Archives for November 2010
Ask Unclutterer: Is texting clutter?
Reader Allen submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I recently received my T-Mobile bill for this month and my text message sent count was 14,657. I mean, thank god for unlimited texting, but it seems like texting might be cluttering my life, or cluttering my mind too much? What do you think, should I cut back on my excessive texting (yes, I admit it) or should I just continue?
I receive questions similar to this one all the time — How many shoes should I own? Should I own a car? How many sets of silverware is too many? Am I sending too many e-mails?
The truth of the matter is that only you know what is clutter in your life. Only you know if texting is distracting you from focusing on what really matters to you. Only you can weigh the positive and negative effects texting is having on your life. This is not a decision I can make for you.
Texting is certainly keeping you in touch with someone — friends, family, co-workers. And, if these people matter to you and keeping a close relationship with them is one of your priorities, then constant texting might not be clutter.
On the other hand, if texting is replacing a deeper relationship with these people, all the texting would be clutter. Additionally, it might be prohibiting you from focusing on people you’re with in the present, because you’re constantly looking at your phone.
Assuming it takes you on average 30 seconds to send a text, you spent a little more than 122 hours last month texting. If there are 720 hours per month, and you slept for 240 of those, you were probably awake about 480 hours last month. So, if you were writing texts 122 of 480 hours, about a quarter of your waking time was spent sending texts. And, since this doesn’t include reading texts from people who write back to you or thinking about your response, it’s possible texting is consuming half your waking life.
Are you okay with this? Would you rather be spending half of your waking time hanging out with these people, face-to-face, instead? Would you rather be spending half of your waking time focused on something else beside staring at your phone? Do you have a job? Do you go to school? Is there anything else you need to be doing or want to be doing?
Like I said earlier, only you know if texting is cluttering up your time. Determine what it is you really want out of life, and then work to clear the distractions that get in the way of the life you desire. If texting is cluttering up your time, you can change your behavior to reduce the amount of texts you send and receive. Turn off your cell phone when you’re doing what really matters to you. Send texts to people only when it is convenient for you and when it advances your life’s priorities.
Thank you, Allen, 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.
Workspace of the Week: Home office haven
This week’s Workspace of the Week is Mandi’s office, her way:
The first thing that jumped out at me in Mandi’s office is the wonderful cable control. A simple cable tube groups all the cables together and reduces their visual clutter. I also like how she uses matching frames, all along one shelf, to group photographs. The coffee station located where she uses it — in her office — is also a great idea.
In the comment section to Mandi’s office image, she linked to her website, so I followed the link. On her site I found a wonderful page of free downloadable Christmas planning worksheets. If you celebrate Christmas, you should definitely check out the planning worksheets to help reduce the stress of the holiday.
Thank you, Mandi, for submitting your inspiring office to our Flickr pool.
Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.
Never forget to send a card with Jack Cards
With holiday card sending season on the horizon, my husband and I have been trying to decide what we want to send this year. While researching our options, I learned about the website Jack Cards, which is an incredibly helpful service for busy people. It’s more than a holiday card sending service, it’s a service to use throughout the year to remove the stress of buying cards and stamps. An explanation of their service from the website:
Jack Cards is designed for busy people who value sending a handwritten birthday, anniversary or ‘miss you’ card but find it hard to get to a card shop or post office on time.
Based in San Francisco, California, Jack Cards uniquely focuses on delivering pre-scheduled ready-to-go (stamped and addressed) greeting cards to the sender just in time to write their own personal message inside and drop it in the mailbox.
Registration for the service is free, but you pay for the price of the card, shipping the card to you, and postage to the card recipient (domestic and international postage are both available). They have bulk discounts when you buy 5 or more of the same card, which you might do for the holidays. Jack Cards has a very strict privacy policy, so none of the information you give to them will ever be sold and is stored safely. The hardest part of the process is setting up your “My Planner” section, which involves answering questions about the type of cards you wish to send and providing contact information. Setting up the “My Planner” section, however, takes much less time than heading to the store to buy cards and stamps numerous times a year. How involved you want Jack Cards to be in the process is your decision — they can pick out cards or you can do it, they can write a message or you can, they can address the envelope or you can, they can mail the card or you can.
