Professional Organizer Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland Scott Roewer’s organizing blog DeClutterYou

I recently attend the National Association of Professional Organizers Washington, DC – Metro Chapter’s June meeting.  Members featured new products and resources from the NAPO Conference in Orlando, Florida which I attended this past April. One by one, members demonstrated various products and explained the highlights of some new services. Everything shown was new, unique or a great resource. Below is a list of eight items featured. I’ll blog about the other five items in a future post.  Thank you to all the companies who donated their product.  Each product was given away as a ‘door prize’ at the end of the meeting!  Read on to discover which item I won.

Shelf Improvement Rollout Shelves
Shelf Improvement makes glide out shelves which only require four screws to mount and have a “2 minute” estimated installation time.  They were very solid in construction and had beautiful dovetail corners.  I was very impressed with the quality and price.  The glide out shelves are $79.00 plus $10 shipping for any size.  The widths available are: 10″-30″ wide increasing in 1″ increments and the depths are 21.5″, 18.5″, or 16.5″.  If you’re a do-it yourself type, check out these glide out shelves.

Clearly Noted
These designer note cards were created specifically for Professional Organizers.  They are the concept of my friend and colleague, Jill Revitsky of Discover Organizing from Pittsburgh, PA. The designs are fresh, unique and feminine in style.  They’re also very reasonably priced at $15.30 for a 6-pack.  If you’re an organizer and need stylish stationary to stay in touch with your clients, buy these cards!

SaveMyPix.com
The owners of SaveMyPix.com, Maxx & Monica attend the meeting as guests.  Their unique service will scan your precious photos, old slides, and convert your old VHS Tapes and 8 mm film to DVD.  I love the idea of their service called – Stuff ‘n Send. A prepaid box which will hold up to 1600 photos. The photos are scanned at 300 DPI and returned on your choice of digital medium for the current sale price $99.95. They really couldn’t make it any easier.  Make this your Father’s day gift!

Brother P-Touch 1230PC
This easy to use label machine connects to your PC via USB.  You do not have to load software on your PC because it’s preloaded on the machine.  You can conveniently design durable, laminated labels up to ½” wide using your PC keyboard and monitor.  The labels print on their TZ label tape which comes in white, clear, and various other colors.  You can load additional logos or any True Type Font on the machine.  Brother says it’s “Perfect for home or home office labeling needs.”  I won this label machine in the ‘door prize raffle’ at the end of the meeting but I’m a Mac user – so, it’s not so perfect in my opinion.  For PC users, at $49.99, you could use this label machine – a bargain in my opinion.

List Planit
Jen Tankersley has branded her company as “List to Put Your World in Order”, and I agree!  List Planit has over 400 attractive, printable lists and planning pages for you to manage life.  They’re conveniently organized on their site by categories – life, business, kitchen, finance, etc.  They have three types of membership – print, download, or professional ranging from $20 – $50 yearly. That’s If you like paper lists, I highly recommend this service.

Time Timer®
If you saw the episode of Time Makeover on The Fine Living Network when I worked with the Lucchesi family, you would have learned about the very cool, Time Timer®.  Their products demonstrate how much time has elapsed.  If you see the color red on the face, that shows you how much time remains.  If you have trouble managing time or if you’re teaching the concept of time, there is no better tool than a Time Timer®. Their website boasts “This innovative tool constantly reinforces the sense of elapsed time in order to promote better time management.”  You can buy the 3″, 8″ or 12″ version or their handy wrist watch style.  They even have a new PC/Mac software that runs on your computer screen.  I’ve been using it since April to help manage the time I spend on Facebook and Twitter.  Prices start at $30 and I recommend you purchase the timers with the optional audible signal.

Recipe Nest® by Recipe Relish
I’m in love with this concept because I frequently tear recipes out magazines, dreaming of the day I’ll learn to cook.  The Recipe Nest® is perfect because it’s designed to store full-page recipes from your printer or from magazines.  They’re organized with tabbed dividers.  No more trying to punch holes in the flimsy magazine paper!  The built-in easel easily folds out and works with the clip-on the front to display the recipe you’re using.  This keeps my dirty hands off the recipe when cooking and I use a plastic sheet protector, or you can buy the specially designed ‘Recipe Sleeve,’ to keep the recipe clean as you cook.  The surface of the Recipe Nest® is also spill proof, so you can splash and splatter all you want!  There are great colors to choose from and the Recipe Nest® easily fits inside most kitchen cabinets or on a bookshelf.  Choose the color that matches your unique style.  Mine is Kiwi Green!  This is perfect for anyone who likes to cook at $38.95.

Easy Find Lid Food Storage Containers by Rubbermaid
I blogged about these Easy Find Lid Food Storage Containers by Rubbermaid back in September 2008 which I featured them on a WUSA 9 TV Appearance.

Their unique design allows you to snap the lid to the base of the containers.  You’ll never lose a lid again!  They come as small as .05 cup up to 2.5 gallons and all sizes in between.  With this graduated size design, they easily nest together. I’m a huge fan of square storage containers because they optimize your storage space.  Yes, you can microwave and freeze meals in these containers.  A 20 piece set is around $15.99.  I’ve seen them for sale at Target, Harris Teeter and Giant.  Click here to download a coupon for $1.00 off your purchase.

We had five more products featured at the meeting which I’ll feature in a different blog post.  Did you find anything above that would be helpful to you at home or that would make the perfect gift for anyone?  Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts and ideas.
Thanks,

I’m curious if the readers of Declutteryou.com take the effort to send holiday greetings to their friends, family and colleagues.  If one of the answers below doesn’t describe you, leave a comment about your holiday card habits.

