Peace of Mind Organizing

The 30-day blogging challenge

24 April 2012

My friend and collaborator, Shannon Wilkinson, was in St. Louis last week for a visit. We held the workshop, Create Freedom and Ease with Habits and Routines, did some great bargain shopping at the Scholarshop and had some great discussions about our businesses.

We both talked about blogging more and about how it can be easier to blog more often. And we challenged one another. For the next 30 days, we committed to blogging five times a week. Since the challenge starts on a Tuesday, Shannon’s first day back in the office, we’ll be blogging four times this week.

My intention (and commitment) is to publish a blog post each Monday through Friday between now and May 24. My blogging goal for the past two years was to blog three times a week. Lately, that’s dropped off a bit. Today, I’m ready to get back on the horse and blog more frequently.

Here’s how I think blogging five times a week will benefit me:

• It will help engrain the habit of daily blogging
• It takes the pressure off of each post to be brilliant, since it will be replaced in about 24 hours
• It will allow me to get creative…I suspect I’ll be doing a few photo blog posts and maybe even a video blog post or two (something I’ve been wanting to try)
• It will help me see the world through the eyes of a blogger again. Blogging that frequently makes everything a potential blog post.

So watch this space (and keep an eye on Shannon’s blog too!) and I hope you’ll see a fun array of blog posts about organizing, knitting, perhaps some family history research and who knows what else!

Finding the best place to donate

20 April 2012

I send out a newsletter on the 15th of every month. This month, I liked the feature story I wrote for it so much that I thought I’d share it here as well.

It can be easier to let go of items if you think they’re going to just the right charity. If you feel like the item wlll used, even loved, you can release it with fewer twinges of regret.

I get that. I’ve experienced it in my own decluttering and I see it in my clients all the time.

But I think looking for the best charity is actually a bad idea. That search can keep you from actually getting the stuff out of your house. You hang on to it while you do your research. That research can take awhile, since you’re looking for the very best place. Soon, the boxes or bags become part of the landscape and the urgency to make the donation recedes.

You know what’s better? Getting the stuff out of your house in one fell swoop. Preferably the day you make the decision to let it go. Call a charity to pick it all up. Or take it all to a place like Goodwill that will make sure that nothing ends up in the landfill. If you hire me to bring in an organizing team, the team members will take away your donations.

The best charity for your donations is the one that makes it easy to donate. Once you’ve made the decision, the best thing you can do for yourself is to act on your decision to let something go and actually make the donation.

If you’re not already receiving my monthly newsletter in your email inbox, you can sign up on the newsletter page of my website. When you sign up, you’ll automatically receive my guide, “Top Ten Organizing Mistakes.”

Is my purse perfect? Almost.

16 April 2012

Three years ago, I blogged about how I loved my Butler Bag. This dandy little purse has a rigid compartmentalized insert in the bottom that allowed me to keep every in easy reach.

I loved it, and I used it daily for a year and a half. And then I bought an iPad. I wanted to carry my iPad with me all the time, but it was too big for my Butler Bag. I tried a larger Butler Bag tote, but the tote was so deep that the rigid compartments on the bottom couldn’t keep everything organized. I’d sink my arms in elbow deep and have to feel around for things.

So I switched to a Franklin Covey tote (I’m on my second one) and while it’s not as fabulous as the Butler Bag was, I felt like it was okay. Until now. Now it’s great.

That’s because I was given a Purse Perfector, a niftyhandbag organizer insert, as a thank you for writing an upcoming post for their website. (I’ll let you know when that goes live; it’s about keeping the household desk functioning.) I had seen the Purse Perfector at the NAPO conference and was intrigued. I just hadn’t tried it out before now.

Here’s the bottom line: the Purse Perfector has made my Franklin Covey tote as functional as a Butler Bag. And that’s a wonderful thing.

At the NAPO conference, I let Purse Perfector inventor Lyn Marstellar take a “before” picture of my bag. It was particularly out of control since I was at a conference.

Here’s that photo:

My purse was chaotic, at best

I took my Purse Perfector back to my room and had an enjoyable 10 minutes reorganizing my purse. The next morning, Lyn took an “after” shot.

There's a lot of stuff in my purse, but now I can find it

I don’t usually carry that much stuff around, but these were extraordinary times. Thanks to the Purse Perfector insert, I was able to add my ARC notebook rather than carrying it around separately.

One thing that Purse Perfector has going over the Butler Bag is that I can move it from bag to bag. I haven’t done that yet, but I like that I can. And it consists of two compartmentalized units that zip together (creating a chasm in between where my wallet resides). You can unzip them and take just one with you, if you don’t need as many compartments.

