I will try to glean today’s tips from Michelle Passoff’s Lighten Up! (HarperCollins, 1998). Although the book is written in chapters within three major sections and not in the form of the other books I have been consulting which are generally a series of short paragraphs giving tips or answering questions, there are “at-a-glance” checklists at the end of each section that serve as a helpful summary of the ideas Ms. Passoff has presented in that section. The following tips are direct quotes or are paraphrased from the at-a-glance sections of the book:
Part One - Getting Started At-a-Glance (pgs. 50-51)
1. Being clear on what you in your life (instead of the clutter and the time wasted on its maintenance) will help you choose what to keep and what to get rid of. Write these goals down and refer to them for encouragement.
2. Start by taking a non-judgmental tour of your home to identify clutter hot spots. Keep a journal of the process, including your goals on what you are making room for by clearing the clutter. Take before and after pictures of each location for encouragement along the way (have your digital camera handy to record these images and to capture an image of items that you want to remember, but not save.)
3. Seek encouragement from family and friends, like our de-clutter club!
Part Two – Learning Skills At-a-Glance (pgs. 154-155)
4. Handle one item at a time. Don’t worry about getting everything where it is ultimately going; just get it on its journey whether it be to somewhere else in your house or out of your house altogether – to the dump, the recycle center, the consignment shop, etc.
5. Leave no stone unturned – go 100%!
6. Dispose of stuff with panache and ceremony! Celebrate your successes!
7. Don’t cover your tracks – once an area is de-cluttered, don’t put any more clutter there! Be diligent and don’t be afraid of empty space – this is a good thing!
Part Three – Living Clutter Free At-a-Glance (pgs. 185-186)
8. Routinely handle the daily mail and don’t let it accumulate – have a system in place and discipline yourself to use it until it becomes habit. Adapt it as necessary until it feels comfortable.
9. Use your new found time wisely – let go of ideas that restrict and confine you. Use time for its best and true purpose – as the space within which you can live your life fully. Keep and carry only one time planner or date-book system and use it to create a schedule that corresponds to what you are making room for in your life and that you look forward to following.
10. Housekeeping at regularly scheduled times can not only help you keep the space you created open, but make it sparkle. Declutter emotional, mental and spiritual realms as a way to continue to honor yourself and be more at home in your world.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tips for Success 2.0
Today’s tips, as promised, are all quoted or paraphrased from Donna Smallin’s earlier book; Unclutter Your Home (Pownal, VT: Storey Publishing, 1999). This is a book that claims to have 700 tips and ideas, so there are lots to share…
1. Store the things you use most often in the most accessible location. This is true for placement in your house as well as for placement within a closet, cabinet or bookshelf. Store things where you use them.
2. When uncluttering a shelf, drawer, cupboard or closet, take everything out. If you pick and choose things, you will never make a dent. Clean the closet or shelf while it is empty including vacuuming the carpet and dusting all of the contents. Put like things together; get rid of stuff you don’t use, need or like; contain what is left and put it back. Time your projects to be able to complete each task and put everything away by the end of the session. (However, I have also read that leaving a project unfinished will help motivate you to continue and save you the time it will take to decide what to do.)
3. If you have a bag of stuff to discard, and it is not near garbage collection day, plan a trip to a dump or recycle center, otherwise you may be tempted to reconsider your decisions.
4. Repurpose containers you like, such as bowls, baskets and decorative boxes, to store items in plain sight. A basket can contain rolled towels on the floor of the bathroom near the shower or tub or a basket or decorative box can contain CDs on a shelf near your audio equipment. Keep a small bowl or tray in the places that things like keys or change accumulate. Decorative hat boxes, piled on top of a shelf, high dresser or even on the floor, make attractive storage containers for miscellaneous items like scarves, gloves, etc. or for individual craft projects.
5. Use your vertical space to the best advantage. Shelving units that don’t go to the ceiling waste the space above. If you do go up high to store things, keep a step stool close at hand.
6. Use the back of every door in every room, closet and cabinet. Use store bought racks that are made for this purpose to store shoes, books, pantry items, etc. At the very least, install a few clothes hooks.
7. Use a hanging shoe bag with clear pockets on the back of coat closet doors to store mittens, gloves, earmuffs and hats. You can also use a shoe bag in other closets to organize smaller items: in your clothes closet for hose, socks, scarves and accessories; on the back of the bathroom door or inside the linen closet to store miscellaneous toiletries and make-up or in the closet where you store cleaning supplies to put vacuum bags, sponges and brushes.
