Archives for January 2011

Workspace of the Week: Out-of-sight, out-of-mind

This week’s Workspace of the Week is TinaFB’s bedroom office:

For the second week in a row, I wanted to highlight how someone has solved the space constraint of needing to put a desk in their bedroom/office/living space. The reason I like this desk so much is because it closes up and goes away when TinaFB wishes to relax. She doesn’t have to stare at responsibilities and bills, she can simply make them disappear. I also like that she took the time to personalize the furniture (it’s a piece from Ikea) with red paint on the back panel and chalkboard paint on the inside of the doors. The chalkboard paint can be very useful for posting important reminders, without having to have an actual chalkboard hanging in the room. Thank you, TinaFB, for submitting your office to our workspace 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.

Posted by Erin on Jan 14, 2011 | 11 Comments | Tweet This

Uncluttered benefits of learning people’s names

Have you seen the “What’s That Name?” sketch from the Paul Rudd-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live this season? If not, go watch it, it’s pretty funny.

SNL writers got this sketch right when they poked fun at the way people routinely dehumanize each other. When we’re in a hurry and on cruise control, it can be easy to forget that the person driving the bus or handing you dry cleaning or taking your order in a restaurant isn’t an automaton. People in service industry professions are often treated like robots, or, worse yet, like they’re invisible.

I grew up in a small-ish Midwestern town where everyone already knew everybody else’s name. When I moved to a major city, I missed knowing my neighbors and the people where I went. So, a decade ago, I started making it a point to know people’s names. I know the names of the checkout clerks, butchers, and the wine and cheese buyers at the grocery store; I know the names of my regular UPS man, mail carrier, and FedEx lady (and even most of their substitutes); I know the name of the woman who schedules appointments at my hair salon; I know the names of bus drivers, cab drivers, and the women who work at the dry cleaner’s. And, for the most part, these people know my name, too.

Although learning people’s names takes a little bit of time (you must strike up a conversation), I’ve found that the act has incredible uncluttering benefits overall. Had I not started talking with my butcher, I’d have never known that I can order a quarter of a cow (instead of a whole cow) from a local grass-roaming, organic farm each year and that the butcher will cut up the meat for me exactly how I ask him to, free of additional charge (well, I do give him a nice tip). Buying a quarter of a cow has saved me incredible amounts of money (it’s insanely discounted compared to buying separate cuts of meat) and time (I don’t have to run to the store). Twice, I’ve called the receptionist at my hair salon and she has found a way to get me on the schedule at the last minute, and I haven’t had to whine or beg or threaten or do anything other than ask nicely. The mail and package delivery folks always wait for me to answer the bell, instead of slapping a sticker on the door and driving away like I know some of them do. I get my package on the first delivery attempt instead of having to go to a central office to pick something up or wait another day. Bus drivers have waited for me as I’ve hurried down the street. Simply stated, my life runs more smoothly because I’ve taken the time to learn someone’s name and taken a sincere interest in what they do.

I’m not suggesting you learn someone’s name for the singular purpose of getting better service. Rather, I’m suggesting that meeting the people — all the people — who are a regular part of your life can be beneficial in many ways. It is certainly more enjoyable to go to the market when you know you can learn something from the people there, instead of thinking about the errand like a mundane chore and the people who work there as idiots (they’re not). And, as someone who has previously worked in a service industry job, the work day went much more quickly when I was able to help someone who saw me as a person and took an interest in what I did. I enjoyed helping those people most of all.

Even if you have ignored someone you encounter regularly in your life, it’s never too late to extend your arm, shake a hand, apologize for never learning his or her name before, and properly introduce yourself. In my experience, you’ll immediately feel more connected to your corner of the world and see a few uncluttered benefits, too.

