Discover your style to keep clutter out of your closet

On page 23 of Unclutter Your Life in One Week, I promote the idea of discovering your style to help you keep clutter out of your closets. If your closet is limited to clothes that fit, clothes you want to wear, and clothes that project your desired image, you’re less likely to find yourself overbuying or with a mess you can’t control:

You may not know exactly what you want your clothes to say about you, but you probably have a good idea what you don’t want them to say. When I was in my twenties and leading a forum on school uniform policies, a group of high school students told me I dressed like a “frumpy pants.” It was a few seconds after that moment that I decided I didn’t want my clothes to say that I was a “frumpy pants.”

Years later, after reading Carrie McCarthy and Danielle LaPorte’s book Style Statement, I figured out a more proactive concept for my wardrobe choices. I’ve found that having a defined style has made it a lot easier to keep clutter out of my wardrobe. Nothing comes into my wardrobe that doesn’t project my image.

I like to think of my wardrobe as being an exclusive club that only the best of the best can get into. I’m the bouncer, and I get to decide what items make it past the red velvet rope, and what items don’t.

I’m not a fashionista, and if you knew me in the world beyond the computer screen you would probably laugh at the suggestion that I even think about my clothing. I predominantly wear solid colors. I have three of the exact same dress in black, gray, and white. I have three styles of t-shirts in four colors (black, gray, white, and navy blue). I have three pair of black pants from the same manufacturer but in different cuts. And, I look nice in these things. They work for me. They say, “uncluttered,” which is what I want them to say. Clothes that say, “complicated” or “fussy” don’t make it past the imaginary red velvet rope into my closet.

Discover your style, stay true to it, and get the pieces of clothing that don’t represent you out of your wardrobe. If you don’t know your style, check out the following resources:

  • Carrie McCarthy and Danielle LaPorte’s book Style Statement, which I mentioned earlier. Most of the images in the book are female-focused, but men can get just as much out of the text.
  • A lot of my female friends swear by The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style. Only 10 styles are in the book, and they’re all female styles, so it’s not a comprehensive text.
  • As far as men’s fashion goes, I like Details Men’s Style Manual. It starts with the extreme basics and moves on from there.

Posted by Erin on Feb 9, 2010 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

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What clutter affects an unclutterer?

When I talk about struggles with clutter, I tend to speak in generalities — messy closets, disorganized desks, etc. My assumption is that the specific ways I fight with clutter in my life are different than other folks, and using generalities can make the advice applicable to more people.

However, I know there is value in concrete examples, and I believe our Friday Ask Unclutterer column is a great way to explore specific problems readers face. I received an e-mail from a reader recently, though, asking if I would talk about actual problems I face in my daily life. She wanted to know where clutter creeps into my schedule, home, and office.

I thought about it for a week and decided I would reveal one area where I completely fail at uncluttering. I’ve hinted at some of this in the past, but now I’ll share the whole story. It is, without a doubt, my Achilles heel:

Erin’s Failure: If something I rely upon breaks, stops working, or fails to do it’s job any longer, I have a tendency to ignore it instead of dealing with it. Last year, our washing machine was broken for two months and I responded by ignoring the problem. Out of necessity, I had to go to the Laundromat twice — spending more than $25 and hauling five hampers of clothes with me each time. Did I once research washing machines online to learn what might be wrong with our washer? No. Did I research replacement units, prices, warranties, or reviews? No. Did I find out which stores would haul off my broken machine if I replaced the washer with a new one? Definitely not.

I told my husband that I would take care of it, yet he’s the one who called the repairman, researched reviews of new washers, and dragged me to Sears kicking and screaming to buy a replacement. Our new washing machine cost less than $500, and I had spent over $50 at the Laundromat. I wasted more than 10 percent of the cost of the new unit because I refused to act and take care of the situation.

Nine years ago, my car died. While driving it home one evening, it transformed from a Volvo sedan into a piece of steel sculpture in the shape of a car. Did I call a mechanic to check to see what was wrong with it? No. Did I call Goodwill to donate it to charity? No. Did I have it towed to a junk yard? No. Instead, I paid $200 a month for EIGHT MONTHS for it to sit in its parking space in downtown D.C. Finally, my husband (who was just my fiance at the time) picked up the phone and called a local charity that came and towed the car away on my behalf. I wasted $1,600 in parking and $950 on insurance over that time period, and I didn’t even need a car. I lived in D.C., worked in D.C., and had unlimited access to taxis and the Metro. I’m still kicking myself over my inability to act when my car died and the loss of $2,500.

