Say Goodbye to Snail Mail

Say goodbye to the old-fashioned snail mail. New web services make it possible to subsist on electronic mail alone. For most of us, the majority of our correspondence has been done electronically since Juno first offered free email. This does not however, stem the flow to the mailbox that clutters your desk and inbox and fills the garbage can.

Switch to Electronic Statements

Make a list and check it twice:
Nearly all business prefer to have you set up on electronic statements. Notable exceptions are government institutions and those with stock in the paper companies (I think?) Contact those that you do business with. Make a list of all your paper bills and as you change these to electronic statements, notate the date, time, confirmation numbers, etc. File this list for reference later. This does require some initial legwork on your part. Not all bills can be switched over by means of their websites. Some will require telephone calls.

Follow Up, Follow Up:
Next, you need to devise a way to make sure that those statements actually make it to you each month. “I didn’t receive the bill” is not a valid excuse and it is up to you to find out if and why a statement/bill is not making its way to your inbox. To help with the initial setup and make sure that you are receiving all your bills, I recommend that you set up a Google Calendar specifically to remind you to check for your latest statements a few days after the billing dates (find this on your statements or you can call customer service).

Opt out of Junk Mail

Do Your Paperwork:
Direct Mail - The Direct Mail Association offers a form to opt out of mail from members of their association. You can get the from online (www.the-dma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.html), but you still have to submit it through our favorite subsidized postal system. “Mail Preference Service at P.O. Box 643, Carmel, N.Y. 10512”

Credit Card Offers - Opt out of credit card offers through the credit reporting agencies at: www.optoutprescreen.com

Others - The Center for Democracy and Technology has a general form to mail to those that continue to send you mail after completing the above steps. Download the customizeable forms at:
www.opt-out.cdt.org

Or be Devious:
“One way to stop the offers is to sign up for so many cards and run up such high levels of debt that you become a credit untouchable. That is not a good plan.” NY Times Damon Darlin

You could also mail a box of rocks to the Republican/Democratic National Fundraising address with the “Postage Will Be Paid By Addressee” envelope and your return address taped on the front. This should guarantee that you never receive these envelopes again.

Cancel the Magazine Subscriptions

Rivaling TV (I don’t have one) and radio, magazines will probably subject you to more advertising than any other media outlet (if you use adblock plus). This is not only a waste of time, but can end up being a drain on the pocketbook. Print magazines normally have websites with rss feeds to grab their content without the paper version in your mailbox. Another option is to find another website or blog that covers the same information. You will normally have the news faster than the larger print magazines can deliver.

The Rest

Now that we have done what we can to reduce the amount of mail coming in, we all know that there will be some correspondence and junk mail that will always be sent with a stamp in the upper right corner. (Grandma’s birthday card, local mass mailers, your favorite magazines)

Here is where a relatively new web service steps in to help us out. Earth Class Mail (previously Remote Control Mail) offers to e-mail you scans of your postal service mail with options to open and email you a scan, shred, recycle, and forward to a different address. All this does come at a price. The lowest plan (Bronze) starts at $9.95/month when prepaid for 12 months all the way up to the Gold plan for $49.95 (paid monthly). No monthly plan includes the shipping for forwarding mail.

Outbound Postal Mail

That takes care of the inbound postal mail, but what about getting letters to your great uncle who doesn’t believe in computers? (Disregard this paragraph if you already bought a lifetime supply of "forever stamps.") Postful is still in beta, but it is easy to get an invite. This service will print a full color page and mail it from an email for $.99 each. No envelopes or stamps are required, just include the name and address in the subject line. This could take care of the majority your outbound snail mail needs.

Keep in mind that, depending on your correspondence practices and personal habits, the goal of this article may be both impractical and unnecessary, however, I hope someone will find it somewhat useful.