Posted by Erin on Jan 13, 2011 | 68 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: USB-Powered Foot Warmer

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

Some of my favorite unitaskers are USB powered devices — the USB-powered eyelash curler, the USB pet rock, the USB-powered hamster wheel. This week’s unitasker is USB powered, and quite possibly the most dangerous unitasker we’ve encountered in awhile. Introducing the USB-powered foot warmer:

I appreciate the theory behind this contraption (I certainly don’t enjoy having cold toes), but I can think of a couple scenarios where this isn’t a good idea:

  1. In an office environment the last thing I want to smell is my co-worker’s stinky feet “warming” from the adjacent cubicle.
  2. Standing up, forgetting your slipper is attached to your computer, and pulling your laptop onto the floor, shattering your laptop into a million pieces.

I’m sure I could think of more, but these two seem to be decent arguments against this unitasker. I’m also unsure of why you would need one of these especially since there are high-utility things like socks, shoes, and blankets already in your home. Not to forget you also have to shell out $20 and give up a USB port to use the foot warmer, which make it even less desirable.

Thanks go to reader Erika for introducing us to yet another USB-powered unitasker.

Posted by Erin on Jan 12, 2011 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2010

2009

2008

Posted by PJ on Jan 12, 2011 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Creating a home inventory

Creating a home inventory is a good idea for a number of reasons:

  1. A complete inventory is good for determining how much home owner’s or renter’s insurance you should be carrying.
  2. It is also priceless after a disaster or if something has been stolen to help with completing forms and proof of ownership for your insurance claim.
  3. If you have an item stored in your basement or attic, the inventory can save you time by giving you the precise place to look to find that item.

It is best to have a copy of the inventory on your home computer, but, most importantly, have a copy saved online. If you don’t use an online backup service like DropBox or BackBlaze, simply e-mail a copy to your Gmail account.

The new Mac App Store has a program available for purchase ($10) called Compartments that looks to be simple to use. There are numerous other programs out there, I simply suggest finding one you like and using it. The inventory software programs are nice because often they’ll prompt you to remember an object you might have overlooked otherwise. An Excel spreadsheet could also work, though, if you have a keen eye. The point is to use whatever system is easiest for you that you’ll actually use.

Have you done a home inventory? What program did you use? Tell us about your experiences in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Jan 12, 2011 | 36 Comments | Tweet This

And the three winners in our ScanSnap S1100 birthday giveaway are …

Thank you to EVERYONE (all 12,855 of you!) who are now following @Unclutterer on Twitter and who have participated in our Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 birthday giveaway. We have greatly enjoyed this giveaway and Fujitsu’s generosity! Now, let’s get on to the good stuff …

At 10:00 a.m. EST, the random generator picked the following winners:

@bobt6464
@runwithtweezers
@andrea317

I have direct messaged the three winners of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 and they have 24 hours to respond.

Even though the birthday giveaway is over, you can still sign up to follow @Unclutterer on Twitter. Also, sign up to follow @ScanSnapIT for tips and tricks about reducing your paper clutter. Again, we want to give BIG, AMAZING, GIGANTIC thanks to Fujitsu for doing such a generous giveaway for our birthday celebration and our Twitter followers!

Posted by Erin on Jan 11, 2011 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Uncluttered living isn’t boring

An uncluttered life is one where you choose to get rid of the distractions (the clutter) so you can focus on what matters most to you. You get rid of the messes and stresses to spend time pursuing the life you desire.

For most of us, the life we desire and the things that matter most to us aren’t boring things. In fact, they’re usually quite the opposite. The things we do when our lives are free of clutter make us smile, bring joy to our lives, and are rarely regrettable. We take our children to the park, sing along to our favorite songs, and follow our dreams.

An uncluttered life may contain more silence than a cluttered life, but it might not. I need moments of solitude in my day to think clearly — and if I’m pulled in too many directions and my schedule is a mess, I don’t get this time. My definition of an uncluttered life includes a couple time-outs during the day, but these moments are far from boring. They’re relaxing and rejuvenating and unclutter my thoughts.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on “Boring 2010,” a boredom conference held Dec. 11 in London. More than a dozen of my friends e-mailed me links to the article with comments joking, “This would be perfect for you!”

