Labels for LifeLabels for Life will give tips for organizing your life, home and office.

So we’d said we’d be organizing the kitchen later. Well, here’s later.

There are a few steps one must follow in order to organize anything.

First, everything needs to come out. At this point one can discard all inessentials that are not used in the normal course of things. Discard also any spices that are not fresh any more, any food or drugs beyond their expiry dates.

This is the time to clean or freshen up drawers and shelves. Go ahead and wash out cupboards and drawers with warm, soapy water. Rinse or wipe dry, dry out and replace cupboard and drawer liners.

If you have a collection of home-made jams, jellies, preserves, pickles etc. get them all together, label them with your own fancy labels proudly claiming them as your own and display them prominently in your kitchen. Here are some samples of labels you can easily customize:

As you’re organizing, you’re sanitizing and redecorating your kitchen as well. Childproof your kitchen while you’re about it especially if your infants have just turned into toddlers or you have any toddlers visiting you often.

Banish sharp tools, chemicals, and other toxic stuff well out of reach of children. On the other hand if there are certain things in your kitchen they are allowed to use, such as the kitchen towel, paper towel, plastic mugs, napkins etc. make sure they are well within their reach.

Pots and pans, frying pans etc. can be stored near the stove. Dishes, silverware, glasses, mugs etc. can either be placed near your dishwasher for your convenience or near the eating area. To keep silverware in order use drawer dividers or cutlery racks.

Spices are best stored away from light. Store them close to the stove for cooking convenience but not on the hackneyed place over the stove. They are exposed to too much heat near the stove. Keep them in a drawer or cupboard near the stove instead.

Foods that can get infested or bad are best stored in airtight containers or plastic containers, well sealed and labeled.

Now that your kitchen is well organized, happy cooking! Enjoy your kitchen!

Monica Ricci, professional organizer, categorizes people according to their work styles. Know your work style and you’ll know how to plan and organize your work life.

She categorizes people as:

• the planner
• the perfectionist
• the go-getter
• the procrastinator

The planner sees ahead and is very well organized, reliable and has a terrific work ethic. However, thinking ahead, s/he tend to horde lots of material in case of future necessity.

One modus operandi would be to create an accordion file, or two or three and loosely categorize and file away material with labels for each eventuality. Every now and then the planner then needs to briefly glance through the labels. Whatever is no longer useful, can then be purged.

The perfectionist, too, is very work oriented and motivated. They figure they must always do everything themselves so they can do it just so. However, this can become very overwhelming. The perfectionist needs to learn to check out others who can help them in their task, grow their trust in them and start gradually delegating first small portions of the work and then larger as time goes on. With big assignments they should be able to hire outside services who they have thus checked out over a period of time and start delegating, being able to supervise and monitor the entire project eventually.

The go-getter can attract projects and is invariably very involved with various people on a wide range of stuff. They often travel in the line of work. They may have a desktop, a laptop, many to-do lists. They need to develop a system through which they can always access all the scattered information. Technology comes rushing through for such individuals. There are many products on the market that helps go-getters access their computer from remote. The NomaDesk is one such which helps a go-getter access any number of computers once s/he is granted access to it by its owner. They can swoop in and use or share software and files on the accessed computer. They don’t need to travel with all the software they normally use on their notebook. For smaller workloads there are the handy flash-drives so readily available.

For the not-so techno-friendly there’s always the good old three-ring binder with all information appropriately labeled and easily accessed from anywhere.

Lastly, the procrastinator! The procrastinator always means to do everything. The question becomes when. It is as if Time is too abstract a concept for them. They never seem to fully grasp that, “Time and tide waits for no man……” They need to transform Time in a more concrete manner. Color coded planners can help them create a timeline in the here and now. It will help them create deadlines. Larger tasks can be broken up and have a series of smaller deadlines to meet.

Thus each work type can use their own means of organization that can serve them well and help them to not only achieve their goals but get less stressed out as well.

Do you shudder when tax-time comes? Do shoeboxes of bills and receipts confront you in April? Organize yourself for tax-time all year round.

Mom and Dad at Taxtime

All is not lost. There’s still time to get ready for April 2009 without getting flustered. You can do one better for 2009 records. At the very beginning of the year grab a file folder, duly label it Tax year 2009. In you pop those DMV bills that let you claim license fees on your 1040. If you have medical bills, prescription, flex or HSA claims, pop them in or better yet, have a separate sub-folder for them. An accordion file, subcategorized with appropriate labels, is another device for all your tax papers.

If you have a home office and who doesn’t these days, have a separate file for your mortgage bills. If you claim your home office on your personal income tax it’s a sound idea to have your mortgage bills readily available. Have you made charitable contributions? Those receipts should also be safely tucked away to claim your deductions. For small business home offices you might have other claims. Do you claim a percentage of your utility bills, landscaping and gardening and other such expenses? All this paperwork should also be ready at hand.

