The South Brunswick De-Clutter Club will be taking a few months off from meeting, but don’t take time off from freeing your life of the things that are holding you back! Take time this summer to start to whittle down the piles or clear the aisles! Start with whatever bugs you the most but go easy on yourself. Allow yourself 15-30 minutes a day and then relax the remainder of the time. Get rid of the guilt with the clutter. If you make a plan, and don’t over schedule yourself, and stick to the plan, you are half way to your goal!
I just got through reading yet another “Clear the Clutter” column that appears in every magazine at least once a year. This time, however, I actually read a few things that I had not heard before! I thought I would share some of those insights with you today.
In her article, “Julie Morgenstern Sorts out all of your Stuff,” found in the April 2010 issue of Redbook, Julie Morgenstern, author, professional organizer and columnist for many popular magazines, tells us that “most people only use 20% [or one fifth] of what they own in any category.” WOW! That means that you could throw away up to 80% of what you have in your home and never break with your standard routine!! Imagine that! You could downsize your house and your housing expenses by that same amount if only you really could (and would) clear away that much stuff! The reality is that there are things that you aren’t going to throw away. This would mean that if you had china and flatware for 10 (one category of stuff), you could throw away 8 of the 10 plates, cups, bowls, forks, etc. And if you live alone, the only furniture (another category of stuff) you would need would be one chair, one bed, one small table, and one lamp. Of course that doesn’t make sense because these items are bought and kept for the eventuality that you will need them when you entertain. I suppose there was a time in colonial days when people carried their own eating utensils and if they gathered to share food, everyone would come with their own implements, but we don’t live like that anymore. It is a sign of our wealth and prosperity that we have the luxury of having more of any one thing than we need at one time. But certainly, there are items where this is not applicable and there must be a point at which we say, “enough.” For instance, we don’t keep extra shoes so that we can share them with our guests and we certainly wouldn’t share our paperwork with others (although that would be one solution to decluttering.) So for the things that we have that are not kept for sharing, we can start to apply the 80% out rule!!
Julie suggests to look around a room and imagine that everything in that room was suddenly gone. Think about what items you would truly miss if this were to happen. She says that chances are there would only be a few items and she calls these “our treasures.” She suggests that you keep these items in mind as you begin to clear out the clutter – if it is not a “treasure” – let it go. If you lose sight of the goal, refer back to your “keep-or-toss test” results. And does 80% sound like an unachievable goal? Well, to paraphrase a popular quote: "Reach for the moon. Even if you don't reach your goal, you will land among the stars or be farther along than if you didn't reach at all."
I will share more of Julie Morgenstern’s advice in this blog next week. Until then, keep up the good work and enjoy your summer.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Email and Voice Mail Clutter Control
I am still basking in the glow of de-cluttering my office but I have found it to be impossible at home just yet. I have been working hard on completing a slew of things for a convention that I am attending this weekend and I am hoping that when I return from the convention, I will have the time and motivation to start in on my home office.
At work I have been successful at one thing that I intend to try at home. I have a spiral steno notebook at my desk that I have in front of me every time I take messages off my phone and it is at hand every time the phone rings so that I can record information from the caller if needed. When I return the call, or complete the requested task, I put a check mark next to the name in the book so that I know that I have completed that task. Many times I have had to contact someone that called me at some point and I have been able to find their contact information in my notebook. My dilemma is keeping track of my emails with the same ease. I monitor about 5 email accounts and invariably, the information came in on an email account on another computer. The problem, I know, is that I use Microsoft Outlook to retrieve my emails, which brings the emails onto my computer and erases them from the email server. If I left the emails on the server and used the server’s folders to sort and retain the messages, I could always access them from anywhere. The downside to this is that I monitor 5 emails, at least three that are current and active. If I used the email server, I would have to login to three separate servers to retrieve my email. I know that it is old school computer thinking to feel safer if I have my emails on my computer. I think this goes back to the days when email services used to tell you to clean off your email because they were running out of space and your account had a limited amount of storage space, but this system has been working for me for the most part.
Some of you are saying, consolidate your email addresses into one, but I have to have one for work on our intranet and I have two for home, the main one and a Gmail account that has been very handy for access to Goggle products such as the blogspot software and for entering into websites where I am afraid my email address will be sold for spamming. The other two accounts are the accounts that I had with the cable service I had before we moved to Monmouth County. The accounts are with Comcast, and although I can’t send through Comcast, I can still receive emails on those accounts. No matter how many times I tell people to change my email address in their address books, I still get about 5-10 personal emails at my old address and at my husband’s old address. Are you diligent about changing email accounts in your computer when you are notified of a change? I suspect that most people are not.
