Joshua Zerkel's Custom Living Solutions - Professional Organizing & Productivity Tips

Top Back-to-School Gadgets (for Adults Too!)

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Ok, so I admit it - I love gadgets. If it has buttons, batteries, or an LCD screen, it's probably for me!

These days, everyone has a gadget of some sort. If you're sending someone off to school this fall and they need some new tech, it can be hard to separate the gadget wheat from the chaff - after all, there's so many devices to choose from!

Luckily, Time magazine has come up with a list of the top 25 gadgets for the 2009 back-to-school season. Some of Time's favorite gadgets include things like backpacks that can hold all the tech gear that's fit to carry, the latest cell phone headsets, and much more. Check it out at:

www.time.com/school_gadgets

Secrets of Straight A Students

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Readers Digest has a great set of articles on back-to-school (http://ping.fm/83LCJ), but the one that I found really interesting was on ideas for how to help set up your student for success. I personally struggled for years in school until my junior year of high school, and wish I’d had some of these tips to help me along the way! Some of the top tips include things like getting organized, which is an absolute must. Today’s students have to juggle so many tasks, and if they’re not organized it can become completely overwhelming. Work with your student to find a system for keeping track of their homework, their reading, extracurricular activities, chores, and so on. While it can seem like work setting something like this up, it will definitely pay dividends during the school year and beyond. If your student is a techie, there are applications for many mobile phones (including the iPhone) that can keep track of homework and tasks.

Another great idea, one which I’d wish I’d discovered earlier in life, is to take a speed-reading course. I was skeptical of speed-reading for years, but once I actually took a seminar on it, I was sold. I was under the impression that by speed reading, I’d miss lots of things because I’d be skimming everything, but in reality this was not the case. Instead, my reading speed and my comprehension increased dramatically. Being able to quickly read, understand, and absorb lots of information can be super-helpful when a student has many things they need to read for a class. And I have to say, I love reading, and speed reading for me didn’t take away the joy of reading at all. This is actually something that both parents and their kids can learn together – it’s a skill everyone can benefit from.

Back to School Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:09:00 +0000

Back to school can also be looked at as a time to remind ourselves how important continuing education is. I know for many people once they are done with school, they are DONE and kind of give up on learning after that, which I think is kind of a shame. It’s so nice to find a topic that you’re interested in and then rediscover the joy of learning that way, rather than when topics were forced on you or required for a degree. There are a ton of low-cost resources to help you re-ignite the passion for learning. One of my favorites is to take classes at your local community college. These are fantastic resources for classes on just about any topic you can think of, and for very, very little money. One year I took a semester-length healthy cooking class for $20 – including the cost of food. What a deal! Another way to learn is to find free webcasts from top universities. For instance, Berkeley offers videos of many classes, completely free.

If you’re looking to learn something a little more practical and less scholarly, the website eHow has how-to guides on thousands of different topics, on everything from how to make your PC perform better, to how to get the smoke odor out of clothes. It’s definitely worth checking out!

http://ping.fm/mCF93
http://ping.fm/0jIo9

Top Home-based Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:36:00 +0000

Making more money is on a lot of people’s minds right now, and if you have some free time it might be a good idea to look at home-based businesses you can start.

Entrepreneur Magazine has just put together a fantastic list of the 55 best businesses you can start from home for under $5000. Included in their list are professions like consulting, writing, editing, professional organizing, and some unexpected ones, like eBay Assistant, home energy auditor, and event planner.

