Peace of Mind Organizing

Looking for a good novel?

24 April 2008

The Department of Lost and Found, by Allison Winn Scotch, is out in paperback this week. I know Allison from a freelance-writers’ web forum I participate in, Freelance Success, and enjoyed reading this book when it was out in hardcover.

The novel’s protagonist is a super-driven, hardworking aide to a senator who is diagnosed with breast cancer. As sobering as that topic sounds, the book is infused with humor (the scene at The Price is Right still lingers in my memory) and is indeed a terrific read.

Check it out!

Aloha!

22 April 2008

I’m the luckiest organizer. I worked with a wonderful client here in St. Louis for eighteen months. Last month she moved to Hawaii. Last week, her family’s stuff, which was shipped by boat, arrived. This week, I’m going there to help her set up household. I leave early (and I mean early) tomorrow morning.

I’m hoping to blog regularly from Oahu, but I’m not positive that will be possible. I’ll be back home on May 2.

Aloha!

We had an earthquake!

18 April 2008

St. Louis isn’t exactly known for its earthquakes, though we’re near a major fault and back in the early 90s there was an unfulfilled earthquake prediction that got everyone thinking about disaster preparedness.

This morning about 4:30 a.m., my husband and I were awakened by the sound of the windows in our 100-year-old home rattling. It was bizarre. We speculated on the cause. I thought a high gust of wind. He suggested it was an earthquake, which I dismissed out of hand.

When I checked our local paper’s website this morning, I learned it was indeed an earthquake, measuring a relatively mild 5.2 on the Richter scale.

At about 10:15 this morning, as I sat at my computer, the house started to gently shake. I’m guessing it was an aftershock. It lasted for what felt like quite a little while (though probably less than 10 seconds). And it was kind of freaky. I realize that it’s something Californians live with, but it was unfamiliar to this midwesterner!

All of a sudden, I’m thinking I need to buy and read uber-organizer Judith Kolberg’s book, Prepare for Disaster: Organizing Your Family and Your Home for Any Natural or Unnatural Disaster.

I’m glad that we have earthquake insurance!

How do you spell procrastination?

15 April 2008

In my life right now, the answer to that question is T-A-X-E-S. I have to hang my head in shame and admit that my taxes aren’t done. But I’m quite sure they will be by the end of the day.

I usually have my taxes done by a tax person and—I’ll admit it—more often than not in the last 10 years I’ve filed an extension. But perhaps spurred on by the promise of an extra check from Uncle Sam after my taxes are filed, I set a goal to get them in on time.

But I’ve been avoiding the task all year for fear that I’d have to write a big tax check, as I have in some years past. I avoided it so successfully, in fact, that it became too late for me to turn it over to my tax person. So I decided to give Turbo Tax a try. I used it about ten years ago with apparent success. And I’m ten years older and wiser (and have 13 years of self-employment under my belt) so I figured I could handle it.

Thankfully, we keep great electronic financial records and the paper records are filed appropriately. So getting my hands on the information wasn’t difficult. The hardest part was putting my behind into the chair and getting started.

In today’s News & Observer, the daily paper in the Raleigh, N.C., area, there’s a fascinating article on procrastination. It breaks procrastinators down into three types: thrill seekers, avoidance procrastinators, and decisional procrastinators, who are paralyzed by indecisiveness. I have a solid history of procrastination and I think I fall squarely into the middle group.

The other great thing about the article is that it quotes my friend, organizer Geralin Thomas, and tells how she helped a client overcome procrastination.

I’ve made great strides in kicking the procrastination habit since my writing days. (Most writers are inveterate procrastinators.) And in that quest, I should take to heart the lesson that this year’s taxes taught me. That big check I was worried about having to write to the IRS? It’s looking like we’re actually getting a refund. [Edited to add: Yep, we qualified for a refund!]

Back to reality

14 April 2008

After a glorious time at the NAPO conference in Reno (best part: interacting with fabulous organizers, worst part: staying in a hotel and casino full of smoke!), I’m home. I arrived home about midnight on Saturday night. Barry and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday.

As usual, I’m finding the transition back to real life to be a little challenging.

In addition to conference follow-up (I have a bazillion emails to send), I need to unpack, prepare for a talk I have to give tonight, and focus on a certain April 15 deadline.

