Eat That Frog! (Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done)

I just finished reading Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy, and thought I'd share a few of his bits of wisdom with you. (I read the first edition, not the revised edition pictured here.)

Rule: One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.

Rule: You can get your time and your life under control only to the degree to which you discontinue lower value activities.

The Law of Force Efficiency says that, "There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing."

Bento Boxes Can Hold More Than Your Lunch

I'm reading Conscious Style Home by Danny Seo, who says bento boxes "are excellent for storing small office supplies, like highlighters, rubber bands, and small stocks of Post-it notes. And since they're stackable, you can layer several bento boxes neatly on your desk."



One place with a fun selection of bento boxes is JBOX.com. Many of the boxes, including the two above, have images of Totoro.




There's another nice selection at I Love Obento; I particularly like the flying cat.




Here's a colorful option; these boxes are made of melamine. Although the company calls them bento boxes, they seem to be more like tiffin carriers - but no matter, they'd still serve as good storage.




Unica Home has some colorful lacquerware bento boxes.




And then there are the lacquerware versions with patterns involving fans and flowers and butterflys.




I'd never seen a bento box like this one before - it's made of cedar. (Scroll down on that page; it's at the end.)

For more wonderful bento boxes (many of which aren't quite as easily purchased outside of Japan), see Just Bento.

Bedroom Storage Option: Bookcase Headboards

Both of my beds - my own, and the one in the guest bedroom - have bookcase headboards. (That's my guest bedroom above.) You don't tend to see these much anymore - I guess they're out of fashion - but they can be incredibly useful. Waterbed stores tend to have them - remember waterbeds? But you can find them a few other places, too.




Not surprisingly, a place called Headboard Store has a number of options.




And some upscale bed manufacturers sell bookcase beds. This one come from Charles P. Rogers.




And this storage headboard comes from Pomponoosuc Mills.




For something more unusual (and more expensive), there's the Thai Bed from Design Centro Italia.




It seems you can also find bookcase headboards more easily in children's beds - either simple headboards for twin beds, or more fanciful ones, such as this one from Natart Juvenile.

Related Posts:
Making Good Use of Under-Bed Space
Five More Ways to Store Stuff Under the Bed

Alarm Clocks: The Sacred and The Profane

While it would be lovely to always wake up naturally, without an alarm clock, most of us find we do need the clock. Here are some choices you may not have seen before.

This Krishna alarm clock "sings a good will mantra from Lord Krishna" or wakes you with "a Hare Krishna chant," depending on which web site you read. Looking at the manufacturer's web site, it seems the clock is available with the images of other deities, such as Ganesh. There's definitely a Jesus version.




Moving from the sacred to the profane, this alarm clock is part of the Bobbypin collection by illustrator Jeffrey Fulvimari, who did the drawings in Madonna's book The English Roses. While it's harder to actually read the time than I would like, the affirmation might a nice way to start the day.




Here's another alarm clock from the Bobbypin collection.

Related posts:
7 Alarm Clocks for a Gentler Wake-Up Call
Clocky - For People Who Overuse the Snooze Button
Real Simple Treasure Trove! Funny Alarm Clocks!

Step Files: From $8 to over $80

You've almost certainly seen incline sorters (also known as step files) - very useful for keeping active files close at hand, and usually very boring. (The ones above come from Office Depot and Amazon.com.)




But if you feel like spending more money, you can get some interesting alternatives. One of the most common alternatives is made by WoodWorx. It's too bad the dividers aren't a bit taller, to support the files better.




And then there's SteelWorx.




Ultimate Office says their best-seller is the Desktop StationMate, which is a form of step file.




Here's a steel incline sorter; the site has three other steel options.




And here's another steel incline sorter, designed by David Allen and made in Italy.

An Homage to Etsy: Felted Bowls, Incredible Baskets, and More

For those of us who love to patronize talented artisans, Etsy is a terrific find - a place to get all sorts of handmade items from people near and far. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a nice piece on Etsy today; I never realized you could ask for a custom-made piece on Etsy until I read this article!

