(alternative blog title: proof I shop places other than Target)

If this isn’t your first stop at this blog…you may have noticed that I enjoy organizing things in somewhat non-traditional ways, with a creative touch whenever possible. Today’s post combines lots of my favorite organizing things (and there aren’t even buckets involved!)

Besides my love of buckets, I also love old, wooden boxes. So imagine my thrill last summer while in Seattle I happen upon this beauty:

Redfilebox

I also happen to love the color red, so I’m not sure it could get better than this. Here’s a peek at the inside of her:

Fileboxinside

Even though this box is designed to hold 3X5 cards…I decided she could be put to use to solve my business card dilemma. I have been collecting cards for years and never found the perfect organizing system for them. My rational, organizer mind said “Go electronic! It’s so much more efficient.” But my creative organizer mind said to do this:

Insidebizcardbox

“Make index dividers using your favorite card-stock, and use the cool, red box who does not deserve to sit idle on a shelf any longer.” And so I did.

So here’s the deal. This system isn’t for everyone, by any stretch of the imagination. But for me, it became quite clear after years of not entering all my business cards into Outlook or some other electronic system…that electronic was simply not for me (even though that rational organizer kept telling me it was a better way to go…the creative and tactile side of me wasn’t biting.)

My personal belief is that the best organizing systems are the ones that work for you and how you think…and the ones that make you happy. An old, red wooden box with index cards made using my favorite scrapbook paper in the world…makes me happy! So you don’t have to use technology if technology doesn’t work best for you. PDA’s, information managers, and all the other electronic tools are terrific for people who think this way, and for people who don’t develop a personal attachment to business cards. I love a pretty business card and I also remember people by their business cards. It’s a visual queue I use to remember who someone is, where I met them, and when I met them.

Once I decided on the red box as the storage solution, I needed to figure out how to sort or organize my cards. Had a client posed this question of me about their business cards, I could have easily rattled off a number of suggestions. But…since this was my own personal organizing dilemma, I was riddled with the feeling that I should already know what to do. “It shouldn’t be so hard, Aby,” a little voice kept telling me.

But it was.

I was already feeling guilty 😉 for not being more hip from a technology standpoint. Couple this with the knowledge that for the past several years the cards had been unsorted in a small (but very cute) basket where the cards were next to impossible to find when needed…well I was feeling a bit paralyzed.

So, I did what anyone in my position would do: I emailed a professional organizer.

Janine came to my rescue, helping me put my indecision to an end. The final sorting system: the cards are sorted by how I think of them! (Brilliant!) I have categories such as “scrap friends” for people I meet at scrapbook trade shows or through other scrapbook events. There’s one called “BNI / Chamber” where I store all the cards for people I met through those organizations. There’s one called “NAPO ’08” where I store cards from people I met at this year’s convention. Behind each divider the cards aren’t in any particular order…which will work fine for me. This will give me a great excuse to sift through the cards when I go looking for one…so I get to revisit all those wonderful cards again.

Insideview2_zoom

The truth is…the people I contact on a regular basis are in Outlook…so I can quickly get my hands on their info. But my cute red box will make a nice addition to my office and allow me to hold onto the physical business cards for when I want or need a memory jog about that one lady who I met at the scrapbook show that has a great organization for donating used scrapbook supplies…

So where do you weigh in on the business card organizing dilemma? Alphabetical or by category? Paper or electronic? And if electronic…do you throw the cards away once they’re entered? Red wooden boxes or blue? You know I’d love to hear from you!