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The NAPO Annual Conference & Organizing Expo is the professional development event for organizers who wish to further their education, discover industry advancements, and form lasting friendships with fellow organizing professionals. It is held in various cities throughout the country each spring and consequently can be a costly investment for our members. Through the replica watches generosity of our first NAPO-GPC scholarship partner, Marty Ingram, iphone 6s remplacement écran owner of PhillyJunk.com, a scholarship fund was created in 2012. Since then, the Scholarship fund has enabled three NAPO-GPC chapter members to attend the annual NAPO Annual Conference & Organizing Expo. In order to be eligible, the member must currently hold a volunteer position within the chapter and attend regular meetings. Covered expenses include conference registration fees, airfare, dining costs, and hotel accommodations – a tremendous benefit to our dedicated members who take initiative in our chapter and show dedication to our profession. Last year our winner was Jen Bowen of Contemporary Organizing. Here’s what she had to say about her experience:

“In 2014, I was the lucky winner of the NAPO Conference Scholarship, sponsored by PhillyJunk.com. This year’s NAPO Conference was a truly spectacular experience. Amidst the gorgeous Arizona landscape, I was treated to outstanding presenters and effortless camaraderie.  During the professional workshops, I gained information and skills that will help me better serve my clients. Some of the many intriguing topics included: student organizational tools, productivity apps and home inventory software. Additionally, I learned strategies to develop my own business model and enjoyed motivating presentations from veteran organizers.
It was a great honor to represent our chapter at the national conference this year. I encourage all eligible NAPO-GPC chapter members to apply for the 2015 Scholarship, and I invite all those interested in a professional partnership with NAPO-GPC to consider a contribution to the Scholarship Fund.” ~Jen Bowen

Thank you to our 2014 NAPO-GPC Scholarship sponsor, PhillyJunk.com.

Are you one of the (scientifically identified) 6 million people who avoids shredding your sensitive documents because of your home shredder. 5.9 million of that number have actually burned up at least one home shredder at some point. 5.8 million have burned up more than one. (I might have made those numbers up.) It might be twice that high. Most families should own a cross-cut personal shredder. They are actually very easy to keep in good shape.
Here’s help on how to use your home paper shredder.

• Buy the best home shredder you can afford, without breaking the bank. You can find many options under $50. If you work at home or like to shred a lot, you might need a higher capacity machine costing between $50 and $200.
• Know your sheet capacity. If the shredder says, “Max. 8 Sheets,” like mine does, it really means 4-6 sheets of regular copy paper at a time. It does not allow for heavier paper, plastic, brochures, or folded items.
• Don’t try to shred everything. Don’t just shred everything because it has your name or address on it. Information anyone can get from a quick Google search or from the phone book doesn’t need to be shredded. However, anything with financial account numbers on them (like your bank statements and brokerage accounts) should be shredded. Your grocery store junk mail, just because you may have a frequent shopper club number there, is not sensitive information. Really, it’s not. Nor are most of your utility bills, believe it or not. Don’t make your little household shredder work harder than it needs to. Use it only for what needs to be shredded.
• If the shredder is usually unplugged for safety or other reasons, then you’ll probably be batch shredding. Your machine will only shred for 15-20 minutes before it overheats. Just give it a rest, and finish your batch another day, or after the machine has had a chance to cool down. Better yet, stop when you hear the motor or the blades laboring. That “rrr…rrr…rrr” sound means you are either feeding it too much paper, or the machine needs a break.
• Occasionally, give your shredder a little treat and lubricate the cutting blades. You can purchase special feeder sheets or shredder oil for this purpose. I’ve used my sewing machine oil with good results. You only need to do this a few times a year.
• Don’t keep shredding if the bin is full. The already shredded paper will jam up against the rotating blades, over-heating the shredder faster than needed. Empty the bin often.
• Unless your shredder specifically allows for it, don’t feed plastics through the machine. They tend to gunk up the blades. I’ve had to surgically remove hunks of melted plastic from household shredders. If your shredder is equipped to shred credit cards and/or computer disks, empty the basket of paper before shredding these items. The paper is recyclable with household recycles in most places. The disks probably aren’t. Throw plastic bits out in the trash separately from the paper.