Here are just a few things I've found on Etsy recently.

Tree Top Collections makes some lovely pine needle baskets, one of which is shown above.




This egg basket comes from Grandma Weezie's Basket Garden.




Cheryl has baskets in a range of styles.




How clever is this? M "n" M Treasures makes collapsible wood baskets - collapsed, they serve as trivets. The designs range from this stegosaurus to a pig, a train, a teapot - and many more.




Lucky Find Designs makes linings for bicycle baskets.




Papaver Vert makes stunning nesting felted bowls.




And Shirley Cook makes some incredible felted vessels.




Spider Felt sells lovely felt boxes - and has a wonderful logo.




Lauren Sng makes silk rag baskets from old kimono linings.

Finally, I'd like to point you to knitwit4ever - not because it has anything to do with organizing, but because the person behind it is my college roommate.

Related posts:
Etsy: 6 Attractive Alternatives for Storage
Tiny Little Baskets

Pencil Cups, Round 3: Two More I Had to Share

After my last entry on pencil cups, fellow professional organizer John Trosko sent me this picture of his pencil cup - a 1930s yachting tea tin!




And I love this simple pencil cup hand painted by artist Beth Mueller. I bought a mug and a cereal bowl with her designs many years ago, and I was delighted to stumble on her work again today; I recognized her style immediately.

Stop Scrambling, says Richard Carlson

No, Richard Carlson isn't talking about how we cook our eggs. Rather, he's talking about the speed at which we run through our days.

Here's what he wrote in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work:

For many people, there are essentially only two speeds - fast and faster. It seems that, most of the time, we are scrambling around, moving very quickly, doing three or four things at once. Often we are only paying partial attention or half listening to the people we are working with. Our minds are cluttered and overly busy. ...

I'd estimate that I operate at about half the speed I did ten years ago. However, I get about twice as much work accomplished! It's actually quite remarkable how much you can do when you're calm and collected. ... It's often the case that you'll get more done in less time when you stop scrambling so much.

The pogoCloset: A Cross Between a Closet and a Clothes Tree

Some folks just aren't very good about hanging up their clothes. Sometimes that's because the closet is overcrowded with clothes that never get worn - but sometimes it's that there truly isn't enough closet space, the closet is hard to get to, or putting clothes on hangers is just too much effort.

Traditional answers to these concerns include the use of hooks, clothes trees, and valet stands - or garment racks and portable wardrobe closets. (And there's always the ever-popular exercise machine that winds up serving a different purpose.)

But another interesting option is the pogoCloset by UrbanWorkshop. Update on April 15, 2009: UrbanWorkshop seems to have disappeared, but you can still get these from the designer, Julie Scheu.




Bonus: While you're at the UrbanWorkshop web site, take a look at the Yellow Groove nightstand.

An Organizer Updates Her To-Do List

Here are two things I often tell my clients:

1. Any system you put in place will probably need to be tweaked as you find out what works and what doesn't work.

2. When looking for solutions, look at things that are working well for you already. What does that tell you about the type of solutions that work for you?


Well, I just followed my own advice and changed how I keep my to-do lists. I had been using a fairly simple software tool called Check Off - but realized it didn't fit well with how I work, so I was getting sloppy about getting everything added to my lists that needed to be there.

I was somewhat tempted to try another one of the many software programs designed to handle task management. But then I looked at something that works very well for me - and that's a simple text file that resides on my computer desktop where I capture blog ideas. I definitely like having my files on the computer, and the simplicity of a text file seems to work well for me. (I'm on a Mac, and I just use TextEdit for these files; Word would be overkill.)

So now I have five simple text files on my desktop - some of which will be familiar to anyone familiar with David Allen's Getting Things Done.

Goals & Values
This reminds me of the big picture - what I want from my life. It won't get updated often, but it's useful to look at it regularly.