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Recently I asked friends, professional colleagues, and business owners who follow me on Twitter and Facebook what they would tackle if they had 10 minutes free and felt like organizing. I have enjoyed their responses and perhaps they may inspire you to find 10 free minutes each day to organize.

	Deb Lee of D. Allison Lee Professional Organizers said she’d deal with her mail. “Open the mail and put each individual bill in my bill sorter so that I remember to pay them!”
	Leigh Ann Hubbard is Managing Editor of James Hubbard’s My Family Doctor magazine and suggested she would tackle her bedroom.  “Nobody can enter it at the moment, and you have to go through it to get to the bathroom.”
	Shelf Genie Franchise Owner, Allan Young must be using social media frequently, because he needs some online organizing time. “I’d organize my friends on Facebook into categories.”
	Human Resource Professional, Daniel Jason of Richmond, Virginia saves money during his 10 minutes.  He said, “I’d organize all my clipped coupons by date so that I can use them before they expire.” Great idea, Daniel.
	Southern California bike enthusiast Buzz Kasprzyk said his desk needs work. “My PC Desk at home and work table!   Looks like the post office threw up on it, or like a tornado flew by!”  Well, Buzz – you’re not in Kansas anymore.  I didn’t know they had tornadoes in Long Beach.
	Professional Organizer and owner of The Clutter Cutter of Wichita, KS, Pam McCutcheon said “My fridge – because my husband does the grocery shopping and I rarely know what is in there!” I agree, gotta keep the family fed!
	Debbie of D & R Custom Organizers and blogger at Virtually Organized responded via Twitter with this comment: “My Middle Schooler’s overstuffed backpack. There’s GOT to be a way to reduce how much she has to carry every day!” (Middle school students in Washington, DC are not allowed to carry backpacks at school.)
	Tom Dow, General Manager of CF Folks, Inc. an awesome catering firm in Washington, DC said  “America’s finances…10 minutes would be more than what’s being done now.” If you can solve it in 10 minutes, I say “Dow for President!”
	Kit Grieder of Herndon, VA a book keeper and self described “domestic engineer” said he’d tackle his linen closet’s shelves.  “Ten minutes is enough time to pull out the old towels to become garage rags, refold the good ones and put them back neatly.” A neat linen closet is a beautiful thing.
	Kevin Nellis, a Public Health Analyst has some extreme ideas when it comes to organizing. “I’d light a stick of dynamite in my master bedroom closet. It’s a good excuse to renovate and get rid of things at the same time. And I get to buy more clothes.”
	From New Jersey, Geo Jedlicka, an accounting manager turned nursing student said, “I’d probably organize some papers lying around somewhere, whether it be a drawer, or pile. There might be a bill that needs paying.”
	Adriane Williams, a former client of Solutions by Scott who moved to West Virgina to begin a life as a college professor said she’d work on her dining room table.  “It’s the drop off point for mail. We have a mail center but it is overrun, so the table is always under siege. I try to pull it together to keep things from getting out of hand just before I walk out the door.”
	Jessica Brigham Food Service Director for Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company must be carrying around a big purse.  She said “I’d clean out my bag. So as not to carry things with me that will just get in my way all day.”

Are you inspired? What could you do with 10 minutes? I’d love to hear from you.

Like most of you, I receive an overwhelming
volume of e-mail each day. I get e-mails from clients, my volunteer work, list-serves, family, etc. It’s simply exhausting. In order to preserve my sanity, it was critical for me to develop effective, time saving e-mail management techniques. Here are a few of my secrets:

Self-Management
Filters can help you save time by having your e-mail program manage itself. E-mail programs such as Outlook, Gmail, and Entourage can be configured to filter emails directly into folders. This includes sending spam directly to the trash. By filtering your e-mail, you’ll be able to selectively read mail in each folder as time allows.

Not on Demand
Conditioned like Pavlov’s dog, many of us are trained to respond to e-mail as soon as we hear “you’ve got mail.” If your e-mail program announces when mail arrives, turn off this feature or simply turn down the volume. You will be able to better focus on the project at hand.

Set a Time
Your work flow is disrupted if you stop to answer e-mails as they arrive. Your productivity will increase if you set aside a specific time each day to review and respond to e-mail. You may need only one block of time or your inbox may require more frequent reviews. If you set aside dedicated times to responding to mail, you’ll boost your efficiency.

Avoid Peak Hours
Most e-mail responses don’t require great thought, creativity, or analytical concentration. Therefore, avoid answering e-mails during your most productive time of the day. I am most creative and productive in the morning. Sometimes answering e-mails first thing in the morning can drain me of that positive energy. Put that power time to full use and save your e-mail replies for a time when you’re not at your peak performance.

Discover Technology
Using a smart phone with wireless technology (iPhone, Treo, Blackberry) allows me to use my unexpected downtime for practical purposes. If I arrive at a meeting early, find myself stuck in an airport, or simply don’t want to be tied to my computer on a beautiful day, I can use my phone from almost anywhere to quickly respond to e-mails. When I return to my office, I breathe a sigh of relief when I open my e-mail inbox and realize I’ve already responded to most of the messages.

Read, Respond, File. Repeat.
Use e-mail folders just like a paper file system. If you save e-mails, create folders and sub-folders for your inbox. This will make finding older mail simple and keep your inbox empty. For example, all e-mails from my family go into one specific folder. All e-mails related to my business go into a different folder. I use the “read, respond, and file” method as a great way to manage my inbox.