If you follow these guidelines, your home shredder should do the job for many years. However, if you regularly have more than 2 shopping bags full of material to shred, you can search for free or low-cost community shredding events in your area. Just Google “shred events” and your city, zip code, or region. You can find a current list of shredding events in the greater Philadelphia region

Here is a list of breitling replica shredding events in the Delaware Valley. If you are planning to attend an event, it’s wise to check the website or to call or e-mail to make sure the event isn’t canceled due to weather or other circumstances.

If you can’t wait for an event, try drop-off shredding services from Staples, Office Depot, Wiggins, or Mail Source (Springfield) for about $1 per pound.

Happy shredding!

Saturday, May 31  10 am – 12 pm  Philadelphia
Passyunk Square Civic Association (PSCA)
1400 East Passyunk Avenue & Reed  Philadelphia, PA 19147

Events

Friday, June 6  3 pm – 5:30 pm  West Chester
West Chester Wiggins Auto Tags
1301 West Chester Pike  West Chester, PA 19380
2 paper grocery bags are $10.00
http://www.wigginsshredding.com/residential/tear-fests.php

Saturday, June 21  9 am – 12 pm  Glenside Residents Only
Copper Beach Elementary School
825 North Easton Road  Glenside, PA 19038
http://www.montcopa.org/DocumentCenter/View/6715
http://www.shredone.com/community-shredding-events

Saturday, June 21  10 am – 12 pm  West Chester
West Chester Wiggins Auto Tags
1301 West Chester Pike  West Chester, PA 19380
2 paper grocery bags are $10.00
http://www.wigginsshredding.com/residential/tear-fests.php

Saturday, June 28  9 am – 12 pm  Doylestown
Doylestown EAC Central Park
Wells Road  Doylestown, PA 18901
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, July 12  9 am – 12 pm Abington Residents only
Abington Township Public Works
2201 Florey Lane  Abington, PA 19001
http://www.shredone.com/community-shredding-events

Here is a list of rolex replica shredding events in the Delaware Valley. If you are planning to attend an event, it’s wise to check the website or call or e-mail to make sure the event isn’t iphone 5c refurbished canceled due to weather or other circumstances.

If you can’t wait for an event, try drop-off shredding services from Staples, Office Depot, Wiggins, or Mail Source (Springfield) for about $1 per pound.

Happy shredding!

Friday, May 2  3 pm – 5:30 pm West Chester
West Chester Wiggins Auto Tags — 1301 West Chester Pike, West Chester, PA 19380
2 paper grocery bags are $10.00 http://www.wigginsshredding.com/residential/tear-fests.php

Saturday, May 3  9 am – 12 pm Buckingham
Buckingham Township Public Works Building — Residents Only
4991 Upper Mountain Road, Buckingham, PA 18912
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 3  9 am – 11 am Newtown
First National Bank & Trust of Newtown — Bucks County Community College
272 Swamp Road, Newtown, PA 18940
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 3  9 am – 11 am
Middletown Township (Residents only)  — 3 Municipal Way, Langhorne, PA 19047
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 3  10 am – 1 pm Lawrenceville
Rider University Faculty, Staff, Students & Alumni only
Rider University General Services Building
2083 Lawrenceville Road  Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
http://www.shredone.com/community-shredding-events

Saturday, May 3  8 am – 12 pm Phoenixville
Schuykill Township
(CAT Pickering on Charlestown Road)
1580 Charlestown Road  Phoenixville, PA 19460

Events

Saturday, May 3  10 am – 12 pm Ridley Park
State Rep. Nick Miccarelli
605 E. Chester Pike  Ridley Park, PA 19078

Events

Saturday, May 3  1 pm – 3 pm Dallastown
York Township
190 Oak Road  Dallastown, PA 17313

Events

Saturday, May 10  9 – 1 pm  Oaks
State Rep Warren Kampf
422 Business Center  Mill Road  Oaks, PA 19456

Events

Saturday, May 10  9 am – 11:30 am  Philadelphia
State Rep. Mike McGeehan
Linden Avenue Boat Launch
Linden Ave. & Delaware Ave.  Philadelphia, PA 19114
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 10  9 am – 12 pm Philadelphia
State Senator Stack
Parkwood Shopping Center
12361 Academy Road  Philadelphia, PA 19114
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 10  9 am – 12 pm
First Federal of Bucks County
Bucks County Community College – Lower Bucks
1304 Veterans Highway  Bristol, PA 19007
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 17  9 am – 12 pm
Borough of Media
301 North Jackson Street  Media, PA 19063

