After three takes, I finally have the first video for Organization for Less! In this episode I discuss what I use to organize my office supplies, which will also apply to your craft supplies. I hope you like you and I don’t sound like a goof. This is my first time doing something like this and I’m hoping videos from here on out will be a little smoother. Click the link below to video the video via YouTube!
If you own and collect any movies you know they do take up space. If you have quite a few, like me, you know the space you store your movies will diminish sooner or later. I had a huge bookcase with five shelves. It no longer can house my movies because there just isn’t enough room anymore.
I don’t have a huge collection, but I do have over 200 movies (and counting). When you store movies in their original boxes it all adds up, especially if you own collector sets. I’m talking collection sets such has The Nightmare on Elm Street box collection (link)- big and bulky folks!
Since I love movies and like to watch one or two at least every week, and I tend to purchase one movie each month. Because of this I’ve now hit a road block: no more space for any movies. Even if I stack them on top of each other it just causes more headaches because then there is no rhyme or reason to anything. And let’s just say I’m the type of guy who doesn’t do disorganized!
I started out putting my DVDs in alphabetical order but soon realized this was not ideal. When I needed to add a DVD/Blu-Ray I would have to shift an entire row of movies to fit the one movie. What a pain!
This was the impetus for needing a better storage solution for my movies. Space is limited and I need a system where I can find a DVD in less than one minute.
The Solution
You will need the following items (items are linked to the product page). Once again, I’ve purchased my supplies at Staples because it’s my favorite office supply store. Seriously, if Staples were to close tomorrow, I would drop dead!
The first thing I did was take the labels and print out the number of slots I had in the binder. The Targus holds 256 disks so using the labels I printed 1-256. I used my printer so that it all looked uniform, but feel free to handwrite your numbers. Next, stick your labels where you want on each open slot. I numbered mine going across the first two slots, then moving down to the other two slots. My labels are in the lower left corner (see diagram and photo below).
Once you have numbered all of the slots in the binder, you are ready to place you movies in the binder. There is no need to put them in any specific order because once you have put them in the binder, there is one more step to win this battle!
Open up Microsoft Excel or the database software you use. Create a new spreadsheet and the first two columns should be created labelled “Title” and “Location”. Then add columns for information you want to add. This could be genere, the year the movie came out, etc.
(click image above for larger view)
I’m still tweaking my spreadsheet, but right now I have four columns: Title, Location, Type of Disc, Upgrade and Loaned To.
The first two columns are obvious. The one thing I did do for location was add a “1″. This is so that I know that it’s located in binder one. I’m almost ready for a second a binder, and I will mark the binder itself later when it’s time for the next one.
The “Type of Disc” column indicates if it’s a DVD or a Blu-ray movie. Next to that is the “Upgrade” column. Here I have marked which DVDs I want to upgrade to Blu-ray at a later time.
The last column for me is the “Loaned To” column. Here I can type out who I let borrow a DVD and the date I gave it to them. This way I have a record and if they seem to “forget” I can get it back. Here’s a hint. Give the DVD in a plain DVD sleeve. Don’t give them the entire DVD/Blu-ray in the original package. Print a label that reads: “This DVD/Blu-ray belongs to _________” and stick it on the back-side of the sleeve. This way the person who borrowed the disc remembers as well.
FREE DOWNLOAD
If you decided you want to organize your movies this way you can click here to download the spreadsheet that I’ve created to and customize the columns to what you need! Saving you even more time.
Once you have all your information completed in the spreadsheet it’s easy to find the movie you are looking for. On a Mac, press Command+F, and on Windows press Ctrl+F to search. Type in the movie you are looking for in the search box that comes up and hit “Search”. The movie you are looking for will come up with the information on where to find it in your binder. EASY!
Kokopelli Warriors, victory is ours! We are saving space and time. I did keep the original packaging for my movies though. This is so that if I do upgrade a DVD I have the packaging and can sell it for more of a profit.
Another thing I got out of this? An entire bookshelf to put in my utility room to store my stockpile.
Tackling That Thing We Stuff Papers In
If you have a home office you most likely have a filing cabinet. You know, that thing that most people put folders in and then just stuff papers into. I know some of you are guilty of this. If you are, please raise your hand.
Just recently, I tackled my own file cabinet. It was pretty organized because I’m an organize person Well, I try to be an organized person, but I knew I could do better.
Here are the materials that I used and re-purposed for the job. If you don’t have them at home, you can find these items at your local Staples, which I have to say is an office supply company I truly love.
Years ago I purchased hanging folders, index tabs and binder clips. I knew I wanted to better organize my files. I bought the binder clips, but wasn’t sure why I had bought them for this project. Consequently, the clips have been sitting around for years never having been used. The folders and tabs were all I thought I really needed. However, I have found a great way to better organize my files and use those binder clips that have been just sitting around.
Now, I’m sure everyone who uses this system of filing uses a folder for say one particular item (i.e. 2011 Tax Returns), writes on the tabs and the stuffs the papers in the folder and it’s a done deal.
Here is how I have my files, now organized in my two drawer file cabinet.
Top Drawer:
There are four main categories in the top drawer, which mainly holds my personal files.
Bottom Drawer:
This drawer is pretty empty, but right now holds pet information and car maintenance receipts. I’m hoping once my boyfriend gets his file cabinet that the car receipts will be moved to his. Any bills that we pay together, like the pet bills, I store in the bottom drawer.
Now, I’m sure you are wondering where the other items come into play. In the photo below you see how it all comes together.
I don’t have a separate yearly folder for each item. Instead I label the folder with the category using Microsoft Word. I create a “tab” for each. Just create a table with a border and use the dimensions of your tab. Look at your package for the correct measurements. I then cut out the printed labels and put them in the clear index tabs. For the ease of finding something, use the same font, size and put all the tabs on the left side. This way everything is readable and you are not going back and fourth to find what you are looking for.
Once you have all your tabs printed and put in place, it’s time to the the snacks of paper you put in stacks into the folders.
What I did was group each item by year. Go back into Word and here is where we are going to use the address the labels. Print the year and the category for each item on a address label. So for me I had 2004 Tax Return, 2011 Bank Statements, 2011 Pay Stubs and I did this for each year. Print out your labels.
Now take a piece of white printing paper and place the label in the upper left corner of the paper when you have it in the horizontal position. Why the upper-left? The same reason I put the tabs on the left side – ease of use and finding of documents. Take your first stack of papers (i.e. 2004 Tax Return) and place the paper with the address label on top if the documents and bind it with the binder clip. Afterward, place it in your folder marked Tax Returns. Why do I do this? I can have multiple years in one folder, saving me folders for other items I might need and best of all, saving money and not having to purchase the hanging file folders often.
For my Tax Returns I can put seven years, the amount of years you are suppose to keep. For the other folders I’m able to hold three years worth of documents. For pay stubs I keep six years worth. Since I can only fit three years worth of documents in one folder I place another folder behind the original folder, but don’t label it. For me this keeps the flow. I don’t have to stop and look at the tab that I’ve already saw. See how it’s all put together below!
As you see this is easy to do and I bet most of you have these materials already. If not, These items are very affordable, with the exception of hanging file folders, which run a little high. If you use the items the way I do, you will have plenty to keep using for other cabinets and other projects you might want to tackle.
Free Download
If you purchase the labels that I linked to, you can click here to download a Word document that I’ve created to print labels for those specific tabs! Saving you even more time.
Staples has coupons for more organization products.
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