Peace of Mind Organizing

5 questions to ask yourself before getting rid of paper

22 October 2012

Sometimes when I work with clients, I realize that they’ve hung onto a lot of paper out of fear. They’re afraid that they’ll toss or shred a piece of paper and find out later that they need it.

When you’re afraid to let go of paper, before long you get overrun. Then you add a feeling of overwhelm to the fear and becomes really hard to go through the paper.

So to make things a little easier (and perhaps take away some of the fear), here are the five questions I suggest you ask yourself when you’re trying to make a decision about whether or not to keep a particular piece of paper (particularly paper related to finances):

• Can I get this information online?
• Can I replace this paper if necessary?
• Have I kept this type of information in the past and, if so, did I reference it?
• Can I scan this document and keep it electronically?
• What’s the worse that can happen if I get rid of this?

The fact of the matter is that very few papers are irreplaceable. So fear of getting rid of them is pretty unwarranted. You can always ask your tax advisor or your financial planner for advice. But hanging onto unneeded paper can weigh you down.

Why not take a few minutes now to go through your file cabinet and get rid of some outdated paper? (Don’t forget to shred anything with identifying information like social security numbers or account numbers.)

Clear space, clear head

19 October 2012

Over the past week, I let my office get a little out of control. Getting ready to travel for a long weekend, I had stopped clearing my desk off each night. My early-morning pre-flight preparations made things worse. And when I got home from the trip on Monday afternoon, I worried about catching up with email, not cleaning things up.

By yesterday, I was actively avoiding my office. After a day away from home, I chose to work at my dining room table rather than take my laptop to my desk.

So this morning, the first thing I did when I took my computer down to my office was to set a timer and start cleaning it up. (Well, the first thing I did was take a couple of damning before pictures, see below.)

I spent 30 minutes on my desk and even got it dusted. I put stuff away, threw stuff away, looked things up that were written on random pieces of paper and really got things straight. I felt much, much better.

Then I focused on the floor of my office. After only 15 minutes of effort (and a couple of minutes vacuuming), things were back in shape.

The psychological benefit of that 45 minutes of work is amazing. Suddenly, I was eager to create a to-do list for the day and tackle it, rather than just feeling overwhelmed. I was even eager to go a little deeper into the straightening-process and do some filing and rethink some storage.

Yesterday, I had trouble thinking of a blog post. Today, I have three, because I found two written on the notepads I went through as I cleaned my desk. (So for once in my life, I may have a backlog!)

Since everybody loves before and after photos, I offer a couple of pairs.

Here’s my desk before I started cleaning it up.

And here it is after only 30 minutes of effort.

Here’s the floor of my office, looking ugly.

And here it is after 15 minutes of picking up, plus a couple of minutes of vacuuming.

If your desk is a mess and your mind feels cluttered, I strongly recommend taking just a few minutes to create some order. I think you’ll find it reaps huge dividends and will make you more productive.

It's Mountain Day!

17 October 2012

I attended Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, which has a wonderful annual tradition, Mountain Day. When Mountain Day is declared, everyone at the school gets the day off. Today is Mountain Day. Thanks to Facebook, I knew it the minute I got up and checked my computer. Three years ago, I blogged about Mountain Day. I’ve decided to re-run that post, since it’s as relevant today as it was then.

Today is Mountain Day at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. I’m a proud member of the class of 1984 of Mount Holyoke, an august institution steeped in tradition. One of my favorite MHC traditions is Mountain Day, which first began in 1838. Once a year, on a beautiful fall day the early-morning pealing of the clock tower’s bells for five minutes let students know they are freed of academic obligations for the day. They’re encouraged to climb Mount Holyoke (which is really more of a hill than a mountain, says a person who never bothered to climb it).

It’s an exhilarating thing to be given the day off and told to go have fun. Part of the joy of it is not knowing in advance what day will be selected.

