Peace of Mind Organizing

Get what you want in 2014

10 January 2014

It’s January 10. How are the resolutions you set working out for you? If you need a little extra support, you can still get $5 off Why Resolutions Don’t Work—And How to Get What You Want Anyway, the kit created by Shannon Wilkinson (my Declutter Happy Hour partner) and me.

If you buy before January 15, you’ll save $5. And everyone who buys the kit will be invited to a live Q&A call with Shannon and me on January 20, when you can ask us anything you want about resolutions. We’ll both be together during the call, so it’s pretty much guaranteed to be fun.

We enjoy laughing, as you can see from this picture, taken last summer at the Portland Zoo, when we were both attending the World Domination Summit. And we’re also passionate about helping people achieve their goals.

An investment of only $14 (if you buy by January 15) will get you some great info about achieving what you want in 2014, plus the chance to interact with us for an hour. Sounds like a great deal to me!

Just go to this blog post and click the link at the bottom of the page to sign up.

I hope you can join us!

It's the annual Elfa sale!

8 January 2014

Every year, from just before Christmas to about Valentine’s Day, the Container Store has a sale on Elfa, their shelving/drawer system. That means that right now you can get 30 percent off on Elfa and on Elfa installation.

I recommend Elfa to clients all the time. Just last week, I worked with an Elfa designer to create a great Elfa drawer system for a client to store art supplies and toys and another for office supplies. This summer and fall, I helped clients establish fantastic Elfa Utility organizing systems in their garages.

We set up this Elfa drawer unit to store my client's kids' craft supplies and toys

I also love Elfa in my own home. I have a closet in my office and I use it to store my yarn stash. (I used an Office in a Closet kit for the office closet and a bank of mesh drawers for the yarn and knitting supplies.) I also have (count ‘em) three Elfa Mesh File Carts.

Elfa is a high-quality product, but it’s not inexpensive. But at 30 percent off, it becomes much more affordable. If you’ve been pondering some Elfa, now’s the time to act!!

My exciting partnership with Springpad!

6 January 2014

As part of its Operation Organization campaign this month, Springpad is partnering with an elite list of organization professionals to launch exclusive, customized Springpad notebooks that include ideas, information and recommendations from these experts. You can find all of the notebooks at organize.springpad.com.

I’m thrilled to be one of the experts. The list also includes Peter Walsh, Gretchen Rubin, Donna Smallin Kuper, Regina Leeds and six other fantastic organizing authorities.

I have two Springpad notebooks: The Habit Maker and the Family History Organizer.

Check out the screenshots:

Each of these notebooks includes special sections to help you create habits and organize your family history, respectively. The app is free and you can use it on the web, iPhone/iPad, Android, Kindle and Nook.

With The Habit Maker, you’ll find:

• My sample habits organized into Daily, Weekly and Monthly task lists
• A Resources section filled with habit-makng tools and tips
• An easy +Add button to add tasks, so you can create new healthy habits of your own

The Family History Organizer includes:

• Simple to-­do list to keep track of and plan next steps of the project, including a quick +Add button for adding tasks and checklists
• A Research tracker, complete with template form, so you can log information and research progress quickly and easily
• An easy “database” for uploading photos and files scanned to your computer or from your phone
• Bonus: A resources section filled with my tips and helpful tools

I’m been using Springpad since they approached me in November about partnering with them. (I blogged a couple of weeks ago about how I’m digging their Task Notebook.) I think it’s a great tool, and I love that everything synchs seamlessly between my computer, my iPhone and my iPad. I’m excited about this partnership because I truly think that Springpad rocks.

Please check it out!

2013 highlight reel

3 January 2014

Taking stock of the year that’s just finished can be an important part of planning the year ahead. 2013 was an exemplary year for me, so I’ve had a good time creating this year’s highlight reel. (Here’s 2012’s version.)

My word of the year, GROWTH, came true. Last year I used Christine Kane’s Word of the Year Discovery Tool to come up with a word to guide my year. I chose growth (both professional and personal) and it was a great choice! I exceeded my income goals and I learned a whole lot. This year, my word of the year is “innovate.”

I led many organizing teams. I love leading teams of organizers. Last year I led three dozen teams. So much fun. And so much help for clients.

My new headshots. At the end of January, I had Lance Tilford take new headshots for me and I’ve just loved them. I get a new headshot about every three years and by the end of three years, I’m always itching for a change. I think Lance did a great job.

My relationship with Springpad. Check back on Monday for a blog post about my partnership with my new favorite personal organizer app Springpad. Exciting stuff!

I bought a new (to me) car! I’m not into cars particularly, and I’d been driving my 1998 Honda Civic since 2007. It was reliable but small. I found myself needing to haul around more supplies to my team jobs, so I upgraded to a 2008 Honda CR-V. It’s a nicer car, with more amenities, and, most importantly, it has some great cargo space without being huge. (I love Craigslist for buying and selling cars.)

My genealogy blog grew by leaps and bounds. Organize Your Family History took off this year. Its readership is growing much more quickly than the readership for this blog did in its first year. I also added a genealogy-related service option to my business this year. I love that I’m integrating genealogy into my business life.

I met my cousins. Thanks to Organize Your Family History, I became acquainted online with some of my mother’s first cousins and even met some in person. I also met online a more distant cousin on my father’s side. As a family-history enthusiast, that is so exciting.

I went to my first genealogy conference. Last March I attended Ancestry Day in western Missouri. Next month, I’m attending RootsTech in Salt Lake City. I love conferences, so I’m very excited about this.