Now you know where my uncluttering fails. This is my very specific thorn in my side. How about you? What uncluttering failure specifically plagues your life? Apparently Martha Stewart struggles with clutter in her clothes closet, so I know it affects everyone. Feel welcome to bare your soul in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Feb 9, 2010 | 37 Comments | Tweet This

Why we hold on to sentimental clutter

Sentimental clutter plagues our attics, basements, closets, garages, and desks. These sentimental trinkets can keep us from moving forward with our lives physically and emotionally. If there is so much of the past taking up space in the present, there isn’t room to grow.

The article “What is nostalgia good for?” from BBC News discusses a recent report from the financial services firm Standard Life, the book Get It Together by Damian Barr, and research conducted by psychologist Clay Routledge at North Dakota State University that may provide insight into why we accumulate so many sentimental items and have even greater difficulty letting them go:

“Most of our days are often filled with with routine activities that aren’t particularly significant — shopping for groceries, commuting to work and so forth,” says Mr. Routledge.

“Nostalgia is a way for us to tap into the past experiences that we have that are quite meaningful — to remind us that our lives are worthwhile, that we are people of value, that we have good relationships, that we are happy and that life has some sense of purpose or meaning.”

Unfortunately, keeping everything from the past can have a negative impact on the future. From the article:

But Mr Barr warns the past can be fun in measured doses and for the right reasons.

“You shouldn’t revisit it as a way of avoiding the present or not thinking about the future. If you spend too much time thinking about the past, you are simply not going to be prepared for the future socially or emotionally.”

While highlighting the benefits of nostalgia, a 2006 report in Psychology Today magazine has warned that “overdoing reminiscence” risks an absence of joy derived from the present, and a reliance on past memories to provide happiness.

Thinking about the past could also trigger painful emotions, such as grief for lost loved ones or feeling like a has-been if recalling a distant career success.

Since we get a bump of happiness from sentimental items, it’s okay to keep a few of the prized possessions. Make room for the handful of valuable-to-you pieces of nostalgia that aren’t actually clutter. Get rid of the rest of the stuff that holds little-to-no value, though. A quilt from your grandmother might be an object you keep, but a stick you picked up one day in her yard might be something you should trash. It’s impossible to keep every object that comes into your life, so keep what is truly important (not clutter) and clear the rest (clutter) to make room for your present and future.

A few tips for ways to let go of sentimental clutter:

  • Snap a digital photograph of the item and keep only the image. Save these pictures securely online in a program that allows you to keep notes about the image (like Flickr or Picasa).
  • Write a journal entry about the item before you get rid of it. The act of writing down the memory will let you think about the experience, which is usually more valuable than the object itself.
  • Invite friends to a Nostalgia Night and video tape your conversations about the items. If your friends wish to take any of the items home with them, let the object go to a good home. What is left afterward can be recycled, given to charity, or thrown in the trash.
  • Make a deal with yourself to only keep sentimental items that will fit in a specific acid-free storage box or scrapbook. Deciding what will make it into the box or album can be a new happy memory itself.

Be sure to check out the full article for more insights into nostalgia.

Posted by Erin on Feb 8, 2010 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

2008

Posted by PJ on Feb 8, 2010 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

Moveable mudroom

Small spaces often lack utilitarian areas where people can hang hats and gloves, process mail, and store purses, backpacks, briefcases, and keys near their main entrances. It’s easy for mail and travel items to clutter up the inside of your home when there isn’t somewhere convenient to place these things when you immediately come indoors.

