Peace of Mind Organizing

New year, new habits

20 December 2013

For me, the start of a new year is a great time to take stock and figure out which new habits I’d like to create. For the last couple of years, I’ve written blog posts this time of year detailing the habits I want to create. (I like thinking in terms of habits, rather than resolutions.)

These are the habits I set about creating for 2013. I detailed them in blog post I wrote a year ago called Help for your resolutions. Let’s see how I did.

2013’s goals

• Putting away my clothes properly at night
• Exercising at least three times a week
• Eating more fruits and vegetables
• Establishing a sustainable housecleaning schedule
• Entertaining more often (the fifth goal will support the fourth)

I did much better about putting away clothes every night in the latter half of 2013. In July, I cleared off my bureau (pictures here) and it made a huge difference. I’d say I’m 80 percent there in terms of having an ingrained habit.

I also did pretty well with my exercise habit, though I have to admit I don’t make it the priority that I might. So if work gets in the way, I excuse myself from having to exercise. I’d like to change that up and make it more of a priority.

I completely failed to intentionally eat more fruits and vegetables. Basically it just slipped my mind.

As far as housecleaning goes, I absolutely succeeded in that we hired a wonderful housecleaner to come in every two weeks. (Score!) So the house is totally under control.

We are entertaining a bit more, but not as much as I might like. Having a clean house, certainly makes that more viable.

So when I look at 2014, I think I’m going to have to keep some of the goals on my list. Here’s what I’m hoping to create for 2014.

2014’s goals

• Putting away my clothes properly every night
• Exercising three times every week
• Eating several daily servings fruits and vegetables
• Getting out more
• Taking more time to craft

I’m a natural home body, but I think I’d benefit from accepting (and initiating) more invitations to do stuff on the outside, with my husband and with friends. Or even on my own.

I love knitting, but it fell a little by the wayside in 2013. I want to amp it up again, challenge myself more with my knitting (great for my brain!) and also spend a little time filling up the Smash Book I bought a couple of years ago.

How about you? Do you have some habits you’d like to create in the new year? I’d love to hear about them.

Worth repeating: Small irritations

18 December 2013

I wrote this blog post in 2011 and when I re-read it today, I really liked the message, so thought I’d share it again. The bag is finished (I was having trouble uploading a photo of my bag, so that’s someone else’s there), but I’ve experienced the same thing (inside and outside of knitting) on more than one occasion since!

Sometimes the tiniest things keep us from doing things we want to do or think we should be doing. If we can identify those things and modify them, we can get more done.

I was thinking about this as I contemplated my knitting. One of the projects I’m working on is this cool bag, the Garter Stripe Square Bag. (The pattern is in Japanese, but you can find it in English on Ravelry.)

This bag was created (and photographed) by LKolarik on Ravelry.

To make this bag, you knit 22 striped squares, seam them together in a particular way, sew the sides of the bag, create handles and throw the whole thing into the washing machine to felt it. The knitting part is easy, the construction perhaps a tiny bit complicated. But overall, it’s a very cool result for minimal effort. Good, mindless knitting.

I started knitting the striped squares on my favorite knitting needles, Harmony interchangeable circular needles from Knit Picks. I love the Harmony needles because they’re smooth and light and just feel great. (I’m not crazy about the way they look, but I’ve gotten past that.)

But as I researched this project more on Ravelry, I saw that other people had knit it on double-pointed needles (DPNs), picking up stitches on the side of finished squares to minimize the seaming. (If you’re not a knitter, the takeaway is that I thought I’d try different needles.)

So I bought some bamboo DPNs at my local yarn shop. They’re perfectly serviceable needles, but they don’t have the smooth finish of the Harmony. (I could have purchased Harmony DPNs, but they’re only available mail order and I didn’t want to wait.)

When I started to knit a square with these new needles, it was less pleasant. There was a certain drag to the needles, making the knitting more laborious. There was some friction in the combination of the wool and the bamboo that felt yucky. I would do just a couple of rows before putting the square down.

Eventually I decided to give up on the DPNs and go back to the Harmony needles. Now I’m buzzing along on my squares.

The lesson here? It took me awhile to figure out the reason I was resisting knitting that bag was that I hated the way the needles felt. They transformed the knitting experience from something enjoyable into something irritating.

This happens all the time in life. Maybe you’d be more inclined to put a certain item away if it were stored in a more accessible place. Maybe you’d handle your mail every day if you had a clear, designated space in which to do it. Maybe you’d put your laundry away promptly if the drawers weren’t so full of clothes.

Think about an order-related task you’re resisting. Is there some small change you could make that would make doing it easier? Some little irritation you can identify that you could remove or modify? One little change can make a big difference.