To Do
This lists all the simple actions I want to take: send an e-mail to someone, reschedule an appointment, drop off donations at the thrift store, etc. The list is subdivided into things I would do at home, things I would do around town, and things I would do "over the hill" - I live on the coast, and have to drive over the hill to get to the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Projects
This lists the things I'm committed to doing that involve multiple steps. It includes things like buying new nightstands (because I don't know exactly what I want, so there are many steps here) and a computer upgrade project with a number of steps. The next step for each of these projects would get added to my To Do list.

Why separate To Do items from Projects? Because a To Do list with "buy milk" and "remodel bathroom" almost guarantees that the remodeling project won't move forward. You look at that item, glaze over, and move on to the next item on the list. But if the To Do list had something like "Call Jim and ask about his remodeling project; see what advice he can give me" - well, that seems doable!

Someday/Maybe
This file captures the ideas I have about things I might want to do - but might not. This way I don't lose the thought, but it doesn't clutter up my To Do or Projects list.

Daily Routines
This has my morning and bedtime routines - things I do (or want to start doing) every day. It's there as a reminder, because I've added some things that aren't habits yet. I may not need these files after a while, but for now they are helpful.

I'm sure I'll wind up making further tweaks, but right now this is feeling pretty good.

[Side note: That black loop in the picture is part of a dragon's tail, from the Dragonology 4 wallpaper by Vladstudio.]

Containers That Caught My Eye: 6 Random Items

Hable Construction has a number of felt boxes - many of them sweet designs involving flowers and lollipops and such. Of course, I was attracted to the smiling skull.




The Craft Gallery has a number of interesting jewelry boxes - which could of course be used for something other than jewelry. This was one of my favorites.




Zenspiration Gardens has a number of lovely boxes, including this one which is a vintage reproduction Chinese hat box.




You don't really need a specially-designed toothbrush holder and more than you need a pencil cup; a coffee mug will do just fine. But I still was taken with this toothbrush holder by Alison Palmer, who makes all sort of interesting things.




I just stand my scissors up in the mug that holds my pens, but this Edward Scissors Holder by Koziol is very cute. Koziol also makes a tape dispenser, a glue stick holder, and much more.




I saw this storage box and my immediate reaction was Oh! Cute! - followed by wondering when I would fit it into a blog entry. [via Better Living Through Design]

Reader Question: Zippered Binders

I found your very inspiring blog while searching for a seemingly elusive item to help get me organized: a pretty zippered 3-ring binder folio. Your list of attractive, modern 3-ring binders was great - and I was really hoping to find one that zippered around. My ideal would be that it would also have a carrying strap or handles. Levenger and Franklin Covey have binders that are leather, but they are so heavy and bulky even when empty; I haven't found any that are fabric-covered or another lighter material.

I love a good challenge, so I went hunting; here's what I found. School-Pak shows a number of options; there's even one with a handle, made by Case-it. Mead is the other major supplier they list.




Lillian Vernon also has zippered binders.




Colby makes a zippered 3-ring binder, but they're in Australia. (I'm not sure where the reader lives; I was assuming the USA, but I could well be mistaken.)




The FlyLady sells an Office in a Bag which will accommodate a 3-ring binder, but doesn't include one. There are any number of lightweight binders you could use with this.




Finally, here's another option to consider - not a zippered binder, but maybe something that would work anyway. The UniKeep Binders are fully enclosed and lightweight, and come in a range of colors.

Hide Your Jewelry Behind a Mirror

Jewelry thieves must know about these products, so I don't know how much security they provide, unless you get a locking model - and use the lock. (And I don't know how good the locks are.) If you really want theft protection, there are jewelry safes. [via organizer Kim Allman]

Still, they provide an interesting way to store jewelry, since you can put it on and then check to see how it looks. And it allows you to have jewelry easily accessible without having it all in view - a look some would prefer.

