My Blog :: Organizing Wonders

New Year’s Resolutions 2022: Expert Tips to Get Organized In the New Year

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on January 4, 2022 No Comments

Published on Redfin.com January 4, 2022 by Ryan Castillo

More times than not, new year organization is on many homeowners’ to-do lists. And with 2022 finally here, now is the time to kickstart your new year’s resolutions into high gear. If your home is in need of some decluttering, and you find yourself overwhelmed with items you no longer need, we’ve got you covered. We reached out to organizers and decluttering experts across North America, from Hudson, NH to Surrey, BC, to give us their best tips to help you get organized in the new year. From creating a home inventory to getting creative with storage, read on to see what they suggest.

Adjust your mindset

For every space in your home, the first thing to ask yourself is, “How do I want to feel when I walk into this space?” This question can instantly help give you clarity on items that are maybe not working to help you create the vibe you want in your home. – The Fun Sized Life

Be intentional with every item you have in your home

My number one tip for new year organization is to create intention with every item you choose to keep and with every space you reset. Do the items you are organizing in a particular space fit? Do they physically fit in the space? Do they fit the intention of the space? Do they bring you joy? Are they contained in a way that is consistent with the overall intention and aesthetic of your home? When you are intentional with each item and intentional with each space,everything has a purpose. Take it step by step, and pretty soon junk drawers, landing zones, clutter piles, and the stress that come with them will be a thing of the past. – Reset Your Nest

Let go of things you don’t use

The best advice one can give regarding new year organization is if you have not touched, used, or thought about it, it’s time to let it go. Before you start a project, plan your attack. Always take a before and after picture. In the future, it will provide you with the motivation you need to keep your home/office tidy. Lastly, sort and edit – find a permanent, out-of-sight home for things. – girlFriday

Create a home inventory

In the event of a disaster, a home inventory records what you own. Whatever technique you use to create your home inventory, remember to be thorough and store a copy elsewhere. For example, keep an electronic copy in the cloud or leave a hard copy with a friend or relative. Also, keep an eye on your home inventory and update it annually. Using this method, you can add or remove things from your collection. – True Assisting

Use the “Visibility, Accessibility & Flexibility” standards

Choose containers that are either clear or that can be easily labeled. Make sure that items you use most frequently are the easiest to access and the products you use less are higher up or in a space you don’t need to access often. Select storage systems/organizing systems that are adaptable to your changing needs so that you are more likely to keep the systems up and organized should changes happen. – Home Harmony

Use the OHIO principle when it comes to your possessions

While the OHIO principle (Only Handle It Once) isn’t really realistic when it comes to paper, it does work when it comes to your possessions. When you come through the door at the end of the day, where do the mail, coat, hat, keys, and other items from the store that you’ve picked up on the way home go? Rather than dumping them on a chair or the kitchen counter, if you take just a few extra moments to put things away in their designated homes when you walk in the door, your spaces will remain organized and clutter-free. – Lisa S. Griffith, CPO®, Griffith Productivity Solutions

Preserve print photos and albums in cool places

Basements and attics are popular places to store items not used every day. However, basements and attics are far from ideal places to store photos, thanks to the fluctuations in temperature in attics and dampness in basements. Print photos and albums are best preserved in cool, dry places, so moving them to a closet, for example, will help prolong their life and save them for future generations. – Past Present Pix

Organize media by type and theme

When organizing pictures, group similar types together like prints, digital sources, albums, home movies, or slides so that you can see what you have. Organize them by theme (vacations, people, locations) or by date taken. Then purge. Get rid of duplicates, blurry shots, or ones you can’t identify. – Picture This Organized

Don’t forget your legal documents

Legal Documents are most important. Assign beneficiaries, label photos & keys, note passwords. Ask yourself, “do my possessions excite me, serve a purpose, and do I still love them?” Inspire a new look using items you own in your home and always organize & downsize when possible. – Stuff the Clutter