Is this familiar to any of you? How do you all monitor your emails? Have you ever successfully changed an email account and not lost touch with a percentage of your contacts? I would like to discuss this at our next meeting on May 6 at the library. I have some suggestions for giving some incentives to get our houses in order. Bring your successes to the meeting so that we can all feel good about someone’s progress and bring your questions and frustrations to see if others can offer solutions. I won’t be posting again until Tuesday May 4th, if I can find the time on that day. I hope to see a lot of you at the meeting on Thursday, May 6, at 7:00 in the Quiet Study and in the mean time,
happy clearing!
At work I have been successful at one thing that I intend to try at home. I have a spiral steno notebook at my desk that I have in front of me every time I take messages off my phone and it is at hand every time the phone rings so that I can record information from the caller if needed. When I return the call, or complete the requested task, I put a check mark next to the name in the book so that I know that I have completed that task. Many times I have had to contact someone that called me at some point and I have been able to find their contact information in my notebook. My dilemma is keeping track of my emails with the same ease. I monitor about 5 email accounts and invariably, the information came in on an email account on another computer. The problem, I know, is that I use Microsoft Outlook to retrieve my emails, which brings the emails onto my computer and erases them from the email server. If I left the emails on the server and used the server’s folders to sort and retain the messages, I could always access them from anywhere. The downside to this is that I monitor 5 emails, at least three that are current and active. If I used the email server, I would have to login to three separate servers to retrieve my email. I know that it is old school computer thinking to feel safer if I have my emails on my computer. I think this goes back to the days when email services used to tell you to clean off your email because they were running out of space and your account had a limited amount of storage space, but this system has been working for me for the most part.
Some of you are saying, consolidate your email addresses into one, but I have to have one for work on our intranet and I have two for home, the main one and a Gmail account that has been very handy for access to Goggle products such as the blogspot software and for entering into websites where I am afraid my email address will be sold for spamming. The other two accounts are the accounts that I had with the cable service I had before we moved to Monmouth County. The accounts are with Comcast, and although I can’t send through Comcast, I can still receive emails on those accounts. No matter how many times I tell people to change my email address in their address books, I still get about 5-10 personal emails at my old address and at my husband’s old address. Are you diligent about changing email accounts in your computer when you are notified of a change? I suspect that most people are not.
Is this familiar to any of you? How do you all monitor your emails? Have you ever successfully changed an email account and not lost touch with a percentage of your contacts? I would like to discuss this at our next meeting on May 6 at the library. I have some suggestions for giving some incentives to get our houses in order. Bring your successes to the meeting so that we can all feel good about someone’s progress and bring your questions and frustrations to see if others can offer solutions. I won’t be posting again until Tuesday May 4th, if I can find the time on that day. I hope to see a lot of you at the meeting on Thursday, May 6, at 7:00 in the Quiet Study and in the mean time,
happy clearing!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Don't Forget to De-clutter your Office too
I am sorry to say that my tendency to retain useless things affects me at work as well as at home. I only have a 30" x 60" desk and one 4 drawer vertical file to house my work information for all the hats I wear here in the library. I organized my drawers and even color coded the labels a few years ago but I proceeded to fill those drawers to bursting. I told you all how motivational I am finding the Clutter Busting book. Well, I tried out the author's theory - to throw away anything that you are no longer using - and the experience is indeed "freeing." I started yesterday after lunch (even a late lunch) and had the recycle bin and two garbage cans near my desk filled to overflowing! I finished the desk and file this morning filling the same three containers again. I feel so unencumbered! I can't wait until Sunday when I can get at some of the piles of papers I have at home as well! I even cleaned the places beneath the desk, but I haven't done what is on the top of the file yet, nor the stuff that has started to accumulate on and under the table in the office I share, but there is no more room in a trash can today!! Except for a few files that I use regularly for invoices and bills, the majority of what I threw away was put there over the past few years and never referenced again, so clearly, these were not things I needed to keep in the first place. I highly recommend this exercise. Go for it...it is wonderful!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Spring Cleaning and Garage Sales