We hired a housecleaner! Honestly, having a regular housecleaner has been on my goal list for the last few years. This year, we finally found somebody and it is glorious. I hate housecleaning so much and thanks to our housecleaner, Ryan, I rarely have to do it. Bliss. (If you’re in St. Louis and you’re looking for a good housecleaner, email me for his contact info.)

2013 was a very good year for me and I have high hopes for 2014. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to create a highlight reel for 2013, even if it doesn’t feel like it was a great year. You might be surprise what you come up with!

Creating resolutions that work

31 December 2013

Where are you on the New Year’s Resolution Continuum?

(statistics from 2008 survey by Opinion Corporation of Princeton, NJ)

If you fall in that big middle group (or have drifted into the no resolutions group due to disappointment) this could be the year for something different.

A few years ago, Shannon Wilkinson and I teamed up to teach a teleclass on how to actually do the stuff you set out to do every year. We shared the reasons resolutions don’t work, and more importantly, we talked about how to change that. We gave tips and strategies and guided participants through helpful exercises so they experienced a new way of approaching their resolutions and goals.

It was pretty darn awesome. And we don’t want you to miss out on it. (Or on the special bonus we’ll be offering next month!)

The audio of the class and a companion 24-page workbook are available for download right now, on the cusp of 2014. The workbook will take you through the process outlined in the teleclass and includes worksheets so you can keep track of your goals and resolutions and how you’ll go about achieving them.

Maybe your resolution (once again) is to declutter and get organized this year. Or maybe you want to make changes for your health, creativity or finances. Our approach is terrific for whatever set your sights on.

And this year, we’re upping the game by offering a little something extra. Anybody who purchases (or has purchased) the audio + download will be invited to a special, private group call with Shannon and me where we’ll answer your resolution-related questions—anything you want to ask—for an hour. This will happen on January 20. Shannon lives in Portland and I live in St. Louis, but we’ll actually be together in the same room during the call. (So we know it will be a good time.)

Why Resolutions Don’t Work (and How to Get What You Want Anyway)

The recording is great to listen to any time you want to re-vamp a resolution that isn’t working, create a new habit or establish a goal that really works for you. The workbook can stand alone (if you’d rather read than listen) or can help you get more out of the audio.

Details:

• In the audio, we talk for about an hour and then open it up for questions.

• The course covers the common reasons that setting resolutions doesn’t work, and takes you through exercises that help you get what you want.

• The 24-page workbook is based on the content of the audio, but isn’t a mere transcript. (The Q&A is transcribed, however.) It includes worksheets to make the most of Shannon’s meditations.

• This is for anyone who has been frustrated by resolutions or goals, and wants to learn a new way to approach it.

• The cost? Just 19 bucks.

Get this: The price is ordinarily (a very reasonable) $19. But between now and January 15, you can get $5 off using the coupon code SAVE5 at checkout. That makes this resource just $14. And it includes time on the phone with Shannon and me.

Are you in? Yes? Just click the “Add to Cart” button:

Here’s to getting what you really want in 2014!

I heart West Elm's dip bowls

26 December 2013

While on a trip, I wandered into a West Elm store and was immediately entranced by these beautiful little Textured Dip Bowls. I don’t serve a lot of dip, but I immediately saw the potential for using them to store little stuff. (My friend Aby Garvey is rubbing off on me after all these years.)

So I bought one. At first I thought I might use it for office supplies. Wouldn’t it be nice on a desk holding paper clips?

But then I saw an immediate need in my medicine cabinet. I had several different sizes of fingernail and toenail clippers rattling around in there and now they’re beautifully contained.

Soon, I bought two more for my other medicine cabinet (for clippers and our collection of dental floss).

Then I decided I needed some for use at clients’ homes, so I went online and bought the rainbow of bowls pictured above.

The potential seems endless. Right now all five of my extra are sitting on my window sill, in the sun, making me happy every time I look at them.

A task manager I can take with me

23 December 2013

I tend to struggle a bit with task management. I know that managing tasks electronically makes a lot of sense for me. I’ve had an electronic calendar for years and love that I always have the means to make an appointment (in the form of my iPhone and before that iPod Touch and before that Palm) in my purse or pocket.

But to-do lists have always difficult for me to succeed in doing electronically. I’ve tried a few different apps and tend to come back to paper task lists.

Until now.

About a month ago, I was contacted by the folks at Springpad about partnering with them on a project. I was intrigued so of course I had to give the site a try.

According to its website, Springpad is free app (web and mobile) that helps “simplify and organize your life and work anytime, anywhere.” For me, Springpad lives up to that hype.

There are many aspects to it (for example its web clipper and the links and information it provides for many of the items you add to your notebooks), and as I explore it more I’ll be talking about those aspects, but for the moment I’m gaga over the Task Notebook.. With the Task Notebook (everything in Springpad is organized by notebooks), I can easily enter tasks, tag them, assign deadlines and view the tasks in a variety of ways (by tag, by deadline, etc). And, of course, I get the satisfaction of crossing items off. The web app and mobile app work the same way and sync seamlessly, so I can easily enter tasks (or consult my task list) on the go.

Since I started using Springpad a few weeks ago, I’ve been really pleased to have information at my fingertips. Since I discovered the Task Notebook, I’ve felt more in control and I’ve been accomplishing things like crazy. This despite a fairly heavy client schedule.

Springpad has an attractive interface that feels to me like a combination of Evernote and Pinterest. I find it so, so much easier to get my arms around than Evernote. (Incidentally, it’s been around since 2008, so it’s no flash in the pan.)

That partnership that I was approached about? Using Springpad for a little while was enough to convince me to say yes. You’ll be hearing more from me about it in January. So keep an eye out! In the meantime, you might try creating a free Springpad account and it taking it out for a spin.