Some tips from 1001 Timely Tips

Below are some of the 1001 Tips from the back cover of 1001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control by the Editors of FC&A Publishing.

Keep your car clean for little cost. Keep a bag in your car to gather trash into and throw the trash out daily. Also keep a container of baby wipes (or other wipes that don’t contain oil) to keep the dashboard and steering wheel clean and to wipe up sticky hands.

Instead of sitting around watching television commercials, use the time to do short house cleaning tasks – dusting, vacuuming and picking up the mess.

If you do these five things before you go to bed each night, you will have a much calmer morning: 1) recycle the newspapers 2) go through the mail and recycle the junk 3) load the dishwasher and turn it on – electricity costs less in the wee hours of the night 4) put dirty clothes in the hamper and 5) lay out your clothes for the next day.

When you go through the mail, stand by a trash can or recycle bin. Throw away the junk mail as soon as you recognize it. File the rest of the mail in an accordion envelope or into a stand-up file of hanging folders under bills (which you can file by date), to-do items, pending items, items to send or pass along and items to file. Make sure you review these folders at least once a week. We have heard from Jamie Novak a good way to handle these files and she would say not to have a folder labeled to file because that means you have to handle the material twice. Evaluate the material you want to file and see if it really needs to be saved. Realize that most information you will need can be found quickly using the Internet.

Garage sale tips include: 1) organize and plan early including getting your manpower invited and trained before the day of the sale 2) advertise wisely to make sure there will be a steady stream of customers 3) price competitively by researching what items are selling for in your area and 4) sell sensibly by being willing to negotiate and “Don’t be greedy. You’re better off selling something cheap than being stuck with it at the end of the day.” Having a box or two where items are set aside for a future garage sale is a good de-cluttering tool.

Shop for gifts and cards throughout the year. Have a list of upcoming weddings, graduations, etc. and buy an appropriate gift and or card when it is on sale. After Christmas sales are particularly a good time to stock up on gifts. Check the item off your list and store them in a bin, drawer or closet where you are able to retrieve them when they are needed.

More tips coming soon.

We have a new clutter control book that came in June 2011! It is called "1001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control: Knowing What to Keep, When to Toss and How to Store Your Stuff." It is by the editors of FC&A Publishing, "a family-owned and family-friendly company that strives to provide information and products that improve your life." The company is based in Georgia and the book is copyrighted 2007 but it was just added to our collection. It looks to be a fairly comprehensive book but I think that much of the info is tips we have already discussed.

The information, like other books, is organized by location: Kitchen, Family Room, Dining Room, Home Office, Bedroom, etc. The final chapters go outside the house to the Attic or Basement, Garage and the Car and then to Shopping, Time Management, Relocating (which is differet than other books), Holidays and Entertaining and Traveling. Each chapter has a small introduction and then arranges the information into 4 steps that you can take to: 1) Cut the Clutter 2) Increase Storage, 3) Get Organized and 4) Keep it Clean. Each of these steps are followed by a section called Super Tips, which must be where they get the title claim of 1001 tips. There is also the obligatory first chapter called "Before you begin" that tells you how to get started. One of the nice features of this book is for each section they give you a "permission list" called "Toss Without a Thought." This comes as straight advice - no explanation or excuse necessary - just toss. These lists include things like: in the kitchen - old food which is a no brainer; but also chipped or damaged dishes, glasses or mugs; broken appliances; burnt, rusty or damaged pots, pans and bakeware amd broken utensils and gadgets and in the Home Office - articles or brochures you haven't needed in years; old grocery receipts; junk mail and advertisments; expired insurance policies or related papers; expired coupons; and warranties for items you no longer own.

Every chapter has graphics of sticky-notes to remind you of basic de-clutter rules. There is one that says, "Remember...make a wish list, be realistic, set priorities, identify your clutter problems, label your zones, and set a timeline. There is another "sticky" that says, "Keep in Mind...make a decision to keep, toss, donate, sell or pass on and to follow purging rules to decide quickly, handle items once, set limits, pass the "keep" test and recognize garbage. These are the activites that are described in the first chapter and are added to each chapter as a reminder...maybe making actual sticky notes to put up nearby would be a useful activity but make sure you throw them away and don't let them become clutter.

I will give you some of the tips in my next post which I hope to get up in the next week or so - the back cover gives a teaser for what sounds like a bunch of really useful tips. Stay tuned...

A Clutter-Free Evening with Jamie Novak

We had a fantastic turn-out at the South Brunswick Public Library on Tuesday evening, May 17, for our Get Organized Today event with celebrity organizer Jamie Novak.

Jamie was a very exciting speaker; not only did she provide many bits of useful information about organizing your home, office, car, and life but she was also engaging and entertaining. While book-signing, she generously answered every person's questions in detail, neither hurried nor judgmental.

