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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Blog entries for the category Paper

Managing Family Member’s Mail

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, October 7, 2011

How to Help Teens and College Students Organize Their Mail Whether you have teens, college age kids, or adult children, you must see more and more mail arriving for them. Whether they’re test scores, credit card applications or bank statements, it’s at these ages mail starts to flood in. What do you as a parent do with their mail? Who ...

A Look Inside My Office

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, September 12, 2011

While organizing paper or home offices, how I run and organize my office normally surfaces in the conversation. To me, it really reflects what I’m all about- no nonsense, straight forward simplicity. If it works, I don’t change it and if it’s not working I get rid of it. I’m not about fancy or astetics. That&rsqu...

Working from the Kitchen

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, July 11, 2011

Stripped down version...

Criteria For Saving Paper

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, July 5, 2011

3 Viewpoints On Handling PaperWhen we boil it down, there are only three reasons to save paper. 1. I need to take action now. In this viewpoint, it’s important or critical to act and get something done. It can’t wait to be completed. There’s a deadline approaching today or this week. These items are current and worthy of your time…

Paper’s Life Cycle

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Much like other things in life. Paper has a life cycle. It isn’t meant to stay permanently and it does have a specific job for a short amount of time. When we treat paper as a family member or an antique piece of furniture that we won’t part with, it poses a probelm. So let’s take a look at the cycle a little in detail.Paper arriv...

The Most Common Clutter

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, March 3, 2011

don’t know what to keep? don’t know what’s important? don’t know what they’ll need? don’t make the time? ...

Hiding Your Command Center

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, February 28, 2011

Keeping Your Home Functional, Not UnrealisticFirst off, what’s a command center? I like to think of it as the paper hub or work station of the family. Ladies of the household (wives, moms, caregivers) are usually running these centers and are in charge of all the stuff that enters the house. It doesn’t surprise me that most women want t...

Nevermind Newspapers

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, February 10, 2011

Preventing the Newspaper Pile We can’t always read the newspaper on the day it arrives. If you get the newspapers delivered daily or if you subscribe to more than one newspaper, the pile can quickly grow. So here’s some options to consider to prevent newspaper clutter. 1. Consider subscribing online and skip the actual n...

Sorting Mail

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, September 2, 2010

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Tickler Systems

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, May 7, 2010

31 Day Tickler Filing System Managing Paper, Bills and Tasks Each day of the Month So let me be honest right from the start. I usually don’t suggest tickler systems for my clients. However, for some they do work. So today I’d like to address this system and idea. You never know. It could work for you. I have many organizer friends who ac…

Memorabilia Cases for Kids

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Sunday, April 18, 2010

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Record Retention

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, March 30, 2010

We are only a couple of weeks away before tax season culminates. I know some of you may filed an extension but if you haven’t you’re probably asking the same questions I hear often....What records do I need to keep? & How long do I need to keep records? Here are some helpful hints to start you thinking in the right direction.1.…

Taking the Mystery Out of Maintenance

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, February 9, 2010

How to Maintain Organization in Your Home OfficeWhy does it seem that just after you’ve gotten the office back under control, it falls apart so quickly? Surfaces accumulate paper again and the messy office cycle starts all over again. Of all the areas of the home I think an office or paper station/mail hub tends to relapse to disorganization …

Post It Pockets- A Real Find

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A Quick Way to Organize Paper Recently I received a promotional packet in the mail from  …

Zero Email in Your Inbox

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, August 27, 2009

At a recent meeting, a colleague mentioned InBox Zero. He recommended I watch the online video because we were chatting about all the email that piles up in our email inboxes. One woman shared she had 2,000 sitting in her inbox. Others said on average 90 or 100. I usually maintain about 15-20 max. I know email clutter is a bigger probelm than we al…

Cleaning Up for Company

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, July 24, 2009

I don’t read the Tribune newspaper every day but I almost aways enjoy reading the home and garden section every Sunday. This last Sunday I pulled it out and saw an article on cleaning up quickly before company. Most of their tips were helpful but I didn’t appreciate one. They suggested you shove paper piles into a closet if you need to …

Mail- Don’t avoid it, attack it!

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, May 1, 2009

I’ve don’t think I’ve ever met a client who enjoys getting and opening mail. Most people loathe it. Some don’t even open it and I open it for them. Having gone through stacks and stacks of mail over the last 5.5 years, I think the 80/20 rule applies- eighty percent is junk mail/ unnecessary and a waster of paper. And twenty …

Know your Patterns

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, April 29, 2009

When organizing, it’s crucial to notice what patterns you currently have, why you place things where you do, and why piles accumulate in certain spots. Then when organizing you shouldn’t change your patterns, you can change your systems around your patterns. For example, I was recently helping someone get a handle on their mail. I…

Shredding Storefront

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Sunday, April 19, 2009

Here’s a great place to drop off papers to be shredded