Here’s a photo of the Mount Holyoke campus on a beautiful fall day. You gotta love autumn in New England.

For the last 25 years, I’ve meant to give myself my own personal Mountain Day. I rarely have the ability to spontaneously take off the school’s Mountain Day. (The college is kind enough to email alumnae to let them know when it’s Mountain Day.) Today, for example, I have stuff I have to do because I’m leaving town in the morning. But most of those things are fun errands like shopping and a haircut. I do have a phone meeting with my Declutter Happy Hour partner Shannon Wilkinson, but that will be fun—conversations with Shannon always are.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I can’t free myself of all obligations for the day. But I can imbue the day with a happy spirit of enjoying life, which is really the essence of Mountain Day. I’ll think of all my tasks as happy opportunities, rather than obligations (which they really are).

Now here’s the question I have to ask myself: if I can do that today, why can’t I do it every day?

I think I’ll make an “Every Day Is Mountain Day!” sign for my inspiration board and see what it does for my spirits (and my day).

How about you: can you treat today (or any day) like Mountain Day?

Some fun items for pets and their people

15 October 2012

I spent the weekend at the H.H. Backer Pet-Industry Trade Show, where I saw booth after booth of products for pets and their owners. I thought I’d share some of the items I brought home for my own animals.

First, though, I must tell you about Roll Over Rover Threads the apparel and housewares company I was there to represent. My wonderful friend, Sally, is the creative genius behind (and owner of) this company and her stuff is to die for. I own a whole wardrobe of ROR t-shirts and sweatshirts and am dying to get my hands on her new dog dishes.

Here’s one of her popular designs, which graces a hoodie and a t-shirt:

We were next door to Paw Paws as I think we’ve been every show (and this was our fifth show). Paw Paws sells beautiful leashes, collars and harnesses. The ribbons are designed by the talented and lovely CEO, Anne Nutter. I already have a bunch of these gorgeous collars, but couldn’t resist bringing home a new collar for my standard poodle, Kirby. (I got him a red chevron collar, a pattern so new it’s not even on the website yet. But below is a photo of another one of my favorite Paw Paws collars.)

Kirby is what you might call energetic on a walk, which can lead to a sore leash hand. I was thrilled to learn about Spindrift Safety Leashes, which have a neoprene-lined handle, which is so soft on the skin. It also has an extra handle right down near the clip, a terrific feature for when I need extra control with Kirby.

When I was helping Sally at the Backer show last year, we were placed across the aisle from Hugglehounds, designers of cute and durable dog toys. I brought one home for Kirby last year, and he took painstaking pleasure in tearing it apart over time. So I couldn’t resist bringing another home for him.

Here’s a photo of the toy Kirby loves, from the Lola and Penelopes site where you can buy this toy.

I didn’t forget about Joe, my orange tabby cat, when I was at Backer. I brought him home a Aikiou Stimulo Interactive Cat Feeding Station and Activity Center . I don’t know if Joe will love or hate the way this makes mealtime more interesting, but I was intrigued, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I love my pets and I know you love yours. Fifteen to 20 years ago, I shopped a whole lot more for them than I do now (probably the effect of my becoming a professional organizer). But it was a lot of fun to come home with some goodies for my babies. (I also brought a fancy chocolate bar for my husband, Barry.)

Traveling light

12 October 2012

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how iPhone simplifies my life. Today I leave for Chicago for the weekend to help my friend, Sally, of Roll Over Rover Threads at a pet-industry trade show. (Check out Sally’s website for fun and sophisticated pet-related apparel and home goods!)

I made the decision to leave my computer and my iPad at home. I’m traveling light, baby. The iPhone will keep me connected enough to get by and leaving home the bigger electronics may mean I actually read a book and knit. (I know I’d be traveling even lighter if I read that book on my iPhone or brought along my husband’s Kindle, but it’s an old-fashioned paper library book.)

Another reason I love my iPhone 4S!

