Peace of Mind Organizing

Life without cable TV

23 December 2011

I’m a huge fan of quality television. I watch a lot of TV and always have. I think it’s one reason I love knitting so much. I can knit while watching TV and feel productive. (And I find the combo really relaxing and fun.)

About two months ago, we canceled our cable TV. I never would have guessed that I would do that. We’ve always subscribed to all the premium channels and it’s hard for me to imagine I’d do without. But here I am, cable-free. Why did my husband and I cut the cord?

• Charter jacked up our bill (again) and they were going to have us pay $135 a month for television alone (we’re satisfied getting our landlines and DSL through AT&T).

• It’s no longer necessary to have cable or a satellite dish to have ample access to quality television.

I’m watching as much TV as ever. But now the internet is my TV provider. We replaced the cable box with a little Roku box, which allows us to easily access streaming video from Hulu Plus and Netflix, as well as Amazon Instant Video. We paid $99 for the Roku box and we pay $7.99 a month each for the Hulu Plus and Netflix Watch Instantly (we were already paying $7.99 a month for Netflix before we cut out cable) and we pay $79.00 a year for Amazon Prime, which, among other benefits, allows us to stream certain content free of charge.

We can watch web-only content (like CBS shows) by hooking up a laptop to the TV. We spent $30 on an HDMI adapter to allow us to do that.

We can also watch live programming on the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS) over the air, free of charge. (We bought an indoor antenna to make that happen.)

So let’s add it up:

$7.99 a month for Hulu Plus
$7.99 a month for Netflix (which we were paying anyway)
$6.58 a month for Amazon Prime (and we also get free second-day shipping and Kindle book sharing)

That’s a total of $22.56 a month. Plus there were the one-time charges:

$99 for the Roku box
$30 for the laptop adapter
$50 for the indoor antenna

That’s $179 in up-front, one-time costs.

In the first year, counting those one-time expenses, we will have spent just under $450 on television viewing. If we’d stuck with Charter, that same year would have cost us $1,715 (counting the Netflix we were already paying for). A savings of 75 percent! Not counting the one-time charges, the savings is 85 percent.

That’s huge. And I’m never short of things to watch, because I’m the kind of gal who loves to watch multiple episodes of a TV series in a row. So right now I’m alternating between Parenthood and Sports Night. (Love that Peter Krause!)

I’ll occasionally pay for episodes of certain shows, via Amazon or iTunes, I expect. But that’s okay when I compare it with the money we’re saving.

The one thing I miss is a DVR for the live programming. If I had it to do over again, I might consider spending $99 on a Tivo, rather than Roku, which I now know offers the same streaming services, plus it’s a DVR. But I’d have to pay $20 a month for the DVR service. I’m looking into ways to make the laptop we have connected to the TV serve as a DVR.

Going without cable has been surprisingly pain-free. And I know we’re going to enjoy the savings!

Rubbermaid Professional Organizer Squad

20 December 2011

I’m so pleased to announce that I’m one of five professional organizers asked by Rubbermaid to be part of their Professional Organizer Squad!

The other members of the PO Squad are Allison Carter, Krista Colvin, Deb Lee and Beth Zeigler. We’ll be answering questions from readers, as well as blogging on Rubbermaid.com monthly. We’ll occasionally participate in twitter chats or Facebook parties.

What does this mean for this blog? Nothing, really. I’ll be continuing to blog here about three times a week. I’m proud to be involved with Rubbermaid, and I felt you should know that while I do have a relationship with the company, I am under no obligation to write about them here. Through the years, Rubbermaid has sent me product samples that I’ve written about (and some that I haven’t) and that won’t change.

I’ve used Rubbermaid products all my life. I’ve had the opportunity to guest blog on Rubbermaid’s site in the past. And I’m delighted to have a more formal relationship with them.

I love that the logo for the Professional Organizer Squad is a superhero!!

Is there a teacher in your life? Here's a gift idea.

16 December 2011

Just in case you haven’t already purchased a gift for the teacher in your life, I have a suggestion. It’s the book Less Stress for Teachers: More Time & An Organized Classroom, by my friend and colleague Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO®.

Before becoming an organizer, Helene was an award-winning teacher. She knows what she’s talking about. This book provides teachers with the tools to be more efficient and less stressed. Who doesn’t want that?

I’ve known Helene, who is the owner of Living Order San Antonio, for several years and always look forward to seeing her at NAPO conferences. She exudes talent and warmth. While I haven’t held in the book in my hands, I don’t hesitate to recommend it based on my confidence in her skills and her background.

Go to Helene’s website for more information on the book. I’d be willing to bet that this gift is one of the most valuable things you could give a teacher!