8. Hang a doorknob or wall-hanging basket or key hooks on or near the door you use most often to contain keys and outgoing mail.
9. Think of your refrigerator as a large cupboard. Designate specific shelves for specific things. Always keep leftovers in the same place in the refrigerator so that things won’t get hidden. Use storage bins for small items on the shelves and get racks that hang below the shelves for large soda bottles. Consider adding a turntable to make items at the back more accessible.
10. Keep a nylon bag hung on the back of the bedroom door in which to put clothes that need to be dry cleaned.
And one final word of encouragement from Donna Smallin’s book: In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” Tackle that clutter today!
1. Store the things you use most often in the most accessible location. This is true for placement in your house as well as for placement within a closet, cabinet or bookshelf. Store things where you use them.
2. When uncluttering a shelf, drawer, cupboard or closet, take everything out. If you pick and choose things, you will never make a dent. Clean the closet or shelf while it is empty including vacuuming the carpet and dusting all of the contents. Put like things together; get rid of stuff you don’t use, need or like; contain what is left and put it back. Time your projects to be able to complete each task and put everything away by the end of the session. (However, I have also read that leaving a project unfinished will help motivate you to continue and save you the time it will take to decide what to do.)
3. If you have a bag of stuff to discard, and it is not near garbage collection day, plan a trip to a dump or recycle center, otherwise you may be tempted to reconsider your decisions.
4. Repurpose containers you like, such as bowls, baskets and decorative boxes, to store items in plain sight. A basket can contain rolled towels on the floor of the bathroom near the shower or tub or a basket or decorative box can contain CDs on a shelf near your audio equipment. Keep a small bowl or tray in the places that things like keys or change accumulate. Decorative hat boxes, piled on top of a shelf, high dresser or even on the floor, make attractive storage containers for miscellaneous items like scarves, gloves, etc. or for individual craft projects.
5. Use your vertical space to the best advantage. Shelving units that don’t go to the ceiling waste the space above. If you do go up high to store things, keep a step stool close at hand.
6. Use the back of every door in every room, closet and cabinet. Use store bought racks that are made for this purpose to store shoes, books, pantry items, etc. At the very least, install a few clothes hooks.
7. Use a hanging shoe bag with clear pockets on the back of coat closet doors to store mittens, gloves, earmuffs and hats. You can also use a shoe bag in other closets to organize smaller items: in your clothes closet for hose, socks, scarves and accessories; on the back of the bathroom door or inside the linen closet to store miscellaneous toiletries and make-up or in the closet where you store cleaning supplies to put vacuum bags, sponges and brushes.
8. Hang a doorknob or wall-hanging basket or key hooks on or near the door you use most often to contain keys and outgoing mail.
9. Think of your refrigerator as a large cupboard. Designate specific shelves for specific things. Always keep leftovers in the same place in the refrigerator so that things won’t get hidden. Use storage bins for small items on the shelves and get racks that hang below the shelves for large soda bottles. Consider adding a turntable to make items at the back more accessible.
10. Keep a nylon bag hung on the back of the bedroom door in which to put clothes that need to be dry cleaned.
And one final word of encouragement from Donna Smallin’s book: In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” Tackle that clutter today!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tips for Success
After all of the philosophical ramblings of my past few blogs, I am in the mood to deal with more practical information so I took some time to look for good tips to share. In the interest of avoiding plagiarism, I will take ten good tips from particular reference books or sources and share them with you one day at a time. Today’s tips are from Donna Smallin’s book The One Minute Organizer: Plain and Simple (North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2004).
1. You are not the person you were 10 years ago; your interest, tastes and styles have changed. Aim to keep around you only the things that represent who you are today.
2. If something has a layer of dust on it, it is an indication that you haven’t used it in a while – get rid of it.
3. When evaluating what to keep, imagine that you are packing to move across the country. Consider the item in terms of: a) is it worth the time to pack it? b) is it worth the effort of carrying it to the moving van c) is it worth the amount per pound that it will cost to have it moved a great distance and d) is it worth carrying into and putting up or storing in your new home?
4. Establish limits on things that accumulate, like plastic shopping bags, food storage containers, rags and scrap paper for taking notes. Decide in advance what is a reasonable amount to have at any one time and recycle the rest.
5. Give yourself permission to get rid of things. Yes, that old t-shirt would make a good rag, but how many rags do you need? Throw it away.
6. Create the rule: “If it is ugly or unfixable, it’s garbage” and stick to it!
7. Take photographs of sentimental items (preferably with the person with whom you share the memory or the child who created it) and get rid of the item.
