Folding Shelves for Record Storage
January 29, 2013
I am a total music geek; I cannot get enough new bands or artists and am constantly purchasing new music to discover. My favorite format for listening to music is hands-down a vinyl record played on an old-school record player. The sounds are so warm yet crisp, making you feel as if you are in the recording room with the band as they are playing.
Unfortunately, I am not made of money (and what money I do have goes to records!) so I live in a pretty cramped one bedroom apartment. The biggest downside for records (and partially the reason for their fade from prominence for a few years) is that they are big, bulky, hard to store and you cannot listen to them in the car or on the go. This issue is magnified by my small home, to the point which I had cardboard box upon cardboard box full of records and stack up on each other.
One of the best ways to create an organized space for storing your records is using a folding shelf. What is great about this type of shelf is that not only does it provide exceptional and secure storage for your vinyl; it also can be folded down for easy transport. This makes it perfect for the transient record-collectors among us.
I would recommend using a soft wood shelf to store your records over a sturdier metal shelf, for a variety of reasons. First off, one thing every record collector has to understand is the damaging effects extreme temperatures can have on vinyl – metal has this annoying tendency to absorb the extreme heat or cold, transferring that to your records and potentially damaging them. The other reason is that metal can be very sharp or have very hard angles, which can damage the gatefold of your records.
By using a wood shelf to store my records I have been able to secure a lot more space in my living room and get my records organized so it is easy to find them right away.
You can also store your records in this specifically designed Record Storage Crate, and you can display your favorite album on the wall with this Vinyl Record Frame.
How to Organize Your Home Office – Paper Trays
January 18, 2013
What better way to start out the New Year than with an organized home office! This will be the first of several blogs designed to help you organize your home office. There are certain key items that every productive office needs. You may have heard the saying, “a place for everything, and everything in its place”. This is a fundamental organizing concept. Take a look around your office; specifically look at your piles. If you know right where something belongs, it is easy to return it to that spot.
Usually the items that pile up do so because they don’t have a home. Don’t leave any of your papers in your office “homeless” and piling up. Paper Trays are the first tool to help organize your office. Fortunately, OrganizeIt.com has a variety of paper trays to choose from, whether you prefer plastic, metal mesh orbamboo construction. There is no set blueprint for what an office should look like – the key is having homes for things. Since most offices have paper coming in and out, and some files at a minimum (even if they have gone paperless), here is what I recommend to get you started with paper trays:
- Inbox– It is imperative that you have a physical inbox in your office where you can put new items. This could be mail, meeting notes, papers from school, etc. You can’t always process them immediately, so you need to have a home for them until you can. When you do have a few minutes, you will know right where to go. You need to dedicate time to check this tray at least once each day.
- Outbox – Dedicate a paper tray as your outbox. This gives you a spot for the items that are ready to leave your office (e.g. out-going mail, notes for school, etc.)
- ‘To File’ Tray – This tray provides a spot for the papers or files that need to be filed. They might come from your inbox, or they could be papers or files that had been pulled and need to be re-filed. Consider stacking three trays for your inbox, outbox and ‘To File’ trays to save space on your desktop.
In addition to the trays mentioned above, other uses for paper trays include: papers to scan, papers to shred, or printer paper (colored, white, 3-hole punched, letterhead). You will be amazed at what a difference these little paper trays can make.
Donna Lindley is a Certified Professional Organizer and owner of Rochester Hills, MI-based Organize Your World, Inc.
Don’t Shelf Your Lady’s Present This Valentine’s Day
January 18, 2013
Hey guys, are you scrambling around looking for the perfect gift for your lady this Valentine’s Day? Have you exhausted your supply of flowers, chocolate, fancy dinners, diamonds and champagne?
Who am I kidding you can never give enough of those things.
But are you looking for a unique and different thing to do for your sweetheart that will impress her and make her fall in love with you all over again? Falling in love with you all over again might be a bit of a stretch but I have a great idea that is sure to warm her heart and ingratiate her to you for many more Valentine’s days.
You know the walk in closet? The one you rarely step into unless you have a job interview or are going to the opera or something? Not sure if you noticed but that place is a trainwreck! Lots of walk-ins provide plenty of space for storage but never the right kind of storage, i.e. shelves, bins, rods, etc.
Well you are the man of the house, and despite not being aware of just how messy the closet has become, you can take a stand and get this thing turned around. There are just a few simple steps that you can do this Valentine’s Day that will change the way she gets ready in the morning forever!
Okay I lied, there is only one step. Head on down to Organize-It and check out the Pre-Designed Closet System. Any one of these shelf systems not only looks great in the closet with its natural appearance, it adds excellent organization and it’s easy to install too!
With this versatile set of wood or wire shelving, you will be able to provide your honey with a place to store her pants, skirts, blouses, shoes, socks and even her, ahem, intimates.