Archives for June 2010

Space-saving pop-up furniture

Dwell magazine recently published a fascinating piece on a new trend in pop-up furniture. “Pop-Up Schmop-Up” highlights mostly space-saving furniture for public spaces, but it starts with the Armin Wagner cardboard Pop Up Desk for homes and offices:

Next up is Rogier Martens’ POP-UP 2010 public benches:

My favorite item not pictured in the article, but certainly mentioned, is the Urilift public restroom. It’s a public restroom that raises and lowers out of the ground at certain times of the day. There is a not-so-safe-for-work but amazing marketing video showing exactly how the toilet operates. These pop-up restrooms would be perfect in D.C. where our public spaces have so many different uses over the course of the year — festivals, protests, inaugurations, parades, sports fields, sunbathing, tourist walkways, etc.

Check out the full article for even more amazing pop-up furniture products. These products all remind me of Gary Chang’s Incredibly Efficient Efficiency, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of these kinds of space-saving designs. I love to see designers thinking outside the box — literally, in the case of Wagner’s Pop Up Desk.

Posted by Erin on Jun 9, 2010 | 9 Comments | Tweet This

Uncluttering the most troubled area of your home or office

What is the one area of your home or office that is cluttered up more than the other areas? How long has it been this way? Why have you been avoiding tackling this area? Does the thought of improving the cluttered area overwhelm you? Are you delaying making decisions about the stuff in the cluttered area? What is keeping you from ridding your home or office of this frustration?

For most people, the amount of frustration and anxiety felt about a cluttered area in your home or office is disproportionately higher than the energy required to alleviate the situation. The proverbial bark is worse than the bite. You may have felt stress about the clutter for months, but dealing with it might only require two days of your time. Instead of looking at the clutter longer and continuing to let your blood boil, why not simply deal with the situation?

If you’re ready to take on this clutter, follow these steps to make it happen:

  1. Decide what matters most to you. Having a clear set of priorities will help to motivate you while you work. When you know what you want room for in your life, it’s easier to make that room.
  2. Envision exactly what you want at the end of this specific uncluttering and organizing project. How will the space look? What will remain in this area? What won’t be in this space? Draw or write out exactly what you want to keep you on track during your work.
  3. Start small. You don’t have to unclutter the entire area all in one time period. If the project is a large one, break it into small sections and schedule the necessary steps on your calendar.
  4. Work methodically. Make piles of what should stay, what should go, and what needs extra attention (returned to a friend, repaired, etc.). Schedule appointments for charitable pick ups or drop offs. Play music to keep you motivated. Whatever methods you choose to use, just be sure to have a routine in place to give you the best chance for success.
  5. Apply the red velvet rope standard and remind yourself of what matters most to you if you have trouble parting with your clutter. Also, keep your final vision for the space in front of you and avoid feeling misplaced guilt. Take digital photographs or make scans of anything you want to remember but don’t need the actual item to trigger those happy thoughts.
  6. Once the area is clear of clutter, clean it. If the area needs repairs, do them. If you need more or less furniture to organize the space, make that happen. Give the walls a fresh coat of paint if they need them, vacuum or scrub floors, and make the area shine.
  7. Organize the items that will remain in the area. Make sure that everything you plan to keep in this area has a permanent space to live. Remember: A place for everything, and everything in its place. Put those things you will access the most often in the easiest places to access. Put things you will access less often in the less convenient storage spots.
  8. Celebrate! Once you’ve worked through your cluttered area and made it into a space you enjoy, take the time to appreciate your hard work. We all enjoy getting gold stars for our efforts, so give yourself the gold star you deserve.

Good luck getting rid of the clutter in the one area of your home or office that has been causing you the most stress and anxiety.

Posted by Erin on Jun 8, 2010 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

The art of being still

Performance artist Marina Abramović recently completed a two-and-a-half month exhibition named “The Artist is Present” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Every day, from the time the museum opened until after it closed, she sat as still as she could in a wooden chair and invited visitors to the museum to sit down for a few minutes in the chair across from her.

To get an idea of how physically and mentally demanding this type of a performance was — a fixed gaze, not speaking, not getting up to go to the restroom, trying not to fidget — watch just 30 or 40 seconds of the time-lapse video of the exhibit. You’ll see she often collapses at the end of a day:

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s “Speakeasy” blog, the artist talked about the arduous realities she experienced being part of the installation:

First of all this was extremely painful physically. It looks simple. I am sitting peacefully there, but it is incredibly painful for the body and the muscles and for the eyes … I didn’t have any social life. I went home every evening. I didn’t talk to friends three months except just the people I work with, like a security guard, a curator or my private assistant. It was so difficult to be under these four lights. For three months I feel like human fish.