Improve the productivity of your home office

If you work from home, invest the time it takes to ensure your home office fully supports your workflow, mood, and energy levels. First, choose the right place. You may have a room that seems perfect for a home office, but if you find you’re naturally drawn to another area, then follow your instinct and make that other space work for you. Then, streamline your space for easier workflow. Be ruthless about what you really need to perform your work, and perform a thorough cull of old files and anything else before investing in unnecessary storage. Improve your productivity, and your circulation, by investing in a standing desk, and alternate sitting and standing to perform your work. – Cory Cook

Stop buying portable hanging closet organizers

They take up too much space and provide cubbies in which items must be folded neatly to look organized. Instead, invest in new, velvet, no-shoulder bumps, space-saving hangers. – Welcome Home Organizing, Staging, & Feng Shui

Use door organizers to take advantage of space behind closet doors

There are a lot of products available on the market designed for that purpose. Hats, shoes, purses, jewelry, or gift wrap are just a few examples of items that can be stored in that underutilized vertical space. – Cincinnati Organized

Use square or rectangular products over round product

To maximize storage space, choose square or rectangular organizing products instead of round ones. When you place round organizers next to each other, you lose the space where the organizers curve. This really adds up, so get the most out of your space by sticking with square or rectangular bins, baskets, and containers. – Annmarie Brogan and Marie Limpert, co-owners of Organize Me! of NY, LLC, and co-authors of the book, Beyond Tidy: Declutter Your Mind and Discover the Magic of Organized Living

If you don’t love it or use it, be ok with letting it go

Donate useable items to live their next life at someone else’s place or sell it if it’s something that holds monetary value to you. Take it one drawer or closet at a time to get a feel for purging; when things are pulled out everywhere it can get overwhelming. Give yourself time to take the time to get it out, sort through it, and make good decisions. When putting it back together, keep like items together to make them easier to find. – Such a Neat Freak

Have a donation bag ready

Keep a ready-to-fill donation box or bag handy in a closet or garage. When you try on clothes that no longer fit or flatter or items begin to fill up your cabinets, drop them in the donation bag. Don’t put them back in the closet or cabinet to sit there longer. Do a little purging as you come across things, have a designated place to put the unwanted items, take the bag or box to donation when it is full, and repeat all year long. – Organizing Wonders

Create a system that works for you

The universal steps to organizing any room in your home are getting rid of all trash, taking everything out of the space that doesn’t belong, and finding a home for everything that’s left. Creating a magazine-ready room isn’t practical in every situation. As long as you have a system that works for you and your family, it’s a success. – Lia Brady, Organize With Lia

Be creative with storage

In the city, we are always short on space. Consider vertical storage as a solution. Get creative using the height of your walls as a way to add more storage space. – Sort it Out Philly

Pack ahead of time when moving

If you’re planning to move and feel you have too much stuff, then you can start sorting your belongings now to save time and money. Although you’ll spend some time upfront sorting out the excess (tools, clothing, kitchenware, linens, knick-knacks), you’ll not only save money on moving supplies and relocation costs, but you’ll save even more time with less packing and unpacking. Start with the kitchen and open cabinets and drawers to pull out utensils, pots, pans, mixing bowls, and small appliances that haven’t been used, and set the items aside for a donation. Continue working throughout the house – CDs, DVDs – anything not used for years – especially large or heavy items. – Michelle Marie Solutions
Originally published on Redfin.com

Categories : My Blog

Too Many Good Articles

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on February 15, 2020 No Comments

I love looking through magazines and pulling out those great articles full of useful information and resources. I even kept them organized in an accordion file by subject like Travel and Fitness so I could quickly grab an article when I needed it. The only problem is, it’s been over 10 years- and I have never once gone into this nicely organized resource file- for anything. This file has been tucked away under my desk for 10 years, but based on an article from 2001- I started this reference file 19 years ago. What?! When I opened it, it still looked so useful. Real Simple magazine was obviously my favorite resource. I couldn’t possibly just throw it all away- but who I am I kidding? If I ever want to know something- I ask Google or Alexa. I don’t go looking through articles I pulled long ago that are now outdated. Time to admit reality- and recycle it all. If I start going through them, it will turn into hours down a rabbit hole of information that I haven’t looked for in years. Time to trust that I have never needed it before and I don’t need to waste the time on it now.