For busy people who like the art of sending handwritten cards, Jack Cards is a terrific service. If having someone else involved in the process isn’t for you, check out “Birthday cards and reminder systems” for tips on how to get cards out the door on time.
(Pictured card by Bumble Ink, available through Jack Cards.)
The roots of clutter — external, behavioral, and internal
There are innumerable reasons people are plagued by clutter. Most reasons, however, fall into one of three categories:
- External: This clutter might be from living with a cluttered parent/roommate/spouse, physical disability, or inherited clutter
- Behavioral: This clutter might be from mediocre decision-making skills, lack of energy, or poor categorization and classification skills
- Internal: This clutter might be from grief, depression, anxiety, distrust, or being overly sentimental
Clutter rooted in external causes can be tricky to overcome. Since you can’t transform someone else into an unclutterer, you may be continually plagued with clutter as long as you live in the same space as your parent/roommate/spouse. If you’re struggling with inherited clutter, the situation may be stressful as you take the time to sort through the property you’ve acquired, but the clutter will likely be temporary. It can be difficult to predict or solve external causes of clutter, but there are often ways to manage it, and sometimes even solve it.
Clutter resulting from behavioral causes can be more manageable than the other categories of clutter. You can learn and/or improve skill sets, change habits, and find ways to increase energy levels. It can take awhile to overcome these behaviors, but it is possible for people of sound mind and body to do so within a reasonable amount of time.
Internal clutter is similar to external clutter in that its solution varies greatly from situation to situation. In many cases, treatment from a licensed mental health practitioner or a doctor can be a positive first step in the process. For people who are overly sentimental, uncluttering assistance from a professional organizer or trusted friend might be all someone might need. Again, similar to external clutter, it can be difficult to solve internal causes of clutter, but there are often ways to manage it, and sometimes even solve it. Seeking help from an outside source is almost always a good idea, but the source and duration of help can vary widely.
If you’re like me, you might see your clutter issues stemming from more than one of these three categories — or even from a cause that isn’t external, behavioral, or internal. Clutter is a complex issue, but knowing why it is in your life can go a long way to helping you find a solution.
Unitasker Wednesday: Tiger Taco
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 week’s unitasker selection was guaranteed a spot in our feature simply because of its name: The Tiger Taco. I mean, how could we not link to something as glorious as a taco made of TIGERS?!!!
Except, as you can see, the product name is even clutter. There are no tigers. There are no tacos. And there certainly aren’t any tacos made of tigers. I call shenanigans. SHENANIGANS!
Moving past the name (which, I admit, is difficult to do), I’m not even sure why someone would need to use a Tiger Taco on a cardboard box. Have cardboard boxes changed in the past few weeks in a way that simply bending the top flaps back no longer keeps them out of the way? Are springs now a component in cardboard box flaps? Do cardboard box manufacturers blend in elastic with the paper pulp? If you really have a problem keeping box flaps out of your way, couldn’t a piece of reusable string or painter’s tape do the same thing?
Regardless, I’m still mad about the name. I wanted to see tacos made of tigers. SHENANIGANS!!
(Thanks to reader Lisa for sharing this unitasker with us.)
A year ago on Unclutterer
2009
- Uncluttering a London museum
The University College London’s museums are purging most of their 250,000 items in their collection. They plan to donate a good portion of it to other museums, but they might also trash the objects not worth keeping. To decide which objects to keep and which objects to purge, the museum is asking the public to weigh in on the process. - Introducing the Unclutterer Forums
The Unclutterer Forums are now open to anyone who wants to register for them.
2007
- Organize that messy locker
Strategies for keeping your school locker organized.
