Peace of Mind Organizing

Giving myself grace

18 July 2024

You may have noticed that I haven’t been blogging. For the first time in almost 18 years of writing this blog, more than a month has passed since I last posted. I’m trying not to beat myself up about that. I did send out my monthly newsletter as usual on the 15th. In it, I explained a little about what’s going on with my life (which accounts for my lack of presence here) and how I’m trying to be kind to myself about it. People sent me some lovely emails about how it helped them, so I thought I’d post it here as well.

My life has become more stressful than usual. Way more stressful. As a result, I’m dropping balls, forgetting to do things, and making mistakes big and small. It’s a constant reminder that I need to give myself grace.

We moved three weeks ago. We downsized from a 3200 square foot house to a 1700 square foot apartment. And of course, like anyone else, we took more stuff than we can comfortably store here so unpacking is not without challenges.

Two days after we moved my husband was hospitalized and will remain in the hospital for at least a few more weeks. We’re very hopeful for an excellent, life-changing outcome but in the meantime it’s definitely adding to the stress. (Silver lining: our new apartment is only a few blocks from the hospital so I can walk there on my daily visits.)

The one-two punch of the disruption of a move coupled with a family health crisis has meant that my brain is a bit scrambled and I’m just not functioning as well as usual. (Case in point: I put a light bulb in my pocket for some reason, then washed that garment. Broken glass in the washing machine is no fun.)

I’m trying so hard to give myself credit for what I am able to accomplish and forgive myself for the stuff that’s not getting done. The apartment is about 75% unpacked and functional (thanks to the help of professional organizers) and I absolutely love living here, which helps a lot. I’m proud that I’m getting this newsletter out and I’m forgiving myself for not having blogged in the past month.

I hope if you’re struggling at all that you’re giving yourself grace and showing yourself kindness. Taking breaks for stillness or just mindless relaxation is so important, especially when it feels impossible. You’ll get through this!

_ETA: I was able to open up a little me about the family health crisis in this post, Prioritizing during stressful times

What to do with old journals?

14 June 2024

Way back in the day, in the 1990s and 2000s, I used to write in a journal fairly regularly. It’s how I handled stress. But I found that I would just beat myself up when I journaled and feel worse. So I stopped. Since I had room in a file cabinet, I tossed the old journals in the back of a file drawer.

Now I’m moving. (Which is why I haven’t been blogging.) When I cleaned out that file cabinet, I found the large stack of journals. I glanced through a few and really didn’t enjoy what I read. So I put them aside for disposal.

Two days ago, The Shred Truck came and shredded all those journals (and a lot of other stuff). It felt great!

I told my neighbor that I shredded them and she touched her chest and gasped. She seemed genuinely shaken that I would destroy them. But I saw no need to keep them; they contained nothing I’d want others to read and I don’t have room to store them.

These journals are distinct from my Bullet Journals the blank journals in which I’ve been keeping track of my daily life for the last 2.5 years. I’m just finishing up my 14th journal since I started in December 2021. They’re an invaluable resource (right now) and I do refer to them. The journals I destroyed were more personal and emotional.

I am very much at peace with my irreversible decision, but I know it’s not for everyone. What do you do with your old journals?

Photo by Bookblock on Unsplash

Worth repeating: 10 things you can throw away right now

14 May 2024

10 years ago (almost to the day!) I wrote this post which I think offers sound advice. I’m happy to say that I’ve heeded this advice over the last decade, making my current downsizing project easier than it otherwise would be. Now seems like a good time to run this again!

It’s basement season for my business. I’ve been in a lot of basements recently and my teams have helped make them much more enjoyable and functional spaces. I keep seeing the same sorts of items, so I decided to a create a quick list of items that I frequently see people unnecessarily hanging onto in basements (and other parts of the house).

Are any of these items cluttering up your home?

1. Empty boxes for items you’ve had over three months (possible exception: the box your giant TV came in)
2. Packing peanuts and air pillows if you haven’t used any in six months or more
3. Paid bills (non-tax-related) that are more than a year or two old (if that)
4. Supporting paperwork for taxes filed more than seven years ago
5. Clothing that doesn’t fit you or you don’t feel fabulous in
6. Supplies for pets you no longer own
7. Outgrown games and toys
8. Supplies for hobbies or crafts you no longer do (or never actually did)
9. Expired over-the-counter medications or beauty/personal hygiene products
10. Leftover holiday cards from years gone by—especially dated ones

Do a quick sweep of your house this week. If you spot any of the above items, consider letting them go!

Here are some ideas for disposing of these items:

• Take the old paperwork to a commercial shredding service (the big-box office supplies stores offer this service as well)
• Donate clothing, toys and craft supplies. Consider using the app iDonatedIt to keep track of donations for tax purposes.
• Give your unneeded pet supplies to a local animal shelter
• Take the unwanted packing material to a UPS Store (or similar establishment) for reuse

The longer I do this work, the more I believe that less stuff = more happiness. A good place to start is with these no-brainers!

Photo by alan.stoddard via flickr.

Should you have a yard sale?

13 May 2024

Our yard sale was in the basement.