Whether you like to cut out articles, recipes, or save the whole magazine- there comes a time to let it all go if you aren’t using it. Keeping a big pile of things to read creates another task. If the pile only grows and doesn’t dwindle, it is time to be honest about how much you really do or don’t want to read it. The last few years I cut the habit of pulling articles and instead snap a photo to put it in Evernote, or I go directly to a link and save that if I truly think I’ll want the info later. Most times though, I just read and enjoy articles without feeling a need to come back to it. There will be more coming my way and I have to keep moving along. I don’t need to be the keeper of useful information. Google and Alexa have that job now.

Categories : Office, Paper

11 Ways Alexa Helps Busy Families

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on August 1, 2017 No Comments

I didn’t need to get Alexa. But I thought it might be a cool thing to have so I compromised and got the inexpensive Echo Dot to test the waters. What I found was that we use it way more than I ever thought we would and we don’t even take advantage of many of its features. It has helped so much with our daily life. Here are some of the ways we use Alexa every day in a busy family.

Timers and Alarms for kids– I just call out “Alexa- set a timer for 10 minutes” or “Alexa- set an alarm for 7:55am”. When that timer goes off, the kids know exactly what they should do and they love telling Alexa to stop. When I know we have to leave for dance class soon but could very well get distracted, a simple call out to Alexa ensures we remember to leave on time.
Timers for cooking– Boy do I love be able to just call out cooking timers. I can “set a rice timer for 20 minutes” and then “set a beans time for 45 minutes” and she keeps track of both for me. Love it!
Weather Forecast– My kids will say “Alexa- what’s the weather today?” so they know if they should wear shorts because it will be in the 90’s or pants because it will be in the 70’s. In Los Angeles, the weather varies so much you need to check lest you be fooled by the cool temperature in the morning only to find you are sweating bullets by the time school lets out.
Reminders– you can have Alexa remind you to do something specific and she’ll say it. Whether your husband forgot to pick up the kids at early dismissal (it happened) or you want to remember to take the library books in just ask her to remind you. From my phone I can even tell Alexa to remind my husband to “pick up the kids” at 2:00pm and she will say “This is a reminder- “Pick up your kids.” Your spouse may or may not find it amusing when you do this.
Grocery Lists– never thought just being able to call out things to add to the grocery list would make me so happy. Just say “Alex add milk” and milk instantly appears in the app on your phone for when you are at the grocery store.
Spelling– My kids can ask Alexa how to spell something. I love not always having to be the dictionary.
Basic Questions– Now your kids can ask Alexa questions like what is the capital of a New York or when was Alexander Hamilton born. No need to admit you don’t know these answers yourself or grab your phone. If they try asking her where babies come from or if the tooth fairy is real- they will get a funny answer.
Music– We love being able to call out a song and having Alex play it. We have Amazon Prime so we don’t have everything but we do have a good amount of music options. My kids get a kick out of getting Alexa to stop when their dad picks a song.
Lights– We got a few smart plugs and we all love being able to turn lights on and off by just calling it out. It’s great to be able to do it when I am not home and forgot to leave a light on.
Messages- You can leave a voice message for other people with Echos. My kids love to leave and receive message for their friends with Echos. I want to get my parents one so they can enjoy getting messages from the kids too.
Skills– There are hundreds of extra skills you can pick. We have only tried a few so far, but we enjoy playing Jeopardy together. The kids like Magic 8 Ball and Brainy Bee, my husband likes Flatter Me and The Daily Show, I like Save the Food. Nag My Kids is also fun when they don’t want to listen to you when you tell them to brush their teeth- but they will listen to Alexa.

