Peace of Mind Organizing

Trying out Flylady's cleaning tools

16 May 2011

Like legions of others, I’m a big fan of Flylady. I’ve been reading her advice since the late 90s and think she offers some tremendous, common-sense advice. (Back in 2008, I blogged about her advice that really resonated with me.)

In recent years, Flylady has been offering branded products that she thinks helps make cleaning chores easier. She is such a trusted soul that a Flylady seal of approval goes a long way.

I recently read some of the testimonials about her cleaning tools and decided to give them a try. I purchased the following (fair warning: Flylady is all about cute names):

• Rags in a Bag, the purple microfiber cloths that Flylady’s fans have been raving about
• The Rubba Scrubba rubber brush/scrubber
• The Rubba Sweepa kind of a Rubba Scrubba on a stick
• The Rubba Swisha rubber toilet bowl brush
• The Detail Duster dusting mit

I hate cleaning house, but sometimes I have to, and yesterday was one of those days. I have to tell you that Flylady’s tools made it easier. One of my favorites so far is the Rubba Sweepa. I have a lot of hardwood floors, as well as a cat who sheds a lot of hair, and the Rubba Sweepa does a great job picking up cat hair on wood floors. It’s working so much better (for me) than a Swiffer-type mop did. I’m less sure about its utility on carpeted floors, but I figure that’s what vacuums are for.

My other favorite are the microfiber cleaning cloths (“Rags in a Bag”). They really are fairly miraculous in terms of cleaning. One wet rag did an amazing job in my bathroom and dry one was great with dust, especially on cloth lampshades. And unlike other microfiber cloths I’ve tried, they don’t stick to my dry hands. They feel very nice, in fact.

These tools haven’t made me love housecleaning, but they have made it a bit more pleasant, so they’re worth their weight in gold as far as I’m concerned!

(Double) standards of clutter

11 May 2011

There’s an interesting conversation going on over at Unclutterer, one of my favorite blogs at organizing and clutter. Unclutterer editor, Erin Dolan, wrote a fascinating post about societal pressures women face to keep house.

She asserts that there’s a double standard at play in our society, that women are expected to have neat, clutter-free homes and men are expected not to.

Here’s a snippet:

Personally, unless a home is filthy or is a danger to the person who lives there or a burden to others, I don’t care about the clutter. I just hope the person is happy and the clutter doesn’t interfere with her ability to pursue the life she desires or anyone else’s. Not only do I think gender is irrelevant to this topic, I believe we need to stop cluttering up our thoughts and time by concerning ourselves with how other people have chosen to live. If someone chooses to be an unclutterer, I think that is an amazing decision. However, I don’t think everyone should or needs to be an unclutterer to pursue a remarkable life.

I love this. I’ve blogged about how everyone has their own standards of clutter and that we should try to live up to our own and no one else’s. I think professional organizers sometimes feel they have to live up to a higher standard of non-clutter (and I blogged about that on Unclutterer a couple of years ago.) As a woman and a PO whose standards of tidiness are somewhat lax, I completely agree with Erin that regardless of gender how someone keeps his or her home is no business of mine (or anyone else’s).

I read this Unclutterer blog post two days after it was originally posted and there were already 96 comments. It’s an interesting discussion. Once you read the post, be sure and click on the comments.

I knew I really made it when...

9 May 2011

Today I have the distinct honor of being on a panel of veteran organizers (along with Aby Garvey and Tiffany Engler) answering questions about our businesses for the program of today’s monthly NAPO St. Louis meeting.

We were given a list of questions to be prepared to answer and one of them has been tickling my brain ever since I read it. It is:

I knew I really made it when….

First off, it made me wish I kept a journal, because the little triumphs tend to fade in my memory. But a variety of possibilities come to mind. (I’m not sure which one will come out of my mouth if the question is asked of the panel.)

First, I thought of the more obvious stuff:

• When I was asked to speak at the Australasian Association of Professional Organizers conference in 2009. (To be more precise, when my proposal to speak was accepted.)

• When I became president of NAPO St. Louis

• When I was asked to be on the national board of the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD)

• When I earned my CPO-CD® (Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®) from the NSGCD (now ICD), the credential I’m most proud of

• When my client had such faith in the help I could give her that she flew me to Hawaii to help her move in to her new home

But then I started reflecting on the smaller moments:

• The first time a client told me that our work together changed her life

• When a client I hadn’t seen in a two years or more called me for more help (she likes me, she really likes me!)

• When I realized I was no longer nervous before a first appointment with a new client

• When I could confidently lead a team of skilled, enthusiastic organizers who in a single day or week can make a huge difference for a client—without losing sleep the night before the first team appointment

• When people actually signed up for the first teleclass I offered (Declutter Happy Hour, presented with life coach Shannon Wilkinson)

• When it stopped bothering me if a prospective client balked at my rates

How about you? When did you know that you’d made it?

