Peace of Mind Organizing

Letting go of sentimental items

19 April 2021

I published this article in last week’s monthly newsletter. I got some good feedback, so I thought I’d share here as well.

During last week’s Declutter Happy Hour class, we discussed the challenge of decluttering sentimental items. They can be so hard to let go of, even when you’re motivated to downsize.

The piece of advice I always share about sentimental stuff is that the more you keep of it, the less special any of it is. For example, instead of keeping all your kids’ art projects, which can be hard to store in a way that allows you to enjoy them, keep just the meaningful ones. Another example: Instead of hanging onto your grandmother’s collection of a dozen tea cups, keep one or two and display them. Then release the rest to cousins who might appreciate them or tea cup collectors who might buy them on eBay or in a resale shop.

I also always urge clients to think what will happen to these sentimental items after they pass away. The best way to see that they’re respected and appreciated is to disperse them while you’re still able. That will not only help you downsize, it will make it easier for the person who is responsible for going through all your stuff after you pass.

Getting in touch with why you’re decluttering can help in these difficult decisions. Remember, it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. You can choose just to keep one or two items that represent a particular person or time in your life and let go of the rest.

Photo by Lydia Matzal on Unsplash

Decluttering dog toys

15 April 2021

Earlier this week, I repeated a post I’d written four years ago about the love my standard poodle, Bix, has for his toys. He gets two new toys every month from BarkBox and he’s also given extra toys by a friend whose dog gets BarkBox for the treats and doesn’t love the toys.

Bix enjoys destuffing and desqueaking some of the toys and then playing with the carcasses. So we rarely threw any toys away. His toys were stored in an overflowing containers.

Here’s a photo. (I have no shame.)

In December 2020, Barry and I bought a new bed, upgrading to a king-sized bed. That started a cascade of events that included carpet cleaning. While the carpet cleaner was there, we decided to clean the carpet of the room where Bix’s toys were stored. So we had to clear them out. I figured it was a perfect opportunity to declutter his toys.

It was a surprisingly fun and easy process. The toys had been moved into the living room, so I just started sorting them there. (I thought Bix would want to help, but it turned out he wasn’t very interested in my efforts.)

I sorted the toys into four categories:

• Those we wanted to keep
• Those we didn’t want to keep (because they weren’t popular with him) but were in pristine shape. Those we set aside to give to friends or save for puppy gifts.
• Those we didn’t want to keep but that had some wear. This category was good enough to donate.
• Those that had been played with so much no one would want them (primarily toy carcasses)

I set aside the gift toys and was delighted to have no problem finding takers. I threw away the trash toys and moved the rest of the toys to a donate area.

Here’s a photo of the abundance of toys we set aside to give to friends:

Bix’s favorite toys are small plush balls. He has peanuts, peas and apples from BarkBox (along with the plush peanut shells, pea pods and apple bushels they came in). In the sorting process we discovered, inside the covered basket pictured above that we rarely opened, a bunch of small plush balls that must have been purchased for one of Bix’s poodle predecessors. Honestly, we had no idea we had them.

Bix was ecstatic about these balls. He squeaked and squeaked and squeaked them. He lolled about on the living room rug with them. Finding them was definitely the highlight of the process.

Once all the sorting was done, I had the pleasure of organizing the toys we decided to keep. I used two containers. One was a plastic laundry basket from IKEA. The other was a Rubbermaid Bento Storage Box that has interior dividers that pop out from each corner. I used two of the divided areas to hold the plush balls, with the rest of the toys in the open area behind, as well as in the laundry basket.

Here’s an after photo.

It’s such a relief to have the big mess of toys gone. And, like most decluttering projects, the best part is that everything is more accessible. Bix now has easy access to his favorite plush balls, which previously would get lost in the pile of toys. And it’s very easy for us to put them away in their designated spot.

I realize that this still looks like a lot of toys. But it feels like the right amount for us!