Electronic Filing System

Are filing cabinets overrunning your office? Do papers pile up on your desk because you will be filing them "later"? Maybe it is time to move to an electronic filing system. I must admit that I have not done this myself. The main holdup is the cost of a good document scanner. Prices are coming down and I will spring for it soon. I have been moving the majority of my correspondence to e-mail and rarely use my printer. E-mail is extremely easy to archive and search and rather than physically print a confirmation or registration code, I just print to a PDF and archive that file. The Simple Dollar has an interesting article in how they moved to the electronic filing system. Check it out and let me know if you have any improvements, ideas, etc.

How To Start An Electronic Financial Document System

Find Someone To Do Your Chores

Trying to find someone to take care of those mundane tasks that are eating up your schedule. Enter your personal concierge: DoMyStuff.com. The site is just getting started and the ratio of tasks to assistants is miniscule, but it has spectacular possibilities. This site matches those people looking to have their tasks done and those looking to do the tasks(obviously for pay). The people looking for work, bid on the tasks that you put up. Tune your kid into this site and have him earn his spending money. D0MyStuff takes a cut of all money that passes through the site. See if you can make it useful.


DoMyStuff

How To Organize Owners Manuals

There is no convenient way to store owners manuals. They come in all sizes and shapes and rarely have a cover that is stiff enough to keep them from deforming in to unseemly shapes on a bookshelf. Mine end up in a file and are rarely seen or organized. These tips will slim down this file considerably.

Jeri Dansky's April Newsletter

Personal Finance Software

I don't know if they can't count, or if I am missing something, but Consumerist put together a list of links to popular personal finance programs(7 free and 4 pay). There are options for different operating systems. Some of these items are templates or web based services, but you should be able to find something helpful.

8 Free Personal Finance Management Programs

(Let me know how many you count)

Tag Your Way to Organization

Tags are the hottest new way to organize almost any collection. Music, video, photos, blog posts, and email can all be tagged. Any program or web service worth it's snuff offers a creative way to tag and filter whatever it happens to serve up to the public. If you are like myself, you may not have immediately bought into the whole "tags" concept. Now is the time to catch up and get with the times. The following article by evilmadscientist outlines how he organized the photos of his superball collection. The same basic principles apply to just about anything that needs to be organized and tagged. Deciding on the categories and defining the parameters of each tag are covered in this simple how-to article. The specific examples make it easy to comprehend. Take these isntructions and apply them to the lists and collections in your life to become a part of the tagging revolution.

Organizing a Collection Using Flickr

Send Later Thunderbird Extension

Use this extension to send reminder emails to yourself or others. After you compose the email, instead of the regular Ctrl + Enter to drop it into cyberspace, use Ctrl + Shift + Enter to pull up the send later dialog box and tell Thunderbird when to mail the message down to the minute. Remember to leave Thunderbird open, otherwise the message will not be sent. This extension is compatible with the latest Thunderbird version.

Send Later from Lifehacker

Make your offline life easier

This list from Wisegeek has some great hints as to how to make our normal lives more efficient.


How Can I Make My Offline Life Easier?

How to Handle Snail Mail

From Zen Habits
By Leo

~ Create one “mail center” in your home for dealing with your mail and incoming paperwork. This should include an inbox for all incoming papers, a waste-basket (the simplifier’s most important tool!), a small filing system (just some manila folders in a drawer or file case is fine), and something to hold envelopes, stamps, your checkbook, pens and other needed tools.

~ Inbox. All incoming mail, school papers, and other paperwork goes straight into your inbox. Don’t toss them on a counter or the kitchen table or a desk. Put them in one place only: the inbox. It’s best if you remove the mail from the envelop right away, toss the envelopes and any junk flyers, and toss junk mail and catalogs right away — but even if you don’t, at least toss everything in the inbox.

~ Process. Once a day (or once a week if you prefer), process all the papers in your inbox. Start with the top one, and deal with it completely, before moving down. Your choices: toss, file, take action immediately (if it takes 2 minutes or less) and then toss or file, or put it in an action folder and note it on your to-do list. Don’t ever postpone a decision on a piece of paper when you’re processing and put it back — make a decision and dispose of it, and then move on to the next item, until your inbox is empty.

