Archive for ‘Paper Organizing’ Category

NAPO2014: Wirelessly Scanning the Horizon — What’s New in Scanning?

Posted on: July 11th, 2014 by Julie Bestry | 1 Comment

Whether your goal is to go paperless or you just want to make sure you have access to your information no matter where you are, scanning is an obvious solution. We’ve previously covered the basics of scanning as part of a paper-reduction policy, and there’s a whole section on scanning in my 57 Secrets for Organizing Your Small Business.

At the 2014 NAPO Conference and Expo, two long-time stars of the scanning world, Neat and Fujitsu, displayed their newest wares.

FUJITSU

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Desktop Scanner

ScansnapiX500

The ScanSnap iX500 is a desktop scanner (but, as the photo above indicates, not a flatbed scanner) compatible with Macs and PCs as well as mobile devices. (It replaces the Scansnap X1500, a Windows-only scanner.) Suitable for personal or small business use, the big selling point of this model is the ability to scan wirelessly, but the iX500 has myriad interesting features, including:

  • scanning to a wide variety of formats, including searchable PDFs, JPEGs, editable Microsoft Word and Excel documents, and others with the press of just one button
  • scanning to the cloud, including to Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce, and SugarSync, as well as SharePoint, but only for Windows-based PCs. (ScanSnap Folder, also compatible only with Windows-based PCs, allows for wider cloud-centric applications.)
  • Wi-Fi connectivity — sure, you can connect your scanner to your computer via a USB cable, but you can also scan directly from the iX500 to your computer via your Wi-Fi connection, cable-free!
  • direct scanning to mobile devices — scan a PDF or JPEG from the iX500 to your iOS or Android mobile phone or tablet directly via WiFi
  • fast double-sided scanning of color pages at 25 pages/minute at 300 dpi. The iX500 scans both side of a page simultaneously, and images are automatically straightened and cropped, with blank sides removed from the resulting scan. (Although the stated speed is 25 pages/minute, reviews have reported speeds as high as 33 pages/minute. Check out this tweeted Vine of a sheet zooming through the iX500!)

The ScanSnap Quick Menu gives you an idea of the variety of destination options at your disposal:

ScanSnapQuick Menu

You can stack up to 50 sheets of paper at a time in the automatic document feeder, and Fujitsu promises that by borrowing “Separation Roller” technology and an “ultrasonic multi-feed sensor” from their professional-grade scanners, they’ve minimized jams and that annoying situation where more than one page gets grabbed at a time (and then never gets scanned at all).

The ScanSnap iX500 comes with productivity software. For both Macs and PCs, there’s Cardminder, a business card program. For PCs, there’s ScanSnap Organizer, which lets users manage PDFs and JPEGs scanned on a Windows platform, including converting scanned PDF files into searchable content. The ABBYY FineReader Express Edition is the similar PDF-to-searchable-PDF conversion software for the Mac.

Review posts have generally been positive, as have social mentions:

ScanSnap iX500 won this year’s NAPO Organizers’ Choice Award for Best Solution for Organizing Information at Work.

The iX500 ranges from about $430 to $485 via Amazon, office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot, and other big box and online electronics stores.

NEAT

NeatConnect is the newest addition to the NeatDesk and NeatReceipts family. NeatConnec NeatConnect has taken the concepts of “less is more” to new heights, focusing on how this scanner not only helps you be paperless, but also wireless and computer-less. You can:

  • Wirelessly scan documents directly to the cloud, including to Dropbox, Evernote, OneDrive, Box, Google Drive, email and even FTP. However, in this instance, the “cloud” isn’t necessarily the random cloud solutions you already use, but also NeatCloud, a subscription-based storage service accessible from your NeatConnect, computer or Neat mobile app. (You get three months of free NeatCloud service with your NeatConnect purchase.)
  • Skip the computer altogether. As long as your Wi-Fi can reach it, the NeatConnect doesn’t need to interface with a computer. Just pop in the items to be scanned (in any or all of three size formats), use the intuitive touchscreen to swipe through the destination options, and tap “Scan” when you’re ready.
  • Wi-Fi down? NeatConnect isn’t so wedded to the wireless option that you’re stuck. There’s a USB port for connecting to a Windows PC or Mac.
  • Scan to email, even without the computer. Once you scan an item, you can send it via email as an attachment.
  • Gain a cordless storage option via one SD card slot for saving scanned images up to a maximum of 32 GB.
  • Opt for one-sided or duplex scanning, and then save pages separately or combine them.

