Archives for Ask Unclutterer
Ask Unclutterer: Organizing physical media
Reader Nancy submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I’m about to finally get a storage unit for music CDs; it resembles an old-fashioned library card catalog. Should I organize the CDs by composer, performer, genre, piece type (symponies, concertos)? What makes the most sense? Almost all are classical but there are some “easy listening.” Many thanks for considering my question.
Your question is about music CDs, but my response can be applied to organizing many other types of physical materials — especially papers and books. And, the answer is simple:
Organize items in the way that makes the most sense to you.
If you’re the person retrieving items and also the person who is putting them away after you use them, you’re much more likely to maintain order in the system if it makes complete sense to you.
How would you want to search for the CDs so you find the exact CD you want exactly when you want it? For me, that would be according to genre (all classical together, all easy listening together, all rock together) and then subdivide according to composer (all Mozart together, all Beethoven, etc.) and then subdivide by work (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) and then alphabetize by performance group or performer or conductor. I’d organize the CDs this way only because I usually have a desire to hear a particular piece of music. If you’re someone who usually desires to hear a particular performer or conductor, you would want to arrange to reflect that search preference.
I also recommend labeling your system well so if someone else approaches your CDs (or files or books) he or she can locate items and put them back.
If you’re not the only person regularly accessing the CDs, you need to develop the organizing system with the other people who will use it. Find the most agreeable solution and then make sure everyone is trained on how to organize the materials so things are returned after use.
Another good idea is to always leave room for growth and change. You don’t want things so closely packed into a space that it’s difficult to put items away or to move items around, if necessary.
Finally, you might also consider digitizing your CD collection. I realize this would take a considerable amount of time and expense, since I doubt you would want to compress the files. But, it’s definitely something to consider if you plan to expand your collection. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that people are very emotionally attached to their music collections and suggesting digitizing it can be taken as offensive. However, it does make storage and retrieval extremely simple, and you never have to worry about a CD getting scratched or something not being returned to its storage space after it is used.
Thank you, Nancy, 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.
Ask Unclutterer: Organizing home office supplies
Reader Vera submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I have loads of extra office supplies; like file folders, hanging file folders, envelopes, index cards, note paper, binder clips, glue, pencils, etc. Can you give me suggestions about storing these items that won’t take a lot of space?
I adore office supplies, especially new office supplies. They are possibilities and new ideas. They’re physical representations of all the great things I can create with those folders and clips and pencils. And, like you, if I’m not careful, they can overtake my office and clutter up valuable workspace.
In the past, we’ve written about how to store large numbers of office supplies when in a corporate environment in our posts “Organizing an office supply closet” and “Organizing and operating a central supply room.” There may be a few tips in these larger scale posts that you can apply to your smaller workspace. So, I recommend starting there.
Once you’ve checked out those posts, try these additional methods for containing your personal office supplies:
- Know thy stuff and thy self. Assess the supplies you have and how you are using them, and if you are actually using them (I have a box of rubber bands in my desk, yet no idea when I last used a rubber band … 2008?). Sort the products into like piles (paper clips with paper clips, pencils with pencils). Identify how often you use the products and what circumstances are you in when you need more of that product. Also evaluate which products are your favorites and which ones you dislike.
- Be realistic. Is there any way you will use all of those supplies in your lifetime? Any product you’re never going to use can instantly be placed in a box to be donated to someone who can use the product. Then, ask yourself how much stuff you can realistically store? Do you have room to store enough supplies for the next six months? The next year or two or three? Most people in their homes only have enough space to store items they’re going to be able to use in the next one or two years. Additionally, products like glue, ink pens, and rubber bands won’t necessarily make it that long before drying out. Set a use-by date (mine is two years) and keep only those supplies that you’ll use by that date (and be sure the ones you keep are the ones you love). Again, all those supplies you won’t use can go into a donation box.
- Donate. All the supplies you won’t use up by the timeframe you chose can easily be donated to a school or non-profit organization. Obviously, call before you deliver the supplies to make sure the group wants them, but now is an especially good time to give these types of products to a school.
- Store. The supplies that you have chosen to keep can be kept in two types of storage areas: immediately accessible and long-term storage. Divide your items into these two categories. Things that should be put into the “immediately accessible” pile are those things that you access more than one time a day. These might be a few pens, sticky notes, and paper clips. The “long-term storage” pile is for all your other supplies that you access as you need them, probably a couple times a week or month.
- Organize. For your desk, I recommend getting a drawer organizer tray to help you keep those things you need daily in an orderly state. Measure your drawer (length, width, and depth) and then get a piece to fit the space. When putting items into the tray, keep like items together. If you don’t have a desk drawer, get an organizing caddy to keep those necessary supplies within arm’s reach on your desk top. For longer-term storage, you’ll want to contain your supplies in a way that gels with your design aesthetic. If the supplies will be stored in a closet or cupboard where they won’t be seen, you can aim for containers that are purely utilitarian. If the supplies will be stored on shelves where you can see them, you’ll likely want to aim for pretty or classy or industrial. Just be sure you like the containers you select because you’re more likely to repeatedly use something you love. Also, keep the items grouped (binder clips with binder clips) and label everything so you don’t have to open the container to know what resides inside it.