Hidden Treasures provides a number of mirror styles, and is coming out with another version this fall which is twice as long. [via Hope's Bag]




Jewelry-Closet Cabinets come in two sizes and ten different finishes. A keyed lock is available.




Another option is the freestanding mirrored jewelery cabinet. This one also has a lock. [via organizer Marcie Lovett]

Reader Question: Organizing the Earrings, Part 2

Lots of earrings, but not lots of space? Here are some more alternatives to consider - assuming, of course, that you've already determined you really do want to keep all those earrings. Options 1 and 2 were discussed yesterday; here are five more.

Option 3: Earring racks

I've noted some lovely wall-mounted racks before, but the one above accommodates more pairs than most. You can choose your style: the unusual rotating posts, the more common slotted rack, or a combination.

And while they aren't as pretty, acrylic earring racks can also work. Stacks and Stacks has some, including a folding screen that holds 128 pairs, and a different design holding 90 pairs.




For something a bit different, go over to eBay and look at the racks from Earring Angel - available in a number of colors. They can be hung, or used on a table top with the attachable feet. They are made from polycarbonate or from wrought iron.


Option 4: Commercial earring display racks



I've shown an earring display rack before, but there are many more, including this one.


Option 5: Revolving Racks



Revolving racks can be found as both commercial display racks and racks intended for the home. This is one of many offered by Sunrise Imports of Australia. You can find some similar ones over on Amazon. To see one in use, see Dayna Ngai's blog; she got hers in Singapore.

And there are earring carousels in wood, too.


Option 6: Jewelry Trays



One of the best-known brands here is Neatnix, with its stacking trays.


Option 7: One-of-a Kind Products



Finally, here's an earring holder unlike any other I've seen.

Reader Question: Organizing the Earrings, Part 1

How do you store a lot of earrings in a limited space? Let's look at two options - with more coming in the next post.

Option one: The hanging organizer, for a closet

The EarringMaster shown above has 3,582 perforations, and can be used to hold everything from posts to dangles.




Or you could use this 80-pocket jewelry organizer, which could be used for more than earrings.


Option 2: The mesh option

I've shown one of these before, and it's been noted that this is something you could make yourself, if you are handy. And the EarringMaster shown above fits into this category, too.




If you would like to buy one, here's a simple, attractive option from Paradise Hill Designs. And most of the products from this Etsy seller are made from "beautifully aged reclaimed pine."




This earring holder, the InView, comes from Hawaii. It has a see-through mesh screen and a mirror-backed shadow box. There are a number of framing options, and you can get it with a plain mirror or an "island design." This one is on a stand, but I imagine they would normally be hung on the wall.




Earring Holder Gallery has lots of designs, too.




This earring holder, from Glasswear Studio on Etsy, is sort of a scroll; it comes in white or black with different colored beads.




And in a variation on the theme, this woman uses a fabric placemat, tacked to the wall, as her earring holder.

Shredders: Getting a Good One

Looking for eye-catching office products? Sorry, this isn't the post for that. (Try here or here.) But if you could use a really good shredder, read on.

A good shredder can save you a lot of frustration, as Michele explains so well.

How do you pick a good shredder? Organizer Jamie Martin has this to say:

I recommend a Fellowes brand shredder. They are the market leader. ... Two things that separate many shredders from the rest are a quiet motor and how long you can shred before the motor overheats. Fellowes is known for having many models with a quiet motor and longer shredding time. [Quoted with permission.]

Jamie used to be the product manager of shredders at Fellowes and admits she may be a bit biased - but she also knows her shredders! Here's one medium-use shredder she's pointed her fellow organizers to; besides being a cross-cut shredder (a must) with a pull-out bin and credit card shredding capability, she notes that "it has the 'safe-sense' feature for added safety, especially needed if you have kids or pets in the house."

