Archives for May 2007

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.)

Posted by Matt on May 18, 2007 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

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.

Posted by Jerry on May 18, 2007 | 30 Comments | Tweet This

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.

Posted by Erin on May 17, 2007 | 20 Comments | Tweet This

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.

Posted by Matt on May 17, 2007 | 9 Comments | Tweet This

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?

Posted by Jerry on May 16, 2007 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

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:

Continue reading this post »

Posted by Erin on May 16, 2007 | 20 Comments | Tweet This

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.

Posted by Matt on May 16, 2007 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

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.

While the heathens may be content to use 128 or 160 kilobit per second lossy MP3 or AAC compression, you obviously understand that approach won’t cut it in terms of quality. You’ll definitely want to use a lossless codec when ripping your media. Doing so will preserve the full quality of the CD recording while saving considerable space. Who cares if you only get 2:1 compression instead of 10:1 compression? Hard drive space is cheap these days–at least cheaper than your unobtainium-plated interconnects sheathed in endangered panda skin for optimum voodoo-shielding.

You have a number of lossless codec options, the two most popular of which are the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) and the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC).

The iPod doesn’t support FLAC, which might dictate the use of ALAC. A number of network media players, such as the Squeezebox from Slim Devices, support both formats. This means the choice is really up to you. I manage my music through iTunes and own an iPod, so I favor ALAC.

Full CD sound quality does comes at a cost. ALAC or FLAC files will require more storage space than MP3s. As an audiophile, you probably also have a larger-than-average music collection. To get around this problem, I use an Infrant ReadyNAS to store my media. It’s basically a low-level server with four SATA bays and a RAID controller. The most practical and cost-efficient route is to buy a diskless model and add SATA drives as you need them. You can also buy a unit already outfitted with drives if you prefer.

Going the ReadyNAS route has a number of advantages:

  • You get the redundancy of RAID. If a single drive in the unit fails (and multiple drives are present) you shouldn’t lose your data.
  • The NAS is on your network, so you can actually put it in another room so you don’t have to hear the spinning hard drives. Putting the unit outside of your listening room will basically make it a quieter solution than the quietest CD transport available.
  • You can access the media from multiple computers and devices in the house.
  • The ReadyNAS consistently receives better reviews than other home NAS products, like the Buffalo TeraStation.

The final step is integrating some kind of network music player into your sound system. If you’ve been using optical outputs on your CD transport until now, you can basically just replace the CD transport with a network music player with an optical output. The AppleTV is a decent solution if you have a TV present and want to use the onscreen menus to browse your music collection. Don’t be alarmed by how inexpensive the unit is. As an audiophile you’ve probably spent more than $299 on little wooden blocks to keep your speaker wire off the floor, but if you’ll be using optical outputs along with another (presumably higher quality) DAC, it really doesn’t matter.

If you don’t have a television in your listening room but you have an good external DAC, you should consider the Squeezebox from Slim Devices. It has a sexy fluorescent vacuum display for song selection.

If you want a network music player with a good onboard DAC, you should consider the Transporter (also by Slim Devices). It is a component-sized unit that features the AK4396 “Miracle DAC.” Stereophile gave this device a stellar review in their February issue.

You’ll still have to make a decision about what to do with your physical media. A number of good suggestions were mentioned in last week’s post. I store all my media along with the jewel boxes in corrugated plastic boxes from Bags Unlimited. Each one holds 100 CDs and they’re sturdy enough to stack.

Posted by PJ on May 15, 2007 | 17 Comments | Tweet This

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.)

Continue reading this post »

Posted by Erin on May 15, 2007 | 9 Comments | Tweet This

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.

Posted by PJ on May 14, 2007 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

Avoid furniture unitaskers

When you buy furniture, consider purchasing pieces that are able to serve multiple functions. Furniture that can adapt to different requirements is less likely to become clutter as your needs change. My wife and I have a Nelson Platform Bench in our entryway. When we bought it, we acknowledged that it could easily serve as a coffee table in the future.

The Bingo Pouf with Tray Table is a reasonably priced ($348) side table that folds out into a full length bed. It’s probably cheaper than any decent sofa-sleeper you’re likely to find, although you probably wouldn’t want any guests sleeping in it for more than a night or two.

Small stools can easily be transformed into side tables when extra seating is not required. Philippe Starck’s Prince Aha Stool is a nice inexpensive ($87) piece to consider.

Jasper Morrison has a beautiful, albeit more expensive, stool in cork that could also function as a side table.

