Amazon Prime tips

**This post was originally published in my monthly e-newsletter, Lelah's News. Don't subscribe? Sign up here!

Amazon Prime* is a service offered through Amazon.com. It costs $79 per year. The primary benefit is free two-day shipping on most products purchased through Amazon. I like this service because it takes the guesswork out of shipping - no more buying just one extra thing so you can reach the $25 free standard shipping threshold. Here are some other benefits and tips.

• Amazon users can get a one month free trial every 13 months. Try to time yours during the holiday shopping season and take advantage of free two-day shipping. But if you don't want to pay for the service, be sure to cancel before your month is up and they charge you!
• Watch streaming video for free on your computer or Internet connected TV.
• If you have a Kindle, you can borrow one free ebook a month through their lending library program.
• The two-day shipping can come in handy for regular purchases like groceries, paper goods and baby needs like diapers so you don't have to plan too far ahead.
• If you pre-order regular books, expect them to arrive on their release date instead of some time after with free standard shipping.

*This is in an affiliate link, so if you click on it and make a purchase, I will get a small commission.

A little help

There are certain products that have made my post-partum life a lot easier. In no particular order:

• Send Out Cards. This service lets me send a thank you note with adorable pictures of the baby in about 30 seconds. I get it done, and the recipient gets a nice piece of actual mail.
• iPad. Since I don't have a laptop, the iPad follows me everywhere and allows me to stay on top of email and the news when I'm sitting with a sleeping baby.
• Amazon.com. This is kind of a no-brainer, but when you can't easily get out of the house to go shopping, ordering from Amazon and having things appear on your doorstep really reduces stress.
• Viva paper towels. I had all but eradicated paper towels from my household, but with a baby, these soft and strong towels are really super useful, and I don't think I could stomach doing any more laundry than I am already!

Apple apps

Apple's App Store recently announced it had its 25 billionth app download.  According to Apple, there are over 500,000 apps in the App Store. Besides the obvious apps that help iPhone and iPad users use frequently accessed sites like Facebook, Netflix and Pandora, how does one figure out which of those 500,000 apps are going to be useful and worth the time to learn them or the money to download them?

No person can be an total app expert, so I try to get recommendations from trusted associates when I'm looking for an app to meet a specific need. When that fails, I do a search for recommendations, and can usually narrow down the field by looking at a couple of review posts on reputable blogs like CNET or Lifehacker.

Evernote's app.

So...in that vein, here are a few apps that I can recommend from personal experience using them on my iPad:

• Evernote: This is probably an obvious choice, but the iPad interface works great, and I use it every day for all my lists.
• Yelp: I like this app because it uses your location to give you reviews and information for businesses of all types that are in the area where you are, and it even tells you if they are currently open or closed.
• TurboScan: A simple, inexpensive scanning app that actually works. Don't expect the scan quality to be as high as if you were using your ScanSnap, but it's good for scanning on the fly.
• LA Times: The Los Angeles Times has just started a membership program where they are charging for online access to the paper. However, for the time being, mobile devices will still be able to access the site for free. So, if you don't want to pay for a membership, grab the app and read it on your iPad. The usability is great, too.

Review: Never Eat Alone

Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi was first published in 2005. I read it to discuss with my NAPO-LA book group, and found its advice about networking to be straightforward and applicable to any business or personal situation. The author is kind of a connections addict. He loves making connections and networking with people and has found it to be one of the most influential strategies for advancing in business and life. I liked the book's tone and organization, though it's hard to adjust to the bald fact that it's pretty much always who you know rather than what you know. Ferrazzi wants to empower you to learn how to get to know the people who can help you on your path through life.

I got the most out of the chapter on conferences. Ferrazzi argues that conferences are less about the content of the sessions or workshops or keynotes and much more valuable for getting face time with and getting to know people. Conferences do offer concentrated people-meeting arena, and it pays to go in having done some research on the other attendees and making a point of meeting and talking with those who you find fascinating or relevant to your fields of interest.

