.
Happy new school year!
I am very excited to have been interviewed again by Real Simple Magazine, this time about How To Make the Most of a Dorm Room, According to a Professional Organizer. (If you get the print copy, it’s page 52.)
Longtime readers of the blog know that everything I need to say on any given topic can’t be contained on one page of a magazine, so I’d love to share the rest of my advice with you today.
Whether you are a student or you just dropped yours off at college last week, dorms (and other small living spaces) offer an opportunity to minimize without being altogether minimalistic, to be practical without giving up style. And be assured that it’s not too late, parents. Your college kids will be home for Fall Break or Thanksgiving, giving you the opportunity to surprise them with room improvement assistance.
Thirty-three years (and a few days ago), Paper Doll was a college freshman, far above Cayuga’s waters. For most of my life, I had a bedroom and a bathroom to myself, and (long before my professional organizing days), an entire house as an extension of my “space” to keep my stuff. Having a roommate, and sharing a bathroom with five other young women, all in a space smaller than what I’d previously had to myself was an education!
A dorm room has to serve as a study lounge, sleeping area, kitchenette, exercise room, and more, but space is at a premium. Keep surfaces clear and the clutter at bay with these organizing essentials.
MAXIMIZE VERTICAL SPACE
Declutter doom room floors and desktops by maximizing underused vertical surfaces. You can create DIY organization with corkboards, available by the board, tile, or roll.
Pegboards are another do-it-yourself option, especially if you can’t use adhesive on your walls. Hang colorful pegboards from the ceiling, flush against the wall, and then add the hardware – hooks, baskets, and even small bulletin boards.
For students who want to upgrade (or who have no visual artistic talent, like Paper Doll), the attractive and sturdy Copper Wire Wall Grid uses re-positionable hooks, shelves, and baskets.
[Editor’s Note: Since this post was published in 2018, The Container Store stopped carrying this product. You can find a similar grid and accessories at Amazon.)
The same amazing 3M Command-brand hooks that help you keep track of keys and jackets at your house can do wonders in dorm rooms and bathrooms. Attach Command hooks, strips, and decorator clips to walls and doors to hang coats and clothing, hair dryers and jewelry, headphones, photos and tapestries without fear of damage to paint or finishes. (Command.com)
When you need more than desk space for your brilliant ideas, repositionable whiteboard sheets stick to the wall with static and let you write or draw. Snap a photo and send it to Evernote to preserve your brilliance, and then erase when it’s time to move to the next problem set. (White or clear from WizardWall.com or Amazon, from $42.)
REVEAL HIDDEN STORAGE
These sturdy bed risers with outlets and USB chargers let you reveal the possibilities of under-bed storage, from nylon duffel bags for corralling bedding and towels to storage tubs for off-season clothes. (Available at Amazon, and most big box stores, usually around $40.) The risers come in a variety of styles, but none are what you’d call fashion-forward, so also consider a long bed-skirt if you want to keep your bed high and at the height of fashion.
OVER-THE-DOOR ISN’T JUST FOR SHOES ANYMORE
Over-the-door shoe organizers keep your kicks (that’s apparently what they call sneakers these days!) from crowding a tiny dorm wardrobe’s floor, but the concept works for everything from hair care products to cleaning supplies to lingerie.
For those with suite-style bathrooms, swap your shower caddy for a hanging mesh shower pocket organizer to keep toiletries handy. (Amazon or CampingWorld.com, about $8-$11)
FOCUS ON PRIME REAL ESTATE
When there’s no room for a bedside table, keep everything you use (or should use) close at hand. Store your phone, tablet, glasses, tissues, highlighters, and spare notebooks in the unused space hugging your bed with any of a wide variety of bedside storage caddies. Check Wayfair for this colorful option, or Amazon for longer options, like the Whitmor Bedskirt Organizer, both around $20.
Don’t waste the space on the top of your mini-fridge. Let a Mini Fridge Caddy for about $19) hug your fridge to give you space for dishes and cutlery, and use that prime real estate for a milk crate storage box (Walmart) with hanging file rails to store papers or use as a snack pantry. (You might be able to create your own version; Paper Mommy and I were more inclined to shop than sew.)
MAKE (THE MOST OF) YOUR BED
Keeping the peace means never having to worry about roommates keeping you awake. Zip up into a private room within a room to shade light and muffle sound with the Privacy Pop-up Bed Tent, usually under $100.