The headline for the article was “Boredom Enthusiasts Discover the Pleasures of Understimulation.” But, when reading the article, you realize that understimulation wasn’t anywhere on the agenda. Workshop after workshop had speakers droning on about topics like paint colors and reflections on breakfast foods. Even though the topics were dull, the speakers were providing constant stimuli. There weren’t any blocks of time for silence to be enjoyed. The conference should have been more accurately identified as a Constant Clutter for Your Thoughts.

An uncluttered life doesn’t mean you have to listen to boring people talk about boring subjects. Rather, it means just the opposite — you purposefully avoid such events from cluttering up your time so you can do things that matter more to you.

Posted by Erin on Jan 11, 2011 | 16 Comments | Tweet This

Preparing for the unexpected

For the second winter in a row, I have found myself with a cast on my leg. This time, I became cast-worthy after tripping on the hem of my jeans (I was wearing heel-length jeans with flats) and falling down a flight of stairs. I didn’t break anything, but my podiatrist said I tore the muscles off the bones in my foot and something else awful to do with my ankle. (I’m a little vague on the ankle stuff because I got a bit light-headed after he said I’d “tore the muscles” off my foot. Yuck. Just typing it makes me queasy.)

Thankfully, this whole cast situation is temporary, and my husband has been a rock star around the house taking over most of my chores and parenting responsibilities. My son also believes I’ve started transforming into a robot, which makes me the coolest mom in the world.

Winding up in a cast once again reminded me how important it is to be organized before you have an accident. I was lucky that all I did when I fell down the stairs was mess up my foot and ankle. I’m well aware I could have been injured much more severely, especially since I went down the stairs like a stuntman in an action scene in a movie.

Before you have an accident, be sure to:

  • Carry your insurance card on you at all times.
  • Wear a medical alert bracelet if you have any allergies or severe medical conditions.
  • Have your doctor’s name and phone number stored in your cell phone or written on a sheet of paper in your wallet.
  • Have a file in your filing cabinet with “In case of emergency” as its name and let your friends and family know about it. In this file, list the bills you pay every month and other important and relevant details someone else might need to know (contact information for your health insurance agent, your boss, your child’s teacher, etc.).

Life is unpredictable — I certainly wouldn’t have guessed I’d be in a cast twice in less than a year. What have you done to prepare for the unexpected? Share your advice in the comments.

Posted by Erin on Jan 10, 2011 | 41 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2010

  • Unitasker Wednesday: Chair socks
    Look at these cute socks. Oh, wait. You’re saying they’re not socks I can wear? They’re socks for my chairs?
  • James Jamerson’s Uncluttered Bass Rig
    I’ve written before about my constant battle with an affliction called Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS). It’s an almost compulsive need to purchase new equipment in the firm belief that the new item, be it a guitar, amp, or effect pedal, will be the spark that ignites stale monotony into inspired genius. Sometimes it works, but I find that more often, buying new equipment is just a substitute for doing the hard work required to be creative.
  • Build your own recyclable furniture with Grid Beam
    Grid Beam allows you to use a few standard modular and reusable components to create whatever structure you need at the moment.
  • Multipurpose games
    Avoid board game clutter by purchasing games that serve multiple purposes.

2009

  • Book review: The Power of Less
    If you are looking for sound advice on how to improve your productivity, The Power of Less will help you to be more efficient in all your dealings.

2008

Posted by PJ on Jan 9, 2011 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

Review: The Procrastination Equation

Piers Steel’s new book The Procrastination Equation made its way to my door last week. I’ll admit, the title taunted me to put off reading it — it’s as if just seeing the word procrastination could create a self-fulfilling prophecy — but, I didn’t. I finished it three days after first picking it up.