The stated upper-limit scanning speed of the NeatConnect is 24 pages per minute for color, black-and-white or grayscale, 300 dpi, slightly less than iX500’s stated speed, though I’ve seen reports that real-time NeatConnect usage yields a somewhat lower speed. (Both Neat and Fujitsu have a maximum scanning resolution of 600 dpi.) While the iX500 allows you to stack all of your documents to process through one feeder, the NeatConnect has three separate feeding slots, with a maximum capacity of 15 business cards, 15 receipts or small scraps, and 15 letter-size documents. (Without the paper tray, the capacity is the same 50 sheets as the iX500.)

If you’re interested in the NeatCloud, be prepared to pony up $6, $15 or $25 per month, depending on whether you want a personal, home and office, or business plan. (Annual plans at $60, $120 and $240 lower the per month price considerably.)

In the past, the main complaint I’ve heard about the Neat scanning platform was that its software was pretty insular — that you had to scan to what amounted to a Neat “inbox” and only later could you move items onward; NeatConnect seems to circumvent that complaint with more widespread integration options. And it certainly has its fans.

The Neat mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices, and supports functions including image capturing, editing, sorting, searching, sharing, expense reporting and reading of U.S. and Canadian receipts and business cards. The optional Neat Verify service (for an additional monthly fee) sends your mobile-scanned image to a team of Neat specialists who review the scan and ensure that the “key information is accurately read and extracted.” You could think of this as a really inexpensive virtual assistant who double-checks your numbers or a creepy NSA dude who helpfully lets you know your scan misread a restaurant tip.

NeatConnect runs about $499.95 and is sold directly through Neat, and is available at Amazon and various office supply and electronics stores.

PAPER DOLL’S THOUGHTS

This post should not be construed as a review, but merely a recap, of what I learned at this year’s Expo, plus some research. Although I may be an expert on organizing paper and digital files, my scanning experience is limited. Rather, I direct you to some recent reviews of the ScanSnap iX500 and NeatConnect that seemed particularly helpful at pointing out the merits and shortcomings of both.

My gut instinct is that Windows users, businesses and speed-scanners will love the iX500; for novices at scanning, home/personal users, those who care about their hardware aesthetics, and heavier users of a wider array of cloud options, I suspect the NeatConnect will hold more sway. As  a thirty-year Mac user, my cursory experience is that NeatConnect is slightly more intuitive, but I’ve read the opposite claim in multiple reviews. Your mileage may vary.

My suggestion? Poll your local buddies and visit the homes and offices of those who are using both to get a real-world tutorial. I know the ScanSnap vs. Neat fans are as loyal (read: partisan) as Mac vs. Windows or Yankees vs. Red Sox folks, so please feel free to weigh in with what you love (or don’t) about either option.

NAPO2014: Fashion-Forward Organizing Solutions

Posted on: June 30th, 2014 by Julie Bestry | 1 Comment

Although Paper Doll generally focuses on managing your paper to be more organized and productive, sometimes we need to flip the picture, and look at ways to be more organized and productive to save (little green pieces of) paper. To that end, this post will review two wardrobe-oriented products from this year’s National Association of Professional Organizers Conference and Expo: one for helping you eliminate closet clutter, and one to change how you think about putting away your clothes. Both will help you save time and money, and maybe make you feel a little more fashionable.

MY WARDROBE GENIE

My Wardrobe Genie is the brainchild of Massachusetts-based Professional Organizer Susan Terkanian of AllSET Solutions. Susan explains My Wardrobe Genie as a personal clothing management assistant, a way to deal with the overwhelm of items in your closet with ease and confidence, but without undue expense. She has not only tested her system with real clients, she got input from a neuropsychologist!