Thank you, Vera, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope I was able to be helpful to you today. And, be sure to check the comments for even more suggestions from our readership.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: Rituals, mechanisms, habits and traditions to ensure an uncluttered home
Reader Sasha and others submitted questions to Ask Unclutterer that were very similar in content, asking:
The quote at the end of Tuesday’s post by Anthony Graesch has been on my mind: “The inflow of objects is relentless. The outflow is not. We don’t have rituals, mechanisms, for getting rid of stuff.” After an initial uncluttering project is completed, what rituals and/or mechanisms do you suggest to maintain an uncluttered space? When should we unclutter our homes again?
Many groups of people have uncluttering and cleaning as a ritualistic component of their culture. For example, in many south Asian countries in preparation for Diwali the entire house is cleaned and all old clutter removed before a family begins celebrating. This holiday is in the last quarter of the calendar year when temperatures are mild (60ºFs and 70ºFs) and families can work both out and indoors. Some sub-groups even include painting and decorating as part of this ritual, where walls get a fresh coat of paint and older decorative items are replaced with new (pictures are even swapped in frames). There is a religious purpose for this behavior, but even the non-religious observe the secular aspect of uncluttering and cleaning around this holiday.
On the whole, we don’t have such holidays in the U.S. where everyone observes a ritual for annually cleaning and uncluttering our spaces. I’ve noticed most families only go through such whole-home uncluttering activities when moving or right before entertaining guests. And, when entertaining guests, it’s usually more of a pick-up and put-away surface cleaning than a deep uncluttering and cleaning. As a result, I agree with Graesch and his statement that most families bring stuff in but rarely let stuff go. We’re definitely a culture of acquisition.
To maintain an uncluttered home, I think it’s a good idea to have habits and traditions in place to keep the outflow of goods equal to (or greater than) the inflow.
Four good habits to observe every day of the year:
- Don’t bring clutter in. Keep a trash can, recycling bin, and shredder near the main entrance to your home so you can immediately trash the trash, recycle what can be recycled, and shred anything you don’t need that contains personal information on it (like those preapproved credit card applications you get in the mail).
- One-in-one-out. Try your best to get rid of one item each time you bring in a newer item (this works for most products except for quickly consumable items like food). For example, if you buy a new pair of jeans, get rid of your oldest, hole-iest pair. If you’re starting to notice one-in-one-out isn’t enough, aim for one-in-two-out or one-in-three-out.
- Permanent box for charity. I also recommend keeping a Rubbermaid bin in your laundry room for deposits of donation items. I suggest the laundry room because it is incredibly simple to pull a piece of clothing you no longer want out of the dryer, fold it, and then put it straight into the donation bin. A sturdy bin is great because it can also hold non-clothing items you wish to donate to charity. Once the bin is full, toss it in the car and take its contents to your charity of choice.
- Put things away after you use them. When you put things away after you use them, you don’t have stray items all over your home and you know when your storage spaces are getting full and ready for uncluttering. It also helps you avoid having more possessions than you can store.
Four traditions to observe during the year:
- Spring cleaning. Getting your home ready for the warmer months of the year is good for many reasons. You’ll be able to clean things thoroughly, as well as notice if any damage has taken place to your home over the winter months. For a comprehensive list of spring cleaning tasks, check out pages 185-190 in my book.
- Fall cleaning. Just like spring cleaning, it’s always a good idea to get your home ready for the cooler months of the year. For an exhaustive list of fall cleaning tasks, check out pages 100-105 in my book.
- Cabin fever uncluttering. There is a point during the winter when you become tired of the snow and ice and cold temperatures that keep you indoors and you are longing for warmer weather. When these days set in, I know I’m mentally ready to do a thorough uncluttering in the house. Go through everything in your home and get rid of all the clutter. (For me, this is usually the first or second week of February.)
- Too hot to move uncluttering. When it is too hot to move outside and you start looking forward to fall, this is a good time to do another full-house uncluttering project. You’re inside retreating from the heat, anyway, so you might as well put that indoor time to good use. (Never fails, this happens for me the last week of July or first week of August.)
If these winter, spring, summer, and fall times don’t work for you, find times that do — the week before your birthday, the week before Easter, every weekend in October, etc. Attach rewards to the end of these projects so you have something to look forward to, in addition to your uncluttered and cleaned home. Also, be sure everyone in your home is involved in working to get things done. Everyone should feel responsible for and have a stake in the smooth running of the home.
Thank you, Sasha and the others, 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.
Ask Unclutterer: Is busy-ness trapping us in cluttered, unhappy lives?
Reader Chad submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I read the article “The Busy Trap” on the New York Times’ opinion page this week. While I was reading it, I immediately thought of Unclutterer and wondered what your opinions were of it. Do you think we should all head to “Undisclosed Locations” or be “unmolested by obligations” to be happy and have uncluttered lives, the way the reporter [Tim Kreider] suggests?
A good question, Chad. I certainly agree with Kreider that many of us could significantly benefit from more un-programmed time in our days and in our lives, but I see no need to abandon all responsibilities to find happiness or to pursue a simple, uncluttered life. In fact, I find some major problems — practically, philosophically — with Kreider’s suggestions.
