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Archives for May 2007
Macs: Beautiful and on sale
Nothing says minimalism like the clean white lines of a Mac. Here at Unclutterer we’re biased because we’re all Mac aficionados. But the reason we love Macs is because they make sense. Take the MacBook’s power adapter, which lets you choose to cary the whole 10-foot power cord or leave half of it behind, and which comes with beautifully designed snap-out prongs to wrap the cord around so you don’t end up with a mess in your bag. And let’s not forget the great organizational software available only for the Mac that we’ve mentioned here before, such as Yojimbo, DevonThink, Delicious Library, and the new OmniFocus.
So, I thought I’d bring to your attention this great deal I just found. Amazon is running a rebate promotion through the end of the week: buy a MacBook and get a $100 rebate. A 2 GHz MacBook that runs for $1,100 at the Apple Store is going for $999. The MacBook Pros get $150 off. A 15″ 2.1 GHz Pro with a 120 GB hard drive runs $2,000 from Apple, and is going for $1,849 at Amazon. The savings are further compounded by the fact that Amazon won’t charge you sales tax (unless you’re lucky enough to live in Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, or Washington). The AppleCare extended warranty is also much cheaper when purchased through Amazon.
In fact, unless you have all kinds of crazy build-to-order requirements, we can’t figure out why you would ever want to buy a Mac direct from Apple when you can save hundreds of dollars buying from Amazon.
I love John Hodgman as much as anybody, and I don’t mean to be that Mac guy, but seriously, they’re things of beauty and you know you want one.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Fewer clothes can reduce laundry mess
One of the ways to avoid having a constant laundry mess is to have fewer clothes in your closet. Here are 15 tips to get you started:
1. Get rid of any clothes that do not fit you. It sounds like an obvious statement, but you would be shocked by how many people store clothes that are not their size. Many people have told me that they hold onto smaller sizes because they want to lose weight and fit into their skinny clothes again. This doesn’t make sense, because when you lose weight the first thing you want to do is buy new clothes — take my word on it, I’ve recently lost 20 pounds.
2. When buying jeans, shop for ones that are unadorned and inconspicuous. You want jeans that you can wear, wash, and wear again the next day without people thinking you’re in the same pants you were in the previous night. You can’t do that if there is a giant dragon embroidered on the leg. If you work in a corporate office and don’t often wear jeans, I suggest having only two pair (one designer pair and one “I don’t care if these get paint on them” pair). If you work in a casual environment or from your home, then I suggest having no more than four pair of jeans (three designer pair and one “I don’t care if these get paint on them” pair).
Popularity: 18% [?]
Extreme minimalism Monday: laser beard removal
Would you like to get rid of that razor, can of shaving cream, and bottle of after-shave on your bathroom vanity? Do you spend a small fortune on expensive five-bladed razor refills? Would you like to shave five minutes off your morning routine?
If so, you should consider laser beard removal. Yes, it will hurt. Badly. But honestly, what’s six sessions of excruciating pain paired with the smell of burning hair follicles when weighed against less bathroom clutter and a lifetime of not having to shave?
If you decide to take the plunge, be advised that I won’t be joining you, as I’m waiting for the Chester A. Arthur look to come back into style.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Al Gore: Clutter monkey
This picture of Al Gore at his home office is making the rounds on the Mac blogs because it shows his sweet computing set-up. What caught my attention, however, was the crazy clutter surrounding the former veep.
How’s he going to save the world if he can’t find the keys to his hybrid? Mr. Gore needs to point his awesome 3-screened Mac to Unclutterer’s tips on office organization and our series on paper clutter and magazine clutter. Don’t worry, Mr. Vice President, there’s hope for you yet!
Popularity: 10% [?]
Recipe roundup
In my recent post on cookbooks, I discussed ways to keep clutter contained in your kitchen by limiting the number of cookbooks you have in your home. This post is a continuation on that theme, but looks at individual recipes in your collection.
Growing up, my mother had a wood recipe box that had storage for two rows of 3×5 index cards. Once every few weeks, she would take the time to copy down by hand her favorite recipes from magazines and friends. The box was organized by dish and season, and she would go through her file twice a year to remove unused recipes.