Steel has produced an exhaustive look at the research, history, definition, forms, and treatment of procrastination. (Note: Exhaustive may be underselling it, as there are 73 pages of endnotes following the 220 pages of manuscript.) The research, history, and forms of procrastination sections of his book are its strength and most captivating. Until I read Steel’s book, I had no idea ancient Egyptians had eight hieroglyphs referring to delay, one of which specifically implies neglect and/or forgetfulness. Procrastination clearly isn’t a new problem created by modern workers’ addictions to Facebook. Although, I also learned from reading the book that Facebook has such an addictive draw that half of people who personally close their accounts reactivate them.

From a section of the text, “What Procrastination Is and Isn’t”:

By procrastinating you are not just delaying, though delay is an integral part of what you are doing. Procrastination comes from the Latin pro, which means “forward, forth, or in favor of,” and crastinus, which means “of tomorrow.” But procrastination means so much more than its literal meaning. Prudence, patience, and prioritizing all have elements of delay, yet none means the same as procrastination. Since its first appearance in the English language in the sixteen century, procrastination has identified not just any delay but an irrational one — this is, when we voluntarily put off tasks despite believing ourselves to be worse off for doing so. When we procrastinate, we know we are acting against our own best interests.

Steel uses the later sections of the book to talk through his procrastination equation, which is:

Motivation = (Expectancy x Value)/(Impulsiveness x Delay)

He identifies motivation as the opposite of procrastination, and that a lack of motivation is a result of troubles with expectancy (such as you expect to fail at the task, so you don’t do it), value (such as you don’t value the work you’re supposed to do, so you don’t do it), or impulsiveness (I explain this one in more detail below).

The book provides tips for overcoming these three roots of procrastination with “action items.” If you’ve read any books or articles on procrastination in the past, the suggestions Steel provides are all ones you’ve seen before: Watch inspirational movies, visualize a positive outcome, identify that you’re procrastinating, positively frame outcomes, do hardest work when you are most alert, keep up your energy levels, reward yourself for reaching milestones, remove temptations and distractions, use specific language when setting goals, break down long-term goals into multiple milestones, schedule time for tasks, etc. In fact, I don’t think there are but one or two tips we’ve never covered on Unclutterer.

As I mentioned earlier, though, the “action items” wouldn’t be why you would read the book. It’s the first part of the book exploring the research, history, and forms of procrastination that make this book worth your time.

One of the items I found most interesting in the book is the discussion of types of procrastination. Steel’s research led him to discover that the more impulsive a person is, the more likely she is to procrastinate:

People who act without thinking, who are unable to keep their feelings under control, who act on impulse, are also people who procrastinate.

Delayed gratification isn’t an option for many procrastinators. If given the choice between watching television or studying for a test, they’ll watch television because it will be instantly gratifying. Even if performing well on a test will be more gratifying, they are unable to ignore the temptation in the present. I had never thought of procrastination as an impulse control issue until reading Steel’s book. This discovery will certainly color (for the better, I hope) my future advice about fighting procrastination.

Posted by Erin on Jan 8, 2011 | 19 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Tips for moving in together

Reader Caroline submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

Erin, you addressed this a little bit in your 2008 post about mismatched couples, but I wonder if you could do a post about preparing to combine households. My fiance and have decided on a very short engagement … But I’m also nervous that I’ll move my clutter into our shared home, which will make him feel burdened. I suppose this could be a good opportunity for us to talk about what we want our home to be like after we’re married, but how do we have conversations about things like … whose towels to keep… or what we hang on the walls?

Congratulations on your engagement! I wish you both a lifetime of happiness together.

