Making free-standing folders stand up

[chrism...@gmail.com]

I've got a pretty nice A-Z filing system and tickler file set up in a
file box and its working out pretty well. However, its only about
half-full (apparently my life isn't as busy as I thought) and the
folders tend to fall over in the box.

Does anyone have any good tips on how to keep the darn things standing
up? I've seen file cabinets with adjustable partitions to keep things
straight but this is just a $10 plastic file box.

Thanks,
Chris

[{ nut - megpie }]

Ooh! I know, I know! I'm using a black wire-frame vertical file, and it works
great. I have to move files forward in the file as the month progresses, but
it hasn't bothered me at all. Like these:

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=FEL72112

[Josh]

Huh. I hadn't really thought of putting the tickler file standing
vertically... mine sits flat in one of those inbox trays.

[{ nut - megpie }]

What I do is put labels next to the day or month numbers so that I can sort of
see the way the week or month or whatever is starting to pan out, and I group
folders in sections of a little less than a week, depending on what days have
important things going on. It works pretty well.

[Josh]

That sounds like a good idea; it cuts down on the drawback of tickler
files, that you can't see what's coming up over the next week.
What do you use for labels? Sticky notes?

[{ nut - megpie }]

Yeah, sometimes I use sticky notes and sometimes I use little stickers that
will peel off when I want them to peel off - it's hard to find stickers that
will peel off, but I've managed to find them, they're out there. I haven't
been able to use regular labels because they always permanently attach
themselves... heh...

[Samuel DeVore]

Two other ideas, if you put a piece of clear packing tape where you
want to put the labels/stickers then you can use almost any type of
sticker/label and they will remove easily. Also 3M makes a sticky
note adhesive that I often use to create stickies out of note pages.

Sam D

[Mark Eckenrode]

You can purchase what's called an Everyday File. I forget who makes it
but that's the actual name of the product. It's an accordion file of
43 folders, 1-31 and A-Z. I got mine at Staples.

--
Regards,

Mark Eckenrode

[Michael Grant]

On Dec 15, 2004, at 7:04 PM, Mark Eckenrode wrote:

> It's an accordion file of
> 43 folders, 1-31 and A-Z.

Isn't that 57? ;-)
Michael

--
<http://globalocal.blogspot.com/>

"I speak Spanish to God, French to women, English to men, and Japanese
to my horse."
- Buckaroo Banzai

[lukas]

i'm having the same issue...so nobody is actually doing a 43 folders
system in a file drawer or box, and having this problem?

i've been thinking about just filling a coffee can with pennies and
throwing it behind the folders, to keep them all pressed towards the
front, but that seems a trifle inelegant.

[Kyle Maxwell]

My tickler is also standing but it's different: I have a file box for
5x7 index cards and a set of 1-31 and Jan-Dec dividers. Each tickler
reminder goes on one card and gets thrown in (there's a supply of fresh
cards at the back). I have yet to figure out how to get folders to
stand up in a box like you're describing.

[lukas]

Kyle: so you dont tickle yourself (sigh, sorry) with physical items
like pamphlets to read or bills to pay? The index card thing would work
fine for jotting ideas to myself, but not for "real stuff"

[Samuel DeVore]

I use a wire rack to hold the most current folders in the 43
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdevore/2693215>

[lukas]

that looks like it works well, but i'd like to get it off the
desk...maybe i'll drop the whole frame into the file size drawer on my
desk, since the cheap plastic hanging-rack rails on top of the drawer
sides (bad design! no donut!) are shot.

[Samuel DeVore]

It works well in a drawer too (but it is hard to photgraph :)

Sam D

[lukas]

good point!

[Kyle Maxwell]

lukas: I know that those things are important to a lot of people, but
bill-paying is handled in my recurring tasks (updating my MS Money
accounts and paying bills happen on a weekly and biweekly basis), and
pamphlets/etc. go into a reading tray. To be honest, though, I haven't
been dealing with @Read very well, though that's probably a post for
another thread.

Basically, I use my tickler for NAs I know I need to do but for
whatever reason I can't do until some point in the future. For example,
maybe I need to get a piece of information from someone else, but he's
definitely not going to have that information until after a certain
date. Into the tickler.

Physical items like you're describing often get put into an @Action
file folder (sometimes with a Post-It attached) and an appropriate NA
gets added to the context lists. This way, reviewing either the list or
the folder reminds me.

[Rich Simon]

I am using this self contained, portable file box from the Container
Store - not only does it have hanging file rails, but the manilla
folders stand up rather nicely.

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=74545&PRODID=70967

[lukas]

Kyle: sounds like a good system. I do a lot with index cards, I jot
down things that "i should do someday" and throw them in my 43.

Over the weekend I ended up grabbing a wire file rack and throwing it
in my less-than-well-designed file drawer on my computer desk. Keeps my
43 manillas, and I'm hanging some folders I need to keep handy behind
the rack, which holds them in place. This seems to be a good solution
for the problem of loose folders falling all over the drawer.
I also have another sloped (ie back folders higher than front) folder
rack on the top of my desk for all current projects that I'm having to
grab during the week.