Archives for May 2008

Unclutterer on the fEmpowerment podcast

Yesterday, I spoke with the lovely Sandy Shepard and recorded an episode of her fEmpowerment podcast titled “How Not to Get Divorced Before You Get Married – Decluttering and Moving In Together.” We discuss:

  • How the Unclutterer Got Started, including all about Mazes of Stuff and the Bud Lite Bottle rising from the Dead/Rubbermaid Coffin (cue scary music);
  • How to terrorize soon-to-be-husbands (N.B.: Mazes of stuff will do it);
  • Dealing kindly with a Packrat;
  • How to start the decluttering process, be dispassionate, and communicate;
  • Two great ways to diminish the “mine v. yours” struggle;
  • How to discuss what “Simple Living” means to each of you and how to imagine living together as one;
  • Your Toaster or Mine: How to deal when the space won’t hold it all (especially two of everything);
  • Who are You, Really: What new and exciting thoughts you could entertain about decluttering and how not to drag the anchor of the Old You, along with all of her dead/post energy and stories, into your new life; and
  • A whole lot more!

If you’re getting ready to combine your household with someone else’s — a new roommate, a new spouse, a new child, an older parent coming to live in your established home — then you hopefully will find some advice in this episode for how to handle the transition smoothly. Or, if you’ve already combined a household with someone and it isn’t going the way you imagined, you might also want to give this episode a listen. Sandy and I laugh through a good portion of the interview, so you may even just want to give it a listen if you want to smile. And, hopefully, I don’t scare all of you with my story of how I became an Unclutterer.

To listen, follow the link to the article and then click on the red play button at the bottom of the page. A giant thank you, too, to Sandy for picking such a relevant topic and being such a terrific hostess.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 31, 2008 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Creative uses for velcro cable ties

There are the obvious uses for velcro cable ties:

But, you also can use them to wrap belts for storage or when traveling:

Keep pens and pencils grouped together in your purse or briefcase:

Use multiple ties together to bind larger objects:

Join flip-flops when heading to the pool:

You could even use them to tie up tomato plants.

How do you use velcro cable ties to help keep you organized? Let’s hear about your creative ideas in the comments!

Popularity: 16% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 30, 2008 | 22 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Parent and child office

This week’s Workspace of the Week is Yellow Fence’s parent and child workspace:

This week’s selection is quite possibly one of the most adorable offices I have seen in our flickr pool. The child’s art desk along side the adult work desk is precious and functional. There are additional photos of the space that show that half of the room is dedicated to a play space. Additionally, the use of the kitchen racks keep the room well organized. Thank you, Yellow Fence, you are an office-design muse!

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.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 30, 2008 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

Weekend project: Tackle newspaper and magazine clutter

If you’re looking for an uncluttering project for this weekend, consider organizing your newspapers and magazines.

  • Gather together all of your newspapers and magazines and set them on a flat work surface.
  • Toss into the recycling bin all of your newspapers that are more than a day old.
  • Recycle immediately any magazine that you know you will never get around to reading.
  • If you have read and flagged articles in any of your magazines, cut them out of the publication and scan them so that you have a digital copy. Then, recycle the originals and the magazine.
  • Any magazine you haven’t read that you still want to read, write June 29, 2008, on the cover of the magazine with a magic marker. In a month, if you still haven’t read it, recycle it on the spot.
  • Put the magazines you intend to read in a location where you’ll see them and read them. Then, as time permits, pick them up and enjoy the publications.
  • Finally, take your paper recycling to your local recycling center or to the curb if you are fortunate to have curb-side pickup.

If your newspapers and magazines are already in order, check out our list of other weekend project ideas.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 29, 2008 | 35 Comments | Tweet This

Make your own collapsible fabric box

Over at Associated Content, they have step-by-step directions on how to make your own collapsible fabric boxes. From the AC article:

Home storage is always in short supply. Often, people resort to using cardboard boxes or plastic cartons to store their items in closets, the attic, or cellars. But many items have to be stored out in the open. A great way of creating quick and attractive storage solutions is by crafting collapsible fabric boxes.

