Peace of Mind Organizing

App of the week: Wunderlist

22 June 2012

Getting back to my weekly gushing about my iPhone, here’s another app that I use regularly.

Wunderlist is a website app with a free iPhone app that sync together nicely. It allows me to keep simple lists (there’s not much in the way of bells and whistles). It’s easy to add items to lists. It’s easy to add new lists.

You can click press the star next to any item to send it to the top of the list (which is particularly helpful for Final Version, Mark Forster’s latest task-management system, which I’m trying out…more on that in another post).

I love Wunderkind because it’s easy to use on my computer and easy to use on my phone. It allows me to capture tasks or ideas as they occur to me.

I keep lists for (among other things):

• tasks (in random order, as they occur to me)
• blog post ideas
• books I want to get at the library
• things I might ask my intern to do when she starts in fall
• clothes I want to look for

I’d say the majority of the items are entered from my keyboard at my computer. But I’m happy to be able to access them easily on my phone. I no longer have to carry a task notebook, as I did for years.

There are other apps like Wunderlist out there. For me, this one wins points for its simplicity and for its easy prioritization.

New pleated purse!

21 June 2012

I try to knit every day. It’s how I relax while watching TV and I love that I’m creating something as I relax. Sometimes I blog here about what I’m working on (or have completed), but it’s been awhile.

That’s partly because I have been working on the same shawl forever. It’s the Stripe Study Shawl and I think it’s going to be amazing when I’m through with it. It’s just been taking awhile because it’s boring knitting and I can only do so much at a time. I’m on the last inch of the border, though. Once it’s finished and blocked (shaped), I’ll post a photo.

I did sneak in a quick felted bag that I finished this week. It’s the Pleats Purse I, knitted version from Josephine Woo. It’s a small felted bag that uses an innovative technique to create pleats. And it also uses a cast on I’d never tried, so it was a nice learning experience. Here’s a photo:

I used Cascade 220 yarn (less than two skeins) and leather Asian Trends handles (15.7 inches), which I stitched on after the felting using two strands of embroidery thread.

I think it’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but the bag’s pretty small. In particular, the opening’s pretty small. I think it would make a nice knitting bag for a small project, like socks. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, but I think it’s pretty and I enjoyed making it!

This summer, I’m hoping to finish seaming the mitered square baby blanket I started ages ago and also make some progress on the i-cord edging of the big Learn to Knit Afghan I started in (gulp) 2005. I seamed it in 2009 and it’s been awaiting this edging ever since.

Organizing your craft space: Guest post on Unclutterer!

20 June 2012

Unclutterer is one of my favorite organizing blogs. I’ve gotten to know Erin Doland, Unclutterer’s editor, over the years (love that woman!) and am always thrilled when she accepts a blog post from me.

On Monday, Unclutterer posted my guest post on organizing your craft space

I’m pleased as punch to be included and wanted to share here. The reader comments are terrific—there are some really creative ideas there!

The ICD Guide to Challenging Disorganization: Review and Giveaway!

19 June 2012

I should start this review off with a full disclaimer: as the outgoing marketing director for the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD), I am not an objective reviewer. Not remotely.

I want to make sure that the professional organizers among my readers knows about this amazing resource, The ICD Guide to Challenging Disorganization: For Professional Organizers, published by the ICD earlier this year. It’s an excellent compendium of information written for professional organizers, by professional organizers (and other experts), about working with clients who are challenged by chronic disorganization.

The 354-page book is comprised of 82 articles written by 32 experienced professional organizers and related professionals. It is the first book to comprehensively examine chronic disorganization in the context of physical and mental health conditions.

Much of the material first appeared as teleclass handouts. All this material has been reviewed and updated. New material was also written for the book, which was edited by Kate Varness, CPO-CD®, ICD’s outgoing director of services to the public and incoming director of education. (The board changes on July 1.)

The book is divided into three parts:

Part I: Identifying and Understanding Chronic Disorganization
Part II: The Professional Organizer’s Role
Part III: Working with Chronically Disorganized Individuals

If you’re a professional organizer, but not subscriber to ICD, this information is a gold mine. I encourage you to buy the book (or win a free copy here!) and devour it.

If you are a subscriber to ICD, some of the information in the book will be familiar—and you’ll get an important refresher. I guarantee there’s plenty to learn in the book, even for veteran ICD subscribers. The great part is that all this information is now in one place.

The book is available for purchase via Amazon. It sells for $42.95

I’m giving away a copy to one lucky reader! To enter, simply make a comment on this blog post. You can receive an additional entry by tweeting about the giveaway. (Be sure and use @janinea in the tweet, so that I will see it.) You can receive another giveaway entry by writing on the wall or commenting at the Peace of Mind Organizing Facebook page. The contest ends at noon, central time, on Wednesday, June 26. The winner will be notified on Thursday, June 27 and I’ll announce the winner here on the blog that day as well.