He has chosen to go off, as you mention in your question, to an “Undisclosed Location” to avoid responsibilities as his primary way of life. But, he’s doing it fully at the expense of other people. He’s not growing, harvesting, and butchering his own food — he’s expecting farmers and grocers to go to work so that he can enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’m assuming his far-flung location has electricity and running water, which do not happen magically but through the hard work of linemen and engineers. The library he uses to submit his writing is staffed by employees, who if they weren’t logging hours, he wouldn’t have access to the internet. The gas he puts into his car so he can drive to the library has to be drilled and pumped out of the ground, refined, transported and sold to him by living, breathing people. Never mind the programmers and technicians who spent thousands of hours developing the computer and related technologies (cell phone, software, digital camera, etc.) he uses to perform his job. If it weren’t for people who put in 40-, 60-, 80-hour work weeks, he wouldn’t have the luxury of being “unmolested by obligations.”
Kreider’s musing that the world would be “ruin[ed] if everyone behaved as I do” is quite accurate, in my opinion. For society to function, there have to be people working diligently to make it happen. And, my guess is that the next time he needs emergency medical care that he’ll be glad the doctors treating him chose not to be defiantly indolent, but rather have pursued the “frenetic hustle” he claims is causing humans emptiness.
Busy-ness is neither good nor bad, and to assume anyone lacks meaning in his life because he has tasks on his to-do list is erroneous.
Major critiques aside, I do find value in some of his statements. I concur it is important to take a step back and dwell on the big picture, albeit occasionally. I start each morning with a cup of coffee and 15 minutes of silence. When I find myself anxious, stressed, or keeping busy for the sake of keeping busy, I pause what I’m doing and take a timeout to clear my head. An unplugged weekend or vacation help me to better focus on what matters most to me when I’m reconnected again. (But, as I’ve already mentioned, I see few benefits in Kreider’s advocation of a robustly slacker lifestyle rich with modern conveniences that is wholly reliant on industrious people to provide these conveniences.)
Kreider asks a poignant question in the sixth paragraph of his piece that speaks powerfully to me: “I can’t help but wonder whether all this histrionic exhaustion isn’t a way of covering up the fact that most of what we do doesn’t matter.” I have wondered the same thing, and this question more accurately addresses what I believe to be at the heart of this busy-ness conversation (and, Chad, I think this is where you were headed with your initial question).
I agree with Kreider, if you don’t know what you desire or if you don’t know what matters most to you, you will fall into the trap of “histrionic exhaustion.” Without direction, you will go nowhere.
We’ve all met people with no idea of what matters most to them. They save everything because they don’t know what is important. They’re paralyzed when making the simplest of decisions because they don’t know what they want. They’re rarely at home, and when they are, the television or radio or some form of audio stimulation is constantly blaring so they don’t have to be alone with their thoughts. I spent years living this way, and I kept trying to convince myself that because I had more stuff in my house, more action items on my to-do list, and more stuff coming into my life that I was important and happy. But I wasn’t. And, I don’t think most people who exist in a frenzied, chaotic state are genuinely happy. I’m not saying they don’t exist — because they do, I’ve encountered them — but most people without an understanding of what matters to them are frustrated and exhausted at their core.
Being busy, though, doesn’t disqualify people from living an uncluttered life. When you are clear and centered on what matters most to you, you may find you have more responsibilities than you did before you acknowledged what you wanted. The difference is that you’re only pursuing what is valuable and you’re discarding the clutter. You’re leading a meaningful and responsible life, which is likely bringing you great happiness. (The only caveat here is that I’m not recommending pursuing any activity that could land you in jail. The lawyers wanted me to state that outright.)
I keep a piece of paper on my desk that helps me to stay focused on what matters most to me. Initially, it wasn’t a list, it was simply a quote from my friend Laurell: “Drink coffee. Do good.” Over the years, I’ve added to the list, as my responsibilities (professional and personal) have grown. The two initial statements are now accompanied by things like “Help others. Cherish and prioritize my boys, my family, and my friends. Don’t carelessly or inconsiderately cause work for other people.” My list consists of 10 things that I value above everything else, and it’s my guide to help me stay focused on what is important to me. I recommend you create a list of what matters to you, and reference it often so you can answer the question “does this matter?” for yourself. (I also recommend keeping your list under 10 items, as more than that is pretty much impossible to achieve.)
In conclusion, I don’t believe living simply and pursuing an uncluttered life require removing yourself from society to an “Undisclosed Location.” Living simply and pursuing an uncluttered life don’t require you to be idle or bored or “unmolested by obligations.” (Although, taking time for reflection and retreat can be beneficial, especially when you’ve lost sight of what matters most to you.) Living simply and pursuing an uncluttered life only require that you clear the distractions, the clutter, and focus instead on what matters most to you. If you want to find a cure for cancer, find a cure for cancer even if it means a busy schedule and long hours in a lab. And, if you want to remove yourself from society like Kreider, do so — just don’t expect the rest of us to follow in your footsteps or think that your way is the only way. We each have different paths for achieving our uncluttered lives focused on what matters most to us.
Thank you, Chad, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope I answered your question in my admittedly long-winded response.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: Implementing GTD paperlessly
Reader Rachel submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I know you are huge fan of David Allen and after years of “almost” using his GTD system I finally bought the book [Getting Things Done] and am working my way through it. As I prepare for my two day “gather, process and route,” I find myself with some clutter related questions. First some background points:
1. My husband is in the army, so i like to keep everything as modular and portable as possible, 2. I am currently prepping for a move, so I am currently in down-size mode, and 3. I love using my computer.