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A woman in uniform: Angelina Jolie
Los Angeles-based professional organizer John Trosko tipped us off to an interview with actress Angelina Jolie in the December issue of Vogue. In the article, “The Other Angelina,” Jolie talks about the monochromatic nature of her wardrobe and how this helps to keep it small:
“As Brad’ll tell you — and my kids — apparently Mommy only wears black,” [Jolie] says. Because she was a Goth, right? No, she says, it’s utilitarian, it’s practical: “I like to get up so every pair of pants goes with every top, every dress goes with every shoe. I’ve a very tiny closet. Brad’s always laughing at me. Some days, yes, I have the nightgown that looks like a dress that I can sleep in and pick the kids up at school. And maybe take a meeting if I switch into heels.”
I don’t know if all four of her closets are small (the article mentions she has four homes around the world), or just the one in L.A., but knowing at least one female celebrity is capable of keeping clutter out of her closet is inspiring. I also don’t know what nightgown can be worn around town without people knowing you’re wearing a nightgown in public, but I think it’s a wonderfully minimalistic idea if it does exist.
Regardless of how many small closets she has or what designer has created a day-to-nightgown, Jolie’s overall strategy for keeping clutter out of your closet makes sense: A wardrobe of all coordinating, multi-functioning pieces is helpful when maintaining a small wardrobe.
Ultra-small living in downtown Tokyo
Fuyuhito Moriya purchased a parking space in Tokyo, and then had an ultra-small three-story home built on the 30 square meter lot (about 323 square feet) for approximately $500,000, according to the CNN article “Ultra-small is beautiful for Japanese homeowner.”
Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video that accompanies the article, so I strongly suggest you go to see the video on CNN for a tour of the property. It truly is a phenomenal space.
Thanks to reader Ann for introducing us to Moriya’s ultra-small home.
Image by Studio Noa.
Identifying non-physical clutter
Physical clutter is easy to identify in our lives because you can touch it, take a picture of it, and point to it during an argument with your roommate/co-worker/child/spouse.
“That thing, right there, should not be there!”
Other forms of clutter are more nebulous. If you are worried all the time, you can’t pack that anxiety up and sell it on Craigslist. If your schedule is overbooked, it’s difficult to know which of dozens of activities is the one too many.
To help identify the non-physical clutter in my life, I give myself a timeout. I’ll sit in a comfortable chair, holding a pencil and notebook, and close my eyes. I try to clear my head of all thoughts. Whatever thoughts slip in, I quickly open my eyes and write them down on the notebook paper. Then, I close my eyes again and try to clear my mind of all thoughts. After about 30 minutes, I’m usually able to settle down and enjoy a few moments of real silence.
When I get up from my timeout, I’ll look at the list and try to address everything on it as quickly as possible. Almost everything I write on the notebook paper is related to clutter in some way — I’ll pick up the phone and call a friend I’ve been worried about to see how she’s doing and if she needs anything, I’ll schedule 15 minutes to research information regarding a decision I need to make, or I’ll make a long-overdue appointment with my eye doctor. Even if I can’t solve the problem completely, doing at least something helps to relieve or reduce the clutter burden I’ve been carrying.
I’ve discovered that a monthly timeout helps me to keep the non-physical clutter from growing out of control in my life. If you haven’t tried it before, give the timeout a try and see what happens. Worst case scenario, you’ll fall asleep and conclude you are free of non-physical clutter.
Three common organizing mistakes
If you’ve hit a stumbling block in your organizing process, you may have come up against one of the three common organizing mistakes:
- Choosing form over function. It’s easy to fall in love with aesthetically appealing organizing products. However, unless the storage product is one that you’ll use consistently and exactly fits your needs, the storage product can end up being clutter and/or creating disorder. Avoid this pitfall by identifying your needs first, then seek out a storage product you’ll enjoy using (if you even need one).
- Organizing for the sake of organizing. Clutter is defined as any distraction that gets in the way of the life you desire. Therefore, if you get caught up in organizing and lose sight of its purpose, you can start cluttering up your time organizing. Make things as organized as they need to be to pursue the life you want, and stop your organizing efforts there.
