Find Your Motivation

We all have different reasons for why we want to get organized or even to stay organized. There is no one right answer – what matters is why you want it. Do you know what your reasons are? It’s worth it to give it some thought and find as many reasons as you can. These personal reasons are what can help get you going if (or when) you falter.

Some of what I hear a lot is how overwhelmed people feel with what they’re dealing with – from piles of boxes on an unused room to the mass of papers they have to a house that has simply collected lots of things. It doesn’t matter what the size or scope is, what matters is how it feels to you. A few people are concerned about how their loved ones are feeling and reacting to the state of their home. Others are adjusting to difficult transitions in life – from the death of a spouse to downsizing (voluntarily or not) to new health issues.

Although the above are fine reasons for wanting to get and stay organized, some of them are phrased on negative terms. If we went to a list of our reasons for getting organized and saw as a reason “because I’m overwhelmed” or “because my spouse is always yelling at me” or even “because I cannot concentrate the way I used to” it’s unlikely to inspire us.

Find a way to make the reasons positive. If you’re overwhelmed, you are looking for an easier way to doing things, a way to simplify things for yourself. If a loved one is badgering you, you might be looking for a way to improve your relationship and become closer with them again. Sometimes those life transitions are challenging, yet I believe there are positive ways to view your situation. For me, it was a chance to learn new ways of doing things and I love learning.

The point is that you want to figure out the reasons that matter to you for getting organized – maybe you want more time to enjoy life. I’d suggest that you actually write them down somewhere. I don’t think you need to look at them every day, although you certainly can. The idea is that you have them to pull out when you get discouraged or falter in your efforts. It could also help if you find yourself procrastinating working on things.

When you’re feeling discouraged, you not likely to remember the real reasons why you’re trying to change things. You’re also more likely going to remember the negative reasons, which are not usually motivating! By having a list of positive and personal reasons to change, you can refer to it when you need to. You can even add to it as things occur to you – since life is a process like organizing, your motivation can shift and change too.

Knowing what your motivations are for getting organized is probably the very first step you need to take toward getting and staying organized. Just as it’s hard to remember what inspires you when you’re feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, our reasons for being more organized can get lost when we’re struggling. Those underlying reasons can re-inspire us to keep working (or start trying again). When we have a list to refer to, it’s easier to re-energize ourselves.

Reusable Bag Organizer & Bags

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Floral Tote Buddy bag organizer

Pros:

compact storage for your reusable bags
convenient for storage and transporting
sturdy materials
made of 100% recyclable non-woven polypropylene
works with any reusable bags
bags are large, sturdy, and easily cleaned
bags are square-bottomed (this is important to me)
bags come with a plastic removable bottom to keep them even

Cons:

slight smell, which wears off with time
has a logo, if that matters to you

Review:

Most of the things I review are items I received because I went to the NAPO conference. This is no exception, but this is something I purchased there. It was a spur of the moment purchase – I was walking around conference with a large box another vendor had given me, and was struggling with having hands – or rather lack of hands. The Tote Buddy was offering their product – their bag organizer with 3 regular bags and 1 floral bag for $20-. I found a table nearby, put my armful of things down, took my money out, and went over and bought the set. I’ll honestly say that I wouldn’t have spent the money if I hadn’t been desperate!

This did not reflect my interest in their product; it was more a reflection of how frugal I can be. As well, it was something more to worry about getting home after conference. The truth is that I cannot say I’ve been frustrated with my reusable bags, they live in one of the bags, and I often remember to grab them before I head to the store. I received FlyLady reusable bags a couple of years ago as a gift – they’re the ones I take: 3 lovely purple, square-bottomed bags and 1 black insulated square-bottomed bag for refrigerator/freezer items. The thing about these is that a couple of them have started to unravel at the edges, but they still work. Yet now that I have the Tote Buddy, I do really appreciate how much easier it is to grab my bags and carry them.

