Remember the organizing holidays throughout the year! Feel free to download any related news column in my archives if you publish it with the short bio and website information listed below.

For more tips, interviews or information regarding these or any other organizing theme, call Kathi at 760.840.9997.

January             Clean Out Your Closets Month
February 12      Clean Out Your Computer Day
March 12          National Organize Your Home Office Day
March 24-30    Clutter Awareness Week
April                  Stress Awareness Month
April 24             National Secretary’s Day
May                   National Moving Month
May                   National Mental Health Month (Declutter, de-stress!)
June                  Rebuild Your Life Month
August 5-9       Simplify Your Life Week
September       Self-Improvement Month
Sept 7-13          Improve Your Home Office Week

Mid Sept         ADHD Awareness Week                                                                        October           Clean Out Your Files Month
October 5-11   Get Organized Week
November       Clean Out Your Refrigerator Month
December       Stress Free Holidays Month

I recently had the chance to try out the new Stadium File Organizer from Smead.

There are a few things that I really like about this product. As a Professional Organizer I find myself saying over and over again, ‘keep your papers vertical and away from piles on your desk.’

Unless you are one the rare, and there are a few I admit, professional paper pilers, papers need to stay far, far away from horizontal stacks of any variety.

A few of the features of this system include lightweight construction, the ability to hold numerous sheets of paper (900+), and the flexibility of your filing categories. You can choose to organize your papers by month, A-Z, or by household subject. If you need to subdivide your categories, this system also accommodates letter size file folders.

The thing that I like best about this system is that it is tiered and stepped so you can see all of the tabs and headings clearly. As you insert papers into the system, they fall nicely into their own category and because the bottom is also stepped up, the papers are easily retrieved later.

One downside to this system is that is is not easy to pick up or move when it is full and again, a plastic version would last a bit longer. It is a quick fix, however, and should be considered if you have piles of papers clogging up your desk or kitchen counter right now.

For those of you who  have only a small amount of papers to manage, this might be a good tool to use. It is cardboard so it won’t last forever but this also keeps the pricing reasonable. If your papers are piled right now, consider checking out this new Smead organizing product.

Smead 70211, 12-pocket Tiered Stadium File

The filing question from yesterday reminds me of another common scenario. I frequently open client file drawers and find manila folders without hanging files. There is a reason that hanging files were invented. For those of you who are not enlisted in this practice, let me provide a few good reasons to use this tool.

1. Hanging file folders keep files from falling together and sliding down into the drawer. Read the rest of this entry »