~ Pay bills immediately. While you’re processing your mail and paperwork, you can put all bills in a folder to be paid at a certain date (you might have two dates a month when you pay bills, for example, or a weekly bills day). But another alternative is to just pay the bill on the spot, as soon as you’re done processing your inbox. Either write a check and put the bill and check in an envelope to be dropped in the mailbox tomorrow, or go to your computer and pay the bills online. Either way, the bill is taken care of, and off your mind.

~ Enter stuff into your to-do lists or calendar. For papers that contain tasks or appointments or schedules, you’ll want to enter the tasks on your to-do list immediately, and enter any dates into your calendar immediately (I use Gcal). I even enter all my kids’ soccer games, school events, and other activities in Gcal, and then just file the school papers or schedules in a “school papers” folder so I can refer to it later if necessary.

~ File immediately. Once you’ve paid a bill or taken action on a piece of paper, you should file it immediately (unless you can toss it). Don’t let it sit on your counter, or pile up in a “to be filed” pile or folder, or go back into your inbox. File it right away. Set up a simple filing system with manila envelopes, labeled with the name of the billing company or utility, along with folders for other important documents in your life, and use a simple alphabetical filing system so you can find things immediately. Always have a stack of manila folders and labels on hand (some people even recommend a handy Brother label-maker) so you can create a new folder quickly if you need it. The trick to filing is to do it right away and not let it pile up.

~ That’s it. No papers should ever be anywhere except the inbox or in your filing system. It’s simple and efficient. The trick is to make this a habit, and stick to it like a routine. Have set times of the day or week when you process your inbox and pay your bills. Create a simple system like this, and you eliminate the clutter and the worry.

Disorganization Costs You Money

From Mighty Bargain Hunter

How much has it cost you? Check out this list and see if you can plug any holes:

Missed rebates - Rebate deals can be really good. But if you forget to turn the stupid thing in, it’s a really bad deal.

Emergency purchases - You were sure you had another box of diapers and it’s 2 AM and your two-year-old is really, uh, aromatic? The convenience store is a few miles away and the diapers there are two dollars — each!

Buying things you already have - The one you have is still good, but it’s either buried under something and you can’t find it, or you don’t remember that you have it.

Dining out a lot - Because you ran out of time in the morning and didn’t pack a lunch.

Stuff breaking before its time - Forgetting to change the air filter in your central air system or forgetting to drain the hose in winter time will cause expensive surprises.

Susceptibility to sales pitches - A basic radon test was perfectly sufficient when we had our house inspected prior to purchasing it, but I didn’t know that and paid $100 for a deluxe one that I didn’t really need.

Missed payments - Most of our payments are taken out automatically, but a few aren’t, like our water bill, and the bill can get lost in the shuffle. Late payments cost extra money. Too many late payments result in a dinged credit rating.

Missed opportunities - Some folks make money hand over fist with 0% balance transfer offers. I usually don’t even try these because I’m worried I’ll screw them up. Or coupons expire. Or a big refund from Uncle Sam shows up.

Throwing money out the window - That store credit you received when you returned that unwanted gift? The one that was on the slip of paper that was the only record of the credit? The one that the cashier said not to lose because it’s like losing cash?

Overdraft protection fees - By this I mean the transfer from your savings account to your checking account that happens when you overdraw the checking account but have the savings to cover it. Five bucks a check for a week — when you get the notice in the mail for the first one! — adds up in a hurry.

Extra trips to the store - Another few gallons of gas burned up to take back the item that was the wrong size or to buy something you forgot you needed.

Out of control spending - Some people can get away with not tracking their spending — I could for a while — but small leaks in your wallet can grow if left unchecked.

Spoiled food - Related to the last one.

Missed tax deductions - Mileage as a business expense? Items donated to the Salvation Army? These can be tax-deductible under some circumstances, but only if you have adequate proof. No proof, no deduction. Or if you take the deduction,

Overdue charges - Library books, movies, etc.