MyWardrobeGenie The key to a working wardrobe is keeping clothes that fit (your body and your lifestyle) as well as flatter, but letting go of what misses the mark: even if it was pricey, even if you’ve got happy memories associated with it, even if it was a gift. Intellectually, you know that you’ll never wear that itchy, ugly sweater that you’ve been guilted into keeping all these years. And putting those slacks with the ripped hem back in the closet (because you forget about the hem, every time, until you put them on) is like putting an empty milk carton back into the fridge.

To reduce clothing clutter and get a handle on what you own, My Wardrobe Genie combines the two essentials of any working system: a physical set-up and a behavioral process.

For the closet, My Wardrobe Genie comes with five colorful, laminated divider placards that hang from your closet’s rods to divide your closet into zones. These placards designate:

  • Discerning/Decided — This nifty placard divides your closet rod into two areas: what you know for sure that you’re keeping, and what you’re still noodling over in your head. Just that one initial sort as you return clean clothes to the closet, or work your way down the rod, sets the stage for making decisions. Does this fit me? Do I wear it? Does it look (and feel) good? If you know, it goes on the Decided side of the placard. If you are still working on discerning the value, or trying to figure out if it will be donated, discarded, or otherwise distributed elsewhere on the planet, it goes on the Discerning side. Everything in your wardrobe starts out on the “Discerning” side, but (as indicated), once you decide, you move it to the other side of the divider.
  • Anything Pressing? — Aside from the hardy few who get their moments of Zen from ironing, not many people are a fan of getting out the ironing board and pressing their clothes. But if your to-be-ironed clothes are out of sight and piled in the laundry room, you’ll never be inspired to tackle the ironing, and if they’re mixed in with the other clean, ready-to-wear items, you’ll pass over them when you make haste to dress. Keeping all the to-be-ironed clothes together lets you know when it’s time to turn up the music and rock out (or zone out) while ironing.

WardrobeGeniePlacards

  • Mending and Alterations — Sure, it’s great for you to pull out the mending and put it by your sewing machine (or the bag to take to the tailor), but the truth is, at best, you’ll just be creating more piles that you probably won’t get around to addressing. With this section divider, you can see at a glance when you have enough items to make it worth zipping over to the tailor or blocking off time in your schedule to do mending. (For those wondering, for any “mending” more complicated than re-attaching a button, Paper Doll believes in the power of delegation! Why deny someone employment using skills that far surpass my own? Paper Mommy has taught me well.)
  • Spare Hangers — Because putting an empty hanger back where you pulled it from is a guarantee that your closet will become disheveled quickly! Store all your spare hangers together to find the right kind when and where you need them.
  • Customizable — There’s a blank placard for you to customize to your preference. Maybe you have work uniforms that you want to keep separate from your casual and dressy clothes. Or, perhaps you’re keeping maternity clothes handy for a planned-for blessed event. Make that closet zone work for you.

For those of us who categorize our clothes by color, weight, sleeve (or skirt) length, or other attributes, there’s no need to revise. You can still be that granular in organizing your closet — once you get things to the Decided zone.

Each My Wardrobe Genie kit comes with the five placards, five colorful, coiled elastic hanger cords (to attach the placards to the closet rod), a discard bag, a donation bag, and labels for the bags. Susan expects the My Wardrobe Genie online store to be in place this July.

Although pricing is not listed on the site, the original IndieGoGo campaign looked to price each kit at around $30.

In theory, could you do this on your own? Sure, but as with most organizing concepts, we find that if people could do them on their own, they would have already done so. My Wardrobe Genie gives you that extra guidance to move forward, physically and behaviorally. My only thought is that people with truly overstuffed closets (and/or bad lighting in their closets) may still need a little extra hand-holding from a friend or professional organizer to tackle the initial phases of whipping the closet into shape.

While My Wardrobe Genie is great for your closet, what do you do if you’ve got a lot of drawer-based clothing? For those who lack expansive (and sometimes expensive) walk-in closets, a small closet space means relegating anything that doesn’t have to be hung up to whatever drawer space exists. But if you’ve lots of clothing but not a lot of drawers, what’s a fashionista to do?

PLIIO®

Luckily, there’s Pliio®. Longtime readers of this blog know how much I appreciate this innovation that lets you, for all intents and purposes, file your clothing, upright! But in case you’re new to what Pliio has to offer, I’ve got a little recap. Co-created by Canadian Professional Organizer Clare Kumar of Streamlife, Pliio is one of those brilliant tools that makes you wonder how and why it took so long for someone to come up with it.

