Peace of Mind Organizing

Letting photo organizing be easy

5 August 2019

Last February, I cleaned out a closet in my home and found a box of photos from my pre-digital-camera life that I had completely forgotten about. Right around that time, I heard from a rep from Epson offering me a loan of an Epson FastFoto photo scanner so I could try it out and blog about it. (Later this week, I’ll post that review.)

I dug into that box of photos and started sorting. I threw out the bad ones and duplicates and I put the keepers into rough categories, with the intention of scanning them with the Epson photo printer. (That’s one of the keepers, a photo of my parents the day after our wedding, at the top of this post.)

I got started scanning but found the process of renaming each photo to be really tedious. With my digital genealogy files (which are primarily documents, not photographs), I scrupulously rename every file to reflect its contents. That was my mindset when I started scanning. I thought that each photo had to be similarly named so I could find it easily on my hard drive.

But then I realized I’d skipped an important step. I needed to get in touch with why I’m organizing and scanning the photos. Only then would I know to what level I needed to name and organize the digital photos.

There are many possible reasons for taking on a photo organizing and scanning project. They include:

• To reduce physical space taken up by printed photos
• To make the photos more accessible
• To make the photos easy to share (with individuals or on social media)
• To create albums
• Anticipation of an event (like a wedding or graduation) requiring a slide show or collage
• To share family history with descendants or relatives

For me, once I thought about it, I realized that I wanted to scan the photos so I wouldn’t lose them. And so I’d be able to share them. But I’m not interested in albums at this point or any big sharing of photos.

I realized I would be satisfied to be able to look in a folder of photos and scan through them to find the one I wanted. I did not need individual descriptive file names.

That was a game changer. It meant that I just needed to create broad categories of photos. The FastFoto software makes it easy to create and scan into folders for those categories. And then the individual photos are numbered sequentially with the folder name in the file name. (I should mention that I have a terabyte hard drive and that I back it up to the cloud and to an external hard drive daily.)

Suddenly, this project turned from something I’d been putting off for months (even though I needed to return the printer) into something I can do while watching Netflix. I scanned hundred of photos painlessly because I’d already sorted them into categories.

It became so easy that I went on a treasure hunt around the house for more caches of photos. I found a photo box, already organized, that I had created almost 25 years ago. They contained photos from travel in the early years of our marriage, organized by destination. I took a glance at the pictures inside and realized that I had no desire to digitize them. As a collection, they’re nice and my husband and I might enjoy looking at them. But they’re already organized and accessible and no one besides us would care about them.

Giving myself permission not to scan these photos felt good. I affixed a Post-it® Note to the top of the photo box indicating that the photos have been digitized in case I ever want to toss them.

So what did I do with the printed versions of the photos I digitized? I decided to keep them. I have a big house with lots of storage space and I didn’t see the need to throw them away. But they’re in category order, in archival boxes and if I ever actually need to access any, I’ll be able to. Chances are very good, though, that if I did want to look at a photo, I’d go to my hard drive, not these boxes. When I move in the future, I’ll take another look and decide whether to toss them then. If I were downsizing, I’d be comfortable tossing them since I have digital versions.

This what’s worked for me. Your mileage may vary. The big lesson here, to me, is to get in touch with why you’re taking on a photo organizing project and organize accordingly. Make it as easy as possible, so it’ll actually get done. This was one instance where good enough was definitely good enough!

P.S. On my treasure hunt I also a box of unsorted miscellaneous photos. It’s given me pause. But I have a methodology now and a loaned scanner that I need to return. So I plan, within a week, to systematically sort, toss, categorize into broad categories (paying attention to the categories I’ve already created) and scan these photos. I will take pictures of the process as I do it and create another, more granular, how-to post.

Top 100 Organizing Blogs

1 August 2019

I’m so happy that my blog was included on this list of Top 100 Organizing Blogs and Websites to Follow in 2019, put out by Feedspot. (It clocks in at #46.) If you’re reading this blog, you probably enjoy reading organizing blogs. So you’re almost certain to enjoy perusing this list!

Such a list can be a rabbit hole, though. I encourage you to set a timer for the amount of time you can spare before clicking on the link. Use the timer to prevent you from losing all track of time as you explore the terrific blogs on the list.