Another chance to Simplify Your Life with Habits + Routines

18 June 2012

In 2011 I created and taught a fun online workshop for Simplify 101 called Simplify Your Life with Habits + Routines. I’m delighted to announce that it’s being offered again, for the third time. This session runs from July 19 through August 16. You can sign up now and get early-bird pricing (20 percent off!) through June 26.

My friend and colleague, Aby Garvey, owns Simplify 101 with her husband, Jay. They put on a variety of online organizing workshops. (I’m honored to be their first guest instructor.) Believe me, they run a top-notch operation. What makes Simplify 101’s expert-guided workshops special is that on top of excellent information, students can interact with the instructor and one another in online forums.

When you sign up for this workshop, you’ll get three lessons, released a week apart. Each lesson is available to be read on the website, or as a pdf, or as an mp3. Your choice. And you also get access to the glorious forums where you’ll not only have the chance to ask me questions but also gain encouragement and wisdom from your classmates. It’s a very special arrangement, if you ask me.

In Simplify Your Life with Habits + Routines I’ll be helping students identify good habits they already have, ones they’d like to create, and figure out how to link habits together to form simple routines. I’ll also be helping students let go of habits that are less desirable.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that I’m all about habits and routines as a way of making life run more smoothly. If you’re intrigued about how to harness the power of great habits and routines, I urge you to sign up for this online workshop!

Taking the show on the road (to Portland)

15 June 2012

Photo by Ray Marklin

In April, Shannon Wilkinson and I taught a three-hour in-person workshop in St. Louis called Create Freedom and Ease with Habits and Routines. (That’s us, at the worshop, in the picture at left.) It was very successful and we enjoyed it so much we wanted to do it again. So now we’re offering it in Portland, Oregon, where Shannon lives, on Friday, August 3.

If you’re in Portland, I encourage you to check it out. You can get all the details, and register for the workshop, on Shannon’s website.

Sometimes I feel like a broken record (it just occurred to me that anyone under 18 probably doesn’t understand where that expression came from) when I talk about the importance of good habits and routines. It’s just that they can be so life changing. When you have good habits and routines in place, you get things done. And that’s great. But here’s the really great part: you get things done without effort or resistance.

I believe in making things as easy as possible. Having great habits and routines is the way I accomplish that in my life. Come to the Portland workshop and learn more! (If you don’t live in Portland, have no fear. You can still learn from me about the magic of habits and routines in my Simplify 101 online workshop!)

Things to consider before adopting a pet

14 June 2012

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Saint Louis PetLover Coalition is sponsoring a regional pet adoption event at over 20 locations across the metropolitan area.

If you’ve been thinking about adopting a four-legged family member, this is a great opportunity to meet all sorts of pets. While you’re there, you can pick up a Places for Pets map that shows pet-friendly destinations around St. Louis. (You can also download one.)

But I advise you to give that decision some careful consideration. Adopting a pet should not be an impulsive decision. My husband and I have a friend who is looking to rehome a dog, whom she adopted when he tugged on her heartstrings a few years ago. She’s fond of him, but her travel-heavy lifestyle is not amenable to pets.

So here are some questions to ask yourself before adopting a pet:

• Am I away from home more than nine hours a day? (If yes, a dog might not be right for you)
• Do I have disposable income to spend on a pet? (Even a healthy pet can be expensive to feed and care for. And if the pet becomes sick, watch out.)
• Do I travel a lot—more than a couple of weeks a year? (If yes, boarding is expensive and extensive boarding may not be fair to the pet. Of course, perhaps you can take your pet with you!)
• Do I want to be responsible for an(other) absolutely dependent being?
• Am I ready for my household to be disrupted, at least for a little while?
• Do I have the patience to train (and, potentially, housetrain) a new pet?
• Am I okay with handling animal feces? (No matter what species of animal you have, dealing with poop is part of the job.)

If you’re ready for a pet, by all means do your research and get one that will fit in with your lifestyle. Please don’t adopt a pet because you feel sorry for the animal at an adoption event.

In case I’m coming across as anti-pet, I want to make it clear that I am huge pet lover. My pets have brought me some of my dearest friends, including Shannon Wilkinson and Sally Brown. My first poodle, Kramer, inspired a new career (as a pet writer, which I did for ten years). I think pets are a great thing. I just also think they’re huge responsibility, not to be taken lightly.

Kudos to the Saint Louis Pet Lover Coalition, which works hard to promote responsible pet ownership and decrease euthanasia.