Archives for December 2009

Workspace of the Week: Cable serenity

This week’s Workspace of the Week is _TiTO_’s sweet setup:

The cable management in this photograph makes me salivate. I want 13 plug-ins and I want them NOW! The shelves with the collectibles are fantastic. The raised gaming system is nice, too. Honestly, everything about this office is wonderful. The image says more than any words I could use. Thank you, _TiTO_ for your superb submission to our Flickr group.

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 Dec 18, 2009 | 10 Comments | Tweet This

Sort, scan, and file your stacks of papers

As the year winds down, my husband and I are embarking on The Great Paperwork Filing Project of 2009. It’s such an undertaking it feels appropriate we give it an official name with capital letters. (Similar to The Big Move of 2004 and Project Remove Splinter from My Finger, which unfortunately is still ongoing.)

Most of the papers we’re dealing with right now are from our son’s adoption. We have about eight inches of documents that need to be scanned and destroyed or scanned and filed. It’s a relatively easy process, but, even with the help of the new Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M we’re test driving from the manufacturer, it still takes awhile to review every sheet of paper to decide its fate.

We’re following the method I describe in the “Tuesday at Work: Fixing Your Files” section of Unclutter Your Life in One Week. If you’re also looking at a Great Paperwork Filing Project of 2009 or 2010, try the following method to get it under control:

  • Determine what papers you have that need to be processed. If you don’t have a firm understanding of what work you need to do, you can’t create a plan for handling all of it.
  • Determine what rules should define what to keep and what to purge. You’ll end up getting rid of too much or not enough if you don’t have firm guidelines in place before you begin.
  • Determine how you will classify, categorize, and arrange your documents. You hope to one day be promoted/sell your company for millions/have someone help you with your work, so your system needs to make sense to you and others. Create a system that you can maintain and that can easily be explained to others when your big promotion comes in!
  • Sort, scan, and file your documents. I recommend tackling an inch of paper at a time. As long as you have less than an inch of paper coming in a day, you’ll eventually make it through your stacks.
  • Back up your digital system to protect from loss or damage. If it’s not backed up, you run the risk of losing everything when your hard drive fails. And, as we all know, there are two types of hard drives — those that have failed, and those that eventually will.

(The image associated with this post is from the FreedomFiler website. Check out our post on Paper file organization systems for more information about FreedomFiler. It’s a solid tab labeling system, especially for home-related papers.)

Posted by Erin on Dec 17, 2009 | 33 Comments | Tweet This

Gadgets of the decade that helped unclutter our lives

Paste Magazine dedicated their November issue to the “bests” of the 2000-2009 decade. They made lists of their favorite albums, movies, books, etc. of the past 10 years. One of the lists that caught our attention was their “20 Best Gadgets of the Decade.”

As unclutterers, we were specifically fond of Paste Editor-in-Chief Josh Jackson’s poignant observation about these technologies with item #3, the Garmin GPS:

When judging new technologies, you have to remember what they replaced. And is there any vestigial remnant from the 20th century we’ll miss less than the fold-out car map? The first automotive navigation system was developed in the early ‘80s, but it wasn’t until an executive order eliminated the intentional margin of error the military had insisted for commercial use on May 2, 2000, that the dashboard GPS became more accurate and widely available. Now you can navigate with voice directions from Homer Simpson, Gary Busey or Kim Cattrall. And you never have to try to fold those maps again.

The vast majority of gadgets on the list are devices that helped to get rid of clutter in our homes and offices. Gone is the need to stash blank VCR tapes thanks to the TiVo DVR (#2). The Amazon Kindle (#6) freed up space on our bookshelves. A single USB Thumb Drive (#17) replaced hundreds of CDs and floppy disks. Other items, like the iPhone (#7) created space in our bags and purses by replacing our little black books, pocket calculators, notepads, watches, calendars, and even our iPods (#1).

For all the unitaskers and useless doo dads the past decade gave us, at least there were a few gadgets that helped to get clutter out of our lives. Check out the “20 Best Gadgets of the Decade” and head back here to weigh in on the items selected for the list. Do you think the items are clutter-ful or clutter-freeing?