As far as combining households is concerned, I suggest keeping a few things in mind:

  1. Get rid of your clutter before you move. There must be things in your current place you don’t even like or want to move, so get rid of this stuff immediately. Donate the good stuff to charity or give it away on Freecycle or sell it on Craigslist, and recycle or trash the rubbish. Don’t move your clutter into your new place.
  2. Unpack your boxes together in your new place. Have a glass of wine, play upbeat music, and have as much fun setting up your new place together as you can. Whose towels do you keep? Talk about it while you’re unpacking the towels. Do some of the towels go better with the colors of the bathroom? Are one set of towels better quality? How many towels will you need and which ones do you both like? Figure out these decisions as you unpack, together.
  3. If you need to, call in a professional. Professional organizers are fantastic to have on site when setting up a new place because they can help you organize and unclutter as you work. If you have interior design questions (What should we hang on the walls?), call in an interior designer for a few hours. Having a third party present is also great for keeping emotions in check. It’s difficult to raise your voice in front of a stranger.

I also suggest that you put a night’s sleep in between moving in boxes and unpacking them. Moving is incredibly stressful, and you don’t want the physical discomfort of moving to influence setting up your place. Unpack the essentials — toothbrushes, bedding, change of clothes, a towel — the day you move boxes, but leave the rest for the next day when you’re refreshed.

Also, be sure you’re well fed. No one makes good decisions when she’s hungry.

Thank you, Caroline, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck on your move, and congratulations on your engagement. Also, check the comments for even more suggestions 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 Jan 7, 2011 | 23 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Small living, organized office

This week’s Workspace of the Week is Callum Chapman’s bedroom/office/living space:

Living with a roommate or in a dorm or at home with your parents can be difficult for an unclutterer because your bedroom functions pretty much like a studio apartment. Therefore, when someone manages to pull off the arrangement in an extremely organized way, I am quick to give praise. Reader Callum’s bedroom/office/living space is a perfect example of doing a lot in just a little bit of room. The Expedit bookshelves from Ikea provide storage and display options. The work surface is large enough to hold all of the equipment and still have room to spread out a book or two. Also, I like that the room is full, but not overflowing or cluttered. It appears that Callum really lives in this space and uses it well. Thank you, Callum, for submitting your space 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.

Posted by Erin on Jan 7, 2011 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

We’re celebrating our fourth birthday by giving away three S1100 Fujitsu ScanSnaps

Today is Unclutterer’s fourth birthday! As part of the celebration, Fujitsu has generously provided three of their new, ultra-portable, S1100 ScanSnap scanners for us to give away to three lucky Unclutterer Twitter followers.

We’ve teamed up with Fujitsu to help our readers cut back on paper waste, digitize clutter, better organize work/home offices, and celebrate our big four. We will give away three ScanSnap S1100 scanners next Tuesday, January 11, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. EST.

How to enter to win: Entering to win is simple. All you need to do is follow us on Twitter. If you aren’t already on Twitter, create an account and then follow us @Unclutterer.

We will randomly select three winners from our Twitter followers. You only need to follow us once (and please, only once), to participate in the giveaway. If you already follow us on Twitter, then you are already participating and need not do anything more. Winners of the giveaway will have 24 hours to respond to a direct message from @Unclutterer to claim their new scanner. Failure to respond within 24 hours will disqualify you from the giveaway.

While you’re following @Unclutterer, consider also following Fujitsu @ScanSnapIT for scanning tips and news. I know that some of you aren’t interested in social media and will complain about having to sign up for Twitter to participate in the giveaway — however, this is the easiest way for us to manage the giveaway and it ensures that many of our readers are already entered to win with no additional effort on their part. Also, if you’re an avid Wired magazine reader, you know that social networking sites can help increase worker productivity if used efficiently. If you still wish to complain, well, please don’t because you can always cancel your account after the contest has ended. This is simply the easiest way for us to conduct the giveaway.

I am so exited about this birthday event and cannot wait to give away three Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 scanners. Remember, you have until 10:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, January 11, to follow us on Twitter for the scanner giveaway. Good luck, and again a special thanks to Fujitsu for their amazing generosity!

