File Folders Aren't Just Plain Manila Anymore

When I reached for my last manila folder week before last, I realized just what an important part they play in keeping my life organized. "I've got to remember to get some more," I thought to myself.

Did I remember? No, I didn't. Even though I wrote it down on my shopping list, and even though I drove past Office Depot twice since then, I keep finding excuses not to replenish my file folder supply.

Then, just yesterday, I got a great idea. I would shop for file folders online. Sure, it would cost me a little more in postage, but at least they would be en route to my front door, and I would know that any day, they would arrive, so online I went.

You wouldn't believe the choices that confronted me. To say that I discovered several hundred choices of color, size, style, and design would be an understatement. The most daring thing I had ever done before, where file folders were concerned, was to buy a dozen colored ones, and even that was limited to 4 colors, repeated 3 times each. I'll admit, I loved using them; it felt so elegant.

And now, I had hundreds of choices. I'm going to launch out and live dangerously by purchasing something really different, but haven't really narrowed my choice down to a single one yet. Some of the choices I'm considering are:

1. Of course years of habit are hard to break, so my first visit was to Office Depot online where I found my usual style for $6.29 for a box of 100. The enticement to purchase from Office Depot was that I could order and pay online and, if I could just remember to do it, save postage by picking my order up locally. Unfortunately, I was curious enough to see what others had to offer, and what I saw ruled plain old manila folders out-at least for a while.

2. My next stop was at Think Geek, who advertised themselves as a place to buy file folders with attitude. Their folders had attitude all right, with one line sporting huge bold letters on the front of each file spelling out comments like, "Stuff to Hide from Boss, Spouse, or Otherwise Nosy Individuals." I'll admit, Think Geek's file folders attracted my attention, but I decided they were a little too, "in-your-face" for a rather quite lady like me to use. I was looking for change, but not quite that big of a change.

3. My next stop offered a wide variety of file folders. It was at a place called Galison.com and it billed its file folders as Pretty-File-Folders.

The folders I saw there were definitely pretty. Some had tulips, butterflies, geometric figures, cloverleafs, and garden scenes. I could be happy with any one of these, except maybe the geometric figures. They seemed a little too masculine for my taste. The prices were a higher than Office Depot's generic type file folders, but, I reasoned, if I just used them for files that I intend to keep for years and years, they will be worth it. I could continue using plain manila folders for everyday stuff where the folder would only be used temporarily.

4. The last online place I'm going to share with you was not only in cyberspace-it was out of this world, but it was called by a very common sounding name, SeeJaneWork.com. The reason I refer to it as out of this world is that its file folders were so unique, and the prices were probably well out of the reach of most people unless you were starting a very special file for someone-maybe as a gift.

SeeJaneWork.com did offer a rather plain set of 3 Uncle Bob folders with printed letters on the outside for a mere $4. Then, they had a gorgeous set of 6 hand-crafted, stitched folders in your choice of prints for $36. The file folder that really attracted my attention, though, was one crafted from Italian leather and made to look like a purse. The price was $55 for one folder, and you could choose from 4 different colors. Naturally, the purse file folder was my favorite.

Maybe, someday, I will be wealthy enough to afford $55 file folders but, until then, I will have to be content with an occasional splurge on colored folders from Office Depot, or a once a year purchase of butterflies or tulips from Galison.com. I'm not complaining, though. At least, if I happen to ruin one of my inexpensive folders, it isn't a huge catastrophe. Imagine how I'd feel if I spilled coffee on a $55 hand-made Italian leather that looked a purse.