Archives for July 2009

How to fold a large bath towel

After I started folding my fitted sheets in the manner I detailed earlier today, I realized that it was very similar to how I fold my large bath towels. The way I fold towels is extremely convenient and efficient because the towels are folded in such a way that I don’t have to refold them to put them on the hanging bar. I just pull them out of storage and hang them up.

1. Either lay the bath towel front-side down on a clean surface or, if your arms are long enough, hold the towel in a similar manner:

2. Fold into thirds (lengthwise):

3. Fold the long strip in half (bring short edges together):

4. Fold the strip in half again:

I fold smaller towels in the same manner but skip step 4 in the process.

Posted by Erin on Jul 9, 2009 | 35 Comments | Tweet This

How to fold a fitted sheet

Fitted bed sheets are notoriously difficult to fold. I used to do the folding method where you tuck corners into each other, but my sheets always ended up looking more like clouds or gigantic cotton balls than something that could be stored easily in my closet.

After buying a new pair of sheets, I decided to unfold the fitted sheet from the packaging in such a way that I might be able to determine how the manufacturer was able to get the sheet extremely small and flat. Based on this process, and a few tweaks of my own, I have found the following steps to be the least cumbersome way to fold a fitted sheet. Here’s how I do it:

1. Either lay the fitted sheet top-side down on a clean surface or, with the help of a buddy, hold the sheet in a similar manner:

2. Fold into thirds (lengthwise):

3. Fold in half (this step is only necessary for queen and king sizes):

4. Fold the long strip in half (bring short edges together):

5. Fold the strip into thirds:

I purposefully made the bed sheet a little off kilter so that you could see that you don’t have to do every step perfectly to obtain superior results.

Posted by Erin on Jul 9, 2009 | 52 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: Lightning Reaction Extreme

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

Do you dislike your friends? Do you want to screw with your loved ones’ pacemakers? Are you so bored that you can’t think of anything better to do than send an electrical charge through other people’s bodies?

If so, I know the perfect product for you to purchase:

The Lightning Reaction Extreme is a “fun” shocking game. Four people hold onto silver sticks that attach to a game board and each stick has a red button. A light in the center of the game board flashes and the first person to hit his red button is deemed the winner. The other three players (this is the Extreme version, after all) are shocked with an electrical charge from three AAA batteries. If shocking your friends isn’t a good time, I don’t know what is!!

There is also the Shocking Memory Game for those who run off all their friends and family members and wish to keep shocking themselves.

Posted by Erin on Jul 8, 2009 | 30 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Jul 8, 2009 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Peter Walsh provides organizing tips for Microsoft Office users

Last month, reader Bev wrote in to our Ask Unclutterer column looking for tips on how to use Entourage on a Mac to organize e-mail and create tasks. A few days before I received her question, I had spoken to super organizer Peter Walsh about the program and was able to pass along a few of his tips.

Peter has gone on to create a 15-minute video for Microsoft talking about how he recommends using Microsoft Office to organize three specific areas of one’s life (family, finance, and health). It’s on the Microsoft for Mac section of the website, but I’ve watched most of the video and can’t really see that any of his tips are necessarily Mac-specific. If you’re a Microsoft Office PC user, you can benefit from the video just the same.

A few words about the video:

  • If you don’t have Microsoft’s Silverlight browser plugin on your computer, you’ll be prompted to download it. It’s free and you don’t have to reboot your computer after installing it.
  • The video includes helpful advice, but in this specific situation Peter talks much slower than he usually does. His slow speech is obviously so that people can open up programs and move things around while following along with the video. However, if you’re not opening programs and following his advice while watching the video, you’ll probably miss his typical fast-paced, cheerful style.
  • He recommends backing up your data to CDs or DVDs. I disagree with this since a disaster that could destroy your computer very likely would destroy this disc-saved data. It’s better to back up your data online (gmail, Mozy.com, a Flickr Pro account for your pictures, etc.) at an off-site location than having your backup and the original in the same house.

I was particularly interested in seeing how he recommended using Office to help track health-related matters. If you’re a Microsoft Office user, you might be interested in checking out Peter Walsh’s video.

Posted by Erin on Jul 8, 2009 | 15 Comments | Tweet This

Stress, stuff, and world travel: The not-so-secret connection

Today we welcome a guest post from Chris Guillebeau. He is a writer and world traveler who publishes The Art of Nonconformity. He has an amazing plan to visit every country in the world (113 down, 84 to go) before his 35th birthday in four years. Follow Chris on Twitter @chrisguillebeau.