When February rolls around, the bank will send you your mortgage annual statements. 1099s will arrive daily in the mail. All your annual stock statements will be arriving. Immediately stock them away in your 1040 file. As soon as they are all there, you can easily start on your income tax return.

Once those returns are done, you can begin to relax. Maybe for once you can actually enjoy those April showers and flowers and Spring! There’s one more chore, however. If there are credit card statements and other expenses that you couldn’t take any deductions for, if you don’t need them for anything else, do shred and discard them. Returns from previous years and back-up paperwork for them can be archived and put away so they don’t clutter up your new filing system. If you follow these simple tips, when tax-time rolls around again, you will be less stressed. With no disorganization and chaos to deal with, come tax-time you will save time and tax-time will become less taxing!

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Before organizing the entire kitchen, lets zero in on a very important aspect of the cooking paraphernalia. Let’s focus today on herbs and spices. It is very handy to store spices atop the stove. Spices are readily available when cooking and its easy to add a pinch of oregano or a dash of cayenne. However, herbs and spices deteriorate very fast especially in the presence of heat, or light or steam. It makes more sense to store them in airtight containers or tucked away in a drawer or shelf out of the sunlight.

You might want to choose a drawer or shelf right next to the stove and add an organizer such as in the picture to store your herbs and spices. Prefilled spice bottles in designer racks may look great but the spices in them may be old and offer no punch to your cooking. The wise and organized chef or cooking novice may prefer to find empty spice bottles, fill them with fresh herbs and spices of their choice and cover them with gorgeous customized labels available these days. Or you might like labels which are meant to cover your jars to further protect them from light.

Imagine your spice drawers looking like Emeril’s! It would be incentive enough to create a rush that will see you through organizing countertop, shelves and your entire kitchen!

You might want to alphabetize them. Start from the top with “anise,” “allspice,” etc. and move slowly down the alphabet to the bottom or better yet, qwertize them so your hand will automatically go to the spice or herb of your choice just like it would on your keyboard!

Credit card companies, financial institutions and others are constantly pushing everyone to save some trees and request ebills. One reason why people are reluctant is probably their limited access to digital storage. But no more. These days all sorts of storage is available in the internet “cloud.”

Digital photographs, videos, all sorts of electronic files, your daily backups can all be stored in a safe, remote location right from your own desktop. There are many advantages to this not the least of which is being invariably forced to sort through all the digital data cluttering up your hard drive, categorize them in some way, choose and pick from them and in short, get organized!

Digital storage totally bypasses the need to buy and burn and make custom labels for CDs or DVDs and store them in boxes on shelves. However, if you do choose to use CDs or DVDs make sure to label and mark them as you go. With web storage, digital information is freed from one computer and /or location. It can be accessed from almost anywhere via any internet-connected device.

Earlier this month Microsoft launched its SkyDrive service that offers 5GB of free, safe storage accessed via one’s Live ID. SkyDrive offers personal, shared and public folders which facilitates safe file-sharing with friends and family and the public at large.

Free, unlimited storage is available from MediaFire. One doesn’t need to register for this site. The site is accessed via a cookie stored in the individual’s computer. However, it is recommended that one register for their free account. This way there is no chance of unwittingly deleting the cookie and losing all one’s stored files. MediaFire, at the moment, offers unlimited uploads but each file is limited to 100 MB. MediaFire also offers safe, personal file storage and the ability to safely share files with others.

Mozy

Xdrive offers 5GB of free storage for backups. However, for under $10 a month or an annual charge of $99.50, it is possible to get 50 GB for backup of one’s personal data. Carbonite offers only paid but unlimited storage for backups. Box.net offers 1 GB for free and 5GB for a charge of $7.95 a month. Mozy Online Backup Home offers 2GB for free and unlimited storage for $4.95 a month.

Is bill-paying getting your goat? Are those staggering heaps of incoming mail lying on your kitchen table, your dining table and coffee table making you see red? Here’s a surefire way to banish them forever.

Don’t grant them a resting place in your home…..even for a minute! As soon as you pick up the day’s mail, sort them into piles that have one of the three labels, “keep,” “toss” and “ID theft”. It’ll take 30 seconds. Discard your “toss” pile and the envelopes and inserts from the rest of the mail. The “ID theft” pile consists of those invitations from credit card companies etc. You need to shred those letters immediately before tossing them away. That leaves your “keep” pile, which are mostly bills.

Use a bill paying system for your bills. Most banks now offer free billpay or choose one that does. Financial programs such as Quicken also offer this convenience for a nominal charge. Stack your bills right next to your computer. You’ll need to spend an hour or so initially to enter them into your system. You’ll need to enter your bank account number and the account number of the businesses you need to pay, you enter right off of your bill. Once you’ve set this up, you can choose to make payments once a week or once every two weeks. Most businesses, like credit card companies let you adjust your bill due date so that you can arrange to pay most of your bills on one or two sittings at your computer.

