It’s always nice when a long weekend comes along. This gives me the time to organize, clean and fix things.

This weekend its all about manuals.

How many times have you received a new gadget, toy, device,  or electronics item? You may have used the manual in the beginning, but what happens months or years from now? What happens when something goes awry and you need to find that one manual to figure it out?

Sure you can go online and try to find it, provided that:

• You have the right model number


• That the manufacturer is online


• The age of the product

How to solve this dilemma? Organize the manuals.

A few years ago, I got a few boxes and decided to designate a box for each room. I then put the manuals for each device in the room that they are in. For example, all the computer and technology items are in one box in the office and all the kitchen manuals are in the box in the kitchen.

This way, I can find the manual that is needed without having to go too far to find it.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

to repeat itself. I should of followed through with my own advice back in November when I first signed up for a 2GB Totally Free Online Backup! Compliments of Mozy account.

The computer desktop drama of last week has definitely woke me up to the importance of risk management which in my case includes regular online backups. More than likely I will have both a personal and business account.

So if you have a computer and you put everything on it and/or you carry around USB drives and you carry everything on there, do yourself a favor and save yourself some anxiety and sleepless nights. Try Mozy and if you need more space, you can always upgrade to Peace of Mind – Only $4.95/Month! Get Mozy Unlimited Online Backup. or to MozyPro for businesses.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

Have a bunch of 33’s albums? Have a few favorites that you want to save? Then take a look at the Album Frame Six Pack. Speaking from personal experience, I was able to save and preserve my Mom’s collection, saving them from eBay’s fate.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

I started my taxes a few weeks ago to discover that both my business and checking banking accounts were taking monthly fees from me. That’s when I decided to change banks. Here are some tips I’ve learned along the way so that this can help others when changing banks:

1. Do Your Homework. I asked 3 different people from different areas of my life about their experiences with a particular bank.


2. Save 1 or 2 clients’ checks to open the new account with. Some banks have minimum deposit requirement. By waiting to open my account with those checks in hand, I was able to be well above the minimum.


3. Open the new bank account(s) BEFORE closing the old account(s). By opening the accounts first, I got to see how I was treated at the bank, if the rep(s) were able to answer my questions and experience ease of opening the accounts. If I got any bad vibes or anything, I would of stopped the process without disturbing my existing account(s).


4. Use the old account to pay current and upcoming (immediate) bills within a couple of weeks. This way when you cancel the old accounts, there will be less to carry over to the new accounts(s).


5. Notify companies in which you have automatic bill pay agreement with. Tell them to either cancel the auto bill pay or put it on pause. Depending on the company, it can take up to 2 months to adjust everything so be prepared to either write a check, pay cash or in an emergency, use an empty credit card(gasp!).


6. Have cash on hand to tie you over for a week or so until the new account is verified and you receive you ATM card. Some banks take a longer time with new accounts because they have to check over everything and you may not have immediate access to your funds.


7. While you are waiting, set up online bill pay with your new account(s). Set-up all necessary bills (Utilities, Telephone, Credit Cards etc) in your new account. This way, when your funds to clear up you are ready to go. Secondary accounts like department store cards, etc. can wait to be entered as you need to pay them.


8. Keep a close eye on your new account. Honestly, one should keep a close check on accounts all the time, but a weekly time frame, like a weekend should do just fine. Look at your bank statements and use in conjunction with your online account to make sure everything makes sense and that the transactions are legit.

Basically, I got tired of traveling a 1/2 hour just to deposit a check or make an ATM withdrawal. Now with my new bank, with both my personal and business account in one place, its under a 5 minute walk, which gives me more time to concentrate on getting down to business. Do you have any turmoil going on with your business? Tell me in the comments and the best story wins a copy of QuickBooks Simple Start.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

If you are single in the big city, with your own digs, can you honestly state that you use all of your stove burners when cooking? It was about that time to clean up the two burners I use the most, yet I realized I didn’t make brunch yet. I then cleaned the area and covered the two burners with a burner cover to gain instant counter space. I then started to put a cutting board on and got to work.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

Tags: book, audition, rule#1, happypotter, organization

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

I decided to post my desk organizers on a Friday, since I no longer used them. Within the hour, I had a handful of people who were interested. By Saturday afternoon, my organizers went to a non-profit.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.

This post is from Stephanie M. Cockerl's blog, From the desk of next STEPH.