There were a lot of good take-aways from the book, and even though it was published before the Facebook/Twitter/social networking explosion, the principles still apply. Following up, being interesting, taking an interest in other people, being willing to ask for help as well as give help are all timeless concepts and well worth reminding ourselves about.

A DMV story

I had a recent experience with the California Department of Motor Vehicles - and it was a positive one.

I needed them to resend a document to my home, and found both their website and phone service to be highly functional. They have the service where instead of waiting on hold for 40 minutes, they take your number and call you back when it is your turn. I love not having to listen to tinny music and be interrupted every minute by an automated voice telling you it isn't your turn yet. Then, I had an extremely friendly and helpful person on the other end of the line when they called me back. She solved my problem in just a couple of minutes, and when we got disconnected (my phone's fault) toward the end of the call, she called me back and left a message saying that everything was going through and I should receive what I needed to by the end of the week. Which I did. Amazing! Since the DMV is widely considered one of those agencies you want to have as little to do with as possible, I wanted to point out a good experience that I had with them. Keep up the good work, DMV!

What's so great about Evernote?

I just did a search of this blog and realized that I've never blogged about Evernote, except for this brief mention. That changes today.

I'm going to quote from their website in order to set the stage, then just outline why I think Evernote is an indespensible tool.

Our goal at Evernote is to give everyone the ability to easily capture any moment, idea, inspiration, or experience whenever they want using whichever device or platform they find most convenient, and then to make all of that information easy to find. 

I use Evernote on my desktop computer and my mobile tablet. I capture recipes, articles, craft ideas, photos, lists, gift ideas, maps, products, things I find funny and things I find inspiring. I capture anything I think I might want to remember or access when I'm out and about, like the name of that wine I got one time that I really liked or a list of the kinds of pears my husband likes and the kinds he doesn't like.

I now use it for all of my to-do lists and lists in general, instead of Stickies, because Evernote syncs seamlessly, instantly and without having to do anything between my desktop and mobile device. I keep it open all the time and use it daily and have never gone over my free monthly quota, but I'm thinking of upgrading to a Pro account just because I like it so much ($5/month).

I rarely use the tags feature because their search function works so well; it always finds what I am looking for even if I have the merest of keywords to go on. I can scan anything directly from my ScanSnap S1500 to Evernote without having to go through middleman software or save screens.

I will be honest--it took me a couple of years to really start using Evernote consistently. Before I'd use a combination of saving PDFS, scans, Delicious bookmarks, etc. But when I did, it was like a door opened to more productivity-and I was pretty productive before!

Anyway, that's enough gushing for now. Let me know if you have specific questions about how to make Evernote work for you!

Creative Commons photo of pears posted to Flickr by Emilian Robert Vicol

Want help setting up your Evernote account?

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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Space saving vase

Well, my wonderful weeks of summer travel are over and I saw and did so many things I want to share on this blog. Tune in as I ramp back up to my regular blogging frequency! 

One neat thing I found was a collapsible vase. I've seen these on other organizers' blogs, but had never seen one in person, until I came across this lovely striped one at a design store in Buenos Aires a couple of weeks ago. The idea of these things is that you can store your vase flat when it is not in use and then fill it with water to transform it into a useful 3-D object. Since vases are kind of a bulky pain to store and also often delicate and difficult to transport, the design of this object solves those problems and make an organizing-minded person smile!

This vase also made my mother-in-law smile, as I brought one back for her. My initial thought was that she, a great flower lover, could use it when she travels to brighten a hotel room with a local bouquet of flowers, as well as be an addition to her vase collection. She's also an artist who makes gorgeous prints from photos, the subjects of which are often flowers. She sent me these photos to demonstrate the collapsible flower vase at work.

 

 

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Reviewed: Pouchee

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I tend to use things as long as humanly possible, and I don't have a lot of the same kind of thing in different styles. I have just one purse (a Butler Bag) and one wallet. My wallet, a red leather number that cost me fifteen dollars at the Ventura County Fair, was about seven years old and on its last legs when I went to San Diego for the NAPO conference in April. While there, I checked out so many neat products and got to see in person for the first time a product called the Pouchee. I'd heard about it from other professional organizers, and when I saw it I knew it would be my wallet replacement.