Here’s the basics: In a personal quest to visit every country in the world, I regularly pack up and hit the road for two weeks at a time. On any given trip, I’ll probably visit at least three places on at least two continents.

Much of my travel involves round-the-world flights, so I frequently have to think about going from Africa to Eastern Europe, Northern to Southern hemisphere, and other regions that are considerably different from each other. I also have to work wherever I go, so I can’t leave the laptop or paper notebooks behind.

I’ve been doing this kind of travel for a while, and I’ve noticed something interesting: less is more.

Yes, I know, this concept is hardly novel, especially for readers of Unclutterer. What I find interesting is the relationship between stress and stuff. After visiting more than 100 countries (I still have 80+ remaining, so I’m far from done), I’ve come to believe that the more I take with me, the more stress I’ll encounter along the way. To cut down on the stress without cutting out stuff I really need, I’ve learned to adopt a few principles.

The Principles

The overriding principle is take less, but here’s how it looks in more specific terms:

  • Fewer Clothes. Generally speaking, I need more shirts than pants. Most of them are t-shirts or polos, but bringing a dress shirt helps me out when I need to have a business meeting or talk my way into a hostile country without a visa. (You never know what will come up.)

    • Some travelers are anti-cotton, on the grounds that cotton is hard to wash along the way. This is probably true, but I don’t usually worry about it. For me, the most important quality for clothes is “easily packable.”

  • Nothing Big in the Bag. No matter what I have to take, I want it to be as small as possible. The only bulky items I bring along are my running shoes, due to my habit of trying to squeeze in marathon training at many of the stops. Otherwise, the smaller, the better.
  • Travel Is an Art, not a Science. I don’t have a spreadsheet that tells me where to put each item, and my packing list is quite loose. Since I avoid the engineering approach, I try to take the less-is-more approach: if I don’t need it, it doesn’t go in the bag.
  • Combine Items or Multitask Whenever Possible. I can charge my iPod while syncing, so why bring the wall charger? My laptop has a built-in microphone, so out goes the USB mic I used to travel with.
  • Leave Things Along the Way. After I finish a book, I leave it behind for someone else. Hostels are great locations for drop-offs, but I’ve also left books and magazines in restaurants, airplanes, and buses. If I’m unable to do laundry, I’ll recycle an old t-shirt somewhere and buy another on the street.

A Few Things That Help

I try to be low-tech, because if something doesn’t work, I’m not good at fixing it. That said, these technologies have been helping me a lot lately:

  • Gmail Offline. I love the new Gmail Offline feature (it’s in Labs) so I can process my email no matter where I am. If you use Outlook, of course, you already have this option – but as a Gmail fan, this feature rocks my world. On a typical 10-hour flight, I’ll reply to 200 or more messages, which will then zip out the outbox as soon as I land and connect to wifi. To get it, check out this short tutorial from the Google team.
  • Verizon MiFi. At least in the U.S. now, I have my own wifi hotspot wherever I go. I can also share it with up to four others, which I like to do in airports that don’t offer free wifi. Coming back to Grand Central Station from Hastings, New York recently, I was able to work online for 40 minutes, and I shared the signal with my friend Ishita so that she could work too. When I set it up last month, Verizon told me that an international version is in the works – something I’m deliriously excited about.
  • MacBook Camera. I recently started making videos while traveling, and by using the built-in camera on my MacBook, I’ve avoided the need to get more gear. Once you learn to look at the top of the computer instead of the screen (it takes a few tries), it works great. My videos aren’t Oprah-quality – at least, she hasn’t called yet – but they’re easy to make and I try to have fun with them.

Wrap-Up

The more I unclutter, the less stress I encounter when traveling. Your experience may be different, but if you’re looking to see the world without lugging a suitcase, rest assured that it’s doable. Now, if only I could find a way to avoid leaving my iPod behind in the back of a taxi, I’d be set.

Posted by Chris on Jul 7, 2009 | 21 Comments | Tweet This

Is it a collection or clutter?

Writer Marc Sotkin produces the website Boomer Alley, which is self-described as a “consistently entertaining, professional grade, irreverent look at the world of the Baby Boomers.” Back in April, he made the poignant video “Collection or Clutter” that explores the question of whether the stuff you’re storing in your home is really worth keeping. I had a good laugh at the point in the video where he talks about Pogs:

If you can’t see the video in the post, you can find it on YouTube or Boomer Alley.

(Thanks to reader Deborah for directing us to this fun video.)

