The Dos and Don’ts of Cleaning Your Desk Drawers

No matter how neat and tidy your desktop may be, drawers always seem to get messy. It’s just so easy to shove all those miscellaneous items you collect into a single confined space. Everything from the personal: breath mints and pain reliever, to the work related: business cards and reports – all find their way into desk drawers. Problem is when you need to root around the jumbled mess for a decent working marker and can’t find one. Spring cleaning your drawers is a breeze when you keep these dos and don’ts in mind.

Do arm yourself. As long as you’re tackling your drawers, give them a thorough dusting out at the same time. Before starting, arm yourself with spray cleaner, paper towels (or old rags), rubber gloves, drawer liner and scissors. This way you won’t need to stop half way through to search for supplies.
Do empty completely. Dump every stray paperclip, staple and salt packet onto a table or even the floor so you can see the full contents. If you try to organize a drawer one item at a time, it’ll soon return to chaos. Starting with a clean slate gives you the opportunity to rethink how you use the space in general.
Don’t become emotionally attached. Many of us have a tendency to hang on to things on the off-chance we may need it again someday. This is how drawers become a muddled mess of old meeting agendas, miscellaneous promotional premiums and broken pens. Discard anything that’s out-of-date, no longer works or you haven’t used in the last year.
Do develop an organizational plan. Organize your desk drawers the way you actually use them. Maybe you use a variety of different colored markers but never use your calculator. Or you reference glossy magazines for ideas every day, but rarely need a pad of paper. The only way to organize your drawers and to keep them that way is to make them unique to you. Decide what items you’ll need regular access to and place them in the front or top drawer. Then group similar items together e.g., staples and remover next to the stapler, mechanical pencils, lead and erasers and so on. Now you can purchase desk organizers to break up drawer space into sections of various shapes and sizes. Get creative and colorful because the more appealing the drawer, the more motivated you’ll be to keep it neat.
Do designate a special place for little pieces of paper. Nothing creates more drawer disorder than tiny scraps of paper and sticky notes you’re too busy to file away. Designate a single spot for these such as a small container or envelope. Even a file folder titled “random thoughts” or “follow up items” will help tame the paper tiger.
Don’t go messy again. Now that you’ve got a place for everything it should be easier to return it to its spot. Regularly straighten the drawer’s contents and review your organizational scheme to make sure it continues to serve your needs. Readjust as needed.

When it comes to desk drawers, many of us have an out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy until we need to find something important and find plastic spoons, antacids, and other inconsequential junk in the way. A big hassle when you’re in a rush. Spending a few minutes today can save you countless time tomorrow. Start tidying up today!

Sharp Introduces Cloud Portal Office

Cloud Portal Office

is a comprehensive document storage and sharing service that provides a convenient way for you to seamlessly connect to your business content and easily share and collaborate with team members, whether remotely or during in-person conferences. You can also capture, index and archive both paper and electronic documents in a single repository. Most importantly, IT administrators can manage and control user access in order to safeguard company data.

View cloud office e-brochure here.

Connect From Virtually Anywhere

Access your documents “On-the-Go”, whether at home, on the train or in a hotel room; stay connected, and continue to work as needed. Simply said Cloud Portal Office helps maximize the productivity of an increasingly mobile workforce.

Collaborate Seamlessly

You can quickly share with individuals or groups for collaborating on projects. This is especially useful when input from multiple people is needed in order to complete a project. Cloud Portal Office makes it easy to work together on a common goal.

Conference With Confidence

Be a star in the conference room; easily accessing meeting materials. Thanks to the AQUOS BOARD™ Interactive Display System integration, you no longer have to bring your computer to present your materials; simply sign-in and have access to your folders. And when you’re done, your content doesn’t stay behind. What’s more, others can easily share files for viewing with the exclusive “guest” feature.

Capture & Store Documents

Scan and index documents directly into the system. This creates a single repository for both your hardcopy and electronic files for easy retrieval from virtually any device including mobile platforms. For added conveneice you can even print PDFs and image files directly from the MFP.

Control Your Business Content

With Cloud Portal Office you have granular control of your content with enhanced folder sharing; you can set permissions by user or group and share as much or as little as you like. Designed for business, IT Administrators control access, manage users, reset passwords and more.

Sticky Notes – Full of Heart!

I don’t know about you but my desk is littered with sticky notes, even as we speak. There is not a spot in my work area that is safe from these sticky little guys. As a matter of fact, even the notes I have for this blog post can be found sitting next to my keyboard. See pic below.

Sure, no one else can read my rushed and frazzled chicken scratch. Nor can anyone understand the method at which I make out my notes. Sounds pretty unorganized right? Not to me! I honestly don’t think I would make it through the day without the use of my sticky little friends.

As much as we use the sticky note or post-it note (call it what you want), the invention of the post-it note was actually a mistake. A man named Spencer Silver, a scientist from 3M created the adhesive backing by mistake in 1970. He was actually trying to develop a stronger adhesive but instead created a repositionable adhesive much weaker than what 3M was already manufacturing at the time. Not being able to use his newly developed adhesive, the product went on the shelf. Luckily for us he did not discard it.

Now, fast forward six years later. Another 3M scientist, Arthur Fry,  was singing in his local church choir and had a difficult time keeping his place in his hymn book. He tried using markers but they kept falling out of the book.  Frustrated, he wished he had something sticky that would stay put without ripping the pages in his book. He soon remembered his colleague’s invention a few years earlier and coated his marker’s with the light adhesive that Spencer Silver had created. The new adhesive worked wonderfully and the rest is history. 3M began distributing the Post-It note in 1980.

With 32 years under its belly, the Post-It note has become somewhat of an icon. For years people have been finding creative and unique ways to use one of the most trusted office supplies. The shapes and colors have evolved as well with hundreds of different shapes, sizes, colors and more.

This Valentine’s Day show your office co-workers some love with a fun heart-shaped Post-It note dispenser and pink post it notes. You won’t go un-noticed!

Are you ready for the NEW YEAR?

2 things you must remember to do:

BACK UP ALL YOUR BUSINESS AND PERSONAL DATA

Back up all your important files, including images and music. This is one thing that most folks
forget to do. If we take lessons from recent hurricanes and other weather disasters where a
business or personal computer can be destroyed in a blink of an eye, the loss is not the $1000+ computer that can be replaced. What cannot be replaced is the priceless data, business/personal records, pictures and music that one compiled over years.
There are many ways to back up your system. Most common are the portable hard drives which can be kept in a fire safe in your office. For a larger enterprise, tape backup is usually the best solution. There are now also services called “Cloud backup services” where you transmit your important files to a series of highly protected server facilities with redundant systems to ensure your data is accessible at all times and fully protected.
The important thing to remember is to back up regularly and if you are using a portable device, make sure you have a fire safe where you can keep that drive safe.

REMEMBER TO SHRED ALL OLD FILES

Shredding confidential information can protect you and your business from security breaches and identity theft. Shredding will also keep you in compliance with the new HIPAA Privacy and Security regulations.

Don’t forget to shred all those unsolicited offers for credit, these can be targets for identity thieves.

When choosing a shredder, knowing how much you usually need to shred and how often, will help you purchase a unit that will do that work. The lowest cost device is not always the best solution.