If you are thinking about starting a home based business, it’s a great idea to check out your local Small Business Administration office – which is a government agency that helps small businesses by providing education and access to resources.

http://ping.fm/cjxPg

Quick Organizing Tip - The Goes Elsewhere Bin

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:56:00 +0000

In every home and office, no matter how large or small, there’s always stuff to be put away – you know, the things that somehow end up in rooms where they don’t really belong. These things end up becoming clutter, especially if they don’t get put away. One of the core principles of getting and staying organized is to make sure that all your stuff has a home – homeless stuff definitely becomes clutter. Sometimes, that home can be temporary, kind of like a way station for stuff while it’s waiting to be put away elsewhere. What I recommend creating in every room in your home or office where clutter collects is a “goes elsewhere” bin or box. Essentially, this is a place to put all those things that don’t belong in a given room, and collects the in one container. Having them all in one spot makes it easy to grab the bin, walk around your space, and put things in their proper homes.

Easy Ways to Backup Your Data

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:07:00 +0000

I can’t stress enough how important it is to back up any information you have on the computers that your family uses. If you’re backing up to a CD or a flash drive once in awhile, that’s a start – but there’s an easier way. What I recommend to my organizing clients now is that they sign up for an online backup service, which keeps your computer backed up all the time. How this works is this: when your computer is idle, little bits of data are sent securely over the internet to an offsite storage company. They keep your data safe, and in the event of a computer disaster, you can download all your data from their server. What’s great about this is that you don’t have to do anything – it works automatically in the background. The price is right too - the first 2GB are free, and then it's $5 per computer per month for unlimited data storage.

Mozy - http://bit.ly/At7sb

Syncing Your Data Across Multiple Computers

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Like many of you, I have more than one computer - in my case, a laptop and a netbook. Copying files over my network or via USB to try to keep files I'm working on was starting to become a pain, so I started looking for other solutions. My new favorite services are ones where you can specify files that you want to be available to you everywhere - on all your computers, as well as via the web. What's great about this is that there's multiple backups of your data, which is always a great thing to have.

I've personally been using DropBox, which creates a folder on your computers where you simply drag and drop the files you want to stay synchronized across all your computers - it really couldn't be easier. I've been testing and using DropBox extensively with my currently active documents, and also things I just want to have handy on all my computers (frequently used documents, RoboForm password data, etc.). It's been AWESOME, and it's free for up to 2 gigs of data.

Check it out at: http://bit.ly/429EU

Customizing Firefox to Save Money

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:10:00 +0000

My browser of choice is Firefox - it's fast, open-source, and almost infinitely customizable. As with any of our tools, it's great when they can be customized to meet our needs, and Firefox definitely can be customized a zillion different ways. For instance, I use the Evernote Web Clipper extensively to take notes on sites that I want to visit but not bookmark, and that's just one of the many productivity extensions available for Firefox.

A more fun way to customize Firefox is to download one of the many extensions that can help you save money while shopping online. I use RetailMeNot, but there are many other extensions also designed to help you find discounts online. Check out this comprehensive list:

http://ping.fm/SzfRL

Can a Watch Give Me More Time?

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:48:00 +0000

This special watch, the SleepTracker, is supposed to monitor your sleep cycle, waking you at just the optimal time so you awake feeling rested. This might even be BEFORE your regular alarm goes off - giving you a few extra minutes of awake time. Pretty cool, I wonder if it works! check it out:

http://ping.fm/fgecg

Product Review: Rubbermaid Easy-Find Lids System

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:42:00 +0000

I love fresh produce, and frequently buy from my local farmers market. Of course, since most of the items there are organic, they can sometimes not last as long as the ones purchased in a typical supermarket. I’m always looking for ways to make my produce last as long as possible – I hate waste! In my quest to make my food fresh, I use a lot of food storage systems to try to make things last. I also use food storage containers for alternate uses in the office, such as storing supplies, cables, and small electronics.

I recently ran into the folks over at Rubbermaid at a NAPO conference, and they sent me a set of their new Easy-Find Lids food storage system to check out. What’s nice about this system is that even though the containers come in various sizes and styles, the lids are interchangeable, so you won’t have to spend time searching your drawers or cupboards trying to find the right lid, which is incredibly annoying. This particular system comes in a variety of styles, including ones that are designed to resist stains (Premier), and ones that have Fort Knox-style snap-on lids that are designed to snap on and stay in place (Lock-Its).