For years, I’ve discouraged clients who said they wanted to hold a yard sale. I always told them that it was a whole lot of work for not a lot of reward and it would be easier to just donate the stuff they were ready to let go of. If the client insisted they wanted to try a yard sale, I’d extract a promise that they would have a charity pickup scheduled for the day of or the day after the sale.

That was before I’d held a yard sale. I just had one and guess what? My advice hasn’t changed. We’re getting ready to move and we’re letting go of a lot of stuff. We decided to participate in our neighborhood-wide yard sale because the timing was excellent. Since about 50 homes were participating in the sale (the neighborhood association put out a map of the homes having sales), we thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The sale was May 4 and I organized it in our big, empty unfinished basement, rather than in the yard. My guess is that we had 80 to 100 people come through. And, I’m happy to say, we netted almost $1000. But it was a lot of work. And I didn’t heed my own advice and didn’t schedule a charity pickup. Probably half the stuff sold but the other half still needs to find a home. I still have to deal with that.

There were some benefits: I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing people buy my stuff at bargain prices. It was nice to know the stuff was getting a new life. The timing of our sale lit a fire under us to go through our stuff (at least the stuff that seemed like it might sell), which is giving us a bit of a head start on our July move.

But would I do it again? No. But that’s partly because of my stage of life and because I won’t have a yard after we move.

Should you have a yard sale? I’d say it depends:

• Are you letting go of enough stuff that it would be worth your time to organize the sale?
• Are you willing to let go of the stuff that doesn’t sell? (Please don’t bring it back in the house!)
• Do you live in an area where you’d get a lot of shoppers?

In my view, a yard sale doesn’t tend to bring in enough money to make the effort worthwhile. People expect low, low prices. (I wish I’d priced some of my things lower or slashed prices in the afternoon.) Your time might be better spend trying to sell the larger-ticket items on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

But if you do have a yard sale, do yourself a favor and schedule a charity pickup at the end of the day.

Downsizing bingo update

26 April 2024

I received some great feedback on the idea of using a bingo card to make downsizing easier. I’m so glad it struck a chord!

I used a bingo card for a few days last week and then realized that the strategy wasn’t going to be effective for my particular downsizing project. While I was motivated to do five minutes of decluttering at a time, striving for the bingo didn’t help because my projects are scattered all over my big house. So now I’ve reverted to a more traditional approach of working in one area of the house at a time until I run out of time for that particular session.

A huge success of the bingo project for me, though, was lowering the time criterion (to cross something off the bingo card) from 15 minutes to five minutes. What I discovered was that it allowed to do something (rather than nothing) and I could actually get quite a bit accomplished in only five minutes!

I signed up for the Tower Grove East Neighborhood Association’s community-wide yard sale, which is on May 4, so I’m focusing my efforts on areas that will produce discards I can sell and saving non-salable stuff (like paperwork) for later. That May 4 deadline is breathing down my neck since I still need to figure out pricing and organize the stuff for the sale. We’re going to have it in our large, bright, unfinished basement, so we have lots of room and I can organize it in advance. (If you happen to live in St. Louis, email me for the address! The sale will start at 9.)

I’m still a big believer in using Bingo Baker to make a bingo card to help make decluttering or daily tasks fun. I just had to abandon the approach for my current large-scale downsizing project.

Using bingo to make downsizing easier

15 April 2024

My husband, Barry, and I decided last week to sell our house and move into an apartment. We have rented an apartment starting in July, which gives me a couple of months to go through our accumulated belongings and figure out what we want to move and what to do with the rest of the stuff.

I love managing clients’ moves, but it definitely feels more overwhelming when it’s my own move I’m managing!

We have lived in this home 23 years and we’re cutting our living space in about half, so I have my work cut out for me. I really want to avoid procrastinating on the decluttering. So I’ve set up a little challenge for myself.

In an effort to make it as fun as possible, I’m going to start the decluttering process with a bingo board. At Bingo Baker I was able to generate bingo cards that are randomized. I created 30 areas/projects and Bingo Baker randomized them to include 25 on a bingo card. My plan is to mark the project on my card if I spend at least 15 five minutes on it. (I originally thought I would require spending 15 minutes before being able to mark a space but I discovered that it was an overly large barrier for entry. So I’ve reduced it to five minutes, which I hope will allow me to get the ball rolling on a project.) I know from To-Do List Bingo days that trying to get a bingo is a big motivator for me. Here’s a picture of today’s card.

Here’s a picture of today’s card.

If you’d like to join me in the challenge, let me know in the comments. You can create your own cards at Bingo Baker and decide on your own criteria for covering a space. My plan is to post my finished cards every Friday. This kind of public accountability will help me stick with it (I hope)!

Wish me luck!

Read my advice on GQ.com

9 April 2024

I was delighted to be asked to be part of an article on GQ’s website titled, 6 Ways to Create a Healthier Home Routine This Spring. The article details six different ways you can introduce new, healthier habits into your life. I was interviewed along with four other experts in various arenas. I especially love item #4, with advice from Michael Easter, to remove barriers to getting exercise so that you make it easy to integrate exercise into your life.

It’s a great, short read with some terrific advice. Check it out!