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Laura,
Thank you for your help in getting my Study and my life organized.
The changes you helped me make have truly impacted my life in a substantial manner. It is a pleasure to know where everything is located and having a life free of clutter and the "unknown" box of piles of paper.
Getting help to become organized is NOT a luxury but a simple way to improve the quality of life and to have the LUXURY to do so many other things once you are organized.
Thank you for your guidance and patience in tackling a seriously disorganized situation.
-- V. S.,
Physician, Atlanta
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June/July 2013
Greetings!
If the Summer has you contemplating changing your home or office environment, or you're seeking motivation, read on!
I've got some great tips on home office organization in this issue's Before & After feature. And, if you are guilty of having a "digital shoe box" of unorganized digital photos. I'll tell you how to get started organizing them.
Plus, if you're thinking of putting your home on the market or just want to give it a fresh new look, you'll want to read about my referral partner, interior designer and home staging expert Patsy Overton.
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New Season of Life Brings Changing Needs
Mother Needs Revitalized Home Office Space
Before Laura Ray Organizing
The Situation:
When my client moved into a new home, her busy schedule kept her from having time to properly set-up and establish her home office in the most efficient manner. Now, a few years later, with two daughters -- ages 6 and 5 months -- keeping her on the go, the piles of paper and stacks of clutter in this mom's office continued to grow and were out of control.
After Laura Ray Organizing
The Challenge:
The office nook was filled to the brim with boxes and bags of paperwork, books, photos, mementos and kids' artwork. The floors, shelves, and built-in desk weren't even visible.
The Solution:
To tackle this challenge, we began sorting and categorizing all the papers in boxes and bags. Initially, we had "keep", "toss" and "shred" piles. Then we sorted the "keepers" into "active" and "archival" piles. Two to three boxes of archival files found a new home in a basement filing cabinet while I created an easy-to-use daily filing system for this mom's active files. We also boxed up mementos and photos for storage in the overhead cabinets and created homes for office supplies and other items she would need regularly. Anything not office- or memento-related was moved to other parts of the house. And what a difference it made! Who knew that cute floor and countertop were there?
After Laura Ray Organizing
Laura's Filing Tip:
Keep your filing system streamlined so you can find what you need quickly. Archive older paperwork, such as tax records, real estate, or insurance documents, in a separate file drawer or box in an out-of-the-way room or closet.
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 Five steps to organizing your digital photo "shoe box"
Stacks of print photos used to bother you, but now your uneasiness lies with hundreds of digital photos on three different devices. Tech reporter Marc Saltzman calls it the "big digital shoe box." So, here are five steps to getting your digital photos organized:
1) Before you even begin to organize your digital photos, the most important step is backing them up. You'll want them saved, not just once, but twice. A photo expert at Atlanta's Pixorium says save your photos using 2 of these 3 devices:
A) Download to Computer
B) Transfer to External hard drive
C) Upload to a Cloud solution (iCloud, Mozy, Carbonite, Snapfish, Google's Picasa, or MicroSoft's Windows Live Photo Gallery)
Another solution is an archive quality CD or DVD, however, the technology may be short-lived compared to the other forms. A short-term solution may also be to back-up select photos from your computer to a key drive.
Extra security: The owner of Pixorium actually downloads all her personal photos to external hard drives and then keeps them in her safe deposit box.
2) If your photos are on mobile devices, they usually record chronologically, which is extremely helpful. But, you can also make albums on the devices to group the photos by occasion or season.
3) To aggregate all your photos from multiple devices, you may want to upload them to a cloud solution.
4) For organizing into albums or folders, you can arrange them by month, season or event. Some of my clients also organize by person. I'll use my own digital files as an example. I organize by month, but also by birthdays, trips and Christmas. So, it may look like this:
- 2012 November
- 2012 December (includes everything but Christmas)
- 2012 December Christmas
- 2013 January
- 2013 January Grandma's 90th Birthday
- 2013 February
- 2013 March
- 2013 March Florida Trip
5) Before finalizing your digital albums, if you have time, delete multiples, blurry photos and photos in which you don't like how you look! Better yet, delete bad digital photos the first time you see them on your device.
Good luck getting your memories in order!
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In the News
A few months ago, I was featured on TRUSTDale TV, which airs Sunday mornings on the local NBC affiliate WXIA-TV 11. The organizing segment featured me and one of my
 | | Laura Ray and Tom DiGregorio |
clients, who invited ME on the show. TrustDale is hosted by consumer advocate Dale Cardwell and features tips on how to find reputable contractors and avoid scams. My client, Tom DiGregorio, president and founder of AquaGuard Basement Systems, based in Marietta, Ga., invited me on to discuss how my work in his office made a huge difference. The spot, hosted by Tom and Dale, also features how I got started in organizing. To watch my segment, click here on my Organize Atlanta blog. It's just under 4 minutes.
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Laura's Summer Referral Partner
 | Color Expert and Home Stager
Patsy Overton |
Whether you're getting ready to put your home on the market and want it staged to optimize your offers, or just need a change to lift your spirits and make your home feel like new again, I know just the person to help: Patsy Overton, professional designer and home stager extraordinaire!
One of Patsy's specialties is color and she frequently works with both residential and commercial clients to update exterior and interior color palettes to highlight the most interesting features. Get inspired by "before" and "after" photos on her web site, pointeriors.com, and Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/patsyoverton/. Patsy can be reached at 770.843.2307. |
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Thank you for taking the time to read this month's issue of Organize Atlanta. I hope you've found some tips and ideas that will help you save time, reduce clutter and simplify your life.
Sincerely,
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Laura Ray
Laura Ray Organizing, LLC
404.630.7212
organizeatlanta.comHelping busy people organize their homes and offices
�2013 Laura Ray Organizing, LLC
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