As with so many new bags, there’s a smell – last year’s bag smell was worse – and as usual, the smell does fade with time. I usually wait to talk about the negatives, but in this case, this is really the only one. This product is exactly what it proclaims to be – an eco-friendly v to organize your reusable bags, and it’s stylish too.

The Tote Buddy’s bags are larger and have a much sturdier feel to them. The bags are orange, not my personal favorite color, but are bright and pretty. I’m also not a big floral person, so I got my bag organizer in black. This also has a sturdy feel to it.

I didn’t show my husband right away these bags and organizer, but as he was helping me put things away, he noticed. His comment was pretty much – “Wow, I like these.” I showed him how the organizer worked and he liked that too. He was pleased with how sturdy they feel.

I also like the idea of using a binder clip to clip my list and any coupons (rarely) to the bag organizer, which sits well in the front basket of the cart. They say that the bag organizer holds up to 10 reusable bags – although mine seems a little full with 7 bags. For me, this works fine since I rarely need more than 6 at a time. I also prone to keeping it clean looking, but not wanting to fill it until it’s bulging.

The other day one of my cats vomited liquid all over the floor, where unbeknownst to me, it was running across the floor – right to where a bag was sitting before it was unloaded. First, I was shocked at how far it had run, was our floor that uneven? Second, I was a little miffed, kitty vomit on my relatively new bags – but it amazingly wiped off and left no mark – woohoo! Now that’s a product. Now, I just need to continue working at getting the bag organizer back into my car, or at least remember to grab it before heading out for shopping. 🙂

Here’s a video they did from YouTube.

Note: All my reviews are done without consideration for the company (sorry!) – as unbiased as possible! I don’t receive anything from any of them and most don’t know I’m even reviewing their products.

Pendaflex I-Organize Storage Binder

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

That bit of red is part of the new binder technology.

Pros

new technology for securing items into binder
selection of accessories for use in binder
the fasteners secure behind accessories when not in binder
sturdy materials
customizable for your needs
strap to close binder

Cons

shaped like a traditional binder
only two sizes of binders
hard to find locally to look at and handle in person

Review:

At some point after the 2010 NAPO conference, this arrived in the mail for me – a Pendaflex Storage Binder with several accessories. I was excited, as I’d admired this binder at the conference. Initially what caught my attention was the different technology they used for securing things into the binder. They did away with those rings and put in “channel slots” with a release lever at the bottom. It makes it easy to use and your fingers aren’t at risk of getting pinched.

There are 8 different styles of accessories that work with the binder, and this is critical due to the way the binder functions. They are all made of poly material. The clipboard is the most interesting and unique to me – as it clips into the binder while still being sturdy enough to use independently. They offer the more traditional media file, envelope with string closure, a file folder with elastic closures, and a single and a double (“twin”) pocket. They also offer a display book and a project pocket – neither of which came with my binder.

Pendaflex Clipboard

Each accessory has a piece of plastic on one side for slipping into those channel slots, and when they are being used outside of the binder, they bend behind and can be held there. This makes them look like your basic accessory – clipboard, document pocket, document envelope, etc. This is a wonderful feature for offering those accessories for multiple purposes and not limiting them to use only with the binder.

I’ve talked before about how normal binders are just OK to me, I dislike how their shape affects their utility when not in use, whether upright or on their side, it doesn’t make them conducive for stacking or keeping on a shelf. These binders are shaped in the same way. I do appreciate the elastic closure they’ve included and if you prefer not to use it, you don’t have to.

These binders come in only two sizes. In some ways, this might not be a detriment; it forces all of us to limit how stuffed we might be tempted to fill it. It certainly won’t stymie us with choices, as there are two choices for the binder – the presentation or the storage style. Of course, there are all the different accessory pieces we can choose. The binder has 8 channel slots, so you can fit your choice of 8 accessory pieces.

I realize that the world is moving more and more to online shopping, but I really prefer the ability to see and feel products before I decide to spend my money on it. These do not seem to be available locally – OfficeDepot offers them on their website, but only for delivery.