My favorite containers in the set I was sent are the Produce Savers, which are pretty smart. These include a small tray that goes in the bottom of each container, which is designed to raise up your produce and separate it from any moisture or liquid. Additionally, the lids have tiny holes that are designed to let air in. These two features can help keep your produce fresh longer, which in my experience, they did.

A couple of extra features that are part of the Easy-Find Lid system is that when you stack the containers, the bottom of each container snaps into the lid of the one below it, which can help keep them tidy. When you open a container, you can also snap it’s lid onto the bottom during use, which I thought was pretty clever.

I do have a couple of minor gripes with this system. Even though the empty containers are all stackable and fit together nicely, the lids don’t snap or stack together. It would have been nice for the lids to interlock in some way. Also, some of the lids are hard to snap onto the actual containers – some of them, specifically the Premier, I had to work to get on and off.

While the whole Easy-Find system is pretty cool and can definitely save time and frustration in the kitchen and elsewhere, the Produce Savers are the stars in my book.

http://bit.ly/omhV9

Save Time and Boost Productivity by Bypassing Phone Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:57:00 +0000

Remember the days when you would call a company's 1-800 number for customer service, and on your first try you'd reach an actual human? Well, by and large those days are long over. Instead of reaching a person, you're far more likely to get stuck in a version of "press 1 for this, press 2 for that" phone tree hell. It's frustrating, and a major time waster!

I'm always looking for ways to save time for both my organizing clients and myself, and time spent on phone trees is not time well spent. There are several services that say they can help you skip directly to a human. Two favorites - www.gethuman.com and www.fonolo.com - give them a try and let me know what you think!

KangaRoom Storage - Big Warehouse Discount

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:29:00 +0000

If you're going to be in San Francisco, swing by the KangaRoom Storage store by the ballpark. They are offering 20% off their entire inventory of organizing supplies and solutions if you purchase at their store (instead of online). I've consulted with them on some of their product designs, and they have some pretty cool stuff. I especially like their line of cord/cable management solutions.

Location: 360 Langton Street, Suite 105, San Francisco, CA 94103

Check them out at www.kangaroomstorage.com

NAPO 2009 Conference Follow-up - The Neat Company

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:53:00 +0000

The Neat Company had a strong presence at this year's NAPO annual conference, both as a presenting sponsor and with a large expo booth. I really like their products for scanning and managing paper, and I both use their products in my own office, and I frequently recommend them to clients as well. At the show, they debuted the Mac version of NeatDesk, a high-speed desktop scanner than can accept a variety of documents, including papers, receipts, and business cards, and can scan them directly to PDF or into the NeatWorks software (basically a database for your paper documents). I've been using the PC version of NeatDesk since it's beta last year, and I like it a lot. I'm glad I can start recommending it to my Mac clients now!

The quality and the design of Neat's hardware, such as the NeatReceipts and NeatDesk scanners, are really great - very sleek design and solidly built. I also like how well the optical character recognition works in the scanning software, which makes it easy to search for your documents later. The only thing missing is an online database, so you could access your scanned documents from anywhere - but I hear that may be in the works for the future... hopefully!

If you haven't seen their products before, check out The Neat Company at http://www.neatco.com.

They also won best technology of the show for Neat Desk.

NAPO 2009 Annual Conference Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:07:00 +0000

I spent last week in Orlando at the 2009 Annual Conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). This was my fourth NAPO national conference, and it was a good one for me. There were so many opportunities for learning and continuing my organizing education. I always like to add new tools to my toolbox! In particular, I attended workshops on assessing the needs of business clients and strategies for tracking their progress towards their organizing and productivity goals, new time management tools and strategies, email management, and more. I'll be able to serve my clients even better with these new skill sets.