The Pouchee is basically a well-designed wallet with the feature of handles meant to make it easy to transfer from one bag to another. It also expands so you can put all your other pertinent stuff in it to make transitioning from bag to bag super easy. I don't use that feature often, but I do love the pockets, which are the perfect size to hold my cell phone and my iPod Nano. The zippered inner pocket holds my cash and coins securely and out of sight.

They come in lots of colors and in leather and cloth. I debated a good while over the red leather or the red cloth, but the cloth one was washable and seemed more what I needed. I've been using it ever since conference and couldn't be happier with it.

I recommend Pouchee wholeheartedly!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

The NeatDesk

There were some really exciting raffle prizes at the Gala Industry Exchange portion of the 2011 Los Angeles Organizing Awards. I was lucky enough (and bought enough raffle tickets) to walk away with a NeatDesk scanner from The Neat Company. I finally got it set up this weekend, as my computer had been in to MacEnthusiasts (which has the nicest people you will ever find at a Mac repair place in Los Angeles) for a checkup.

The NeatDesk is a small scanning unit that you use with the NeatWorks software. The scanner can take up to 15 normal sheets of paper, 15 receipts, and 15 business cards at once, or you can take out the receipt/business cards tray and it can take up to 50 sheets of paper. My initial thoughts after completing the straightforward set up and trying it out, are wow-it works so fast, and wow-it auto-populates well.

The system works to archive your paper, as well as make the information on your paper searchable and easily retrievable through its simple file structure. I love when you start using a new system and everything is clean and you can set it up from the ground floor exactly how you want it. The scanner takes the sheets and spits them out quite rapidly, then the software catches up and reads the scan, deciding what kind of item it is and pulling as much information as possible to populate the various data boxes that are associated with each item. For instance, it will try to find the work phone number on a business card and put it into the work phone number slot, and then you can update your Mac Address Book with the new information, tying Address Book entries to business cards you've scanned.

The scanner will make that function on my 7 year-old all-in-one printer obsolete.

As I try to minimize the amount of paper I have to keep around, I do a fair amount of scanning. I can see that the NeatDesk is already replacing my flatbed scanner. What is yet to be determined is if I'll end up using it to archive stuff I already have a system for, for instance, converting my business card binder from the physical to the electronic. I can usually find a card I want pretty easily, but the NeatDesk would make such light work of the conversion process that it might be worth doing.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

A multi-tasking toy

As a Christmas gift, my husband and I received a Playstation 3. We'd had our eye on the video game system for months, having decided it was the best way to solve two problems that we'd been having. First, it would replace our 12-year old DVD player that had trouble playing any DVD that wasn't perfectly spotless and new, and second, it would allow us to watch Netflix Instant on the nice TV in our living room instead of only on the computer in my office.

We opened the present with glee. Once home, the most difficult thing about setting it up was deciding on our username for our Playstation Store account, which we needed in order to install the Netflix driver. Within minutes, we were watching Gosford Park (for the dozenth time - I usually get it from the library and it skips terribly). It was like a miracle.

All in all, the Playstation 3 has performed admirably as a DVD player and a Netflix player. We don't have any games for it, and only one controller, so that can be something we add on down the road if we feel like it. The most surprising thing has been trying out Blu-ray discs. We weren't terribly interested in the format, but figured it wouldn't hurt to have the capability. Well, now, having seen a side by side comparison of the same movie in standard definition and Blu-ray, I've upgraded my Neflix account so we can get Blu-ray versions of films when they have them. It looks really nice. Still, there's no need to go out and replace our modest DVD collection with Blu-ray versions. It's all going streaming anyway, and from a clutter-control point of view, I couldn't be happier.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Converting memories

Last week I helped a client convert  a bunch of old 8mm reels to a digital format. I took them to a post house in Hollywood called Visual Image and they did a fantastic job of converting the old format into digital files which they put right on my client's hard drive, as well as burning a DVD with all the files. Each 50-foot reel translates into about 3 minutes of video. The price was fair and the quality of the work was great.

