Archive for the ‘flipfiles’ Category

My favourite organising tools #2 – flipfiles

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

What are flipfiles?


Handy clear plastic files, neatly bound in book format. Slim and light for easy handling, storage and carrying. Anti-static-allows quick insertion and withdrawal of documents. Will not lift ink from photocopies.
Outer-cover insert replaceable with users own title page.

Source: http://www.paperpeople.co.uk/flipfiles.html


Why I love them

  1. You can have lots of categories
  2. They take up very little space
  3. They come in 10-page, 20-page and 30-page
  4. They are perfect for the lazy organiser – no punching, you just slip the pages inside the plastic sleeves.

My uses
Personal

  1. Health
  2. Fitness
  3. Creativity
  4. Passion
  5. Financial
  6. Personal Control Journal
  7. Marcia’s organising file


Household

  1. Christmas ideas
  2. Recipes – one each for biscuits (cookies), main dishes, muffins (I love making muffins – what can I say?!)
  3. Household Organising File
  4. Appliance manuals (blue file in picture below)


Business

  1. Storage solutions
  2. Business control journal
  3. Workshops – one for each workshop (goal-setting, time management, discover yourself, etc.)
The ones that live in my study

business…
From the kitchen…

appliance manuals – one pocket per manual

personal…

1. What do you call flipfiles?
2. What do you use them for?

(c) Marcia Francois

Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You’ll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org/?page_id=21 if you want to Organise your home.

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Organise your magazine clippings

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

I’m a bit of an information junkie so I often find myself buying a magazine because one or two headlines caught my eye.

Sound familiar?

I don’t like keeping magazines because all you need are about 5 pages (if that) from each magazine and it’s a waste of space! Not to mention a waste of time when you have to look through that whole magazine for that article

So this is how I organise all my clippings:
1. I have a flipfile (can someone please tell me what you call it in other parts of the world?) for each broad category subject, like
  1. Organising/ storage ideas
  2. Health
  3. Fitness
  4. Creativity
  5. Financial
  6. Christmas ideas
  7. Passion (largely due to my work at the church)
  8. Recipes to try


I like the 20-page ones although most of these are of the 10-page variety. Just because they’re more readily available.

2. As I read (and this is key, otherwise you spend MORE time going through the magazine a second time), I pull out the pages I want to keep.

3. I then throw them in my in-tray in my study and when want to organise, I take my flipfiles, scissors and pages with me to do in front of the TV.

4. I then neatly trim the edges of the pages and simply slip them into the plastic sleeves.

5. Every 6 – 12 months, depending on how many magazines I’ve been reading, I’ll quickly flip through the flipfile to see if I can throw anything away. Sometimes our tastes change and you now know without a shadow of doubt that you’ll not be doing mosaic art anytime soon :-) (I’m just saying!).

This maintenance stage is critical otherwise you’ll just keep hoarding more and more stuff. Sometimes the mere idea of having to prepare another file helps me to get ruthless with the clippings. I know it’s not a big deal to write out a label but I actually like the idea of containing my info-addiction.

So how do you organise your magazine clippings?

Don’t forget to check my main blog page for the discount on the Household Organising File.
(c) Marcia Francois

Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You’ll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org/?page_id=21 if you want to Organise your home.
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