You can even set up your payments to get paid 3 or 4 days before the bill due date. Now you’ve dispensed with envelopes, stamps, bills and all that clutter that lies around till you get your check book out and pay those bills. With a click of your mouse and five minutes of your time you’ve vanquished those staggering piles of bills!

While the holidays are a few weeks away, most companies are starting to think about what gift they’ll send to clients, vendors and others. You want to send something great that your clients and vendors will enjoy. But no matter what you send – now is the time to really “wow” your clients with a great holiday message.

Personalized labels are an excellent way to send out holiday greetings to everyone while giving a nice gift. The labels can be attached to the gift. By not sending out cards, the money you save on cards and stamps can be put in your budget towards a gift. The best personalized label is one that sends out a holiday greeting that matches your company’s personal style. Some companies are very corporate and others are more buttoned down. So a formal message may appeal to one company and a more approachable message may appeal to the other one.

One of the best things about choosing personalized labels is that you are almost guaranteed to have everyone see your greeting. Whereas with a card, just a few people in the office will see it – a personalized label is seen by everyone enjoying the gift. So if you send a food related gift then everyone enjoying the gift will see the personalized label reminding everyone to have a happy holiday season.

A favorite thing with personalized labels is that this is an easy way for everyone to know who a company holiday gift is from. Where a gift can get separated from a tag or card quite quickly, a label sticks to your food related or other type of gift. This way everyone will know the gift is from you. This lets them enjoy your sense of friendliness and goodwill towards them. And they also know this gift is from your company. Many times you deal with quite a few people at a company yet only send one company gift. By choosing personalized labels, you’ll know that everyone sees this label.

There are many holiday themed accents you can choose for your personalized label. Trying fonts in holiday colors like red, green, blue, gold and silver are all ideal choices. Adding accents like snowflakes, snowmen, Christmas, Hanukah or Happy New Year items are great.

Holiday Personalized Label Tips:

Take some time choosing the best greeting. Think first who your gift will be going to. What would be the best greeting to say to them? Try to come up with several to choose from.

Choose fonts that are easy to read like Arial, Courier and Times New Roman. Fancy script fonts look pretty but often are hard for many to read. If you are getting personalized labels, you want everyone to be able to read the greeting.

Always add your company logo and try to add a few holiday accents. Try to ask the art department to make a very small and simpler version of your company logo ideal for the label. Anything representing your business should have your company logo on it. Add some fun holiday accents like snowflakes or a snowman to celebrate the holidays if appropriate.

Best tip: your label should always represent your company well. Take the time to create the best greeting and select the other accents that represent your business. A food gift will likely be put in the employee break room for everyone to share and those feelings of goodwill for your company will be felt for a long time. You want your personalized label to look attractive and represent your company well.

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Goods shipping are hollering on the phone that they have run out of shipping labels and the re-order for the new ones has not arrived.

Do you:

(a)    Tell them to write them out by hand on sticky labels;

(b)   Tell them the person who usually does the ordering has fallen into the Grand Canyon and not done the re-order;  or

(c)    Get online and find a supplier who will deliver the new shipping labels at the right quality, right price and right now!

Pretty obviously the answer is c., but when you get online you will be confronted by hundreds of thousands of print stores offering you shipping labels yesterday!

So how do you choose which supplier to fulfill the order?

To get the labels on time and looking as they should follow these tips when ordering online.

First, deal with established print and design outlets that have a physical base in the country.  Many of the internet sites are glossy fronts for overseas print companies with many offering very cheap pricing because they are based in the Far East and especially China.  Your delivery will not be seen for possibly several weeks and certainly not this week.  You can check this by looking for a physical mailing address and a landline telephone number; if the web site you have selected shows neither, avoid them and move on to the next potential supplier on your list.

Second, online purchasing is becoming more the norm than the exception.  Modern online security is very safety conscious and you are fully protected in the event of mishap.  But you do need to make sure you are dealing with a print provider who is operating a retail website and has the necessary “back-end” to provide the security.  When you are looking at a payment screen on your computer, look in the browser bar where the website address is entered – you are looking for https://websitename.com – note that little “s” after http; that means it is a secure and protected section of the site which is safe for you to use with your banking and credit card information.  If it doesn’t have this – move on to the next supplier on your list.

Third, look for customer reviews elsewhere on the internet.  Once you have found a potential supplier, simply put their name into your search engine along with something like, “customer reviews” and see what comes up.  Bad news travel fast and furious especially if the company behaves unscrupulously or badly towards customers, so in this instance, treat no news as good news though it is always assuring to read positive comments.