If you like beautiful turned wood, consider an Eames Walnut Stool.

The slimmer depth of newer televisions means that credenzas can now easily function as entertainment centers.

The same concept still applies even if you’re not a sucker for the modern look, like us.

Posted by PJ on May 14, 2007 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Get your dot on

Alex Fayle offered the following tip in the comments section on one of Friday’s posts. It was such a good suggestion, we thought we would bring it to your attention:

A simple way of knowing if you actually use things is to get removable coloured dots and stick one to each of your small appliances and kitchen gadgets. As you use your things, take off the dot (hence why you want to get removable dots).

After six months look at all the things still with dots and decide if you actually want to keep them or not (some things only get used rarely but are totally worth their storage space).

You could just as easily use this approach in other areas of your home or office. Here’s a link to suitable 1/2″ removable colored dots at Amazon.com.

Posted by PJ on May 12, 2007 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

The minimalist kitchen

On Wednesday, the New York Times ran an interesting feature in which food columnist Mark Bittman explained how one could outfit a well-equipped kitchen for less than $300.

Rather than making this into a shopping list, you might consider using it as a reality check for the things you already own. If you have all kinds of kitchen accessories you don’t use, and they’re not on this list, you might want to consider getting rid of them.

Particularly helpful is a section at the end of the article where Bittman lists several “inessentials”:

STAND MIXER Unless you’re a baking fanatic, it takes up too much room to justify it. A good whisk or a crummy handheld mixer will do fine.

BONING/FILLETING KNIVES Really? You’re a butcher now? Or a fishmonger? If so, go ahead, by all means. But I haven’t used my boning knife in years. (It’s pretty, though.)

WOK Counterproductive without a good wok station equipped with a high-B.T.U. burner. (There’s a nice setup at Bowery Restaurant Supply for $1,400 if you have the cash and the space.)

That said, I think my lovely wife would throttle me if I gave away her Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, so excercise extreme caution in this regard.

Posted by PJ on May 11, 2007 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

Clutter-free movie viewing

Movie rental subscription services like Netflix.com and Blockbuster’s Total Access are such obvious alternatives to DVD ownership that not having mentioned them on our site before now seems surprising. In fact, these programs are such effective alternatives that even people who aren’t into decluttering their homes subscribe.

You might not be aware, however, of additional methods of watching movies in your home without purchasing DVDs (and, yes, these are legal alternatives):

  • Pay-per-view and On Demand movie viewing through your cable company. Usually, for less than $5, you can “rent” movies for 24-hour viewing. It’s immediate, easy, and still less than a movie theater ticket. Contact your local cable provider for details.
  • Amazon’s TiVo movie downloading. Fees range from $2 to $4 for most films for 30 days of viewing. There also is an option for paying more for permanent ownership. The speed of your internet connection will determine how long it takes for you to download a film.
  • Apple’s iTunes (available for the Mac and PC) has movie downloads available for your computer, iPod, or Apple TV. Most movies are $10 and you buy the file outright at that price. Again, the speed of your internet connection will determine download time.

All movie download services sacrifice some image quality for convenience, so keep that in mind when choosing these alternatives. DRM also will prevent you from playing or viewing these movies on alternate devices. But, if you see having Netflix.com or Total Access envelopes around your house as too much clutter, then these download options may be right for you.

Posted by Erin on May 11, 2007 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Conquering coin clutter

Piggy Bank

Coins can gradually claim a lot of space over time. In your car, on top of your dresser, or in multiple containers throughout the house. Make sure you designate one place for your spare change and keep the collecting reasonable. Don’t let the hoarding of spare change get out of control. Take your piggy bank to a Coinstar machine where you can cash it in for an eCertificate to Amazon.com or many other retailers. You also have the option of donating your spare change to one of six non-profit partners. By opting for the gift card or donation option you also skip the service fee (8.9 cents per dollar).

Getting value out of your coin clutter isn’t the only thing Coinstar helps you with. It saves you the time you would spend rolling all that change and the smelly fingers you inevitably get from handling all those pennies.

You can also cancel change out of your life completely by exclusively using your debit card and going cashless. Bank of America has a program called Keep the Change which rounds your purchases up to the nearest dollar and transfers the difference to your savings account. Going cashless is probably the best way to canceling out clutter, but cash is sometimes the only option at certain establishments.

