SavvySugar

5 Things to Keep in a Plastic Folder When You're on a Trip

SavvySugar — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:43:48 PDT

I wouldn't dream of traveling without my trusty plastic folder! Be it for business or pleasure, I recycle the same one, slightly larger than a standard piece of paper that I've used since my college days. Mine's hot pink so it stands out in my travel tote amid magazines and other goodies and extra sturdy with a Velcro flap so things stay in better than pocketed, paper alternatives.

While there are some obvious things to go inside - such as flight checkins - I pack quite a few items, each with a very useful purpose:

Confirm everything - Bring a record of flight, hotel, and car rental in this folder. To save the environment, only print the official flight one (and do double-sided whenever possible) or simply create a word doc on one page with all addresses, phone numbers and confirmation codes where applicable.
Take the notes - While it's easy to rely a bit too heavily on smart phones (and the numbers and notes stored within), still jot down some personal details of things to do. If you want to be extra prepped, color code the printout pages for easy finding.

Learn how to organize the trip while you're on it to save time (and headaches!) afterwards and

Hold it together - Depending on the length of a journey, toss in a few paper clips and a business-sized envelope as well. Group all small receipts together for expensing and checking the budget later.
Get ready to write - If I had a dollar every time someone near me asked to borrow my pen (especially on international flights with forms that need to be filled out before landing), I'd have money to buy a new purse all together! Sure, many times there's a pen in your bag but save the digging and keep one instantly available inside the folder.
Keep the worries at bay - Extra passport photos and copies of important documents can also be stashed inside in case of emergency. If checking bags, you can write out an inventory of what's inside your suitcase - before you roll your eyes, this can help when planning how to pack lighter and picking out outfits once you're there.
Bring it back - Having this folder also makes it easier to bring back a postcard or other reminders of the trip like a menu from a new restaurant or a clipping from the local magazine.

Source

Expert Shares 3 Ways to Make Your Inbox Less Overwhelming

Emily Co — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:05:36 PDT

It's good to get rid of all the clutter in your life - at home, at work, and even on your computer. Dealing with too many emails can make you overwhelmed and less productive, because weeding through a mess of messages can feel like a herculean task. Organization expert Peter Walsh shared some great tips for better managing your emails:

Archive all your emails: "Bite the bullet: archive-don't delete-archive all of those emails or all of those emails from more than a month ago, and start from scratch today." You can set up an automatic filtering system that will immediately shuttle your emails to the appropriate category. Most email systems have the option, and Walsh favors Hotmail for that function.

Keep your inbox clean: The organizing expert says he's "never had more than 10 or 15 emails in my inbox at any one time." He's able to answer every email he receives by having them automatically categorized.

Set aside time for email: Set up a schedule for your emails. Walsh avoids looking at emails the first hour of his morning and does whatever needs to get done "first up in the day." He then sets aside 90 minutes of uninterrupted time to handle email. "I don’t try to multitask; I think multitasking is a huge myth. Trying to do more than one thing at once, you end up doing nothing well," he says.

Download the Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist!

SavvySugar — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:20:43 PDT

Juggling our everyday lives with wedding planning can be quite a struggle, but you can enjoy the planning process more when you're organized. It's overwhelming when you're not sure what's next on the to-do list, so I've created a general time line for brides out there who need the reminders or reassurance they're already on track - you can download the wedding planning checklist here.

After you've nailed down your wedding budget, get cracking on the rest of the checklist and don't forget to have fun. You're a bride! Try to enjoy every moment leading up to your big day.

12 Chores You Can Pay Someone Else to Do - and What They Cost

Emily Co — Mon, 21 May 2012 05:20:31 PDT

We can't all be celebrities and pay personal assistants to do mundane chores we dread doing. However, you can hire someone to do one-off tasks: the website TaskRabbit hooks up those looking to pay for assistance with people who want to earn money for chores. When I was looking through the website, I discovered pretty much every imaginable task you can think of. Here are some examples:

Ikea delivery: The most common recent Ikea delivery transactions have been completed for about $16 to $35.
Ikea assembly: One of the most tiresome things about Ikea furniture is putting it together. The most popular historical price according to TaskRabbit data is $45.
Grocery delivery: Recent listings have offered at least $12 for grocery delivery, but the most common asking price range seems to be around $20 to $30
Help moving heavy stuff: The most common task price for help with "heavy-lifting" moving is $40, according to TaskRabbit's historical data.
Transcription: A lister offered to pay $10 to $15 to transcribe a four-minute YouTube video.
Donation pickup: People have recently arranged for donation pickups for at least $11.
Selling stuff on Craigslist: Can't be bothered with listing items on Craigslist? TaskRabbit's historical data for Craigslist assistance listings show that the most common going rate is $45.
Research: One example offered to pay $42 to $58 to a TaskRabbiter to research a list of about 400 artists and their biographic information.