Posted by Erin on Dec 17, 2009 | 38 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: Fingertip oven mitts

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

The first time I saw hand-only oven mitts, I thought they were a little ridiculous. I prefer to use long oven mitts so that I only need to own one pair (I can wear them while grilling, reaching into a pot of boiling water, or simply removing a pan from the oven), but the hand-only ones at least appear safe.

Let me show you what doesn’t look safe:

That’s right, fingertip oven mitts do not look safe. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they look unsafe. And, all you can do is grab a hot plate with them. You certainly couldn’t use them while grilling, reaching into boiling water, or removing a pan from the oven.

I declare that reader Peg sent us a fantastic unitasker!

Posted by Erin on Dec 16, 2009 | 41 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

  • 2008 Gift Giving Guide: Gifts of clutter
    It’s the holiday season, and we all need a little smile. Similar to our Unitasker Wednesday posts, we think you might enjoy our favorite gifts of clutter.
  • Storage beds
    Sometimes referred to as a captain bed, the storage bed can alleviate problems that you may have with storage in your closets or dressers
  • Displaying holiday greeting cards
    My wife came across a easy and creative way to display our Christmas cards from Martha Stewart Living.
  • 2008 Gift Giving Guide: Digital giving
    This installment of the Unclutterer Gift Giving Guide explores the virtual world of digital products.

2007

Posted by PJ on Dec 16, 2009 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Vigilante road unclutterers

Every Sunday morning there is a man in his 60s or 70s with a long white beard and even longer hair cleaning the underpass of the highway near my house. He has a large broom, a tiny dustpan, numerous garbage bags, and what I’ve decided is a battery-powered vacuum in a shopping cart from Trader Joe’s. I don’t know if he is there because he is an adopt-a-highway sponsor, is cleaning it as part of a court-mandated community service obligation, or if he has a compulsion of some kind. It’s an extremely dangerous area of road, so I’ve never stopped to ask him why he is there. And, I’ve never seen him around town other than when he’s cleaning up the underpass.

I mention this public-space unclutterer because apparently he’s not the only one randomly cleaning up the streets in my area. The Washington Post reported last week that there are more vigilante unclutterers out there cleaning up Virginia roadways. From Signs of a roadside crusade in Fairfax“:

Some people spend their Saturday mornings cruising yard sales or running errands. Juli Verrier spends hers ripping down signs.

Outraged over the bumper crop of ads that spring up along Fairfax County roads, Verrier dodges traffic and angry merchants in a one-woman fight against clutter, filling her car’s trunk to overflowing with signs hawking everything from sushi bars to massages.

It’s illegal to post signs along roadways in Virginia, and each sign is worthy of a $100 fine. The article explains, however, that because of budget cuts the state Department of Transportation (VDOT) no longer patrols for sign violations. In fact, “VDOT is so broke that if not for volunteers, no one would be cleaning up the signs.”

Budget cuts have also reduced mowing funds, which this past summer led one county supervisor to start mowing the shaggiest of medians with his push mower.

Have you ever felt compelled to become a vigilante road unclutterer? I’ll admit, I don’t have any desire to risk my safety and pull up signs. I also don’t own a lawn mower to care for nearby medians. It’s an interesting uncluttering hobby, though. Sound off with your opinions about these volunteers in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Dec 16, 2009 | 44 Comments | Tweet This

Suggesting disposal

Professional organizer Scott Roewer sent me a Christmas card this year with an uncluttered message printed on the inside of the card. After the seasonal greeting and his signature was the phrase:

“This card expires January 2, 2010, at which time it should be recycled.”

Scott got the idea from Jill Revitsky, a professional organizer from Pittsburgh, who produces a line of greeting cards for organizers. On the inside cover of each of her Clearly Noted cards she includes the phrase:

“This card is good for one week — Then you have my permission to toss it!”

Unfortunately, I’ve already mailed my holiday cards, so I can’t do something comparable this year. However, I’m definitely going to add a similar sentence to my cards in years to come:

“You should immediately recycle this card or run the risk of it turning into a monster that will eat your arm.”

