Peace of Mind Organizing

Worth repeating: Too many choices

5 February 2014

Having too many choices can be paralyzing, as I reflected in this post written two years ago, just before I bought my iPhone 4S.

I’m buying an iPhone this week. Yay! I’m a fan of Apple products and love my iPod Touch (which is a now a senior citizen) almost as much as I love my iPad. I adore my MacBook. And I hate my cheap little Android phone. So this week I’m going to invest in an iPhone and I’m really excited about it.

The problem is that I’m spending an inordinate amount of time deciding which carrier to go with. If I’d decided to buy an iPhone just two years ago, I would have had no choice. It was only offered by AT&T. That’s how it was when I bought my iPad and so I didn’t have to even think about options, once I’d decided to make the purchase. Buying an iPad meant just deciding on Wifi + 3g versus Wifi only (I went with the 3G option) and what storage capacity to get (16 gigabytes).

Now, with the iPhone, I have to decide which carrier, which plan, what storage capacity and what color (black or white). I’m having such a hard time with the carrier question that I’m tempted to delay the purchase.

That made me think about the fascinating article last August in the New York Times Magazine called Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue, which talked about how difficult it is for consumers who are offered a wide variety of options.

My husband is in the market for a new personal computer. He’s a Windows guy. He was going to buy a computer almost three months ago but was paralyzed by all the options. I contrasted that to when I bought my most recent MacBook last fall and all I had to choose from was size (I went with 13”), Pro vs. Air (I went with Pro) and upper or lower tier of speed and capacity (I went with upper).

I purchased my MacBook with maybe a total of 30 minutes of contemplation. My husband spent hours on his PC purchase and still hasn’t bought one. (And at least one of those mind-numbing hours I was trying to help him. It was agony.)

My point here? Even a purchase like a new iPhone (which for me is extremely exciting) is turning into a bit of an exercise in frustration, with feelings of anxiety and insecurity arising, simply because there are so many options to consider.

It’s a good point to remember when I work with clients, many of whom spend much of their time with me making decisions. I need to keep the options clear and try not to throw too many options at them at once.

Decluttering Step #3: Gather your supplies

3 February 2014

This is the third in a blog series I’m writing on Mondays that will take you step by step through the decluttering process. Each Monday for the next few weeks, I’ll offer a new step. So far, we’ve covered Step #1, Create your vision and Step #2: Choose your space. Today’s step is the last preparatory step before actually getting started decluttering.

You’ve created your vision for your decluttered home. You’ve decided what small space to start with. Now it’s time to gather up your supplies. And, no, I’m not talking about the storage and organizational solutions you’ll eventually organize your space with. I’m talking about a few ordinary boxes and bags.

For the decluttering process, the supplies you need are very simple:

• 5 boxes
• a supply of large trash and/or recycling bags
• a timer

If you want to get a little fancy and you know you’re going to be doing a lot of decluttering, you might buy a pop up lawn and leaf bag holder to keep your trash/recycling bags open and easy to use. (I also use them for filling up donation bags.)

(Notice that none of the supplies including organizing solutions. Wait until after the decluttering process to purchase those!)

Mark the boxes with the following categories. You can use Post-It® Notes or just write on them with a marker.

• Keep
• Donate
• Recycle
• Relocate to Another Room
• Other (for items that need to be shredded, mended, or returned to their owner, depending on the kind of space you’re decluttering)

The Relocate to Another Room box is vital. How many times have you walked to another room when you were decluttering in order to return an item to its proper home ? Did you then get distracted by items in that room and go off track? Use the Relocate to Another Room box to keep yourself physically in the space you’re working on. Simply put any item that belongs elsewhere in the house into this box, then budget time at the end of the session to put that stuff away.

The timer is also really valuable. Timers keep you focused, get you past that overwhelmed feeling, and allow you to keep track of time so you don’t end the session suddenly, leaving a big mess behind.

This third step was the last prep step. Next week we’ll talk about the decluttering process.

Ten minutes to calm

31 January 2014

Yesterday afternoon, I sat down at my cleared-off desk (I’d cleared it because the housecleaner was coming that morning), and proceeded to trash it. I don’t know what happened—I think I was looking for something I’d written down but couldn’t find. Plus I’d probably dumped some stuff on the desk when I came home. (Yikes.)

I eventually found what I was looking for and turned my attention to my computer screen so that I could get some work done, but the stuff remained all over my desk.

I didn’t really need to use my desk’s surface—my work was focused on my computer—but I still couldn’t get anything done. The ideas weren’t flowing. I was distracted by my messy desk.

So after an hour or so of spinning my wheels, I decided to do something about the desktop. Good organizer that I am, I took a before picture. Then I pressed play on a ten-minute playlist in iTunes and I started putting stuff away. And throwing stuff away. I made file folders and filed a few papers. I added some items to my task list.

Here’s what happened in just ten minutes:

Messy desk before:

Just ten minutes later:

I’m continually impressed with how powerful just a small amount of time decluttering can be. The trick is to pick a small space and finish in the allotted time—don’t leave it half done. The other trick is to do it fairly often; I dealt with yesterday’s clutter so quickly because it was not very deep.