8. Get rid of bath and shower items you haven’t used in over a month. Put them into smaller containers for travel or guest baths. Donate the rest to shelters or food banks.
9. Schedule time to go through your closet and try on things that you haven’t worn. If it looks good and you love it, hang it back up. If it doesn’t fit or if doesn’t look good on you, donate it.
10. When organizing, keep a small notebook and pen at hand. When you come across or think of a good organizing project, write it down so that it can be dealt with at a separate session – don’t get sidetracked.
Tomorrow’s ten tips will be from Donna Smallin’s earlier book: Unclutter Your Home (Pownal, VT: Storey Publishing, 1999).
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What is clutter?
In the past few months, I have spent some time with Michelle Passoff's categories of clutter from her book Lighten Up! (Harper Collins, 1998) and I have excerpted a few ideas on clutter from Donna Smallin's book Unclutter Your Home (Storey Books, 1999). The other two books I have used are titled organization books, The One-Minute Organizer, also by Donna Smallin (Storey Books, 2004) and Jamie Novak's The Get Organized Answer Book (Sourcebooks Inc., 2009) but they are all essentially about de-cluttering your life. Which leads me to the question about whether there is truly a difference between de-cluttering and organizing and what constitutes clutter? Is an organized pile of stuff clutter? Does it have to be chaos to be clutter? Is getting the stuff in your life organized enough to claim that you are de-cluttered?
My brother and I had this conversation yesterday. He is the marketing manager of a family of mutual funds and has an eye on investment trends and consumer behavior. He has observed that the baby-boomers, the generation that has been at the forefront of consumer spending since the early 60's, are, perhaps for the first time in their lives, setting self-imposed limits on their personal spending and acquisition of material goods and exhibiting a general downsizing. We have seen, from the proliferation of information available on the topic, that there is a trend in the U.S. today to clean out, de-clutter and lighten our load. From this conversation about the trends in society, we discussed our own personal crusade against clutter. He sees clutter as the chaos in his life and the accumulation of random stuff that has no orderliness or significance and it is his goal to rid himself of this stuff. When I expressed that I was trying to rid my life of all of the detritus that I have acquired with or without intent, he drew a distinction between his chaos and my ordered accumulation. I don’t think that just because most of my stuff is in boxes, drawers, closets and organized on shelves, it isn’t clutter. Granted, that for the most part the stuff that surrounds me - that gives me stress and takes away all of my free time - isn’t heaped up in unmanageable piles, but to me, it is still very much clutter.
Perhaps the distinction I am making is the difference between garbage, clutter and true personal treasures! I think that clutter can be neatly ordered and can have value, per se. The task we are facing is to determine if it still has value to the person who owns it! To do this, it is important to make sure that your goals and your priorities are clear in your mind (and written down on paper). It will ultimately be the only way that you can make the distinction in your life about what to keep and what to throw away.
My brother and I had this conversation yesterday. He is the marketing manager of a family of mutual funds and has an eye on investment trends and consumer behavior. He has observed that the baby-boomers, the generation that has been at the forefront of consumer spending since the early 60's, are, perhaps for the first time in their lives, setting self-imposed limits on their personal spending and acquisition of material goods and exhibiting a general downsizing. We have seen, from the proliferation of information available on the topic, that there is a trend in the U.S. today to clean out, de-clutter and lighten our load. From this conversation about the trends in society, we discussed our own personal crusade against clutter. He sees clutter as the chaos in his life and the accumulation of random stuff that has no orderliness or significance and it is his goal to rid himself of this stuff. When I expressed that I was trying to rid my life of all of the detritus that I have acquired with or without intent, he drew a distinction between his chaos and my ordered accumulation. I don’t think that just because most of my stuff is in boxes, drawers, closets and organized on shelves, it isn’t clutter. Granted, that for the most part the stuff that surrounds me - that gives me stress and takes away all of my free time - isn’t heaped up in unmanageable piles, but to me, it is still very much clutter.
Perhaps the distinction I am making is the difference between garbage, clutter and true personal treasures! I think that clutter can be neatly ordered and can have value, per se. The task we are facing is to determine if it still has value to the person who owns it! To do this, it is important to make sure that your goals and your priorities are clear in your mind (and written down on paper). It will ultimately be the only way that you can make the distinction in your life about what to keep and what to throw away.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
I have continued to read through Elaine St. James' Simplify Your Life and have enjoyed the feelings of possibility that it affords. It is as though she is saying that our very lives are cluttered and by following these simply stated (not simply done) practices of changing our habits and patterns of behaviour, we can become clutter-free to the core...completely without extra baggage and commitment. I can feel the tension leave my body when I envision my life led in this simple, straight-forward manner! But in my knowledge that I need to conquer things one-at-a-time, I find myself with concern on staying centered on these goals through-out the process.
