Archives for Paper

A very stylish document scanner

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Fujitsu company has released a ScanSnap unit with a traditional lacquered finish, but — and this is the painful part — it appears to only be available in Japan:

The S-1300 and S-1500 units can fold up to look like a decorative box on your desk, which is as clever as it is beautiful. Fujitsu announced the commemorative document scanners by way of a manga advertisement, and you can see both pages of the advertisement online: Pages 1 and 2.

In addition to the stylish new exterior, it looks like the 50th anniversary ScanSnap models might also come with two tea cups and a sushi mat (although, I don’t think the raven is included):

Now, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping the Fujitsu company considers releasing decorative models in more markets. To learn more about getting your paper clutter under control with the help of a ScanSnap, check out our article “Scanning documents to reduce paper clutter.”

Happy anniversary, Fujitsu! And, thanks go to reader Jen for letting us know about this item.

Posted by Erin on Sep 2, 2010 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

New office products: Antimicrobial file folders and bookmark index cards

My friend and professional organizer Julie Bestry recently headed to Office Depot to see what is new in the back-to-school supplies section. Her recap of the adventure introduced me to two new types of organizing products I wanted to pass along to you.

First up are Pendaflex Antimicrobial File Folders, which protect “against the growth of mold, mildew and odors.”

Pendaflex and Smead makes a similar product. These folders are perfect for businesses and homes when you expect to store a file for decades. Any business that puts documents into long-term storage would also benefit from folders such as this. If you’re not planning to store copies of printed documents for 20 or 30 years, these are probably overkill. However, they’re perfect for birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc.

The last product I want to bring to your attention are index cards with small cut-outs in them to use as bookmarks:

Oxford makes these Book Mark Cards and sells them exclusively in Office Depot brick and mortar stores. Mead’s version of the product can be found online and in many non-Office Depot office supply stores.

These bookmark index cards are great for writing in books that aren’t yours without the fear of sticky residue being left in the book, like you might experience with Sheer Colors Post-It Notes.

Have you found any great new office products in the back-to-school aisles? If so, let us know about them in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Aug 11, 2010 | 17 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: I’m organized but my workplace isn’t

Reader Anonymous submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I’ve started to notice how disorganized my office is … not my personal office, but the office as a whole.

Some examples:

  1. Office supplies are disorganized, so no one knows where to find anything, which leads to ordering more of things we usually already have.
  2. Our shared computer folders are a mess — everyone has their own systems which makes it hard to find anything unless you ask someone for it.
  3. No one has cleared out the paper files for years. When people leave a position, their paper files (which the new person probably doesn’t need or has their own system) get shoved onto a shelf somewhere and pretty much never looked at again, but no one will get rid of them!

I’d like to find a way to help with these problems, but I’m struggling with it because it’s not really my job and I don’t want to step on any toes or take on additional work just because I’m the only one who brings it up.

Any suggestions? I’ve heard about some companies doing a 2x a year “office clean-up” day — I don’t know if my office will go for it, but I’m interested in hearing if others have experience with this method.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Anonymous, I think you could have entered your name as “Everyone,” seeing as most of the working world is in the same position you are. Companies waste so much money being disorganized in the exact ways you have mentioned. They’re doling out unnecessary dollars for wasted productivity, duplicate supply ordering, increased network storage, and offsite archival paper file storage. A little organizing and uncluttering could save companies thousands, but often these activities are seen as wasted time.

The first thing I suggest doing is documenting on a sheet of paper some of the troubled areas in your division or department. Don’t add commentary to the listed items, simply write notes like, “No inventory system on the office supply closet. Janet has two drawers of files she hasn’t opened in two years.” Then, track down your favorite human resources staff member and see if you can take him or her out for coffee or lunch.

During this casual meeting, talk about some of your concerns. Put greater emphasis on the positive benefits that result from a more organized workplace. Don’t complain or blame or bring up office politics — just focus on why you think uncluttering and organizing could save your company money and improve worker productivity. If all goes well, the issue will be pushed up the chain of command and eventually your HR department might make a twice-a-year organizing day a reality for the entire company. Every time I’ve worked with a company for such a project, I’m always contacted and contracted through the HR department, so my assumption is that this is how it would be handled at your company. If your organization is structured differently, go through whatever department is most likely to be responsible for planning such an event.

