hints for organizing your home office

There was a very nice article in First Glimpse magazine's June 2006 issue discussing methods to organize your office. I highly recommend the magazine, they have unusually in depth experiencial non-technical reviews.

Here are some of the thoughts i liked:

• www.stackandstacks.com sells affordable organizers for CD's etc...
• www.racksandstands.com sells media storage cabinet's for large volumes of CDs and DVDs
• www.cableorganizer.com sells the Cable Tunnel Organizers for $9.95. It hides 14 computer or av cables and can be mounted on a wall or desk. For cables that can't run behind your desk, check out the Cable-Safe Complete Cable Manager for $34.50, which attaches them beneath your desk. It also has space for a power strip.
• use file folder labels from www.avery.com to label your computer peripheral device cables (what went to what). I recommend labeling your AC/DC little black blox power supplies the same way.
• Consider a multi-function printer/scanner/fax/photocopier. My favorite is the brother 8840dn, which can be bought at www.costco.com. It also comes loaded with great document management software and has a sheet feeder so you can scan anything that comes through the door and save it as a PDF file. I consider this an invaluable tool.
• Extra storage or external disk backup. Check out the Seagate external hard drives. Several can be bought at www.costco.com. Also look at Simpleshare's 400GB network hard drive. It sits on your computer network like a file server and let's any user (with permission) share it. Great way to share files with your family -- think sharing the photo collection.

Some additional organization products worth mentioning (more personal finance oriented):

1. Quicken or Microsoft Money - especially with on-line bill pay saves stamps
2. Use your digital camera or dv video camera to take an inventory of your home and possessions - store in safety deposit box
3. Use a program like splash shopper on your PDA to track your grocery and other shopping needs.
4. Put a notebook in the kitchen to access cooking websites like www.epicurious.com and www.allrecipes.com. Also consider applications like Living Cookbook for$29.95 or weight watchers on the go.
5. Taming the Paper Tiger software promises to help you organize your paperwork for $99.95.

Some helpful organization tips:

• Use the reminder function in your calendar software for birthdays and givt giving occasions
• schedule 1/2 hour each week to scan bills and shred sensitive documents and receipts no longer needed.
• Use your PDA or computer to do list

Here are some recommended organization websites:

• Lifehacker, which has tips on personal organization
• Life organizers has home organization tips
• Online Organizing is run by professional organizers with daily tips
• Organized home has many tips to declutter your house and help run it smoothly

I strongly recommend First Glimpse magazine. They have a subscription companion website with full text articles and also access to their sister magazines, which are quite good.

Have a wonderful day,

makingourway