Worth repeating: Bix's favorite thing, BarkBox

12 April 2021

I wrote this post four years ago, and Bix’s love for BarkBox has only grown. It’s caused quite a toy clutter problem, one that I worked on a couple of months ago. Later this week, I’ll write a post on how I decluttered Bix’s toys but today you can read about his beloved BarkBox, the reason his toys turned into an organizational challenge.

My standard poodle, Bix, who is 18 months old, is a big-time player. He loves his toys with a fiery passion. Every night he instigates a game of fetch in the house and throughout the day he plays with his toys on his own. His very favorite fetch toy is an unassuming plush peanut.

Here he is with his peanut. (You can see the peanut shell in a shot further down.)

I tend to be sort of minimalist in my life, but I have a confession. Bix has an abundant collection of amazing toys. (Some might call it overabundant.) And he gets more every month. But here’s the thing: he plays with almost all of them. We keep the toys in a laundry basket from IKEA and he frequently digs around in it looking for a specific toy. So it’s hard to declutter them (though I think I could probably safely remove a few).

Why does he have so many? Because of BarkBox. It’s a subscription service for dogs that delivers a themed box of toys, treats and chews every month. The themes are so darned clever. They make the humans smile. And they make the poodle ecstatic.

This was the December BarkBox, which had a winter theme.

Bix seems to recognize the BarkBox box (or, more likely, he recognizes our reaction to the BarkBox box) and he sits down politely and waits for us to open it. Then he goes nuts playing with his new toys. It’s truly a joyous thing.

Here he is on BarkBox day with his new zombie cat. I think that was October.

One of the things I love about BarkBox is that almost all of the toys are made for them and therefore unique. And they are are so clever and cute (and funny!). They’re pretty durable. Bix enjoys de-squeakering toys and pulling out the stuffing (thankfully, he doesn’t eat the squeakers or the stuffing) and then he enjoys playing with the toy carcass. We have thrown away very few toys.

Here’s Bix surrounded by the toys he selected to play with that day.

Bix likes to take favorite toys to the windowsill where he watches the world from the back of the couch. Here are his rucksack and his Polaroid camera, from the travel-themed BarkBox, and (of course!) his peanut.

When you subscribe to BarkBox for at least three months, you can get a free extra month by using my subscription link. (And Bix gets a free month too!) I found that after my three-month subscription was up I could go month to month. You tell them the size of dog you have and whether there are any food allergies (for the treats). Bix has been a subscriber since he was eight weeks old, so he went from Medium (“Just Right” to a Large (“Big & Bold”) as he grew up. He’s now 60 pounds.

The declutterer in my wants to stop Bix’s subscription. But the dog mom in me doesn’t. It brings such joy to Bix. And the toys don’t take up that much room, right?

Again, if you have a dog and want to give it a try, you can use this link and you’ll get an extra month added to your subscription. And Bix will too!

Inching toward normal

9 April 2021

Today, April 9, all Missourians 16 years and older are eligible for a vaccination. Earlier this week, I became fully vaccinated when I hit the two-week mark after my second Pfizer shot. I lucked into a leftover dose back in February and was absolutely thrilled I didn’t have to wait until all Missourians were eligible, since I didn’t qualify in any other tier.

To celebrate being fully vaccinated I planned several fun things this week. It felt so good to do some once-normal things that I haven’t done for over a year. Here’s a look at my special week (and the special plan I have for next month):

• I went to my favorite resale shop and bought some accessories to go with my two Wool& dresses. (I’m still wearing the Rowena I wore for 100 days and I’m alternating it (and sometimes combining it) with my reward dress, the Sierra.) And then I went to DSW and bought three pairs of summer shoes. I am all set for shoes.
• I got a facial and a brow shaping at Ginger Bay Salon and Spa.
• I floated in flotation tank at FLOAT STL (it was sooooo relaxing).
• Tomorrow I’m doing an in-person consult with a favorite client.
• Sunday I’m going to a birthday party(!) for dear friends. Our whole little group is fully vaccinated and we can’t wait to see one another again.
• In May, I’m flying to Walla Walla, Washington, to see my dad and will spend some time with my friend and podcast co-host Shannon Wilkinson in Portland, Oregon.

