30-Day Organizing Challenge: Putting Together Your Organizing Tools

Day 15's goal: Put together your organizing toolkit.

At the end of last year, I looked around my office and felt dejected: Piles of paper on the floor, my one tiny bookshelf crammed with books and magazines, and the rest spilling onto the floor, underfoot and under tables. Every week, I was looking for a new way to hide the things I needed to conduct business.

The system wasn't working.

Today, things are better, but not perfect. I was inspired by reading Janine Adams' tips on the biggest organization busters, and struck by the tip to delay buying organizing supplies until you've weeded out what you need to keep. I didn't do that with my organizing efforts, but happily it worked out OK.

As I prepare to spend money on my business for end-of-year tax deductions, I'm thinking about what the tools are in my organizing toolkit, which work, and which I need to add or replace.

My Current Organizing Toolkit

Yours may be different but here's what I have so far:

A taller, bigger bookshelf on which most of my magazines and books fit;

Stackable trays for printer paper, to-file/to-scan papers, and to-shred receipts.

A faux-leather bin in which I store irregular-size items that don't fit on the bookshelf, and office supplies like document protectors, file folders, manila envelopes and a spare mouse.

Filing cabinets for old article files and clips for potential story ideas.

A desktop file holder for current articles.

A bulletin board on which to pin my weekly workflow schedule, a timezone map, reminders about journalism award deadlines, my business plan cheat-sheet and papers I'll need but don't want to file away and lose, like my itenerary for my flight home for Christmas.

Small, pretty storage boxes in which to place CDs/CD-ROMs, DVDs, reporters' notebooks, and miscellaneous office supplies that I need access to but don't use often.

A wall calendar.

A monitor riser with a drawer for postage, business cards, pens, highlighters, push pins, paper clips, scissors and the like. (I don't have any drawers in my desk.)

A shredder for personal documents, non-deductible reciepts, etc.

An all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier so I don't have to go to the local copy center to scan things.

A recycling bin next to the shredder to place all paper products that don't need to be shredded.

How It All Works Together

All these things for an organizing system:

After I'm done with a file, I put it in the to-file bin so I can either put it in the filing cabinet or scan what I need and shred or recycle the rest.

The bookshelf holds the current and back issues of magazines to which I pitch stories.

When I get an email from my accountant about how much and when I should pay my quarterly taxes, I can stand and put the due date and amount on my calendar immediately--and then forget it.

All these things are arranged around me in a corner of the room so I don't have to reach too far for any of them. I can turn left and pick up the stuff from the stackable rack to scan or shed, turn around to the all-in-one behind me to scan it, and turn to the right to shred or recycle it.

Whenever any of these things gets too full, I know it's time to act on it. So I set aside a half an hour to do some shredding (an oddly cathartic activity), or a half an hour to scan or file some of the things in the to-file bin.

I mention all this stuff because I know some of you don't know what you might need for organizing your offices. Maybe this will give you some ideas.

Finding The Right System for You

Or better yet, figure out what will work for you. Here's how I did it:

I inventoried what I had and what I needed.

I knew I needed magazines. I knew I needed someplace for mail to go. I knew I needed a place for my files to go once I finished with the stories (not everyone uses files, but they work for me). And I knew I needed my own shredder to quickly and easily get rid of things without asking my roommate to use her shredder. So I went out and bought one last week at Costco.

I asked myself how I would use the things I kept.

I knew I needed my magazines visible, but that I didn't want to see extra iPod cables or spare highlighters. I knew I didn't want to get rid of my story files in case I covered the same topics again, but I didn't want to look at them. I knew I wouldn't replace the printer paper if I had to dig for it. I knew I'd never file anything if the pile didn't stand there mocking me.

Consequently, I figured out that some things needed to be in open storage (magazines, current files, stuff to shred or file) and others needed to be hidden away (completed story files, miscellaneous office supplies).

I thought about and envisioned what might help me accomplish those goals.

File storage was easy--they make things for them. They're called filing cabinets. Magazines were also easy. A larger bookshelf would fit the bill nicely.

Other things I just guessed at. I made a start. Would small boxes fit the computer software CD-ROMs? What could I do with those weird-sized office supplies without buying a closed-storage cabinet (I'm doing this on a budget, after all)? I took a gamble, took a ruler to some things for good measure and then put it all together like a puzzle last December.

Finally, I envisioned what I wanted my office to feel like when I walked into it.

For me, I always knew I wanted plants in my office. That meant I'd need clean, uncluttered spaces for potted plants. I knew I wanted to feel like everything would flow easily. So I arranged my office supplies in the half-circle to make it easy to access it all.

Tweaking the System

Of course, a year later, not everything is still working so well, and my organizing system continues to evolve. For instance, I didn't think about the fact that I'd need someplace to store old printer ink cartridges until I could recycle them. Right now they pile on my desk to the right of the computer.

It likewise didn't occur to me that the pretty cherry-and-tempered glass bookcase I bought wouldn't be able to hold as much weight as shelving that was made of solid wood. Consequently, my magazine storage was obsolete before the year even began.

Finally, I realized that three half-filing cabinets were too many for me. So I bought an external hard drive and started a process of scanning and shredding or recycling old story files and personal financial records.