Posted by Erin on Jan 6, 2011 | 28 Comments | Tweet This

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100: An ultra-portable paper clutter reducer

Yesterday at CES, Fujitsu released its latest model in its ScanSnap scanner series. The S1100 is a mobile color scanner, smaller than my shoe:

ScanSnap sent me a model to test a couple weeks ago, and I think it’s a great little machine. (It’s weird how I drool over scanners and their paper clutter-reduction powers … I may have a problem … ) It works with the same dependability and quality as other ScanSnap products.

It took me about four minutes to install the software, and I was able to use the scanner instantly after that. The software works with both PC and Mac.

My only complaint is that it doesn’t scan both sides of the paper you feed into it. However, since I have a desktop scanner that does duplex, it’s not such a big deal to me. This device is really built for lugging around in your briefcase or suitcase, so its compact size and convenience outweigh the lack of duplex scanning. If you attend a lot of conferences, you want a small scanner like this that weighs next-to-nothing (my home scale said it weighed half a pound) and quickly processes all the paper you collect. You could easily leave an event without a single piece of paper cluttering up your travel bag.

When ScanSnap contacted me to see if I might want to review one of the S1100 models, I asked if they might be interested in giving away a few units to our readers in celebration of Unclutterer’s fourth birthday (assuming I liked the unit). They were generously game (the units are currently retailing for $199 a piece), and later today we’ll provide details about the giveaway. Stay tuned if you’re interested in winning one for yourself. I think a lot of Unclutterer readers could use an ultra-portable scanner like this.

Posted by Erin on Jan 6, 2011 | 26 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: Snap Jack Pancake Cutter

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

Are you against owning any knives? Do you really like pancakes? If you answered both questions affirmatively, well then I have the perfect product for you! Introducing the Snap Jack Pancake Cutter:

This plastic implement cuts your pancakes into eight equal pie-shaped pieces. Eight! Equal! Pie-shaped pieces! Exactly what you have always wanted!! And, pie-shaped pieces aren’t all you get with the Snap Jack — No, when you buy the Snap Jack Pancake Cutter, you also get a plastic ladle-measuring-cup-thingy! According to the product description, the ladle-measuring-cup-thingy is “for measuring correctly-sized pancakes.” Well, I’ll be! Until this moment, I had no idea there were incorrectly-sized pancakes. Why, if it weren’t for the Snap Jack Pancake Cutter I would have improperly sized and inadequately cut pancakes.

I am greatly indebted to reader Wendy for sharing this lovely unitasker with us.

Posted by Erin on Jan 5, 2011 | 44 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2010

  • Increasing energy: Erin’s first set of 2010 resolutions
    I’ve written in the past about how getting adequate sleep is linked to an uncluttered life. If I’m exhausted, I’m less likely to eat well and exercise (also energy related), tackle items on my to-do list, think and work efficiently and clearly, keep up with chores, stay focused, and respond well under stress. One hour of missed sleep can tank my productivity the following day.

2008

Posted by PJ on Jan 5, 2011 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Introducing: SimpliFried.com

The Unclutterer family is growing, and I am elated to share with you the incredible news. Today, Dancing Mammoth (our parent company) is launching a new website that hopes to end mealtime stress. I would like to introduce you to our new sister site:

SimpliFried’s motto: “If your nerves are fried, we’ll be your simple, delicious, and nutritious cooking guide.” Our goal is to make feeding yourself and your family as painless as possible.

Similar to Unclutterer, there will be daily content posted to the site. Topics will range from simplifying and improving your cooking skills to food science to recipes that get you quickly in and out of the kitchen. Once a month there will be meal plans and shopping lists that make your life in the kitchen easier. Check out SimpliFried’s manifesto and About page to learn more.

I’m on board as the site’s Editor-in-Chief, and Matt Fetissoff joins me as our senior writer. Matt has lived for more than an year in an RV, and he knows a thing or two about cooking incredible meals in small spaces with low-tech equipment. Consulting to the site are a couple farmers (one in a major city and one on a large Midwest family farm), a butcher, a nutritionist, a self-declared foodie, and my very picky husband and even more picky peanut-allergic son who test drive every meal plan and recipe.