PliioColors Pliio, itself, comes in two parts: the Pliio® Clothing Filers™ (17″ long x 8″ wide x 1/4″ thick), Pliio_Filers_Main which are essential to the process, and the Pliio® Organizing Boxes (9″ x 11″x 5″), which serve as the wardrobe equivalent of a desktop file box, filing cabinet or drawer. Pliio_Clothing_Boxes The basics are pretty simple — practically any article of clothing can be wrapped and folded around the Pliio clothing filers. I’ve seen Clare work magic with T-shirts, jerseys, light-weight knits and sweaters, as well as soft (sort of flowy) unstructured bottoms, like yoga pants or skirts, and even dresses. The thinner the fabric, the better it works, and the instructions say that it all works best when there’s about three inches of excess material beyond the edge of the filers.

See it in action:

Once your clothing properly Pliioed (what? it’s not a verb yet?), you can easily lined up clothing wherever you want it to go — in your drawers, on your closet shelves, or even in your luggage! Use the organizing boxes to keep them perfectly aligned for added orderliness. You only need six inches of depth in your drawers or suitcases to accommodate Pliio Clothing Filers, and you can turn the boxes on their sides (for six inches of depth and nine inches of height) to stack filed clothes anywhere, even on CD/DVD shelves!

For a while after Pliio’s release, you could only buy it on QVC, but it’s available (in the U.S. and Canada) at Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $20/set of ten filers.

It’s not easy to impress me with “doodads,” and I’m fairly frugal, so I only buy what I find to be flawless, but I’ve given Pliio as gifts. One friend with refined tastes — who is already incredibly organized (and isn’t even a professional organizer!) — liked the system so much, she went out and bought more, and Pliioed her husband’s T-shirt wardrobe!

My Wardrobe Genie and Pliio are just two inventive ways to get control of your clothing, get organized, and stop wasting time and money on closet clutter.

 

NAPO2014: It’s a Wrap! Organizing Your Wrapping Supplies with Wrap It!

Posted on: June 27th, 2014 by Julie Bestry | No Comments

It’s not yet July, but some people are already thinking about the holidays! This tweet, from a fun-loving scientist I know, illustrates eagerness to get started on shopping and wrapping:

And though it turned out to be a mistake, a post office branch in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York actually started promoting Christmas stamps this week!

While it’s not a paper and productivity topic we touch upon often, eliminating gift wrap clutter and organizing your wrapping options is definitely something we’ve discussed previously:

THE PROBLEM

Birthdays and holidays and baby showers. Oh, my!

Anyone who has ever tried to wrap a series of gifts of varying shapes and sizes knows that wrapping is not a one-size-fits-all experience. In the pre-gift bag era, I once tried to wrap an unboxed, stuffed lion for my best friend’s toddler, and there is photographic evidence (which I will not share), indicating that I failed wrapping school. A roll of shiny tape and perhaps two pounds of tissue paper later, it looked like a lump — maybe a soccer ball, maybe a chemistry set. Trust me, it looked better once unwrapped.

TipherLion

The options are almost endless. Wrapping paper comes in different lengths, and the volume on each roll varies. Sometimes wrapping paper comes flat, folded in squares, so that it takes up less space (but has an annoying crease, usually just where you wish it didn’t). And tissue paper is packaged altogether differently, folded like pre-GPS gas station maps. Sometimes, a gift bag is more apt, but bags come in multiple heights and widths, and then there are the ribbons and bows and furry/fuzzy/sparkly/twinkly stuff sold to adorn the gifts you give. (This is where Paper Mommy excels. All presents for children, and some for adults, are decorated with lollipops and similar candies. Twice the fun, none of the glitter.)

With so many different kinds of wrapping supplies, you end up needing different kinds of containers. Sometimes, an under-the-bed, flat-ish lidded bin will work, but it can be hard to find one to accommodate the longer rolls of wrapping paper. There are a variety of standing solutions that emulate trash cans, but unlike Weebles, when they wobble, they do fall down. I’ve seen many of my more artsy/craftsy clients peruse Pinterest for DIY-solutions to sew or glue or create themselves, but that can take a lot of labor.