Personally, I've had a Fellowes shredder for years and it's worked well for me. Being older, mine doesn't have a pull-out bin; that's something I would certainly want if I were selecting a new one. I'm sure there are fine shredders made by other companies, too - but if you want to go with Fellowes, they have a shredder selector to help you find the one that's right for you. Even if you don't necessarily want a Fellowes brand, this selector may help you understand what features are available, so you can decide which ones matter to you.

You can read more recommendations at ConsumerSearch and Unclutterer.


Related Posts:
Shredders With Style
Serious Shredding
Staples MAILMATE Shredder
The Spoon Sisters
A Simple Shredder
Oddest Shredder Ever
Update: Six More Shredder Options

Storage Ottomans: Beyond the Basics

You can find storage ottomans all over the place; they're at Target, Stacks and Stacks, classic furniture stores like Thomasville, and many other places. But here are some more unusual options.

How about a moose storage ottoman? There's also a black Lab version.




Not a moose kind of person? Here's a very different storage ottoman.




Want something a bit more sedate? Here's an option from Neiman Marcus, at the kind of prices you might expect from them. [via CasaSugar]




Here's a storage ottoman designed specifically to hold shoes.




Ballard Designs has one designed specifically for file storage; there are many fabric options. Ottomanopia also has a file storage option.




And here's a storage ottoman designed to fit DVDs and other media.




Finally, this one is unusual in that it's a round storage ottoman in a sea of square and rectangular options.

Swapping Stuff: Options Galore

Do you have:

- Books, CDs, DVDs or video games you no longer want?
- Gift cards to stores you don't patronize?
- Toys your children have outgrown, or simply gotten bored with?
- Clothes you haven't worn in years - and probably never will again?

You can certainly donate them, offer them up on Freecycle, or include them in a garage sale. But another option is to swap them on one of the many web sites set up for this purpose.

All sort of stuff seems to get swapped; the items I've listed above are just some of the most common.

I've written about swapping web sites before, but now I'd like to point you to Simple Living - SF South Bay/Peninsula, where the wonderful Kathryn Benedicto maintains a list of swapping networks on the web - along with a number of other useful lists. While this Yahoo group is targeted to those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area, the swapping web sites would be equally useful to those in other parts of the country - and in many cases, in other parts of the world. And you don't need to join the group to see the list - just follow that link above.

Related Post: Now It's 18 Ways to Swap Your Stuff

[Image: PaperBackSwap logo]

Stuff the Stuffed Animals Into a Cage

Do you suffer from stuffed animal clutter? Assuming you really do want to keep all the animals, The Zoo is a novel way to do that. It makes putting them away a snap, and they are all visible and easy to pull out, too. And I love that it comes from a family business; many thanks for John Chisholm for writing and telling me about his product.

The same folks make a mudroom organizer - not quite as unusual a product, but quite nice, none the less.

Two Rants Against Goodie Bags

1. Christopher Noxon is tired of overdone children's birthday parties. His three-step plan to improve things begins this way:

Step 1. Immediate and total ban on goodie bags.

There was a time, not so long ago, when kids got genuinely excited by those little sacks of toys and do-dads given on the way out of a birthday party. That time is long gone and all those sad little bags do for us now is inspire worry about sweat shop labor and toxic plastic fumes. Kids have taken to carting off their bags with nonchalance. A ban on goodie bags will not only reduce waste - it puts the emphasis back where it belongs: the kid celebrating the actual birthday.

2. San Francisco Bay Area columnist Jon Carroll wrote about attending a charity event where he ran the auction. Here's a snippet:

On the way out, I noticed a phalanx of black bags sitting on the lawn next to the driveway. I walked a little farther, and a woman offered me one of the bags. It was, she said, their way of thanking me. Now, I can remember when someone's way of saying "thank you" was to say "thank you," and I actually preferred that method.

Do I need more stuff? Did any of the people who attended the event - who were mostly rich people, because charity organizers, like Willie Sutton, go where the money is - need more stuff? I don't think so. And yet there were the burlap-like black bags - further investigation indicated that they were made in China - to say thank you to people who, quite probably, already felt adequately thanked.