Then there’s acting on all the great ideas and inspirations I took in at the conference. And there’s something about being around 800 organizers that makes me want to get my house better organized.

And of course I have wonderful clients to see this week as well.

So all my time-management and productivity skills will be put to the test this week. My first strategy is keeping this blog post short. I’m renewing my commitment to blog each day Monday through Friday, so you can watch this space to see how it’s going!

A couple of shopping tips

7 April 2008

My husband and I have just one TV. I take perverse pride that our marriage has survived 18 years with only one television. And I’m a big TV watcher. TV + knitting = a very good time for me.

A week ago, our 14-year-old Panasonic 32” TV bit the dust. It had been threatening to die for a few months, so the sadness of its death was tempered with the excitement over the prospect of buying a modern TV. I was anxious to get one that didn’t weigh 150 pounds and take up so much space.

Our DVD player died a few months ago. I’ve been meaning to buy a DVD recorder to replace it, so that I could copy extra-good shows off our beloved DVR onto a disc. But I was having trouble finding the time to research the best machine and buy it. (And I was watching DVDs on my computer in the interim.) Since we had to go to an electronics store to buy a TV, we decided to also get a DVD recorder.

Here’s where my tips come in. I did some research on Consumer Reports, where you can buy a subscription for a month for $5.95. We decided on a TV, based on the Consumer Reports recommendations. It was a Best Buy house-brand (Insignia) TV. I went to Retail Me Not and found a printable coupon for 10 percent off my purchase. I found two, actually, and printed both of them.

So Saturday morning we set off to Best Buy. Where we live, there’s a Circuit City near the Best Buy. My husband wanted us to go to both stores, to comparison shop. That seemed crazy to me since (a) we knew we wanted a Best Buy TV, (b) we had a 10 percent off Best Buy coupon, so it seemed unlikely that we’d find a better price at Circuit City, (c) I hate electronics stores and (d) I was in a hurry to get over to my best friend’s house to help her celebrate her birthday. But I conceded that it was logical to comparison shop. And, as is so often the case, Barry was right.

We checked out the TVs and DVD recorders and Circuit City and proceeded to Best Buy. We made a beeline to the TV we knew we wanted and discovered that the quality of the picture was pretty lousy (though the price for the size was good). So we decided on a smaller (32-inch) Samsung HDTV with a great picture for the same price as the 37-inch Insignia HDTV.

In looking at DVD recorders, I found the Sony that I’d decided on and discovered that it was $30 cheaper at Circuit City. All I had to do was mention that price difference to the Best Buy salesperson, who verified it on the web and gave me the lower price.

So the shopping tips are these:

• Even if you don’t subscribe to Consumer Reports magazine, you can get the benefit of their buying advice for an investment of only $5.95 (just remember to cancel the membership by month’s end).

• Don’t take Consumer Reports words for it, though. Check out the product yourself.

• Always check online for a coupon before heading out to the store.

• Comparison shop so that you can get the best price, even if the store you’re in doesn’t offer that price.

We’re very fond of our new TV. One of its best features is that it swivels on its base, so we can angle it just so, depending on who’s watching and where they’re sitting. I’m hopeful it’ll be another 14 years before I have to buy another one!

Meet Joe, the biggest challenge to my morning productivity

3 April 2008

Each morning when I’m writing my blog post one of the biggest impediments to my actually accomplishing that task is Joe, my orange tabby cat.

Here he is, looking all sleepy and innocent:

Joe, awakened from a catnap

He tends to be quite loving in the morning. He loves me, but he especially loves my cozy-yarn bathrobe. So as I type, he’s frequently on my lap, kneading my shoulders and generally making it difficult for me to work. To show his love for me, he’ll bite my clavicle. That makes it hard for me to find the flow when I’m writing.

When he’s not on my lap, he’s rubbing up against my flat-screen monitor, pushing it askew with his cheek. He also enjoys walking across my keyboard. He’s actually been known to highlight and delete whole documents. (Once he walked across the keyboard, deleted the words on the screen and typed the word “hi”. I’m not kidding.) Again, an impediment to good writing.

Luckily, he’s very cute, especially when he’s asleep. I can’t resist sharing this photo of Joe and Pip, one of our standard poodles, in a rare nap together.

Joe napping with his poodle sister, Pip