Huge amounts of lost productivity - I’ve probably spent several months of my life looking for something that I’ve misplaced. Or I’ve been working at 25% capacity because all of the visual and mental noise of disorganization just wears me down; I don’t know what to do or even where to start on a project sometimes.

12 Tips for an Organized Desk

From Productivity 501
Here are twelve quick tips for organizing your desk. These are things that have worked well for me. Most of them are probably applicable to others as well. If you have any suggestions of items to add please add them to the comments.

1. Get rid of pens and pencils you don't need. - I have one type of pen I like to use, but every month or my pencil holder gets filled up with other random writing instruments. If you aren't going to use it, don't feel bad about throwing it out. It is just clutter.
2. Have a place for pocket stuff. Your keys, phone, PDA, wallet, bluetooth ear piece, etc. should have a home. My ideal setup is to keep them in a drawer with wires already run for charging the various items. Unfortunately my current desk doesn't have drawers, so I have set aside a small amount of space under my monitor that isn't really usable for work anyway. I have all my charging cables right there so I don't have to hunt for them.
3. Proximity based on frequency of use. If you use it every day, it should be closer than something you use only a few times each week. This is common sense, but it is easy to arrange are desk for aesthetics instead of usefulness.
4. Move electronics out of sight. Your cable modem, wireless router, firewall, battery backup, etc. shouldn't be on your desk. Even if you have enough room in introduces visual clutter.
5. Easy to access files. Without moving your chair or getting up, you should be able to grab an unused manila folder, label it and put it in your file cabinet. Easy filing is one cornerstone of good organization. The more effort it requires the more difficult it will be to stay organized.
6. Scanning documents. This is something I'm experimenting with. I have a scanner and I'll turn important documents into PDFs and keep them on my computer. I use OCR so the documents are searchable. This is wonderful if you travel a lot because it keeps everything right there with you. The problem is trying to figure out what to scan and what can just be filed. If you are good at guessing what you'll want to have electronically this can work very well. I haven't figured out how accurate I am just yet.
7. Cleaning supplies. If you clean your desk with Windex and a paper towel, make sure you have some nearby. This will help encourage you to wipe down your work surface which will encourage you to clean it off more often. It is all about making things as easy for yourself as possible.
8. Scratch notepad. During the course of the day you will have telephone numbers, names, addresses, order confirmations, flight numbers, etc. If you can keep these all in one place, you'll be far more productive if you need to look something up later. I have the bad habit of grabbing a nearby envelope and writing a telephone number on it. By keeping a notebook, specifically for these types of items, I don't lose nearly as many things. The Franklin Planner method is to keep all of this info in the diary page of the planner which is probably an even better option.
9. Organize those wires. It is easy to have half your desk covered with wires for various pieces of electronics. Moving some stuff off your desk can help. Some pieces of velcro wrapped around wires can go a long ways toward cleaning things up. Also make sure that you have wires that are long enough to tuck out of the way. If they are too short you won't be able to arrange them neatly. Sometimes wireless is an option. With more and more devices supporting bluetooth and WiFi, you may be able to get rid of some wires simply by enabling the wireless settings.
10. If you don't have enough drawers. My current desk is large, but it is a sheet of glass over a metal frame. While it looks really cool, it doesn't allow much in the way of storage. To compensate, I've brought in a dresser for storage. I also use bookshelves with a bunch of boxes with lids to help give me some more drawer like storage. I have a two drawer file cabinet that slides under my desk to help make better use of the space.
11. Lighting. Make sure you have enough light on your desk. Maybe it is just me, but a bright work area is easier to keep clean than a dark one.
12. Organize as you go. As we discussed the Iron Chef Fable, it is more efficient to stay organized as you work instead of trying to do it all at the end. You should be constantly working on keeping your desk neat. If it gets disorganized in the middle of a big project, take small steps. Clear a 1 foot by 1 foot area before you leave for the day. Make a small effort toward organization may not seem like much, but if you do it everyday, it will keep things headed in the right direction for you.