When I got my first apartment, my mother gave me a recipe notebook as my housewarming gift. She was realistic enough to know that I could never keep up a system as meticulous as hers. She wanted me, however, to at least try to emulate her behavior.
I have since replaced the exterior of the notebook that she gave me, and added to it in various ways, but it is still fundamentally the same book she gave me years ago. If your recipes are in shambles and causing you clutter, let me recommend that you create a similar product.
What you’ll need:
Popularity: 13% [?]
Guest room clothing storage
If anyone has a guest bedroom in which they host friends and family, storage for your guest’s clothing may be an issue if they are staying for an extended period of time. Rather than have a dresser that hardly ever gets used try the Whitney Design 6-Shelf Canvas Sweater Organizer.
Our guest bedroom doesn’t have a dresser and the closet is pretty tiny so we decided to go with the Whitney 6-Shelf. The shelves have ample storage space and when it isn’t in use it easily collapses down into a fraction of its size for easy storage. (Obviously, the storage space isn’t limited to sweaters.)
Popularity: 4% [?]
The landing strip
Although it’s one of the cornerstones of an organized home, I’m amazed how many folks haven’t heard of the landing strip. The concept it very simple. Organization comes from things having a place and being in their place. Probably the time when this rule is least observed is when we come home. We come from work exhausted, often carrying our work bags, groceries, and the mail. All we can think of is changing into jeans and flip-flops. Stuff just gets tossed down and then later we’re too occupied to clean up. If instead you have a place to “land,” and a routine for doing so, you’ll avoid disorganization from the get-go.
A landing strip in your home should be at the entrance you most often use. The idea is that when you come in, you stop here first and unload. A small table, sideboard, or credenza will do. Your landing strip should have a designated place for everything, so when you come in all you have to do is put everything in its place. I like a bowl to use for my wallet, keys, cell phone and watch. On my way out again, I know exactly where I’ll find them — no wasting time hunting for my keys. Hooks are great for bags. On the wall or on the side of the furniture, just drop of your bag there and keep going.
An inbox is also a must. When you come in with mail, just drop it in. Don’t bother sorting through it. Anything that needs your immediate attention would have come certified, so don’t worry about it. Then, once a week, when you have time, grab a cup of coffee and go through all the mail, tossing out most of it, paying bills right then and there. By batching the mail sorting to once a week, you save time and you reduce the stress that comes from feeling like you have to address each piece of mail.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Sock Purge: Getting rid of mismatched socks
Hate matching up sock pairs while folding laundry? One way to save you time is to have all socks of the exact same color and style.
Every six months, throw away all of your white sports socks and replace them with six pair of new, identical white sports socks. Be sure to alternate the style slightly between purges so if an old sock accidentally doesn’t get purged, you can identify it when it tries to sneak back in to your drawer. All of your socks will have the same amount of wear, they all will match, and they will save you time during folding.
If your spouse or partner has similarly sized feet, try having 12 pair of the same socks. If you’re a man who works in an office, do the same with black and brown dress socks. Three styles are still faster to sort than 18 different styles. My husband and I have subscribed to this process for more than seven years and love the simplicity it brings to our laundry days.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Keyfiler ends serial number clutter
At Unclutterer, we don’t hesitate to promote other projects of our parent company.
How do you keep track of your software license serial numbers? In a folder in the back of a file cabinet for “safe keeping?” Get rid of that folder of printed out emails and mismatched slips of paper by replacing them with Keyfiler.
Keyfiler is a web-based service that securely stores all of your license information in one place, for easy reference from anywhere in the world. Because Keyfiler is tailored specifically for software, it has features you won’t find in a spreadsheet. And because it’s hosted on reliable servers, you don’t have to worry about misplacing a serial number or deleting a registration email.
You cut down on paper and storage space, the licenses are in a secure web-based service that is accessible from anywhere in the world, and you reduce your office clutter. What more can you ask for? Give it a try.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Unitasker Wednesday: Hot Dog Pop-Up Cooker
There is no greater thorn in the side of an obsessively compulsive neat freak like… The Unitasker!
