Peace of Mind Organizing

One year at a time

21 December 2009

I’ve written here before about the importance of habits and routines to make your life easier. I call it automating your life. Over the past couple of years, I’ve created some habits which have helped me maintain order around my home and office. (This is huge, because I’m a naturally messy person.)

Those habits include:

• Running the dishwasher every night and emptying it in the morning so that we can put dishes into the dishwasher throughout the day as they’re dirtied.

• Wiping the fixtures in the bathroom with a Lysol wipe after I’ve brushed and flossed my teeth in the morning. This keeps the bathroom company ready. (We don’t have a master bath in our century-old home; we share a common bathroom with anyone who’s in the house.)

• Going through my email inbox at the end of every weekday to make sure I reply to everything I can and whittle it down to no more than 15 messages that require action.

• Clearing off my desk at the end of the work day so that every day I start with a clean desk.

This latter habit has been so important to my productivity. Back when I was a writer, I was always battling the messy desk. Something as simple as creating a habit to clear my desk at the end of the day—a simple task when there’s only a day’s worth of mess there—has made a gigantic difference.

Creating this clean-desk habit was my focus in 2008. I started on January 5 and used the website Don’t Break the Chain to help motivate me to to keep the practice going at the beginning. Within about six months it was a habit. And by the end of the year, the behavior was so ingrained that I don’t think about it before doing it and can’t even remember if I’ve done it.

Flylady, an inspiration to thousands of people, suggests working on a new habit a month. She has you start with shining the sink in January and add a new habit each month, per her program. One of those habits, I believe, is cleaning the bathroom fixtures every morning (she calls it “swish and swipe”), which is where I got the idea.

I’ve learned that a new habit a month is more than I can expect of myself if I want it to stick. I’m going for a new habit a year. As I mentioned, in 2008, it was my clean desk. In 2009, it was my email inbox, I habit I’m still working on. It’s not yet automatic. I’m greatly aided by my friend, the wonderful organizer Aby Garvey, who’s working on the same habit. We email each other daily to say whether or not the goal was achieved. That is so motivating.

So now I’m thinking about 2010 and what habit I will try to instill. I’m not positive yet, but I believe it will be entering my business’s finances into Quickbooks regularly. I have a habit of entering them in (large) batches. I’m going to try out creating a habit of entering the data every day that there’s a transaction. That way, at the click of the mouse I’ll be able to see my current financial situation. That can’t be anything but good. Also, it’ll be great not to have that task hanging over my head.

Perhaps you can think of a habit you could create in 2010 that would make a big impact on your life. Choose something that is within your control. Don’t be discouraged by the fact you’ve tried it in the past without success. If you told me in 2007 that I’d be automatically clearing off my desk every day in 2009, I would have said you were nuts. Feel free to post in the comments the habit you’re hoping to create. Sometimes saying it publicly can be motivating too.

Gift-giving mash up

18 December 2009

I haven’t managed to write a post this year about holiday gift giving, so I thought I’d do it today before it’s really too late. I started looking back on the posts I’ve written in the past about gift giving (this is my fourth Christmas as a blogger) and realized that I’ve written some pretty good stuff. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to point you to some past articles as well as some stuff written by others.

With any luck, your shopping is finished and you won’t need the info. But if isn’t, take a gander and you might find some low-stress, low-cost, and low-clutter ideas among these posts.

• Mindful gift-giving. In 2008 I presented some ideas for giving special gifts that won’t cause clutter. Among the ideas: give fewer gifts, give the gift of time, create a one-of-a-kind gift.

• Keeping the clutter out of holiday gift giving. Not too dissimilar from the mindful gift giving post, in 2007 I reprinted a 2006 newsletter article about clutter-free gift giving. (I’m a good recycler, aren’t I?)

• Give the gift of flight. My husband flies motorless aircraft. Last year I wrote about how you can give the (clutter-free) gift of flight by ordering a gift certificate from the Silvercreek Glider Club (or, presumably, a glider club somewhere else).

• Can you give the gift of organization?. Is buying a gift certificate for professional organizing services a good idea? I discussed the pros and cons last year. (A 2009 addition: a low-cost option to help someone get organized would be to give a gift certificate to our Declutter Happy Hour e-course!)