I know that COVID is still far too prevalent. I’m wearing a mask and maintaining social distance in public. But I am so delighted to be past the fear of contracting or spreading the virus.

As larger numbers of people are vaccinated and things get back to how they were, I will still embrace some of the new pandemic habits that have proven beneficial, like:

• daily Yoga with Adriene
• daily handling of my finances with YNAB
• frequent Zoom calls with distant friends

I think it’s probably good that in 2020 we didn’t know how long this was going to stretch out. But today, with blooming flowers and some restored freedoms I’m feeling like 2021 might just turn out okay.

My easy daily gratitude practice

5 April 2021

I’m a big believer in the power of a gratitude practice. I think expressing gratitude for the many things I have to be grateful for helps me focus on the positive and keeps me centered. I’ve tried a number of ways to practice gratitude, including a gratitude journal and a gratitude email exchange.

In early 2021, I came upon a new method that has been so successful for me that I wanted to share. I heard about the book, The Five Minute Journal, which provides a space to briefly reflect on gratitude by answering the same questions each day. I borrowed the questions from that book and made them into a Trello card that is on my Daily Task Management Board.

Each day, a task called Five Minute Journal is moved into my To Do Today list on Trello. Each morning, I fill it out (it actually just takes a minute or two) and move it to my Done Today list. Then I get a burst of confetti. (That confetti is so rewarding!)

Here’s what the back of the card looks like, so you can see the questions I’m answering each day:

This process has made it outrageously easy for me to embrace gratitude in my daily life. If you use Trello (or I’m sure other task apps), I encourage you to give it a try. Or go old school and buy the book and fill in your answers to the questions by hand.

A gratitude practice is so valuable. By integrating it into my morning routine and filling it out right in my task board I never miss a day.

Styling your Zoom backdrop

29 March 2021

Before 2020 I very rarely talked with anyone via video. But then the pandemic hit and just like that Zoom became a way of life. I started out mostly chatting with friends, but gradually I started doing consultations with clients via Zoom (or occasionally FaceTime). I used my laptop’s webcam, which is at about 90 degree angle from the big external monitor I ordinarily face. When I’m using my computer, facing that monitor, I have a bulletin board on my left.

The result was that when I turned to face my laptop’s webcam, my bulletin board was my Zoom backdrop. I love my bulletin board and it contained things that make me happy (like my Hamilton Playbills). But as a Zoom backdrop it was quite cluttered and distracting. That view also showed the top of my desk, which meant I usually had to tidy up before going on Zoom.

See what I mean?

Once I started doing presentations via Zoom, I realized it was time to up my game. I purchased a Logitech webcam that I attached to my external monitor in front of me. So the backdrop completely changed, as you can see in this picture.

Then I did something really smart: I asked my friend, Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing to advise me over Zoom how to style my backdrop. We styled it in real time, with her sending me around my house looking for items that might work. At the end of the session, I had a short shopping list of things to purchase to fill things out.

Geralin has helped me with my wardrobe for years and she’s been a guest in my home. She knows that I have a minimalist approach to home decor. We spent some time on the lighting and adding a few touches of decor to the top of the radiator and the wall. (I have to share that the painting above the radiator was created by my dog, Bix.) We cleared off the bulletin board, except a small area not visible in the webcam shot.

Here’s how it looks now. So much more peaceful. And there’s even a little business branding!

Here are some of the things I learned in that session, supplemented by information from an email exchange I had with Geralin while I was writing this.

Considerations when creating a Zoom backdrop:

• Try to make it reflect your personal style and values.
• Keep your backdrop uncluttered but not too spare.
• Keep it simple enough that you don’t have “set dress” before every Zoom call.
• Pay close attention to your lighting and make sure you have lighting both in front of you and behind you (see below).