Then there are the supplies. Tape — you want the non-shiny kind so that it’s invisible against the wrapping paper. Scissors. Those little noodle-y things that help you make ribbons curl nicely! Do you store them with your wrapping station (if you have a wrapping station more robust than “in the closet” or “under the bed”) or do you borrow from the office supply/school supply/miscellaneous drawers of your house? And if you can’t find what you need and end up buying duplicates, you’re worse off than if you hadn’t had any supplies in the first place!

It’s enough to make you want to give everyone a gift card and call it a day!

At this year’s NAPO Expo, however, a new product came to market for keeping all of your gift packaging supplies under wraps.

WrapItLogo

THE SOLUTION

WRAP iT™, developed by New Yorker Adam Levine (pictured below), is designed to create a

WrapItAdam

solution for neatly organizing and storing all gift wrap supplies. I have to admit, I was dubious. I’d seen what amounted to zip-up garment bags for wrapping supplies before, and in the end, everything tended to fall to the center of the bag, like hockey sticks in a duffel. (Am I betraying my Buffalo, NY roots?)

But Wrap iT really is different.

Wrap iT comes in two color schemes (blue and copper) and two sizes: Deluxe and Original. The interior of both versions can hold 26 rolls of wrapping paper, up to half of which can be the extended-length rolls (in the Deluxe version (pictured below)), which are often too long to fit in any standard paper organizer. The wrapping paper is held in place with heavy-duty elastics. When you’re done wrapping, slide the roll into the elastic bands at the top and bottom, twirl your roll about one-half a turn, and the loose ends remain tucked in place. No straggling ends to rip or tear.

WrapItHands

In addition to the interior section, the Wrap iT has multiple clear PVC pockets to accommodate folded wrapping and tissue paper, gift bags in multiple sizes, gift tags and greeting cards, bows, ribbons and wrapping tools, as shown below.

WrapItDeluxe

 

Wrap iT Deluxe

WrapItOriginal

Wrap iT Original

Adam and his people refer to the Wrap iT as similar to an “Armored Gift Wrap Tank” made extra-sturdy to protect those delicate bows and frilly ribbons. In addition to the high-grade elastics, the clear PVC is water-repellent (in case you’re schlepping through snow to get to a gift-wrapping party) and has a heavy-duty, all-the-way-around nylon zipper. Velcro closures clasp the nylon flaps to the PVC pockets.

The Deluxe Wrap iT measures 44″ long by 19 1/2″ wide, and fully stuffed is 4″ thick. Empty, it weighs only 1.8 pounds, but has a maximum storage capacity of 22 pounds. (That’s a lot of wrapping!) The Original Wrap iT is the same width and thickness when packed, but a touch shorter at 33 1/2″ long. It’s 1.6 pounds empty and 19 pounds at full capacity.

Thus, storage is easy, as the bag lays flat enough to slide under a bed, but the build-in hanger lets you easily hang it vertically in whatever closet has four inches of adequate width and enough depth to handle a winter coat.

WrapItDepth

The Deluxe sells for $59.97; the Original for $54.97; you can also get a combo pack of one of each or a two-pack of either size for $99.94.

See the Wrap iT in action:

Paper Doll has to be honest. I’ve long since given up on wrapping presents. If it fits in a gift bag, I’ll surround it with some pretty tissue paper; otherwise, I’ll probably have it shipped directly from Amazon and that charming A to Z logo will serve as all the wrapping it will have. But if I were a wrapper, especially one with lots of tiny tot birthday and holiday gifts to decoratively wardrobe, the Wrap iT would be hanging in my closet.

 

NAPO2014: Just in Case? LifeinCase™

Posted on: June 25th, 2014 by Julie Bestry | No Comments

Chances are good that you’ve had reason to worry — at some point in your life — about evacuating your home or town in an emergency. Maybe it’s been a random conversation with your kindergartener about why you have fire drills at school but not at home, or you’ve read the federal government’s Ready.gov pages on emergency preparedness and wondered how you measure up. Or maybe you’ve had actual experience with floods or hurricanes, and don’t ever want to be caught unprepared for getting all your documents together.