I don’t have a mudroom or even a simple coat closet in my home, so I’m always on the lookout for storage solutions to replace these conveniences. Late last week, my husband forwarded me a link to a beautiful storage solution from Hansen Family Furniture in Paris and told me to click on the “Collection” link at the top of the page, and then select “Trunk” from the items:

The Trunk was designed to be used as a wardrobe, but I think would be perfect in a foyer. The Trunk is the brain child of Scandinavian-born but now-living-in-Paris designer Gesa Hansen, and is made of solid oak. It is 27.5″ x 55.1″ x 27.5″ (700 mm x 1400 mm x 700 mm) and includes a hat tree, flip-up mirror, cubby holes for shoes or papers, two drawers, and two large shelves for additional storage (a shredder and trash can could easily fit on the lower one of these). The item has hinges and does close completely.

We’re not the only ones to take interest in this beautiful piece of craftsmanship, as it will appear at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair this May in New York. Also in May, the company will release a Trunk for Bar Items.

Learn more about contact information and see additional images on the Hansen Family Furniture website.

Posted by Erin on Feb 8, 2010 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: My mother may be a hoarder

Reader Anonymous submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I am hoping that you can give my brother and I some advice. Our mom is getting worse each year and refuses to believe she has a problem. In addition to her bringing other people’s garbage into the house, she also has a number of cats who use the house as one large litter box. When my brother and I attempt to clean, she yells and screams, and takes the rubbish back in when we put it out for the garbage truck. Unless we physically rent a truck to take it to the dump ourselves, it never leaves the house. We are so worried because it’s getting worse and she is approaching 70 and are at our wit’s end. She won’t go to counseling and when we clean anything it just gets disgusting again. There is food rotting as she doesn’t have a working fridge anymore and when she buys food she forgets about it and it gets compacted with stuff she puts on top of it. The piles of garbage are growing and we can barely get the front door open now. We have threatened not to come and visit and she said fine don’t. Nothing seems to work or get through to her. What can we do as we don’t want to see her die in this. Please, can you help us? Please don’t publish my name.

Only a doctor can give an official diagnosis as someone being a hoarder, but, since your mother is refusing to seek treatment at this point, that diagnosis is going to be difficult to acquire. I think that you will be okay if you function under the assumption that she is one, however, as it definitely won’t hurt her or you if you do.

Hoarding is a psychological illness. Your mother is not a bad person or a bad homemaker, she’s suffering from a mental health condition similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder or clinical depression. As much as she doesn’t want treatment for her condition, she desperately needs it. You and your brother can clean her house a million times, but it will always return to its current state if she does not get the medical care she needs. Cleaning her house against her will might also lead to her cutting off communication with you — and that is not something you want to happen. Keeping the lines open with your mother is extremely important.

Start by learning as much as you can about hoarding. There are many resources available to those who love and care about people who suffer from this condition. The Children of Hoarders website may be specifically helpful to you, and I recommend checking out their resources section.

Unless you believe your mother is endangering herself or others, you cannot force help upon her or commit her against her will to a mental health facility. Nagging, negative and judgmental statements, and disrespecting her stuff will only exacerbate her hoarding behavior. Learn as much as you can about her condition, be supportive and encouraging, and find non-threatening ways to encourage her to seek help. Best case scenario: She decides to seek treatment and finds a healthy way to live with her condition in a safe home environment.

Thank you, Anonymous, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. My thoughts are with you and your family. It is admirable that you and your brother are worried and care so much about your mother.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Feb 5, 2010 | 26 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Chaos-free workspace

This week’s Workspace of the Week is ハク’s tech-heavy setup:

Three monitors and the numerous other pieces of hardware on this desk could easily be a disorganized nightmare, but ハク has assembled this gear into a techie’s chaos-free dream space. There are multiple images in our pool of the desk. What’s most incredible to me is that on the back side of one of the shelves is a homemade light box to photograph small figurines — it’s not a mess of cables on the back side of the desk, it’s functional space! (The cable management on this desk is pristine.) And, under the desk is a media storage shelf occupying space that is behind where legs hit but would otherwise be a useless void. I am truly impressed with ハク’s workspace.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Posted by Erin on Feb 5, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tweet This

Buy fewer, but buy better: Tools

Most of the things we bring into our homes will eventually end up in landfills. If, however, we make conscious choices to buy durable and well-made products, then we can reduce both the amount of waste we create and the amount of clutter we bring into our homes.