Rather than running out and buying some run-of-the-mill plastic storage bins, you can customize the look by picking out some fabric you may already have. If you are happy with the look of your creation, you can keep the storage box in the open rather than hiding it away in a closet.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Posted by Matt on May 29, 2008 | 11 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: ,

Unitasker Wednesday: The cellphone holder

When you are at your desk and you are not using your cellphone, what do you do with it? I generally put it on my desk or keep it in my pocket. What was I thinking?!? All these years I could have had my very own cute and whimsical cellphone holder. You’ll never misplace your cellphone again when you use one of these. With your choice of bear, cat, or dog (pictured) you can even collect all three.

Why not have one at your desk, one on your nightstand, and one on your dashboard? Your cellphone will always be in good hands, er, paws. They are only $4.95, so you won’t break the bank paying for these adorable little helpers. Maybe these cute little holders aren’t unitaskers after all? They can hold anything that is roughly the size of a cellphone. I may pick up a handful of these things to hold onto my wallet, iPod, business cards, my sense of style, and of course my cellphone.

**Each week, the Unitasker Wednesday column humorously pokes fun at the unnecessary, single-use items that manage to find their way into our homes.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Posted by Matt on May 28, 2008 | 24 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , ,

A year ago on Unclutterer

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 28, 2008 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

How to write in books that aren’t yours

Checking books out for the library is a good strategy for reducing book clutter in your home. However, if you check a book out from the library, you can’t write in it.

I am someone who has “writes in books” as a character trait. Phrases that speak to me, clues in mystery novels, and things I want to remember get scribbled in the margins of most every book I read. In college, my text books resembled works of art with highlighting, drawings, and notes. I can’t just idly track my eyes across a page, I want to interact with the text.

When I check books out from the library or borrow a book from a friend, I use post-it notes or scrap paper to keep track of my ideas so that I don’t deface a book I shouldn’t. My world of writing in books was completely turned upside down earlier this month, however, when I discovered Sheer Colors Post-it notes:

If you’re like me and enjoy taking permanent pens and highlighters to books, the 3M Sheer Colors Post-it notes can make non-permanent ownership of books a lot more enjoyable.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 28, 2008 | 52 Comments | Tweet This

Where to start organizing your home

Many people are overwhelmed by the idea of organizing their homes. When there is so much to do, it can be difficult to know where to begin. If you’re in such a state, let me suggest four ways you can get started. Hopefully one of the methods will be a perfect match for you!

  1. Start by organizing the area you first see in the morning. If your first activity is to walk into your closet to pick out your clothes, then choose to organize your closet. If you get coffee, organize your kitchen. If you hop into the shower, then tackle your bathroom. The idea is that the first thing you see in the morning can set your mood for the whole day, so you should at least start with a sense of calm and order.
  2. Start by organizing the area you first see when you come home after work. Your home should be an area of rejuvenation and relaxation. If the first thing you see when you get home from a long day at work makes you stressed out, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. Is there a mess in the driveway that could be cleared? Do you pull into your garage and curse because you can barely get out of your car? Is your home’s entrance in complete chaos? Whatever is the first place that causes you stress when you come home, start by clearing clutter there.
  3. Start with the area of your home that makes you seethe. Without putting too much thought into it, what is the one area of your home that you avoid because of its mess? Your instincts will quickly call to mind the one space that drives you nuts more than any other area of your home. Get started in that space to get the worst of the worst cleaned first.
  4. Start at the top and work your way down. In the same way that you dust before you sweep, tackle the areas up high in a room and then work your way toward the floor. Think of your work as if you’re completing an archeological dig.

As you’re working, keep in mind that even the smallest steps help your space to be more organized than it was previously and that there is no reason to be overwhelmed by the task in front of you. Good luck with your organization endeavors!

Popularity: 15% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 27, 2008 | 24 Comments | Tweet This

Multi-tasking gadgets worth sharing

We have recently stumbled upon some fun multitaskers and thought you might enjoy them, too:

An ironing board ladder. It’s an adjustable height ladder and an ironing board in one unit. It’s perfect for people in small spaces.

The Chumby. It’s an alarm clock with a LCD display that connects to the internet. You can listen to music and podcasts, get the weather, view sports scores, hear the latest headlines, play games, and message other Chumby users. Basically, it’s the next generation in clock radios.

USB flash drive bracelet. It’s a piece of jewelry and a 2GB flash drive. I can see these being perfect for high school students who are working on projects at home and at school.

Restoration Hardware’s utility apron. Shove everything you can imagine into the pockets while you’re doing housework or gardening. Thanks to Asha at Parent Hacks for this suggestion!