Posted by Erin on Jul 7, 2009 | 32 Comments | Tweet This

10 uncluttering things to do every day

  1. If you have pets, make your bed. You can make your bed even if you don’t have pets, but people with pets can’t miss this uncluttering step. Pets have litter, dirt, fur, dander, dust, and/or a bunch of other yucky things on them that don’t belong on your sheets. Plus, a made bed is easy on the eyes.
  2. Know where you’re going. Before taking to the road, make sure to know the travel conditions and best route possible for your destination. Getting lost or sitting in a widely-reported traffic jam is nothing but time clutter.
  3. Plan your perfect day. We’ve written quite a bit about this task, so I’ll simply direct you to our previous post.
  4. Clean out your desk’s inbox. File papers, enter items onto your to-do list or into your project management software, scan papers you don’t need in physical form, sign documents — just be sure that your inbox is clean by the time you leave work at the end of the day.
  5. Set your desk for tomorrow. Right before you head home from work, be sure to clear your desk and have it ready for tomorrow. If you have an early morning meeting with handouts, make sure that the handouts are easily accessible and ready to go. In case of an emergency, it should be simple for a co-worker to come into your office and quickly find the materials. Even if you don’t have an early meeting, your desk should be set so that when you arrive to work you can get right to work.
  6. Sort, open, and act on your mail. When you immediately walk into your home, sort through your mail. Recycle all junk mail that doesn’t include any identifying information. Shred all junk mail (like credit card applications) that someone could use to steal your identity. Open and act on all other mail. Your action may simply be to scan and then shred the information, file papers, or pay a bill — but doing it right when you come home keeps it from being clutter in your home.
  7. Load (and, if necessary, run) the dishwasher or hand-wash the dishes. Dirty dishes on the counter, sink, and anywhere else in your home are invitations to bugs, pests, and bacteria. Additionally, they clutter up your kitchen and make preparing meals a pain. You’re more likely to save a few bucks and eat at home if your kitchen is clean and ready to be used.
  8. Get ready for bed an hour before you plan to go to sleep. Doing this means that your dirty clothes are more likely to be returned to a hanger, dropped in the hamper, or put in a mesh bag for dry cleaning, hand washing, or repairing. Also, a set bedtime routine signals your brain that it’s time to relax and prepare for sleep.

If you paid careful attention, you noticed that there are only 8 items on this list even though the headline proclaims 10. I did this because I want you to add two more things that are specific to your life as the other two items. Tell us about your items #9 and #10 in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Jul 6, 2009 | 74 Comments | Tweet This

Deck of Chores

If you’re a parent with elementary age children and you’re looking for ways to encourage helping out around the house, check out the Deck of Chores.

These cards are actual playing cards, (so you can play poker with them even after your kids leave the nest) but they have the added bonus of being a fun way to create chore lists for kids. From the manufacturer’s website:

Now children can either play games for chores, parents can set out which chores need to be completed or have the entire family pick a card each for their daily chore.

What a great way to have fun with the entire family

Build confidence, responsibility and organization

You could easily create something similar in a DIY project with cardstock and your computer’s printer, specifically customized for your home’s needs. Mostly, I like the idea of making chores for children fun.

Posted by Erin on Jul 6, 2009 | 17 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Jul 5, 2009 | Comments Off | Tweet This

That’s dirty!

The humor website Cracked.com ran a crass article last week about the dirtiest places you encounter in a day.

The “6 Items You Touch Everyday That Are Filthier Than a Toilet” article isn’t safe for work and contains some non-child-friendly language, so if you want to see the original, you’ll need to go to Cracked.com and do a search yourself (we try to be at least a wee-bit family friendly here on Unclutterer). But, the research linked to from the article is super safe (albeit disturbing), so I’ll put a few of those links into this post describing the findings from the Cracked.com article.

Coming in at #6 is the soap in public restroom dispensers. If the liquid soap isn’t in a sealed and disposable bag, it likely has bacteria in it. The door knob is also pretty bad. And, the faucet knobs aren’t all that clean, either. Turns out, the toilet seat has less bacteria on it that these three other items.

Taking the #5 spot is paper money. The Cracked.com article says there is a “sponge-like ability for money to absorb whatever it comes in contact with.” Ew.

The #4 award went to dirty laundry and washing machines. They contain a lot of bacteria, including enough E. Coli to make you sick.

Number 3 is the one we’ve all heard about — your computer’s keyboard. A regular cleaning with anti-bacterial wipes will help to keep this under control.

