New Year Organizing Adventures: Office

Funny how the New Year always gives me the energy to organize anew. But what's cool about this year is I've got a killer new Dymo 450 Duo to help me do it. Woohoo! I thought some of my attempts might inspire you too. :)
It's not until I got my DYMO that I realized how ragged my file folders looked with my sometimes scraggly handwriting. (I have Essential Tremor, so as I get older my hands shake more and more & thus my handwriting isn't exactly reliable.)
Yes, I've tried those labels you stick into your printer and make up with your computer. But I always had trouble making the words line up just right so they came up weird. But boy is the Dymo a different matter. I installed the software that came with it. So it's REALLY easy for me to put the names for the labels into the computer by typing. But with the DYMO what's great is I don't have to try and line up the wrods right, because they line up automatically. Even better, I don't eed the printer to print them out: the DYMO labelwriter has it's own labels and it's own built in thermal printer. My file folder labels look fantastic and they come out very quickly, almost amazingly so. I just have to make sure the labels are inserted right, and luckily the DYMO came with great instructions.It took a little bit to install the labels the first try, and one mistake on my part so just one wasted label, but then it went like a charm. Woohoo! Neat, perfect labels for my files, which look SO much better now!
     They looked so great, it inspired me to cover some with pretty paper. (Like recycled Christmas wrap for the "Christmas" file.) Cool!
     In between, of course, I refiled each file in my assorted recycled (pre-owned) file cabinets. So then I got to make new labels for the front of each drawer.Nice!
     I couldn't stop there either. I've spent so long misplacing addresses/phone numbers/ text numbers that it has driven me crazy at times (Well, crazier than I already can be, lol.) I've tried putting them into Notepad or word files on my computer. But it can take forever to find them. I haven't tried Excel yet, but if I had I could have transferred them into my DYMO software, I think. I have lost plenty of "regular" address books, because they usually are so small. And I hate having to scribble out the address when it changes to put in the new one.
So boy was I excited to see how easy the DYMO software is to use to put in and save and fand addresses! Then, there are several styles of paper or plastic labels that the addresses can be printed out with the thermal printer. The first one I made was for my daughter who's away at college. It was near Christmas, and DYMO includes several cool pictures you can include on your label if you want, so I used a Christmas one. Very easy to choose and insert. (I plan to insert my own logo soon too: what a great addition for a business!)
     Best of all, my new DYMO let's me print out postage right from home! I live in the middle of nowhere so the nearest post office is more than an hour away. Buying stamps at the post office is usually a hassle because it's so busy. I've tried buying postage online and printing it out with my comp8uter's printer before: also a hassle because then you have to tape it onto the package and pray that not only it sticks long enough to get to where you want it to go (the package) but that you haven't covered the wrong part with the tape (which I've done before) so they return it to you because they can't "cancel" the postage right. Jeepers.
     However the postage printer tags that come with the DYMO LabelWriter Pro 450 Duo come with the "sticky" built in. Not only that, but it's really strong adhesive. PLUS I don't have to pay a monthly fee to be able to print postage with it, like I have in the past with a Pitney Bowes postage meter and even with a plan the U.S. Postal Service had. I can't afford all that. So only having to pay the actual postage cost, (plus for the DYMO labelwriters) is a huge step up. This would be a big plus also for someone like my dad, who sells his bonsai's on EBAY. He has to use a lot of postage. This way he wouldn't have to go to the post office to get it and I assume he could deduct the expense of a labelwriter as a business expense!
     I have plenty of other stuff I want to organize. Including all our homeschool activities. So I'll keep you all posted. But meanwhile,  I thank God I'm a Bzzagent and they gave this DYMO LabelWriter 450 DUO to me to try It's a New Year Organizing Dream Come True!
     Do you want one too? DYMO gave me this code to give to all my friends, family and readers so you can get $50 off a DYMO LabelWriter 450 Duo for yourself by using this promo code: BZZDUO2010.
     Enjoy!