When it comes to tools, be honest about what you really need to own. Unless you’re a contractor, you probably don’t need to your own drywall lifter or demolition hammer, especially when those types of tools can be easily rented when needed for DIY projects.

There are, however, several basic hand tools that every homeowner will eventually need. When buying these tools, consider either the quality of the product or the quality of the warranty.

Quality of the Warranty

When I was in high school I had a part-time job working at a Sears Hardware store in the suburbs of Chicago. Occasionally I would work shifts at the service desk. In that capacity, people would bring me sad and misshapen Craftsman hand tools. It was my job to smile and give them shiny new replacements.

Sears takes the “complete satisfaction” warranty that covers their hand tools very seriously. It’s also worth noting that Craftsman hand tools are rather inexpensive when compared to other professional-quality toolmakers, especially when you consider that you’re basically buying a bundled insurance policy with every covered tool.

When the warranty is that good, you might feel the product’s quality is irrelevant, provided you’re willing to deal with the hassle of actually schlepping a broken screwdriver into the store to pick up a replacement.

Quality of the Product

Most of the higher-end tool manufacturers don’t offer a warranty as good as Craftsman. That doesn’t mean their tools aren’t made as well. In fact, most contractors and mechanics would agree that the quality of tools made by the companies listed below exceeds the quality of Craftsman Tools:

  • Snap-on Hand Tools: Generally better made but more expensive than Craftsman. No lifetime warranty.
  • Klein Tools: Favored by electricians and linemen.
  • Lie Nielsen: Heirloom quality woodworking tools that are almost too beautiful to use, as shown below. Someday my wife will finally take the hint.

Posted by PJ on Feb 4, 2010 | 22 Comments | Tweet This

Three time-wasting traps at work

We’ve all lost huge chunks of time during the workday to unproductive activities. The following are three of the biggest time-wasting traps:

  1. Gossip and office politics. You are paid to do a job, and that job doesn’t include spending hours of your day talking negatively about or plotting against your co-workers. When you withdraw from these activities, you’ll have more time for your work and people will likely follow your lead.
  2. Lack of training on equipment or software. The more you know about the tools you have to do your job, the faster you can do your work. Buy a book, thoroughly read the manual, have a colleague teach you, or take a class so you can navigate your equipment and software as efficiently as possible.
  3. Unproductive e-mail exchanges. The moment you suspect information wasn’t conveyed as intended or there is confusion in the communication, pick up the phone and call the recipient or walk to your co-worker’s office. What might take you hours to resolve by e-mail can take mere minutes to solve with verbal communication.

What time-wasting traps do you notice in your office? How do you resolve them? Will making the changes recommended above help you to be more productive in your work? Sound off in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Feb 4, 2010 | 49 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: Calendar 2010 Rolling Pin

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

As a promotion to build brand awareness, the company World Wide Bakery (a Macedonian company known for their frozen, stuffed, savory pies) made and distributed the unitasking wonder known as the Calendar 2010 Rolling Pin.

Not only is this item limited to being used for just a 12-month time period (or, rather, 11 months now that it’s February), but it has to be used in conjunction with another rolling pin that first flattens the dough to a smooth finish. And, I have yet to come up with a reason why someone would want to roll the 2010 calendar into their baked goods. The whole idea seems a little odd to me.

Granted, if you chose to use it as a weapon to fight off home invaders, then it would clearly be a multi-tasker. However, I don’t think violence was what World Wide Bakery had in mind when they produced this unitasking gem.

(Thanks to Sarah for the link and Ads of the World for the images.)

Posted by Erin on Feb 3, 2010 | 33 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

  • Seeing spring
    Before most people realize that spring is on the horizon, now is a great time to get ahead of the curve and start making appointments for all of your spring cleaning activities.
  • Compulsive clutter in New York City
    While readers of Unclutterer may be familiar with hoarding, it is a psychological ailment that still isn’t understood by much of the general public. It is encouraging to see these journalism students work to increase public awareness about the disorder’s damaging effects.
  • Baby safety clutter
    After browsing through an unsolicited baby product magazine that I received in the mail, I am now aware of the products that over protective parents just can’t live without.
  • Tracking your favorite wines
    If you’re a wine enthusiast, check out the list of online and software programs that might suit your needs, download one of the iPhone applications, or consider starting a wine notebook.