Here are some other multitaskers we’ve covered in the past: iPhone, credit card survival tool, Swiss army knife, chair ladder, and the Coleman blanket.

Have you encountered any fun multitaskers recently? Please share your finds in the comments section.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 27, 2008 | 15 Comments | Tweet This

Documentary defends the clutter lifestyle

Journalist, author, and filmmaker, Josh Freed, directed and starred in My Messy Life. The film documents his messy lifestyle and defends his “cult of clutter.” From the CTV article:

“My Messy Life,” an original documentary directed by and starring Freed himself, takes a light-hearted look at clutter in a symbolic act of defiance against what Freed calls the “tyranny of the tidy.”

In the film, Freed turns the cameras on his home office, which he aptly calls his “messterpiece.”

Aside from his chair, not a single surface is visible in Freed’s office. Notes plaster walls, bins cover the floor and stacks of paper, files and books consume the desk.

Freed’s way of life is the antithesis of what we strive for here at Unclutterer, but this film looks interesting and entertaining. Freed seems to have a good sense of humor about his organizational skills, or lack there of, so the film seems to be a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Freed did need to have some outside organizing help while making the documentary.

During the making of “My Messy Life” Freed’s producers kept the details in check so he could focus on creating.

You can watch a news clip about the documentary here, but unfortunately we can’t seem to find the whole of the documentary online. Have any of our Canadian readers had the pleasure of viewing this documentary? It originally aired on CTV on May 17.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted by Matt on May 26, 2008 | 41 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , ,

A year ago on Unclutterer

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 25, 2008 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

A little Unclutterer love for The New York Times

On Thursday, Unclutterer was mentioned in The New York Times article “Organize Your Life, It’s Your Civic Duty.” The article follows reporter Michelle Slatalla for a day as she waits to be called for jury duty. She decides to spend her time learning as much as she can from personal productivity websites:

My plan was to read and follow the suggestions posted on all the gazillion online productivity blogs — Unclutterer.com, 43folders.com, Dumblittleman.com and Lifehack.org, for example — that offer eclectic advice on how to spend time fruitfully.

Thank you, Michelle, for thinking of us, and welcome to any new readers who may have found us from the article!

***

A couple weeks ago, Matt was interviewed by Rachel Mosteller for the article “Chasing Utopia, Family Imagines No Possessions” that ran in the May 17 issue of The New York Times. During the interview, he was questioned about his family’s decision to downsize to a smaller home. He didn’t end up being directly quoted in the article, but he and the rest of us at Unclutterer certainly enjoyed seeing voluntary simplicity getting good press in a major paper:

Though it may not be the stuff of the typical American dream, the voluntary simplicity movement, which traces its inception to 1980s Seattle, is drawing a great deal of renewed interest, some experts say.

“If you think about some of the shifts we’re having economically — shifts in oil and energy — it may be the right time,” said Mary E. Grigsby, associate professor of rural sociology at the University of Missouri and the author of “Buying Time and Getting By: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement.”

“The idea in the movement was ‘everything you own owns you,’ ” said Dr. Grigsby, who sees roots of the philosophy in the lives of the Puritans. “You have to care for it, store it. It becomes an appendage, I think. If it enhances your life and helps you do the things you want to do, great. If you are burdened by these things and they become the center of what you have to do to live, is that really positive?”

Parts of the article are a little more “off the grid” than my personal commitment to simple living, but overall it is filled with wonderful perspective and I recommend reading it if you haven’t already.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 24, 2008 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

Organize your gardening projects with Myfolia.com

After Matt’s post last week about low-maintenance perennials, I thought it might be helpful to provide a tip to those who are more enthusiastic about gardening.

Readers Melissa and Chromy suggest that the green thumb among you may want to take a look at Myfolia.com. It’s an online community that allows you to organize, track, and share your plants. You can submit photographs and ask questions of other members, and learn all there is to know about what is growing in your garden.

I’ve explored Myfolia.com and it seems very similar to Ravelry. Any tool to help organize your hobbies sounds like a terrific resource to me. Happy gardening!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 23, 2008 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: An organized cubicle

This week’s Workspace of the Week is Jay’s cubicle:

I decided to write about Jay’s cubicle because it is the first cubicle entry we’ve had in the Unclutterer flickr pool. It is an organized cubicle, too! The dry erase board on the right wall looks to be functional, the trash can is in an easily accessible location, and nothing appears to be unnecessarily cluttering up the work surface. I also like the creative use of what looks to be a popcorn tin being used as a laptop stand. Thank you, Jay, for your photo submission!

