Archives for November 2009

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Nov 8, 2009 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Guest beds and a new community over on RealSimple.com

RealSimple.com, the website for Real Simple magazine, has two great things going on that I want to bring to your attention. First, the article “6 Great Guest Beds” features some wonderful options in guest accommodations.

My favorite is the one pictured here, the Fold-Up Sleeper Ottoman by plowhearth.com.

The second item I want to bring to your attention is the new community features on RealSimple.com. You can find it immediately to the right of the Real Simple logo near the top of the page.

By creating a username and password, you can save recipes, articles, and other online items to your account for easy retrieval. There are also discussion groups and other community features, but it’s the recipe saving that is my favorite aspect of the community so far. I’m a bit addicted to the current Cookie Recipe of the Day feature.

Posted by Erin on Nov 7, 2009 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Selling something with an unknown value

Reader Allison submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

This question may be slightly outside the range of uncluttering, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I have a wooden chair that was designed around (his picture is painted on it) and autographed by a well-known rock musician. It’s a really cool piece, but having a piece of furniture I don’t use seems really silly to me now.

I purchased it at a charity auction several years ago. I am curious about trying to sell it. The problem I have is that I can no longer find the certificate of authenticity. I suspect I didn’t keep it as I didn’t think I would ever EVER want to get rid of the chair. I paid a fairly significant price and if I sell it, I would at least like to break even. Do you have any suggestions for how to go about selling such an item? I’m concerned that people won’t pay much without some guarantee that it’s authentic.

The charity that sponsored the auction seems to no longer exist, but I am still trying to make a few calls.

Thanks for any advice you can provide!

Allison, your question is a lot of fun — and its answer is relevant to more people than you might imagine.

Irrespective of if you have the paperwork or get in touch with someone from the original auction house, you should take the chair to an appraiser who can check it out and let you know it’s worth. If you don’t know an appraiser, I recommend checking out the American Society of Appraisers website’s Find an Appraiser search tool. Even if you aren’t in the US, they have resources beyond our borders.

Contacting a reputable appraiser is always a good idea. Many Unclutterer readers contact me about being responsible for sorting through a loved one’s things after a death and wonder how to handle the estate. The first thing to do, before neighbors and siblings and extended family members start loading things into a truck, is to have an appraiser come in and talk to you about what is there. Appraisers are good people to know.

Thank you, Allison, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope that you are successful in getting rid of your chair for a fair price. Also, I hope that in the future, you keep your hands on the paper documentation because the paperwork often improves the amount you can get for something and helps when having an object’s value determined for insurance coverage.

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 Nov 6, 2009 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Where the work happens

This week’s Workspace of the Week is Jenny Newcomer’s LobotoME office:

If you are unfamiliar with Jenny’s line of LobotoME organizing products, let me recommend you check them out right now. I’m a huge fan of the notepads and specifically the fun Fit Me exercise tracking pads. I like her products because they recognize that organizing doesn’t always have to be extremely serious.

Her office is where the business of LobotoME takes place. I like her storage cabinet with the chalkboard covered doors, her separate computer and work surfaces, shelves that keep books off the desk, the printer stand that also includes storage, and the on desk file holder that keeps active folders from having to be stacked and cluttered.

I had no idea that Jenny was going to grace our Flickr pool with her office photographs, and I’m so glad that she did. It’s fun to see where work you’re familiar with takes place. Thank you, Jenny, for submitting your LobotoME office.

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 Nov 6, 2009 | 7 Comments | Tweet This

Let go of the past from your wardrobe

Yesterday, I finally got up the nerve to say farewell to what was left of my corporate wardrobe. No longer taking up space in my closet are suits, long-sleeve collared shirts, or “business casual” sportswear. My dresser drawers are free of pantyhose, trouser socks, and sweater sets (wait, I did keep one black sweater set — but all the rest are gone).

I haven’t worked in a traditional office in 3.5 years, but I was holding onto many of my corporate clothes out of fear. What if this writing and organizing thing doesn’t catch on?

After the book went on sale Tuesday, it was like the clouds cleared and the sun came out — I could relax and let them go.