Posted by Matt on May 10, 2007 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

The Litter-Robot Revolutionizes Cat Crap Disposal

As a longtime TiVo owner, I understand that it is my responsibility to spread the Good News of TiVo to the unannointed masses still condemned to either watch scheduled television programming as it is broadcast or to record it on a barbaric and antiquated VCR.

While people have come to expect this kind of evangelism from TiVo owners, they are often caught off-guard when they learn I have the same unyielding missionary spirit for my litter box.

The Litter Robot is an automatic self-cleaning litter box that completely revolutionizes the act of cat crap disposal.

The machine, which bears an odd resemblance to Kenny from South Park, consists of a rotating plastic globe with a built-in sifting mechanism. Here’s how it works:

Continue reading this post »

Posted by PJ on May 10, 2007 | 17 Comments | Tweet This

Photographing your mementos

When my husband and I were first moving in together, I had an enormous Rubbermaid bin of stuff that I called my “memory chest.” It was full of things that I had collected throughout my life that I wanted to keep but didn’t have a desire to display. If memory serves correctly, the container weighed more than our sofa.

After struggling to carry it up the stairs of our building, my husband set it down in exhaustion and threw the top off the bin to see what was inside. He pulled out an unopened bottle of Bud Light and waved it at me.

Husband: What is this?!
Me: A bottle of Bud Light.
Husband: Yes, I can see that. But what is it really? Why is it in a storage box that weighs a ton?
Me: It has sentimental value.
Husband: Tell me about it. Tell me about this bottle.
Me: I don’t remember, but I think it was funny.
Husband: You don’t remember!?!

He pulled playbills and ticket stubs and dried flowers and coasters and a hand-full of other things out of the box. I’m ashamed to say it, but I only remembered about half of the reasons why the things that he was showing me were in the box. It wasn’t much of a memory chest after all.

Continue reading this post »

Posted by Erin on May 10, 2007 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

Reader question: Shelving your CD collection

Unclutterer reader Jenny wrote in with this question:

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?

This isn’t the only reader question we’ve gotten about CDs, so it looks like folks need help with their media. First off, let me say that in this post I’m going to offer some basic advice that should be applicable to most people. Next week we’ll have a post that will be better suited to serious audiophiles. Below I’ll present three options, from most to least drastic.

The first thing that comes to mind is what I’ve done myself: I’ve gotten rid of all but a few of my CDs. On his blog, Todd Dominey has a detailed step-by-step how-to post explaining how he ripped his collection of about 4,000 CDs into digital files and then sold the originals on Amazon marketplace. Although I have questioned the legality of doing this, it is no doubt a common practice. Revenue from the sale of a big collection can bring in enough cash to buy you an iPod, speakers, and Airport Express (to shift music wirelessly around your home), or a bigger hard drive to contain all that music.

Continue reading this post »

Posted by Jerry on May 9, 2007 | 31 Comments | Tweet This

Clutter-free Mother’s Day gift giving

In the spirit of a simpler lifestyle, we at Unclutterer offer up the following Mother’s Day gift ideas. They aren’t revolutionary suggestions, but hopefully they will get you thinking about clutter-free gift giving.

  • Charitable giving in honor of your mother is one way to show your love and appreciation without bringing clutter into her home. In particular, we like Heifer International.
  • Companies are popping up all over the country that provide experience-based gifts. Signature Days and Xperience Days are just two providers offering race car driving, boating excursions, cooking lessons, hot air balloon rides and other adventures.
  • You can order your mother flowers through a site like 1-800-Flowers for a beautiful, but temporary, gift. Be sure to order the “bouquet only” option so that there isn’t an extra vase left afterward taking up space.
  • Dinner at a fine restaurant is always appreciated.
  • Theater, movie, and concert tickets are a hit with new mothers, especially if you can also make plans for a babysitter as part of the package.

Feel welcome to leave additional clutter-free gift suggestions in the comments!

Posted by Erin on May 9, 2007 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Holding pattern ideas

Aren’t sure of if you should get rid of an item in your home right now? Want to go through a trial phase of having that item out of sight, but not out of reach?

I recommend that everyone in your family have one MeBox in your garage, attic, or basement to store those items that are in flux. Allow yourself only to keep in limbo items that you can fit inside the box. Twice a year, go through the box and get rid of everything in it that you didn’t access. I think that you’ll be surprised at how many times you get rid of everything in your MeBox, and you may eventually discover that you don’t need a MeBox at all.

Posted by Erin on May 8, 2007 | 11 Comments | Tweet This