I hope there will be some new-to-you blogs on the list that will prove life enhancing!

Many of my friends’ and colleagues’ blogs are included. I’m delighted to be in such good company.

Send to Trello Safari bookmark

29 July 2019

Last month, I blogged about Nine ways I use Trello. I still absolutely love Trello and use it daily. It seems like I’m always finding new ways to use it. (Most recent addition: a board to keep track of where I needed to change my head shot, since I had new pictures taken.)

It became even easier to use when my friend (and Getting to Good Enough cohost) Shannon Wilkinson clued me into the Send to Trello bookmark shortcut for Safari. I use Safari for most of my browsing and was happy to learn that with this little tool any website I’m visiting can be turned into a Trello card and placed on a board.

The two places I’m using the most are my Kindle library (I can now effortlessly place a photo of the cover of a book on its card!) and my board of suggested organizing products to show clients. I know there are going to be many other applications as well.

To install the bookmark, just click on the Add Card page on the Trello website. If you’re not already showing your Favorites Bar at the top of your browser screen (under the URL box), click “Show Favorites Bar” under View. Then drag the “Send to Trello” link from the Add Card page to your Favorites Bar. It’s that easy.

The next time you’re browsing in Safari and see something you want to save, just click on the Send to Trello bookmark and you’ll be asked what board to save it to. One more click and you’ve created a Trello card from that site.

It’s a game changer!

Worth repeating: Solving my business-card problem once and for all

23 July 2019

When I wrote this post five years ago, I was a little bold in declaring that I’d solved a problem once and for all. But you know what? It’s true. I now enter the info of anyone I want to keep track into my Contacts database and toss the card. I ended up getting rid of the little file box and the very few cards that I keep I put in a little container on a shelf in my office supply closet. Simple and sustainable!

Keeping track of business cards is a challenge for me, and, I’ve observed, for many of my clients. I’ve been accumulating them for awhile in a business-card file box (sorted into rough categories) and then when I outgrew the box, the whole bunch went into in a larger bin that sat on a shelf in my office closet.

I blogged about this in May of last year and even went so far as to create an action plan to deal with the cards. But I never followed through on it.

A winter storm blew through St. Louis on Sunday, putting on hold my plans for going out. So I decided it was time to deal with those darn business cards.

Here’s how they looked when I moved them to my desk to deal with them. My plan was to organize them into a larger See Jane Work business-card file box I’d purchased some time back.

There was no way all these cards would fit in this box.

Before getting started, I thought about why I hang on to business cards. I realized that it’s because I want to be a great resource for my clients. And I’m afraid that I won’t remember the names on the cards I’d collected if I put them in my phone. So my thought was that I would organize the cards into categories for easy access if I have a client who needs a name.

That seemed reasonable until I started thinking about the fact that I like to be able to give my clients the resource immediately, not wait until I get home (and risk forgetting to do it). I’m not going to carry a business-card file box around with me (nor would I if I had a business card book or any other more portable way to carry around business cards.). What I do carry around with me to all client appointments is my phone.

So I decided to use my phone like I would use the file box: I’d enter the contact info by category. But first, I would narrow the cards down to as few as possible, to make the job easier.

I went through the accumulated business cards, being very selective about what I kept. I created categories for the ones I wanted to keep and filed them in the smaller business-card file box.

I threw away a big pile of cards.

My discard pile was huge!

The next step was to go through the keepers and make sure the ones I really want to refer to clients are in the contacts list on my computer and phone, filed into groups for easy access. I created groups that match the categories in my physical business-card file.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take that long to enter the names and contact info. Less than an hour. I tried to see if I could use my Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M scanner to take of that task for me, but the business-processing card software that came with the scanner was out of date and I didn’t want to go down the rabbit hole of updating things. So I just entered the names that weren’t already in my computer.

After I was finished with that task, I had a big decision to make: should I keep the physical cards or toss them all? Part of me wanted to keep them, since I had a place to store them. But reason prevailed and I decided to let go of all those resource cards. I kept a few of the cards related to me personally, but tossed a giant pile of cards. Knowing that they’re in my database, backed up regularly, gave me the courage to do that.

And I’m here to tell you it felt good!!