Plans for This Year's Organizing Shopping

As I plan for this year's tax-deductible shopping, I turn my eyes toward organizing once again. Just like a business plan, an organizational system is an alive thing, and it contributes to my prosperity in the year ahead.

This year's plan, so far:

Swap out the glass-shelved bookshelf for a solid wood one that will both hold more and be more sturdy.

I'm eyeing a low bookshelf which I can place under my window and on which I can place plants and my printer. The vision is to create something airy and organized.

Ask fellow freelancers how many back-issues they keep of their target magazines.

Then I'm going to purge the magazines I don't need, or get rid of magazines that have gone under or I don't plan to pitch in the next year.

Plan storage for new purchases.

I expect to buy a digital recorder and digital camcorder to branch out into multimedia journalism next year, and I have to think about where those will be stored. I'm also going to figure out where and how to store the spent ink cartridges that now clutter my desk.

What's your organizing toolkit, and what more do you need to make your office functional?

Serenity Tools: The Sounds of Serenity

Until I became self-employed, the sounds around me were irrrelevant. I had no control over them so mostly ignored them. It wasn't until I was in a quiet room that I realized the constant screaming across the newsroom, the static-y police scanner and the hum of the computer did nothing but make me tense. Add to that my general propensity at the time to overwork and not set boundaries and what you had was the sound of stress.

So I wondered: How can you create the sound of serenity in your office?

There's actual research behind this. For nurses, for instance, researchers have found that abnormal sound levels contribute to stress and may even impede healing in the sick.

Another study found that the opposite may also be true: Pleasant sounds may mimic positive experiences:

We suggest that music specifically induces an emotional response similar to a pleasant experience or happiness. Moreover, we demonstrated the typical asymmetrical pattern of stress responses in upper temporal cortex areas, and suggested that happiness/sadness emotional processing might be related to stress reduction by music.

Having said that, I'm not much of a classical music gal. I much more favor wacky girl rock or emo rock on a regular basis. But when I have to work, none of that is very helpful. And one of the joys of self-employment is the ability to listen to music while I work.

So here is some music that helps me concentrate, get today's work done and remain calm:

Essential Beethoven
The Essential Tchaikovsky
Relaxing Vibes, Slavic Kulpowicz

What music gets you in a productive frame of mind?

Serenity Tool: Cool It Now

Serenity Tool is a feature in which I highlight office equipment and tools that can increase your serenity by clearing your mental clutter, freeing you of anxiety and preparing your for those times when things don't go the way you'd like. If you have a suggestion for a tool or a question of what can increase your productivity while keeping you serene, email me at heather at heatherboerner.com.

If you're like a lot of people, you use a laptop for your work. I sure do. I love the portability but I hate the blistering heat it generates if it's set flush against any surface.

Of course, you should never use your computer on blankets or anything like that. But what you should do is get a cooling pad for your laptop.

Why? Because for every minute your computer is cooking, you're damaging the life of your laptop. Memory will start to degrade and your laptop's life will shorten. Want to be a good steward to your electronics? Support them by keeping them cool.

This isn't just practical. It's also spiritual. I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out. Unless you're an IT consultant, most self-employed people aren't good at technical repairs. If you're like me, you panic every time your computer does something weird--a program shuts down for no reason, not to mention the Blue Screen of Death. And when you have to replace a computer every year because you're not treating yours well, you're busying yourself with stuff that takes you away from growing your business.

Cooling pad options:

* The prop-up: These pads work by propping your computer a few inches off your work surface so air can circulate easily and cool the computer naturally. The advantage? It uses less energy and you can DIY with a few smal notebooks on the sides of your computer.

* The fan: This is the version I went with because i figured it would cool my computer faster. these can have two or three fans that rotate constantly to whisk hot air away from your computer.

* Bells and Whistles: You can even get a cooling pad with an LCD display and an overheating alarm. The one I went with has a USB hub and a memory card reader, also. I've never used the card reader, but love the hub because I have more devices to hook up to my laptop than it has USB ports.

Whatever you choose, be sure to look for size:

* Find one that is the size of your laptop. While I love mine, it's a little smaller than my laptop and I'm looking to replace it with one that fits my computer comfortably.
* Power source. Some power themselves through your USB port, and if you're like me, you don't have a USB port to spare.

Serenity Tip: The Mid-Day Check-In

If you're anything like me, you power through your days, clicking through the items on your to-do list until you retire at night with a jumbled brain. Meditation helps with this, of course. But a friend constantly reminds me that I have another option. Now I'll pass that option on to you:

The Mid-Day Check-In

When you hit Frazzled on your daily stress meter, stop what you're doing. Move away from the computer or the office. Sit somewhere quiet (if possible) and get out a pad and a pen. Then make a list of the following:

* What you resent and why (this can be people--including you--and they don't have to be rational).
* What you're afraid of (those nagging fears that get louder in your head the more you ignore them? Write them down.)
* What things are out of your control (I call this my acceptance list--as in, "I accept that I'm powerless over the future and worrying about it won't change it.")
* What you're grateful for at this moment (it might be having a minute to think, or maybe you just landed a big fish client or maybe you're grateful for the flexibility of your self-employed life.)

Whatever those things are, write them down. Then take a minute to breath deep and imagine each one dropping into the ether.

After taking that break, you may find you're more centered and more ready to tackle the next thing on your list with compassion and poise.