We also got a Google Home. Google definitely has more information and it has a better speaker. We honestly haven’t spent as much time figuring it out. It has many of the same features as Alexa. We are completely covered in the digital assistant category. When we first got Alexa, my daughter commented that we seemed lazy having Alexa doing all these things. I have to disagree. It is freeing. It makes me feel more efficient. I could never go back to having to get on my phone to do simple tasks. Thank you Alexa and OK Google for having our back. I don’t even care if you are always listening to me.

Categories : Helpful Products, Kids, Time Management

Kids and the Morning Rush

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on January 10, 2017 No Comments

The only thing better than your first child starting kindergarten is when your last child starts kindergarten. Goodbye pre-school and daycare costs! Hello dance class, piano, soccer, art class, summer camp, PTA, Boosters, Room Parents, and school events every week. Guess we won’t really be saving any money or time. Oh well. On to the next stage of parenthood!

This year, I have a daughter in kindergarten and one in 3rd grade. Getting 2 little girls ready and out the door on time is no easy feat. But there are some ways that make it run a little smoother.

Drop Off & Pick-Up Zone
The girls come home from school and their backpacks go to the drop off zone- which is simply the top of a living room storage cabinet at their height. Here they pull out their folders full of homework and school notices and put their lunch bags in the kitchen. In the morning, the folder and lunch bag go right back in the backpacks in what is now the Pick-Up Zone. Anything else that needs to go out the door also goes here from library books that need to be returned to dry cleaning to take in. No more searching for missing backpacks if the only place it goes is in the Drop Off Zone where it patiently waits to be become the Pick-Up Zone.
Think and Plan Ahead
If you are able to do things the night before, do as much as you can from preparing their lunches to getting your own things ready for work. If you have kids that won’t settle down and go to bed- have them pick out their outfits for the next day, get their backpacks ready, or make some of their lunch. They’ll either do the work and make your morning easier- or suddenly feel too tired to help and go to bed which was what you wanted.
Use Timers & Alarms
I use alarms and timers to keep us on track. They are scheduled on my phone to go off on school days. When the 1st alarm goes off at 7:55am, the girls know it is time to clear their breakfast dishes and start getting ready. When the 2nd alarm goes off at 8:00am, at least one of them better be out of the bathroom. When the 8:15am alarm goes off- I should be finishing up their hair. I don’t think I could get them out the door on time without all these alarms to keep pushing us onward.
The Daily Breakdown- Dry Erase Board
I use a calendar that syncs with my computer and phone as my calendar, but I also use a dry erase board to write down what is happening that day that pertains to the whole family so we are on the same page. I write it out at night and put it on the kitchen counter. It only takes a minute or two. Writing down what is going to happen the next day really helps me focus and be better prepared. My husband and kids can see that it is early dismissal today, dance class at 4pm or that we need to go to Costco that day. Then we erase as things happen until the day is complete and the board is clear. Whew!

Just getting your kids off to school on time 180 days a year is a major accomplishment. Hopefully these tips will help you win some of those battles even if when the dust clears, you feel utterly exhausted, and realize it is only 8:30am and you still need to go to work. I remind myself that one day my kids won’t need my help and I’ll miss these crazy mornings.

Categories : Kids, My Blog, Time Management

Organizing Barbies

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on September 7, 2016 No Comments

Like children, Barbies bring all kinds of stuff with them. There are so many different dolls, clothes, shoes, accessories, places to live, and modes of transportation! What do you do when you child wants their room to be a Barbie wonderland? First off- you set limits. (I never had a Barbie Dreamhouse. I made furniture out of shoe boxes and tissue boxes!) And you give them the tools to be able to keep their things in order. It is hard to play Barbies when you can’t find matching pairs of shoes or Ken’s only shirt.