This cultural ritual is not confined to high-end charity events; children (or, rather, the parents of children) now expect a goody bag at the end of every birthday party. It's like, we invited your kid, we entertained your kid, we gave your kid lunch and some cake, and now - here's a reward for your child having to endure all that. Stuff! Because your kid does not have enough stuff.

Want to know what was in those adult goodie bags? Read the rest of the article.

Related Post:
Suggestion: Stop Giving Goodie Bags

[photo by Steel Wool / Wynnie Kwok]

The Many Uses for Over-the-Door Shoe Organizers

Over-the-door shoe organizers are available everywhere, from The Container Store to Storables to the Martha Stewart version at Target to John Lewis in the UK, where it's called an over door shoe tidy. (That picture above comes from Storables.)

While they certainly work for shoes, they can also be used for many other purposes. Here are just a few places you can read about alternative uses. Note: The clear vinyl versions would probably work better than the prettier canvas versions for these uses.

Real Simple writes about using them for gloves, spices, and office supplies.

Apartment Therapy writes about using them in the bathroom.

Lifehacker writes about using them for gadgets, cables, and wires.

CasaSugar writes about using them for amenities for a house guest.

Image Source shows them being used for cuddly toys.

Momready writes about using them for tickets, invitations, coupons and other such stuff - as well as for wrapping paper. And there are pictures showing them being used for Barbies, racing cars, stuffed animals, train tracks, art and crafts supplies, socks and underwear - and more.

Parent Hacks writes about using them on the coat closet door for gloves, scarves,hats, dog leashes, and more - and also notes they could work for sun glasses, swim goggles and such.

AL on Associated Content writes about using them for hair supplies, bath supplies, computer items, office supplies, small toys, and more.

eHow writes about using them for winter stuff (such as hats and gloves), gift-wrapping supplies, cleaning supplies and more.

And Thrifty Fun has a wealth of ideas about what can be stored in these shoe organizers: beanie babies, dog supplies (sweaters, leashes, bandannas), socks, jewelry, and much more.

In Honor of My Mom: Organizing in Blue

My mom's favorite color was blue. I'd tease her sometimes, saying I'd give her a hint as to her birthday gift: It was blue. Mom died a year ago today, so I thought I'd share some blue organizing products in memory of her.

Let's start out with one my mom would have really liked: the keepsake box shown above.




Mom would have liked this handmade bird-shaped lacquer box, too. (But she wouldn't have approved of the price; Mom was frugal.)




Mom wasn't much of a cook, but she'd have liked the color on this utensil holder.




Staying in the kitchen for a minute, there's this enameled tin tea canister.




As with most moms, mine cherished her photographs. Here's an album in her favorite color. You can find another blue flowered photo album here.




And here's a photo storage box with a bit of blue for the accent color. Light Impressions also has a nice archival photo box in blue (and other colors).




I found some stunning blue baskets a while ago; here's another option, the first simple blue wicker basket I found.




Then I discovered that Longaberger has a blue basket, too.




Moving over to Etsy, always a fun place to look for containers, there's this blue and white fabric box from Storyshop.




If you live in the UK, you could get these hat boxes.




And then there's the blue furniture. Maine Cottage has many different cases and a large selection of colors available for all of them - so finding something blue is easy. Other places with lots of options are Sawdust City and A Colorful Place.




Moving beyond the wood furniture, there's this blue locker.




And coming back to wood with an ending flourish, take a look at this cabinet by Avner Zabari.

7 More Wastebaskets You Won't Find Just Anywhere

I've written about wastebaskets before, but it's time for an update. Want a wastebasket with some style? Here's one option, an Italian design.




Annie Modica makes a variety of decoupage wastebaskets; this one was my favorite.




Keeping with the ocean motif for a minute, here's a Talavera pottery wastebasket.