101 Resources for Freelancers

By Cyan

From Freelance Switch

Update: Added 8 Resources suggested by the community… We are putting together a proper resource directory to launch tomorrow since this has proven so darn popular!

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The web is such a big and wonderful place, packed with tools and resources which you all too often don’t know about. So to help all you freelancers out there we have compiled a gigantic list of resources, categorized up for your benefit. If you know a resource that we’ve missed, let us know as we’re always looking to grow this list!

Timing
These are tools to help you time and track your work. Some of them plug into invoicing programs and some even come with them built in:

1. SlimTimer - A Start/Stop little timer that tracks jobs on a main web interface
2. Tick - Timetracking application focused on keeping track of your budgets
3. Time Assistant - Professional timesheet software
4. Harvest - Simple and efficient time tracking
5. FourteenDayz - Online time tracking for teams
6. PunchyTime - A simple time tracking tool for creatives

Invoicing
When you don’t invoice, you don’t get paid, so it literally pays to stay on top of your billing. Here are some tools to help:

1. Billing Orchard - Electronic billing and invoicing software, starting at $14.95 per month
2. Billable - Service and invoice tracking
3. SimplyBill - Easy to use invoicing software
4. Blinksale - More easy to use invoicing software
5. Quickbooks - Small business financial software
6. Side Job Track - Free web-based job tracking, invoicing, reporting and project management for the part-time independent contractor
7. Freshbooks - Tracks time, sends invoices by email or U.S. mail, and generally makes invoicing easier
8. InvoicePlace - Easy Invoicing and Quotes From Anywhere
9. LessAccounting - Is your job title Accounting? Probably not. Do less accounting!

Project Management and Organization
These resources will help you stay organised and manage those projects and clients

1. Proposal Kit - Proposal and contract management tools
2. Ta-Da Lists - a simple (free!) to-do list application that can be shared with the world
3. Backpack - Service that integrates to-do lists, notes, files, images, and a calendar with reminders that can be sent to your email or cell
4. Writeboard - Sharable, web-based text documents that save edits, so you can collaborate, roll back and compare
5. ConceptShare - Share designs and get feedback with visual annotation tools
6. Wridea - Free tool for writers focusing on idea generation
7. GoPlan - Note-taking, calendaring, task management, issue tracking, file management and online real-time chat
8. Toodledo - Another web based to-do list
9. ActiveCollab - Open source collaboration and project management tool
10. MonkeyOn - Your to-do list for things that you want other people to do
11. Remember The Milk - Another To-Do List manager

Stock Libraries
Templates, Photos, Flash files all to help make you look good

1. FlashDen - A resource selling stock Flash, audio, video and fonts for as little as 50 cents
2. Dreamstime - Royalty free stock photography for $1 - $2
3. Getty Images - When price is no object and quality is essential
4. Istockphoto - Royalty free stock photography, videos, and illustrations for $1 - $50
5. Veer - Rights managed and royalty free photography, illutration, type, and motion
6. Stock.xchng - Completely Free stock photography
7. Ice Templates - Website templates in Flash and HTML
8. Template Monster - The biggest website template company on the web!
9. MyFonts - All the fonts you could ever want and a very handy font identification tool as well.
10. IconBuffet - Icons, more icons and even more icons

Business Tools
Resources to help with the business of freelancing…

1. HighRise - Track communication and conversations with leads, employees, clients, colleagues, vendors
2. Campfire - Real-time group chat and file sharing
3. Central Desktop - Shared workspaces and web conferencing
4. Relenta - Manage your email, contacts, documents and activities
5. Google Apps - Communication and collaboration tools from Google
6. Zoho - Free office tools
7. Campaign Monitor - Email newsletter software
8. Breeze - Email campaign and newsletter software
9. Business-Paper - Easy business cards
10. GoToMeeting - Easy online meetings
11. Wufoo - Make forms to survey your clients
12. AIGA Spec Letter - Sample letter to communicate with clients who want spec work or free pitching
13. CPA Directory - Find an accountant (in the US)
14. SBA - Small Business Administration, help and advice
15. Paypal - Online payment system
16. Moneybookers - Online payment system
17. Escrow - Online payment system that protects the buyer and seller, useful for those bigger jobs with anonymous clients.
18. Resources for the Design Entrepeneur - Free sample forms and agreements
19. Work - How-to guides to running a small business
20. XE - Quick and easy currency converter for all your international transactions…
21. Trendwatching - Consumer trends and insights resource