A few, rare and wonderful companies have regular organizing days. They’ll hire one or more professional organizers to come in and give a pep talk at the beginning of the day and then be on site to assist workers as tough questions arise. Some of these companies have organizing weeks if it’s the first time they’ve gone through the process. And, these uncluttering days usually help to build employee morale because everyone is working together to improve their place of employment. Happier, more organized, and more productive employees — I’m surprised all companies aren’t already doing it.

Regarding your specific examples, your office could save money by installing a more formalized inventory system for office supplies. Also, check out our tips for organizing a shared drive and the comments to the post for ideas on how to tame the data on your office network. Finally, before clearing out paper files (and there are lots of tips for how to do this in a corporate environment in Unclutter Your Life in One Week), talk with a lawyer. You might not be able to get rid of all of these documents based on whatever it is your company does.

Thank you, Anonymous, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck!

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Jul 30, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Best methods for recycling?

Reader Lynne submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I still love the feel of paper in my hands … real books or magazines. I cycle through my magazines relatively quickly. But yesterday as I was ripping off the address labels so I could pass them along (Purple Heart takes magazines), I had another thought. I recycle almost everything. In passing these along, is it much more likely they will end up in a landfill?

Technically, if you pass along the magazines to someone else and a second person gets use out of a product, you’re recycling. Re=again. Cycle=a full turn. An object doesn’t have to be repurposed to be recycled, it just needs to be used again. If a dairy sanitizes and reuses their glass bottles, they’re recycling (putting the bottle to use again). Simply passing along your magazines to another person is recycling, in the strictest sense of the definition.

However, I think your intention is to keep the item out of the landfill, which means you hope that the paper is repurposed. I would start by asking Purple Heart exactly what happens to the magazines after you donate them. If they’re packaged up and flown somewhere overseas, well, you have to weigh the environmental impact of the oil, exhaust, and other damage the airplane will put on the environment against the environmental impact of the recycling center you normally use to process paper. In this case, my guess is that if your desire is to have the smallest amount of environmental damage, your choices would be: Best–local recycling center, Middle–local landfill, Worst–flying them overseas. Conversely, Purple Heart might just donate them to the local VA Hospital and the hospital may have a paper recycling program of their own. So, donating to Purple Heart might be a great choice all around if the magazines are staying local. You won’t know, though, until you ask.

If you haven’t read the book No Impact Man or seen the documentary, I recommend you do. Colin Beavan talks at length about his struggles to determine what actions have the least amount of impact on the environment. You may not like Beavan’s personality (he rubs some people the wrong way), but the content of his message is still interesting.

Thank you, Lynne, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Jul 23, 2010 | 24 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: What to do with diplomas

Reader Kathy submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

What do people do with their diplomas? I have my high school, undergraduate, and graduate diplomas. They’re sitting in my closet because I don’t know what to do with them. I could frame them and put them in my cube, but no one else at work has done that. I wouldn’t enjoy looking at them framed at home, but I could hang them in the house.

Kathy, your question made me laugh because I have no idea how to answer it. All three of my diplomas sit in my office closet in a clear plastic sweater box labeled “THREE EXPENSIVE PIECES OF PAPER.” One is framed, one is in an envelope, and one is rolled up in a mailing tube.

Unless you’re a lawyer, medical doctor, psychologist, or professor, it’s usually socially awkward to hang your diploma in an office environment. That awkwardness increases tenfold if your desk is in a cubical. (Where would you even hang it?) The reality is that your coworkers and bosses want to know if a project is on time, is your work mistake free and sufficient in quality, is the client happy, and is more money coming in than going out — companies care about performance, not about where you went to school. Additionally, hanging diplomas up at home can be weird because you already know you graduated. At least in my experience, closets are the permanent storage location for the majority of diplomas in the world.