I think that the idea of writing out my goals and keeping them close at hand will be a positive experience. Did any of you complete that task, of writing down what you could accomplish if the time spent dealing with clutter was given back to you? I think that it is really worth doing. I would love to share some of your goals at our next meeting, which will be here before you know it. See if we each can list at least one or two desires to share with the group on August 6th. See you then.
I think that the idea of writing out my goals and keeping them close at hand will be a positive experience. Did any of you complete that task, of writing down what you could accomplish if the time spent dealing with clutter was given back to you? I think that it is really worth doing. I would love to share some of your goals at our next meeting, which will be here before you know it. See if we each can list at least one or two desires to share with the group on August 6th. See you then.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Moving On
A few weeks ago I told you I found a copy of Elaine St. James' Simplify Your Life (New York: Hyperion, 1994) on my bookshelf at home. I found it amusing to note that her first chapter, in Section One: Your Household, is "Reduce the Clutter in your Life!" This is the number one recommendation that the author has in a book about simplifying your life! I guess I shouldn't be so surprised by this priority from all that we have been finding. This seems to be a universal problem among Americans these days, perhaps even a problem beyond our mass consuming society. A friend just told me that she read somewhere that the Chinese Government is encouraging Chinese citizens, who are newly enlightened to the “glories” of Capitalism, to buy more goods and services! It is too bad that developing countries don’t learn from our mistakes, but of course, "simplicity" is not the message that we are projecting about our culture, even though it seems to be what the vast majority of our citizens desire!
Elaine St. James says pretty much the same as the rest of our clutter control mentors, to follow the guideline: If you haven’t needed or used an item in more than a year, get rid of it. She suggests the same ways to rid yourself of the clutter – give it away to a friend or a charity; sell it at a garage sle; recycle it if possible or put it in a Dumpster if it is not able to be recycled.
Because of the brief format she uses for her recommendations, she steps out on a limb and says specifically where to start with the task. She says, “Start with your clothes closet and branch out from there. Clean out every closet, every drawer, every shelf, in every room in your house, including the kitchen. Don’t forget the front hall closet, the linen closet, tool chests, and medicine cabinets. Remember the laundry room, the garage, the attic, the basement, your office, your car, and any storage space you may be renting or borrowing” (pgs. 10-11). In my opinion, where St. James is way off track comes in a following paragraph. She says that “you can complete the initial stage of an unclutter program in a couple of Saturday afternoons.” She has obviously not seen the amount of clutter that needs to be removed from my house and I suspect from a great number of Americans’ houses!!
Chapter 2 is titled “Dave’s Uncluttering System” in which she describes her friend Dave’s method of boxing stuff in boxes that are left unlabeled as to the contents but dated two to three years in the future. If the boxes are unopened during that two to three year period, they should be thown away without opening! This is not Dave’s unique system, and I would say, it is not aggressive enough to truly rid your life of stuff. The dates should be more like six months to a year in the future. If you haven’t had use of the unidentified items in that length of time, it is doubtful that another year or two will make a difference.
In the meantime, if you develop the skills to throw the stuff away as it comes into your life, you will be free of much of your clutter in no time.
Jamie Novak had another telephone chat last night. Did anyone catch it? Sorry I didn't get a reminder out to everyone. If you listened, I hope it was beneficial. Let me know what was discussed!
Elaine St. James says pretty much the same as the rest of our clutter control mentors, to follow the guideline: If you haven’t needed or used an item in more than a year, get rid of it. She suggests the same ways to rid yourself of the clutter – give it away to a friend or a charity; sell it at a garage sle; recycle it if possible or put it in a Dumpster if it is not able to be recycled.
Because of the brief format she uses for her recommendations, she steps out on a limb and says specifically where to start with the task. She says, “Start with your clothes closet and branch out from there. Clean out every closet, every drawer, every shelf, in every room in your house, including the kitchen. Don’t forget the front hall closet, the linen closet, tool chests, and medicine cabinets. Remember the laundry room, the garage, the attic, the basement, your office, your car, and any storage space you may be renting or borrowing” (pgs. 10-11). In my opinion, where St. James is way off track comes in a following paragraph. She says that “you can complete the initial stage of an unclutter program in a couple of Saturday afternoons.” She has obviously not seen the amount of clutter that needs to be removed from my house and I suspect from a great number of Americans’ houses!!