She wasn’t the only artist performing live for the exhibit. Many other artists sat and/or stood from March 14 until May 31 as parts of the exhibit. All of the performance artists trained for the grueling experience of being in one continuous position, keeping absolutely silent, for 8- and 10-hour days.

In our busy lives, it can be difficult to be still for even just a few moments. I try to sit in silence for only 15 or 30 minutes a day and often find the task extremely difficult. Many days, instead of being present during this silence, my mind fills with thoughts of things I want to do, regrets, frustrations, and a powerful desire to get up and do something else. But, by being still for more than 700 hours, Abramović said that she really learned how to control these distractions, live in the moment, and connect with other people:

You are sitting there, and you are reflecting on your own life, all the things that are important, not important but what’s really happening? Seeing the other people you come to that state where you start to feel unconditional love for the total stranger. That is what happened to me. My entire heart opened to the level that was incredible. You see them and by being still they become eyes like the door of the soul, you really start knowing them on the most intimate level. That is why people avoid looking in the eyes, especially here in New York. I looked by now, 1,565 pair of eyes. This is enormous amount of eyes. It was so touching to see I knew the people so intimately but never spoke word with them.

As a final interesting tidbit, you can view portraits of each of the people who sat across from Marina Abramović during the exhibit. Many of the people appear to have had very strong emotional responses to the experience of being still.

Posted by Erin on Jun 8, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

‘Self-control is an exhaustible resource’

Fast Company magazine recently conducted an interview on their website with Dan Heath, author of the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. In the video (which is also transcribed), Dan explains why changes in behavior are so difficult:

Psychologists have discovered that self-control is an exhaustible resource. And I don’t mean self-control only in the sense of turning down cookies or alcohol, I mean a broader sense of self-supervision—any time you’re paying close attention to your actions, like when you’re having a tough conversation or trying to stay focused on a paper you’re writing. This helps to explain why, after a long hard day at the office, we’re more likely to snap at our spouses or have one drink too many—we’ve depleted our self-control.

I also believe that self control is a behavior that needs to be practiced to be improved. In the book Mind in the Making, author Ellen Galinsky suggests many strategies for helping children develop and boost their self control and these strategies can be just as beneficial for adults. From my review of Galinsky’s book:

Try playing games that require concentration and paying attention (guessing games, “I Spy,” and puzzles), and games that involve rules that change (many strategy games do this). Listening to audio books and following along with the plot, setting up reward systems for finishing difficult tasks (delayed satisfaction), and getting plenty of rest are additional ways to improve focus.

For more tips on building up your energy to make a change and work on your self control, check out the following articles from the Unclutterer archives:

Posted by Erin on Jun 7, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Is English cluttered? Simplified Spelling supporters think so

Living in Washington, D.C., I have seen a decade-full of protests. They’re such regular occurrences here that I don’t really notice what people are protesting any longer. I’ll walk or drive-by the gathering crowd, oblivious to their message, and continue on my way. Except this weekend, a very small crowd of people protesting in front of a hotel, instead of on the National Mall or in front of the White House, caught my attention.

Late last week and into the weekend was the Scripps National Spelling Bee. It was held at The Grand Hyatt in downtown D.C., and the competition drew hundreds of spellers, their families, media crews, and (much to my surprise) protesters. The demonstrators gathered in front of the hotel were adamant supporters of phonetic spelling, what they call Simplified Spelling. From a Washington Post article covering the protests:

The protesters believe English is mired by too many spellings for identical sounds and too many sounds for identical spellings. If they got their way, “you” would become “yoo,” “believe” would become “beleev” and “said” would become “sed.”

The cost of clinging to traditional spellings, they say, is millions of illiterate English speakers who struggle to read signs or get good jobs, and billions of dollars in lost productivity.

The campaign for simple spelling, which activists say started more than 100 years ago, is experiencing a revival with kids who have taken wholeheartedly to phonetic spelling in electronic messages.

