OrganizingLA Blog

Crush Your Clutter With PepsiNEXT and Task Rabbit

If you had an extra hour in your day, what would you do with it?

 

People are busier than ever. Recognizing that, Pepsi NEXT has partnered with productivity startup Task Rabbit to add an extra hour to your day.

How the Extra Hour Sweepstakes works

Through November 12th 2012, Pepsi NEXT fans can enter for their chance to win an “Extra Hour” at http://www.taskRabbit.com/pepsinext. Every week, 50 winners will be randomly chosen to receive a dedicated TaskRabbit to tackle errands as diverse as waiting in line for concert tickets, picking up the dry cleaning, walking a needy pet, gardening, handyman services or personal organization (organizing clutter). The TaskRabbit will even bring a Pepsi NEXT for each winner to enjoy with their new found time.
 

"A cluttered home leads to a cluttered mind. The Task Rabbit - Pepsi NEXT extra hour package includes 1 hour of organizing pantries and closets plus a PepsiNEXT."

About Task Rabbit

 

Task Rabbit operates a website and mobile app enabling people to outsource jobs and tasks to fully-vetted folks in their neighborhood. Services are currently available in Boston, San Francisco Bay Area, San Antonio, Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Orange County and New York City.OrganizingLA is not affiliated with Pepsi or Task Rabbit but we thought this was a fun clutter busting program to get involved in. We know they're using highly vetted individuals but not necessarily a National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO)-affiliated professional organizer.

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How The Big Boys Organize Their Resistors

There is an interesting New Year conversation going on at the All About Circuits forum.

 

Members are knocking around getting their electronic resistor parts under control for the New Year.  Guys have to get organized and it's not always about hunting gear you know?

 

If you're into tinkering with electronics this winter, you probably get tired of buying what you need each time, and choose to start a supply area or "kit" as some call it.

 

But as one reader says, "when you have over 150 different resistors, how do you store them? Shelves really do take too much space, and can be hard to maintain. Lord help you if you drop one and scatter the contents to the 4 winds." The parts can be very, very small.

 

The Carousel Of Computer Progress

 

Want to simplify the paper in your life? The technology of tomorrow has arrived today.

When I was 13, a birthday trip to DisneyWorld in Orlando, Florida introduced me to the World of Tomorrow and the Carousel of Progress. Carousel was a popular attraction, an exploration into the evolution of electricity and other technological innovations through the eyes of a typical family.

What really caught my imagination was a computer sitting on the kitchen island counter during the final scenes of the show. As a new teenager in 1981, I asked myself what would you possibly use a computer for in the kitchen? Recipes? You’ve got to be kidding.

 

Disney's Carousel of Progress attraction showed a laptop in the kitchen, in 1981!

Fascinating innovations have now been integrated into our daily life. Our professional organizing clients have introduced my team to simple-to-use technology solutions, like simple desktop scanning solutions. Much like the home of yesterday, our paper continues to build up today—with less time to tackle it all.

Fortunately, affordable technology is now firmly in place to help with everyday tasks. The question is; are you taking advantage of the personalization factor? I am.

I’ve been on a mission with myself, and willing clients: we’re making smart technology personal by digitizing paper around the home and small office. We started off scanning the obvious -- receipts and business cards. But now the list has now expanded. Clients are telling me they are reinventing their scanning and document cloud accounts to hold household papers and everyday necessities. Here's a list of some unusual items to scan:

Scan these items and eliminate clutter:

• Love letters
• Fortune cookie fortunes
• Prescriptions
• Wedding notes
• Old birthday cards
• Children’s artwork
• Maintenance receipts
• Old college papers
• Old pay stubs, direct deposit statements
• Directions
• Take out menus

Now, you may not see a need to digitize all these items in your home, but surely, who wouldn’t benefit from a little out-of-the box scanning? How about scanning your birth certificate, social security card, driver’s license, passport, insurance cards and credit cards, in case your wallet is stolen? And you’ll always have a backup in an emergency.

So think of technology as a friend, or personal assistant. When you’re ready, review your paper for its worthiness, scan what is appropriate, tag the file and celebrate that you've halted the paper chase. We now have the technology of the future at our fingertips.