Okay, now for my questions: David talks a lot about the proper supplies and having a general reference file. I’m kind of resistant to the idea of investing in paper file folders and filing cabinets when there is so much technology and digital recording available that doesn’t take up near the amount of space. What have you found to be the best capture system for your files? Digital or old school?
I would like to start by saying that you’re right in pointing out that I have enormous respect for David Allen. He is able to communicate his ideas about information organizing and productivity better than anyone else writing on these subjects today. This art of communication is a true talent and it is rare. Most importantly it is extremely helpful for those of us looking for guidance and sanity as we work and live. If anyone reading this hasn’t read his books, I strongly recommend them.
That being said (i.e. I’ll stop being an exhuberent fangirl for a moment), I don’t use the GTD system exactly as he prescribes. It’s not that I think his system is flawed or bad or wrong; it just doesn’t completely work for me and my preferences. And, at least in my personal experience, I’ve found that this is the case for most GTD enthusiasts. We gobble up all we can from his advice and then put our spin on it so it will be something we benefit from and use over the longterm.
If you’re like me, a good amount of the information you collect likely comes to you already in digital form or can easily be scanned and/or digitized (images, emails, PDFs, calendar appointments, etc.). To take these out of a digital form during the processing and organizing phases would be a waste of time and resources, and Allen doesn’t advocate you print these out, either. The most important thing to do is to capture this information in a way so you can reliably process, review, and do all the things you need to do to get things done.
I use a couple plugins for my Mac-based email program Mail that are created by the company InDev: Act-On (which let lets you apply rules to incoming messages) and MailTags (which color codes emails with tags). These are nice for adapting GTD processing and organizing actions, as well as helping to creation action items. Even if you didn’t use the GTD system, these are great plug-ins for email management. I incorporate these plugins to work with my personal email filing system, which I’ve outlined in detail in Unclutter Your Life in One Week. In short, I use Archive, Project Folders, and Read Me folders. The Archive folder is where all messages go after I schedule the work on my calendar or in my project management system. The Project Folders are where I stash project-related information until I can move the email to the Archive folder (e.g. where I put Ask Unclutterer emails until I review them and decide which one I will select for the week’s column). And the Read Me folder is for long emails or emails containing links to articles, typically sent from friends or family, that don’t require immediate attention and that I can read in full the next time I’m standing in a line or waiting on hold. Once I read the Read Me emails, they are moved to the Archive folder.
People who use Outlook as their email client might benefit from a GTD-themed add-in from NetCentrics. And, if you’re a Gmail user, I’ve heard good things about using the ActiveInbox plug-in. (A good ActiveInbox tutorial can be found in the article “ActiveInbox Turns Your Gmail Labels Into an Effective GTD System” on Lifehacker.)
As far as my personal to-do list (action items) and calendar, I do keep these in paper form. I like the physical actions of writing and greatly enjoy crossing things off lists. For the past six months, I’ve been using an Arc customizable notebook from Staples for the list and calendar. I’ve tried to do it all digitally, but I always seem to come back to the paper items for these two things. Comfort is a powerful creature. For work, I keep everything in Basecamp so everyone on staff and our clients can see important dates, to-do items, as well as communicate with each other. It’s ridiculously simple to use, which oddly is why some people don’t like to use it. There are hundreds of digital to-do list and calendar programs on the market and a few are probably already installed on your computer — just find one you love and will use and review.
In regards to other digital paperwork (the general reference stuff), I have set up my Evernote account to mirror the GTD workflow. Everything digital is dumped into it and it syncs with all my handheld devices and can be accessed anywhere in the world there is an internet connection. I also back it up to my desktop and back my laptop up to an external hard drive and again to Backblaze (I’m a wee bit maniacal about backing up my data). I save all my documents locally in a document management program (DevonThink), which I’ve discussed recently in “What tools should I use to digitize my paper piles.” If Evernote and DevonThink aren’t your style, check out OmniFocus for Mac and I know many of our readers use OneNote who have the MicroSoft Office Suite (be sure to check out the free, downloadable templates from MicroSoft to save yourself time).
Thank you, Rachel, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope I was able to help you in your pursuit to get things done and adopting Allen’s GTD system for your digital needs. Also be sure to check the comments for even more advice from our readers. I know we have numerous GTD enthusiasts who read the site and are active in our comments section.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: An entire agency uncluttering project
Reader Lee submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I work at an agency that has about 20 staff. In early July we will be renovating our space and most staff will have to pack up their offices to prepare for the renovations …
Without coming across as militant, how can I help my co-workers through the uncluttering process? I’m forever pointing out that they hold onto things they no longer need. For example, many of the print resources they hold onto are available on-line.
Also:
We have the ability to scan and store documents.
We have a client database where some information can be stored.
We have a pretty good timeline for the packing-up process.
We are renting Frogboxes to pack things into.
Lee, I’m oddly giddy for you and this experience. It’s so rare for an organization to have an opportunity for everyone to unclutter on company time.
The first thing I would do is help your coworkers to learn how to scan documents. If you’re in human resources, you can send out an email inviting everyone to a training session in a conference room and offer snacks (people like snacks). If you’re not in human resources, I’d still hold an information training session for your team. Suggest your boss get everyone lunch and hold the informal training session while you all eat. Even if everyone says they know how to scan documents and file them on the network, simply suggest it’s a refresher course to help speed up the process as they tackle their paper piles before the move. A training session also indirectly lets your coworkers know that the expectation is that they will get rid of some of their paper before the move.