Dolls– I like to use a large Rubbermaid Bento box that has built in dividers. I put all the Barbies standing upright so you can see them. They look a lot happier this way than dumped in a bin. You could also use an over the door shoe pocket holder to put dolls, but kids can’t reach that high to utilize all the pockets.

Clothes– Another Bento box is perfect for clothes. Put all the dresses in one section, tops in another, etc. If it is too hard to keep them in categories- simply keeping all the clothes together in one bin is better than mixing them with small accessories.

Accessories– A simple divided craft box with lid was the perfect fit to keep pairs of shoes together, silverware, and purses. It makes it so much easier find little things this way.

When kids come over to play at our house, they all want to play with Barbies. I like to think it is because they can easily find everything and let their imaginations fly. At the end of playtime, it is clean up time. Watching kids easily put away all the Barbie toys reconfirms that the system works.

Easy to find and easy to maintain!

Categories : Kids, Simple and Organized, Toys

My Smart Watch Made Me Efficient- and Not Efficient

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on May 25, 2016 No Comments

I’ve had a Samsung Gear Fit for well over a year now and I love it. I am a middle ground tech person- I never wait in line to get anything first- but I am not still using a flip phone. I can keep my phone for the whole 2 years without going crazy for an upgrade. I got a Smart Watch after my second FitBit died. It was the same price so I went for it and it changed my life. Not because I spend all my time playing with my watch now instead of my phone. Quite the opposite in fact. Now at a quick glance of my wrist, I can see if an incoming text, call, or email is important. No phone to find or pull out to see if that call is my kids school or that text is from my sick parent. Now I can be easily assured when I am working that things are OK. I find that I actually pick up my phone less because I already know what is there waiting for a response.

It has also made me inefficient as well. Why? Because I need at least 10,000 steps a day! Before I tried to make as few trips as possible. Do as much at one time as possible. Now I will gladly take 5 trips to and from the car to empty groceries so I can get steps. As soon as the groceries are unloaded, I walk the empty reuseable bags back to the car so I get more steps. All this laundry has to be put away in 3 different rooms? Perfect! That is a lot of back and forth steps. This one things needs to go to the garage? Should I just stick it in the closet until another time? No! I need steps! It really changes your outlook on life when you treat chores as a means to getting your steps in! Shoot, I can make putting away dishes count!

Sometimes a new gadget ends up gathering dust after the initial excitement wears off. And sometimes a new gadget really does change how you do things and you don’t ever want to go back!

Categories : Helpful Products, My Blog, Time Management

Be Realistic

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on March 28, 2016 No Comments

When I started blogging almost 3 years ago, I thought I would blog every 2 weeks. Other people blog all the time so I thought every 2 weeks was doable. That soon became 3 weeks, then monthly, and now every other month. What happened? With 2 young children, a husband who travels often for work, a thriving business, and a lot of volunteering at school, that simply wasn’t a realistic goal for me. Sometimes just getting through the day alone is enough! So rather than feel bad about not keeping to my original goal- time to change the goal to something more realistic and give myself some breathing room.

Am I bad at time management? No. Do I have too much on my plate? Maybe. But all the parts on my plate are important. I have to take advantage of being able to experience life through the eyes of a 5 and an 8 year old while I can. I have to be kind to myself about what I can realistically do in a day, week, or month and not judge myself by what I think other people are accomplishing.

Think about the things on your never ending To Do List, the projects you have taken on, the things you are doing for other people. Think about what matters most to you. Be realistic. You can’t do everything all the time. What can you pass on, what can you pay someone else to do, or what can you decide is not really important in the grand scheme of your life? What makes you happy? Don’t judge your progress by someone else’s accomplishments. It only matters what is realistic and doable for you in your situation!