Bookmarking Websites

One of my first forays into cloud computing was most likely with Delicious, a social bookmarking site. Again, my husband encouraged me to sign-up! Part of me was resistant, and I see a pattern, don’t you? – I’ve resisted adopting new technology, repeatedly. As so often happens, once I jump on board to trying it out, I realize the value. Just because something works “fine” as it is, doesn’t mean that there’s not room for improvement. This is exactly what I found with Delicious, an improved way for bookmarking.

Delicious essentially offers you a place to collect various websites you want to bookmark. You create a free account and will have access to your bookmarks on any computer with an Internet connection. Since it’s not located on your computer, you’ll always have access to your bookmarks. If something were to happen to your computer, your bookmarks are safe and accessible.

When you add a bookmark to your Delicious account, you create tags – or keywords so you can find the bookmark again when you need it – and as many tags as you want. Also, you can create “tag bundles” so you can group similar bookmarks together by more than just tags. Of course, you need to make sure you add tags regularly – ideally as you’re bookmarking, or at least relatively soon after creating them – otherwise it can become cluttered. I wish multiple word tags would work, but you need to include punctuation to make it work – i.e. Under_Cabinet.

Yet, those features do not cover what is the strongest feature of Delicious – the ability of sharing your bookmarks with others. Just like the social media craze; you follow other users and can see their bookmarks. I’ve created a page with resources at http://www.delicious.com/JenniferLinnig that anyone can see (or subscribe to) – from the various local places for donating, the vendors at the last two NAPO conferences I attended, and some specific items I’ve found to help various clients. You can check it out without even signing up – so go check out what I’ve bookmarked.

Screenshot of JenniferLinnig Delicious page - NAPO2011

I also like that I can search for what others are bookmarking on various subjects – like organizing or productivity. As long as people don’t mark it as private, you can see what others are bookmarking. Often these results are more helpful than a general search using Google or Bing.

I’ve been waiting to write about Delicious; there were rumors of the demise of Delicious until last week – when it was announced that the founders of YouTube have acquired Delicious and are planning on support and improvements. One of their goals is to make it compatible again with Firefox, where you have direct access to your Delicious bookmarks and toolbar buttons for quick bookmarking options.

There are a few problems with Delicious – though I find them minor in the grand scheme of things. You have the potential for bookmarking the same site without a warning from Delicious, though some of this can be avoided by paying attention when you’re bookmarking – since if you’ve already bookmarked it, the tags and notes will be in the window. There is also no way to know if your links become broken – and as I’ve bookmarked specific product pages, those often stop working. This isn’t a Delicious problem really since it’s the website that removes a product or moves the page somewhere else on their website. It certainly would be convenient to know when those links stop working though.

Overall, Delicious is a great social bookmarking tool. You can share your bookmarks and keep them safe. I’m thrilled that the founders of YouTube have adopted them, and all of us Delicious users will continue to have access to this resource. I love how much more organized my bookmarks can be by using Delicious and therefore that much easier to find and share.

Note Taking for Virtually Everything

If you’ve been following me for a little while, you might have noticed a recurring mention of elephants. Yes, I like elephants. Now what does that have to do with anything I would share with you? Well, when I was browsing various smart phone apps, I saw an elephant. When I decided to find out more, I discovered Evernote and started using it.

I’m a slightly skeptical consumer, so after creating an account (free) with Evernote, I only used it on my phone and via the Internet. I put off downloading the desktop version and used Evernote for only limited things. Yet, I loved how I could use my phone to make notes, copy webpages, and bookmark sites, while waiting for my appointment to start. I also had the grocery list and other task lists always accessible – since my phone is always with me.

Of course, I asked my husband if he’d heard of it – and he hadn’t, but he checked it out and uses it regularly. More than me of late. He even decided on the premium service, quite reasonable at $45 a year (or $5 a month) with some nice additional benefits. I’m considering upgrading eventually too. One of the features he uses and appreciates is how Evernote gives you an e-mail address so that you can just e-mail notes into your account.

