They make file folders so you can seperate paper work into re-findable groups.
I don't like getting up and chasing sompn I can't find for an hour, so I like to make work areas that allow me to reach everything I need.
A friend of mine made me a caddy out of plexi glass and PVC pipe to hold brushes, calligraphy pens, drafting brushes, rulers, colored pencils, sharpies, markers, X-actos and pounce wheels. It doesn't have a drink holder on it so I have to shove some stuff around to create a 6 inch area of table space, but hay, it works for me, hehehe!
I have to deal with folks dumping a lot of stuff on my desk, etc., when I walk out of a room. I get a table all cleaned off and beaming proudly, I'll go into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and am so looking forward to coming back in the room I just cleaned just to see how it looks! These guys always seem to find everything when you've got a cleared place to dump it, LOL.
This situation is exacerbated by the fact we have an upstairs and a downstairs. <grin>
I once knew a lady who would gather up all the "stuff" her kids dragged downstairs into sorted piles on the bottom of the stairs. She would have each person going up, take an armful upstairs.
She said she thought she was making progress, as this technique cut down the amount of trips the kids would make back downsatirs when they should have been in bed.
When she wandereed up stairs to go to bed herself, there was everything she had sent up, in one pile in the hall at the top of the stairs hehehe!
Moral of the story, make it work for you, not against you, LOL.
[ May 06, 2002, 03:27 PM: Message edited by: Linda Silver Eagle ]
posted
My best tip is to put your customers info in their file immediately. If I don't do that...I have papers all over the place. Always keep your price books and vinyl charts together in the same place each time so when somebody calls, you have everything handy. What you don't want to deal with today.....shove underneath something else to deal with another day. Write appointments on your chalk board SO YOU DON'T FORGET! (Virgos are space cadets y'know)
Posts: 3729 | From: Seattle | Registered: Sep 1999
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Phone message pads on all desks and counters. Dry erase boards for quick notes. Schedule board with all current jobs and pertinent info on it. Put tools away in the same place when you are done with it. Two of everything, one for truck one for shop. Alphabetical files for all customer work order sheets and artwork. Knives, rulers, squeegees, stabilos at every possible work station.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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The 2 most important things in my shop, other than HARDWARE & SOFTWARE, are my 2 baskets....one marked IN (for incoming jobs) and one marked OUT (ready for pickup) Everything in the IN basket has at least a 50% deposit already paid, and ready to be "manufactured". WHEN THE MERCHANSIDE IS PICKED UP AND PAID FOR, THE INVOICE LEAVES THE "out" BASKET AND GETS FILED IN A MONTHLY "PAID" FILE FOLDER. I have a "clean" room where the temp remains constant and almost dust free. That's where all the software & hardware lives. The other main room (garage size) is where everything else happens. All my substrates and like that, are in a 3rd room. This room is a mess....I DON'T CARE!
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The most invaluable tip that comes to mind is, by each and every phone, have a spiral ring notepad. Large. Date the top of each page, and start a fresh page each day.
As you jot down quick messages from the phone, draw a line through each one when they are tended to. This way, you can back flip on the pages and spot check if you've missed anything to take care of.
- you don't lose messages - messages are always easy to find, just flip back - no more bazillion sticky notes to keep together; this is neat and tidy and compact!
Other small tips:
Stackable in and out boxes. (get the clutter off the desktop fast!)
An empty lap drawer if possible. (when a customer 'pops by' and you want a tidy appearance, shove everything on the desktop in the drawer temporarily, but TAKE IT OUT right after. I've missed paying some bills by forgetting. )
A file folder for every month. Each time you make a purchase, put the receipt in the applicable folder.
A supplier binder. Have tabs for each supplier you order from. Whenever you order something, enter it in the right area. When the reciept comes, photo copy it and put a copy in right behind your order sheet for price reference later on.
posted
The white board.........I write lists on it, phone numbers, peoples names, I price things out on it, make notes & appointment and even scketch on it,.......its what keeps me organized.
can't function in clutter.....must be the Virgo in me.
-------------------- John Martin Robson Pendragon Signs & Graphics Yellowknife,NT,Canada
if it's not one thing.....it's two things Posts: 261 | From: Yellowknife, NT, Canada | Registered: Aug 2000
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Being visually oriented, I hate file folders - even colour coded ones - for work in progress (they all look the same!). They're ok in drawers, but for current projects we use clear polyethelene folders that are sealed on the bottom edge as well as along one side. That leaves the top and one edge open (works either right or left handed) for sliding in all the paperwork that accumulates with the job - the little handwritten notes, the work order, the intermediate proofs, etc. The sealed bottom keeps things from dropping out, and it's so easy to rifle through the pile of plastic folders to find the one you want. Some might call it a "job jacket", but being clear is the absolute key for me.
Anyway, I'm the queen of clutter (and accompanying disorganization); the total antithesis of Donna; so I'll be reading the other posts with interest.
Oh, actually...our vinyl is organized by colour too! We save the boxes from a 50-yd roll of vinyl, cut them down to about 2/3 the height (so you can see the colours sticking out), and put small rolls of like colours together in the box. The boxes stand up on a shelf under the work table. When the customer wants blue, we pull out the box (or 2) with the blue rolls and let them choose. Our vinyl is the only thing we're able to keep well organized. The rest of the shop looks like a cyclone hit it.