Join me for Mom's Blast Off

15 December 2011

If you’re in St. Louis, I hope you’ll consider attending the Mom’s Blast Off workshop on Wednesday, January 11 from 9 to noon at The Heights in Richmond Heights. I’m joining life coach Jill Farmer and social media expert Allison Collinger to help empower women to make changes that get them moving toward a more fulfilling life.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

During the workshop you’ll learn about:

• clearing clutter to make room for the possibilities in the new year
• time management to make time in your life to do what you love
• updates on the latest in social media to make your life easier and help you make money
• guidance to help you figure out your next personal and professional moves

After three group sessions, you’ll choose one of the three experts to join in a roundtable discussion.

All that for only $49. Space is limited. I urge you to register now and get ready to launch your best year ever!

Top-notch classes on disorganization now available to all

12 December 2011

I’ve been a member of the Institute for Challenging Disorganization for more than six years. I joined within a month of becoming a professional organizer. Back then, it was called the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.

One of the reasons I’ve maintained my membership over the years is the incredible education ICD provides. In addition to the educational opportunities afforded by ICD’s certification program and its annual conference, ICD offers a teleclass program that is unparalleled. Almost every week of the year, a class is offered for subscribers to listen to over the phone. Starting about a year ago, these classes have been made available to listen to on ICD’s website as well. If you’re a professional organizer and not yet an ICD subscriber, I urge you to check out the subscriber benefits. It’s one of the best values out there.

Until now, ICD did not offer classes to people who don’t belong to the group. In keeping with its vision of being the “premier resource in chronic disorganization,” ICD is now offering four recorded teleclasses that anyone can take.

Designed for the public, the four courses are:

• Understanding Chronic Disorganization, presented by Lynne Johnson, CPO-CD®
• Introduction to ADD, presented by Denslow Brown, CPO-CD®
• Introduction to ADHD and Procrastination, presented by Tiffany deSilva, CPO-CD®
• Introduction to Hoarding, presented by Geralin Thomas, CPO-CD®

I believe that each course is an hour long, though I’m not 100 percent sure. One thing to note: you listen to the class on your computer. (It’s not downloadable.) The fee is only $10.

To learn more visit the Public Teleclasses page of the ICD website.

My Life Matters planner: now available as a download

9 December 2011

Back in March, I did a review and giveaway for the My Life Matters planner for women. I think it’s a terrific planner for those looking for once planner for personal and professional items. It emphasizes self care and balance.

Today, Bobette Kyle, the co-owner of My Life Matters, just posted a comment on that blog post stating that next year the planner will not be available in a printed version but, rather, will be available as a pdf download.

Assuming the format is the same, this actually might be great news. It’ll be very affordable ($12.95) and you’ll be able to print and carry just the pages you need, rather than the spiral-bound printed planner, which was so thick that it was split into two six-month volumes. To learn more, go the My Life Matters website.

If you’re interested in being notified when it’s available (they’re promising it by Christmas), just fill out this form.

Easy (and clutter-free) gift giving

6 December 2011

I shot a segment this morning on Great Day St. Louis about clutter-free gift giving, one of my favorite holiday topics.

If you saw the segment, thanks for stopping by my blog. I wanted to elaborate on a couple of the points I made in the segment.

• I was really hoping to be able to recommend an Amazon Prime membership as a great clutter-free gift. (With Amazon Prime, you get free two-day shipping, you can borrow Kindle books, and you can instantly watch TV shows and movies free.) However, I just learned from Amazon that you cannot give a Prime membership as a gift. (You can, however, share your own membership with a household member, by inviting them.) Not only can you not give it as a gift, one can’t apply a gift card toward an Amazon Prime membership.

• I do know that you can give a Netflix subscription as a gift. Netflix offers both instant viewing over the Internet and DVDs. (They’re now separate subscriptions.) You can watch movies and TV shows via Netflix Watch Instantly on your computer or on your TV through various devices, like Tivo, Roku, and some game consoles, Blu-ray players or HDTVs.

• You can also purchase a Hulu Plus gift subscription. The free version of Hulu allows you to watch a variety of TV shows and movies on your computer, free of charge. With Hulu Plus, which costs $7.99 a month, you can watch full seasons of some TV shows (rather than just five episodes) and, most importantly as far as I’m concerned, you can watch Hulu Plus on your TV (via Roku or other devices) and on your mobile devices. I watched several episodes of Parenthood (love that show!) on my iPad while visiting my parents last week.

If you didn’t see the segment, here it is. Since I’m the first guest on the show, the video starts with the hosts’ show-opening banter. My segment starts at 2 minutes, 55 seconds into the clip:

Giving clutter-free gifts can be really easy. Often you can do it right from your computer!