Getting past the barrier to getting started

16 December 2013

I’m always amazed at how powerful it can be to start on a project I’ve been putting off. Even the tiniest bit of effort is like a dam breaking; the resistance vanishes and then I can get going on it.

I’d fallen behind on my Quickbooks data entry for my business. Now that the end of the year is approaching, I’m wanting to create some reports and see how things stand. I can’t do that if I haven’t entered data since October 15!

I don’t mind dealing with Quickbooks, but getting started can be really tough for me. I seem to be trapped in a mindset that I need to block out some time, spread out receipts, and really get into the zone. It’s one of those tasks that I have trouble chipping away at a little at a time. As a result, it’s been on my to-do list for weeks and weeks.

So I was bound and determined to at least do some Quickbooks data entry this weekend. But I found many other things to do instead. As 5:00 on Sunday approached, I realized that if I didn’t do something on Quickbooks—anything—I would really kick myself. Trouble was, I didn’t feel like going down to my office (my laptop was on the dining room table) and spreading everything out.

So I decided that I had to just do something to preserve my self esteem. If I did one little category of items—something as small as entering the receipts I had in my purse, which was near the dining room—it would be enough. So I entered those receipts. And then I reconciled my PayPal account with the October and November statements that I could access on my computer. And I called it done for the day.

Here’s the great thing about it: Since I managed to get started, I’m now anxious to resume. I’m not going to have a chance until later today (because of client and other obligations), but I’m confident that I’ll spend some time with Quickbooks late in the day because I’ve gotten over the hump. It felt good. Plus, I want to create those reports!

If you’ve been reading my blog awhile, you know this is a pretty constant refrain in my life. If you haven’t already, you might want to check out the blog posts Just do something and Getting started, which has a nifty technique for tricking yourself into getting started.

How not to label a photo

13 December 2013

I blogged over at Organize Your Family History about the importance of labeling photos while the information is fresh in your mind. It’s also important to make the labels meaningful.

While I was going through a box of old (very old) family photos with my mother on my recent visit to Walla Walla, we came across this one, whose label made me laugh.

In the absence of a date, that’s a meaningless label. Well, virtually meaningless. At the very least, we know this photo is about 95 years old, since my mother inherited it after her mother died in 1999. And let’s not even talk about the fact that the label doesn’t mention who is in the photo!

Now that we’re printing out fewer and fewer photos, remember that you can label digital photos as well, using metadata. That’s a little easier said than done as this blog post from the Library of Congress discusses, but worth the effort.

When it comes to archiving your own photos, I urge you to think of the next generations who will be looking at them. That means consider getting rid of duplicates and bad shots and labeling those that you deem worth keeping and passing on! Great labels include the names of the people in the photos and where and when it was shot. If it’s a special occasion, that’s nice to mention too!

Worth repeating: Southwest Airlines: A great model for customer service

11 December 2013

I flew home from visiting to my parents on Southwest Airlines on Saturday and had a great experience, as usual. It brought to mind this post I wrote a year ago, when I was also flying from Spokane to St. Louis. I still think there’s a lot to be learned from this great airline.

I’m flying home now from my trip to visit my parents in Washington state. I’m flying Southwest, which is always my first-choice airline. Getting to Walla Walla can be a bit challenging and this time I flew Southwest to Spokane, rented a car and drove the three hours to Walla Walla. This morning, I was set to drive back for my return flight, which was to be at 2:40 p.m., flying via Las Vegas.

At 5:45 a.m. I was awakened by a text-message notification. To my consternation, it was Southwest, telling me that flight was delayed by an hour. I knew that meant I’d more than likely miss my connecting flight to St. Louis, since my layover was just an hour.

So I planned to try to get to the airport extra early, in case that was helpful, and I braced myself for long, tense hours in the airport today and the likelihood that I’d end up spending the night in Vegas.

Instead, just as I was getting ready to leave for Spokane, I received a phone call from an actual human with Southwest Airlines. She told me about the delayed flight (turns out it was because of fog in Philadelphia this morning) and the likelihood I’d miss my connecting flight. Then she offered to put me on the 1:40 flight to Denver, which would get me home by 9:20 p.m. (The original itinerary had me arriving home at 10:55 p.m.) When I book this itinerary, I chose not to fly through Denver because of the unpredictability of the weather there. But the weather there today is fine and I jumped at the opportunity.

That meant i had to make a beeline for Spokane, but luckily the call had come in time. I drove through heavy fog, which is no fun, but I got to the Spokane airport at 12:45 p.m. My boarding passes were waiting and I only had to wait at the gate for a few minutes. The flight left on time and I have an hour layover in Denver. The flight isn’t crowded and it has wifi. Life is good.