Okay, so maybe not exactly that, but you get the idea.

Posted by Erin on Dec 15, 2009 | 45 Comments | Tweet This

Cure your e-mail addiction

I ran across an image yesterday on 43folders that I wanted to share with you:

If you check your e-mail every 5 minutes when you’re at work, then you are checking it 12 times an hour. Multiply 12 times an hour by 8 hours a work day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year (assuming you aren’t checking your e-mail while you’re on your two weeks of vacation) and this is how Merlin determined the 24,000 total.

If you’re checking your e-mail 24,000 times a year, what are you sacrificing? What are you not working on during that time? Could you reduce your rate to every 15 minutes (a yearly total of 8,000) and be more productive with other aspects of your job? Could you reduce it to once an hour (2,000)? Three times a day (750)?

How often are you checking e-mail currently? If you don’t know, track your productivity to see how you’re really spending your time at work.

How can you break an e-mail addiction? Start by turning off your notification indicator and setting an alarm for every 15 minutes. Only check your e-mail when the alarm indicates you do so. Every client I’ve worked with has found that they will not face any trouble at work if they only check e-mail on a 15-minute or 30-minute schedule. Most come to find that once an hour is sufficient, but it takes awhile for them to build up confidence to make this change. I try to check my e-mail fewer than 5 times a day (some days I’m more successful than others).

What will you do with your newly discovered time? Simply taking the time to plan your perfect day will help you manage your time more wisely.

Posted by Erin on Dec 15, 2009 | 31 Comments | Tweet This

Uncluttering isn’t for everyone

On Friday night, my dear friend Clark and I were discussing how easy it is to want rules to guide our behavior. As humans, we want a series of checkboxes to tell us that if we mark off X, Y, and Z, we will be happy or good or whatever it is we’re trying to achieve. Although human nature makes us crave this kind of simplicity, we all know that life isn’t a series of standardized checkboxes.

My conversation with Clark reminded me of the article “Buy Local, Act Evil” that reported a University of Toronto study that found test “subjects who made simulated eco-friendly purchases ended up less likely to exhibit altruism in a laboratory game and more likely to cheat and steal.”

The article explains that the green shoppers felt as if they had done their good deed (purchasing an Earth-friendly product), so they were entitled to let other areas of their lives slip (donate less money to charity, cheat, steal). I have certainly had a similar mindset when driving — I’ll let someone merge in front of me in traffic (Look how nice I am!) and then I’ll get as close to their back bumper as possible to prevent anyone else from doing the same thing (Now I deserve to go!). I also notice I do this with chores around the house — I’ll do the dishes (Check!) and then get irritated when my husband asks me to help him finish folding a load of laundry (Folding the laundry was not on my checklist!). I have to remind myself that life isn’t a standardized series of checkboxes and that one deed doesn’t preclude more.

The same is true for uncluttering. Just because we choose to keep our homes and offices free of distractions doesn’t mean we are entitled to judge those who don’t. In the Friday chapter of Unclutter Your Life in One Week, I touch on this subject in the section “Living with Clutterers.”

Now that most of the clutter and distractions are gone from your life, you may be noticing other people’s stuff. If you live with someone or share an office space, that stuff might be physically close to you, or it could be a disorganized client, boss or parent whom you are starting to notice and wish would change his ways. When this happens — and it will — you have to remember three things:

  1. You cannot force someone else to become an unclutterer.
  2. What matters most to you is different from what matters most to other people.
  3. Being an unclutterer is not the only way to live.

As much as your new strategies and techniques have made a positive change in your life, don’t think about your new way of living as being better than how other people choose to live their lives. Think of an uncluttered life as being easier for you.

Posted by Erin on Dec 14, 2009 | 20 Comments | Tweet This

Teaching children to fight clutter

Today we welcome Mandi Ehman to share her tips on helping kids learn to battle clutter.

