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file drawer hacks (or product ensdorsements)
bbushman | Nov 7 2005
Hello all: 1. Conversion Hacks: I've got some drawers that are the proper dimensions and such for folders where I've currently stowed my newly e-labeled, alphabetized, happy manilla folder party. Alas, they don't have the lovely mechanism that props them up and makes an un-full drawer more than marginally usable. :) Does anyone know of any makeshift or modular products or hacks available to do this job without investing in new drawers? 2. New Drawers: Ok, if the answer is "NO!" on the above, any recommendations on reasonably durable, useful drawers that won't cost me my first born? 3. Success with hanging files: Anyone had comfortable success with the "manilla folder in a hanging file" approach? Finally: I've NEVER had great success with filing in previous attempts - I always go hog wild for a weekend, and then pile-omania again. I have reason to believe this time will be different - between the general GTD inbox/review approach, how much (albiet bizarre) satisfaction I got this weekend from going nuts with my shiny new label maker, my absolute NEED at this point, and the overall peace that I'm starting to achieve in my first weeks of GTD... but still, any strokes of brilliance, tweaks, techniques, or hacks that clinched your success? Disclaimer: In my childhood I was completely Type-A: at age 7, my mom used to move my model cars a few inches just to test me, my dresser was impeccable, and I was probably the only 9 year old in my 3rd grade class with a alphabetical filing system for past homework, stuff I was reading, and my pithy adolescent finances. :) But somewhere in my teen years, that spun hopelessly out of control, and here in my mid 20's, I'm still struggling between chaos and order. My computer has actually always been one place that I stay fairly organized, but my offline life- not so much. :) 20 Comments
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 I've done the hybrid thing...Submitted by sabreuse on November 9, 2005 - 2:45pm.
I've done the hybrid thing since long before there was GTD -- my desk at home requires hangers, and my need to take things back and forth with me requires portable folders that I can pull out. I don't bother with the fiddly little tabs and labels -- I try to think of the hanging files as hangers for folders, rather than as folders. I have been known to keep a few files in each hanger, because one folder per hanger takes up an absurd amount of space, and the last thing I want is to have to find room for more filing cabinets. However, I also don't let hangers get so stuffed that they can't move back and forth freely on the tracks -- that's their main benefit. What I do take from GTD is that the folders are thin and in alphabetical sequence. I don't mess with trying to group them into broader categories (as I used to do) -- and that's where a lot of hanging-file users run into trouble. When you've got a 4-inch thick monster labeled (in tiny tiny letters in a plastic tab) "financial" and you're trying to stuff everything from ancient taxes to insurance to the mortgage to the bank statements to a copy of the budget you printed out from Quicken 5 years ago and never stuck to, you've essentially got another unsorted inbox. (I'll admit that I sometimes wonder if the David was bitten by a rabid hanging file at an impressionable age. It's just not that big a deal, in my experience.) » POSTED IN:
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