GROUP LIKE WITH LIKE
Don’t let your limited desk drawer space turn to chaos. Small spice bottles corral push pins, staples, rubber bands, alligator clips and other small supplies. Pop them on a Lazy Susan with a tall mug in the center for pens, highlighters, and scissors, you have a supply station.
MAKE CLOSETS DO DOUBLE-DUTY
Most dorm closets having nothing but an inconveniently high shelf and one hanging rod. Do double-duty by hanging a second rod (Room Essentials Adjustable Closet Rod Extender), a 6-compartment vertical sweater organizer and a valet rod for putting together outfits. Attach your valet rod well above eye level. Don’t ask me how I know.)
STAY TIDY & CHARGED UP
With so many electronic devices to keep track of, you and your friends will need to stay charged up. Pick a flexible power strip surge protector that can curve around the leg of a bed or desk like the Quirky Pivot Power Genius Power Strip at Amazon for about $18.
or one with rotating outlets and USB ports to accommodate larger plugs and adapters, like the Power Curve (Amazon, about $49).
Create a work hub/charging station with a wall-mounted option like Belkin’s USB Outlet Extender with a phone cradle. (Container Store, $30)
Make sure your unplugged lightning cables and cords never fall to the floor or snake behind the desk again with the MOS Magnetic Organizing System for cables.
If you aren’t familiar with MOS, definitely check out this classic Paper Doll blog post for one of my favorite cord control solutions.
SHELVE INSTEAD OF PILE
Dorm rooms usually lack shelving, leaving it hard to group similar items to keep them organized. Stacked milk crates are easy to break down at year’s end, but can be wobbly, and bookshelves can be hard to put together or move and impossible to disassemble.
A magical option is the OrigamiRack’s 6-Tier Bookshelf, which comes flat-packed, expands accordion-style (like opening an ironing board), sets up in two minutes and collapses for easy storage during the summer.
This is the bookshelf that I own, and as an apartment-dweller, I can’t think of an easier bookshelf option. If you don’t mind TV shopping, you can see how the Origami Racks work here.
CLASSIC DORM ESSENTIALS
Of course, most of the old standbys from my own college days are still in vogue because they are practical.
- Lamps – Dorm overhead lighting is uneven and harsh. Limit the eyestrain and brighten up the room with colorful clip-on and gooseneck desk lamps. (In 1985, I set off for college with an incredibly ugly, olive-green, wide-bar gooseneck lamp of my father’s that he may have had since he left the army in 1946. They really made things to last in those days! But your student will probably prefer a pop of color.)
- Reading backrest pillow – you can only sit in your 1950s-era desk chair so long before you’ll need an ergonomic break. Snuggle up to one of those pillows with arms to support your back while you read, game, or hang out with friends.
- Tower fan – desktop fans have limited range, and tend to be noisy and get dusty quickly. A tower fan takes up little real estate, can be tucked in the corner when not in use, and cools a stuffy dorm room. (Honeywell QuietSet, Amazon)
- Pop-up laundry basket – When I went off to college, Paper Mommy sent me with a full-sized rectangular laundry basket. It was great for carrying folded laundry back to my room, but it took up a ridiculous amount of floor space and ended up sitting on top of all my shoes in the wardrobe. A mesh pop-up laundry basket, available in any dollar store, is inexpensive and easy to tuck out of the way.
College has changed a lot since my day, when there was one TV for 144 students, no students had their own cable or internet, you needed memo boards because their were no cell phones, and you had to traipse through the snow to use a computer with green typeface on a black screen and a dot-matrix printer that sounded like a wounded animal. That said, a little ingenuity has always been able to keep students organized and productive in the dorm, and that hasn’t changed.
Study well, and whether you’re a parent or a college student, have a great year!
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, and I may get a small remuneration (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking through to the resulting pages. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Seriously, who else would claim them?)
Organize Pretty, Playful Parties (and Messages) with Paperless Post
Last month, I was approached by a representative of Paperless Post* to see if I might like to look at their offerings and perhaps share with Paper Doll readers. My first thought was, “Haven’t I already written about Paperless Post?”
And yep, I had. But it was in 2012! I’d written Paper Doll on Paperless vs. Less Paper: Send to Kindle, iPrint, and Paperless Post. Since that post went live, Rover Curiosity landed on Mars, we learned what twerking was, royal bathrobe model Prince George was born, the word “selfie” hadn’t yet been added to the dictionary, and nobody had asked, “What Does the Fox Say?”