Take a look around the room you’re in. Is there a little space (a shelf? a surface?) that you could declutter this weekend? Trust me, it’ll feel so good.

Fast Company: 6 Simple Habits That Can Save You Hours

30 January 2014

I’m thrilled to be one of three productivity experts interviewed for a story on FastCompany.com call 6 Simple Habits That Can Save You Hours.

The article, which was written by Stephanie Vozza published today, provides six great tips for beneficial habits. I always like being in great company: the other experts quoted are professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, author of Never Check Email in the Morning and Emily Schwartz, author of The Time Diet: Digestible Time Management.

I urge you to check it out!

Decluttering Step #2: Choose your space

27 January 2014

This is the second in a series of blog posts I’m writing on Mondays that will take you step by step through the decluttering process. Each Monday for the next few weeks, I’ll offer a new step. If you missed Step #1, Create your vision, be sure and check it out.

Once you’ve created your vision for your decluttered space, the next step is to decide what space to declutter first.

If you’re dealing with a lot of clutter, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed. People often tell me they just don’t know where to start.

So here are a few guidelines that should make it easier.

1. Choose a storage space. You might be tempted to start with clutter that’s out in the open. But that stuff is typically the stuff you’re actually using. Instead, start with the storage areas, like cupboards and drawers. They’re frequently full of stuff you haven’t used in awhile, which makes it easier to let stuff go. And by doing so, you’ll be making room to store the stuff you actually use.
2. Start small. Set yourself up for success by choosing a single drawer or a single shelf. Keep this first project tiny.
3. Make it a high-impact area. Start with a drawer you use every day that’s hard to open because it’s too full, if you can. Or a shelf in a cupboard you open daily. It will feel so much better when you use it and that will spur you on for more projects.

Large projects feel much less overwhelming when you break them down into small pieces. If you view your decluttering projects in terms of small individual tasks, you take away their power to overwhelm you. Use the three criteria described above and you’ll be ready to get started when we’ve completed this little series.

Traveling light, thanks to my iPad

22 January 2014

I bought an iPad Air on December 26. If you’ve been reading this blog a long time, you might remember that I was an early adopter of the iPad. I bought the original version in 2010 and fell head over heels in love with it.

But when I got my iPhone 4S in 2012, the iPad seemed slow and heavy by comparison. It ended up being a paper weight and I sold it it to Gazelle for $100.

Last month, I decided to bite the bullet and get an iPad Air. I thought it would be useful in my genealogy research and my aging eyes were yearning for a larger, portable device on which to surf the net while away from my desk.

I was in Portland last week and, naturally, took my new iPad. It turned out that for some reason I couldn’t send email from where I was staying, so I had to send all my email from the iPad. That prompted me to go to Best Buy and get a Logitech FabricSkin iPad case, which I absolutely love.

When I was flying home yesterday, I got to thinking about how I didn’t use anything on the plane beyond my iPad and a spiral bound notebook. The plane had wi-fi, so I was able to access my task manager and other resources on Springpad. I could read my library book via the Kindle app. I have a KenKen app, which kept me amused. And I had downloaded a movie on iTunes, Blue Jasmine. (Wow—what amazing performances.)

Back in the day, I’d lug along all sorts of books, files, a laptop, a DVD, and notebooks so that I could work and stay happy on an airplane. (To be fair, I did have my laptop with me, because I needed it in Portland; I just never took it out of my bag once I left for the airport.) With my iPad, my on-plane life is much less complicated!

Decluttering Step #1: Create your vision

20 January 2014

This is the first part in a series I’m writing that will take you step by step through the process of decluttering. Each Monday for the next few weeks, I’ll offer a new step. Today we start with the first step, creating your vision.

When it’s time to declutter and get organized, is your first inclination to go to the Container Store or Target and buy organizing solutions? I understand that inclination. Buying that stuff can be really fun.

But that’s actually not a good first step. Purchasing organizing or storage solutions might become necessary, but the very first step when you’re starting the process of decluttering and getting organized is to create your vision for your space.

By creating your vision, you know what you’re moving toward. Your vision will be a compass, guiding your decisions about what to keep and what to let go of. For example, knowing that your vision for your space is one where everything has a home so your house is always company-ready will make it easier to let go of items that you don’t room to store.

Basically it comes down to this: When you’re trying to decide whether to keep something, you’ll ask yourself, “Does keeping this item contribute to my vision of [fill in the blank]? In my experience, that can be mighty powerful.

So how do you go about creating the vision? I invite you to sit down, relax, close your eyes and picture a room in your house. (Make it a high-impact room.) What does it look like when you’re finished decluttering it? How does your decluttered space make you feel? Can you put into words the feeling that you’re after?

Now, write it down. If you want, find an image or images in a magazine or on the internet that conveys your vision. Post it where you can see it. And remember it when you’re decluttering.

Next Monday, I’ll discuss Step Two, picking the space to start decluttering.