I want to open up the comments for suggestions because I sincerely have no good ideas for this one. Where do you store your diplomas? Does anyone frame and hang their high school diploma on the wall? Has anyone shredded theirs and tossed it in the trash? Where is your diploma and why? Do you have any creative solutions for Kathy?

Thank you, Kathy, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Sorry that I couldn’t personally be much help, but my hope is that one or more of our readers will have the perfect solution for your problem.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Jul 2, 2010 | 184 Comments | Tweet This

Office upgrade: An extraordinary project for Wired magazine

In college, my friend Scott lent me his dog-eared copy of Hackers and said I should read it. I knew my way around the command line, and Scott was trying to convince me to switch majors and join him in the computer science department.

I read the book, was mesmerized by its genius, but decided to stick with journalism. As much as I was fascinated with the people and the ideas in the book, I knew it was because of their stories, not because I wanted to emulate their engineering and programming.

Jump 15 years forward. I was standing in author Steven Levy’s office holding a trash bag and asking him if I could throw away a crumpled business card I’d found at the back of his closet. Turned out, the card belonged to a current executive at a major tech firm, but was from a time when the guy was a nobody at another company. I told myself that if Levy decided to trash the card, I’d slip it into my pocket instead.

He kept the card.

We organized dozens of business cards like the one I found in the closet, tapes of recorded interviews, preview copies of software, baseball memorabilia, hundreds of notepads with names like “Gates” and “Jobs” scrawled on their fronts, research files, files, and more files. While we worked, he told me about how he found Einstein’s brain in Kansas, tracked down Bob Marley and Bruce Springsteen for interviews when he worked for publications in Philadelphia, and explained to me what is really going on with Google in China. I was there to help Levy organize his office for the July issue of Wired magazine, but I felt more like I won a contest to spend a few days with an iconic journalist and author. Although I hadn’t met him before the project started, I felt like we were already good friends because of my connection with his book.

Since the early 1980s, Levy has been reporting on the technology industry in the U.S., and a good portion of that work was in his home office in the Berkshires. We were able to condense, unclutter, and organize more than 15 boxes of files into two elfa rolling file carts. As is pointed out in the article, the portable carts were a must so that “Levy can roll his files with him wherever he goes” to work in his home (when the power goes out in the winter, there is a wood-burning stove in the living room to keep the space warm). We also upgraded all of his equipment — added a second monitor and Fujitsu ScanSnap, installed an automatic digital data backup system, traded up to an APC battery backup power supply, gave him a much-needed paper inbox and task lighting, updated his audio system, and, although you can’t see it, we overhauled his desk drawer and outfitted it with supplies generously donated by the companies of Newell Rubbermaid. It’s difficult to tell from the angle of the photographs, but we hauled two SUV-loads of clutter to the dump and recycling center before the project came to an end.

I encourage you to check out the transformation of Levy’s space, either online or on newsstands. Also, feel welcome to put any questions you might have about the project in the comments, and I’ll try to answer them. I don’t usually speak or write about my work with clients to respect their privacy, but since this one was featured in a national magazine, I feel comfortable sharing a few of the details about the work we did.

Image by Noah Sheldon for Wired.

Posted by Erin on Jun 24, 2010 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

The Papervore Coffee Table

I fell in love with the Papervore Coffee Table by Pigeontail Design the moment I spotted it on Design*Sponge last week. I’m now plotting “accidents” my current coffee table could suffer so I can replace it with this:

Simple, modern, multipurpose design — the Papervore Coffee Table makes my heart go pitter patter.

Posted by Erin on Jun 17, 2010 | 34 Comments | Tweet This

Assorted links for May 18, 2010

Things from the uncluttering, productivity, and simple living worlds that are worth sharing:

Posted by Erin on May 18, 2010 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Document scanning services

Reader Jacqueline submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I am a fairly organized person and nearly 80 years old. I have no close relatives, and have asked kind friends to manage things after I die. I want to make things as easy for them as possible. The idea of scanning all my records appeals to me but the time needed to spend scanning five years of income tax records in addition to everything else is more than daunting. I have one plastic bin with the income tax stuff filed in large ziplock bags for each year, and another bin for the other records. Is there an easier way?