Truth be told, I didn’t own many clothes before I started this process. I’ve pretty much only been wearing the same 10 t-shirts and three pair of jeans the past six months. The rest of the stuff in my closet was just hanging there, waiting on a giant “what if.” They were a security blanket I didn’t need. Also, most of the clothes were two sizes larger than I currently wear. If I had needed to change careers, they wouldn’t have even fit me.

So, I cast them off — the Brooks Brothers suits are going to consignment and the shirts and sweaters are heading to Goodwill. I kept a very small handful of dresses and slacks for media appearances and when I do productivity training and organizing for corporate executives — but only five of those items. I weeded out my shoes, too.

I feel lighter, more comfortable.

In Unclutter Your Life in One Week, I talk about setting guidelines for your wardrobe to help you decide what can stay and what should go. The eighth item on this list is “You should have an occasion in the next year to wear it.” Thankfully, none of the clothes I’m getting rid of meet this definition.

Here are the guidelines, from page 24 of the book, that I’ve set for myself when sorting through my wardrobe:

  1. The item should represent your current style and the image you wish to project to others.
  2. The item should fit you well and complement your body type.
  3. The item should work in coordination with a minimum of two other items in your wardrobe.
  4. You should be able to wear the item with shoes you already own (for shoes, you should be able to wear them with clothing you already own).
  5. The item should be in good condition and should not need to be repaired.
  6. There should be space for the item to be properly stored.
  7. You should like how you feel when you wear the item (for shoes, they should not cause blisters).
  8. You should have an occasion in the next year to wear it.

Do you have similar guidelines? Are parts of your past lingering in your wardrobe, acting as an unnecessary security blanket? Is it time to let them go?

Posted by Erin on Nov 5, 2009 | 60 Comments | Tweet This

Video tour of Jay Shafer’s 96-square-foot house

We’ve written before about Jay Shafer’s 96-square-foot house. We recently came across the following new YouTube video of him giving a tour and we’re particularly impressed by the amount of storage space:

If you would like to see more pictures of very small dwellings, check out Jay Shafer’s book.

Posted by PJ on Nov 5, 2009 | 29 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: TwitterPeek

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

This item was sent to us by many Unclutterer readers, and I specifically liked the humor expressed by those who sent it to us over Twitter. Today’s unitasker is the TwitterPeek:

For $100, you can get this mobile device that ONLY checks Twitter. Sure, you could check Twitter on your smart phone or have it push text messages to your regular cell phone, which you already carry, but why do that when you could buy this additional device? How much fun is only carrying your wallet and phone in your pocket? It’s no fun at all! You want to carry more More MORE stuff around with you!

I also must admit to laughing at the title of the review of the device on PC World, aptly named “TwitterPeek: The Twitter-Only Gadget Destined for Extinction.”

Posted by Erin on Nov 4, 2009 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

The convenient Light Switch Rack

I spotted the Light Switch Rack in a recent Museum of Modern Art Store catalog, and immediately started to think about all of the places I could use it in my home and office:

The rack, which is designed by Paul Koh, fits over your lightswitch, and then you attach your switch plate to the front of it. I think it would be terrific to hang the switch next to a back door to hold a dog leash and all of those papers you can’t forget to take with you when you leave. You could use it in an office to hold out-going mail and keys to the bathroom. It would also be great to use as it is in the image to sort mail and hold car keys. The Light Switch Rack is a great way to keep from losing those things you need when you’re on the go.

Posted by Erin on Nov 4, 2009 | 43 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Nov 4, 2009 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Official release: Unclutter Your Life in One Week

Today is the day Unclutter Your Life in One Week officially goes on sale. It has been a roller-coaster ride, and I am so glad to finally be at this stage in the process. Expanding the Unclutterer message to a new medium is honestly a dream come true. My sincerest desire is that this book will help people discover the benefits of an uncluttered life and inspire them to clear the clutter to pursue what they value most.