During the workshop, the world's most relatable organizer focused on her "3 steps for peace of mind." She advised the clutter-challenged to first: set a timer for 18 minutes, confront a pile of clutter and pick one thing in it. Second: Make a decision about the chosen item or unfinished project and follow through immediately! Third (and most important): keep it that way! Tackling a pile 18 minutes at a time, she says, makes the job effective but not overwhelming.

In reference to paper piles, her advice is instead of doing the "scoop and dump" before guests arrive, use a desktop box for hanging files or an expandable file folder. Keep it in a public area, she advised, such as the kitchen, to ensure you maintain the contents as their usefulness expires.

Certainly, every one of the 60 or so clutter-free wannabes in the audience went away with some encouragement and new-found skills. My personal favorite was to have a "lost and found" box in my home.

As attendees said their good-byes, she pleaded with them to go straight home and attack even just one bit of their clutter and disorganization that very night. Big clutter problems go away "one bite at a time!" She seemed confident we would succeed once and for all as she wished each of us to "have a clutter-free life!"

Jamie brought copies of her latest book Stop Throwing Away Money which she autographed for those who purchased a copy. You can find Jamie Novak on her website at www.jamienovak.com where you can register to get her newsletters, as well as on Martha Stewart's Whole Living website: go to the Community tab, select "experts' blog" from the dropdown menu and then click "organization" in the left-hand column.

Don't miss her weekly Bite Size Radio Show on Wednesdays at noon on BlogTalkRadio. In addition to the radio, she has been found in television shows on HGTV and QVC.

This Library event was generously sponsored by the Friends of the South Brunswick Public Library. Thank you to everyone who helps support our Friends!

If you missed Jamie's workshop don't despair. The Library has many free resources to help you de-clutter and organize your life.

After her first visit with us more than a year ago, the Library formed its De-Clutter Club. It is an open group for individuals to meet informally and brainstorm de-clutter ideas. They meet at the Library the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. in Program Room 1A/1B. Members all have tried to clear away the clutter and to organize their lives and the members share their challenges and successes.

The next meeting of the De-Clutter Club is on June 2. We will determine at that meeting if we will continue to meet during the summer or decide to take July and August off and resume meetings again in the fall. Check the library's event calendar on our website at www.sbpl.info for updates and to read the library's De-Clutter blog.

The Library also has numerous books and magazines to borrow on the topic, including Real Simple, Martha Stewart's Living and Whole Living.

By the way, if you are purging important files there is free help in South Brunswick from Middlesex County on June 4. (Jamie suggests a seven-year life for some documents, but check her website for more details.) County residents can recycle their old documents and confidential files safely and securely on Saturday, June 4, from 9 a.m. to noon for free at the South Brunswick Senior Center, next door to the Municipal Building on Ridge Road. Please do not bring books, magazines, newspapers, or plastics. For more information, pick up a flyer at the Library or contact the County Division of Solid Waste Management at 732-745-4170, solidwaste@co.middlesex.nj.us.

As Jamie says, "have a clutter-free life!"

Spring Cleaning Tips

March is practically here – how are your New Year’s resolutions going? Is it time for spring cleaning? Well, we are in luck if we need more fuel for our motivational fire. The March issue of O – The Oprah Magazine is all about De-Cluttering Your Life and getting organized – this month we can say that the O stands for Organization!

She has articles by Nate Berkus, Suze Orman and Peter Walsh to name a few. The main content section titled, “Our Stuff, Ourselves” starts on page 154 leading off with Nate Burkus’ article, “The House Whisperer” that “tells about his design for living.” This is followed by a feature article about New York designer Peri Wolfman’s well organized loft showing some of her organization solutions; an article about turning your photo clutter into wall art; an article by Peter Walsh about “cleaning out the ultimate junk drawer” - the Garage; an article about the psychology of clutter and how to let go of “heavies” that “weigh on your heart” and a few pages of short ideas on where to donate items that still have some use called, “Who Wants My…?”