What was so fun about this process is that after very little effort (driving to Hollywood twice to drop off and pick up the reels) my client had a simple way to view the memories captured on the film. She was delighted with the results, and she felt like she had accomplished something with a box of film that had been just sitting on a shelf for years.

Sometimes it's quite simple to take something causing you stress (however low level it might be) and turn into a source of pleasure and satisfaction.

Another reputable source for turning 8mm into DVDs is just8mm.com, though I haven't used them myself.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Bev Sykes

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Video review: Slimline hangers

I recently purchased a set of Real Simple slimline hangers in the color stone. Here's my video review:



Have you used another brand? What do you think?

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

IKEA season

IKEA is a magical place, where you can find almost any kind of furniture solution that you need for a reasonable price, while breathing the particle-board scented air, munching on Swedish meatballs and cinnamon buns and ultimately trying to fit extraordinarily long and heavy cardboard boxes filled with wood into your car.

My husband I have many, many pieces of IKEA furniture in our apartment. We just added a few more, as we ended up with some holes in our furniture floor plan after the move. Every time we go, we are reminded how awesome it is to have all the great choices, all the creative flourishes, all the macaroni and cheese you could want for $1.99. And they we realize how tiring it is to wind your way through the crowds of people and stuff, and how frustrating it is when they are out of the one thing you need to complete your shopping list, and how heavy these things are after you wedge them into the car, and when you have unload them at home and then spend three hours constructing an eight-drawer dresser.

Tips for getting the most out of IKEA:

• Don't go on the weekend. Trust me, I've been there three times in the last week. The two times I went on a weekday, it was a breeze. On Sunday, it was a battle.
• Go in pairs. You need someone to help maneuver the cart and all the oversized stuff. And someone to get the car while you wait with your giant boxes at the curb so you don't put your back out hauling them two blocks to the car.
• Leave lots of time. Time can sort of stop when you are wandering around all the bedroom sets and kitchen floorplans. 
• Eat a lot before, during and after to keep your strength up. I like to finish with a cinnamon bun on the way out. And don't forget to stay hydrated.
• Make a list before you go of what you really need. Otherwise, when you get the Marketplace downstairs with all the 99 cent boxes and trash cans and whatnot, you'll be overwhelmed and end up buying tons of stuff you don't really need.
• Try to limit your IKEA shopping trips to once a year. That's about how long it takes to forget the difficulties and start craving Swedish meatballs again.

Good luck, IKEA shoppers. It's worth it, but it helps to be prepared!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Reviewed: The Happiness Project

I've been following Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project blog for over a year, and enthusiastically bought her book at a book signing she did in Pasadena in January. It took me a few months to get around to reading it. I started it on my honeymoon, which I think is an apt time to take a look at one's happiness levels, since every day of life doesn't usually involve sleeping in, reading by the pool under sunny skies and spending lots of quality time with your significant other. Unfortunately.

Anyway, there are truly too many epiphanies, wonderful quotes, stellar suggestions and all around good sense moments in this book to give you an accurate portrayal in a few sentences, so I'll just say I heartily recommend you read it. It isn't a daunting read; it is very accessible. The analytical approach (Resolution Chart and all) to something as seemingly ineffable as happiness appeals to the logical thinker in me. Perhaps people who already think about happiness (as I do) will get more out of it, and be more inclined to read it, and that's fine, but Gretchen Rubin makes a solid case that trying to be happier isn't just a selfish act, it truly affects others and therefore is not always easy, but definitely important.

What does this book have to do with organizing? Well, the author giddily recounts her experiences of clutter clearing and closet organizing with the gusto to rival any professional organizer. It's a key component to her happiness project, and could be part of yours, too.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

Reviewed: Clutter Busting

I just finished the 2009 book by Brooks Palmer, Clutter Busting. The book's subtitle is Letting Go of What's Holding You Back and that is the book's essential premise. Palmer, using anecdotes culled from his "clutter busting" professional organizer practice, explains how important it is to let things go. People are sacred, he reminds us, not things.