They also offer the ability to share your notebooks or just notes with others. This is one of the first things I read about – a parent of a special needs child using Evernote to coordinate information between the doctor’s office and school, by having an account where certain people were given permission to access and modify (when appropriate) all the notes related to the care of her child. I might need to start sharing Evernote notebooks with clients on the various research I do for them!

I appreciate the layers of potential organization with Evernote, as you can create notebooks to gather like items together and that you can create tags as well for each item you add. Although I’ve not needed to try it out, Evernote says that everything is searchable, so if you’re struggling to find something you could probably find it even if you only remembered some obscure word.

I’ve been a bit frustrated, as one of my shopping lists has become problematic – in that it doesn’t want to load properly – on any of the devices. I just need to delete and make a new note. I’ve heard of problems with formatting issues between devices. Yet, I believe that Evernote will work to resolve any issues. The range of how to access Evernote is quite impressive; just about any device now has a platform to access it – and it syncs once you have an Internet connection again. There are some limitations with some devices – like my smart phone and Evernote don’t always work well without Internet or modifying notes on the iPad, again without Internet can be problematic.

I’m excited to explore Evernote even more, and especially since I’ve finally downloaded the desktop version for my computer. From what I’ve seen the benefits far outweigh the few struggles they have and the improvements come regularly. There are so many possibilities and ways to have Evernote work to benefit you – as an individual, to fit your needs. This is the ultimate goal for anything you use.

Ziploc Big Bags

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Middle of 3 sizes

Pros:

Thick and sturdy plastic
Pleated bottom for standing & bulky items
Built-in handles
Easy closure
Flexible shape
See-through material

Cons:

Can tear from hard items inside
Only so useful for heavy items
Potential wasted storage space

Review

The local WI branch of NAPO was fortunate to have a couple people from SE Johnson present at one of meetings and the following month, they had an exhibitor’s booth the national NAPO conference. That is where I was able to get samples to try out – and this month is the Ziploc Big Bag. The truth is that I wasn’t sure what I’d use them for and I’m not convinced how useful they are for many people. Although there are certainly times when they are handy, and I found a couple of things to try mine out on.

My husband and I have been working on another room in the house. Most of the boxes and other containers were used to gather everything to pull it out of the room. I have a cherished stuffed turtle, and wanted him to be protected, so I grabbed one of the Ziploc Big Bags. It worked well. We painted the room and as we were moving the media cabinet back to the wall (which didn’t hold all the movies anyway), I questioned how many movies we needed. Between the DVDs and VHS, we had almost 350, and similarly to the CD collection, I needed to consider the movies by time as well space.

So, I grabbed the second Ziploc Big Bag, dropping each movie into it that could probably go away. I decided I wanted to watch most of the movies before getting them out of the house. I put them on periodically while doing other things and worked my way through that bag. I actually went through the movies in the cabinet again and added to the bag, and it slowly emptied. In the meantime, I needed to periodically move the bag around for vacuuming and whatnot.

The Ziploc Big Bag helped contain all those movies and the handles made it easy to move around when I needed. I did not stack movies in there nicely, they were jumbled up, and the bag did get some puck marks from the corners of the movies. It did end up tearing just a little, after several months, though I felt like I was rougher on it than I needed to be. Since it was most see-through, I could see movies closer to the bottom and dig for them when I wanted and see titles without sticking my head into the bag.

I find the idea of using bags, especially large bags, for storage to go against my inclinations, with the exception of for soft, squishy things. Then again, I don’t have kids and use the storage that we have without much need for more. I’m not crazy about the shape, great it’s got a pleated bottom, but the top is still going to have a different shape than the bottom. To me this means that there’ll be some wasted space.

