Share you BEST Organization tips

[Indigofera]

Hi Team!

I am always working on my organization. It is not my natural strength. Please share what works for you. Particularly with receipts and mail. I bought a little pouch for a cash envelope system and I have a few little organizers from Office Depot. I did just switch to paperless for all my bills and statements. I love to see photos feel free to convo me.

Thanks in advance

[Indigofera]

oops Share Your Best Tips :)

[Former_Member]

What a great idea for a thread!!! I majorly need help in this area!

I'm afraid that I cant offer much a tip when I admittedly need them so badly myself.

The one thing that I have to share is that I bought a new desk at Ikea. When my husband gets home from work we are going to set it up. It has one entire wall shelf sort of thing attached to it that will offer tons of storage and organizational space. It's going to be my little Etsy shop ONLY area! So I'm pretty excited about getting that set up and not using the dining room table anymore.

[TheRightJack]

We were shipping some items today and ran into a problem finding everything we needed (where is the shipping tape? the box cutter? our return address labels?). We don't have a "shipping room" but it would be nice! So we put everything back into one big drawer to find it for shipping our next item which will be ready to go out in a couple days. I think we all get focused on creating our items, which is a good thing, so we need to make it easy to do the other things necessary to running our business efficiently.
Great thread.

[Former_Member]

Nice tip David! I was visualizing having some some sort of shipping table set up next to my new desk. Kind of like those gift wrapping stations that some people have.

[SusanWindsor]

I have a couple shelves on a bookcase just for supplies, packaging materials, and shipping materials, including the tape, labels, envelopes, bubble wrap. etc. I try to keep that separate from our personal stuff so that I always know where to find it. I have several magazine holders set up on a shelf too--one for receipts and another for my own invoices. I use those for some supplies too. It definitely helps having the designated supply area in my workroom. :)

[Former_Member]

For mail and reciepts (personal, not business), I keep a basket on the kitchen bar, which is our drop-everything location. The is a small container for recycling and a paper shredder on the floor under the bar. I sort the mail immediately when I get home. Keep items go in the basket, junk mail goes in the recycle box, anything containing personal information gets shredded. Personal receipts I throw away unless I need to keep them for tax reasons (car registration, etc.) or a possible return.

For my business, I have a 6 drawer unit from IKEA that I use to store my tools and beads. Then I have a two-drawer plastic unit from Target for paperwork. The top drawer is for business filing - orders and expense receipts. The bottom drawer is for packing materials (tissue paper, thank you notes, bubble mailers, business cards, packing tape, ribbon, etc.). I don't buy a lot of my shipping stuff in bulk yet - just my jewelry boxes. I keep the box of boxes (haha!) in the top of my closet and just keep a small supply of the boxes in my shipping drawer and refill as needed.

[Former_Member]

I have a big box from thecontainer store that I keep all my shipping supplies in: shipping tape, priority mail labels, thank you notes, business cards, tissue paper, etc.

I also print out two copies of an invoice when I get an order. One goes in the box to the customer. I take the other copies with me to the post office along with a stapler. When I get the recipt with the tracking number on it I staple it right to my copy of the invoice so I don't get confused. Then as soon as I get home I change order statuses to shipped and enter the tracking number(s). Then, since all that info is right there on etsy, I just recycle the paperwork.

I think etsy actually makes it really easy to stay organized. With that said, I only opened my shop a few weeks ago, and get on average one order a day, so it could get a lot more difficult if things pick up more.

[Former_Member]

Marked this tread for later reading. I NEED HELP!!! Good idea for a thread.

[Former_Member]

lists!

I have a general list for the month
and even more general list for the year

and a list for things I would like to achieve every day

and among those things, for example, a weekly to-do is to clean my nook/office/studio

and I also constantly organize the container where I keep my embroidery (at least once a week, also)

and, whenever I am working on more than one canvas at the same time, I hang them alternatively on the wall until they are both ready

doing repetitive tasks makes them easier and easier as times go by, it used to take 1 hour to clean my work space, lately, it's a matter of less than 15 minutes so I can dedicate more time to real creative work

and for receipts, etc... I have a big metal box with several containers to store different type of bills (supplies in one place, sells in other, etc)

[Indigofera]

Hi! I am so glad everyone likes to thread.

I do have some shipping tips

1.Keep a small box or basket with everything you need, customize as needed

Tape
boxes
envelopes
logo stickers
fill / paper etc
pens
sciccors ( a couple pair)
inserts( brochure/thank you note/business card)
shipping labels
printer ink
samples
large bag with handles if you do po drops

2. Develop a work flow process for orders, dont start until you have everything you need

Indigofera Shipping Daily Checklist

Work from Checklist
Check Priority Tasks
Check Supply Boxes
Wash Hands
Prioritize tasks, Think ahead
Count Line up pending orders (Retail, Wholesale, International, Emerald Circle)
Follow order retrieval procedure exactly
Follow Shipping procedure exactly
Post Supply request on board ( What do we need?)
Straighten office /restock all products/jars and labels
Confirm Supply Box pens, tape, scissors, calculator etc.
Empty Trash and Recyclables /replace bags


Hope this helps

p.s. dont let yourself run out of shipping supplies
I use priority mail supplies and padded envelopes for first class smaller orders

[Former_Member]

I started a whole shop full of organizational helpers and I use almost all of them for business & life!
= D

I also have file folders where I keep all of my business receipts categorized.

[Former_Member]

I am an organizational freak. I have limited space, but I like everything to have its place. For shipping, I have a basket that contains all of my shipping supplies. It is in an area of my workspace that can easily be cleaned off to reveal enough space for me to package, weigh, etc my items that are going to ship. In that area, I have a box where I put all of my shipping receipts, supply receipts, etc. that need to be entered into my computer bookkeeping program (I use invoices & estimates). Once I enter all of the receipts into the bookkeeping program, I put them in a seperate box.

I keep my ribbons on a hanger that hooks onto the wall so that I can roll the ribbon right off of the hanger and it does not take up desk space. My tissue paper and cellophane is precut to size and placed in a stackable file organizer next to a clear space on my desk that is used to package, ribbon, decorate, etc. my items.

I have lots of fun organization tips. Message me if you need them!