It is a loathsome item, often sold on late-night TV or in airplane catalogs. It is evil because it takes up space in your home and your life without giving much in return. It only does one thing, and usually that thing is really unnecessary or superfluous. Take what is, for me, the paradigmatic example of a unitasker: the Pop-Up Hot Dog Cooker. A $50 monstrosity that takes up 8″ x 10″ x 5″ of space and does one thing: heat up your dogs and buns. Ask yourself this: how often do you eat hot dogs?
In fact that’s one of the questions you should always ask yourself when buying a tool like this. How often will I use this? The other question to ask yourself before you ever let anything new into your home is, Will I love and cherish this thing for a long time to come?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Reader question: Ending laundry chaos
A reader sent us the following question:
Your site is uber-rad. I would really appreciate an article on how to get my LAUNDRY out of chaos mode. Thoughts on that one???
You had me at “uber-rad.”
I see laundry as the worst form of lazy clutter. I understand your pain and stress. I was once a degenerate who let laundry pile up around her until it seemed an impossible foe. The dark side, however, is behind me, and I offer you more than 20 tips to help you keep your laundry chaos to a minimum:
Popularity: 19% [?]
Get rid of that library of clutter
I have a friend that has a library of books he doesn’t read. They sit in stacks or on shelves in his basement. He definitely has his favorites which he rereads, but for the most part he has tomes that haven’t been opened in ten years. He’ll gladly lend them out to friends, but they MUST return them. He basically has become a library of sorts, but without the mandatory library card and the no talking rule.
There are certainly books that you should hang on to. For example, personal all-time favorites that you will probably read again; reference books that are not outdated; historic and possibly valuable books should also be kept. You can probably get rid of that paperback copy of The Shining, but don’t throw it away. Take all of your books to a book consignment shop or better yet donate them. Operation Paperback is a non-profit, grassroots program that collects used books and sends them to American troops deployed overseas. The National Book Foundation also has a list of book donation locations. Getting rid of your book clutter can also enlighten others.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Audiophiles and CD clutter
Last week we replied to the following question from a reader:
My boyfriend and I are audiophiles, and between us we probably have over 1,500 CDs. We do not own a house yet, which prevents us from installing a ton of custom-made shelving on our walls. We can’t find any pre-made solutions that hold more than 350 cds. Any creative suggestions?
At the time, we responded with advice suited to a general audience. We did however, promise a future post better suited to the needs of serious audiophiles. To that end, I shall now geek-out.
The best way to eliminate the clutter of 1,500 CDs is to eliminate the need to have the CDs at hand. For that reason, we’re still standing by our general advice of ripping your physical media before putting it into some kind of long-term storage. It is important to note, however, that the particular needs of audiophiles present a few challenges that need to be addressed.
Popularity: 11% [?]
It’s a cookbook!
When I daydream, my thoughts often drift to food, travel, or food-related travel. I imagine a great glass of bordeaux wonderfully shared with friends over dinner at a local French-style bistro. Inevitably, I then start to think about a great glass of bordeaux wonderfully shared with friends at a bistro in Bordeaux. Sigh.
When my schedule or finances don’t allow me to follow through on these daydreams, I recreate them in my kitchen. I’m not a loyal-to-every-detail recipe follower, but I do look to recipes for inspiration when I’m cooking. As a result, I have to make a conscious effort to keep my cookbook and recipe collections under control.
In a recent pursuit to find order in my kitchen, I began by making a decision to get rid of 90 percent of my cookbook collection. I wanted to have only the number of cookbooks that could fit on a single shelf in my kitchen cabinet. (I strongly believe that cookbooks should be stored in the kitchen, seeing as that is where they are used. And, my kitchen is tiny, so one shelf is all that I can realistically dedicate to this purpose.)
Popularity: 8% [?]
Extreme minimalism Monday: The Penal-Ware® Comby
Do you think stainless steel fixtures are sexy? Is space at a premium in your bathroom? Are you a die-hard fan of HBOs Oz?
If the answer to more than one of these questions is yes, you might want to consider buying the Penal-Ware® Comby from Acorn Engineering. This high-quality prison-grade combination toilet/sink is both stylish and space-saving.
Interior designers should note that the Comby pairs particularly well with Penal-Ware® Suicide Resistant Shower Model 1741.
Popularity: 25% [?]
