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

Last week my team and I boarded a plane and traveled down to New Orleans to attend the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Annual Conference and Organizing Expo. Attending the NAPO Expo is a natural fit for Neat because we, like the many professional organizers in attendance, want to help people simplify their lives so they can be more organized and productive.

Besides the fact that we got to spend some quality time in New Orleans, this year’s Expo was particularly exciting. We hosted a special speaking session devoted to Digital Filing Systems, and NeatDesk was selected as NAPO’s Best Solution for Organizing Information at Work.

NeatDesk selected as NAPO’s Best Solution for Organizing Information at Work

During our Smart Organizing session, which we hosted with Neat Fleeters Joshua Zerkel and Bonnie Dewkett, the pesky Paper Monster made an appearance!  He stirred up quite the response from the professional organizers in attendance, and a local Philly-area organizer, Darla DeMorrow, was able to catch him on film. Check him out here.

We had a great time at the NAPO Expo and loved getting to spend time talking with all of the professional organizers. My bags are already packed for next year’s conference and expo in Arizona!

Until Next Time…Keep it Neat!

-Kevin