Longtime readers know that Paper Doll advises having all of your VIPs (Very Important Papers) tucked safely away, as we’ve discussed in:

The truth is, whether you keep your most important documents in your safe deposit box, in a fire-proof safe, in your filing cabinet or even your deep freezer, you still need to deal with the following issues:

  1. Do you actually possess all of the documents you might need?
  2. Are all your documents accessible?
  3. Are they portable — and quickly — in case of emergency?

To ensure that you have all the documents you need, you can (and should) refer to posts and articles like those to which I’ve linked above. But knowing you ought to do something doesn’t always mean it gets accomplished.

With regard to accessibility, keeping documents (originals, or more likely certified copies) at home means that you don’t have to worry about the bridge between you and your bank’s safe deposit box being washed out when you need to show vital documents to your insurance agent. But even if your papers are at home, are they always protected (from theft and from the elements)? And what do you do when you travel, or especially if you travel frequently?

As much as I love clients being able to have a tidy VIP section in the legal area of their Family Files, in a dire emergency, you may not have the time or focus to search and find everything before you go. That’s why I was intrigued to see a new product at this year’s NAPO Expo that focuses, not just on another kind of filing system, but on easily maintaining and safekeeping vital documents.

LIFE IN CASE™ — THE BASICS

LifeInCaseLogo

LifeinCase™ didn’t merely exhibit at the NAPO Expo. It won the prestigious 2014 NAPO Organizers’ Choice Award for Best Solution for Organizing Information at Home. Let’s see why.

LifeInCaseSystem

Each LifeinCase™ features:

  • A portable case: The poly, briefcase-style tote is lightweight but durable and water-resistant. It’s not going to act as a flotation device in case of a water landing, but it’s going to keep your documents relatively dry and safe if you’re escaping amid the harsher elements. The lid clasps shut with Velcro, so unlike three-ring binders which might fly open in brisk wind, documents are safe.
  • A 5-folder system: LifeinCase™ has a poly folder for each of what the creators consider the five main categories of documents you’re likely to need in an emergency: Personal, Financial, Medical, Estate, and Property.
  • Handy checklists: On the exterior of each folder, there’s a printed checklist of 10 essential documents to keep within that folder.
  • 500 Sheet Capacity: The sturdy tote holds up to 500 pages, plus the folders. This is built to be a self-limiting system, so you keep storage to a minimum (of just the vital documents) and keep clutter at bay. This isn’t for all of your papers — just the papers you’d need in an emergency.
  • Grab & Go: The LifeinCase™ tote can travel with you or be stored in a personal safe. Relocating? Let the movers take your locked filing cabinet, but keep your vital documents private and safely with you.

Also, for those who need or want to maintain access to certain cloud-based documents, LifeinCase™ has partnered with MobilLogic (about which, we’ve written previously), so individuals and companies can match up the paper files outlined in the LifeinCase™ checklists with personal or business systems, including electronic data.

THE FIVE CATEGORIES

LifeInCaseCloseup

For a little more detail on the categories and each folder’s checklists:

The personal category focuses on the essential VIPs specific to you, personally. These would be your birth certificate, copies of your passport and Social Security card, citizenship papers, military documents, etc.

The financial category limits itself to just the essentials you might need if you were displaced and needed to temporarily rebuild your world — such as after a community evacuation. These might include a copy of your most recent income tax return, a list of your credit cards (or, as Paper Doll recommends, a photocopy of the front and rear of all of the contents of your wallet), copies of stock and bond certificates (or at least their numbers and pertinent information), loan and credit contracts, etc.

The property category includes, as you might expect, property titles (for real estate, vehicles, boats, and whatever other real property you own), lists and details for any current mortgage, loan or lien documents, as well as a copy of tax assessment notices, purchase contracts, and records of capital improvements, in case they’re needed for insurance or tax purposes after structural damage.

The medical section would include contact information regarding whom to notify in case of emergency, health insurance information, a list of names and contact information for physicians and other healthcare providers, a documented history of medical conditions, and more.

Estate documents might include names and contact information for attorneys and estate executors, a signed copy of any wills or trusts, and copies of life insurance policies, including contact information for associated agents.