If you’re committed to living an uncluttered life, you probably want to pass those same ideals on to your children as well. Here are five methods we have used (and continue to use) to teach our four children the value of uncluttering and organizing:

  1. Model good behavior: It’s no secret that children are greatly influenced by their parents’ actions. “Do as I say and not as I do” just doesn’t work, and it’s not enough to try to teach your kids the value of living an uncluttered life if you’re buried under a pile of stuff yourself.
  2. Share your struggles: That said, I firmly believe that kids learn more from watching us struggle and overcome than they do from living with the impression that we’re perfect and have it all figured out. Let your kids know when you realize you’ve bought something that is a waste of time, money, and space. Let them see you wrestle with the decision to give away certain items. And let them watch you walk through the process of deciding what to keep and what to sell or give away.
  3. Get them involved: Although it’s easier to unclutter without children underfoot, it’s important to involve children in the process. No one likes to have their stuff thrown or given away without their permission, and if you regularly involve your kids in the process, you may find that it’s not nearly as bad as you expect.
  4. Set limits and let them make the choices: Everyone has things they hold onto that don’t make sense to outside observers, and it’s important to give children freedom to choose special toys and knick knacks of their own — within limits. Set concrete limits on toys and doodads and let your children decide what to keep and what to give away within those limits. My girls each have a special container next to their bed with miscellaneous doodads that don’t belong anywhere else. They are allowed to keep whatever they want as long as everything fits in the box. This gives them control of the decisions so that I don’t have to play the bad guy.
  5. Don’t wield uncluttering as a threat or punishment: If you want to give your children the tools they need to live an uncluttered life, it’s very important that uncluttering not be used as a threat or punishment. Threatening to throw away or give away their toys if they don’t clean their room doesn’t do anything except make them hold onto their stuff more tightly. In our home, uncluttering is always handled matter-of-factly and never with negative connotations. If I feel the need to take away certain toys to handle behavior issues, they’re packed up and put away for a specific period of time.

What methods do you use to teach your children the value of uncluttering and organizing?

Posted by Mandi on Dec 14, 2009 | 37 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Dec 13, 2009 | Comments Off | Tweet This

TeuxDeux: a simple online to-do list manager

TeuxDeux is an new online to-do list manager created by Tina Roth Eisenberg (AKA Swissmiss) and Fictive Kin. It’s not as full-featured as some other online to-do list applications, but if you’re looking for something that’s easy to use and has a strikingly elegant and minimal user-interface, then you should definitely take it for a test drive or, at very least, watch this short tutorial from their site:

Posted by PJ on Dec 12, 2009 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Drowning in clutter

Reader Miriam submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I’m overwhelmed by everything at work and at home. Have you ever gone swimming in the ocean and you look back at the shore and realize you went farther than you meant to go? The shore is sanity and I’m no where near it. There is clutter everywhere and my kids, my husband, and my colleagues at work don’t appear to see it. Help me, Unclutterer!

Miriam, my heart goes out to you and your situation. I’ve never swam in the ocean, but I know the feelings of anxiety you’re experiencing. I’ve been there, and I know that many of our readers have too — and some may also feel exactly like you.

The first thing to do is to take a moment for yourself and relax. Go on a walk around your neighborhood or find a quiet space and sit in silence for a few minutes. Take deep breaths and reflect on the positive aspects of your work and home. What are the things that make you happy? Underneath all the clutter and stuff, what in your life is most important to you?

After the rush of anxiety has subsided, you should make a plan. This plan will help you to feel less stress about your environment in the future. Make a list of specific areas of your life you would like to be less cluttered. Be detailed with the items on your list: “Sort through the towels and sheets in the linen closet; take to the animal shelter any that are damaged or unwanted.” “Spend 15 minutes a day filing or processing papers from inbox on desk.”

Once you’ve made a list, pull out your calendar and schedule every item. When you schedule the items, I recommend your first project be something small (nothing larger than a closet) and an area that you encounter every day. This way, your early success will help to motivate you to continue to get clutter removed from more difficult areas.

