Reader Question - Guns and Safety Deposit Boxes

Can I keep a gun in a safety deposit box?

I talked with someone in the safety deposit department of a large national bank in Kansas City and they said it was not allowed. Even if it was, there is the issue of taking a gun into the bank in the first place. Many banks have security devices behind the scenes that are watching for these types of things. The individual I spoke with couldn’t tell me about the bank’s security system, but he made it clear that bringing a gun into a bank would not be a very wise thing to do–even if you were just going to put it in the safety deposit box.

I also talked to the VP at a small bank in Oklahoma. He said it wouldn’t be a problem at his bank if they knew you well. At least one of his customers keeps antique guns there.

The policy may vary from bank to bank and from state to state. It is probably wise to ask before you try to put a gun in the box.

On Fridays we publish questions from our readers. If you have a question you’d like to see answer here, please send it to questions@productivity501.com.

Reader Question - Emailing Your Boss

How to write emails to your boss

Don’t try to impress your boss with the length of your email. Most of the time they will appreciate a short and to the point message. If you need to explain something in more detail, consider listing the main points as bullets at the top and add the rest of your explanation at the bottom or as an attachment. This allows them to quickly grasp the issue without reading through several hundred words.

Another advantage of a short message is that it is more likely to get read. If your boss is busy, they may read a short email and leave longer ones to be read later.

You can help your boss prioritize your emails, by adding a short code in the subject. For example, anything you need to tell your boss just to keep them in the loop should have a subject starting with FYI:. You can create other prefixes based on whatever works best for you. By helping your boss categorize emails before even reading them you increase the chances that your important messages will get prompt attention.

Often the best thing to do is to sit down with your boss and ask how they prefer for you to communicate. Some bosses like status reports throughout the week via email. Others prefer to handle everything in a weekly meeting. Having this discussion with your boss shows that you value their time and work style and can lead to a much stronger working relationship.

It is also a good idea to figure out how many subjects to deal with in a single email. If your boss sorts emails into folders and then deals with them, you probably don’t want to write an email the covers 10 different topics. At the same time, your boss probably doesn’t want to come in Monday morning and find 20 short emails from you about various things. Usually it is a good idea to batch FYI type messages, but separate emails by topics for items that require your boss’ answer or action.

Reader Question - Hanging Folders

How do you use hanging folders?

I use hanging folders to hold regular manilla folders. So I may have a hanging folder for “Personal Taxes” and another for “Business Taxes”. Then within each of those folders, I’ll have one for each year “2004 Personal Taxes”, “2005 Personal Taxes”, etc. (I talked about this in a previous Tuesday’s Tip.)

Many people organize their files alphabetically. This isn’t a bad idea, but if you have a few files, it may be slower than some of the alternatives. For example: Every time you use a hanging folder put it in the front of the drawer. That way the most frequently used folders are always in the front and the less frequently used folders slowly make their way to the back of the drawer. If you always start looking for a particular folder at the front of the drawer, most of the time you’ll only have to look a very short distance.

I use plastic Rubbermaid tubs with hanging file rails to archive my older files. I’ll take out anything I’m unlikely to need and put it in the tub and then move it into storage. That way my working files aren’t cluttered up with paper I want to retain, but will probably never need again.

Reader Question - Organized Work Desk

How should I organize my desk at work

1. Get a file cabinet. Most of the junk on a work desks is paper that should be filed. Take the time to setup a reasonable filing system and then commit to keeping your papers stored in the file cabinet.
2. Limit your personal clutter. A family picture or two is fine, but 20 framed photos, three baseballs, 2 snowglobes, and 4 unidentified objects is a bit excessive. Keep your extra stuff at home.
3. Don’t use your desktop for storage. If you need additional storage space, get some boxes you can put on the shelf or a cabinet of drawers. If you use the top of your desk for storage it will quickly accumulate many more items.
4. Route your wires. Computer and phone cables can account for much of the clutter on a typical desk. Taking 30 minutes to route your wires can go a long ways toward keeping things neat.
5. Think about cleaning. If you can arrange your furniture so the janitor will have an easy time vacuuming, you’ll probably have a cleaner office area.
6. Set aside time to organize. Good organization doesn’t happen on accident. Set aside time to organize every few months and make basic maintenance organization part of your daily routine.
7. Keep cleaning supplies nearby. If you can keep a bottle of glass cleaner and paper towels in your office it will be a lot easier to keep things clean than if you have to go to a closet somewhere to get supplies. Make it easy to keep things clean.
8. Think “where will I find it”. When organizing, don’t ask yourself where to put something. Ask yourself where you will look for it. Organizing should be done so you can locate everything you need quickly. If you just focus on finding a place for things, you may put them in places where it will be difficult to locate them later.

Reader Question - Getting Your Money

How do you get money back from someone who owes you?

Generally if you are asking this question, you’ve probably made a mistake somewhere. Here is a list of rules I follow for loaning money.

• Never loan money to friends or family that you can’t afford to lose. If you can’t forgive them the debt without holding it against them, you are not the person who should be loaning them money.
• Do everything in writing. Don’t expect to remember the terms of the loans. Get it in writing and signed.
• Make sure you have terms listed to handle the case where they don’t pay. This could be listing an item as collateral, late payment fees, etc. You need to leave yourself an out if they don’t pay. Be careful because every states have different laws about what you are allowed to do.

Keep in mind that if someone is coming to you for a loan instead of going to a bank, there might be a good reason the bank won’t loan them money.

