Blogs -- www.OnlineOrganizing.com

You Are Here: Home - Blogs

Use Your Space & Conquer Office Workflow by Heather Cocozza

No matter what your office setting, you can be organized! There are organizing solutions for every type of environment that I'll be discussing: business office at home, cubicle environment, on the road, in a private office, home office (personal), and more. My emphasis will be on paper management and use of space.

Latest Posts:


Only Check Email @ Designated Times Last month per The Washington Post article "Firms tell employees: avoid after-hours e-mails," some recognized firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Volkwagen are banning after-hours emails. As a professional organizer who consults on the topics of time management, I advise people to only check emails at designated times of the days. Do not check email 24/7, and do not check it in the bathroom like unfortunately 59% of people do. You can gain time in your day by changing your email habits: Only check email at designated times of the... Read more... posted on: 10/22/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Delegation – How to Do It Whether you're in the office or at home trying to raise responsible children to tackle chores, the following are the steps for successful delegation based on Julie Morgenstern's book Never Check Email in the Morning: Give Clear Instructions – The most important part is to describe the outcome you desire. Then provide the level of instruction you think is needed. The instruction steps of how to do the task can be more flexible. The more experienced they are, the less "how" steps are needed Be Available for Guidance – Tell them how they should approach you when they need guidance. ... Read more... posted on: 10/15/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Do You & Your Co-Workers Share Electronic Files? Do you and your co-workers share electronic files? Do you constantly have to ask them…where is that file again? Or are people always asking you…where did you save that file? What happens if someone is out sick? Do you struggle to find the right file? A File Plan for the electronic files in your office could be the solution you need. A File Plan is an approach for organizing files based upon a certain structure, providing better control, maintenance and access. It provides the design and framework for a shared filing system. It is a tool that helps staff determine where to file electronic documents and where to find them at a later point in time. It also provides a broad perspective of an... Read more... posted on: 9/24/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Naming Your Digital Files As paper is becoming less and digital is the norm, you need to name your electronic files properly so that you can easily find them. The most important elements of a filename are: Title - Clearly describes the document. Think of the user/recipient and how they might search for and retrieve the document Date - Date relevant to the document such a version date or published date Version Number - Especially important when documents are shared with others To reduce the length of your title consider using abbreviation. The following provides some examples of common... Read more... posted on: 9/17/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Finding Help on Hoarding If you are someone you know has a hoarding problem, the following steps are recommended by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee as described in their book Stuff Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things: Find a therapist with experience treating hoarding problems. Therapists who have expertise in the treatment of hoarding can be found via the following professional organizations: Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Anxiety... Read more... posted on: 9/10/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Labels for Clothing & Fabric Bins Today is one of my off-topic blogs, but it is a helpful resource for families. Some folk are going back to school and other have 3 more weeks of summer camps. Sleep-away camps always ask you to label your kid's clothes, and schools highly recommend it. Here are some options for labeling: Laundry marker – My laundry marker has lasted forever. Write your child's name on the clothing care tags. The only downside is that many children's garments no longer have a tag - the size is just imprinted on the clothing material itself. You can also write directly on the clothing; it just... Read more... posted on: 8/13/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Organizing Challenge 101: More Stuff then Storage There are many reasons why people have disorganization in their homes and offices, but one of the most common reasons is that in a particular space there is "more stuff then storage." There are two basic solutions: Reduce the Stuff If you can't or don't want to add storage units, then you must reduce the stuff in that space. To reduce the stuff, you can: Donate it Recycle it Trash it Sell it Store it elsewhere If you are not emotionally ready to let an item go, store it elsewhere in the home such as an attic or basement. If after six months you haven't seen these items or thought about these items, it may be easier... Read more... posted on: 8/6/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Olympic Organizing Do the Olympics inspire you? They inspire me! The Olympic men and women give it their all! Think about the swimmers who are at the pool at 5:00 am for practice. I know Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte were not always in the mood to practice, but they got of bed and did it anyway. They had a goal to improve their times and go for Gold. What is your organizing goal? To set-up a new system, it usually takes some extra effort but it is worth-it. Dedicate the time, make organizing a priority, push yourself a little and you'll enjoy the results! In the past if you were inspired by the "Rocky" movies about the boxer from Philly, you will enjoy this music video of the new-fighter Read more... posted on: 7/30/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Did You Back It Up We've always been told to back-up our data….do you? How often? Where is your backup? Have you begun scanning your documents and destroying the original paperwork? If so, backups are even more important. You can always backup to an external hard drive, so if your main hard drive crashes your data is still available. What if something were to physically happen to your home or office (e.g., water pipe break)? Your computer and the external hard drive could both be damaged. Backing your data up online to the cloud "internet" is a solution. These backups can be scheduled in advance to run on a regular basis. Here are four online backup companies: Read more... posted on: 7/23/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

Organizing Products for the Indecisive There are lots of reasons that people can be disorganized. One common reason is that the individual has a difficult time making decisions so they postpone the decision. If you don't make a decision about what to do with your stuff, it can become clutter. Often times a person's perfectionism will drive the indecisive. They don't have the perfect solution, so they do nothing. There are organizing products which allow you to try a solution temporary, and then remove or change it if it doesn't work to your satisfaction. The most common are the line of command hooks by 3M which allow you to put a hook up anywhere on the wall and change it later with ease. A new product in the Martha Stewart Home... Read more... posted on: 7/9/2012 8:30:00 AM by Heather Cocozza category: Business

View Earlier Posts...

Subscribe To This Blog

About Heather:

Heather Cocozza, PMP, CPO® is a Professional Organizer who organizes and designs tailored home and office solutions. She is on the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO)-WDC Board of Directors 2009-2010 and is the owner of Cocozza Organizing & Design, LLC. Prior to her organizing career, Heather Cocozza worked 13 years at IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers as an ERP Project Manager and at times traveled extensively while her "virtual" twins were between the ages of 0 to 3.

Heather's Website:

CocozzaOrgDesign.com

Great Songs

"Takin' Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Do Ya - Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
I Got a Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive
Give a Little Bit - Goo Goo Dolls