The content of the book is rather similar to Gail Blanke's Throw Out Fifty Things. Palmer, like Blanke, shows how mental clutter and our internal problems lead to our external clutter problems and our desire to hold onto stuff that no longer fits our life. What differentiates this book from other "get rid of everything you don't really use, need or love" books is the tone. Palmer is straightforward and direct with lines like "You are born with nothing, and you will die with nothing." He puts things in such a way so that even the most uncomfortable idea seems obvious to the reader, yet he does it in a nonjudgmental way. Instead of feeling guilty for buying stuff because you think it will make you happy, you feel refreshed and transformed at the possibility of being able to stop the cycle and change your life. I especially liked his reminder that we, as individuals, are enough to sustain us in life. Ourselves and our loved ones are what make life worthwhile, not a single thing that we own.

Brooks Palmer has a blog, called Clutter Busting with Brooks Palmer, that I think is required reading. His bio states that he is a stand up comedian, and from time to time reading his stuff I laugh out loud due to some terribly apt description, but for the most part the tone is calming, and encouragingly matter of fact. Of course, you don't need all that stuff that is cluttering up your living room. Of course, you are capable of letting it go and creating room for new joys and experiences to come into your life. Of course, you should pick up a copy of this book or borrow it from your local library (which is what I did.)

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

Reviewed: Bento

Bento is a Mac-only program from the makers of FileMaker. It's marketed as a organizational tool and I have been using it for the past two months for financial tracking and also to organize the guest list for my wedding. 

In simplest terms, it is a user-friendly spreadsheet program that trades the sophisticated functionality of Excel for prettier graphics, ease of use and wonderful integration with other Mac programs like Address Book and iPhoto. You can also export easily to Excel or Numbers if you need to create more complicated formulas than simple sums or counts.

I like Bento because it is easy to start using. In layout, it reminds one of iTunes at first, as you can create libraries and collections of data and the search feature in the upper right hand corner is similar. You can quickly start making a table full of data, and then switch to the form view, which allows you to create a card for each piece of data, called a record, which is really useful for seeing if a certain guest is also attending the rehearsal dinner and being able to see a picture of them so the groom can practice name/face recognition.

The applications for the program are not unlimited. Within the form view there are many preprogramed themes you can choose from, but you can't change the font color, for instance. However, I think Bento is a good program for fairly-savvy Mac users who want an alternative way to keep records or aid in event planning that's friendly and intuitive.

 Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

Reviewed: Butler Bag

After having long coveted one, I received a Hybrid Butler Bag in Red Licorice for my birthday last month. I immediately switched the contents of my old purse, also a bright red color, which had always garnered lots of compliments, but was wearing out after three years of continuous use. It took about a week to get used to the bag’s layout of compartments and figure out how to best use them, but once I got the hang of it, I fell in love.

The beauty of the Butler Bag is that there is only so much room to hold stuff, and no more. The compartments are dedicated spaces for you to put your belongings, so you can keep your makeup in one, your cell phone in another, etc. But there is not unlimited space. At first I couldn’t figure out where to put my iPod Touch, notebook or reading book, but then I realized there is wonderful space on either side of the built-in compartments perfect for storing something hard and flat, like a book or journal. There are also two slim pckets on the outside of either end. I haven’t decided what to use those for yet. They aren’t quite roomy enough to put car keys in, but maybe after I continue breaking in this bag I’ll find a use for them.

Here are some pictures of my bag, empty and full:

And if you like what you see, click here to get the Butler Bag! I'm a Butler Bag affiliate, so if you click on the link and buy something, I'll get a small commission.

I recently found out that they are disctonintuing both the original Butler Bag and the Hybrid, the one I have, for good, and will instead come out with new designs every quarter. I’m sure the new bags will have compartments and be just as functional as the old bags, but I suppose fashion-conscious consumers might want to have the choice of an updated look more frequently.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com