Now, when I pick up a business card, I’ll decide then and there whether to put it in my database. And then I’ll take the 60 seconds or so necessary to add it. And I’ll toss it.

I did keep a few categories of cards. I kept those of some friends, just because they make me feel good when I look at them. I kept a category of cards related to professionals in my home town, who might be of help if problems come up with my aging family. And I kept a category of genealogy-related cards (mostly picked up at the RootsTech conference I attended last month.

This is all the the cards that were left when I finished:

Now my box has more index cards than business cards.

Hooray! It’s a thrill to come up with a solution that works for me for a problem I’ve been grappling with for awhile.

The beauty of vertical storage

18 July 2019

To the extent possible, I love storing things vertically, rather than horizontally. Think about how files are stored in a file cabinet—it’s much easier to access them than a stack of file folders.

But vertical storage isn’t just for files. I love using the principle all around my house (and with clients). For my office supplies, for example, I have three shelves in my office supply closet where I store supplies vertically (see the photo below). Notice how my Post-it® notes and other supplies are stored vertically using acrylic containers (a divided one similar to this and a 4 × 12 × 3 like this) on a shelf. I used small containers inside a basket so help me store as much as I can vertically on the middle shelf of the photo. And on the shelf, this magazine sorter allows me to store clipboards and portfolios vertically. I repurposed a box from Bare Minerals so store a small collection of handy pouches.

I have some notebooks I like to keep handy on the radiator behind my desk. One of them is the one grab when I’m on the phone on a business call. By using a desktop file holder, I can store notebooks vertically so I can easily (and silently) grab the right one when I need it.

Long before Marie Kondo was telling us how to fold, I was folding my t-shirts in half again and storing them vertically in the drawer. I love that it enables me to see the shirts and just pluck out the one I want. I do the same thing with my leggings—I store them vertically and use this closet drawer organizer to keep them upright.

When you’re organizing in your home, I encourage you to think about how you might integrate vertical storage. I think you’ll find it life-enhancing!

Shopping mindfully

15 July 2019

Today and tomorrow are both Amazon Prime Days, where members of Amazon Prime are offered special pricing on lots of items. I took a peek today at some of the specials in categories that interest me and managed to turn away without buying.

I dislike artificial pressure to buy, like special sales or outlet stores or even yard or estate sales. Those situations set up a feeling that if you don’t buy now, you’ll miss out. I can’t tell you the number of so-called bargains that I’ve clients declutter over the years. It’s not a bargain if you don’t use it or it clutters up your home.

I encourage you to shop mindfully, whether it’s during a special sale or just everyday shopping. If clutter is an issue in your life, then decluttering and letting go is part of the equation for relief. But the other part of the equation is modifying your acquisition behavior.

Before you purchase anything, I urge you to ask yourself these simple questions, which are very similar to the questions I ask clients when we’re decluttering:

• Do I love it?
• Will I use it?
• Does purchasing this item contribute to my vision for my space?
• Where will I store it?

If you don’t have room to store a new purchase, then either forgo buying it or commit to letting go of something to make room for the new purchase. When clients who are struggling with clutter tell me they can’t resist a bargain at an estate sale, I encourage them to stop going to estate sales. If Amazon Prime Day feels irresistible and you don’t have room to comfortably store all your belongings, then I encourage you to either ignore Amazon Prime Day (or any other special sale) or go into it with a list of specific items that you need and would buy anyway and then search for those items only.

Even if you have plenty of room to store everything, mindful shopping leads to a more peaceful life, in my opinion. It saves you time, money and self-recrimination. It’s excellent self care.

Latest knitting project

11 July 2019

These days, I’m spending less leisure time knitting and more time practicing hand lettering (and writing postcards to voters. But when my friend told me her daughter was pregnant with her first child, I just had to pull out my needles and knit my favorite go-to baby gift: the Harry Bear teddy bear, a free pattern from Berroco.

I have a small stash of Berroco Chinchilla yarn. It’s discontinued, but I love how it knits up into this bear, so I bought some from folks on Ravelry a few years back. It was fun and easy to knit this bear and for the first time I embroidered the face myself. (I usually have a friend help with that.) I kept the facial expression subtle, to say the least.

Here’s a photo of the sweet little bear. It was a well received gift and I enjoyed giving it!