Read on for more.

Fixes For These 10 Money Mistakes

Business Insider — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:15:04 PDT

Everyone makes mistakes. Business Insider shares solutions for some common money mistakes people make.

Recently, two friends confessed they live check to check - a revelation worsened by the fact that they only check their bank balance once or twice a month.

We called in the finance experts, and here's what we decided they should do to get on track.

"I check my balance once . . . every two weeks."

The mistake: The more we rely on our debit cards, the easier is to go over budget - and risk having our bank misorder the charges to slap us with overdraft fees. It's the reason my friend keeps paying $39 for that Starbucks latte.

The fix: Get in the habit of checking your bank balance morning, noon, and night, says financial expert Farnoosh Torabi. "Rather than compartmentalizing into a once-a-month chore, make checking statements a habitual, daily thing."

"What, my bank offers an app?"

The mistake: Ignoring your balance can make you "forget" about incoming bills and checks waiting to clear, and not using your bank app is careless.

It also keeps you out of sync with your money, something you don't want to do in an era of rampant identity theft.

The fix: Download the app!

Read on for more.

5 Things You Should Do Before June

Angelica Marden — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:56:46 PDT

It's hard to believe it's almost June - the mid-way point of 2012. June provides the perfect platform to look ahead and plan what you can realistically accomplish in the second half of the year. But, before we get there, this is the week to get your loose items in order. Make sure to do these five things over the next few days.

6 Tech Tools to Spring Clean Your Life and Save Money

Emily Co — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:05:07 PDT

I can't tell you how indispensable my smartphone and laptop is to me. I no longer organize my life on little bits of paper (that have a high risk of accidentally being thrown away), but instead rely on the best organizing tech tools on the web. Find out what apps to download or sites to visit that will keep your life and wallet organized to a tee!

When to Stash or Trash Important Papers

SavvySugar — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:57:27 PDT

Some of us are pack rats by default; we don't know how long to keep what we think are important documents, so we store them in boxes indefinitely. Clueless clutter makes it difficult to find something when you actually need to reference it. Stop storing trash and get organized when you learn how long you should hold onto certain papers.

Expert Shares 2 Easy Strategies to Declutter Your Home

Emily Co — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:30:56 PDT

It might be overwhelming to just look at your clutter, but there are some very simple steps you can take to declutter your place in no time. All you need to do is just start. SavvySugar talked to Peter Walsh, a celebrity organization expert, who gave two very simple tips to start tackling your mess:

The trash bag technique: "The very first thing you should do if you're feeling overwhelmed in your space is to set aside 10 minutes a day." Walsh says. Give everyone in your household two trash bags and have them fill them up during that 10-minute window every day. Fill one up with things to trash and the other up with things to donate or sell. If you live with someone else and the two of you use this simple technique for one week, you'll end up with 14 bags of trash and 14 bags of stuff going to donation at the end of the week. "That's a really simple technique - 10 minutes a day that will make a massive change," he says.
Back-to-front clothes: Walsh says we all wear "20 percent of [our] clothes 80 percent of the time." The best way to check what you don't need is to use the back-to-front method. Turn the clothes that are hanging in your closet so that the hangers are facing back to front. For the next six months, every time you wear a piece of clothing, hang it back up the correct way. "At the end of six months, whatever is still hanging back to front, chances are you are never going to wear. Send it off to Goodwill."

A Neat Trick to Prevent Unread Mail From Building Up

Emily Co — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:15:37 PDT

When you have time this weekend, try this email organizing trick to help you keep your inbox in good shape. One of the things that overwhelms people the most is having an endless number of unread emails to respond to.

This problem affects those who have a tendency to respond to high-priority emails right away, while leaving other less-urgent emails for later. As time goes by, your unread emails may build up because you just never found the time to get around to it. If this sounds all too familiar, you may be relieved to know there's an easy solution for this if you use Outlook - create a smart folder that automatically filters just the unread email. Here's a simple video for Mac users:

And if Gmail is your email of choice, all you need to do is enter "label:unread" in the search bar, click "search mail," and the results will be all unread emails from every folder. Go through the unread mail and delete ones you don't need and respond to ones that need replies.