A big milestone for me: I was a speaker on the very popular "Ask the Organizer" panel discussion, where veteran organizers field questions on a variety of topics from an audience of four or five hundred other (many newer) organizers. This panel is usually one of the best-attended at the conference. I had a great time with my fellow panelists, all of whom I respect very much, and the audience really gave us some meaty questions to respond to. I'd never spoken at any NAPO conference up until that point, and it was a real treat to be able to share what I've learned along with way with my colleagues.

In the expo hall, along with the various organizing doodads and gizmos, a big presence was felt by companies offering tools and services to manage paper via scanning. The heavy hitter The Neat Company (www.neatco.com) had organizers flocking to their booth for their high-quality scanner/software combinations, along with upstarts Pixily (http://ping.fm/iiZAY) and XamBox (www.xamance.com). I'll post more about each of these services, along with some other great expo finds, soon in a series of follow-ups.

One of the best outcomes of any NAPO conference is the great professional and personal connections. It's great to reconnect with old NAPO pals, and extra fun to make new ones. I had the pleasure of meeting organizers from all over the country, and across the world, from places as far-flung as Australia and Japan. I'm already looking forward to next year's conference in Columbus!

Knoll Furniture Sale in San Francisco May 1-10

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:46:00 +0000

If you like your home or office not just organized, but also slick and stylish, the Knoll brand of mid-century modern furnishings is probably your friend. I love this stuff, but it can be quite pricey!

If you happen to be in San Francisco May 1-10, check out the Zinc Details store, where they will be having a 15% off sale on the entire Knoll line. Learn more at http://www.zincdetails.com/ht/events.htm

101 Quick Success Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:48:00 +0000

Some of you may have heard of www.selfgrowth.com, the internet’s foremost destination for self-improvement and generally living your best life. David Riklan, the founder of www.selfgrowth.com, has compiled 101 of today’s greatest success secrets of our time, and is offering them up in a $15 bundle, which includes all the tips and a bunch of bonuses.

If you’re a fan of quick organizing tips, you’d probably enjoy these quick, simple, and proven success secrets from experts in a variety of fields.

Check it out here:

http://tinyurl.com/cls-riklan

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 21:26:00 +0000

Thanks for all the organizing questions! Keep sending them in!

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:12:00 +0000

I'm currently writing some new productivity and organizing tips and articles. What topics or ideas would you like to learn more about?

Super Handy Tool - Evernote Web Clipper

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:14:00 +0000

I'm a HUGE fan of Evernote, the note-taking tool that lets you collect and organize all sorts of information. I love it so much that I regularly recommend it to clients for a variety of purposes, from simple note-taking, to organizing medical records, storing collections of information, and more.

Evernote has a very handy add-on tool called the "Evernote Web Clipper" that I'm using more and more to keep track of sites I've visited or information I've found, but may not necessarily want to add as a bookmark or favorite in my web browser. The Web Clipper adds a button to your browser which lets you instantly take an entire web page and save it directly to your (free) Evernote account. One way I use is to prepare for travel. For instance, I can visit a bunch of web pages related to Las Vegas - restaurants, attractions, shows, etc. - and add them to a "Vegas, Baby" notebook in Evernote. That way, when I'm ready for my trip, all the information about my destination is in one place!

Check out the Evernote Web Clipper at http://evernote.com/about/download/#a-webclipper

__
Joshua Zerkel

Certified Professional Organizer ®
President, National Association of Professional Organizers,
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Custom Living Solutions
"...for the way you want to live"

Web: www.customlivingsolutions.com

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel: (415) 830-6345 | Fax (360) 364-8728

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:23:00 +0000

Big savings on Univenture eco-friendly organizing binders and tools http://ping.fm/FZGj2 - use code APP559R - pls retweet!

Great Article on the Brains of Spenders vs. Savers

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:40:00 +0000

In my world as a Professional Organizer, I work with many clients who have what they feel is a lot of stuff - most of the time, they feel like what they have is too much.