- Believing you can’t be organized. Organizing is a skill, similar to swimming and riding a bike. Anyone of sound mind and body who wants to be organized can be organized, but you have to practice, try different methods, and be willing to learn from your mistakes. No one is “naturally” organized — some people might be more adept at learning these skills, but those people were not born with day planners in their hands. People like me (who seem naturally disorganized) can become organized, it just takes more work and focus.
Wrap it up in silver
One of the things I discovered during my uncluttering process is that silver wrapping paper works for every gift-giving occasion — weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, baby showers, housewarming, etc. — and when you only have a few tubes of wrapping paper to store, it takes up very little space in a closet. A simple wrapping storage solution can easily handle all of our paper and supplies.
Before using silver paper, I’d been trying to use brown butcher paper for all my wrapping. However, I felt the brown paper was too casual for some occasions, like weddings and anniversaries. I ended up buying small batches of wrapping paper whenever a more formal gift-giving experience arose. The same was true for using fabric bags, and fabric puts a storage burden on the person receiving the gift. I also like the idea of reusable gift bags, but these only work on gifts that coordinate in size to the bags, so you have to store multiple sizes of bags for all different types of situations. Plus, reusable gift bags can be significantly more expensive than wrapping paper and after a couple uses start to show signs of wear. Silver wrapping paper doesn’t have any of these disadvantages — it’s inexpensive, always appropriate, fits all different sizes of gifts, can be recycled, and it doesn’t put a storage burden on the gift recipient or the gift giver.
Silver wrapping paper is in stores in abundance this time of year, and is when I typically stock up my wrapping supplies for the next 12 months. (For some reason, silver paper is much more difficult to find at other times of the year.) Before children, my husband and I could usually survive on two tubes of silver wrapping paper a year. Now that we have a son, we’ve decided to pump that number up to four.
The best deal we’ve found this year is at Ikea. Their SNÖVITA gift wrap (available only in stores) is just $1.99 a roll for 2 ¼ yards:
If you can’t find silver wrapping in your area, a white or a gold wrapping paper might also be a signature wrapping that could work in all situations the way silver does. Whatever style you decide to use, consider a method that will help to keep your wrapping paper clutter to a minimum in your home.
A year ago on Unclutterer
2009
- Brilliant UK electrical plug concept saves space
YouTube video shows a space-saving redesign of a United Kingdom 3-pin electrical plug. - Unitasker Wednesday: The EZ Cracker
watch the failed attempts to crack an egg in the advertisement for the EZ Cracker. Seriously, who has this much trouble cracking an egg? - The Dymaxion Chronofile and our ever-expanding personal digital archives
Is an ever-expanding personal digital archive a problem if we have appropriate tools to organize and manage it? - Keeping wanderlust and other daydreams from cluttering up all your thoughts
Here is how I handle wanderlust in an organized way so that if I do decide to take the vacation, all of my daydreaming was actually profitable. - Workspace of the Week: Standing desk conversion
Why buy a ridiculously overpriced standing desk when you can repurpose a desk you already own? - Ask Unclutterer: Working with a messy colleague
You’re likely in the position you are at your company because your boss sees your organizing skills as highly valuable and complimentary to her skills. You have something she lacks, and she needs your organizing talents to do her job well. - Happy birthday, Ms. Zeisel
Yesterday Eva Zeisel, a Hungarian-born industrial designer known primarily for her elegant and minimalist ceramic designs, turned 103.
2008
- Single-use caulk
If you’re limited on storage space and have a small caulking job in your future, you might consider the convenient Caulk Singles made by GE. - Many purposes for a magnetic paper-clip dispenser
Use a magnetic paper-clip dispenser to store small, magnetic objects.
2007
- Creative ways to curb cat clutter
Suggestions for ways to hide cat clutter.
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Simple and minimalist chess set at a reasonable price
I’ve always loved Josef Hartwig’s Bauhaus chess set design from 1923. Unfortunately, the Naef set that is currently being manufactured costs $360.
That’s why I was so excited to see that the MoMA Store is now selling an edition of Lanier Graham’s 1966 design for only $65. This set has 95% of the coolness of the Hartwig design at 18% of the price.