Spring is the time we open all the windows and clear out the winter accumulation of musty air and sweep out the dust and debris of our winter "hibernation." It is also a good time to have a garage sale, before the weather gets too hot (today not withstanding) and before the pools and beach clubs open for the season. Are you the kind of person that keeps a box or two of items at all times that you intend to sell one day at a garage sale? Or do you choose a date and start to advertise and then scramble getting stuff "ready" to sell. Either way, keep some things in mind. Price the items as you box them so that pricing is not another overwhelming task on the day of the sale. And pricing is the best way to prepare for a sale, particularly if you are the kind of person that is prone to clutter. Being overwhelmed by clutter might indicate that making snap decisions is not one of your strong suits, so having to decide on the price of something with a yard full of eager customers (hopefully) would be highly stress producing. You can buy pre-printed price tags in bright colors in the label section of your local warehouse stationers. These labels are easily removable so you will not be damaging your "valuables." Sort item with like items, particularly like in storage and display needs. Put smaller, breakable items together and make sure you have a sturdy table on which to display these items. Put all clothing together and try to borrow a coat/garment rack from someone if you don't have one. Put all items for children together since that is often a category that people shop for at garage sales. It is also a good idea to have smaller, more expensive items, on a single table near where the cash box will be kept so that there will always be someone nearby to keep an eye on these items. You may want to consider having a "sale" hour toward the end of the day and allow people to take whatever they can fit into a bag for a dollar or two - make sure you have a quantity of standard sized bags on hand and mark the bag as "sold" with a marker when it has been paid for. I have seen people go to their car, empty the bag and then bring the bag back and fill it again. No one should be putting anything into a bag that is marked sold or paid. Know ahead of time what you plan to do with the items that don't sell. Have an organization like Vietnam Vets or Good Will on stand-by to come the same day or the next day at the very latest. Don't move the stuff back into the house. Find out from the pick-up organization if they have any restrictions on the kinds of items they will take. Have a few large garbage cans/bags available to dispose of the things that are not taken. I will say again, don't move any of it back into the house. If you commit to a sale and an item is left over at the end, consider that it is unwanted and get rid of it. Consider going in on the sale with a neighbor or two. The pre-printed labels come in an assortment of different colors. Have your neighbor(s) use a different color label if you want to keep track of the sales or just decide that you will split the profit no matter whose stuff is sold. Having a crew that can spell you when you need to take a break is worth it in the long run. Happy selling (and happy de-cluttering)!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Fresh Motivation
At our meeting last Thursday, I passed around some new clutter control books that I have purchased and we agreed that one looked particularly interesting. “Clutter Busting” by Brooks Palmer looks to be a useful motivational book to help you get un-stuck from the fears and frustrations that may be keeping you from clutter clearing success. I began to read the first few chapters and I was ready to grab some garbage bags and start tossing things away. This is indeed, highly motivational. Palmer says to remind yourself repeatedly that, “Things will not make me happy.” His premise is that once you clear your life, house, car, office, etc. of the things that no longer meet your needs, you will free yourself to do what you want and to feel good about doing it. The subtitle to the book: “Letting go of what’s holding you back” is his premise in a nutshell. You have heard all of this a thousand times before and you think as a rational human being, you would not have to hear it again, but the message is presented such that perhaps this time, it may actually sink in and motivate you to finally get to the bottom of the clutter heap. Don’t resort and save – through it all away! Don’t hold on to something until you finally have a garage sale – get it completely out and away from of the house to ease your guilt and fears. Donate, recycle, trash it but just get it out and move on!
Good luck.
Good luck.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Surprise! I'm back
Sorry that I haven't posted anything in such a long time...too bad I can't use the fact that I was busy de-cluttering as an excuse because that would be a lie!
Do you remember that one of the tips I came across was that there is never any reason to save magazine articles about a particular subject because magazines always repeat the same subjects year after year? Well, someone brought me a February 2003 issue of Woman's Day that included a feature "68 Real-Life Organizing Tips." The article is titled "Order in the House" written by Pamela Kramer. Not only are the subjects repeated, but the same tips that you know...and that you read in every book on decluttering...are given. Step 1 - Set aside a block of time. Step 2 - Pull out the stuff that you want to organize and determine what you want to keep, donate or toss. Put items that belong in another part of your house back where they should be. Step 3 - Assign a place for each item. Group similar items together by function, and put the ones that are used most often within easy reach. Step 4 - Don't hesitate to rearrange or make changes if your having trouble finding what you need or keeping the area neat. Sound familiar? This particular article suggests pulling everything out but we have discussed how that might not be the best idea - you could get overwhelmed; you may not be able to finish such a monumental task; and then you may not be able to get back to it right away and you'll end up shoving it all back in without having made any progress. We have found many "experts" that suggest to break the task down into smaller bites and do only what you can handle in a 15 to 20 minute time slot that can be repeated as long as your interest and stamina hold out. That may mean doing only one drawer at a time or just the shelf in your closet. Now, doesn't that already sound more doable?
I have purchased Jamie Novak's new book Stop Throwing Money Away. She has departed from the question and answer format of her last two books and has written a complete guide to the "Clutter-Cash" connection with lots of insight into how to get out from below the piles of clutter and perhaps the mounds of debt! She has also included some great information about doing all of this in a "green" way to protect the planet while you are at it. I have been talking with Jamie about giving an encore presentation of the program she gave a year ago. I just need to find some money in my programming budget to see if we can afford to have her back soon!