A few donation sites that we have not talked about yet are mentioned in this last article. Of course, the Vietnam Veterans of America will take clothing, but did you know you don’t have to wait for the bags to show up in your mailbox - you can schedule a pick-up at your home at www.clothingdonations.org. An organization called SAFE (www.stuffedanimalsforemergencies.org) donates gently used stuffed animals to homeless shelters, hospitals and emergency aid workers; wood planks and construction materials can be donated for eco-friendly construction projects through www.planetreuse.com; Brides Against Breast Cancer sells new and used wedding gowns to help fund the wishes of breast cancer patients (www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org); Clean the World (www.cleantheworld.org) sends your unwanted toiletries, including the thousands of hotel shampoos and soaps you have collected, to areas around the world where hand-washing will help stop the spread of disease; and you can Google “Creative Reuse Centers” and find places that will take art materials or as O says – “things you never knew were art materials.” The following are some other useful sites for organizations who will connect your unwanted goods with deserving recipients: www.kidflicks.org will take children’s DVDs you no longer want; Habitat for Humanity will turn your unwanted vehicle (or practically anything with a motor) into cash for building materials and sends you a receipt for tax deduction purposes (www.habitat.org/carsforhomes or 877-277-4344); www.greendisk.com will take any old “technotrash” such as old PC Cables, CD-ROMS, computer devices, CDs, DVDs, VHS and cassette tapes, and other such items; www.iloveschools.com will help connect you with schools in your area that could really use your old office supplies; www.childrensbookproject.org will take gently used children’s and young adult books (as will the library); www.soles4shoes.org will take shoes; and you can send old blue jeans that are finally too old to wear to www.cottonfrombluetogreen.org who will transform old denim into cutting-edge eco-friendly insulation for communities in need like those still recovering from Katrina.

There are several other ideas that are good to know that we can discuss at our next meeting. I will bring this issue to our upcoming De-Clutter Club meeting on March 3, 2011 in our new craft room – Program Room 1A/1B to the right past the Check-Out desk in the South Brunswick Public Library. Hope to see you all there and don’t forget to save the date of Tuesday, May 17, 2011 to see Jamie Novak and hear all of her latest advice on “Bite-Sized Living.”

Happy New Year

It was nice seeing some new faces at the De-clutter Club on January 6. It is a new year and we all have new resolutions to keep! At the meeting I announced that Jamie Novak will be coming back to the library to give us another boost in our efforts to live an organized life. You should not miss this presentation on Tuesday evening, May 17 at 7:00 p.m. Jamie Novak, the world’s most Relatable Organizer, is the author of four bestselling books on organizing and de-cluttering, the latest of which is "Stop Throwing Money Away: Turn Clutter to Cash, Trash to Treasure and Save the Panel While You are at it." Jamie has been seen on HGTV and QVC and has written many articles in magazines such as Real Simple and Everyday with Rachel Ray. Her latest venture, as the founder of Bite Sized Living, is featured on a weekly Internet radio program on BlogTalkRadio and a monthly call-in “Bookclub by Phone.” You can read more about Jamie at www.jamienovak.com where you can register to receive her Bite Sized Newsletter or read her Blog.

I have a colleague who brings me the magazines that she is done with if they include an article about de-cluttering or organizing, and as we have discussed, clutter is such a universal issue with people that it is one of the most popular ways to tempt people to buy magazines other than "see the latest hairstyles" or "look better in a bathing suit." Right now I have three magazines in front of me with teasers like "Organizing Made Easy: 5 Questions that make clutter disappear" or "Quick and Easy Organizing Ideas" or just the plain imperative, "Get Organized." These are undoubtedly popular because they make it seem like there are really only 5 questions or three simple rules that will solve all of your organization problems. If only…

We have talked about one piece of advice that we all agree with - get a handle on what you have to store before you run out and buy anything new to store it in! As George Carlin might have said, "Don’t stuff your house with stuff designed to handle the stuff until you know if you need the stuff." Just about every one of these magazine articles ignores that basic rule and tries to tempt you with the latest and the greatest organizing solution – after all, magazines are all about advertising aren’t they? However, there are a few things that I have seen that are unique and might be helpful. In the February 2011 issue of Family Circle magazine in an article titled "30 Quick and Inexpensive Ideas" they describe a product called a Cable Box. This box is large enough to hold a surge protector and all of the excess cable that is lying in a heap below your computer. There is a slot at either end where the cables emerge and is a lot easier than bundling with some of the other products. It really is just a matter of reducing visual clutter, but it looks pretty neat and they have a whole range of fun colors. (www.bluelounge.com) A few other items are listed on websites that are known for useful organizing items. There is an adjustable shower caddy at www.simplehuman.com, where you can also find other well designed household tools and gadgets; some fun “crunchable” hampers with handles at my favorite store and website www.containerstore.com; some stackable canisters recommended by HGTV’s Sabrina Soto at www.sabrinasoto.com; and thin, velvet covered “Huggable Hangars” that keep your closet orderly from www.hsn.com that are also available at Lowe’s for a lot less.

In the same magazine, there are some useful websites to reduce paperwork coming into the house: a finance and bill paying program that is independent of your bank at www.doxo.com; a way to get rid of your unwanted catalogs at www.catalogchoice.com; a place to register to get off mailing lists for credit cards, insurance offers, etc. at www.optoutprescreen.com; and for about 70 cents per month www.nonprofit41pounds.org will keep you and your family member’s names off of consumer mailing lists for the next 5 years.

