Keep Those Catalogs
© Frank Ford, 3/9/99; Photos by FF, 3/9/99
You may know Don MacRostie as the creator of the fine Red Diamond mandolins, or you may know him as the innovative tool designer for Stewart MacDonald's Guitar Shop Supply.
He gave me this little tip a few years ago. It seemed kind of simplistic at the time, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I'm sure glad I did, because it's paid off time after time.
OK, after all that buildup, here it is.
You know how we all get a flock of those mail order tool and supply catalogs? Well, here's how to make them work for you. Just dedicate a file drawer for supplier catalogs, and make a file for each one when you get your first copy.
Then, when the inevitable follow-up catalog arrives, DON'T READ IT.
Instead, pull out the file drawer, remove the out-of-date one, and replace it with the new catalog that just arrived:
When you actually need to look for something, the catalogs will all be right there where you need them, and they will be current. You won't have spent a bunch of time looking through the same old stuff, you won't have lost the dang catalog because you were reading it in the John, and you won't have been tempted to buy on impulse!
This is a great little money saving trick, and it works!
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