LIFEINCASE™ VERSIONS

In addition to the original LifeinCase™ green-on-frosty-white option, there are military-branded versions for members of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

LifeInCaseMilitary

THE STORY OF LIFEINCASE™

LifeinCase™ was developed by New Englanders Diane Hoyle-Moran and Mark Gibson. For more about the development of LifeinCase™, watch this recent interview with Diane on the Military Shopping Channel.

And below, a picture of Diane and her co-developer, Mark, clearly enjoying the NAPO Expo.

LifeInCaseFounder FOR WHOM IS LIFEINCASE™ DESIGNED?

LifeinCase™ probably isn’t for those of you who already have an intricate and organized document system set up, with myriad backups in place. But if you’re not sure what documents you have, or where you have them, or you (or someone you love) may not be the type to independently put these documents in order, LifeinCase™ gives you a swift kick in the rear for getting started and a little hand-holding to get you through to the end of the process. The checklists give the user the opportunity to say, “Hey, I don’t know where this document is — I’d better go look for it!” or, in the case of some document types (like estate paperwork), “Hey, I don’t even have this kind of document. I’d better make a call to set some important steps in motion!”

This would make a particularly great gift for new graduates, young(ish) newlyweds, members of the military, frequent travelers, and others who might not otherwise have the inspiration (or information) necessary to get started on organizing vital documents on their own.

LifeinCase™ is priced at $34.99 for the original and military versions, and is available at bulk discounts, so you’d save 15% off two cases, 23% off 3-8 cases, or 35% off nine or more cases.

However you organize your essential paperwork to make it accessible in case of emergency, the most important part is that you get started. Just in case.
BONUS UPDATE

LifeinCase™ has provided coupon codes for Paper Doll readers! When you order your LifeInCase™ systems, use the following codes:

BESTRESULTS for a 10% discount on the original green LifeinCase™ kits
BESTRESULTSUSA for a 15% discount on the Military Design LifeinCase™ kits

NAPO2014: Our Friends at Smead Are on the Up and Up!

Posted on: June 20th, 2014 by Julie Bestry | No Comments

Longtime readers of Paper Doll know that I’ve always championed vertical organizing tools. Up is where it’s at!

Sometimes, that has meant making use of vertical space to an expansive degree. For example, we have previously looked at The Container Store’s Translucent Cascading Letter File Tote, as well as a variety of other “tall, flat” solutions in Paper Doll Adjusts the Vertical Hold: Space-Saving File Solutions.

At this year’s NAPO Expo, Smead introduced the Cascading Wall Organizer (illustrated, in action, in my NAPO 2014 Conference Recap a few posts ago). The space-saving, vertical organizing tool keeps folders off of your desk and lets you make use of wall space. If you’ve got a corner office, desk space might not be at a premium, but if your office is merely in the corner (of the kitchen, or the classroom), or your office is a different hotel room every night, you know how difficult it can be to keep everything together when there’s no place to put it.

When open, the expanding interior displays six removable, letter-sized, straight-cut folder pockets, each of which holds up to 25 sheets of paper. The cascading base and pockets are made of durable, acid-free, tear-proof and moisture-resistant polypropylene. There’s a clear pocket affixed to the front for extra storage of documents, calendar pages or motivational quotes and photos, and a looped extension at the top of the organizer to enable easy hanging.

SmeadCascadingWallOrg

When closed, the Cascading Wall Organizer measures 14 1/4″ wide x 10 5/8″ high, and looks much like a portfolio case. An elastic cord closure holds documents securely when you and your collapsed organizer are mobile.

The Cascading Wall Organizer comes in two styles, grey with brightly colored pockets (as shown expanded, above),

SmeadCascadingClosed

and grey with neutral (varying shades of white/grey) pockets. A blank label sheet is included in the set.

The Smead Cascading Wall Organizer is new and not yet widely available, but can currently be found for about $17 at Amazon.

Video about it:

 

STAND UP AND CHEER IN THE STADIUM

Of course, not all the vertical office supplies we want will need to take that much vertical space. Sometimes, we’re find with using our desktops or other flat surfaces, but we just want our files to stand up, like good little soldiers, but with a narrower profile than usual.