And look at how nicely the pieces fit together in the box. It’s an Unclutterer’s dream…
Ask Unclutterer: Sell everything and buy new to achieve an uncluttered life?
Reader Catherine submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
In two years, [my husband and I] will be moving back to California where most of my family lives. I want to sell just about everything we own and ship only the things we want to keep and know we will use, along with photos, important papers and other sentimental items. We would also sell the car and fly out. We have made two cross-country trips over the years, trucking all our belongings and towing our vehicles both times. To be honest, I really don’t want to do it again …
We will be moving from [a] large house to an apartment only about a third of the size. I have told him that one of my fears is that we will truck all our stuff out and then find out a lot of our stuff won’t fit. Then we will end up selling stuff anyway, but will have transported it all for nothing … My husband keeps saying, “But then we’ll have to buy new things.” It’s just stuff to me and I am actually looking forward to starting over and buying new items to fit a new smaller apartment. Any suggestions on bringing my husband over to my side?
I understand the tabula rasa desire to wipe the slate clean and start a new life with new things in a new place. I get it, really I do. You’re imagining all of your problems with clutter and disorder magically disappearing when you create your new life together in California. It’s a blissful thought!
Except, your problems with clutter aren’t going anywhere.
You and your husband will acquire things in California in the same patterns you do currently. The disorganization will eventually reappear and the chaos will come back because the two most important factors in your life haven’t changed: you’re still you, and your husband is still your husband.
Until both of you choose to commit to a clutter-free, organized life, it doesn’t matter if you move the stuff across country or not. And, as much as I’m sure you would like to force him into becoming an unclutterer, you can’t make him. He’s an adult with free will and an attachment to his things — and you love him, clutter and all.
You should definitely talk with him about your desire to live as unclutterers. Have a respectful conversation detailing your specific visions for your current living space can help him to better understand the benefits of an uncluttered life. (You have two years in your current home, and your plans for California could easily change, so forget about some distant future and focus on the present.) He may be 100 percent on board with your vision of an uncluttered home and the path you should take to get there. But, you have to be prepared for the possibility that he might not agree with you and you’ll need to listen to his opposing viewpoints. Additionally, your definition of clutter might be completely different than his. Check out “What to do if you are organized and your partner isn’t” and “How can I change someone into an unclutterer?” for ideas on how to open up effective communication lines on this topic.
I’d also suggest you spend some time thinking about why you are so eager to let go of the vast majority of your possessions when you move? It makes sense to purge the clutter, but why do you want to get rid of things that aren’t clutter (like a car, if you use it)? Is it because you love shopping, and you’re simply looking for a reason to buy new stuff? Or, is there something bigger going on that you haven’t yet admitted to yourself? There might not be any underlying issue, but if there is, now is a good time to explore it. Otherwise you could find yourself in California, surrounded by new stuff, but plagued with the same old clutter problems.
I’m sorry I don’t have a “do exactly what Catherine wants you to do” response for you to show your husband. I was really tempted to write it, though, because I often hear that same siren call to recreate myself in a new place. But, it doesn’t matter how far your go or how little you carry with you, the underlying issues always reappear if you don’t deal with them. You have at least two years to get clutter under control in your current place — if your husband is on board, learn to live an uncluttered life together now and what stuff you want to move won’t be an issue when/if you go to California. Plus, you won’t have a two-year disagreement over moving logistics wreaking havoc on your marriage.
Thank you, Catherine, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope your conversation with your husband brings about an outcome that satisfies both of you and helps you in your current and future life together. Good luck!
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.
Workspace of the Week: Working and collecting
This week’s Workspace of the Week is CLSasse’s super space:
CLSasse’s space is fun because it highlights two different collections — a cornucopia of computers and a small Superman collection. What’s impressive is that everything has a home, and everything is in its place. Additionally, it looks like all of the computers can be used without CLSasse having to sit in an awkward position. The shelving and storage perfectly fit their user’s needs. An impressive setup all around, and the two collections definitely fall within the bounds of uncluttered collections. Thank you, CLSasse, for submitting your workspace to our Flickr pool.
Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.