The right lighting can make all the difference. Geralin had me put a table lamp on the floor behind me. She also had me put a goose neck craft light next to my monitor at a level that doesn’t cause too much reflection in my glasses. (I set it on a thick book to raise it to the appropriate level.)

Lighting can be particularly challenging to those who wear glasses. Here’s what Geralin told me about that: “Lighting from above and below will illuminate you but not reflect in your glasses. If you’re wearing glasses you’ll need to make sure that the lighting directly in front of you is blocked to avoid glare.” It took quite a bit of trial and error to get my lamp position right to avoid glasses glare. (I also tried to let go of trying to make it perfect. Sometimes there’s a little glare and I live with it.) Geralin also cautions glasses wearers to be aware of the light of your computer screen reflecting in your glasses at night. “You fix this this by raising the light source a little above your head and leaving a little bit of light below your eyes so your chin and neck have light.”

I’m easily overwhelmed by all of this stuff, so having a trusted expert to help me was so helpful. And I am delighted with the results.

If you’d like Geralin’s help with styling your Zoom backdrop, just schedule an Ask Me Anything call.

Worth repeating: A simpler way to file paid bills

25 March 2021

I wrote this post back in February 2015 when I was attending RootsTech. I still stand by the advice so I thought I’d run it again.

I’m in Salt Lake City attending a genealogy conference. Last night I had dinner in the hotel and struck up a conversation with a woman sitting near me at the bar. Naturally, we started talking about organizing (as one does at bars) and she confessed that her biggest challenge was staying on top of the filing. I suggested that she file her paid bills by month and she found that suggestion revelatory! This morning, I thought I’d blog about it, because it had such an impact on her. A quick search revealed I’d done just that on October 24, 2011. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I decided to repeat that post. Here it is, as relevant as ever.

Do you hang on to the paper bills that your creditors send you after you pay them? (Do you even receive your bills in the mail anymore?) A certain percentage of my clients have either gone paperless or automatically shred the bills after paying.

But a larger number of clients (and my family as well) receive most of their bills in the mail and hang on to the paid bills for at least awhile. Most of those clients, at the time I meet them, are doing what I used to do: they’re filing the paid bills by payee. (All the electric bills together, all the credit-card bills together, etc.) Or, more accurately, they’re letting the paid bills pile up because it’s such a pain to file them by payee. (I used to do that, too!)

What I recommend — and I got this idea from Freedom Filer — is instead of filing paid bills by payee, file them by the month you paid them. Freedom Filer has labels for odd year and even year months, which allows you to keep a two-year backlog. (That’s what I do.) But a one-year backlog for non-tax-related documents is almost certainly sufficient.

Here’s what you do:

1. Label a dozen hanging file folders, one for each month of the year. (I prefer hanging folders to accordion files because they’re much easier to file into.)
2. Create another hanging file folder (or folders) for tax-related documents.
3. When you pay bills, separate out any that can serve as documentation for a tax deduction. (This is particularly important for those of us who write off home offices.) Put those in the tax file.
4. Drop the rest of the papers in the file corresponding to the month in which you’re paying them.
5. After you’ve done this for a year, you’ll find the monthly file full of last year’s bills when you go to file the current month’s bills. Simply pull out the contents and shred them. Drop the current month’s bills into the file, where they’ll stay for a year.

It’s that simple! I also put my receipts (again, non-tax-related) in the monthly files, as well as bank statements from my husband’s and my joint checking account. I’ve been doing this for years and have yet to have it cause any problems. I so very rarely need to find anything in the files, but when I do it’s not difficult to find.

One note about tax-related documents: If you don’t keep track of your expenses electronically, you might want to create a series of category-related tax files to make it easier at tax time. Or just do a big sort at tax time.

This method of filing paid bills is so much less time consuming than filing by payee that the “To File” pile becomes a thing of the past. If you’re hanging on to your paid bills, I urge you to give it a try.