And that’s the real life Carousel of Progress.

 

What did we miss?

 

How have you integrated scanning into your everyday life? How do you organize your personal and family documents?

Image courtesy Santa Monica Pier and Great Escape from NJ blog.

 

Like this Topic?

 

Want to learn smart and practical organizing tips for your home, office and life? Save time by signing up for free topic updates and receive them as soon as they're published. Plus, as a gift receive our exclusive Martha Stewart Living Radio recorded radio interview and transcript, chock full of strategies, tips and resources direct from John.

 

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Florence Henderson Introduces Online Tech Support Service

Watch out Geek Squad and EasyTech America's most iconic television mother is now helping seniors become less fearful with technology.

The FloH Club is a telephone based technical support system born out of Henderson's personal frustration with the somewhat recent onslaught of technology. The Santa Barbara-based company (with telephone technical support staff in North America) was formed by Henderson and technology partner Max Drucker. The team wants to inspire seniors to conquer the computer and discover the wonders of video conferencing, instant messenger, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, receive education for simple tasks like email and online purchasing, set up and training for new devices like printers, digital cameras and MP3 players.

The star of 1970's Brady Bunch says for about $25/month, technical advisers will safely access your computer for repair, education, and inspiration. You just sit back, watch, learn, and ask questions. There is no time limit to each call and the service operates 24/7.

"It's like roadside assistance, but for your computer," said Henderson.

Will FloH Club Crash?

Now that the service is set up and they have a trusted spokesperson, their next step is to get people over 50 comfortable when asking for help and getting over their fear. Hurray for Henderson for taking a bold leap and reaching out to this market. We smell Christmas gifts.

Image above courtesy FloH Club website.

Read More:

The FloH Club - official site

Florence Henderson on ABC News - video interview

Florence Henderson - official person website

Related Posts:

Christopher Knight aka Peter Brady to present at 2009 Los Angeles Organizing Awards

Update: November 4, 2011: Florence's link above seems to be dead. We're checking on this through her Facebook page. If anything changes, we'll update. -jt

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Organize Your Possessions Online With MyThings

Retaining appliance, gadget and electronic warranties, manuals and email receipts has traditionally been very tough, especially when you need to locate one of them and you don't have a system.  It's likely all the items are stored all over the place (unless of course you hire us to organize them beforehand.)

Well, today might be your lucky day.  This week through ReadWriteWeb we discovered My Things, an online service that aims to track your online purchases and organizes the receipts, recalls, manuals, downloads and stolen property reports.  Here's what their website says:

"MyThings is for people with too much stuff. Or, conversely, people who don’t have that much, but really like what they own. We’re a free service that helps you organize your possessions online, whether that’s electronics, jewelry, antiques, or your vast collection of Smurfs action figures. We also provide services like valuation, accessories, manuals, repair info, recycling, donation, a one-click sell-on-eBay feature, and an easy way to report to Trace, a global database of lost or stolen goods."

The company is announcing some new investment money that will presumably be used for holiday marketing.

Sounds wonderful!  What would you store online, if you could?

• Visit MyThings and their blog.
• Check out their latest post Collecting as a Hobby: a Waste of Money and Space?

Source and Image:  ReadWriteWeb

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GreenPlug Contest - Our Entry

We entered the GreenPlug “What’s Under Your Desk” Photo Sweepstakes this week.

May we "proudly" present our entry:

"As a professional organizer, I help people be better organized so they can spend more time doing the things you really care about.   But in my own office, it’s been less than easy—and I’ve spent some time creating a system under my desk for the maze."

"By attaching the wires to the underneath of the desk (click on picture to enlarge), much of the visual clutter is eliminated.  Maybe this haiku can shed some light on the subject?"

wires and plugs lay

sad, tangled, like a lost love

there is hope with tape!

Okay, we may not win a haiku contest, but maybe we'll win this contest?  Ah, which Beverly Hills lunch hotspot will we go?  The Ivy, Spago, Barney Greengrass, Nate'n Al or maybe someplace simple like Urth Caffé on Beverly?

• Make sure you enter the GreenPlug contest.

UPDATE:  See our entry here, and other entries here.  Also, the contest has been extended through May 1st.