Next, I would set a schedule for everyone on your team (or at the agency, if you’re in HR) to tackle group projects together. If your team shares a group filing system, schedule a two-hour time block when everyone on the team will help to sort, purge, and/or pack these shared materials. By having these set group activities on the calendar, you will be able to train everyone on how to unclutter. As a result, these group experiences can then help to encourage individual behaviors when your coworkers are working on their personal spaces.
Also, I’d communicate that there are a limited number of Frogboxes (such a cool service, I would like to add) and that people will only be able to pack what can fit into the boxes. If you’re in HR, you will know exactly how many boxes each person will get for his office and you can share that exact number. If you’re not in HR, just stay vague and say things like, “since we’re limited in how many boxes we can have to store our personal office items, learning how to scan nonessential documents is valuable.” This isn’t a lie — there is a limit of how many boxes Frogboxes will be providing to your company — you just might be implying there won’t be any exceptions, which there probably will be.
Honestly, I doubt anyone will think you’re a militant since all you’ll be doing is encouraging others to unclutter. As long as you stay positive and offer to help other people, I think your efforts will be well received. Avoid walking around and patrolling your coworkers, as it’s ultimately up to them what they decide to keep and purge. Simply encourage and train and hope for the best.
Thank you, Lee, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck with the office move and don’t forget to 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.
Ask Unclutterer: What tools should I use to digitize my paper piles?
Reader Rose submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
Before I ask my question I have to tell you I am seriously not computer savvy. I don’t understand the lingo. My question is: Since technology changes so quickly and your article ["Scanning documents to reduce paper clutter"] was written 5 years ago, would you still recommend the same scanner, software etc. to be able to accomplish my purpose? Is it possible to use the scanner on my All-in-One printer? Does the software allow you to create categories to put the articles in? Please if you have a recommendation for the simplest to use of these items that would be so gratefully appreciated!
You’re asking a number of questions and all of them are fantastic! I’ll address them in my response, but be sure to check out the comments for even more answers from our readers.
Your first question is if I still recommend the same scanner and software for tackling a paper pile (or two or ten). The short answer is yes, I strongly recommend Fujitsu ScanSnaps, their scanning and optical character recognition (OCR) software, and DevonTHINK document organizing software. The long answer to that question is more nuanced.
In the long answer, I’ll tell you that you need to find equipment and software that works best for you. If you already own an all-in-one scanner, you likely have no need to go out and buy a new scanner. However, you may want to acquire software that provides OCR processing if the software with your scanner doesn’t have this capability. Or, if you’re comfortable with storing documents online, I suggest opening an Evernote account. After you scan a document, you can upload your files to Evernote, which can read words found on documents and in images and even some handwriting (and it lets you organize your papers, too, in a way that works best for you). And, if you want a great tutorial about Evernote, check out Brett Kelly’s terrific Evernote Essentials downloadable guide. There are numerous options available to you, not just the ScanSnap-DevonTHINK one I provided in the earlier article.
Since you don’t mention what all-in-one scanner you have, I don’t know if it has document organizing software as part of its package. Most don’t, but some do have these features. You can also just nicely organize the documents on your computer in folders like you do all the other work you save on your computer. I recommend saving all files as PDFs, because if this file type ever goes out of style, you can bet there will be conversion programs that will allow you to turn PDFs into whatever becomes the new standard. To save a file as a PDF, follow the instructions in “Printing to PDF.”
Next, you asked what is the simplest way to turn your physical paper pile into digital files — and the truth of the matter is the easiest way to do it is to have someone else do it for you. Simply do a search online to find local document scanning service providers. I also recommend checking out reviews on Angie’s List to be sure the company you’re going to have scan your papers is reputable and secure. Most companies will shred your documents after they scan them. There will still be some work for you before you hand off your papers and after you receive the digital files, but having someone other than yourself do the scanning is the easiest method. (Sort your papers before you give them to the scanning company so you are only paying for important documents to be scanned and then you’ll have to organize all the digital files once they have been scanned.)
My only additional notes are to be sure to back up all of your scanned documents saved on your computer to an online site like DropBox or the previously mentioned Evernote. The last thing you want to have happen is to lose all of the documents you so diligently digitized when the hard drive on your computer crashes (which it will). And, lastly, if you are doing the scanning yourself, don’t forget to shred all of your paperwork after you digitize it.
Thank you, Rose, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck digitizing your paper collection and kudos to you for taking on this worthwhile task. Since you were able to fill out a contact form on Unclutterer to send me this question, I already know you’re more computer savvy than you give yourself credit for being.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: Designing a new space that prevents clutter and reduces cleaning time
Reader Howard submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
Do you have any tips for remodeling or building a house that would help prevent clutter or reduce cleaning maintenance in the design of the space?
This is a really fun question, Howard, and I’m so glad you asked it. You have a terrific opportunity in front of you to build a space that can help you achieve and maintain an uncluttered lifestyle.
First things first, thoroughly unclutter your existing possessions so your new space is free of things you don’t want in it. Check out “Start a full-room organizing project with a blank canvas” for tips on uncluttering in this style, but apply it to your entire home.
Now that the obvious is out of the way, I highly recommend designing the space with ample storage that can easily be reconfigured. Use elfa shelving (or the competing product from Rubbermaid) in closets and pantries so shelf heights can be adjusted or clothing rods installed or drawers can be added as necessary. Your needs for storage change over time, and your storage solutions should be able to adapt. If they can’t adapt, at some point they will cease to be helpful.