Similarly, the #2 dirtiest object is your cell phone. According to Cracked.com: “weighing in at a whopping 25,127 germs per square inch. Yeah, about 10 times as bad as your keyboard.”

And, the winner of the dirtiest place you encounter on a daily basis is your mouth. It seems impossible, but experts report that we have more than 700 different species of bacteria in our mouths.

Pardon me, I’m going to go and brush my teeth again.

Did any of these items surprise you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Jul 4, 2009 | 54 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Office away from the office

This week’s workspace of the week is more of a question than a space. What do you do to make working from a hotel room a bearable experience? (Image is My_OCD’s hotel office):

There isn’t anything particularly interesting about this setup, and that is because it’s in a Super 8 hotel and it’s a dreadful environment most of us have experienced. If we’re being honest, working from a hotel room is usually pretty awful. But, when business calls, it’s the office we have to use. So, instead of looking to this specific setup for inspiration, I wanted to open up the comments for suggestions on how to make working from a hotel desk a more enjoyable and productive experience. How do you create a pseudo-ideal working environment when you’re on the road? Please share your ideas in the comments — we’re all looking for inspiration!!

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.

P.S. Since a good number of our readers have today off from work in honor of Independence Day, our posting will be light today. There will be a post tomorrow and another on Sunday, and then we’ll return to our regular two posts on Monday. Happy 4th of July!

Posted by Erin on Jul 3, 2009 | 29 Comments | Tweet This

And the winners of the Alice.com $250 shopping giveaway are …

Thank you to EVERYONE (all 1,313 of you!) who participated in our Alice.com $250 shopping credit giveaway. Now let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. ET this morning, I closed the comments and counted up the entries. Then, I headed over to the Random Integer Generator at random.org and entered in the data:

Out popped the following numbers:

94 — Aliya

811 — David

I have contacted the winners and they will be receiving $250 credits in their accounts at Alice.com. (I’m a wee bit envious!!) Congratulations to our winners and thank you to Alice.com for their generosity.

Posted by Erin on Jul 2, 2009 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Control cable-clutter with a monkey braid

An excellent post on cable clutter from The Closet Entrepreneur has been making the rounds this week. It shows how to use a monkey braid (or chain sinnet) to shorten cables so they stay out of the way and don’t get tangled.

090702-monkeybraid

I tried it out with a particularly annoying 25′ 13-pin MIDI cable I use frequently and it works just as advertised. Sometimes the best things in life really are free.

(via Lifehacker)

Posted by PJ on Jul 2, 2009 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: The Beaba Babycook

Okay, I know that choosing unitaskers from Williams-Sonoma is so simple that it’s like shooting fish in a barrel … but I can’t help myself! There are so many wonderful unitaskers lining their shelves. It’s fruitless for me to try to steer clear. I am drawn to their shiny, unitasker-ness like a moth to a street lamp. I can’t help myself.

This week’s winner of the unitasker title is the Beaba Babycook.

Simply by using a pot, a steamer insert for that pot, and a blender (or potato masher or food processor or even the back of a sturdy fork) that you already own, you can make your child’s food without this contraption. Heck, if you already own a rice cooker you don’t even need a pot and steamer insert (a rice cooker, although the name implies it only cooks rice, is actually quite a wonderful multitasker). I am stumped as to why a parent might possibly need this Beaba Babycook appliance. Oh, and it’s $150 for an appliance you will maybe use for a year, if you even use it at all.

Posted by Erin on Jul 1, 2009 | 44 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Jul 1, 2009 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Alice.com giveaway

As a “thank you” to us for testing their service in the private beta (gamma?) launch, Alice.com has given Unclutterer TWO $250 credits to give away to our readers. If you’re a winner, $250 will be credited to your Alice.com account for you to spend through their service. And, because they have nice low prices, you can actually get quite a bit of stuff for $250 (and you don’t have to spend it all in one trip, any balance will remain in your account for another shopping session). I love generous presents for our readers!

To enter for a chance to win one of the $250 shopping credits, simply leave ONE comment to this post indicating that you want to participate in the drawing. On Thursday, July 2, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. ET, I will enter the number of comments into the Random Integer Generator at random.org and select two random winners. Good luck!

Warning: If you leave a comment to this post that isn’t an entry, I will DELETE it. Nothing personal, I just don’t want to select a winner who isn’t interested in participating in the giveaway.

(Just so you know, I didn’t receive any credits or payment when I tested their service, nor am I receiving any now. Unclutterer readers are the lucky ones!)

Posted by Erin on Jul 1, 2009 | 1,313 Comments | Tweet This