I do like the idea that a Ziploc Big Bag is good for gift bags, and ours are currently not in the most convenient storage. In some ways, I admit I need to think outside the box a bit more to fully appreciate the diversity of how these can be used. I’m not sure whether I will ever be a bag person for storage overall, but I do think they can provide some benefits.

Overall, I’m quite impressed with Ziploc Big Bags and as long as they’d fulfill the storage (or transportation) needs, would suggest them. I’m even going to keep them in mind for future storage needs of my own.

Simplifying Electronic Back Ups

Two years ago my husband’s computer crashed. Needless to say, he lost many files. Yet, this is not to say that he wasn’t backing up his files regularly. That’s the calamity of a computer crashing, you can be “good” and back-up regularly, yet if the computer crashes between those times, you’ll lose files –maybe not a lot, but it can still be an important one. This happens with any computer, since at the time, his computer was relatively new. This continues to stay with me, even fueling my concern about protecting my own data.

I use multiple tools for backing up my electronic data, at varying intervals – from the external hard drive that lives in the safe and I end up pulling it out a few times a year to the DVD+RW disks I aim to use once a month. Notice I said “aim” – I’m not always as consistent as I want to be since it’s time consuming. I talked about Dropbox last month and I do use that, but it only holds so much and I’m too frugal to pay for more!

That’s where Mozy comes in. Mozy is designed as a file back-up service where you can choose the specific files you want backed up as well as the frequency at which you want it to back those files up. I appreciate that there’s a free version for 2GB, though I do find their prices to be quite reasonable for more space. They work with Mac or PC and their website says they’ve got high-grade encryption.

I’ve been using Mozy long enough that I’m using the second version. I’m grateful that there’s been some improvements as I’d had some trouble with parts of Mozy before this. Despite how inevitable change is, I still sometimes resist that very change. There’s features I miss from the old version though too.

Choosing the files to have Mozy back up is easy. For me, the files I choose are the ones that change most frequently. Remember how if the computer crashes between back-ups, you’ve lost that information, well, I selected files that I would hate to lose and those I am modifying. One of those things is my e-mail.

Speaking of e-mail, last week I talked about dealing with e-mail and one of the first things that Mozy lists is how many e-mails it can back up: 250,000 text e-mails with the 2GB version and 6,250,000 with the regular MozyHome version.

It’s simple to choose when you want Mozy to back everything up. It’s also a fast process. In the first version, the speed could be a huge issue, but I’ve been thrilled with the speed now. I like that I set the interval, once a day, and can choose a time of day that it does the back up. It’s so automatic that I don’t need to think about it or set aside time to do something with.

I miss the ability to open a little window and see how much time is left before the back up is complete, though this is hardly ever long enough to warrant that feature. They still struggle with warnings. It was bad in the last version – to the extent that I had several days when it didn’t back up, and I didn’t know until I was looking into something else. I’ve only had one day with the latest version where I had a warning. It was obvious; I saw it on the day that it happened. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what the warning was for, though I think it was for the computer not backing up.

Although I’ve never had to use the feature, Mozy says that it’s easy to get the information from one computer to another. As I looked around to see what other people were saying, certainly some dissatisfied customers had problems with Mozy’s service and getting their lost files.

Mozy is also not the typical cloud computing that I talk about, although the information is not stored on your computer, it’s not accessible from all the devices that can access the Internet. Nevertheless it’s useful to have back ups in more than one place, and to have files automatically backed up so that you can reduce the amount you might lose in case calamity strikes and your computer crashes. I do appreciate having another set of back ups for my electronic information, especially one that I don’t need to think about much.

Unikeep View Case Binders

View case binder from Unikeep

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Pros:

sturdy
fully enclosed
stands upright evenly and stacks easily
customizable
eco-friendly, biodegradable
cost is reasonable

Cons

sometimes requires pieces from company to work best
somewhat limited sizes

Review

At the NAPO conference in 2010, I came across the Unikeep booth. Initially, the most notable thing was that their binders have a unique feature with the binder rings. The rings, just like the rest of the binder, are made of 100% polypropylene. As I was talking with them, I found out that they brought some free samples to share, so I looked through the various colors and sizes they had and picked one. I’m grateful they did, I now have a blue 1″ view case binder.