Also, when it comes to storage, think outside the closet. Have drawers set into the risers of your stairs, recess shelving between the studs of your walls, have window seats double as storage cubes, furnish with ottomans that have interior storage, or whatever fits your design style. The idea here is be creative with the elements you use in the space to improve storage instead of hinder it.
Beyond having ample, reconfigurable and creative storage, there are numerous cosmetic things you can do to help with cleaning and preventing clutter. None of these is a perfect solution, but they’re certainly things I do in my homes when I’m not renting:
Paint the walls with washable flat latex interior paint that contains ceramic microspheres. (You can find these in the washable paint section at most home improvement stores. Check the ingredients on the paint cans. The ceramic microspheres are usually in the higher-end washable paints.) Even if you don’t have pets or young children, it’s still very easy to get marks on your walls. With washable paint that has ceramic microspheres mixed into it, these stray marks come off like you’re washing tile instead of your painted walls.
Lay hardwood floors and use throw rugs instead of wall-to-wall carpeting, especially if you have pets. Cleaning and maintaining hardwood floors is exponentially easier, and it’s much less expensive to replace a throw rug than an entire room of carpeting.
If money is no object, install smart glass windows. You’ll never have to clean blinds again. (But, I guess if you can afford smart glass windows, you could probably also afford a cleaning crew to wash you blinds …)
Finally, I’ve never had one, but I’ve always thought a central home vacuum system would speed up cleaning time. Some of the systems have horizontal intakes (I think they’re technically called “sweep inlets”) so in addition to using the vacuum hose, you can also sweep directly into the suction area and not have to use a dustpan.
Thank you, Howard, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. And, like I mentioned earlier, be sure to check the comments for suggestions from our readers on designing spaces to prevent clutter and reduce cleaning time.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: Displaying sentimental items in one location or spread throughout a house
Reader Amy submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer regarding sentimental items:
I do a pretty good job keeping my clutter contained. My partner is a clutterbug. We live in a small apartment in a big city and are preparing to move to a smaller apartment in a bigger city.
We have the clutter/anti-clutter conversation a lot, and our biggest problem is that even if we follow the display rule, it’s still lots of “treasures” all around our house collecting dust. What do you do with the treasures once you’ve decided which ones are display-worthy? We both rather like the idea of putting his treasures up on the wall somehow to keep it off the surfaces, and I am partial to having everything in one place, so there are obvious visual limits to how much stuff is allowed to stay (like shelves or some kind of cabinet).
What you’re trying to decide is if the sentimental items you’ve chosen to keep should be zoned together or zoned apart. Do you want a Sentimental Items District or would you rather they commingle with all the other design elements in your place?
I recommend starting with a Sentimental Items District. The first reason I think you should do this is just to get all of these pieces together on a series of shelves or in a display cabinet so you can really get a grasp on how much you have. Sometimes, when objects are spread throughout the house, they feel like a bigger collection than they actually are. Other times, you come to realize you have way more sentimental items than you intended.
Creating a Sentimental Items District is also a good idea because it forces you to be practical with how many items you can keep in your home. If you don’t have a single space that can display all your sentimental items, you’ll need to do some additional uncluttering to get your collection down to a size you can properly store. This is when the Unclutterer motto is a good one to recite to yourself: “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” I also like the Sentimental Items District because it forces you to be realistic about the maintenance and upkeep of these items. How long does it take you to dust all of them? How much room in your apartment do you have to provide to keep them? Are some of these items more valuable than others (what did we push to the back of the shelf to make room for what we really want to see)?
After three or four weeks of living with your Sentimental Items District, sit down and talk about how you want to display these items moving forward. Did you miss walking past your championship bowling trophy on the way to the kitchen each morning? Do you think only having your sentimental items in one place makes your home less personal? Did you like it better when you could be reminded of different memories as you moved through your home? Or, are you happy with the Sentimental Items District? Does it help you to make better choices about what is worth keeping and what isn’t? Do you prefer to have the majority of surfaces in your home free of sentimental items? Or, is there a middle ground that will work best for you? Do you think you would like to have two Sentimental Items Districts — one for framed family photographs on the fireplace mantel and then everything else in the display cabinet in the dining room? You’ll have to figure this out together, and there isn’t a right or wrong answer. Starting with the Sentimental Items District, though, will give you the opportunity to stop thinking about this issue in the abstract and really see how it would work in a concrete way.
Thank you, Amy, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope I answered your question, and be sure to check the comments for even more advice 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.
Ask Unclutterer: Helping parents downsize
Reader Amanda submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
After over 40 years in their home, [my 73 year old parents] … have decided to sell and build a house in a nearby community where HOA fees will pay for things like taking care of the yards. I am delighted for them.
… my mother has already expressed:
A) Anxiety about having to clean out their house to get it ready to sell. This also includes having small repairs made and staging the home.
B) Excitement about this being a chance to go through the things that they’ve collected over 40 years and toss/donate/sell the things they no longer want. She sees this as a chance to dump the unwanted and move forward only with what they want, need, and enjoy.
Do you have advice and resources I could pass on to my mother? … Any help you can offer would be welcome! Thanks.