This willow wastepaper basket comes from the U.K.




This colorful Mexican wastepaper basket is sold by a shop in London. There are seven color choices.




And here's one of made from mango wood!




Want your wastebasket to perfectly match the room's decor? Cubbins & Co. will make a wastebasket covered in your own fabric. [via The New York Times]

Randy Pausch Teaches Us about Decluttering

You've got pancreatic cancer - and a collection of huge stuffed animals won at carnival games. Winning stuffed animals was one of your childhood dreams, but childhood is long gone and now they are leaking styrofoam beads - not good when you have an 18-month-old. What do you do with them?

If you're Randy Pausch, you give them away. Here's an excerpt from his book, The Last Lecture - talking about something he did during his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon.

I don't need these trophies anymore. And although I know my wife loved the stuffed bear I'd hung in her office when we were courting, three children later, she doesn't want an army of them cluttering up our new house. ...

I knew that if I kept the stuffed animals, someday Jai [his wife] would be calling Goodwill and saying, "Take them away!" ... or worse, feeling she couldn't! ...

And so once they were lined up on stage, I announced: "Anybody who would like a piece of me at the end of this, feel free to come up and take a bear. First come, first served."

[photo by smcgee / Sarah - not a picture of Randy Pausch]

A Reader Shares Her Pencil Cup (and I Find 10 More)

Look at this mug serving as a pencil cup! This belongs to professional organizer Lissanne Oliver, who writes, "I LOVE THIS MUG!" and tells us it's an art piece (2005) by Barbara Kruger. This photo shows both sides of the mug; Lissanne used to have two of them. (I found this mug online one place, but it's sold out.)

Anyone else want to send me a picture of their pencil/pen cup? I'll be glad to publish some more pictures from my readers!

In the meantime, here are some more notable pencil cups I missed the first time around.




Here's an interesting example of reuse - a pen and pencil holder made from old floppy disks. Sold by GeekGear, it's available in a number of colors. [via Apartment Therapy Unplugged]




Continuing on the geeky theme, here's a combination pen holder and USB hub.




This is a simple (but fun) pencil cup (or desk tidy, if your prefer).




For a simple, elegant look, you could go with pewter.




Or go with a different metal, copper.




Continuing on the elegant look, there's a Waterford crystal pen holder.




Moving on, here's a Knights Templar Helmet pen cup (shown with Knights of the Realm pens).




And here's a dragon.




Like dragons, but don't like that holder? Here's another dragon pen holder with a very different look.




And here's a pencil cup that might suit those with a travel bug.

Cluck! Oink! Baa! Containers with a Barnyard Animal Motif

Shlomit Flexer is a ceramic artist whose work I've just found - what fun!




Here's another piece by Shlomit.




For a totally different aesthetic, there's this pig pile crate.




And here's a q-tip holder shaped like a lamb. [via Babygadget]




Marilyn's Light House Crafts has buckets with roosters and with cows.




Roosters are a popular motif - here's a rooster wastebasket. Shaker Workshops also was a rooster mail holder.




Want the whole barnyard? There's this canister set.




Looking for something small? Have some money to spare? Look at the Limoges trinket boxes.

12 Pencil Cups with Personality

While I just use a favorite mug for my pencil cup, there are some lovely options out there for those who want a "real" pencil cup. There are options in many materials, from many countries; here are just a few examples.




You can get one made from Japanese paper - and it folds flat for storage.




Or you could get a beaded pencil cup from Kenya.




This silk-covered pencil holder comes from Cambodia.




And this one is made from Japanese newspapers.




Here's a very different look, from Boutique pilepoil in France.




And here's an Italian design, from Danese Milano.




You can get one made from maple (plus a number of other woods).




Or you could get one made from myrtlewood. And there are other wood options here and here.




This glass pen cup looks stunning - and expensive.




This Nantucket basket pencil holder has a ceramic liner. [via Dose of Design]




This lovely option comes to us from Pierre Deux; it's also available in green and red.