Are you doing your taxes yourself or do you have an accountant? If you have an accountant, ask him/her to store your documents for you. If your accountant says no, ask your lawyer if he/she can do it. My grandmother is 100 and her lawyer has been keeping her tax documents for the past 10 years, so I know it’s not an uncommon request.

There are also services that will scan papers for you, like Office Drop. You load up a pre-paid envelope or box, ship it off to the scanning company, and then they send you back the papers and a disc with the data. You can also choose to have them simply upload your documents online so you have an additional backup accessible from anywhere. After the papers are returned to you, you can shred them and be done with the process. It’s obviously more expensive than doing it yourself, but it will save you considerable time.

Honestly, since you say you’re “fairly organized,” I don’t know if you need to digitize your documents. Once a year, review your files with your friends and/or estate lawyer, and see if they have any questions about where important documents are located. Make a photocopy of the most valuable papers and put them in a safety deposit box at your bank. Give a copy of the key to your lawyer or friend in case of emergency (and notify the bank of this), and don’t worry about it any more. It sounds like you have been great at keeping clutter out of your files, which will be extremely helpful to anyone who may need to access your files in the future.

Thank you, Jacqueline, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Check the comments for additional suggestions from our readers.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Apr 30, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tweet This

And the fourth and final winner of the Fujitsu ScanSnap giveaway is …

Thank you to EVERYONE (all 6,695 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who have participated in our Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 giveaway. We have greatly enjoyed this giveaway! Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

4,500

Which means, the winner of this week’s Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is:

@teal64

I have direct messaged the winner of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 and she has 24 hours to respond.

Even though the four-week contest is over, you can still sign up to follow @Unclutterer on Twitter. Also, sign up to follow @ScanSnapIT for tips and tricks about reducing your paper clutter. BIG, AMAZING, GIGANTIC thanks to Fujitsu for doing such a generous giveaway for Unclutterer readers and our Twitter followers! I cannot express with words how much I have enjoyed awarding these ScanSnaps. It has brought so much happiness to my Thursdays.

Finally, happy Earth Day, everyone!

Posted by Erin on Apr 22, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tweet This

And the third winner of the Fujitsu ScanSnap giveaway is …

Thank you to EVERYONE (all 6,512 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who are participating in our Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 giveaway. Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

1,789

Which means, the winner of this week’s Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is:

@Ribstbbq

I have direct messaged the winner of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 and she/he has 24 hours to respond.

Remember, there are still two more giveaways between now and April 22, so you can still sign up to follow @Unclutterer on Twitter. Also, sign up to follow @ScanSnapIT for tips and tricks about reducing your paper clutter. Big thanks continue to go to Fujitsu for doing such a generous giveaway for Unclutterer readers and our Twitter followers.

Is this the first you’ve heard of the giveaway? Learn more.

Posted by Erin on Apr 15, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Odds and ends for April 13

A couple reminders and articles we wanted to share with our readers.

The reminders:

  • If you’re in New York City, you’re invited to attend the Real Simple 10th Anniversary Celebration this Thursday (April 15). Learn more at RealSimpleRewards.com. I’m scheduled to speak between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. in the “dining room” of Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal.
  • Don’t forget about our drawing Thursday (April 15) at 10:00 a.m. EDT for our third Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 giveaway! Entering to win is simple. All you need to do is follow us on Twitter. If you aren’t already on Twitter, create an account and then follow us @Unclutterer. Also consider following the generous people of ScanSnap @ScanSnapIT.

The articles:

Posted by Erin on Apr 13, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tweet This

And the second winner in the Fujitsu ScanSnap giveaway is …

Thank you to EVERYONE (all 5,986 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who are participating in our Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 giveaway. Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

1,142

Which means, the winner of this week’s Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is:

@DavidStith

I have direct messaged the winner of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 and he has 24 hours to respond.

Remember, there are still two more giveaways between now and April 22, so you can still sign up to follow @Unclutterer on Twitter. Also, sign up to follow @ScanSnapIT for tips and tricks about reducing your paper clutter. Big thanks continue to go to Fujitsu for doing such a generous giveaway for Unclutterer readers and our Twitter followers.