Legal
Because you have to protect yourself and your work…

1. My New Company - Legal and general start-up information
2. Designers Toolbox - Free legal forms for graphic designers
3. Copyright - Everything you need to know about US copyright
4. AIGA Form of Agreement - Standard form of agreement for design services trmplate

Job Boards
A whole bunch of places to find jobs, and don’t forget FreelanceSwitch will be adding its very own job board real soon!

1. 37signals Job Board - Mostly full-time design and programming jobs
2. Authentic Jobs - Full time and freelance job board for standards aware designers and developers
3. Coroflot Job Board - Designer job board
4. WebProJobs - Freelance and full-time jobs for designers, developers, copywriters and marketers
5. Jobpile - Aggregates the best job boards on the web
6. Krop - Creative and tech jobs
7. FWjobs - Web jobs board
8. SlashDot - Jobs for IT professionals
9. CSS Beauty Job Board - Job board for web designers
10. MinistryCamp Job Board - Job board for Christian designers and programmers
11. Guru - Freelancer listing service with job board
12. Elance - List yourself for freelance jobs

Web Tools
Tools to get your Web Presence Up and running…

1. Squarespace - Very nice publishing system for websites and blogs
2. Rackspace - dedicated hosting and customer service that is second to none
3. Mosso - Advanced hosting at a reasonable price
4. MyDomain - Domains for $8.50 per year
5. Media Temple - Easy to set up and use hosting
6. Light - Content management for designers and ad agencies
7. SiteKreator - Instant websites - just add your content
8. StrongSpace - Back-up and store important files
9. psd2html - Builds websites in html from Photoshop files
10. xhtml iT - Website builds from design in 24 hours
11. ExpressionEngine - A neat little CMS app
12. Inblogit - A great free blogging tool for web designers

Advertising and Marketing
A few ways to market and advertise yourself online…

1. Text Link Ads - Text ads to sell your wares and improve your traffic ranking
2. Review Me - Get your service or Web site reviewed by bloggers
3. Adbrite - Text and banner ads on over 20,000 sites
4. AdEngage - Text and Photext ads (image and text ad combined)
5. Adwords - Text ads on Google searches
6. Professional On The Web - Get yourself Listed

Miscellaneous
All the many things we couldn’t fit anywhere else!

1. Creative Public - Useful site for anyone starting a freelance graphic or web design career. A $49.95 fee buys unlimited access to forms, manuals, pricing guides, contracts etc
2. You Send It - Send files up to 2GB online
3. Jewelboxing - superior packaging for short run CDs and DVDs
4. eFax - Send and receive faxes by email
5. PowerXChange - Extensions for a variety of creative software, including Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver
6. Coroflot - A great resources for designers to showcase their portfolios, share work and network
7. Cloudmark - Block spam on your PC
8. SpamSieve - Block spam on your Mac
9. Dropsend - Email up to 1GB of files
10. Media Fire - Send 100MB files online
11. Box - Store, share and access files online
12. Icebrrg - Simple web forms
13. Formsite - Web forms and surveys in minutes
14. Lorem Ipsum - Lorem Ipsum generator for dummy copy
15. Textmate - The essential programmers text editor for Macs
16. ETextEditor - Like Textmate but for Windows
17. Kuler - Colour scheme picker
18. Jungle Disk - Online storage for 15 cents a gigabyte

Do you have a resource we missed? Leave a comment and let us know!

The idea for this post came from the always helpful IHelpYouBlog’s 101 Great Posting Ideas that Sizzle …