Chapter 2 is titled “Dave’s Uncluttering System” in which she describes her friend Dave’s method of boxing stuff in boxes that are left unlabeled as to the contents but dated two to three years in the future. If the boxes are unopened during that two to three year period, they should be thown away without opening! This is not Dave’s unique system, and I would say, it is not aggressive enough to truly rid your life of stuff. The dates should be more like six months to a year in the future. If you haven’t had use of the unidentified items in that length of time, it is doubtful that another year or two will make a difference.
In the meantime, if you develop the skills to throw the stuff away as it comes into your life, you will be free of much of your clutter in no time.
Jamie Novak had another telephone chat last night. Did anyone catch it? Sorry I didn't get a reminder out to everyone. If you listened, I hope it was beneficial. Let me know what was discussed!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The other three...
The other three categories of clutter that happen, from Michelle Passoff's Lighten Up!, are three situations that are as inevitable as clutter itself and are probably rooted deeper than just a bad habit. The fourth category is stuff that relates to uncomfortable areas of life. This, Ms. Passoff describes as, stuff that relates to some task that you are avoiding or that you dread but one that won't go away no matter how deep you try to bury it. She says on page 17, "clutter increases in direct proportion to the amount of time you ignore a problem. Take action and watch your dread dwindle as your clutter is reduced."
The fifth category Passoff calls hanging onto or dishonoring the past. Into this category she includes photographs, memorabilia - things that remind you of the past. She makes the distinction about these things being clutter or not depending on how you store them and/or display them. Well ordered memorabilia that has been sorted, culled and organized with the goal of being able to have it accessible to share and to appreciate is not clutter; but, having random bags, boxes, drawers, etc. filled with the detritus of the past is not a healthy way to live. The dishonoring comes from keeping this shrine of past accomplishments rather than focusing on the possibilities in the future.
The sixth and final category that causes clutter is indecision and I would venture a guess that indecision is at the heart of most of the clutter in life. Indecision is wrapped very closely with the feelings you get from being overwhelmed when you literally shut down rather than having to make a determination to keep something and find a place where it can be safely and retrievably stored versus discarding the item and possibly have to purchase a replacement in the future. This is where having a goal and a mission about what your life can be like without clutter and what you could accomplish if you were in control comes in handy. It is a benchmark against which you can compare the situation at hand to help you have better, more positive resolve.
I hope that keeping these issues in mind will help you avoid the pitfalls that will come between you and a clutter-free life! I have spoken with a professional organizer about coming to speak at the library. I asked everyone at our last meeting if there was a topic that would be of particular interest to the group. One of the topics that she can speak about is time management. Would that be of interest to anyone? Let me know by commenting on this post. I hope we are all taking advantage of these grey, rainy days to take a bite out of the chore of de-cluttering! Think about how much more you will enjoy that leisurely afternoon in the sun if you have made some headway with the clean-up!
The fifth category Passoff calls hanging onto or dishonoring the past. Into this category she includes photographs, memorabilia - things that remind you of the past. She makes the distinction about these things being clutter or not depending on how you store them and/or display them. Well ordered memorabilia that has been sorted, culled and organized with the goal of being able to have it accessible to share and to appreciate is not clutter; but, having random bags, boxes, drawers, etc. filled with the detritus of the past is not a healthy way to live. The dishonoring comes from keeping this shrine of past accomplishments rather than focusing on the possibilities in the future.
The sixth and final category that causes clutter is indecision and I would venture a guess that indecision is at the heart of most of the clutter in life. Indecision is wrapped very closely with the feelings you get from being overwhelmed when you literally shut down rather than having to make a determination to keep something and find a place where it can be safely and retrievably stored versus discarding the item and possibly have to purchase a replacement in the future. This is where having a goal and a mission about what your life can be like without clutter and what you could accomplish if you were in control comes in handy. It is a benchmark against which you can compare the situation at hand to help you have better, more positive resolve.
I hope that keeping these issues in mind will help you avoid the pitfalls that will come between you and a clutter-free life! I have spoken with a professional organizer about coming to speak at the library. I asked everyone at our last meeting if there was a topic that would be of particular interest to the group. One of the topics that she can speak about is time management. Would that be of interest to anyone? Let me know by commenting on this post. I hope we are all taking advantage of these grey, rainy days to take a bite out of the chore of de-cluttering! Think about how much more you will enjoy that leisurely afternoon in the sun if you have made some headway with the clean-up!
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