The harsh reality in all of this is that you cannot force another adult to be an unclutterer. You can guide children and give them chores, but you can’t do this for spouses and work colleagues. Take care of the clutter that directly affects you and that you can address, and stop worrying about the other stuff. You have no control of the other stuff and you’ll become a permanent anxious mess if you continue to let it get to you. On the positive side, though, your uncluttering will hopefully be inspiring to those around you and motivate them to join you in your endeavors. Feel comfortable calmly talking about your uncluttering efforts with others and sharing with them your successes. Also, seek out the assistance of a tidy friend or professional organizer if working with someone else will help you to achieve your goals.

As you’re working, focus on the reasons you’re going through the uncluttering process. When you’re finished, you’ll have more time, energy, and space to pursue the remarkable life you desire. You deserve to be free from the anxiety that is currently ruling your life. Good luck, and know that this type of change is possible. All of us are cheering for you!

Thank you, Miriam, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

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 Dec 11, 2009 | 23 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Just enough

This week’s Workspace of the Week is Jóhannes’s experiment in “forced-minimalism”:

Just Enough Workstation

When Jóhannes lost the use of his MacBook Pro, he decided to simplify his workspace and just use his backup computer, a first-generation 15″ G4 iMac running software that many people would consider to be a few generations behind the curve. For Jóhannes, the inherent limitations of the hardware have a distinct advantage:

I guess the best thing about all this is that the computer forces me to do only one (to two) things at a time. less multitasking, more focus. Simple computing.

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 PJ on Dec 11, 2009 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

PEEP: A place for everything and everything in its place

Reader Alexandra introduced us to the post “The NICU goes Lean” on the Running a Hospital blog written by Paul Levy who is the president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In the article, Levy details how the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in his hospital used Lean 5S process improvements as motivation to organize and streamline their supply room:

(Click on the image to take you to a more detailed version on the Running a Hospital site.)

One thing that I love is the adorable poster that hangs on the door to the supply room:

I’ve never before seen PEEP used as a reminder for “A place for everything and everything in its place.” A fantastic idea, and a fantastic supply room makeover.

Posted by Erin on Dec 10, 2009 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

Status update: How are your 2009 resolutions working?

Last January, I professed to Unclutterer readers my 2009 resolution to get a handle on my overwhelming e-mail situation. I had hopes of finding e-mail zen this year, and I did — until August.

Regular readers of the website will remember that in August my husband and I received a phone call and a few days later became parents. We dropped everything, traveled to the state where our son was born, and lived there in a hotel for two weeks. I continued to write for the website during this period, but I let everything else work-related go — no e-mail, no phone calls, and the other Unclutterer staffers were left to fend for themselves.

I still have 80 unread e-mail messages from this time period in my inbox. Additionally, I have another 2,500 messages that are just hanging out and waiting to be processed. My whole system fell apart the minute I walked away from it.

Since I came back to work full time, I’ve tried my best to stay on top of the new messages I’ve received. However, I constantly feel overwhelmed by my inbox because of all of the not-properly processed messages from August and September. As a result, I’ve even fallen behind on processing newer messages. My loathing has created an avalanche of more loathing.

I refuse to end the year at anything other than Inbox Zero. So, between now and December 31, I’m committing to processing 120 of the old e-mails a day. I’m also committing to going through one of my folders and filters a day to make sure that I don’t have things in incorrect places (I found an Ask Unclutterer e-mail in my Unitasker suggestions folder the other day, so I know things can’t be good outside my inbox, either).

What was/were your 2009 resolution(s)? Do you need to get a plan in action now to make sure you achieve it before the end of the year? I’m interested in reading about your successes in the comments. Good luck, and I hope your resolutions are going better than mine.

Posted by Erin on Dec 10, 2009 | 24 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: USB-powered eyelash curler

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

Eyelash curler — Okay, I’ll admit it, I own one.

Heated eyelash curler — I don’t have a need for one, but I can imagine how someone with particularly thick eyelashes might.

Unfortunately, I am baffled as to why anyone would need this USB Heated Eyelash Curler:

Did the people who create this wonder: “Why should I safely curl my eyelashes in front of a mirror when I could do it blindly in front of my laptop with 5V current?!”