Things have changed a lot since 2012, and so has Paperless Post. Back in 2009, the company started developing ways to provide aesthetically appealing invitations online. Nowadays, that not necessarily any big whoop, but back then, it was fairly novel.
Imagine it’s set to be a beautiful weekend and the strawberries on your estate are ripe for the picking. It occurs to you to invite everyone in your little village to a strawberry-picking party: the secret object of your affections, a former nanny and a too-popular-for-his-own-good gentleman (whom you suspect are having a secret romance), local (if annoying) newlyweds, and the nanny’s loquacious but long-suffering aunt. (Yes, this is the Box Hill picnic scene in the Jane Austen novel Emma, but let’s go with it.)
You could send invitations by mail, but they wouldn’t get to everyone in time. You could create a Facebook post, but the nanny’s aunt is mad at Zuckerberg, and anyway, Facebook just doesn’t meet your aesthetic tastes. So what do you do? You create online invitations that can get to everyone two seconds after you design them, and get your RSVP’s in real time. No stamps and no schlepping off to the post office when you could be planning a strawberry-themed picnic menu.
THE DETAILS
Not planning any parties, Austenesque or otherwise, I focused on Paperless Post’s online card offerings, and sent one to see how the process worked.
After sending, I went to my email inbox and saw a miniaturized version of the front of the card I’d sent with options to view the tracking (to see who had received it), read and reply to any comments, edit it, and even add new recipients.
According to the recipient of the above card, his email showed a picture of the envelope with the top third of the card peeking out. (When I created the card, I had the option of eschewing an envelope or picking a different color interior liner, and I could have addressed the envelope, but the whole advantage of online cards is that you’re more likely to be able to find someone’s email address than street address these days.)
If I click on “View the card,” I can see what the recipient can see. The card sort of jumps out of the envelope, and the envelope moves to the edge of the screen; the center of the screen is given over to the front of the card, which flips to the back to reveal the message. Clicking a tiny swirling circle graphic lets you keep flipping between the front and the back. (In order to protect Phil’s privacy, you’re seeing a version going to me, from me.)
After this, I got a little giddy, sending cards to friends and to myself in order to get a complete sense of how things worked in Paperless Post. I sent a card to friend of the blog, Professional Daily Manager Nanette Duffey of Organized Instincts.
Then I sent one (thematically similar – I think it was lunchtime) to myself:
Paperless Post has gorgeous and fun creations that are just like what you’d find in some fancy, big city, high end stationers. It’s just not on paper. Wares include:
Greeting Cards – Got holidays? Because Paperless Post does. Their holidays cards cover: Rosh Hashanah, Diwali (seriously, when did you last see a good Diwali card?), Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas/Holiday, Kwanzaa, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Lunar New Year, Purim (my personal favorite!), St. Patrick‘s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Ramadan.
They also have all-types-of-occasion cards designs including those for:
- Thank you
- Birthday
- Graduation
- Just because
- Congratulations
- Love and romance
- Sympathy
- Anniversary
- Apology (Why do so few people send apology cards? As an aside, check out the book, Why Won’t You Apologize?: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts by Harriet Lerner. There is no better resource for organizing your thoughts surrounding giving and getting apologies.)
- Get well
- Good luck
- Encouragement
My favorites are the designs in Paperless Post’s Hello!Lucky line, which include cards, invitation, and stationery they describe as “playfully exuberant with a touch of mid-century nostalgia, the work of sisters Eunice and Sabrina Moyle exudes a childlike glee.”
Announcement Cards – for births, graduations, weddings, and moves
Thank You Notes – You did read my prior post, Gratitude, Mr. Rogers, and How To Organize a Thank You Note, right? Just look at the bevy of thank you note options!
Birthday Cards and Invitations – From the typical birthday cards for “him” or “her” and belated cards for adults and children to milestone birthdays to quinceañeras.
Wedding – Just got engaged? Paperless Post starts you off with a variety of Save the Date cards, moves you along to shower and party invitations, then invitations for the rehearsal dinner and wedding brunch, and finally actual wedding invitations.
Wedding hosts and guests are equally covered, with announcement cards, thank you notes, wedding party requests, and congratulatory notes.
Invitations – This is where Paperless Post began, and they haven’t lost their mojo. There are far too many categories of Paperless Post invitation categories to even mention, but whether you want to have a 4th of July bash or cocktail party, a housewarming or a bar mitzvah, a political fundraiser or a Game of Thrones season finale viewing party, it’s all there. And it’s not just about the casual parties. There’s a whole “Professional” category for launches and charity events, holidays and retirement parties, and more.