Ok so lets assume that you have already loaned someone money and are having trouble getting them to pay. The best thing you can do is to keep communication open with them. If they haven’t spoken to you for 6 months about it, you have much less chance of seeing your money that if they are making some small payment every month. Give them some options such as:

• Offer them a longer payment period.
• Offer to accept a physical item in exchange for some or all of the debt. Their boat, motorcycle, computer, vacation house, etc. may be worth more to you than it is to them, so it can be a win win for both parties
• Offer them other payment options. If you can accept a credit card payment, you may be able to move the loan off your shoulders to the bank.

As a last resort you could turn the loan over to a collection agency, get a lien against their house or car (they can’t sell it without paying you off), or even get a court order to garnish their wages or seize property.

Reader Question - Tidying Up Computer Wires

How do I clear my desk of computer wires?

• Make sure your cables are long enough - Many messy wire situations are caused by using cables that are too short.
• Route your cables using velcro straps - Bundling wires together and routing them out of sight can help you keep your desk clear. Black electricians tape is another option if your wire setup doesn’t change too often.
• Get rid of equipment you don’t need - If you have a bunch of gadgets that aren’t being used, remove them from your desk. For example, your scanner might be better of keeping in the closet if you only use it once or twice each month.
• Use wireless - WiFi for networking and bluetooth for keyboards, mice, and audio can cut down on the amount of wires on your desk.
• Use a KVM - If you have multiple computers, you may benefit from using a single keyboard and mouse and using a switch to change between computers.
• Use a monitor with many ports - Using a monitor with built in speakers, USB ports, and multiple video in connections can reduce the amount of equipment and wires on your desk. Since monitors are usually large they can easily hide the required wires and generally take less room than adding separate speakers, USB hubs, etc.

Reader Questions

If you have any questions you’d like to see answered on Productivity501, remember to send them to questions@productivity501.com.

Reader Question - How to Wake Up

What is the best way to wake up if you haven’t slept?

If you feel drained because you haven’t had enough rest, the best thing you can do is go ahead and get some sleep. This is a little like asking “How can I stop from feeling thirsty when I haven’t had anything to drink?” Your body is trying to tell you something and you should listen to it. There are somethings you can to to help stay awake, but you can only trick your body so long. Here are a few things might help if you are having trouble focusing because you are tired:

• Take a short walk - The exercise will help wake you up.
• Lower the temperature - If you feel overly warm your body may start trying to go to sleep.
• Work standing - This gives you a little more physical activity.
• Change your environment - If you can go somewhere else it may be easier to stay awake.
• Get a light crunchy snack - Many people find that eating helps keep them awake.
• Get sunlight - Sunlight can help reset your body’s clock and tell it to stay awake. You can also try turning on additional lights in your work area, but nothing will beat actual sunlight.
• Take a short nap - This can be tricky because if your body needs to sleep, taking a nap may leave you even more tired than before. If you can wakeup in your first sleep cycle, you may be able to wake up refreshed. (There are some watches that are supposed to track your sleep state and wake you up when you will feel most refreshed.)
• Talk to someone - If you are having trouble concentrating because you are tired, spending a few minutes talking with a co-worker can dramatically get your brain back into gear.
• Read a joke or mind puzzle - The goal here is to try to help activate your mind. If you feel tired and your brain is bored, it will try to shutdown your body by making you feel tired. Give your brain something to think about and you’ll often feel more awake.

As I said earlier, you shouldn’t fight your body’s request for sleep. These tips are only temporary solutions that will help get your mind back in gear when you are feeling tired at an inopportune moment.

Reader Question - Organization & Saving

How can being organized save you money?

If time is money and being organized saves you time, it saves you money. Lets say you look for 6 things each day that take you on average 5 minutes apiece. You reorganize your office and reduce the time to 1 minute search for each item. You are now saving 24 minute each day or about 146 hours each year. Even if you have to invest half of that time staying organized that still gives you 73 hours of extra time from being organized. This is an extra 9 days each year.

You can reinvest your extra time back into work to try to earn more money, spend it with your family, or just take some extra time to relax.

Reader Question - Checking Email Abroad

How do I access my email from a foreign country?

In most countries you can check your email just like you do in the US. If you are using a web mail provider like Gmail or Yahoo, you just have to find an internet connection. Many countries have internet cafes where you can use their computer for the internet by paying an hourly fee. If you are in China or another country where they limit citizen’s access to certain sites on the internet, it might be more difficult to check your email.

If you are traveling with a laptop and want to download your mail, things should still work about the same as in the US. Many internet cafes will let you connect into their network with your laptop for the same hourly fee.

When you are using another computer, be sure to clear all your browser settings. Be especially careful not to let the browser remember your password when you check your mail. If you are using your laptop, it is a good idea to make sure that you check and send email through a secure connection and that you aren’t sending your password as clear text where others can see it by watching the network. Also if your email provider offers SMTP on a port other than 25, you should use the alternate port. That way if some of the providers block port 25 to fight viruses that send spam, you’ll still be able to send messages.

A few weeks ago I had a discussion with some people who were missionaries going into countries where they were not allowed. The wanted to know how to avoid the government viewing their emails. I told them that if they used something like Gmail over the web on their personal computer, they were probably pretty safe. The traffic is encrypted between their laptop and the Google servers in the US. However, they would need to be careful about any unencrypted sites the visit.

Another problem would be using a public computer. Even if the connection to the email service is encrypted, the computer itself could be recording your interactions. If using a standalone mail program (instead of web based email) they would need to make sure that all of their traffic was going over SSL for both sending and receiving.

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