Although the case itself is interesting, the rings are odd. I was truly hesitant at first. It feels unnerving to pop them up. Since they’re made of polypropylene, you open each ring individually by putting your finger under the ring and pulling up. It often makes a snapping sound and I have visions of breaking it. Yet, I’ve never done any damage to the rings. Snapping them back into place is easy too.

Another feature of the rings is that the placement of where the rings separate means that you can have pages anywhere in the binder, all to the left, all to the right, or somewhere in the middle. This seems even truer with this product than even the typical 3-ring binders.

Their binders have a snapping closure to keep everything safe and secure inside. The binders are rectangular, and the marketing on the back talk about how easily they stack. Although this is certainly a nice feature, what I find more impressive is that they can stand on a shelf. They are balanced, so they stay upright. Yet, one thing I dislike about typical binders is that because of their shape, they don’t fill shelves evenly. This could never happen with Unikeep’s binders, they’d line a shelf with perfect symmetry.

The line of view binders has a full wrap overlay so you can create and insert pages of the information or design you want. Although I’ve not used it, they say they’re website has templates and tips for creating the insert. With this feature and the line of possible colors, you can customize this binders to fit your needs, whatever that might be.

Their website has many different kinds of pages you can insert into the binder, from basic tabbed dividers, to pockets (with or without tabs), business cards holder pages, disc holder pages, and on. The standard pockets pages with tabs do not fit in the binder, as the tabs are just a little too big unless you fold them. This means that it’ll make more sense to buy the accessories from Unikeep. I’m less annoyed by this than I might be since I find the standard tabbed pockets to be too big for binders too! I might even buy some supplies from them to use elsewhere since they’d appear to be more appropriately sized. I’m also intrigued by the “tear out” pages where you don’t need to open the rings – as I’ve been impressed with the material’s sturdiness, those “tear out” pages might be well done.

One of the first ideas for me was for my volunteering for the support group, I have this large binder that has articles and handouts for attendees. As I talked to them, they acknowledged that they did not have anything that was big enough for that purpose. Of course, I could carry multiple binders, or even consider the extreme case binder. The truth is that my standard binder for this is now falling apart; it’s probably too full. *grimace* I’m now seriously considering these binders.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to overfill standard 3-ring binders. It looks like there’s more room and I’m fighting that triangular shape. With Unikeep’s design, you don’t have the temptation to overfill them. The descriptions also clearly state the number of pages you can expect to get into their binders.

Under pros above, I listed cost as reasonable. I was working on a personal organizing project, and wanted to pick up some binders and was dismayed at the cost. So dismayed, that I bought some binders from dollar stores and whatnot to save money. Those binders are now falling apart. A perfect example of getting what you pay for, yet Unikeep’s prices are comparable in price to your standard binders with better features.

Now I love the idea of being environmentally responsible, though often put other factors higher on the priority list, like functionality. If something is not functional, it doesn’t inspire me to recommend it or buy it for myself, no matter how environmental. Yet this product is more than functional, and is 100% recyclable. It also uses fewer resources to make these products. So far, I’d even be tempted to say it’ll last longer and stand up to use better than your standard binders. Now that’s great environmentally, but also great for us, the one who’s going to use it.

I’m not always a fan of 3-ring binders in general. If you use them without accessories, you need to make sure to take time to punch holes in the papers. This becomes less of an issue if you use the accessories of course. I’m impressed with these binders, and even dropped a book into the case successfully one day when I was out and about. The quality and design of these are wonderful. I hope you’ll consider these for any potential need you have in the future (and I have no affiliation, they don’t even know I’m writing about them).

Do you have another binder that you really enjoy using?