• Handmade goodness. If you’re not familiar with Etsy, you’re missing out. It’s a marketplace for handcrafted items. My friend Bobbi Nesladek of Downzipper is my favorite Etsy purveyor. Her zippered pouches are beautifully crafted, made of fun fabrics and make a very practical gift. I have two of them. They’re perfect when I don’t need to take my whole purse. (Scroll down in the linked post and you’ll see some Downzipper items I own and love.) While you’re checking out Downzipper, take a look around at other shops. There are lots of ways to search and you can lose yourself in the awesomeness.

• Adopt-an-Animal programs provide clutter-free gifts. My friend and fabulous blogger Jeri Dansky had a wonderful post earlier this month about Adopt-an-Animal programs that allow you to help animals and give clutter-free gifts. We’re not talking about adopting animals into your own home, but rather donating to organizations to support individual animals.

• IttyBiz 2009 Gift Guide. In last year’s mindful gift-giving post, I mentioned the holiday guide that Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz posts every year. You’ll find unusual gift ideas. Buying them helps the little guy. Everybody wins.

Choices, choices

17 December 2009

Choice is a good thing. I think that having lots of options can feel very freeing. But when there are too many choices, it can be very hard to make a decision. I was reflecting on this today because I started out the day actually scheduling what I was going to do every hour. Today I’m playing catch-up after a visit to my family in Washington state. There’s a whole lot of disarray in the house and lots of email to catch up on and I found myself being pretty ineffective in the two days since I’ve been home.

So I wrote down my tasks and then I wrote down which tasks I was going to do each hour. These are all pretty mundane tasks, mind you. Well, the schedule did the trick! I didn’t have to think about what I was going to do next, I just did what was listed for that hour. I set myself up for success by padding the time and I ended up doing a few extra things as well.

It was terribly freeing and I feel really productive. Sometimes scheduling tasks this way makes me feel hemmed in and I resent it, but today it was great.

Another illustration of how limiting choices can be beneficial is a new feature in Wii Fit Plus, the video exercise program. In the original Wii Fit, I would choose from the 40 or so different exercises. After awhile, I found myself choosing the same exercises, usually the ones I particularly enjoyed or was excelled at.

With the Plus version of Wii Fit, there are actually more exercises to choose from. But, if requested, the software will now choose my exercises for me, based on what I tell it about the benefits I want. Even if I were to choose the same benefits each day, I’d get a different mixture of exercises. This means that I’m doing a wider variety of exercises and I don’t have to make the decision about what to do next. Plus there’s a little suspense because I don’t know what the next exercise is going to be. It’s excellent and has made exercise more fun.

It’s not like I originated the idea that many choices lead to indecision. A fascinating article by Barry Schwartz in the April 2004 issue of Scientific American, called The Tyranny of Choice points out that the more choices there are in a decision, the harder it is to make. “Although some choice is undoubtedly better than none,” Schwartz writes, “more is not always better than less.” If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to read this article.

The lesson here? As in so many things, less is often more. By limiting the choices you’re required to make on a daily basis, you can make your life run a little easier.

Got pet hair?

7 December 2009

I have a product recommendation for those of you with pets who shed. I have two standard poodles, who don’t shed, thank goodness. But I also have Joe, an adorable orange tabby cat, who is a shedding machine. How a 12-pound short-haired animal can leave so much hair around is beyond me. Seems like he should be bald by now.

Here is he, lying on the chair in my office:

Joe, awakened from a catnap

At night (and often during the day), Joe sleeps on a dog bed atop two dog crates in our bedroom. (It’s as attractive as it sounds.) On Saturday, I decided it would be a good idea to remove the cover to Joe’s bed and wash it. It was coated, I mean coated, in orange fur. I wanted to remove at least some of the fur before washing it because I didn’t want our washing machine clogged up by cat fur.

I know from experience that vacuuming Joe’s bed it is fairly ineffective and quite labor intensive. Then I remembered Sticky Sheets. I’d been sent some samples back when I was a pet writer and stored them in the bathroom closet.