Fourth, if this is truly a rush order, call the company up and explain the situation to them.  Be prepared to pay a little extra for the privilege but you can also negotiate with other business that you have too.  Shipping labels are something you are going to use again and again, so be sure to ask the supplier questions such as will the price be the same for re-order and what are the minimum (and maximum) order quantities they are able to handle as well as typical turnaround times.

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I’ve always loved dogs. People always say, “There are dog people and there are cat people.” While I do like cats, I really have always gotten along so well with dogs. I worked in an office for years but my heart just wasn’t in it. It was a job…you know what I mean? But I always smiled when I came home to my dog. I think a lot of people are that way. So when my company closed in this lousy economy I took a leap of faith and started what I’d always dreamed of: a doggy daycare. I named it See Spot Run Doggy Daycare – cute right? I found the perfect storefront and several college kids to take care of dogs with me. It was perfect. Except I didn’t think about how to promote my business!

I really started to panic. I mean, I’d put so much time, money and myself into this business. But my husband said, “What about bumper stickers?” He travels a lot on the road for business and he always likes to tell me about funny bumper stickers he’s seen. He’s even called me from the road about a good one – so I realized that if my husband is looking at bumper stickers then other people are too! I placed an order that afternoon for full color bumper stickers.

It was really easy to order the bumper stickers. I added my logo of “Spot” the mascot dog and chose my font. I wanted a bright and colorful bumper sticker. I chose purple and yellow – something I knew would really get attention out there and looked fun. I added our company name and our telephone number and website url. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on those bumper stickers.

When the bumper stickers came in, I gave them to friends and family and to the clients I had. “How cute!” one of my customers said as she attached it to her convertible. I smiled as I watched her drive away. With her dog leaning out the car, it was like the perfect advertisement for my doggy daycare.

After a few days, the telephone started to ring and people and their dogs were walking in. My business picked up by 35% in just two weeks! I know it was because of those bumper stickers because I didn’t have a chance to do any other advertising. And the best thing about the bumper stickers is I didn’t have to wait for a magazine or newspaper advertisement deadline. The bumper  stickers also last and last on someone’s vehicle. I designed them to look so cute that I knew people would enjoy driving around with them!

My days are pretty busy now, walking dogs and taking care of them all day. Some people think when you run a doggy daycare that it is all fun and games but it is really a hard job sometimes. But I love it, I really do. I mean where else am I going to get to spend my entire day around all of these great dogs and make them all happy? And I think my office days are behind me.

So I’m really glad I listened to my husband about those bumper stickers. They were the easiest thing I’ve done to let people know about my doggy daycare – and at a price that simply can’t be beat!

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Winemaking became a passion when I got out of college. It was something I did for fun and friends and family really looked forward to a glass of my homemade wine. When the opportunity came to own a vineyard with my brother in law David, I jumped at the chance. We called it “Ruby Vineyards” because his wife’s name is Ruby. It’s only fair after all; he did find the vineyard and owns more than half of it.

Having our own vineyard has been exciting and we’ve just passed the first year mark for our business. We wanted to do something nice to thank our customers. We started looking at all of these elaborate thank you gifts like gourmet food baskets or engraved wine glasses – when my brother-in-law said, “Let’s make a special batch of wine, just for this one year anniversary.” That sounded really perfect. But we wanted the bottles to look different, not like our other bottles. So David found personalized labels for our wine bottles. We could add a message along with our logo and company name. It was all in full color and looked very professional. It was the perfect touch and the ideal way to say thank you to all of our customers who have stood by us for this past year.

The wine came out beautifully and David and I both knew right away this was a very special wine. We added the labels and started sending it out. On the labels we said, “Thank you for your patronage, celebrating our 1^st year. Ruby Vineyards.” Right away we started to get response. Our customers loved the wine! I actually had customers begging me to order cases of this special vintage of wine we’d created just for this purpose, something we hadn’t thought about.

The response was so strong from our Thank You wine that we’ve decided to add that vintage to our regular offerings. We call it our Anniversary Wine. I think we’ll make a different one for each year to thank our customers. From what started out as a simple idea, thanking our customers for their business has grown into an even bigger idea we hadn’t even thought of.

The personalized label was ideal because we could add a message without bothering with the fuss of a card. Both David and I were worried about what would happen if the card dropped off the bottle or somehow got lost. Then out customer wouldn’t understand why we were sending them a bottle of wine. We wanted to be 100% sure they knew we were sending this as a thank you. We also wanted to be sure they knew this was to celebrate our 1^st year in business. Both ideas worked successfully with the personalized labels that were so easy to attach to our wine bottles. They looked professional, and in full color we easily got the style we hoped to achieve.

Ruby Vineyards may be small but we are dedicated to making fine wine that people enjoy. I think that passion and enthusiasm shows with every glass. Salut and to your good health!

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