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Adrienne, I have learned that most creative folks are just not into keeping books as their minds are mostly on the hands on things. I learned some great tips from a pro that are geared to keep things simple and realistic for folks who need to be doing things other than secretarial skills.
Go to your office supply store and purchase a small hanging file holder and some hanging file folders. On the first 4 make labels for bills weeks 1 through 4. Each day as you open your mail place the bills in the appropriate forlder. For instance, if your phone bill is due the second week of the month put it there. This makes paying bills child's play. You just pull out week 2 and pay them. It will save you from procrastinating and paying only once a month causing some of them to be overdue.
The second 4 folders can be marked "Things to Do" 1 through 4. Be sure to put cold calls in one!
Another thing that works for me is filing of receipts. Why have all those separate file folders for different catagories? He told me to just throw them in a box. I went to the dollar store and purchased a plastic box with a lid. Apply a big label with the year on it and you have the darned things ready to file away into the attic after taxes! As you get receipts simply throw them unfolded into the box. They are automatically filed chronologically! Jan. is at the bottom of the box, so if you have to dig through receipts for Jan. dump the box upside down onto your weeding table!
I have learned to keep things simple because over the years I have gotten into organizing spells and have NEVER followed through. Keep it simple, realistic and natural to your habits and it will work.
-------------------- Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics 41628 River Road Ponchatoula, La.70454
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist. Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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Get 3 file folders. Label one 1-10, the second 11-20, the third 21-31. When your bills come in put them in the corresponding folder according to the date they are due. For example a bill due June 12th goes in the 11-20 folder. Sit down 3 times a month (the 1st, 10th, 20th) and write checks for everything in the folder.
A real time saver. Keeps you current on all bills.
Good post.
-------------------- Jerry Morrissey Rapid Graphics & Signs Omaha NE 402-597-3606 Posts: 92 | From: Omaha, NE. USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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i got this one from a book on how to organize yourself:
ONE datebook with addresses and notes.
everything i do goes into the one book -- it is open to today's date and all calls are logged in on todays page. all customers, vendors and contacts go into the datebook section. field notes (measurements, etc) get written into blank (or lined or graphed) pages in the book.
i don't have post-it notes, i don't have three different calendars with three different sets of appointments, i don't have two address books with different contact info... ONE, and only ONE place to look for everything.
it took a while to discipline myself, but it works great! i had a Palm Pilot for a while, but i kept ending up with paper notes that weren't in the Pilot, and computer notes that weren't in the files... and it took too much effort to combine the two all the time.
filing: after two months, the date pages get put into a ring-binder so i can refer back if needed. every new year i copy out the address section (i have it typed into the computer now, so i just spit out a new set). that way i can delete the people who don't need to be in the book any more (deadbeats, people who moved away, address changes, etc) and have the new people neatly typed so i can read it easily.
the field notes go into the customer's folder (one customer, one folder for all measurements and legal stuff). IF the folder gets too thick then individual jobs get their own folders but the basic info and a copy of the contract stay in the main folder. mostly i just weed stuff down as each new job comes in and toss out pretty much anything except the contract, measurements and materials list. (yeah, seven years from now i'll really need to know which brand of red vinyl i used on that temporary banner... right.)
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: :: Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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I personally like to keep my reciepts in separate monthly folders because my bookeeper reconciles everything monthly.
However, another twist to Kathy's way of filing reciepts is to have one of those stands with a large pin thing on your desk. Rather than a box, poke that reciept on that large pin. They stay in order and are easier to glance at while attached to the pin. ( what is that thing called anyway?!?) From that point, you can even then slip them in a monthly folder at month end for your bookeeper if need be. May be abit messy to look at, but the whole idea is fast, easy and traceable and no need to dump then resort.
Rule of thumb for paperwork; attempt to only touch the paper once. If you shove it around to 'get it out of the way', your wasting time shuffling rather than dealing with it.
Those "things are great! I use one too! I call it my 3-legged nail, LOL. should be able to call an office supply store or look in a catalogue for the latin name LOL.
I find the one spiral notebook idea a good thing. I still have the one I used when I first joined Letterheads. <grin>
I just love seeing all these nice ideas! Keep em coming folks, Adrienne has lots of time on her hands and she's a virgo too!
posted
The first thing I thought of was something I am a stickler about in our shop.
"A place for everything and everything in it's place."
Put your tools away and you can always find them when you need them. Keep the shop clean and your always ready to work. Especially when you have other people in your shop working, everybody knows if you want something it better be where it's suppose to be. It's very simple thinking but it really does save alot of time through out a work day and it keeps things from getting lost.
Dave
-------------------- Dave & Diann Kilgore Signs by Dave Wellsville, Pa signsbydave@compuserve.com
"Over 30 years signcrafting experience and still learning" Posts: 92 | From: Wellsville, Pa USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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SUPERCAT! That is the name of this awesome software I found only a few years later then I first needed it. Every 6 months or so I make a archive disc of all digital files created in 3 different design programs. Each disc is named something like "Illustrator 6-02" or "CasMate 12-01" Now with SuperCat I will create a "catalogue" which is a file that contains only the file NAME, DATE, & SIZE for each file. the catalogue is named the same as the archive disc.
When someone comes in to re-order a job done 3 or 4 years ago (or whatever) I run a catalogue search & all files created (& catalogued) in the last 6 years will be searched at once.
I am constantly amazed at how quickly I can locate a digital file these days.
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Very cool Scooter! You learn something new every day. I've always wondered what the hell it meant to spindle something!
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
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