Categories : My Blog

Get Rid of the Kitchen Table

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on January 28, 2016 No Comments

Recently I worked on a small kitchen with someone who loves to cook. The only problem was there was less and less room to do the actual cooking as counters and spaces filled up with different foods, cooking utensils, and books. For most people who love to cook, getting rid of beloved kitchen items, even if only used once a year, is near impossible. I knew that would be the case here.

Before

After

What we needed in this kitchen was better storage. Underneath a large pile of food and serving dishes was a small table and chairs that had been there for years. It had only been used to pile things on top of or hide things under. The dining table, where everyone actually ate, was in the next room and not even 10 steps away rendering a 2nd table so close unnecessary. I suggested we get rid of the kitchen table and get a storage closet with doors to create the storage we needed. Despite not having used the table in years, there was still some hesitation about getting rid of it. Everyone needs a kitchen table- right? But unless some serious purging happened, there simply would not be room in this small kicthen to keep the things they wanted and still have counter space.

So, we found the perfect size storage unit with doors at the nearby Lowes and put it together. We marveled at all the new possibilities we had as we filled up the unit, using the shelves to group like items together with large spaces to put things like crock pots and lunch coolers. We straightened up the bookshelves which gave them new life and more space. We made sure all the food was still fresh and worth saving. In the end, we unearthed counter space and cleared off a small cutting board island that had also been covered and unusable.

In an afternoon, we were able to create the space needed so this cook could get back to cooking! If you have small spaces and big passions, you sometimes need to look at things a different way. You may never have a completely empty counter like you see in magazines. Bringing a garage storage unit into your kitchen and getting rid of your kitchen table might not sound like a good idea- but in this case, it was the perfect solution!

After

Before

Categories : Before & After Photos, Kitchen

Organizing Volunteers

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on November 1, 2015 No Comments

I have organized a lot of things in 16 years, but it wasn’t until my daughter started kindergarten that I found a whole new area to organize. Volunteers. Every school needs volunteers, but getting them and keeping them seems to be a constant problem. As a new “kinder parent” I had no idea what the events were. Event chairs would desperately ask for general volunteers- but I didn’t know what they needed and if I was the right person to help. I needed more information to make better volunteering decisions. I thought the school needed a better system for volunteers- and guess what that means. That means I just volunteered to do it! So three years ago, I created a job that didn’t exist at the school and became the parent Volunteer Coordinator and the learning curve began.

Here are some of the things that worked:

Volunteer Sign Up Sheet– I created a form to go home at the start of the school year that lists all the skills we might need during the year from “Work a game or craft booth” to “Make signs or posters,” leaving a space for parents to fill in additional skills they think might be useful. The 2nd time around, we changed the form to put everything in categories like “At School Ongoing Opportunities” and “One-Time Opportunities-Fall” and included all dates of events to help people plan.
Database– Everything from the sign up sheet is entered into our volunteer “database” which is a just a Google Spreadsheet. But is serves our purposes perfectly. Other people can input with me at the same time. A simple filter makes it easy to see all the volunteers from one classroom or all the volunteers who said they could help with a particular event. Then I can quickly copy the relevant email addresses and contact those parents with special requests or invitations to sign up.
Events from A-Z– Does your school have a bunch of events through the year like Harvest Festival, Jog-a-Thon, or Book Fairs? Make a handy reference guide that lists what and when each event is and what kind of volunteer help is needed. New parents have no idea what events are ahead of time so help them understand.
Volunteer Spot– On-line sign-ups make it so much easier! Create an event, pick a date, and decide how many volunteers you need to do specific things at specific times. Send the link out to the whole school so parents can sign up on their smartphones and computers. They can easily click to “Sell pizza from 6:00-6:30pm”. They get automatic reminders and the coordinator gets to print out a wonderful sign in sheet for the event. Volunteer Spot is free and some schools can get a PTA discount code that upgrades to even more features for free.
Sign Up Genius– this is another free sign up program. While I do like SignUpGenius, I think it is better for smaller things like classrooms as opposed to large school functions. My younger daughter’s preschool uses it and it works great for a smaller group.
Volunteer Check-In Table– Every large event with lots of volunteers needs a Volunteer Check-In Table. This is where the sign in sheets you printed from VolunteerSpot go so you can make sure your volunteers are there. Have name tags or even better- volunteer lanyards with name tags. Resist the urge to type up nice name tags ahead of time. It creates extra work twice- once to create and print them and then again to hunt for the right name tag. Just have Sharpies and blank name tags and let the volunteers write their names. You can also have a board that lists where you still need volunteer help at that time. Sometimes people who did not sign up ahead of time drop by to ask what help is needed. This table is command central for an event.
Give Each Grade Spots to Fill– Even with VolunteerSpot and volunteer forms, it is still very hard to get all the volunteers needed for a large school event. When you send out a request for volunteers and need 250 spots filled- it seems overwhelming to anyone looking at the sign up. This year, I tried breaking down our first large event and assigning each grade specific booths they were in charge of volunteering for. The size of each grade determined how many spots they would be asked to fill to keep things fair and even. Each grade got their own sign up and a more manageable request to fulfill. It worked really well!
Volunteer Captains– I realized that while I knew parents in my grade and their skills, it was too hard for me to know everyone in the school. I asked a parent from each grade to be the Volunteer Captain of their grade so they could work with me and get to know the parents and skills in their grades. From entering the volunteer sign up sheets in the database to working the Volunteer Check-in Table, we now have a great committee of parents focused on volunteers.
High School Student Volunteers– Check and see if your local high school requires their students to get service hours. Your school event might be the perfect place for some additional help from older students. Just make sure you train them.
Thank yous– The most important thing you can do to get repeat volunteers is to thank them and make them feel appreciated. Whether you have contests to motivate them, add their names to an honor roll, or simply say “Thank You for helping”- everyone wants to feel appreciated.

Being specific is necessary for successful volunteer recruiting. The more information you can provide about the what, when, where, and how helps busy parents be able to say yes. Planning and organization are crucial to make sure you are not lacking a large amount of volunteers needed to run an event- or turning away people who want to help. I’m still relatively new to this, but the changes we have made at the school have led to more volunteers, smoother events, and a greater sense of community and appreciation. We are still learning though! What volunteer strategies work for your school?

Categories : Kids, My Blog, Time Management

Organizing Instruction Manuals

By Tanya Whitford, CPO® on September 22, 2015 No Comments

Instruction manuals are a necessary evil. We need them to put an item together or figure out how to operate something- but then what do we do with the bulky booklets? Stick them in a file, a box, throw them away? All of the above actually. Just keep these things in mind:

Instruction manuals in magazine holders by broad categories

If a manual is in multiple languages- tear out the languages you can’t read and you will be left with a booklet about 50-75% smaller than you started with which is already a huge help. Just staple the pages you are keeping together.
Tape the receipt of big ticket items right on the cover or inside cover. If you ever need to call customer service about a warranty you will have the information right there.
Consider how you would find a manual if you were looking for it. Do you want to go to a file or a binder and find a neatly labeled “Warranty/ Instructions- Fridge” file or plastic sleeve? Or is an upright magazine rack or box labeled “Kitchen Manuals” enough and you’ll just dig for it when and if you ever need it? You have to weigh the time it takes to set up your system versus how much you think you will actually reference it. If you rarely go and look at a manual, there is not much sense in spending a lot of time to organize them.
Why keep the manuals at all? If you never look at them and never have, what is the point in keeping them? There are some online sites like Manuals Online and ManualsLib that have hundreds of thousands of manuals online should you need them. If you have an issue, you can also do a quick search online. Anytime I have a technical problem, I search for an answer online- not in the instruction manual.

Whether you decide to organize your manuals in a neat system, put them in broad categories, or get rid of them all together- just do something with them. They come into our lives on a frequent basis and it is having a plan that makes all the difference.

Categories : Kitchen, Office, Paper