Question A is easy to answer because good real estate agents have contractors and stagers on their staffs who do exactly these types of projects or they have a short list of trusted professionals they recommend using. When we sold our house last year, our agent’s team patched small nail holes, replaced a broken latch on a window, brought in a professional cleaning crew, mulched our flower beds, and staged the whole house. If the agent your parents are considering working with doesn’t have quick access to these services, they may want to interview some more agents to find one who really knows what he/she is doing. Since your parents are planning to move in just six months, now is a great time to start working with an agent.
Question B is terrific news because it means your parents are already thinking about the uncluttering and moving process in a positive way, too. You can help your parents by researching names of local charities and what types of donations the charities accept and how to make donations (drop off times, days of weeks, locations) to those charities. You can research what types of trash your parents’ waste management service collects for those things that really do need to be purged, as well as the area’s hazardous waste policies for any chemicals you parents won’t want to move into their new space. You can set up a Craig’s List account for your folks, if they’re interested in selling items. You can also find out names of local professional organizers who are specifically trained to help move people over age 65 through the National Association of Senior Move Managers.
If your parents are interested, you can also help them to unclutter, drop off items at charities, and pack. Work out a schedule with them so each day a little work can be done, and so you’ll know when you’re welcome to lend a hand and when they would rather privately work. Most of all, be prepared to listen. Downsizing from a family home can be emotionally difficult — even if it is a welcome move — and the difficulty is often alleviated through the sharing of stories about the memories that were made in the home.
Thank you, Amanda, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck to your family over the next six months. Also, be sure to check the comments for even more advice 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.
Ask Unclutterer: To check or not check email first thing at work?
Reader James submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I’ve read productivity books and articles that claim checking email first thing at work is a bad idea. I have been burned by not checking it because my boss and clients sent me important messages overnight and I didn’t get them until two hours later. What is your take on checking email? Is my overall productivity worth the times I’ve been burned?
I can see the reasoning behind not checking your email right when you get to work — you run the risk of getting caught up in work that might not be extremely important to your job responsibilities at a time when you’re likely at your most focused and productive. It would be better if you could use your best brain power on your most demanding and core work.
That being said, I check my email first thing when I get into work. I don’t really address it, though, I simply scan all the “from” and “subject” lines to search for work-altering messages. If I don’t see any indicators that someone sent me an email that will change my most demanding and core work, I immediately close my mail program and wait until I need a break from my demanding work around 10:00 a.m.
If I click on a message, read it, and discover it didn’t affect my immediate work day, I mark the message as “unread” so it can hang out until I process email in a couple hours.
If I click on a message, read it, and discover it does affect my immediate work, I’ll process the email the same way I do when I’m really handling email. This means I’ll file it as Archived, add related next actions to my to-do list, and/or schedule any related information on my calendar. If I need to reply to the email, I do it at this time. After giving proper attention to the email, I’ll scan the rest of the inbox to see if there is anything else I must check. If I’m done with my quick search, I’ll quit the program and wait to address the other issues at 10:00 a.m.
I chose my times for checking email based on when I do my mindful and mindless work over the course of the day — scan at 8:00 a.m., full check at 10:00 a.m., full check after lunch around 1:00 p.m., a scan around 3:00 p.m., and then a final end-of-workday check at 5:00 p.m. I do not have my new message indicator light on my email program activated, and I actually completely close out of the program when not in use. If your job allows you to behave in this manner, I strongly recommend it. It significantly helps my productivity to not be tempted to check email constantly.
Thank you, James, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Please 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.
Ask Unclutterer: Routines on a constantly varying schedule
Reader Cat submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I have read your book and your blog (including the recent post about establishing routines), I feel that your advice for scheduling routines is most applicable to individuals with regular office jobs, or more generally individuals who have a more control over their work schedules. I was wondering if you had any creative ideas for implementing routines on a more erratic schedule?
Nurses and doctors working in hospitals, firefighters, police officers, and food service industry employees are just a few of many professionals who don’t work traditional hours or schedules. In addition to the stress caused by varied sleep schedules and the demands of the job, it can be more difficult to get work done around the house than it can for people on more traditional schedules. (This isn’t always the case, but it certainly can be.)
Using a prioritized list of actions broken into times of day and days of the week is one way you can master regular chores when you work on a constantly varying schedule.
Start by making a list of all the routine activities that need to be done over the course of a week. Then, next to each item you’ve listed, note if the task has to be done during a specific time or can only be completed on specific days of the week (for example, your local grocery store may only be open certain hours or if you live with people on a traditional schedule you probably shouldn’t vacuum the floor at 3:00 in the morning). Next, prioritize the tasks by what has to get done (like feeding the pets), what should get done (laundry), and what is nice to get done but the house won’t fall apart if you don’t get to it every week (dusting). After this, write down approximately how long you need to dedicate to each task.
Once you have all of this information listed, create a new list (or a chart) where things are grouped by time of day and days of the week. Almost all of your tasks will appear multiple times on your list since there is no guarantee you’ll be home at the same time each week. For example, doing the dishes might be listed in every time slot since there usually isn’t a problem with doing them at any time of the day or week. After you’ve made your list (or chart), laminate it and get a dry erase marker.
