Use Your Smart Phone, Email and Apps to Get Organized!

Preview this email in your browser. Bay Area Professional Organizer Stop Staring at Clutter--Get Organized with Kiera Rain Get Organized Challenge To Do This Week: Recycle ALL business cards that no longer interest you, and that are more than a year old (contact information has likely changed). Set a Timer and Spend 30 Minutes a Week (or a day if you're a business) inputting the contacts you DO want to keep. 3 Powerful Ways to Use Technology to De-Clutter Your Life On Friday, I was working with a New Client in Livermore on Office Organizing. She works for a Non-Profit and is already decently organized. She just had some paper clutter and email madness to tackle. Anyone relate to the Email Madness part? I know we all can. I was giving her so many tips and tricks to handle the paper and email insanity, I decided to do a Tips Check List for my followers. So here ya go! :-) 1.) Use Apps to Get Organized! What's ALWAYS with you these days? Your Smart Phone. You don't go anywhere without it. A recent radio talk show said that we check our smart phones on average 160x a day! SHEW! Now that's a LOT. However, it IS our lifeline these days, especially if we're a small business owner or college student or someone who likes to stay up-to-date. It's like the picture up above--the phone is now all these things in ONE. And we use it--a Lot. So use it to your advantage, and not in an addictive way, but a healthy and helpful way. *NotePad or Sticky Notes App: I am a huge no-noer on "Sticky Note Syndrome." Sticky Notes SCREAM at you all day long to do this, and do that, and that and that....and that! They are simply OVERWHELMING. Having them all over the place isn't helpful or practical either. Download a free NotePad/Sticky Notes app to put ALL of your To-Do's in ONE place.   *Simpler App. Used to be called "Multi-Edit Contacts." This app is AMAZING. It's free and small charge for professional upgrade. This handy-dandy app allows you to sync all of your networks, eliminate any duplicate info, and quickly edit your contacts. It syncs your phone contacts with your email and social media contacts--allowing you to grow your network database instantly and exponentially, without any repeating/duplicate contact info. It's especially great for those of us who have switched over phones and need to clean up the contacts. It's excellent to help small business owners grow and organize their contact lists. *Thesaurus, Dictionary, Spell Check, Calculator and Tip Calculator, Debt Monitoring, Bank Account and Credit Card Account Apps, Schedule/Calendar Apps (I recommend Cozi.com app and site)....Get Organized by adding apps like this on your smart phone. *DELETE Apps you do not like, use, or if you have another app that works better. Purge on a routine basis. *ORGANIZE your apps into categories by the scroll pages. My first page is my immediate/most used functions like: calling, photos, videos, texting, contacts, facebook, calculator, alarm/clock, NotePad, Cozi.com, Pinterest, Email, etc. My second page is all my business and finance apps. My 3rd page is Games. My 4th Page are apps I don't use that often, but still want on my phone. And that's it--no more pages to scroll through. 2.) Email Organizing *Sync your iPhone and Gmail account together. This allows you to sync your contacts, calendar, appointment reminders and much more for on the go access. *Use "The Cloud" for extra back-up. Ask a Techie Friend to explain/set it up for you. *Unsubscribe from things you do not find beneficial. *Are you sending illegitimate emails? Are you responding when there doesn't need to be a response? Are your Auto-Replies spamming people? Reference the above joke. *Use the "Delete or Delegate" Mantra. Delete it immediately if it's of no use to you, you already replied, you already took care of it. Delegate means when you open it, immediately handle it (if you can.) If the email needs a response, immediately reply--don't procrastinate. If it's an appointment reminder--make sure the information is plugged into your calendar, complete with time and address. Then delete the email. If you can't immediately handle the email, keep it in your inbox until you are able to--perhaps you are still waiting to hear back from another colleague before you can respond. *EMPTY your Spam Folder, Trash Folder and Desktop Recycle Folder religiously. Every Day. *Eliminate Email Folders that are now irrelevant or insignificant. *PURGE things in your email folders--do you REALLY need to keep it? Are you REALLY going to reference this email again? *Less is More when it comes to creating email filing folders. Make broader folder categories instead of 20 descriptive folders, then use Search. *Use Search. Search for the person's email address and even email subject when looking up a past email instead of scrolling and clicking through a bunch of emails to find the information you need. *Can you find it on Google faster than looking it up through your email folders? Don't save reference items that you can find faster on Google. 3.) Opt Out! Junk Mail, Paper, Email, Telemarketers, Memberships and Subscriptions that are slipping through your bank account.... *Further down is how to Opt of Out of Paper Junk Mail. *For email, click "unsubscribe" to ANY email/e-newsletter/subscription base/etc that you are not finding beneficial. Taking the TIME to do this, is going to save you so much time and headache down the road. If you have an abundance of emails that you want to unsubscribe from, set a timer on your smart phone for 30 minutes, and do NOTHING but Clicking Unsubscribe in that 30 minute time frame, including what's in your Spam Folder after your finish your Inbox. If you finish before 30 minutes, great! If you need more time, bust through till you finish or do another 30 minute round the next day. *For Subscriptions and Memberships, go through your bank/PayPal account, and scroll through your online bank statements--look for the small debits. $7.99 for Hulu, $9.99 for Netflix, $15.99 for yearly magazine subscription, Nook Book and Audio on Amazon subscriptions, etc. Even your Gym Membership, Apps you aren't using, memberships for your kids that are being wasted, etc. Jot down everything that comes to mind that you subscribe to/are a member of. Cancel the things that are wasting your money. *For telemarketers, don't hang up or ignore, pick up and ask the person directly to be removed from their calling list. If it's automated, push the number "7" or "9" to be automatically removed from their calling list. Try "0" to get an operator to ask to be removed if "7" or "9" don't work. I believe #7 is the most often successful. 10 Links to Opt Out of Junk Mail "Thanks Kiera Rain the Bay Area Professional Organizer for letting me know about 10 ways to opt out of JUNK MAIL! I've started the process and happy to be saving trees!"  --Susie Garcia, Nutritionist Sick of Paper Clutter? Opt Out of Junk Mailing Lists--just click on each link below and fill in your contact information and you will stop getting junk mail! It's FAST and EASY to do! You will be saving trees, protecting your identity and credit, gain more time in your day, and you'll feel way less overwhelmed by paper clutter! You can Opt of Paper Junk Mail by Clicking HERE! TIP: According to the Small Business Association (SBA), 80% of the papers we file, we never look at again or should even be keeping in the first place. Shred and Recycle! Need help tackling your office and paper clutter? Book your session here >> Book Your Organizing Sessions Now! Get Organized Before Holiday Guests Arrive! Stop Stressing Over the Mess and Clutter--Hire Kiera Rain, Bay Area Professional Organizer, to De-Clutter Your Space! Organizing Process FAQ And Pricing Schedule a Session Call Kiera Rain at 925-290-RAIN (7246) for a Free Phone Consultation! Bay Area Professional Organizer for Homes, Offices and Businesses since 2003! Serving the Entire San Francisco Bay Area 925-290-RAIN info@TheBayOrganizer.com http://www.BayAreaProfessionalOrganizer.com Fan on Facebook and Forward this email to a friend Follow on Twitter and Forward this email to a friend Copyright © 2013 Bay Area Professional Organizer 925-290-9 You are currently signed up for Organizing Tips and Tricks Email. 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