Is this the first you’ve heard of the giveaway? Learn more.

Posted by Erin on Apr 8, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tweet This

Quick reminder for our ScanSnap giveaway

Don’t forget about our drawing today at 10:00 a.m. EDT for our second Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 giveaway!

Entering to win is simple. All you need to do is follow us on Twitter. If you aren’t already on Twitter, create an account and then follow us @Unclutterer. Last week’s winner already has her new ScanSnap S1300 — you could be next!

While you’re following @Unclutterer, consider also following Fujitsu @ScanSnapIT for scanning tips and news. They are so incredibly generous for doing this giveaway with us in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Good luck!

Posted by Erin on Apr 8, 2010 | Comments Off | Tweet This

forScore app brings sheet music to the iPad

Although I’m still somewhat skeptical of the iPad, I can’t help but be very impressed by a small number of new and forthcoming applications being developed for the platform. In fact, the video demo for one soon-to-be-released app is weakening my resolve to wait out the first generation of the device.

forScore is a sheet-music management application that will allow the user to load his or her own PDF files, instead of relying on a proprietary format. The application also supports page specific annotations, which is particularly useful for marking up difficult passages. The developers were also quite clever to include an integrated metronome that can flash the border of the screen at a pre-set tempo.

The idea isn’t new. Electronic sheet-music displays have been around for a several years, but they’ve been even more expensive than an iPad. This seems like a good multitasking alternative, if you’ve already been considering such a device.

Posted by PJ on Apr 7, 2010 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

And the first winner in the Fujitsu ScanSnap giveaway is …

Thank you to EVERYONE (all 5,445 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who are participating in our Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 giveaway. Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the random number generator picked the following number:

741

Which means, the winner of this week’s Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is:

@ValHutchins

I have direct messaged the winner of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 and he or she has 24 hours to respond.

Remember, there are still three more giveaways between now and April 22, so you can still sign up to follow @Unclutterer on Twitter. Also, sign up to follow @ScanSnapIT for tips and tricks about reducing your paper clutter. Big thanks continue to go to Fujitsu for doing such a generous giveaway for Unclutterer readers and our Twitter followers.

Is this the first you’ve heard of the giveaway? Learn more.

Posted by Erin on Apr 1, 2010 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

Unclutterer giving away four Fujitsu ScanSnaps in April

I cannot tell you how excited I am to share this news with you. In April, thanks to the amazing generosity of the Fujitsu company, Unclutterer will be giving away FOUR ScanSnap S1300 scanners to our readers.

April 22 this year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and we wanted to do something big to commemorate the event. We’ve teamed up with Fujitsu to help our readers cut back on paper waste, digitize clutter, and better organize work/home offices. We will give away one ScanSnap S1300 scanner on April 1, April 8, April 15, and April 22 (four scanners total) to celebrate.

The prizes: The ScanSnap S1300 is the latest multi-page color scanner from Fujitsu. It is compatible with both PCs and Macs, scans both sides of the page, has optical character recognition, can transform any document into a Word file with just a click of a button, is able to scan a document up to 34 inches long and as small as 2″ x 2″, and is even Energy Star compliant. My description of this awesome machine doesn’t do it justice, so please check out the full product details.

How to enter to win: Entering to win is simple. All you need to do is follow us on Twitter. If you aren’t already on Twitter, create an account and then follow us @Unclutterer.

Each Thursday of the giveaway at 10:00 a.m. EDT, I will enter the number of our Twitter followers into the Random Integer Generator at random.org and select that day’s one winner. You only need to follow us once (and please, only once), to participate in the giveaway. If you already follow us on Twitter, then you are already participating and need not do anything more. Winners of the giveaway will have 24 hours to respond to a direct message from @Unclutterer to claim their new scanner. Failure to respond within 24 hours will disqualify you from the giveaway.

While you’re following @Unclutterer, consider also following Fujitsu @ScanSnapIT for scanning tips and news. I know that some of you aren’t interested in social media and will complain about having to sign up for Twitter to participate in the giveaway — however, this is the easiest way for us to manage the giveaway and it insures that many of our readers are already entered to win with no additional effort on their part. Also, if you’re an avid Wired magazine reader, you know that social networking sites can help increase worker productivity if used efficiently. If you still wish to complain, well, please don’t because you can always cancel your account after the contest has ended. This is simply the easiest way for us to conduct the giveaway.