21st Century Advice for an Old Problem

Part Two of the book, “Getting Organized in the Google Era” by Douglas Merrill, titled “The New Organization and How to Achieve It,” gets down to the nitty-gritty of 21st Century organization skills. In the first chapter, Merrill debunks another “commonly held assumption” – that organizing solutions are (or can be) the same for each and every one of us. We have proven this to be false ourselves through all of the discussions we have had in our Declutter Club meetings. This may be because each of our organizing needs is different but it also has to do with our temperaments, styles and skills or experiences. He points out that there are “fundamental guidelines to being organized that can apply to many people in many circumstances – things like to-do lists, carrying a small notebook at all times and putting everything in a certain place and remembering where that place is” (page 73) but adds what he sees as a fundamental certainty to the “new organization we need now” the following principle: “Don’t file your information, search for it.” And by saying search for it, he means doing an electronic search either on your computer or on the Internet. I would also add that if things continue as they are now, things like to-do lists and carrying a small notebook will soon be digital for almost everyone either on their hand-held device or their phone (or on some technology we can’t even imagine) which will make searching even those items possible and practical.

He spends the next chapter discussing the “art of the search.” We, as librarians, think of ourselves as search experts because we do this “for a living” but his advice comes from “inside” one of the most popular search engine companies ever: Google. A few of his tips, which start on page 63, are: 1) pay attention to the words you use in your search - entering a singular or plural noun can affect the outcome of your search since Google interprets your search phrase to determine your intent; 2) use as many descriptive and essential words as possible to target your search but skip the common works like a, the, how, where, etc.; 3) Use quotation marks around a phrase if you are looking for an exact phrase to occur in a web page but search strings are not case sensitive even inside the quotations; 4) add adjectives to your search to get closer to your desired answer – use words like cheap or new or small and add a tilde (~) directly in front of a word to have Google search for your word (cheap) and other words like it (affordable, inexpensive, etc.) or use the (Boolean) search term OR and suggest your own alternatives (the tilde “wild card” may not work in other search engines); 5) Exclude what you don’t want to include in your results by using a minus sign (-) directly in front of the word or use the word NOT. Because of this feature, using the word “not” in your search string as something you are looking for may backfire on you – for instance, searching for the title Death be Not Proud will exclude any websites that mention the word “proud” in your results. This is a perfect example of when to search the phrase using quotation marks.

There is so much information to share, I will continue with this topic in my next blog but in the meantime, Google (and I suspect other search engines) have a cheat sheet to their shortcuts posted right on their homepages albeit hidden in the small print. In Google, you can get a handy list of these tips under Advanced Search>Advanced Search Tips. I will be discussing ways that we have already started to use technology to assist us with organizing in tonight’s Declutter Club meeting, December 2, 2010 at the library. Hope to see you there.

More Help from New Books

I am continuing to read Douglas Merrill’s “Getting Organized in the Google Era.” (Random House, 2010). Compared to what I have read in other books and articles on this subject, Merrill offers a unique way to approach the problems we face in getting our lives together. A third of the book gives us insight into new ways to approach our life in the 21st century and challenges us to take a really good look at what we are doing that is out-of-date and no longer relevant. We need to consider what we can do to change those patterns and use new technologies to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. He continues numbering his principles of organization. His sixth principle I found to be particularly intriguing, being what I like to think of as an information professional. Douglas Merrill’s Organization Principle Number Six is: “Knowledge is not [or is no longer] power. The sharing of knowledge is power.” Merrill points out that we no longer succeed by hoarding knowledge to build ourselves into “unique” indispensable beings at the center of an organization but rather by sharing and combining our individual knowledge with others’ knowledge - by “building a team.” He points out that this is particularly advantageous when we share with others who are different than us in style, background and approach. Perhaps that is the secret of the combined knowledge of our De-clutter Club.

The next principle - Organizing Principle Number Seven - is “Organize around actual constraints, not assumed ones.” His point here is to encourage us to recognize what constraints or limitations we might personally have that hold us back from getting organized, or from doing anything else that we wish to do. This process will hopefully lead to finding ways to rethink the way we “have always done” things and eventually overcome those constraints by the logical use of technology. However, the principle reminds us to focus on actual constraints, not assumed constraints that may have been “based on past experience, history, what others have told you, or the structures of society” so that we don’t “waste time and energy on things we can’t really change.” In identifying our constraints, he tells us to apply Organizational Principle Number Eight, “Be completely honest – but never judgmental – with yourself.” Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses and get feedback (and agreement) from your family and friends – those that know you the best. The purpose of this exercise is to discover “patterns of behavior that cause you to ‘get in your own way.’”