Next week: I'm giving a talk on clutter

10 October 2012

If you live in the St. Louis area, I’d love to see you at a talk I’m giving next week called Get Rid of Clutter. It’ll be on October 19 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Thomas Dunn Memorials Adult Education Program in south St. Louis city. The fee is just $10.

The talk will cover the decluttering process, organizing principles, creating new habits and routines, and the top mistakes people make when they try to get organized. There will be lots of time for questions and answers.

The class is only $10, and registration via mail is required. To register, go to Thomas Dunn’s website to download a registration form. Fill it out and mail it in with a check. If you have questions about the registration procedure call Thomas Dunn Memorials at 314-353-3050.

Check out their website for lots of other free and low-cost classes! Thomas Dunn’s tagline is “helping people improve themselves since 1962.” They’re a wonderful community resource and I’m delighted to have a relationship with them.

Juggling task-management systems

8 October 2012

I know that somewhere around here I have a list—actually I think it’s more than one list—of potential blog post subjects. The idea is that if I sit down to blog without knowing what I want to blog about, I consult the list, where I capture ideas as they come to me, and voila a blog post presents itself.

Only I’m not sure where the list is. For the past month or so, I’ve been exploring different types of planners and list-making tools, in an effort to find something that helps me, but also to weigh different options to share with my clients.

The result of that is that I my tasks are spread out all over the place. It’s time to carve out a little time on my schedule to give serious consideration to various systems and then pick one to use for myself, so I don’t lose track of everything.

Once I do that, I’ll blog about the various options, so I can share info with you and also point clients to a pertinent blog posts.

Here are the various systems I’ve been playing around with:

Electronic

Workflowy. My friend and collaborator Shannon Wilkinson is crazy about Workflowy, so that’s enough to get me to try it. It’s basically a place to capture tasks in outline form, with the ability to expand or collapse the various subcomponents of the list. I love the easy interface and ease of adding to the list, but am struggling with how to use it when it’s time to sit down and work.

Simpleology. This website asks you to create short-, medium- and long-term goals and refer to those goals every day as you plan your day. I love the idea of it, though so far am finding it all a little too complex. Plus I haven’t figured out how to add tasks as they come up during the day (if I want to do them that day). At the library, I checked out creator Mark Joyner’s book, Simpleology: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want so once I’ve read that perhaps I’ll feel more comfortable with the web interface.

Wunderlist. I’ve been using this online list-making tool and app since I got my iPhone in March. It interfaces well with Mark Forster’s Final Version task management system, but I’ve yet to fully embrace that system and I keep moving to shinier objects.

Paper

Balanced Life Planner from Julie Morgenstern. I just took time-management guru Julie Morgenstern’s time-management class for professional organizers, which prompted me to want to try out the Circa planner she created for Levenger. I love my electronic calendar, however, so I don’t think I’ll be switching to full use of the planner. But I do want to see how it works for task management and be able to recommend it for appropriate paper-based clients.

Productive Flourishing Planners from Charlie Gilkey. This is a bit of an electronic/paper hybrid, since the planners are downloadable, fillable pdfs that you can then print out. Gilkey suggests you print out only as much as you need at a time. They’re designed for creative types who don’t work a typical 9 to 5 job, and I’m anxious to try them out. I tend to like to keep tasks on paper (though my calendar is electronic), so it’s attractive to me. I bought the whole set (Project Planner, Action Planner and Blog Post Planner).

Eight Days a Week Planner Pad from Bob’s Your Uncle. This 11” x 17” paper pad has columns for each day of the week (plus one). I’m going to try it out as a beginning-of-the-week planning tool for getting stuff done. And if it doesn’t work for me, I’ll use the back of the sheets for larger-scale brainstorming.

So that’s what I’m juggling at the moment. I’m still successfully using my To Do List Bingo board for non-urgent tasks I’d like to do daily. I’ll try to post a review of each of these tools after I’ve explored them more.