2008

Posted by PJ on Feb 3, 2010 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Setting limits with a Super Simple Month

I’ve declared February as a Super Simple Month in our house. To me, a Super Simple Month is defined as no travel for work, one social engagement a week or less, no shopping except for necessities, and no new large projects (craft, writing, organizations, etc.). The goal is to finish some items already in progress on my to-list, relax as much as I can with my family, and be as low-key as possible.

This Super Simple Month idea came to me last Thursday after I returned from my second of two trips to New York in four days. I was exhausted, and the idea of getting in the car and driving to Richmond the next day made me incredibly anxious. When I woke up Friday morning with a fever, I picked up the phone and cancelled my third trip for the week. I had hit my limit. Out of 31 days in January, I had been home fewer than 20.

I realized that if I am to achieve my first quarter New Year’s Resolution of gaining more energy that I had to make some serious changes. I’ve been doing great with my resolutions to eat well, exercise, and get eight to nine hours a night of sleep — but these resolutions haven’t been enough. I still don’t have the energy levels I’d like. (I do wonder, however, how awful I would have felt at the end of January had I not kept on track with these things!)

Have you ever declared a Super Simple Month for yourself or something similar? What rules did you impose to keep your schedule low-key? Was it a success? Do you wish you would have done anything differently? Three days into Super Simple Month and I have to admit that I’m really loving it. I’m sure that by the time March begins I’ll be interested in adding more activities back into my schedule, but, for now, a calm February is exactly what I need.

Posted by Erin on Feb 3, 2010 | 48 Comments | Tweet This

‘Contents Unknown’

In September, we reported on The New York Times article that discussed the current state of self-storage in the U.S. The Self Storage Association reported that unit rentals were down about “2 or 3 percent” across the country.

The article in the paper didn’t talk about what was happening to the stuff that had previously made up that 2 or 3 percent. Were people finally sorting and dealing with their possessions?

Unfortunately, after listening to a recent segment on the NPR show This American Life, it doesn’t sound like people are really dealing with their stuff. Hard economic times mean that a lot of people are falling behind on payments and their self-stored items are being put up for auction. The 16-minute segment “Act One. Needle in a Crapstack” is a fascinating look into what happens after people abandon their belongings in a self-storage facility:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=399

After you listen to “Act One. Needle in a Crapstack,” I’m interested in reading your reactions in the comments. I found the piece to be incredibly insightful, but also heart-breaking. I had no idea what happened to the abandoned stuff until I heard this fascinating segment.

Posted by Erin on Feb 2, 2010 | 45 Comments | Tweet This

Evaluate your household routines

The routine chart provided on pages 98 and 99 in Unclutter Your Life in One Week is almost identical to the routine chart my husband and I used in our house when I was writing the book. We call it our “Doland Duties” chart and it’s how we tackle the things that have to get done for our home to function smoothly.

We revamped our Doland Duties chart when our son entered our lives back in late August, and we had to rework it again when he became mobile (we’ve started calling him Mr. Motor Pants). Major life changes — moving, new job, marriage, baby — are a great time to revisit your routines to see if all of your chores are planned out so that you’re never feeling overwhelmed by the state of things in your home. And, if you don’t currently have a routine chart, I recommend setting one up so that you’re always comfortable with the state of your home.

The biggest changes we’ve made to our routine chart are how frequently we do laundry (now we’re doing one load each weekday), our eating schedule (we like to eat as a family, so food is on the table much earlier than it used to be), and our bedtime routine begins at 8:00 instead of 9:30. We still do a half an hour of cleanup around the house each night and dishes once a day, but now they include picking up our son’s toys and washing his bottles. I’m already looking forward to when there will be three of us participating in family chores.

Do you have a routine chart for household chores? Is everyone in the house taking responsibility for and completing their duties? Do you need to evaluate your routines to make sure they’re meeting the demands of your home and fit with your schedule? With the start of the new month, now might be a good time to make sure you have a functioning system in place.

Posted by Erin on Feb 2, 2010 | 23 Comments | Tweet This

Zipco closet organizer: Pies! Pies! Pies!

