Right Brainers Rule Month #2

Try out a Right Brain approach you haven't tried before.
Organize books by color insted of by subject or alphabetical.

This is my shelf of organizing books - I still like to keep them by category.
Other people have organized entire book collections by color. (2nd photo from flickr)

When your brain thinks that way.
If you search for a book by its blue jacket, then you probably think by color. I do that.

I also think in categories simultaneously so it helps me to sort by topic first, and then sort by color.

If you like the look, try it! Let me know how you like it.
-- allison

organizer@theprofessionalorganizer.com

Pink - It's the little things in life

Sometimes it's the little splashes of color that make organizing fun.

Now you can add some brightness to ordinary filing and help a cause. Pink folders and boxes and hanging files are available now at your local office supply store. (I got mine at Office Max - new NAPO Associate Member). It cheers me up to see pink and know I'm helping out.

Thank you Pendaflex for the nice design and adding the bonus: pink paper clip thingies.

When to use Color Coding

These fabu Index Chopping Boards are a perfect example of color coding outta-the-box.
* Each color MEANS something.
* The color will help you stay organized (or at least less contaminated in this case).

The color also happens to be fun for those who love a splash of color about the home and office.
You can get the index chopping boards at the Museum of Modern Art online store.

Color Coding vs. Using Color

Creative, visual, sparkly people love to use lots of color when organizing. (like colorful paper trays)
And there are lots of people who recommend color coding methods to stay organized.
The two are not the same thing.
Using color is not the same as color coding.

Color coding is making color significant and giving it meaning.
It is usually done in order to separate parts of your life and make the sections easily identifiable at a glance.
For instance: my home files are purple and my business files are orange. Or if using desk trays: green for to-do, blue for to file, white for in-box, etc.

Using color is when you add a dose of color to make a boring situation less boring. Or even to make it exciting! Weeeeee, colored paper trays!

I love using color and patterned products to jazz things up.

And I don't recommend doing much color coding for most of my clients and I'll tell you why.
I think it is just more difficult to keep up.
Maintenance is usually a challenge for right brainers (and many moooooorrrre).
When you color code, you then have to keep a stockpile of those colored things around and store them.
It means having a stack of colored files in all your colors so you have some when you need a new one.
It means colored pens for the calendar (withing reach).
It may mean colored towels, colored notebooks, and on and on.
No problem for the organized lefties.
For us righties - you gotta be kidding.
Does color coding work for many? Sure. I'm not saying it doesn't work. It's just more work.

My mother had an organizer (she has actually had 9 now, including me) and this organizer had her compartmentalize her office and do special labels for the files to color code them. Now she is chronically disorganized with paper. So organizing them in a complicated way is, well, too complicated. She had to hunt down those special labels every time she wanted to make a new file. Looking for the labels was enough to make me stop and say hmmmmm. Didn't the oranizer know upkeep is not her stong suit? Eventually the color coding was abandoned. She still has remnants of that original system, but now she just writes on the files as is (or gets her organizer to).
See a video on how to color code here

To all the Righties who are not the best at maintenance, filing, putting away, complicated systems - my best advice is this: Keep it simple. If a process sounds like it takes more than one step or two easy ones, think twice about it.
Take the lid off the hamper
Use open topped bins
Keep you most used files in open carts or crates so you don't even have to open a drawer.