Sticky Sheets are large sheets of adhesive tape, basically. I mean large — about two feet by three feet. They have an easy-to-remove backing and they’re designed to remove pet hair. One sheet fit over the dog bed nicely. In about 30 seconds the bed was almost completely hair free. It works well for furniture too.

So that’s my tip today. If find dealing with pet hair challenging and you have furniture or other large surfaces that get covered, give Sticky Sheets a try.

Letting the holiday cards be easy

4 December 2009

Yesterday I typed one of my favorite phrases, one that I learned from Supercoach Michael Neill. That phrase is “Why is it so hard to let it be easy?” I printed it out in a pretty font and posted it to my bulletin board. I want letting things be easy to be my theme for this month.

I’ve already applied it to my annual task of sending out holiday cards. In the past, I’ve made it quite complicated.

This year I’ve streamlined things by ordering my customized business holiday cards from the fabulous moo.com. I send about 125 of these to clients and colleagues. I have a personalized message on the inside of my card, my logo on the back. On the front are lovely graphics I selected from their designs (I chose three different cards), though I could have uploaded my own image.

For the last three years, I’ve customized my cards with my logo by printing it out on vellum, carefully cutting it and using glue dots to paste it into the cards. Trust me, this year will be much easier!

Last year I entered my card list into my Mac’s Address Book database, so updating is was a snap. I printed out mailing labels for the recipients and return address labels with my logo. I ordered Celebrate stamps from the postal service’s website. All the components are together, with very little effort. All that’s left is to write in each card and affix labels and postage to the envelopes.

For our 80 or so personal holiday cards, my husband and I selected humorous postcards, also from moo.com. They’ll be a snap to write in, no fussing with envelopes, and we’re saving 16 cents per card on postage.

So this year, no vellum, no glue dots, no photos, no newsletters, and, for the personal cards, no envelopes. Streamlined. Simple. Easy.

I’ve not only simplified the system this year, I’ve also developed an attitude of ease. Rather than looking at the sending of holiday cards as a chore or obligation, I’m going to sit down this weekend and just do it. I see tea (or perhaps wine, depending on the time of day) involved. I’m going to let it be easy!

If you send out holiday cards, I encourage you to make it as easy on yourself as possible. If you decide not to send them out at all, then embrace that decision and be liberated by it. Try to let go of any guilt you might have about it. This year you can let the holidays be easy!

St. Louisans: A chance to turn your unwanted items into art!

3 December 2009

This weekend is the Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show a big craft show in St. Louis being held at Mad Art Gallery on 2727 South 12th Street. It starts Friday evening and runs all day Saturday and ends Sunday at 3 pm. Personally, I love craft shows. I so admire the craftiness, artistry, and enterprise of the people who sell things there.

I especially love the crafters who make stuff from recycled objects. Here in St. Louis, we have the Upcycle Exchange which accepts donations from the public of materials that their members make into art.

At he Big Ass Holiday Show, the Upcycle folks will take your goodies and distribute them to the artists. You can find their wish list. Sample items on the wish list include altoid tins, ethernet cables, vintage suitcases, skeleton keys, pet leashes and collars, fabric, wallpaper sample books, playing cards, greeting cards, crayons, colored pencils and markets, and comic books. That’s just a sampling.

If you have time this weekend, you can clear your house of unwanted (but reusable) items and perhaps purchase some innovative holiday gifts all at the same time! If you donate to the Upcycle Exchange, you’ll receive free gift wrapping for your purchases. Everybody wins!

New packages!

1 December 2009

I’ve changed the way I offer my pricing for my organizing services and I’m really excited about it. Starting today, I’m offering packages that are geared to different situations and include helpful additional products. In the past, I’ve charged a flat fee for my initial assessment and charged by the hour for everything else.

You can see the new packages by clicking on the various pages within the Services category of my website.

One of the biggest shifts for me is that the prices for the packages are right on my website; prospective clients no longer have to call or email to get an idea of how much they might need to invest in my services.

Current and past clients receive a 10 percent discount on the packages and once a new client completes a package, he or she is eligible for a 10 percent discount on additional packages or hourly services.

I think I’m offering real value to my clients and I’m very excited to see how well this new price structuring will be received! Change is always a little scary, but I feel very good about this one.