I am so exited about this April event and cannot wait to give away FOUR Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 scanners. Remember, you have until 10:00 a.m. EDT on Thursday, April 1, to follow us on Twitter for the first scanner giveaway. Good luck, and again a special thanks to Fujitsu for their amazing generosity!

Posted by Erin on Mar 29, 2010 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Magazine clutter

Reader Nia submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

My husband and I are both not great at keeping clutter under control, but I am the worse of the two of us. I am especially guilty of magazine clutter. Why am I unable to throw away magazines? It’s seriously painful for me to get rid of them. The only plausible explanation I’ve come up with is that the magazine has done such a good job marketing themselves (all of them have, mind you) that it embodies a lifestyle and not just a pack of paper. By seeing that magazine, I feel like I’m living the lifestyle. I know it sounds silly, but I think this is the truth. Anyway, I don’t want to trash all my magazines, but I need to be able to part with a good chunk of them. Any advice for a magazine hoarder?

I have this problem with Dwell and Atomic Ranch. I don’t know why, but recycling them is difficult for me — even knowing that the majority of their content is available for free online a couple weeks after the magazine hits newsstands. They definitely promote a lifestyle, as much as eye candy and design inspiration.

My way to process magazines has actually changed a little bit in the past year, so I’ll walk you through the process. Also, be sure to check the comments to read how other people also work to keep their magazine clutter under control.

When a magazine or catalog comes to the house, I write its arrival date in large print on the cover with a black Sharpie. If you plan to donate your magazines to a doctor’s office or nursing home after you read them, go ahead and mark out your name and address at this point, too.

I then put the magazine or catalog straight into the magazine holder. If the previous month’s issue is still in the holder, I’ll immediately remove it from the holder and toss it into the recycling bin or donation pile. If I haven’t processed the issue in a month, I’m not going to get to it.

Each morning when I get my cup of coffee, I’ll grab a magazine out of the holder to peruse while I sit and sip on my caffeinated miracle juice. Anything that I might want to read again or sparks my interest, I’ll crease down the top page corner.

On Saturday mornings while my son is taking his nap, I’ll scan the pages with the creased corners and save them as PDFs to my computer’s hard drive. Some of the articles or images I clip are saved to folders for work inspiration, home decor ideas, trips I might one day want to take, etc. I use DEVONthink for my scanned document management. My scanner has optical character recognition (OCR), so any text in the articles is also searchable. (I use Google Desktop for an improved hard drive search.)

If you plan to donate your magazines or catalogs to a group instead of recycle them, you’ll want to use a flatbed scanner instead of a scanner that requires you to rip the pages out to feed through the machine. If you don’t have a scanner, you can wait until the content appears online (usually the first day of the month) and then create a bookmark of the article online and save it to a folder by type (work inspiration, home decor ideas). This is also a good idea if you have limited hard drive space. An add-on like Scrapbook for Firefox allows you to save annotated notes on the bookmarked web pages.

No matter what method you use, you need to get in the habit of never having a magazine or catalog in your home that is more than a month old. It will be difficult in the beginning, but once you see that you can access the information again, your mild anxiety will likely fade.

Thank you, Nia, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck!

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Mar 26, 2010 | 45 Comments | Tweet This

The productive procrastination bin

While many productivity experts religiously follow the “only touch it once” system for document management, I’m more of a “touch it as few times as necessary” system follower. There are simply times when touching a paper only once is unrealistic for me — the mail will arrive while I’m on a phone call or I need to really mull something over before responding.

To handle these touch-more-than-once documents, I have a (gasp!) procrastination bin on my desk. Actually, it’s a basket that hangs from a shelf, but “hanging procrastination basket” just doesn’t have the same catchy name factor as the straightforward “procrastination bin.”