You can key in the URL by hand, subscribe to SimpliFried’s RSS feed, or get daily updates by e-mail. We also have a Twitter account @SimpliFried that regularly posts links.

Although there are only four posts currently live on the site, we’ve been working on SimpliFried for more than four months getting ready for the launch. I’m honestly surprised I was able to keep it a secret for so long. I am thrilled to finally be able to introduce it to you. The new logo even makes me smile, and I’m so glad we were able to have the same artist make him.

If you are looking for simplification strategies for your kitchen and cooking, I hope that SimpliFried can be a positive resource for you.

Posted by Erin on Jan 4, 2011 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

Unclutterer: Best of 2010

Now that we’re into the new year, let’s take a look at of our favorite Unclutterer posts of 2010:

And our favorite Unitasker Wednesday selection of 2010:

Did you have a favorite? What was it and why?

Posted by Erin on Jan 4, 2011 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

January 2011 resolutions and a plan of action

In 2011, I am becoming the queen of self-micromanagement. I have tried lofty, big-picture, annual resolutions and obtained them with some success. I have tried practical, quarterly goals and seen greater success. However, I am ready for a year of 100 percent success, and monthly resolutions with daily schedules will be my plan of action to make that happen.

For 2011, I chose 24 new year’s resolutions. Twelve of these resolutions are organizing, uncluttering, and/or cleaning related, which I will share with you. The other twelve are personal and won’t be shared on the website. In January, I have taken on two resolutions — one public and one private. In February, there will be two more, and there will be two more each month for the remainder of the year.

Additionally, I have vowed to plan out every single day, hour-by-hour, to help me achieve these resolutions. Each evening before bed, I will plan out the next day and make sure that I schedule time for all of my resolutions. After waking up the next morning, I will review the schedule, print it out, and follow it to the best of my abilities.

I acknowledge that some days my schedule will be dissolved because of an unforseen event — but that is totally fine. Assuming not every day’s schedule is disrupted, I will likely be able to achieve my resolutions within the month timeframe. At least, that is my hope.

My first public resolution for 2011 is to plan healthier meals for myself and my family, and to stick to the meal plans I create. My family is pretty good about making meal plans, but lately the plans have been filled with comfort food with an extra helping of comfort food (this is a common trend for us during Nesting Season).

In December, I read the Harvard Medical School’s guide to healthy eating Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy and took copious notes. The book made me realize that my family doesn’t eat as many servings of vegetables per day as we should (we were getting just three, and we need to bump it up to five), and that two servings of whole grains a day is at least one serving too few. Starting tonight, I’m sitting down with the notes I took from the book and creating a more healthy meal plan.

Based on the plan I create, I’ll go grocery shopping before work Tuesday morning (when my grocery store is quiet as a mouse) and pick up the ingredients I need. Then, I’ll try my hardest to stick to the plan throughout the week.

I’ve given myself an hour to create the meal plan — between 8:00 and 9:00 tonight. Already having it on my schedule, and giving myself a limited amount of time to complete it, is part of my self-micromanagement plan. All snacks, meal preparations, dining, and cleanup activities are also planned on my schedule. I’m serious about improving the quality of my family’s meals, and so I’m hoping my increased organizing efforts will make it a reality.

What about you? What are you doing today to achieve your 2011 resolutions? Do you like the idea of monthly resolutions? Would an hour-by-hour schedule help you to move forward with your action items? I’ll admit, 24 resolutions for 2011 feels like a lot to accomplish — but I am willing to tackle two at a time using my self-micromanagement plan. I’ll keep you updated each month as new resolutions come onto the schedule. I’m genuinely excited to see how my 2011 resolutions fare in comparison to previous years.

Posted by Erin on Jan 3, 2011 | 54 Comments | Tweet This