Also, if I bought this I would need to buy a USB hub for the bathroom so my husband could simultaneously plug-in his USB electric shaver and his USB toothbrush sanitizer.

Thanks to reader Gladys for bringing yet another USB-powered unitasker to our attention.

Posted by Erin on Dec 9, 2009 | 22 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Posted by PJ on Dec 9, 2009 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Extreme minimalist living

Voluntarily living in less than 175 square feet is a skill. It is not a skill I possess or wish to possess, but I have respect for the people who do and am inspired by their way of life. They find a way to do without traditional conveniences of a home. They sacrifice a great deal of comfort to pursue whatever it is that matters to them more.

This week, I’ve been mesmerized by two articles on extreme minimalist living I want to bring to your attention. The first article from Salon is about a graduate student named Ken Ilgunas who attends Duke University and has chosen to live in his van instead of an apartment:

Living in a van was my grand social experiment. I wanted to see if I could — in an age of rampant consumerism and fiscal irresponsibility — afford the unaffordable: an education.

I pledged that I wouldn’t take out loans. Nor would I accept money from anybody, especially my mother, who, appalled by my experiment, offered to rent me an apartment each time I called home. My heat would be a sleeping bag; my air conditioning, an open window. I’d shower at the gym, eat the bare minimum and find a job to pay tuition. And — for fear of being caught — I wouldn’t tell anybody.

Living on the cheap wasn’t merely a way to save money and stave off debt; I wanted to live adventurously. I wanted to test my limits. I wanted to find the line between my wants and my needs. I wanted, as Thoreau put it, “to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life … to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

Ilgunas continues in his article to describe how he cooks meals over a propane stove, doesn’t clean his dishes, and has no friends at school so that his way of life won’t be discovered.

The second article from the New York Post goes inside the $150,000 175-square-foot condo owned by Zaarath and Christopher Prokop:

The couple wakes up every morning in their queen-size bed, which takes up one-third of the living space.

They then walk five feet toward the tiny kitchen, where they pull out their workout clothes, which are folded neatly in two cabinets above the sink. A third cabinet holds several containers of espresso for their only kitchen appliance, a cappuccino maker.

They turn off their hotplate, and use the space on the counter as a feeding area for their cats, Esmeralda and Beauregard.

“We don’t cook,” Zaarath said, adding that their fridge never has any food in it. “So when you don’t cook, you don’t need plates or pots or pans. So we use that space for our clothes.”

Once in their running attire, the two change the cat litter box (stored under the sink) and start their small Rumba vacuum — which operates automatically while they’re out, picking up cat hair.

They then jog to their jobs in Midtown, picking up along the way their work clothes, which are “strategically stashed at various dry cleaners.”

Be sure to check out the amazing photo gallery that accompanies the second article.

My immediate reaction to both articles was that I wanted to purge everything I own and give extreme minimalism a try. Then I remembered that cooking is a passion of mine and I would be unhappy if instead of pots and pans I had workout clothes lining my cabinets. I am incredibly impressed by all three of the people in the articles, however. I have more than a few things I can learn from them.

(Image by Angel Chevrestt at the New York Post.)

Posted by Erin on Dec 9, 2009 | 67 Comments | Tweet This

On the Forums: travel toiletries, shoe racks, and the kitchen sink

Some great new discussions are underway on the new Unclutterer Forums:

Be sure to check it out and add your thoughts to the mix. Remember, you can start your own thread (which our system calls a “topic”) by clicking the “Add New” link under Latest Discussions on the Forum homepage.

If you use an RSS reader to follow your favorite blogs, you can easily keep track of what’s going on in our new forums. Add the feed for latest topics or all the latest posts. You can even follow specific topics using the RSS link just below each topic’s title, or create an RSS feed of your own by adding topics as favorites.

Reminder: If you’re still in need of any last-minute holiday shopping ideas, be sure to check out our 2009 Holiday Gift Guide.

Posted by PJ on Dec 8, 2009 | 2 Comments | Tweet This