by Sue Crum, Ed.D. Professional Organizer

Spring has sprung and with it new beginnings, great opportunities, and longer days!

It’s the time of year for putting away the Ugg boots and heavy sweaters, clearing out the cobwebs of our homes and lives and creating a world how we imagine it could be: Calm, Clutter-Free and Happy.

How do we do that?

We can start by looking at our environments, home and work. It’s the perfect time to shed old habits that haven’t served us well, shred old papers and files we no longer need and wed ourselves to fresh starts.

Look around and see where you could begin. Whether you live alone or with others, make it into a spring fling party. What clothes are you no longer wearing that could be donated? If you have children, now is the perfect time to attack those closets and see what no longer fits. With hefty bags at the ready, see if you can make some breathing room in the dresser drawers and closets of your home. Put the filled bags in your car and drop them off at the nearest donation center.

Once you finish this, you’ll be in the mood to spring fling another area of your home or business. How about your office or the place where your papers have been dwelling? By this time of year your tax reports should be completed. How “Zen” can you make your office space now?

Sometimes we leave files and piles out on countertops because our file cabinets are bursting. Use these longer days and later sunsets to take a look at the back of those file drawers. Can you release to the universe files you haven’t looked at in months or even years? Is it possible to create “breathing space” in those file cabinets rather than going out and buying more file drawers?

If you have sensitive documents, of course the man to contact is Mike Krauss at 619.295.5474 at Total Secure Shredding! You can drop off your items to be shredded at his place near the San Diego Sports Arena or arrange for mobile shredding services if you have quite a bit.

So, shed your sweatshirts and long pants, crank up some music and start creating more open space for new opportunities and experiences. Summer’s just around the corner; it’s time to spring toward it!

“What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork.” – Pearl Bailey 

Sue Crum is an international speaker and founder of De-Clutteryourlife.com and the owner of the RED team.  She consults and shows people how to de-clutter and organize their lives for better productivity. Her forthcoming book, De-Clutter Your Life – 50 Ways to Organize Your Life, Home or Business so that you can be More Calm, Focused, and Happy, will be available in June.  Call her to speak to one of your groups or help you with de-cluttering and organizing. 760.803.2786.

To receive her latest EBook, Red Hot etips List for De-Cluttering Your Life, sign up at www.de-clutteryourlife.com. You will also receive monthly RED Hot etips for energized and efficient people and learn where Sue is next presenting.

Welcome to the 12 Days of SHREDmas!

12 Days… 12 Discounts

Starting today December 6th and going to Friday December 21st, I’ll be offering a different discount each day.

But there is one catch…

The coupon will be available for download ONLY ONE DAY.

However, the coupons will be valid to use anytime through January 31, 2013.

1. One Hard Drive for FREE – Available 12/06/12 [Click Here]
2. Cross-Cut Shredding for the price of Strip-Cut – Available 12/07/12 [Click Here]
3. Strip-Cut Shredding for the price of Un-Witnessed Shredding – Available 12/10/12 [Click Here]
4. One File Box Shredded for FREE when you Shred 1 Hard Drive – Available 12/11/12 [Click Here]
5. Last Year’s Purge Prices – Available 12/12/12 [Click Here]
6. One FREE Hard Drive with 2 Boxes of Shredded Documents – Available 12/13/12 [Click Here]
7. Unlimited CD’s/DVD’s/Diskettes Shredded for FREE – Available 12/14/12 [Click Here]
8. 8% OFF any Shred Service – Available 12/17/12 [Click Here]
9. 50% OFF Phone Shredding – Available 12/18/12 [Click Here]
10. 10% OFF any Shred Service – Available 12/19/12 [Click Here]
11. 15 Boxes for the Price of 10 – Available 12/20/12 [Click Here]
12. 12% OFF any Shred Service – Available 12/21/12 [Click Here]

Just to emphasize how I envisioned this working, the coupons will be available for download only for one day but will be valid for use through 1/31/12.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call:

(619) 295-5474

Happy Holidays, Your Friend,

Standard Size File Box

What is all this talk about Standard Size File Boxes?

Hey Folks,

The question comes up all the time regarding how do we charge, what exactly is a Standard Size File Box, and what if I don’t have my documents in a Standard Size File Box?

>>Question #1 – How Do We Charge?

This one is easy, we charge by the Standard Size File Box which is basically a unit of volume.

>>Question #2 – What is a Standard Size File Box

Standard Size File Box:  A box typically used for the storage and transport of documents that measures 15″ x 12″ x 10″. If you multiply all those measurement together  you get a total volume of 1,800 cubic inches (in³).

Copy Paper Box: When you go to an office supply store and purchase copy paper, this is the type of box in which the paper comes. In most cases, this box contains 10 reams of copy paper measuring 8 1/2″ x 11″ per sheet. At Total Secure Shredding, we consider this box equivalent to a Standard Size File Box.

So far so good.

The problem is that there are a few different box sizes commonly used to store documents and this creates a little confusion.