I worked for many years in cubicles and routinely fought with their poor layouts and cramped quarters. If you are in a cubicle and have found organized solutions for your space, I know that our readership would love to see what you’ve done. Let’s get more organized cubicle pictures in the flickr 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.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 23, 2008 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

Reader question: Help curb my cable clutter!

Reader Sara contacted us with an office organization dilemma:

I need some ideas for organizing my “office.” My office is built into my kitchen, a counter top matching the rest of my counters was dropped lower, with a open place for a chair to be rolled under etc. Initially the idea felt awesome because that’s where all the trafic is and I can be available to the kids. There is no other place to move my computer that would be convienant in my house, so it needs to stay here. The biggest problem is all the wires. My internet connection is ontop of the desk as the people who installed it drilled a whole threw the wall, because otherwise it would have required running wires over the end of the counter, or drilling a hole threw the counter. The plug in is also on top of the desk. Which means, everything all the wires have ended up tangling on top of the desk. No matter what I do, I’ve taped them up, I’ve used ties on them, it still looks disorganized and messy. I’ve thought seriously about drilling a hole in the counter top, but it still doesn’t correct the issue with the plug in being on top of the counter.

I thought that since she included pictures, I might put her question out to all of you to see what creative suggestions you can devise for her:

What would you do to curb the cable clutter? Let’s help Sara solve her office organization problem!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 22, 2008 | 61 Comments | Tweet This

G&S Design Compactables

Collapsible, or in this case “compactable,” is always a nice feature to have when looking for kitchen tools. G&S Design has a nice selection of common kitchen tools that compact down into a more convenient size that makes storing them a little easier.

First up, are the Compactable Steel Tongs (pictured). Traditional tongs want to spread their arms in an attempt to keep drawers open and be as cumbersome as possible. These tongs, however, collapse neatly into a compact position and don’t make things messy.

The Compactable Pizza Cutter is a smaller alternative to the usual ridiculously large restaurant-style pizza cutter.

The Compactable Can Opener collapses down to a very small 5″ x 2.75″. Other devices in the G&S Compactable line include:

I hope you like blue, because that’s the only color offered right now.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Posted by Matt on May 22, 2008 | 10 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , , , ,

Unitasker Wednesday: The Krups BeerTender

Williams-Sonoma has a nice little contraption for you beer lovers out there. More specifically, you Heineken drinkers out there. If you like Heineken and you love their newish five liter draught kegs, then you might want to check out the Krups BeerTender.

If you do invest the $300 for this little kegerator, you better hope Heineken doesn’t abandon the five liter kegs. If they do, you will be left with a useless BeerTender that does nothing more than keep a six pack cold. Or what if your tastebuds change and you start craving Pabst Blue Ribbon? You may be scouring the internet for BeerTender hacks on how to make it serve other similarly sized kegs.

The product development team at Heineken better have the BeerTender owner in mind if they ever consider pulling the plug on those cute and tiny kegs. But then again, isn’t the whole idea behind those Heineken kegs the ease of use and no need for anything other than the keg to pour a beer?

**Each week, the Unitasker Wednesday column humorously pokes fun at the unnecessary, single-use items that manage to find their way into our homes.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Posted by Matt on May 21, 2008 | 16 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , ,

A year ago on Unclutterer

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 21, 2008 | Comment | Tweet This

Part two of the Unclutterer Precision Change podcasts

Live now is the second half of the interview with Precision Change I recorded titled What is Your Clutter Costing You? You can download the 21 minute podcast or listen to it by clicking on the “Play Now” link at the beginning of the article.

In this episode, I talk about:

  • Which books to definitely get rid of first, and which to hold on to.
  • Two sexy ebook readers worth considering.
  • Why you might find it important to not have a job that makes you want to poke your eye out with a hot metal pipe.
  • How being aware of the cost of clutter and procrastination can help you to live the life you desire.
  • How uncluttering and mindfulness of the Earth’s limited resources are interconnected.
  • What uncluttering is all about—living the life you want, doing more of what is most important to you.

After you listen to it, come back and let us know what you think of it in the comments. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!

If you missed the first installment of the series, you can listen to it here.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 21, 2008 | 2 Comments | Tweet This