I have certain rules for what can and can’t go into the procrastination bin. The bin isn’t a dumping ground for things I don’t want to do or a spot for papers that need to be filed. It’s a designated area for things that can’t or shouldn’t be dealt with right now.

Qualities that make it okay for a document to go in the procrastination bin:

  • It can fit. If the procrastination bin is full, nothing more can go inside of it and the document must be processed immediately. There is no squishing, fancy folding, or clever engineering to fit more inside the bin than what it was designed to contain.
  • There are no consequences for procrastinating. If putting off the task will cause me stress, cause someone else frustration, or has a nearly immediate deadline, the document cannot go into the bin.
  • Time is scheduled on the calendar for when to do it. When a paper goes into the bin, an entry must be made on the calendar for when to properly process the paper. Nothing can go into the bin and be forgotten.
  • Procrastinating might be better than taking care of it right now. There are times when not taking immediate action is actually the best thing to do. The procrastination bin is perfect for these types of documents.
  • The bin is small. I purposefully purchased the hanging basket that is made of wide mesh and isn’t very large. It can only be used for papers, and I’m not tempted to use it for items other than paperwork. It has a dedicated purpose and limited functionality.

In addition to the rules I have for the procrastination bin, I also have 30 minutes blocked off on my calendar each month to re-evaluate everything that is in the bin. Even with other dates on the calendar to process each paper, I’ve found that this 30 minutes will often take care of some of the items earlier than planned. I always schedule this 30 minute evaluation to occur right after lunch when my concentration levels are low. I realized that it’s better to use this time in a somewhat productive manner than waste it staring off into space, zoning out.

Posted by Erin on Mar 16, 2010 | 15 Comments | Tweet This

Project Basement: Day 3

My basement project hit a bump in the road on Wednesday when I made the mistake of touching one of my old teaching files. I pulled the file out of its Rubbermaid bin, thumbed through the pieces of paper, and felt a nostalgic tug at my heart strings.

I can’t throw this away! I must keep it! I worked hard to make this stuff!

I told my husband I had changed my mind and I wasn’t going to let the six bins of teaching paperwork go. He laughed, and then realized I was serious.

PJ: You don’t need it.
Me: Yes I do!
PJ: Why do you need it? Have you looked at it a single time in the past four years?
Me: I looked at it today!
PJ: That doesn’t count.
Me: Sure it does.
PJ: Maybe you could scan the files?
Me: That will take a lot of time. It’s easier just to put this stuff back into the basement.
PJ: Wasn’t your goal to clear the clutter from the basement, not pull the clutter out and then put it back?
Me: I guess this is what I get for marrying a guy who pays attention to what I say.
PJ: Yes, dear.

Except for a couple hours this morning pulling out the washer and dryer, sweeping the floor where they had been, and doing a general cleanup in the laundry area of the basement, I’ve been sorting, scanning, and recycling a couple hundred pounds of paperwork. Truth be told, I’m missing the basement. Organizing tools and unearthing strange cleaning supplies is infinitely more fun than digitizing old papers.

Here’s how I’m tackling the paperwork portion of this project:

  • Sort. I didn’t do a very good job of editing these files before I put them into storage. So, many of these papers are going straight into the recycling bin instead of being prepped for scanning.
  • Scan. I’m using our ScanSnap, which has a multi-page document feeder and optical character recognition (OCR). After the pages are turned into searchable PDFs, I’m recycling or shredding the pages.
  • File. As the final step in the process, I’m using DEVONthink to manage all of the digital files on my computer. Since the OCR process identifies the words in the documents, I’m primarily relying on the Google Desktop search function to find anything I might one day need.

Part of me thinks that digitizing these old papers is a complete waste of time. However, the sentimental part of me won’t let me get rid of the files any other way. I don’t know if I’m going to scan all six boxes of files, seeing as the activity is already starting to grate on my nerves. I’ve committed to sorting through everything, though, so I’ll at least know what I’m tossing. I don’t want to make the mistake again of blindly throwing away a box of items only to learn later that it included my social security card and passport — I’ve made that mistake, and replacing them was a nightmare.

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Other posts in this series:

Posted by Erin on Mar 4, 2010 | 48 Comments | Tweet This