Events

Saturday, May 17  9 am – 12 pm
Bucks First Federal Credit Union
Bucks County Tech. High School
610 Wistar Road  Fairless Hills, PA 19030
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 17  10 am – 12 pm  West Chester
West Chester Wiggins Auto Tags
1301 West Chester Pike  West Chester, PA 19380
2 paper grocery bags are $10.00
http://www.wigginsshredding.com/residential/tear-fests.php

Saturday, May 17  9 am – 11 am Easton
Williams Township
Municipal Office
655 Cider Press Road  Easton, PA 18042
(Residents only)
http://www.titanshredding.com/Community-Shredding-Services.aspx#calendar

Saturday, May 31  10 am – 12 pm  Philadelphia
Passyunk Square Civic Association (PSCA)
1400 East Passyunk Avenue & Reed  Philadelphia, PA 19147

Events

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Eliminating all email isn’t really an option for most of us, but if it feels like you are drowning in your inbox,  there are a few very simple ways to overcome email overload.

The first step is to control what’s coming in and where it goes. No matter what email system you use, whether it is through your company, Yahoo, Gmail, Verizon, Comcast, or some other platform, you have these tools available.

1. Unsubscribe from almost everything. The best, easiest, and quickest way to do this is clicking the “unsubscribe” button on the bottom of any newsletters or form letters you receive. These are legitimate automated unsubscribe functions, and you should use them liberally. (Do not click on any attachment with a .zip ending, since these are usually viruses.) Unsubscribe on a month’s worth of old emails all at one time, or do it on new emails you receive each day for the next month. (But stay subscribed to this one!)

2. Filter email into folders. Filters may work a little differently on each email service, but they are all roughly the same. You set up a “rule” that causes incoming email to automagically get sent to one of your email folders instead of your inbox. This is great for newsletters that you want to receive, but you can’t typically read during your regular day. They get batched together into a folder, and you can visit that folder when you have the time. Almost every email system has folders, rules, and filters. If you aren’t familiar with how to use them, click on your email’s help button and search for “how to use filters.”

3. Ruthlessly delete. Do you recognize this scenario? When you receive an incoming email that you aren’t sure if you need to keep, you just leave it in your inbox, just in case. But it’s just as easy to start defaulting to hit the delete button, and fish things out of the Trash folder if needed. Just be sure that your Trash folder doesn’t empty immediately. Set it to empty for somewhere between a day and a month, whatever you are comfortable with. You can usually change this setting.

If you do these three things, what’s left in your actual inbox will be much more manageable. Start today to reduce email overload. This is the first set of steps to take to eliminating unwanted email so you can focus on the email you do want.

A neuroscientist, a professional organizer, and a mom walk into a bar… Sounds like the start of a joke, but it describes a bit of the National Association of Professional Organizers conference in New Orleans this year. You didn’t get to attend? That’s ok, because you can easily find a recap or two of the conference.

Probably the most important thing, though, is one simple idea. It’s the reason you landed on this page and are reading this article. Dr. Ari Tuckman talked about it. Dr. David Tolin talked about it. Dr. Kelly McGonigal talked about it. All of these folks, by the way, are great practitioners to follow in the world of organizing and productivity.

We don’t organize because we want to organize, but to live a more full life and do stuff we enjoy. It’s way more than labeling.

What every single professional organizer and productivity consultant in NAPO will agree on is that we want our clients and potential clients (that may be you) to want something more than pretty boxes and bins. Whatever your goal is, we want to help you get it.

• We want you to be out in your garden — not doing boring filing tasks.
• We want you doing more community building—not working on a boring operations manual at work.
• We want you spending more time with your family—not worried about email piling up.

Kevin Garton, from the NEAT Company, made a point as he talked about scanning technologies. His most prized accomplishment wasn’t reducing piles of paper to bits and bytes. His most valued scan was a handwritten note from his young daughter, that he had scanned to his cloud and could re-read it anytime, anywhere he wanted.

What do you want more than your clutter, piles, and paper messes? What part of your life do you want to be spending more time on, enjoying more, and sharing more with loved ones? Are you ready to let a professional organizer show you some supportive strategies to enjoy those things more? Because the most important things in life end up not being things, but if you’re a mom (or a dad), the neuroscientist and the professional organizer didn’t have to tell you that.