Drop Files You Use – Here

A little less than a year ago, my husband found this file sharing service and persistently talked to me about it, as ‘we need this.’ Have I mentioned how resistant I can be about new technology? I didn’t mind the old school way of e-mailing each other attachments. Or worse case, I’d paste the information into Google Docs where he could log in and see it (minus formatting, of course). Yet, did you notice the phrase “didn’t mind”? If I were working with someone, that phrase alone would make me pause and ask some follow-up questions. Is it worth settling for a “don’t mind”? I’m on the lookout for ways that it can be simple and maybe even enjoyable.

Dropbox, this file sharing service my husband was so excited about is just that – simple and enjoyable to use. It’s also free, at least for anything under 2GB, which works for us without problems. You can also “earn” additional free space by having friends join.

One of the reasons it’s easy is that is puts a folder, appropriately called Dropbox, on your desktop if you use Windows, or under Places in the Finder on a Mac. You take any files you want and put them into the Dropbox folder.

What’s so special about that?

Well, first you can install Dropbox on any computer and it connects your files with each computer. This is not all though – it also works on most smart phones. There’s also the ability to access it on the web if you want. This also means that you can work on a file even when you don’t have an Internet connection, and it will sync when there’s a connection again and your work is then available everywhere again.

Second, you can share folders with anyone. If you’re going to be working with a group, you can create a folder that you all have access to. What this means, is that each person can work on any given file; you won’t need to track which version is the most recent. This was the important aspect for my husband so that we could coordinate various files. Although I’ve not tried to use it, Dropbox provides access to old versions of a file for 30 days with the free version, and longer for the paid versions. It also apparently will create two files if there is a conflict, like two people making modifications at the same time, so it works hard to protect the data.

It’s funny to me that many reviews of Dropbox group it with online back-up services like Mozy or Carbonite. Although it certainly offers that service, it functions uniquely as it offers a free file sharing service. Certainly at the free 2GB option, it’s not going to be superior for backing up most files on your computer.

Also, since you’re likely to put files in it that are in progress or important to you, it offers the security that they will be there when you need them. This is exactly where Dropbox excels in my opinion. I don’t want access to all my files from every device, yet there are many files I’m working with or want access to, and Dropbox gives me that access easily and simply. I don’t know about you, but I’m not backing up all my files each time I modify them, so Dropbox keeps them safe until I’m ready to back them up elsewhere. It also means that when I’m on the go, but have some time, I can open Dropbox and get things done. It allows my husband and I to make lists for shopping or financial things.

There are additional services that I’ve not used or explored much. You can e-mail a link to a file or folder to someone so they can access the files you want to share. The photo folder apparently creates a public gallery for slideshow sharing of your pictures.

I mentioned earlier that it would sync your files across devices. Sometimes this takes time. My mom was frustrated at one point when I uploaded a video we’d taken because it took a long time before it was available in our shared folder. It was a big file though and cannot imagine how long it would have taken to attach and mail only to need to be downloaded later. You need to be aware of the fact that it can take time for files to get synced to the cloud, and then synced to the various locations. I’ve found this to rarely be an issue, and I’ve been quite pleased with the speed of syncing.

This is a must have service if you use multiple devices or work with other people on files. Since my only minor struggle has been an occasional delay in syncing, I’ve found no other drawbacks to Dropbox. That alone seems extraordinary! Consider how you might improve your productivity by getting this.

The InPlace System Organization Kit and Post It Note Wallet from Peter Walsh

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Pros

sturdy materials
document sleeves actually hold items, even small ones, well
slightly see through materials
erasable materials, hence reusable
designed to mix and match, to suit the user’s needs

Cons

items in kit don’t work together well
document wallet uses bad closure, it falls out or cannot be used if full
clip tabs are bulky and fall off frequently, as well as don’t work with document wallet
a little expensive
erasable pen doesn’t write well
post-it notes in wallet fall out (of wallet, not once attached by themselves)

Included in the [In]Place System Organization Kit:

•    1 Erasable marker
•    5 Clip Tabs
•    Document Wallet
•    3 Poly File Folders
•    3×3 White Post-it Super Sticky notes – 50 sheets
•    1 Poly Document Envelope
•    3 Poly Document Sleeves

Review

I was curious from the start, I mean it’s Peter Walsh. I looked at it when I was in the store. Have I mentioned how cheap I can be? I could not bring myself to buy it. I was not sure if I thought it was that exceptional. The NAPO list serv had had mixed thoughts on it, which also gave me pause. Then I was happy I hadn’t spent money on it since at the national conference, we were all given the organization kit and the post-it wallet.

