Peace of Mind Organizing

Trying to resist Amazon Prime Day

11 July 2022

I love a bargain, but I hate false urgency more. I end up buying things that I regret later, which wastes money and makes me feel bad. That’s why I try to avoid outlet stores. And that’s why I’m going to try hard to avoid perusing the Amazon Prime sales tomorrow and Wednesday.

A huge source of clutter in people’s homes (including mine) is so-called bargains. It’s hard to resist a good deal on something, even when I don’t really need it or have a good place to store it. Here’s the thing: The more stuff we have in our homes that we don’t use or love, the harder it is to put away and find those things we do use or love.

Will you join me in resisting unnecessary purchases on Amazon Prime Day? If you do have legitimate needs, by all means go ahead and get a deal on them. But if there’s nothing you’re really in need of, I urge you to step away from scrolling through the deals. Why tempt yourself unnecessarily?

Summer blogging schedule

30 June 2022

I try to post here twice a week. My goal is always Mondays and Thursdays. It’s a bit hit or miss, I admit, but that’s the goal. I also strive to post twice a week on my genealogy blog, Organize Your Family History.

This summer, I’m especially busy with organizing clients and travel and trying to keep up with that blogging schedule has been stressing me out a little. So I’ve decided to relieve the pressure and commit to blogging just once a week through the rest of the summer. I’m not even going to commit to a particular day, but you can expect to see a new post once a week.

When I made the decision to cut myself that little bit of slack I instantly felt relief. I’m also using the same schedule for Organize Your Family History. And now I feel I can breathe a little more easily.

Is there some way you can cut yourself a little slack this summer and relief the pressure to do everything? It’s worth thinking about!

Photo by Valerian KOo on Unsplash.

Worth repeating: What have you been putting off?

21 June 2022

I wrote this post in 2016. It’s an important reminder for me because I’ll be due for another colonoscopy in the coming year. It’s so easy to let fear get in the way of doing things we know will benefit us, like going to the dentist or planning for retirement. I hope this post might help you take action on something you’ve been putting off.

I had a colonoscopy this week. I’m 53 (and a half) years old and for the past 3.5 years I’ve been putting off getting the screening colonoscopy—a procedure that can catch deadly colon cancer while it’s still treatable—that’s recommended for everyone at 50 years old.

I’m a smart woman. I know it’s a good idea to get a colonoscopy and that sooner is better than later. But I couldn’t get myself to do it. My college buddies encouraged me to schedule it (they’d done theirs). But I resisted. Finally, I got a new primary care physician and she basically made the appointment for me.

Why was I dragging my feet? Partly because of the horrible things you hear about the prep (the bowel has to be cleaned prior to the scope). But, in truth, there was also a certain amount of fear that there would be bad news. Irrational, but true. Because of course, if I did have colon cancer, it was better to know than not know. But not knowing bad news can feel safer than knowing it.

Well, it turned out that the prep wasn’t all that bad. Not fun, but not tortuous. And the procedure itself was nothing, because I slept through the whole thing. When it was over the news was good—and immediate. Everything normal. Come back in ten years.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to have that behind me. I didn’t realize the psychic energy I was expending avoiding it. It makes me want to find something else I’m afraid of and just do it.

How about you? Is there something you’ve been putting off? Could you take a tiny step today toward doing it? Trust me, you’ll feel better when it’s done!

Sell (some of) your unwanted stuff on Decluttr.com

17 June 2022

I bought a new 14” MacBook Pro this year. It replaced a 2018 13” MacBook Pro that had started slowing down. I was thrilled to see that Apple was willing let me trade it in for over $500. I ended up not doing a trade-in at the time of purchase because I’d decided to more mindfully transfer files from the old computer to the new one (rather than transferring everything in one fell swoop). I paid in full for the new computer and didn’t really have a use for a $545 gift card from Apple. So I started looking for someone else to sell it to.

I identified four different places and requested offers. Here are the offers I received:

Phobio: $470 (Apple’s business group referred me there)
SellYourMac: $500
Gazelle: $530 (I’d sold a computer to them before)
Decluttr: $568

Guess who I sold it to? The highest bidder, Decluttr.com!

It was a simple transaction. I accepted their offer, followed the instructions to wipe my hard drive, packed the computer in the box I got when I purchased it and put the whole thing in another box to send it in. They paid the shipping. I took it to the UPS store and was notified it was received two days later. Just five days after that the money was in my bank account.

Decluttr also buys smaller tech, CDs, DVDs, textbooks, children’s books, and games and consoles. Based on my (albeit limited) experience, I recommend giving them a look next time you have something you’d like to sell.

Subscribe to my newsletter!

13 June 2022

This year, I’ll mark the 15th anniversary of my monthly newsletter. Every month on the 15th (for 15 years!) I’ve published a short newsletter that lands in your email box free of charge. That’s in addition to blogging here twice a week (most weeks.)

Each newsletter offers a (slightly) longer feature, a trip, a photo and perhaps a bit of news about Peace of Mind Organizing. And it always contains links to the blog posts from the previous month. There’s not a whole lot of overlap between the content of the newsletter and the blog, though occasionally I like a newsletter article so much I run it in the blog (or vice versa).

Some months, I have special offers for newsletter readers only.

You can read the newsletter archive on the website and/or subscribe so that it lands in your email inbox on the 15th of every month. If you subscribe, you’ll receive my free pdf, The 12 Most Common Organizing Mistakes.

Meet my latest employee!

10 June 2022

I had to say goodbye to Adrienne Pittson, who was a terrific employee, last month. She and her family are moving west. Happily for me, I was approached by an aspiring organizer, Lydia Boda, shortly after Adrienne gave notice.

After a series of interviews, I decided to hire Lydia. She started on May 27 and is already busy working in clients’ homes. The photo with this post was taken at my house on her hiring day. You can tell that Lydia doesn’t have a problem with friendly dogs! (Bix loves her.)

Lydia is a sculptor with a great spatial sense and great design sense (two things I lack!). She loves the visual peace that comes with an organized space. She’s compassionate and empathetic. I think she’ll be a great addition to the Peace of Mind Organizing team. She’ll work with Beth and with me and other team members (who are independent contractors), as well as on her own.

You can learn more about Lydia (and Beth) on the Meet the Team page!

Join me at The Omega Institute in July

2 June 2022

I am absolutely thrilled to be teaching a weekend workshop about decluttering at The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York, at the end of July.

The workshop called Decluttering for Good will be held July 29 to 31. It will be 10.5 hours of learning over three days and I think it’s going to be such a great opportunity for students to get in touch with what’s important to them and gain motivation and skills to go home and declutter. I’m planning to create an experience that will benefit students for many years. I feel so fortunate to have this much time to explore the nature of clutter, the limitations it puts on us and the benefits of decluttering.

The Omega Institute was founded in 1977 on a profound ideal: to awaken the best in the human spirit. I’ve admired its work (and aspired to taking a class there) for decades. I was honored and delighted to be invited out of blue to teach there. In an amazing moment of kismet, the invitation was for the weekend that ends a week I was already planning to spend in Rhinebeck with my college buddies. Mind blown.

Rhinebeck is a lovely small town 90 miles north of New York City in Dutchess County. My college roommate grew up there and I had my first legal drink there! The Omega Institute campus is a former summer camp (think Dirty Dancing) surrounded by nature. What an amazing getaway.

If your time and budget allow, I hope you’ll consider joining me for the workshop. I think the workshop itself will be a beneficial experience for all involved (including me!). And spending time on the Omega Institute campus is guaranteed to be memorable.