Thanks to Southwest’s amazing customer service and extra effort they made to ensure their customers wouldn’t be stranded, what was looking like a very stressful day is turning into a relatively stress-free one.

This is why I choose Southwest whenever possible. The customer experience is superior to that of any other domestic airline.

This is how they differentiate themselves:

• They make the customer experience fun (or as fun as possible given the circumstances).
• They go the extra mile for the customer.
• Their seat selection and boarding process is simpler and more straightforward than other airlines. (I love the general boarding on Southwest.)
• They don’t nickel and dime the customers. (Other airlines charge extra for checked bags and for what they consider premium seats.)
• They aren’t super serious. They actually tell jokes.

All of these customer service attributes are things that I like to think I do for my clients. Next time I’m faced with a customer-service quandary, I’m going to ask myself, WWSWAD? (What would Southwest Airlines do?)

My love/hate relationship with homemade gifts

9 December 2013

I’m a little bit crafty. I love beautiful, handmade items. I knit as a hobby and especially appreciate hand knits.

But I almost never give an item I’ve knitted as a gift. And that’s because I’ve seen among my clients a real difficulty in giving up an item that was a gift. And it’s even harder to give up hand-made gifts, even if they’ve never been used or loved. Sometimes the gift recipient just doesn’t share the taste of the giver.

I hate to urge people not to give handmade gifts, because I think they can be so wonderful. (I do actually gift knitted items to people who have specifically asked for them.)

The current (December 2013) issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine has an article on creating hand-made gifts. The photos are scrumptious.

This bacon jam looks delicious!

My big takeaway from the article is that there’s a wonderful middle ground between my reticence to give handmade gifts and my appreciation for the warmth and love behind handmade gifts. And that’s giving homemade edibles or other consumables. Gifts like homemade cookies, soap, condiments (bacon jam!), or the creative aromatics pictured below are fabulous ideas.

Aromatic extracts: An unusual handmade gift

One year I gave away home-baked dog treats to my friends with dogs. (If that idea appeals to you, check out my dog-treat cookbook, You Bake ‘Em Dog Biscuits Cookbook). Another year I made and gave away biscotti. I remember the year my husband was in culinary school, he made gorgeous molded chocolates for gifts.

Making and giving a consumable gift is a great idea for those who feel the urge to make something for their loved ones. It’s a gift that will surely be appreciated. And one that won’t become clutter.

Photos by Maria Robledo. Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living. Copyright © 2013. For the instructions on making bacon jam and aromatic extracts (and other great things), see Love to Give: Handmade Holiday Gifts.

Worth repeating: Letting routines help me get my mojo back

5 December 2013

I’ve been away from home about a week visiting family in Washington state. After a couple of half-days of travel, I’ll be home on Saturday. This blog post, which I wrote a couple of years ago at the end of the trip, reflects how I still feel about getting back into the swing of things. I’m happy to say that I didn’t leave my office in such disarray this time, but I am coming to a full week of client appointments. My routines will keep me sane!

I’m a huge believer in the value of routines. They keep my life running smoothly. But right now, my routines are all messed up. I was away for a week, attending the ICD conference. Then I was home for four days and too busy to focus on my surroundings. Then I left home for a lovely, relaxing weekend in Nashville with friends.

I’m writing this from the hotel in Nashville, anticipating going home. Unfortunately, I left my office in such disarray that it looks like I need the help of a professional organizer. Serious, long-term help. The place is a wreck. I’d love to tackle it as soon as I get home. But I have some urgent items on my to-do list, like finalizing a talk I’m giving in two days. And finishing up a new Organizing Guide (on Bingo!) that I want to offer.

But I know the minute I step into the office it’s going to really bug me. Like many of my clients, I feel myself falling into the trap of feeling like I need to put aside a half day or more to do the job justice. But of course that’s not necessary. If I simply set my timer for 15, or perhaps 30, minutes, I’ll create enough order to give myself peace of mind. It’d be nice to do a thorough sprucing up. But all I need is a modicum of order to get my sanity back. I can always snatch pockets of time to keep working on it throughout the week.

The other key to recapturing and maintaining my sanity will be to get back in the groove of my routines. For me, that means clearing off my desk every night, as well as beating my email back into submission and maintaining inbox zero daily I also need to get back into my morning exercise routine. And daily litter-box and yard-scooping. Those habits are so ingrained that it should be easy to get back into them. And it’s amazing how much I miss them when I’m away (well, maybe not the poop scooping).