Renowned time management expert coming to St. Louis

6 May 2011

Twenty years ago, I read Harold L. Taylor’s book, Making Time Work For You. At the time I was in a 9 to 5 job and I remember this time-management book rocking my world.

A few years later, still in the same job, I happened to attend the public day of a NAPO conference (back when they did that), and I met Harold L. Taylor in person. I was thrilled to pieces.

I’m delighted that NAPO St. Louis is bringing Harold Taylor to St. Louis to do a half-day workshop on September 23 called “Time Management Strategies that Will Make Your Life Easier.” Who doesn’t want to make their life easier?

Recognizing that people are busier and more stressed than ever, Harold Taylor will discuss why some time management strategies are no longer getting results, which ones are becoming more important, and the newer strategies that will become even more critical in the future.

For a more complete description, go the NAPO St. Louis’s website and scroll to the bottom of the front page. The cost for the workshop is $95. It will be held at the Brentwood Community Center.

Register for the event now and block out the time on your calendar. You’re not going to want to miss this. I know I’ll be there.

Are you prepared for a disaster?

4 May 2011

Here in St. Louis, we’ve taken shelter in the basement because of tornadoes at least five times this year, including the tornado on April 22 that flattened whole blocks of homes (and damaged the airport). Less than a week after that, Alabama suffered much greater tragedy in a series of tornadoes that killed 300 people.

It’s not just tornadoes, of course. In recent times we’ve seen earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes…all these disasters that aren’t within our control and can’t really be foreseen.

What we can control, though, is how prepared we are. I have to admit that I’m not particularly prepared and the idea of listening to a talk or reading an article (or blog post) about disaster preparedness can make me feel stressed.

But at the NAPO conference last month, I attended Margaret Lukens’ talk called, Peace of Mind in the Face of Disaster—Preparing Clients for Any Emergency. Margaret is owner of Preparation Nation a business that helps people prepare for disaster. (Full disclosure: Margaret’s a good friend of mine and was one of my conference roommates.) The talk was fantastic (if you’re interested, you can buy a recording of it at VW Tapes.)

One of the biggest takeaways for me was this great tip that Margaret shared:

If disaster strikes, change the outgoing message on your cell phone to let people know you’re okay (or if you’re not, what your status is) and where you are. That way, if your cell phone battery dies or if cell service in your area is disrupted, people can get information.

Another big takeaway was the need to have all my important documents in one place so I can grab them if I ever need to evacuate my home. I’m talking about stuff that’s irreplaceable or stuff that I would need during a disaster, like home owner’s insurance information. I could imagine that people who rely on medications might need their medications list handy as well.

Margaret’s a big fan of the Vital Records PortaVault, a binder that helps you compile and keep safe vital information and document. (Margaret’s such a fan that she has a business relationship with PortaVault.) She’s having a Get It Done Teleclass on May 14, during which you can put together your own Porta Vault and take a big step toward being ready for disaster.

I get overwhelmed when I think about disaster preparation. But one thing I learned from Margaret’s talk is that it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. Like so many other things, it’s better to something than nothing. I think gathering documents can be a great first step.

What challenges does the postman bring?

2 May 2011

I love helping people with their mail. It can be such a challenge for so many that I created an e-course, Make Peace with Your Mail about it. At only $59, I think the e-course is a bargain. But you can get one for free (and get a one-hour phone consult with me for some personalized advice on your mail situation) through my contest.

That’s right, I’m running a contest (the first one I’ve ever held). All you have to do is click on the contest link and it will take you to the contest site. To enter, just fill out the form, including a sentence or two that answers the contest question:

What’s your biggest challenge in dealing with your (postal) mail?

As I’ve been reading the entries, I’ve been struck by what challenges people about their mail. For example:

• Teenagers who scatter the mail throughout the house
• The non-junk mail that just ends up in piles
• Catalogs
• Flat out hating the mail
• Procrastination in handling the mail

Do any of these strike a chord? Got your own set of mail problems? Please go to the contest entry form and enter! Free help for your problem might be yours.

(If you’re anxious for help right now, feel free to purchase Make Peace with Your Mail. If you feel you need just a little bit of help, consider my Organizing Guide, How to Fall In Love with the Mail Carrier All Over Again. It comes with the e-course, but you can purchase it separately. If you end up winning the contest, I’ll gladly refund your money for the e-course or the guide.)

Safely dispose of medications tomorrow

29 April 2011

Tomorrow’s the big day for the Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Take-Back Initiative for disposing of prescription drugs.

According to the DEA, abuse of prescription drugs among teens is rampant and the majority of those drugs come from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet. The DEA wants to make it easy for you to get that temptation out of the medicine cabinet, so they’ve arranged for take-back sites around the country where you can drop off unwanted and unused prescription drugs on April 30. Go to the Take-Back Initiative’s website to search for a collection site near you.

On the first Take-Back Day, last September, 121 tons of pills were collected. Wow.

How can you dispose of your medications the other 363 days a year? I blogged about safe drug disposal last month. If you miss tomorrow’s event, you can find more information in that blog post.