Finally, over on Etsy, botanicraft has some stoneware pencil cups well worth a look.

What Kind of Junk Mail Recipient Are You?

Swimming in junk mail? Here are three ways of dealing with it.

1. The practical way.

Recycle it, and get off the mailing lists! If you're in the U.S., here's how. (There are tips for those in Canada and the U.K., too.)

2. The revengeful way.

I first saw this suggested back in 2001 by Jon Carroll, who shared an idea from two of his readers about handling junk mail advertisements:

Most of these include the ever-familiar "business reply mail" envelope. A little research and we confirmed our happy suspicion: If this envelope is returned, the advertiser that sent it must pay postage on it, but they do not pay postage if the envelope is not returned. It does not matter if the sent envelope is empty -- postage is still paid.

So now, before throwing away our junk mail, we remove the business reply envelope, seal it up and drop it in the mail.

More recently, Danny Seo wrote about his own junk mail revenge:

So, I figure if they are sending me these mailing unsolicited, then I can send it right back to them in their own envelope unsolicited, too. I basically stuff those envelopes with everything they sent me and drop it in the mail.

And just a few days ago, L.A. en vie directed me to Send Them Back (which goes a bit overboard at the end).


3. The creative way.

If you're Gretchen in Minneapolis, you create Junk Mail Gems. That's the company's scratch paper storage box above.

Related Post: Junk Mail Management, Dutch Style

But Those Old Baby Clothes are So Cute! And Sentimental!

Children's clothing can be so darling - and of course many items bring back wonderful memories.

One mother who couldn't bear to part with the clothes she made for her little girl is planning to hang them on cute hangers and using them as room decorations.




And you can also have those children's clothes turned into a quilt; you can either make the quilt yourself or send off the clothes and have it made for you. [via Planet Green and Cool Mom Picks]




But maybe you'd get even more happiness from giving (at least some of them) them away (or lending them out) so another little child could wear then - giving them to a relative, a neighbor, a friend, or even a stranger on Freecycle. You could always take a photo first to serve as a memento. [photo from Oobi]

[First photo by Green Kitchen / Michelle]

Related post:
Four Options for the Old T-Shirt

Organizing the Passwords

Passwords for your computer, your e-mail, your on-line banking, your on-line purchases (one for each company), your on-line subscriptions - it goes on and on. And then there are the PINs for your bank cards, too.

How do you organize all of this confidential information? There are a number of places to store the information, some better than others, including:

1. In your head.

2. On little sticky notes on the side of your computer.

3. On little sticky notes all over the place.

4. On paper, in some organized fashion.

5. On your computer, in a text file or a spreadsheet. The file may or may not have a password of its own, and may or may not be encrypted.

6. On your computer, using a password management program.

7. On another computer that you access through the internet.

In looking for expert advice to share with you, I came across this recommendation from security expert Bruce Schneier:

You can't memorize good enough passwords any more, so don't bother. Create long random passwords, and write them down. Store them in your wallet, or in a program like Password Safe. Guard them as you would your cash. Don't let Web browsers store passwords for you. Don't transmit passwords (or PINs) in unencrypted e-mail and Web forms. Assume that all PINs can be easily broken, and plan accordingly.

(If you're really interested in this topic, you might want to read the comments regarding this advice.)




If you'd like to go with option #4, you could try using the Internet Password Organizer. Innovention Lab was kind enough to send me copies for my evaluation, and the quality seems to be quite good. Another similar product (that I haven't yet seen) is the Password Directory; it seems to have a soft cover rather than the hard cover on the Internet Password Organizer. To add an additional level of security, you could follow the suggestions from Paul Theodoropoulos regarding obfuscating the passwords when you write them down.

May 2008 Organizing Tips and More

My May newsletter is now available.

Tip of the Month: The KISS Principle

Book of the Month: The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker

Also included: Quotes of the Month