Stationery – From personalized stationery that looks like what, on paper, we used to call informal cards to nice “stuff that classes up the joint” to children’s stationery, there are all manner of digital versions of the stationery that would likely just sit in your desk drawer if they were paper versions.
Flyers – This is a new feature, and seems perfect for the Instagram crowd. It’s a bit of a cross between an invitation and a web page, and it lets you create a site for your event and then use a shareable link to let guests know about it. Add the link to display it on social media, or send it to your whole email list (or a few favored guests) or in text messages. Guests can RSVP directly from the flyer page so you can keep track of the expected turnout and figure out how many canapés to have the caterer make (or how many pizzas to order).
The snazzy professional designs make it simple to create an event page filled with all the necessary details while still creating a .gif or photo buzz. Choose your color palette, select page styles and cool text effects, and then just input the event details and don’t even worry about having enough space. You can use as much text as you want, and even add travel directions, hyperlinks, and whatever else your peeps need to know. (For a limited time, the Flyer option is free, so if you’ve got any special events on the horizon, or want to throw a quickie Independence Day bash, here’s your shot.)
WHAT IF YOU WANT PAPER CARDS AND INVITATIONS?
Paperless Post has partnered exclusively with Paper Source to print a curated collection of paper cards and invitations for weddings and holidays, as well as stationery for those wanting to embrace the handwritten writing habit.
OFF-THE-RACK, CUSTOMIZED OR DIY
Search by card shape, color, cost, and designer. Want Oscar de la Renta? Crane and Co? Marimekko? It’s all there.
Prefer to make your own masterpiece? With many cards, you can choose to upload your own photo and even modify the typefaces and font colors. You can replace the original message with something of your own. For example, the bear card up there? It was presented as a Father’s Day card, but I knew my friend Phil would like the bear, so I invented a holiday: Phil Day!
HOW PAYMENT WORKS
Paperless Post has developed its own currency. It’s not quite Bitcoin, but it is coin. Instead of buying each individual card, you purchase some dollar value to fill your account, and then each card type has an assigned coin value. As you create and send cards, the value in your account decreases, like a credit line at Oleson’s Mercantile on Little House on the Prairie.
Some items are free to send, while others require coins. Beyond premium card designs, there are premium add-ons, ranging from envelopes, liners, “stamps,” postmarks, logos, and backdrops, all of which require coins. They call this “the customization flow,” and as you add features, the cost of your card (per recipient) shows up in the top right corner of the screen.
Paperless Post sells coins in packages, and the price per coin varies based on the size of the package, so there are discounts as you increase the package size. For instance, 20 coins for $10; see all the coin packages here. Coins are non-refundable, non-transferrable, and expire after of five years of account inactivity, so I advise loading up a small batch up coins, playing around, and giving yourself the option to add more later.
WHAT’S MISSING?
Paperless Post is gorgeous. It’s a visual delight filled with options. It’s reasonably priced. It’s innovative. However, I found that it wasn’t always intuitive. The site seems to assume it’s so easy that you don’t need instructions, which may be true for their younger, hipper target audience. (I’m not so young and was never hip.) The best way to cope is to let the site wash over you. Pick what you want from the menu at the top. Select colors and styles. If you, like me, want to dig deep and know all the options before you get started, head to the Help Center.
You also might want to download the mobile Paperless Post app, which I used on my iPad during the week my Mac’s hard drive was DOA. I found using the app to be fairly seamless, and it actually worked better for me than when I’d used my primary browser (Safari) which sometimes took me to error pages.
PARTY ON
This may seem like an atypical post for Paper Doll, but as I mentioned in my prior post on thank you notes, I’m a big believer in gratitude (and conviviality) for raising the spirits of all concerned, and using a service like Paperless Post lets you quickly commiserate with a co-worker who is out with the flu, invite friends to an impromptu pizza party, or thank someone for being your hero, no matter the weather or your personal card inventory. What could be more organized than having a resource at your fingertips that doesn’t even require maintaining your own inventory?
*DISCLAIMER: In return for writing an honest review of my experience, Paperless Post loaded my account with a coin package to use for testing the selection, design, purchase, and sending and receiving experiences. The opinions are my own (and who else would claim them, or insert Jane Austen into them?), and Paperless Post received no guarantee of review content.
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