I had a good laugh at this sketch from this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, and I wanted to share the fun. Erin lost it at “Dirt!” and now I can’t stop chanting, “Pies! Pies! Pies!” And, we should definitely warn you, it’s probably not safe to watch at work because of the “testimonial” in the middle of the sketch.

Posted by PJ on Feb 1, 2010 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

How is disorganization and clutter affecting your job performance?

If you showed up late to a meeting or missed a deadline, it would be obvious to you that disorganization and clutter were affecting your job performance. There are less obvious ways, however, that being disorganized can impact the quality and efficiency of your work. Take this quick quiz to see if it might be worth your time to become more organized:

  1. Do you spend less than 60 percent of your day focused on the most valuable work for your job?
  2. Do client/supervisor requests often linger unanswered for more than 24 hours?
  3. Do you ever feel like you don’t know where to start working on a project?
  4. Do you have action items on your to-do list that have been there for more than a week? a month?
  5. Have you led a meeting without providing an agenda to its attendees?
  6. When you come into work in the morning, does it take you more than 15 minutes to start doing work-related tasks?
  7. If something happened to you, and a qualified replacement would need to step in to work for you for awhile, would she be constantly frustrated or have to pick up the phone to have you help her find things she needed?

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions above, disorganization and clutter may be negatively affecting your job performance.

Start by opening your calendar and scheduling an hour every day this week to focus on organizing. These hours will not be wasted, as your improved efficiency will quickly make up for the time expenditure. Here are some tips that correlate to the questions above.

The first question: To ensure that you are spending 60 percent or more of your day on your most valuable work, you need to plan each day before you start work. You may not follow your plan exactly, but the act of creating your plan will help you to stay more focused on the important work.

The second question: Even if you’re just sending an e-mail or making a quick phone call saying that it will take another day to get back to someone, contact within 24 hours is essential for good client/supervisor relations. Schedule 15 minutes after lunch and at the end of your work day to process these requests.

The third question: If you work in an office that has a preferred project management software, take a class or online seminar and learn how to effectively use this system. If your office doesn’t have such software already in place, research online project management tools and find the one that works best for you. Then, learn how to use it and take advantage of its features.

The fourth question: When planning your day, schedule 30 minutes to focus on these lingering tasks. Keep scheduling time for these activities until you are able to cross all of them off of your to-do list. Then, make a commitment to never let an action item linger on your to-do list for more than a week (or two, based on your type of work). These lingering items create a great deal of anxiety, and that anxiety can slow you down.

The fifth question: A meeting without an agenda can be a waste of time for everyone involved. Learn how to organize a business meeting so that it’s valuable to you and its attendees.

The sixth question: Before you leave work for the day, make sure your desk and supplies are prepared for tomorrow. You need to be ready to “hit the ground running” immediately when you arrive to work.

The seventh question: If you’re out of the office for any reason (emergency, illness, vacation, sudden promotion), someone should be able to come in and take over your work without much difficulty. Unless you are self-employed (and even then, you may have legal responsibilities to your clients), you do not own your work or the materials used to complete that work. Keeping this simple fact in mind can often help to keep you more diligently organized.

Good luck, and I hope that in a matter of days your organizing efforts begin to show you great rewards.

Posted by Erin on Feb 1, 2010 | 21 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

Posted by PJ on Jan 31, 2010 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

Three uncluttered activities you can do on a lazy Saturday

All along the east coast of the U.S. today, we’re getting blanketed with snow. As a result, I’ve declared that I’m not leaving the house unless it catches on fire. I’m spending the day in my pajamas, nursing this awful fever-cough-runny-nose ick I’ve caught from my son, and taking care of some unfinished items on my home’s to-do list.