The Purse Perfector has made a big difference in making my big bag more wieldy. I’m now the proud owner of an iPhone and seem to be using my iPad less and less. So my next step will to move my Purse Perfector into a smaller bag and see how it works. (Another possibility: pull out my small Butler Bag and leave the Purse Perfector in the big bag.)

if you have trouble finding stuff in your purse, the Purse Perfector might make a big difference. I’m glad I tried it!

Friday preview

13 April 2012

I have so much I want to blog about and, seemingly, so little time to actually sit down and write!

So today, I’d like to preview some of the blog posts that will be coming in the next few weeks.

• My extreme passion for my iPhone 4S. I blogged a month ago that I was having trouble choosing a carrier. I chose AT&T. There are so many things about it I love. And I would marry Siri, if I could. (When I asked her to marry me, she said her “end-user license agreement didn’t cover marriage.” Sigh.)

• Mark Forster’s new task-management system, called Final Version. I always experiment with Mark Forster’s new systems when they come out. This one’s intriguing.

• A few new products I’ve been using: Bento from Rubbermaid, Purse Perfector and the Glass Weekly from Three by Three.

• The really fabulous closing keynote at the NAPO conference. The talk, on balance and keeping all your balls in the air, was presented by the dynamic Dan Thurmon. Dan not delivered a great message, but did it while juggling sharp objects on a six-foot unicycle. Incredible.

• Habits and routines, naturally. I’m playing around with Daily Feats. More on that later.

Speaking of habits and routines, it’s not too late to sign up for the in-person workshop I’m giving with my friend and collaborator, Shannon Wilkinson, who is flying in from Portland to help me teach you about habits and routines. Shannon adds practical magic to the information. Through hypnotherapy and NLP, she’ll help you create habits that really stick. I’m so excited for this workshop, which will be held April 19 in Kirkwood. Details and sign up here.

Is your shredding piling up? Here's help.

10 April 2012

I hope that you have a shredder. And that you use it. Identity theft is too dangerous and rampant to mess around with.

If you’re like me, you have a shredder. And you also have a pile of papers sitting on top of the shredder waiting to be shredded.

Well, you can grab those papers and maybe clean out a file drawer or two while you’re at it and bring them to the free Shred Event on April 21 sponsored by Shred and Protect Document Services and the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO St. Louis).

Here are the particulars:

What: One box (up to 25 pounds) of paper shredded free of charge. Additional boxes are only $5 a box. Cash and checks accepted.

When: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Shred and Protect Document Services, 1429 Strassner (Hanley Industrial Court), Brentwood, MO 63144

Who: Sponsored by Shred and Protect and NAPO St. Louis.

Why: To help people guard against identity theft and help the environment—all paper is recycled after shredding.

For more details, see NAPO St. Louis’s website.

I’ll be volunteering there in the morning. Please say hi!

Why not now?

5 April 2012

Late last year, I participated in Why Not Now?, a program created by my friend, Maryann Devine of Kindergarten Mind. WNN is all about providing motivation and support for working on that project that you’ve been putting off until you have time to do it (or other circumstances change).

From the website:

‘Why Not Now?’ is a small-group workshop that makes it possible to move from idea to Real Thing in only two weeks.

It sounds as good as it is. I participated in the November 2011 session of Why Not Now despite the fact I was traveling, had a full schedule, and had very little time to focus on my project. But I wanted to make some major changes to my service offerings and I knew that if I waited for the perfect time, I’d be waiting a long, long time.

You know what? By the end of those two weeks, the project was done. I’d figured out what I wanted to present, how I wanted to present it, and I’d actually made the changes to my website. And I’m now reaping the benefits. The accountability, structure, and support provided by Maryann and fellow WNN participants is powerful stuff. Plus, you can pick Maryann’s brain—and it’s full of marketing advice, through her years of experience in that arena. As if that weren’t enough, you get to brainstorm ideas with fellow participants on the regularly scheduled calls and share information and ideas in the Facebook group.

Do you have a project you want to get started on? A new Why Not Now? session is scheduled to start on April 16. With the help of this program, your project could be off the ground by the end of the month!

Help for procrastinators: An extra couple of days for taxes

31 March 2012

I used to procrastinate on taxes every year. April 15 would roll around and I’d file an extension. Then I’d procrastinate some more. I was known to file two extensions.

Those days are over…for the last four years, I’ve filed in February or March. Trust me, getting taxes over with is so much better than putting them off. Last year, I wrote a blog post why about the differences between my old and new ways of thinking about taxes.

But if you’re someone who puts off the inevitable, there’s a little good news. The deadline for federal taxes this year is April 17, rather than the usual date of April 15. That’s because the 15th falls on a Sunday and the 16th is a holiday in the District of Columbia and all Federal offices are closed. April 16 is Emancipation Day, which commemorates the April 16, 1862 signing by Abraham Lincoln of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed 3100 slaves in the District of Columbia, almost nine months before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Now’s a good time to get started on those taxes, if you haven’t already. Maybe you won’t even need those extra two days!