On Sunday, I caught my first glimpse of the book “in the wild”:

It was a surreal moment, and when I stopped to think about people actually reading it I was freaked out even more. (Funny, right? I’m a blogger. People read my writing every day. I’m clueless as to why my brain thought it was somehow different.) Thankfully, my son threw up all over himself just seconds after this picture was snapped and quickly brought me out of my panic attack there in Barnes and Noble. Oh, baby puke, what amazing powers you have!

If you pick up a copy of the book, you’ll see that the first people thanked in the Acknowledgments section are you, the readers of Unclutterer.com. Without you, none of this would have been possible. If you didn’t read this site, if you didn’t tell your friends about it, if you didn’t e-mail me questions, and if you weren’t such an amazing group of people, my agent and publisher wouldn’t have even known about our site and its message. You are the reason they took notice and saw the potential for a book. Thank you.

If you buy the book or request it at the library or borrow it from a friend, I hope you enjoy reading it and find it helpful and motivating. I tried my best to write the book I needed when I was overwhelmed with clutter, and I hope it speaks to you wherever you are on your uncluttering journey.

Thank you, again, for supporting me, Unclutterer.com, and the new Unclutter Your Life in One Week. I greatly appreciate it.

Posted by Erin on Nov 3, 2009 | 61 Comments | Tweet This

Final reminder: Unclutter Your Life in One Week special bonus

I can hardly believe that my book will officially be available tomorrow! Before time runs out on the offer, I just wanted to remind everyone about the special bonus available to Unclutterer readers that ends tonight.

If you order Unclutter Your Life in One Week online before it is officially available tomorrow, I will e-mail you PDF copies of the worksheets in the book as a free, special bonus. Simply fill out the special bonus form to redeem your PDFs. For those of you who have already ordered the book, feel welcome to fill out the form to get your copies. And, if hardcovers aren’t your style, you can also order the Kindle version.

All PDFs will be e-mailed to you tomorrow. The PDFs are copies of worksheets in the book so you don’t have to recreate them on your computer to use them — I’ve done the work for you already.

I have decided to do this promotion on the honor system. I am trusting you and taking your word for it that you ordered the book. And, along those same lines of the honor system, I’m also requesting that no one posts these PDFs online after you receive them. I want to offer something special just for Unclutterer readers, so I hope that you respect my requests.

This is a limited offer and it will disappear tonight from the website.

Thank you to all of you for supporting the book and helping to spread the message about uncluttered living. I truly appreciate it!

—
Unrelated Note: The Ad Review Center in Google Adsense is doing a really bad job of suppressing political ads, per our preference. Our sincerest apologies. If you see a political ad on our site today or tomorrow, please know that we have requested they not be there and we do not endorse any political candidates or positions.

Posted by Erin on Nov 2, 2009 | 43 Comments | Tweet This

Do you do your most important work first?

Late Friday morning, our Internet connection bit the dust. A tree in the forest behind our house decided it no longer had the will to live and fell over, uprooting and destroying our FiOS line with it.

Conveniently, the tree fell minutes after I had finished my “must complete these tasks or lose my job” items on my to-do list. I had a lot of work left to do in the day, but all of it could wait until the connection was re-established or until I made it to the local coffee shop that has free WiFi.

While I was driving to the coffee shop, I thought about how getting the most important work out of the way first saved me a great deal of frustration. Had I put off the most important work, I would have been angry and stressed and worked into a frenzy about nature simply being nature. Instead, I was more entertained than anything else. A dead tree took out my connection — possibly the best reason ever for losing service.

I structure my day by doing the most important tasks first. This means I sit down at my computer and start writing before checking e-mail, Twitter, voice mail, or even comments on Unclutterer. If I’m at my desk at 6:00 a.m., I won’t get to the other tasks until usually 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. These other activities are a reward for getting through the high priority assignments.

When I leave work at the end of the day, I’ll often open up the most important task for the following day and place it at the center of my screen. (I learned this tip from Glen Stansberry, I would like to note.) Then, when I sit down to work in the morning, I can immediately start on what I need to do.

How do you structure your work day? Do you get your most important tasks completed first thing in the morning? Or, do you procrastinate and put off the hard work hoping that maybe it will just go away? Tell us how you structure your work and what works best for you in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Nov 2, 2009 | 45 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

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