Part of how people accumulate things is via shopping. For some, shopping is a chore, while for others, it's a competetive sport! In all seriousness, shopping - and compulsive shopping in particular -
can end up creating lots of clutter and land people in debt.

I just came across a very interesting article on the recently
discovered differences in brain activity between people who tend to
spend versus those who tend not to. You can read it at:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/brain-shopping.htm

--
Joshua Zerkel
Certified Professional Organizer (R)
President, National Association of Professional Organizers, San
Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Custom Living Solutions
"...for the way you want to live"

Web: www.customlivingsolutions.com

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com
Tel (415) 830-6345 | Fax (360) 364-8728

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com

Would You Like Your Email Read to You?

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Well, with the volume of email I read, sometimes I think it would be nice for someone to read my messages to me instead of staring at the computer screen. I was at Macworld recently, and came across a company called Voice on the Go, who sells a monthly service that does just that, and more.

Voice on the Go will read your email to you, then let you respond with your voice, which sounds pretty cool. I assumed that the service did some sort of voice recognition or transcription, but it doesn't -instead, it records your voice-based email reply and attaches it to your message as an attachment, so your recipient can listen to your response. Could be neat, or could be annoying, depending on your recipient's point of view, I suppose.

The monthly service is under $10, and has a bunch of features not listed here. Learn more at:
http://www.voiceonthego.com/

--Joshua Zerkel

Certified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter

Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

Comprehensive List of Online Storage Services

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:19:00 +0000

There are tons of services and sites out there that let you upload,store, and sometimes share your important documents. When you storethings online, it's easy to access your files from virtually anywhereyou have web access - no need to worry about carrying a flash drive ora cd. To get an idea of the various services available, check out thiscomprehensive list:

http://www.businesscreditcards.com/bootstrapper/no-more-filing-cabinet-25-online-filing-systems-for-web-workers/

And of course, big players not on the list are Microsoft's Liveservice and Google Docs, which both provide some document upload andsharing features.

--Joshua ZerkelCertified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter
Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers:

http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

This is Your Brain on the Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:33:00 +0000

I've often wished that I could get my computer to think the way I do,and organize information within my mind's own paradigm, but by andlarge computers force us to adapt our way of thinking to how they havebeen designed. Sure, there are many ways to customize your preferencesand get things more to your liking, but beyond that, the computer isessentially meant to be used a certain way.

While at Macworld, I found an interesting little application that wastucked away in one of the show's corners, called PersonalBrain. Thisprogram lets you create mind maps that are as large or small as youlike, and lets you attach files, images, web pages, and more to yourindividual "thoughts" - thus linking your files in a way that feelsnatural to how you'd think about them (a basic tenet of organizing).Pretty neat.

PersonalBrain comes in both paid and free versions.

Check it out at http://www.thebrain.com/

--Joshua ZerkelCertified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers:

http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

How Much Money are You Losing Because of Disorganization?

noreply@blogger.com (Joshua Zerkel) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:13:00 +0000

Boost Your Revenue Earning Potential – Get Organized With Custom Living Solutions

Imagine staring each week with an empty email inbox and a clear desk. How productive could you be if clutter wasn’t in your way?

Let Custom Living Solutions demonstrate how custom-tailored and functional working systems can help you achieve greater bottom line results. Register for a complimentary, 20-minute phone assessment today at www.customlivingsolutions.com/freeassessment.htm and together we will:

Discover your greatest work inefficiencies
Identify opportunities to improve your work environment
Develop ideas for strategies to keep you on track

In addition to the FREE assessment, we will include a one year subscription to the Custom Living Solutions newsletter delivered to your inbox and a downloadable audio file of my teleseminar, “Clear Your Clutter, Increase Your Revenue: The 5 Essential Systems Every Small Business Needs To Gain More Freedom and More Income in Less than 30 Days.”