I’ve never thought about non-phonetically spelled words in English as a distraction, so I don’t personally consider them clutter. However, I find it delightful that there is a group of people on a mission to rid the English language of what they believe is spelling clutter. Check out the video of the protests on the Washington Post website to learn more about the mission of supporters of Simplified Spelling. (And please, don’t worry, I have no intentions of adopting Simplified Spelling practices on Unclutterer. I can’t imagine how much my productivity would tank trying to phonetically spell an entire vocabulary of words.)

Posted by Erin on Jun 7, 2010 | 71 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2009

Posted by PJ on Jun 6, 2010 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Save space with half a keyboard

The Matias company makes a computer keyboard that works well for single-arm amputees, people who suffer from carpel tunnel in one arm, and those looking for a completely unconventional way to save desktop space — The Half Keyboard:

Try out the demo software to get an idea of how it works. (Warning: The demo is addictive, like a video game.) Unlike other one-hand keyboards, this one is based fully on the QWERTY system so you don’t have to learn a new method of typing. Simply hold down the space bar when you want to switch to the keys on the alternate side of the keyboard. I think the Matias Half Keyboard is really cool and efficient, and I would love to use something like it on my work surface, but …

unfortunately, it costs $600.

I’m not really sure how half a keyboard can be so expensive compared to a traditional full-size keyboard, but my guess is that eventually the price will fall and/or single-hand QWERTY competitors will enter the market. Matias claims that with practice a typist can usually type “up to 88% as fast as your two-handed speed.” I love the space-saving qualities and productivity benefits — hold the mouse continuously in your right hand, while you type with your left.

I’m eager to see what the future holds for single-hand typing. Anyone out there already own and use one?

Posted by Erin on Jun 5, 2010 | 24 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Feeling guilty about parting with sentimental items

Reader Laura submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

While helping my sister unclutter for her move, I came across some dolls in dresses she’d worn as a baby and a huge (unfortunately not her style) afghan a great aunt had crocheted. We both agreed that if it were just up to us, we probably wouldn’t keep these items … but instead of our own voices in our heads saying, “You can’t get rid of that!” it was our mother’s. How do you unclutter when it’s not really sentiment, but more guilt, that stands in the way?

Guilt is such a complicated emotion. We feel it when we’ve actually done something wrong we’d like to correct, and we use it as a monitor and guide to keep us from committing bad acts in the present and future. Unfortunately, it also plagues us at times that have nothing to do with right or wrong. Choosing to keep or get rid of some dolls, baby clothes, and an afghan isn’t a question of morality, yet guilt can prevent us from making a clear-conscience decision. In this situation, guilt is even plaguing you after you decided not to get rid of something. You’re feeling guilt no matter what you choose.

The first thing to do is take a break and acknowledge that this isn’t a situation where you should be feeling guilt at all. No one’s life is on the line when making decisions about processing clutter, you haven’t broken any laws, and you’re not being asked to do anything unseemly. Put things in perspective — you’re trying to decide how to unclutter for your sister’s move, not decide if you should rob a bank.

Once you can see the larger picture, you can let go of the guilt and make a more rational decision. Ask yourself:

  • Does this object have utility? Can it make my life easier/save me time/save me money/fulfill an essential need? (Would you use the afghan if you kept it? Could your child wear the baby clothes?)
  • Do I already own something like it that has the same function or holds a similar sentimental meaning? (Do you have other objects from your childhood you treasure more? Do you have pictures or objects from your aunt already in your home?)
  • If you keep the objects, where will these objects live in your home that reflects your respect for them? (Hint: Storing them in a cardboard box in the attic or basement isn’t respectful.)
  • Does this item help me to develop the remarkable life I want to live? (Do I enjoy looking at and/or using these items? Do they reflect what I value most?)

Only you and your sister will be able to answer these questions, but hopefully you’ll be able to avoid feeling guilty about your decision. Often with sentimental objects, it’s emotionally easier to get rid of the items if we know the objects will be used and appreciated by their next owners. The dolls, baby clothes, and afghan (if they’re in good shape) would be great donations to make to a women’s shelter. Children in need could find comfort from the dolls, babies could use the clothes, and a woman and her family could benefit from the warmth of the blanket. If the items aren’t in good enough shape to be donated to charity, this might help you answer the four questions listed above.

