Question of the Day: Do You Use Color Coding to Help You Organize?
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source: Jean Ruaud
One of the tips that was emphasized during both Office Max webcasts I attended (about organizing your home office and helping kids organize for back-to-school) is to color code your calendar, files, etc. so that each family member has their own color and everything can be easily filed or found by its color.
My girls aren’t yet old enough that we really have separate schedules or files to maintain for each of them, so we don’t really use color coding in this way, but I’ve shared my main filing system before, and I do use color coding there.
But what I really want to know is this:
Do you use color coding in your home to help you organize? If so, how?
Do you have any unusual ways you use color to simplify your life?
What’s an area that you think you could organize more easily if you started using color?
Have you ever abandoned a color-coding system because it wasn’t actually simplifying your life?
Can’t wait to hear your experiences!
Yep. In things that can be bought in colors, I do my best to buy a certain color for each child. In cups, towels and toothbrushes alone, this has saved my life.
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Mandi Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 6:09 am
We do this for our kids’ dishes, but I never thought about extending it to towels, toothbrushes, etc.!
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My 3yo goes to grandma’s quite a bit and to make sure that clothes, cups, panties, etc. make it to their proper homes, Grandma’s color is purple. Everything for her house purple- extra clothes, cups, whatever. That way if I pull a purple shirt out of the dryer I know immediately to put in the pile to go to her house- same with cups from the dishwasher. She does the same for me but in reverse.
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Mandi Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 6:10 am
This is such a cute idea, Jessica! I bet it does make it much easier for those trips back and forth!
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I personally use and professionally promote File Solutions (www.filesolutions.com). It makes filing ten times easier and it’s all color coded.
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Yep, my kids are color coded as well. The older one is red and the younger one is blue. This goes for shoes, toothbrushes, backpacks, jackets, lunch bags, towels, etc. If there is a blue towel on the floor, I know who left it there!
Christy´s last blog ..12 of 12…….August
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Mandi Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Christy, do your kids ever object to this system? Do you think they will as they get older and want to branch out to other colors for their stuff?
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I color code appointments in my Palm Pilot and I also use color folders at home in my filing cabinets (green for bank and credit card statements and taxes–money stuff; blue for insurance and medical paperwork; purple for our tenant files; red for things I want to jump out at me).
I also revamped our filing system at work using colored file labels so we know which folders on any given resource contain correspondence, invoices, license agreements, etc. This has really helped my boss and me to find things quickly without having to hunt through a big, thick file.
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I have tried, and tried to use the color coding system. The problem I run into…I can’t ever remember what the colors mean! I think I start off too complex and bite off more than I can chew. I should start with one color, when I get that mastered, add another color to the mix.
Kim´s last blog ..Great Offer: 25% Off Oshkosh Coupon for August
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Mandi Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Hey Kim! I think you’re probably right that you try to implement too many colors at once. I’ve done that before in different areas as well. You’ll have to come back and let us know if you ever try just doing one color at a time!
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I have tried, and tried to use the color coding system. The problem I run into…I can’t ever remember what the colors mean! I think I start off too complex and bite off more than I can chew. I should start with one color, when I get that mastered, add another color to the mix.
I so desperately wish I were more organized.
Kim´s last blog ..Great Offer: 25% Off Oshkosh Coupon for August
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nope, it’s easier for me not be color coded.
)
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I do color code kind of. I know my older son prefers yellow, and #2 prefers green. When I have a choice I do go with those informal rules. It does help sometimes.
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Oh yes. I have color coded since I was a kid. Actually, I wrote about my color coding org system for all my classwork etc for a college scholarship essay (and got the scholarship by the way!)
I code our personal files at home (like Andrea above) and I color code by priority my stuff at work (red=do now, yellow=do soon, blue=whenever, green=waiting on someone else).
can you tell i’m going thru my feed reader?
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My 4 children each have a color (blue, pink, green, or orange). This applies to laundry baskets, cups, towels, toothbrushes, pencil boxes, timers, rulers, binders, etc,… (we homeschool) The same colors apply to our family calendar on the fridge (Dh and I also have colors for the calendar as well as one for whole family activities)! And, yes, it simplifies life!!!! At a glance I can tell what child didn’t pick up their towel or put their crayons away. I can see who has something scheduled for today from across the kitchen. My children don’t know any different and don’t seem to mind at all.
Karen´s last blog ..Black Belt Testing & Trusting God’s Timing
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I color code my google calendar so I can tell at a glance what the upcoming task is: Red is my general stuff, Orange my actual Appointments, Green is my work, Teal DS #1, Yellow DS#2, Purple Fly lady, Grey for DH, Blue for Menu plan, and Brown for School related schedules(i.s vacation, no school).
Also I have been working on revamping my file cabinet to a color coded system, too. (which will be an upcoming post!)
mary b´s last blog ..And he heads off into the world…
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