Here is a list of some of the more common box sizes and types:

STORAGE FILE BOXES

1. Letter/Legal: 15″ (length) x 12″ (width) x 10″ (height); 1,800 in³
2. Letter: 24″ (length) x 12″ (width) x 10″ (height); 2,880 in³
3. Legal: 24″ (length) x 15″ (width) x 10″ (heigth); 3,600 in³
4. Check: 14 1/4″ (length) x 9″ (width) x 4″ (heigth); 513 in³

#1 is what the Shredding Industry considers the “Standard Size File Box”

Box #2 is approximately one and a half times as big as a #1. Let’s check the math -  2,880 divided by 1,800 equals 1.6. So considering these boxes as one and a halfs does make sense.

Now let’s look at box #3. This box has exactly double the volume of box #1. When we do the math and divide 3,600 by 1,800 we get exactly 2. Thus, we consider these boxes to be doubles.

Finally, if we look at box #4, we see that this box has about one third the volume of box #1. The math again shows that if we divide 513 by 1,800 we get 0.285. Not quite 0.333, but close enough that we would consider three box #4 to be equal to one box #1.

If your eyes still haven’t rolled back into your head at this point…

I’ve got a couple more boxes to go!

STORAGE DRAWERS

1. Letter: 23 ½” (length) x 12 ¼” (width) x 10 ¼” (height); 2,951 in³
2. Legal: 24 ½” (length) x 15 ¼” (width) x 10 ¼” (heigth); 3,830 in³

Now, since these boxes basically have one box that rides in another, the volume is just a little bit bigger than the STORAGE FILE BOXES. But for shredding purposes, we still consider these two sizes to be  “One And A Halves” and “Doubles.”

Click Here to watch a video I created explaining Standard Size File Boxes and other box sizes.

>>Question #3 - What if I don’t have my documents in a Standard Size File Box?

The point of all this talk about boxes  is that we price our shredding service based on the volume of the container you have your stuff in…

And the Standard Size File Box is the box we base all our prices on.

That being said, we provide a VISUAL ESTIMATE if you don’t have your documents in a Standard Size File box.

This means if you come down to us or we come out to you and you have your stuff in garbage bags, or stacked on the floor, all over the trunk of your car, or in some miscellaneous size box, the best we can do is provide a visual estimate.

The same thing goes for when we come out to you and perform a Purge Shredding.

As a good rule of thumb, if you don’t have your documents in Standard Size File Boxes, 25 to 30 pounds of paper documents is about equivalent. Of course we leave it up to you to maximize the amount of paper you jam into a File Box. Consequently, an “expertly” packed File Box can hold upwards of 50 pounds!

Why don’t we weigh your stuff and charge by the pound?

Because we don’t have scales on the trucks and besides, charging by the pound requires have a certified County of San Diego scale and that is something I will not pursue at this time.

That about sums things up on Standard Size File Boxes. If you happen to have any questions please feel free to share in the comments below… I sure others have the same questions and you’ll be doing them and me a huge favor!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time.

Keep Totally Secure,

Mike
Head Shredding Guy

I’ve been working with (American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants) AALNC ever since they called me out of desperation the day prior to a scheduled shredding even when some other company backed out at the last second.

Since then we’ve built a strong relationship, I’ve still give them the price of $5.00 per box for watch while you wait shredding! If you’ve been down to our paper shredding facility lately, you know the price we charge for watch while you wait shredding is now $6.95 per box.

Here’s the details:

Price: $5.00 per standard file box
Who: AALNC
When: Saturday October 15, 2011 10am to 1:30pm
Where: Tri City Wellness Center
6250 El Camino Real
Carlsbad, CA 92009

View Larger Map
This event is being held up in Carlsbad. I get a number of calls asking if we have anything up in North County.

Well, here’s your chance!

Our big shredding truck will be on the scene to shred your documents while you wait. Normally this event is open to just members of AALNC, but this year they were nice enough to let me invite the entire world!

Hope to see you there!

Your Friend,

Mike
Head Shredding Guy

P.S. Did you see the incredibly low price I mentioned above!

We have a Paper Shredding Event this coming Saturday that I think you should know about.

A portion of the proceeds go to the Coronado Women’s Group College Fund that provides college scholarships to Senior Girls attending Coronado High School.

Here are the details:

Price: $7.00 per standard file box
Who: Coronado Women’s Group
When: Saturday October 8, 2011 9am to 12pm
Where: Union Bank of California Parking Lot
800 Orange Ave
Coronado, CA 92118

View Larger Map

If you happen to be anywhere near Coronado Island, this is a great opportunity. Instead of coming down to us and paying $6.95, you can stay on beautiful Coronado Island and watch your documents get shredded, just like at our facility, for just a nickel more!

Best yet, HALF of the proceeds are going to charity. This is a Win, Win, Win situation!

I hope to see you there.

Your Friend,

Mike
Head Shredding Guy