I find great inspiration and joy in the sentimental items in my home, and I think this is because our house isn’t overwhelmed with them. We’ve chosen to keep only our favorite pieces that we really treasure. We found that we saw nothing and appreciated little when we kept every sentimental object in our lives — as the saying suggests, we couldn’t see the forest for the trees. If you and your sister treasure these dolls and the afghan, keep them! If you’re keeping them only because of misplaced guilt, it’s probably time to let them go.

Thank you, Laura, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope I was able to help! Check the comments for more suggestions on how to handle sentimental items from our readers.

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 Jun 4, 2010 | 41 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: A warm and welcoming office

This week’s Workspace of the Week is C. Monsees’ comfortable home office:

I chose this office because it has so many wonderful things going for it — a vast amount of clear workspace, convenient storage, wonderful cable control, and it really looks like someone could be productive in this space. The office’s owner, C. Monsees, aptly describes the features of the office in the photographs’ descriptions:

I replaced a big, ugly CRT that was on the right with a Dell LCD I got for free from my neighbor. Surprisingly, it works great and only has one discrete dead pixel. I also got the mouse for free since my old VX Revolution’s scroll wheel stopped working. It took two weeks to send it back and get my replacement MX1100, but it was well worth it. The new mouse is way more comfortable.

I got the chair on sale for $100 at OfficeMax. It’s really comfortable and the leather hasn’t started flaking off like my last chair. Unfortunately, the arms aren’t adjustable, so I had to remove a decorative part of the desk to get my keyboard tray to slide out comfortable. Oh well, I never flipped it up anyway, and I can put it back on easy enough.

The speakers are a set of Logitech X-540s. They’re 5.1 and sound great. They crackle a little at higher volumes, but it isn’t an issue. I had to get 3 foot extension cables from RadioShack, but it was worth it. They look and sound a lot better than my cheap-o speakers from yesteryear.

Thanks, C. Monsees, for sharing your office space with us.

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 Jun 4, 2010 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

Hoarding: Why forced cleanouts are unsuccessful

The A&E channel ran a Memorial Day marathon of the first season of its television show Hoarders. After showing all of the original broadcasts, A&E aired a new episode that showed the progress — or, rather lack of progress — of a handful of the show’s participants. Four of the five of the people featured in the new “Where are they one year later?” episode had fully returned to their hoarding ways.

I didn’t watch the new episode and actually heard about it through a blog post on Entertainment Weekly’s website. Learning about it this way was a solid reminder that the show is created for entertainment, and not necessarily to help the participants on the show or teach the audience about the mental disorder. I know from people who have worked with the show that behind the scenes they do try to help the participants, but so much of that isn’t transmitted to the audience. The scary music and the shock and awe storytelling dehumanize the participants, in my opinion.

In the book Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by hoarding specialists Randy Frost and Gail Steketee, the authors say that this recidivist behavior is the norm and should have been expected by the Hoarders production staff. From pages 96 and 97 of the book:

One of the worst experiences for someone with a hoarding problem occurs when another person or crew arrives to clear out the home, usually at the order of the public health department or a frustrated family member … These scenarios almost always leave the hoarder feeling as if his or her most valued possessions have been taken away, which in fact may be the case. Beyond this, most hoarders have a sense of where things are amid the clutter. When someone else moves or discards even a portion of it, this sense of “order” is destroyed. We know of several cases in which hoarders have committed suicide following a forced cleanout.

The time, expense, and trauma of a forced cleanout are not worth the effort if any other alternatives are possible. Although conditions in the home may improve temporarily, the behavior leading to those conditions will not have changed. Moreover, the likelihood of obtaining any future cooperation after such trauma is slim. One Massachusetts town in our survey of health departments conducted a forced cleanout costing $16,000 (most of the town’s health department budget). Just over a year later, the cluttered home was worse than ever.

I continue to have very mixed emotions about the television show Hoarders. I like that the show raises awareness about hoarding, but I don’t feel that it’s necessarily helpful and compassionate information that is being distributed. Did any of you catch the marathon and the “Where are they one year later?” episode? I’m interested in reading your thoughts in the comments.

Again, if you or someone you know is a hoarder, please seek treatment from a licensed medical practitioner. The disorder can be dangerous and treatment has been shown successful for those seeking help.