From the moment I opened the kit and pulled everything out, it seemed like an odd combination of items. They don’t work together the best although the kit does give you a variety of items to see what is available. The entire line is intended to be mixed and matched to suit the user’s needs. This is one of the strongest pros since we all have different needs and styles and I could never promote anything that tries to put people into a box – with a one size fits all approach!

I was impressed with the document sleeves, which just means that they have 1 ¾ openings and have a slight pocket like purpose. The description actually says they have a 3 sided closure, this is not completely accurate, yet describes how it functions. I was surprised at how open that 3rd side was, and unsure how well it would keep small papers from falling out. It did fabulously! I never lost a little note when I put it in there and this is no small feat when you think about how easily small papers fall out of file folders.

Peter Walsh [In]Place system document sleeves

These hold onto all sizes of paper amazingly well.

The clip tabs look neat, but their size gets in the way. They are meant to be used with both the hanging folders (which I haven’t used) and the file folders. When using them on the file folders, either as a way to hold the papers together or as a top label, the clips fell off frequently. It seemed like the slightest jostling and they’d pop off. They also do not fit on the file folders if you want to put those file folders into the document sleeve to carry them somewhere.

Neat idea to have erasable tabs, yet they're bulky and won't stay on.

I’ve used the pen only to mark the clip tabs, and I needed to go over my words at least twice to make the ink dark enough to read. I’ve not found any problems with erasing, and here is where the idea’s strong – the ease of relabeling something.

I like the idea of the document wallet, which is bigger than what I’d picture with the name wallet. It is a nice sized container to hold file folders, document sleeves, and document envelope. It’s easy to carry around, so not too big or too small. My only problem with it is the closure – it’s an elastic string with a ball that slips into a hole at the bottom of the wallet. If you have filled the wallet, the ball won’t fit into the hole, and it has a tendency to slip out if you haven’t wedged it in well.

Peter Walsh [In]Place system document wallet

I have mixed feelings about the document wallet.

The file folders are sturdy. Since they are made out of the poly material, they feel solid and they’re not going to get bent or crumpled. They are slightly see-through so you can see what’s inside. Since they are poly, the number of papers you can keep inside is limited, as you can’t resize them like typical file folders though I find this less important. (We can all use some reminders to not overstuff our files!)

The document envelope is fine. I’ve got some decorated ones from Divoga that I think I prefer since they are larger. Peter Walsh’s document envelopes are paper sized, so if you have any papers that are a little larger, they won’t fit (unlike the Divoga ones). Also, you are limited to how many papers you can fit inside. Since it is the same size as the rest of his products, these envelopes fit inside the document wallet (and any other of his products).

Finally, the post-it notes are the super sticky ones and come in a neat closing case. The problem arises that the post-its apparently don’t like sticking to themselves very well. Every one of the 5 pads (each a different color) have fallen out of the wallet, though leaving a single post-it hanging on to mark where they’re supposed to go! They do seem to attach to the poly material well, as none of those have fallen off. This leaves the wallet as a useless piece of poly that can serve no other function.

Peter Walsh [In]Place system post-it note wallet

I like the colors, yet they won't stay in their nifty packaging!

Although there are certainly aspects that I didn’t like, overall I find the products to be interesting and useful. I’m not convinced they are worth the price considering some of the problems.

Have you tried or do you use any of the Peter Walsh [In]Place products? Let me know what you think of them.