Three of these to-do items are great tasks to complete on a day you’ve decided to stay at home. From my home to yours, I bring you three uncluttered activities you can do on a lazy Saturday:

  1. Sort through your magazines and catalogs. Curl up on a comfy corner of the couch, pull out your giant stack of reading materials, and take an hour to read and then recycle all of these materials. Any articles you want to keep, rip out of the magazine and then scan them to your computer. Farewell, July issue of Vanity Fair!
  2. Backup your home computer. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — There are two types of hard drives: those that have failed, and those that have yet to fail. If you’re not regularly backing up your hard drive, you’re tempting fate. Open up an account at Dropbox.com and securely upload all of your important data. In my opinion, a non-backed up hard drive is clutter because it’s a distraction to your life the same way dirty socks are in the middle of your living room floor.
  3. Clear the clutter from your laundry room. I’m not really sure how it happens, but laundry rooms are clutter magnets. There are piles of loose change, random receipts and pony tail holders pulled out of pockets, errant socks, used fabric softener sheets, and three bottles of partially used detergent haphazardly strewn about the room. Go through the items in this area and create a more organized system. The more you enjoy being in this space, the more likely you will be to keep up with your laundry chores. A nice drawer organizer can be repurposed to hold buttons, safety pins, and change. And, a large plastic shoe box can become the permanent home for your detergents and fabric softeners.

Now you all know how I’ll be spending my Saturday at home. What uncluttered items are on your to-do list for the day?

Posted by Erin on Jan 30, 2010 | 28 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Messy mail

Reader Sandra submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

Could you please do an article on how to keep mail organized? I considered myself pretty much clear of clutter, except for my mail. It’s driving me crazy. Even thought I toss everyday the junk, some how I have not been able to follow a good system to get rid off my mail clutter on my desk (these are payed bills, insurance stuff, etc). Now it’s taking over my son’s desk. Please help. Love your blog!

Sandra, I love your question!

I want to start by saying that I have every system imaginable in place to handle mail — and there are still times when it all falls apart and I find mail on my dining room table. It’s the constant incoming stream that makes it such a difficult issue for the home. I hope that the following advice, however, keeps these breakdowns in your system less severe and less frequent.

First, start by reducing the amount of mail that comes into your home. Sign up for services like Precycle (formerly GreenDimes and Mailstopper), which stop junk mail before it ever arrives at your door. Try to get as many utility and monthly bills as possible switched to automatic electronic payment. If mail doesn’t come in, it can’t pile up on any desk.

Second, create and use a mail processing station near the door where you get your mail. It should include a trash can, shredder, recycling bin, and pen/pencil. Each day when you come inside with the mail, immediately shred any items that include personal information that might be tempting to identity thieves (a few seconds of shredding can prevent weeks/months/years of fighting legal battles). Toss into the recycling bin any junk mail and mail you only needed to read once (announcements, etc.). And throw into the trash anything that can’t be recycled.

On the items that still remain, write actions on back of envelopes (Pay by 2/10, Complete and return by 2/05, File in Tax Forms folder) and disposal dates on the fronts of catalogs and magazines (Read before 3/1/2010). Nothing should come into your home that doesn’t have a specific to-do note appearing on it somewhere.

Third, since you live with other people, you will also want to have mailboxes of some kind for the other people in your home. These can be cubbies, pockets, baskets, or even file folders. If the mail isn’t for you, you need a place to store their correspondence so they can easily find it and process it themselves.

Fourth, once you’ve put away all of your other items and set things so that they’re ready for the next time you leave (keys on a hook, coat hung in closet, lunch bag out of briefcase), pick up your mail and head straight to your office. Immediately schedule to-do items on your calendar. Store magazines and catalogs in a place where you will read them before their disposal date. File documents that need to be filed, and take care of any action items that can be completed in less than two minutes. Treat your mail the same way you handle your other work.

This routine might take you five minutes from start to finish, but handling your mail in this way will keep you from turning your son’s desk into a mess. Remember that everything in your home needs a place to live — and that includes each piece of your mail.

Thank you, Sandra, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Posted by Erin on Jan 29, 2010 | 32 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: A simple study

This week’s Workspace of the Week is IJMFlickr’s home office:

The simplicity of the desk, well-organized storage, and cable management instantly caught my eye in this office. Definitely check out the additional photos in the set of the media armoire (an impressive setup) and other views of the room. I especially enjoyed the description IJMFlickr provided for why this specific desk was chosen for the room:

The worktable is relatively light and easy to move, making it simple to turn my office into a guest bedroom by moving the worktable to the side and inflating a raised air mattress.

Thank you, IJMFlickr, for submitting such an inspiring workspace to our pool.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Posted by Erin on Jan 29, 2010 | 25 Comments | Tweet This