The following organizations have “find a therapist” functions on their websites that list therapists specifically trained to treat hoarding:

Posted by Erin on Jun 3, 2010 | 56 Comments | Tweet This

Assorted Links for June 3, 2010

Interesting links we’ve discovered recently on the topics of simple living, organizing and uncluttering:

Posted by Erin on Jun 3, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: Zoku Quick-Pop Maker

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

For those times when waiting a couple hours to make traditional ice pops in your freezer is just a ridiculous request, there is the Zoku Quick Pop Maker:

This appliance makes three (yes, THREE!) pops at a time in less than 10 minutes, and it costs $50. Like most newer model ice cream makers, the shell of the Zoku Quick-Pop Maker has to live in your freezer until you’re ready to use it, otherwise it takes more than two hours to freeze the shell first. In the end, it might take you more time to use this device (if the shell isn’t already frozen), about $40 more, takes up a good chunk of storage space, and makes considerably fewer ice pops than traditional methods. Maybe there are ice pop emergencies I’m not aware of that this device is perfect for solving? Or … maybe not.

(via Serious Eats)

Posted by Erin on Jun 2, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

Organizing your refrigerator

Refrigerators, especially in the homes of active families, can be difficult to keep organized and free of expired foods. We’ve talked in the past about using a meal plan to help food move through your refrigerator before it rots. However, using a meal plan doesn’t necessarily keep a refrigerator from looking like it was hit by a very small tornado when its door was closed.

Like any storage space in your home, organizing your refrigerator to meet your needs can save you time and money over the long term. Here are some organizing helpers for inspiration:

  • If you or your family regularly consumes drinks from cans, you might benefit from a beverage dispenser or a can organizer.
  • Instead of cans, if you store a lot of bottles, you might need a bottle stacker.
  • Stackable, removable shelves are helpful for adding surface space in refrigerators and freezers.
  • And, shelf liners can keep foods from rolling to the back of a shelf and being forgotten. Shelf liners are also nice because they make cleaning shelves easy.

When putting food into your refrigerator, make sure that you’re storing food in its recommended location and cleaning the shelves and door seals regularly as recommended by your refrigerator’s manufacturer. If you’re not familiar with the different temperature zones in your refrigerator, use a thermometer to find out the variances within your unit. You might be surprised to find that there are multiple variances even on a single shelf (the back of our shelves are three degrees cooler than the fronts). Be sure to follow the FDA recommendation and keep your refrigerator set at 40F degrees or below on all shelves to prevent listeria and other food-borne pathogens. Also, check out StillTasty.com if you have any questions about the shelf-life of the food you’re storing.

Posted by Erin on Jun 2, 2010 | 25 Comments | Tweet This

After a breakup: Handling sentimental clutter

My friend and professional organizer D. Allison Lee sent me an amazing unitasker that I’ve been laughing about ever since: The Wedding Ring Coffin. It’s a burial coffin for your wedding ring if you get divorced.

Although this is an entertaining idea, it started me thinking about how objects like engagement rings, wedding bands, love letters, jewelry and sentimental trinkets can instantly turn into clutter after a breakup. What was once extremely valued can become worthless in a matter of minutes.

There are laws in each state that determine who is legally entitled to owning engagement and wedding rings when these contracts end, so always start by following the laws of your state regarding these items. If you turn out to be the owner of the engagement and/or wedding rings after a breakup, and the owner of the other sentimental gifts, you’ll have to decide what to do with these objects. You might want to keep them, sell them, donate them, trade them, give them back to the person who gave them to you, have the materials turned into another piece of jewelry, or even bury them.

I thought it might be interesting to start a conversation in the comments talking about what people have done with sentimental items after a breakup. People rarely talk about these objects, so a robust discussion could be really helpful for someone in this situation. Personally, after one college romance ended, I found that I really liked a necklace I’d been given and actually didn’t associate it with the guy who gave it to me. I still wear it because it really is a cool piece of jewelry. Another piece of jewelry, however, had a lot of emotions attached to it so I returned it to the store where the boyfriend had purchased it and traded it in for a new piece. Have you done anything creative with breakup items? Share your stories in the comments!

Posted by Erin on Jun 1, 2010 | 77 Comments | Tweet This

Transforming furniture

We’ve featured some transforming wall beds on the site before, and now we want to show you more of them in action. The New York company Resource Furniture has made a demonstration video of all of their amazing space-saving furniture:

Actually, they’ve made two videos, but the second one is produced in a way that kind of makes me motion sick. Regardless, if you live in a small home or have a room that serves multiple purposes, transforming furniture can be a wonderful way to make better use of your space.

Posted by Erin on Jun 1, 2010 | 17 Comments | Tweet This