Last year, after the NAPO2013 Conference and Expo, I shared my excitement in New Smead Organized Up™ Folders Stand At Attention, about vertically arrayed file folders designed to work ideally with backpacks. The tentpole of that new Smead line was the Organized Up™ heavyweight vertical file folders, but the “upstanding” line also included Organized Up™ MO Vertical File Cases, and StackIt one-pocket folders and three-pocket organizers.

Smead has now expanded (no pun intended) the Organized Up™ line with the Organized Up™ Vertical Stadium File for use with the heavyweight vertical file folders. It’s like the original Smead Stadium File that I reviewed in 2010, but it allows you to organize and file documents upright, in the same way you print, read and shuffle them. Each of the Vertical Stadium File’s three double-capacity, tiered pockets expands to 1 3/4″ and is fixed in place, riser-style, so files always stay visible and never sink down or get lost.

 

The Vertical Stadium File comes in two color schemes. The Nutmeg version includes six heavyweight vertical Earth Tone Folders (two each of Leek, Nutmeg and Stonewash Blue per package), while the Peridot Stadium File has the Bright Folders (two each of Fuchsia, Orange and Peridot per package). In the interest of full disclosure, I stand by my original contentions that other than the Fuchsia, these are not loveliest colors Smead could have chosen (though I’ll admit the Stonewash Blue has grown on me).

As a reminder, the Organized Up™ letter-sized folders are constructed of a durable, heavyweight material and are open on the top and right, but closed on the bottom and left sides for added security. The folders are dual-tabbed so they can be used both vertically (with the Organized Up™ Vertical Stadium File, and in backpacks and in narrow drawers) and horizontally, for traditional use. Each folder expands to hold up to 25 sheets of paper.

The Smead Vertical Stadium File runs about $18 at Amazon and specialty office supply stores.

WHAT’S UP ON CAMPUS?

Later in the summer, and closer to back-to-school time, we’ll be exploring Smead’s Campus.org line of university-oriented school supplies. But one of their new products particularly stood out for today‘s theme.

Last year, we reviewed the red-rope style vertical paper storage solutions in Upright Expansion: Pendaflex® Vertical Reinforced Expanding Wallets and Files.  Pendaflex’s vertical approach was definitely a variation on the norm for expanding wallets, and the primary color options were refreshing, but Smead has developed an alternative for fans of poly vs. paper.

The Campus.org Vertical Step Index Expanding File comes in three colors: dark grey, lime green and purple. (I’m beginning to think someone in the Smead R&D line has a penchant for unusual shades of green for the office supply palette.)

SmeadCampusStepIndexOrg

This letter-sized polypropylene organizer measures 1 1/2″ deep x 10.2″ wide  x 12 1/2″ high and has an embossed (nubby) exterior. The poly casing and pocket material is both rip-proof and water resistant, and is arranged riser-style, or stepped, so the rear files aren’t hidden. To keep documents safe when you’re on-the-go or up-in-the-air (even if your backpack isn’t fully secure and in its own locked-and-upright position), the Vertical Step Index Expanding File has a top flap as well as an elastic cord closure. Each file includes preprinted and blank tab inserts for indexing and customizing your contents. 

SmeadCampusVerticalClosed

Speaking of closure and contents, this expanding file has something particularly innovative. The foldover flap has a clear window, so you can see the tiered tabs of the pockets without ever opening up the file. Thus, although you might color-code your documents or notes, if you prefer to keep everything in one color combination, you can still see the labeled tabs of any of multiple expanding files at one glance and know your contents without opening each file.

The Campus.org Vertical Step Index Expanding File runs about $8 at Amazon.

UP, UP AND (CARRIED) AWAY

For Paper Doll, it’s easy to get excited about novel approaches, like vertical file storage (or the horizontal clipboards we talked about last month). But novelty doesn’t mean suitability in every case. When dealing with your papers, no single solution works for everyone. For some people, horizontal makes the landscape gorgeous, while for others, the portrait of a happy user means vertical supplies. For some, color variety is inspiring, while others prefer uniformity to maintain focus. We are each our own special snowflakes, so feel confident that the only office supplies you need are the ones that fit your requirements.

Until next time, when we’ll be looking at more attention-getting and practical organizing products from this year’s NAPO Expo, your Paper Doll promises to stay on the up and up!

« Older Entries Newer Entries »