I would like to put a plug here for your support of New Jersey public libraries. In the governor's latest budget proposal, funding for the state library services might be cut as much as 74% - more than any other state department. This will mean a lot of lost services at every public library in the state including interlibrary loan services, online database access and many other services supported by the state library. If the library is important to you, please visit www.ilovenjlibraries.org and become a library champion and let the governor and your elected officials know how much you use the library. There is also a Save NJ Libraries page on Facebook. Thank you for your support. Don't forget to come to the next De-Clutter Club meeting on April 1, 2010 - no April Fool's!
Do you remember that one of the tips I came across was that there is never any reason to save magazine articles about a particular subject because magazines always repeat the same subjects year after year? Well, someone brought me a February 2003 issue of Woman's Day that included a feature "68 Real-Life Organizing Tips." The article is titled "Order in the House" written by Pamela Kramer. Not only are the subjects repeated, but the same tips that you know...and that you read in every book on decluttering...are given. Step 1 - Set aside a block of time. Step 2 - Pull out the stuff that you want to organize and determine what you want to keep, donate or toss. Put items that belong in another part of your house back where they should be. Step 3 - Assign a place for each item. Group similar items together by function, and put the ones that are used most often within easy reach. Step 4 - Don't hesitate to rearrange or make changes if your having trouble finding what you need or keeping the area neat. Sound familiar? This particular article suggests pulling everything out but we have discussed how that might not be the best idea - you could get overwhelmed; you may not be able to finish such a monumental task; and then you may not be able to get back to it right away and you'll end up shoving it all back in without having made any progress. We have found many "experts" that suggest to break the task down into smaller bites and do only what you can handle in a 15 to 20 minute time slot that can be repeated as long as your interest and stamina hold out. That may mean doing only one drawer at a time or just the shelf in your closet. Now, doesn't that already sound more doable?
I have purchased Jamie Novak's new book Stop Throwing Money Away. She has departed from the question and answer format of her last two books and has written a complete guide to the "Clutter-Cash" connection with lots of insight into how to get out from below the piles of clutter and perhaps the mounds of debt! She has also included some great information about doing all of this in a "green" way to protect the planet while you are at it. I have been talking with Jamie about giving an encore presentation of the program she gave a year ago. I just need to find some money in my programming budget to see if we can afford to have her back soon!
I would like to put a plug here for your support of New Jersey public libraries. In the governor's latest budget proposal, funding for the state library services might be cut as much as 74% - more than any other state department. This will mean a lot of lost services at every public library in the state including interlibrary loan services, online database access and many other services supported by the state library. If the library is important to you, please visit www.ilovenjlibraries.org and become a library champion and let the governor and your elected officials know how much you use the library. There is also a Save NJ Libraries page on Facebook. Thank you for your support. Don't forget to come to the next De-Clutter Club meeting on April 1, 2010 - no April Fool's!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Meeting Tonight
We are having issues with the Internet and our email here at the library today so that I am unable to email you all with a reminder about tonight's meeting. I thought we might talk a little about any strategies you may have in order to get through December with calm and serenity. I would also like to ask everyone a few questions about how everyone does standard everyday tasks to see if we can glean any insights from each other. Consider your strategies about handling everyday paperwork like bills, etc.; how you organize the items in your kitchen including the refrigerator; how you deal with seasonal items like summer clothes, winter coats and yard equipment; organization of hobbies including books; organization of remotes and rechargers for your electronics; photos from your camera and your phone; computer files and sent and received emails; and any other clutter problem areas in your life.
I hope you are being kind to yourselves and not trying to accomplish giant projects around the house as you are preparing for social gatherings and visit from family and friends that often occurs at this time of the year. I would love to hear if anyone has changed a behavior to reduce the amount of time that the holidays can take, like sending online greetings or eating your holiday meals at a restaurant or having them catered.
Also, bring any concerns you have or any suggestions you may have heard about or any solutions that you have tried and whether they have been successful or not. I will share any insights we discover in my blogs over the next several weeks.
I hope to see many of you this evening at 7:00 in the Quiet Study. Bring a sweater; I understand the library is cold today.
I hope you are being kind to yourselves and not trying to accomplish giant projects around the house as you are preparing for social gatherings and visit from family and friends that often occurs at this time of the year. I would love to hear if anyone has changed a behavior to reduce the amount of time that the holidays can take, like sending online greetings or eating your holiday meals at a restaurant or having them catered.
Also, bring any concerns you have or any suggestions you may have heard about or any solutions that you have tried and whether they have been successful or not. I will share any insights we discover in my blogs over the next several weeks.
I hope to see many of you this evening at 7:00 in the Quiet Study. Bring a sweater; I understand the library is cold today.
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