It’s that time of year again when we all like to get out of the office and spend some quality time soaking up the sun. Summer vacation is one of my family’s favorite times of year, but it also requires a lot of organizing and planning to make sure vacations go off without a hitch. Luckily with Neat organizing itineraries, managing a travel budget, and finding our favorite travel spots can be done quick and easily right in the palm of my hand. Here are some of the ways I use Neat to ensure my family’s vacation goes off without a hitch.

Organize Travel Documents-

To make sure I’m not fumbling around at the airport to find confirmation documents and my carry-on is nearly paper-free, I create separate folders in Neat to organize flight itineraries, airline and hotel confirmations as well as handy travel brochures.

Remember Favorite Places-

My family loves visiting Lake Tahoe and we’ve found a favorite pizzeria we just have to stop by to grab a slice when we’re nearby. However, I never quite remember how to get there, so last time we visited I scanned their business card and now I use Neat’s mobile app to access their information to call and place an order, as well as get directions using Google Maps.

Share Adventures with Family-

My family is an adventurous bunch and often on our ski trips we don’t want to pack a digital camera along with. To make sure we never miss a memory, I simply capture images using Neat’s mobile app and organize the images into a single folder. Once we’re off the slopes I share the whole folder via email with our friends and family.

Stay on Budget- 

To keep track of our vacation budget I capture images of our receipts which sync to NeatCloud. Later on in the evening I log into my NeatCloud account and run a quick expense report to make sure we’re not spending too extravagantly.

Vacation is a time to kick back and relax, so take a load off by letting Neat help you stay organized on your next trip.

Until next time…keep it Neat!

-Kevin

Over here at Neat, we’re always excited to hear back from our customers. We love hearing your stories about how you conquered paper and digital clutter to lead more organized and productive lives, as well as learning the unique ways you make Neat work for you.

Recently, one user, Stephanie Humphrey, caught our eye on Twitter, and we just had to know more about how Neat has helped solve her paper problems. Stephanie graciously shared her story with us on how she became more organized and productive with Neat.

We hope you enjoy hearing about her experience with Neat as much as we did.

Until Next Time…Keep it Neat!

-Kevin

The Paper Trail Stops Here

By Stephanie Humphrey

At times, I can be somewhat obsessive-compulsive about different things. When it happens and how those things I obsess about get decided is a completely random process that only the recesses of my brain are privy to. What I can tell you is that at no time in my life has the organization of my receipts ever made it to the list. That task somehow manages to remain in the top ten on my procrastination list every year. Until this year.

If you can believe it, I – an established tech-life expert – have for years had a decidedly non-tech way of storing and organizing my receipts. In one of those plastic expandable accordion-style folders. With the paper cutouts for each month that go into the divider tabs. Yeah… I can’t necessarily say that I was proud of my system or that it worked particularly well, but I hadn’t yet happened upon anything else that made sense to me.

Enter my NeatDesk scanner. I had seen the commercials before and thought “Hey, what a neat concept” (no pun intended), but for whatever reason had never taken the plunge and purchased one for myself. But on one fateful trip through my local big-box office supply store, things were different. I suppose the frustration with my current method of record keeping had finally caught up to me, and I walked out of the store with an excitement for receipt organization that I had never known before.

And I wasn’t disappointed. That first day, I scanned six months’ worth of receipts and half of at least 200 business cards. The ease of use with the Neat scanner was pretty remarkable, and I was especially impressed with the recognition rate of the software. Its ability to correctly identify names and phone numbers or dollar amounts and dates truly amazed me. But the real test was still yet to come.

Fast forward to April and my most hated record keeping chore – tax season preparation. With my old system, I’m almost ashamed to admit that I would enter all of the data from my receipts into an Excel spreadsheet by hand (!), and then give the spreadsheet to my accountant. That is, if the receipt hadn’t faded beyond recognition, causing a big headache and a missed deduction. But none of that was a concern this year, as all of my receipts were previously scanned, fields populated, and a picture copy stored for my records. The slickest part of the process happened when I realized I could categorize my deductions based on actual IRS Schedule designations. Print out the customized report, and voilà – my life just became infinitely easier and my accountant infinitely happier.

I can say with all honesty and without any prompting or compensation by the Neat Company that my NeatDesk scanner is one of the best investments I have ever made. It has saved me time, effort, and aggravation, and has made what was once a dreaded chore quick and simple. Now if they could just make something for my closet…

Stephanie Humphrey is an on-air tech contributor to Fox 29 (WTXF Philadelphia), and the weekly technology columnist for EBONY.com. You can follow her on Twitter @TechLifeSteph. 

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, finding that perfect present for my wife always seems to get a little harder each year.  However, I’ve found that the gifts she loves most are those she can use every day to get the one thing she, and practically every other Mom truly desires, more time. With Neat, busy Moms can gain back time typically lost to everyday tasks and hopefully take a little bit more time for themselves and the things they love to do most.

As an avid Neat user, I asked my wife to provide some examples of how she uses Neat to stay organized and gain more time back in her hectic schedule. Here’s a list of the top ways she’s using Neat:

• While running errands at the grocery store, she snaps pictures of receipts with her mobile phone to avoid accumulating a mess of receipts in her purse. This little step is also a huge help in keeping track of the month’s expenses.
• Receiving papers from three kids’ schools typically leads to a mess on our kitchen counter.  To avoid the confusion and mess, we have a NeatDesk set up where the kids drop off their papers and then we scan everything into one folder at the end of the day.
• As our kids continue to grow, we like to have a record of all of their accomplishments, from great report cards and artwork to school projects. To make sure we have everything saved, my wife constantly uses Neat and then shares everything with our extended family members.
• Since my wife loves to cook, she created a digital recipe box in Neat to store her favorite recipes and add new ones from family and friends. This has proven to be a great option to keep the original handwritten notes and prevent the cards from getting lost or damaged while cooking.

If you’re a Mom, let us know the tips and tricks you use to stay on track in your busy life.

Until Next Time…Keep it Neat!

-Kevin

Andrea Pack, owner of Pack Design, initially bought NeatDesk to de-clutter an office overrun by piles of paperwork.  As a residential space designer, Andrea collects many sketches, magazine tear-outs, notes and receipts that are essential references for her projects.

After using Neat, Andrea gained back a lot of valuable office space, but still had piles of paper she didn’t want to just throw away. Instead, Andrea used the papers to keep weeds at bay from her newly planted cherry tree sapling. By putting papers down in layers around the tree, she created a great barrier against weed growth.

Andrea outside of her office

Andrea’s Trick to Make Your Garden Greener

If you want to keep the weeds away in your own garden this summer, Andrea recommends you try her trick. Simply water your soil, and then layer old paperwork around your plants, making sure you overlap the documents to prevent any cracks where weeds could pop up. After layering the paper, be sure to water the paper so it stays in place, then completely cover with mulch. When employing this easy trick in your garden, make sure you don’t use documents with sensitive information.

Andrea working in her garden

More Ways to Keep Your Garden in Full Bloom

Although I don’t have green thumbs, my wife loves to garden and constantly gets inspired by magazine spreads, seed catalogs and even hot new plants at the local nursery. With NeatMobile, she captures and shares her favorite flowers, garden plans and designs with her garden club right from her smartphone.

NeatMobile also comes in handy when she needs quick access to her list of must-have plants while she’s shopping online or at the nursery. She also uses NeatCloud to save and import posts from her favorite garden blogs when she finds great how-to tips and tricks she’ll use throughout the summer.

Until Next Time…Keep it Neat!

-Kevin