Then, if you are home and awake on a Monday morning, you can look at your list and immediately see what tasks you can do on a Monday morning. Based on how much time and energy you have, you can select the chores to do from that section. Just remember to always do the highest priority tasks first. When the chore is finished, cross it off the list with your dry erase marker. If the chore is only a once-a-week task, also cross it off the list wherever it appears in other places on your list. If the next time you’re home isn’t until Wednesday evening, go back to your list and take care of the items listed as possible tasks in the Wednesday evening column and then cross them off your list. At the start of the next week, erase all your dry erase marker writing and begin working through your list again.
I also recommend you have a coming home routine in place that you work through every time you come home. This should include sorting mail, putting away anything you brought with you (hang up coat, put keys in key holder, etc.), getting things set in a way so it will be easy to leave your house when you need to go, and whatever else you need to do every single time you walk in the house. This repetitive behavior will help you keep on track, too.
Thank you, Cat, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Please check the comments sections for even more ideas from our readers for how they have successfully mastered home routines on an uncertain schedule — or have witnessed someone else doing them. Good luck to you, I know a varied schedule can be difficult.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: How do I convince my spouse to get rid of unnecessary papers?
Reader Kat submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
How do I get my husband and stepson to follow the systems I set up? How do I work with other people to attain organization? How can I convince my husband that we don’t need to keep every piece of paper that crosses our threshold??
Full disclosure: Kat’s email was significantly longer than the paragraph of questions quoted here. The gist of the other part of her message was that her family has incredible qualities, they’re truly wonderful people, they just LOVE keeping paper and not doing anything with it except for stacking it. This behavior drives Kat, a newlywed, batty.
Kat, the first thing you need to do is accept that you live with paper keepers and stackers. It’s who they are. They were this way before you married into the family two years ago, and you will never be able to force them into becoming shredders, scanners, and filers. As much as you want to, you can’t force anyone into being an unclutterer.
That being said, you can implement strategies to help you deal with your frustrations about their behavior, and you can also talk with them about your uncluttered and organized preference and hope they choose to adopt them.
The first step is to sit down and have a family meeting about the paper situation in your home. If you can maintain a calm conversation at home, have it there. If voices are likely to be raised, take pictures of the rooms in your house that are cluttered with paper and head with your family to a restaurant to have the conversation in public. People are much more likely to keep level-headed in public spaces.
During your conversation, be specific with how you feel about the paper clutter, the impact the paper clutter is having on your life (don’t over dramatize, state only facts), and describe exactly how you wish the space to look. Then, ask your husband and your son how they feel about the paper clutter in the house, how is it impacting their lives, and how they want their home to look. Try your best to come to an agreement between the three of you for how you want your space to look. You will have to give a little, and they will have to give a little, but the three of you should agree on a state that works for all of you. Then, discuss in detail how you plan to make the vision a reality.
If you cannot agree upon the way you want the house to look, I strongly recommend seeking the help of a therapist. Talking things over with a person who doesn’t live in your house can help significantly in these situations.
After you decide on the desired state of your home, everyone should do a walk through of the entire paper handling process with each other to make sure everyone will work in the same way. Since you already own a shredder and scanner, everyone should practice on the equipment. Don’t be condescending to each other, just walk through the process.
Then, when the walk-through is over, you need to trust your family to stick to the plan. You also have to stick to the plan, no exceptions. If your husband or son do not follow the agreed upon behavior, they have two choices. Ask, “The three of us agreed that we want our home to look a specific way. Do you still agree with this or has something changed and we need to revisit our goals?” As long as the person still agrees with the goals, he will very likely get up and process the papers appropriately. If the person no longer agrees with the goals, you need to sit back down and have the conversation about paper in your home again.
If the paper situation doesn’t bother anyone but you and neither your husband or son have interest in changing their ways, there may be a point where you will want to take over as the paper person for the house. You can’t take over this role without the permission of your husband and son. If everyone is okay with you being the paper person, though, trade it out for chores you don’t want to do but that your husband and son do. Maybe you agree to process paper and your husband agrees to do all the yard work? Maybe you agree to process paper and your son agrees to load and unload the dishwasher every night after dinner? Whatever trade you decide to make, be sure the chores are as close as possible to taking the same amount of time and energy to complete. We do this separation of responsibilities with numerous home maintenance work in our home.
Thank you, Kat, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Good luck getting the paper under control in your home and be sure to 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.
Ask Unclutterer: Organizing electronic accessories and conquering Mount Techmore
Reader Katie submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
How do you handle tech clutter? I have an underbed storage box full of old wires, chargers, manuals and remote controls I’ve never used. First, I need some guidance about how to sort through Mount Techmore: I don’t want to throw out adapters for gadgets I’m still using, but I can’t always tell what goes with what. Then I need a strategy for handling new gadget clutter as it comes in. I like to keep the old device around for a bit until the new one is running smoothly. But then I forget to purge the old one until two years later when it’s really no good to anybody anymore. What do you suggest?
Unfortunately, I think everyone reading this post has a Mount Techmore. In the electronic age, it’s difficult to avoid this unpopular storage destination. I’ll explain what we do in our house to keep Mount Techmore from erupting, but be sure to check out the comments for even more suggestions from our readers.
New products. A few years ago we realized we had to be diligent with marking cords, adapters, and other electronic accouterments the minute we unwrap an item. We have to do it immediately or we wonder for years what device goes with what peripheral.
If we plan to regularly use the cord that comes with a device, we’ll adhere a cable identification tag to it. If the item has a wall wart, we’ll stick a printed label on its bulky back. If the wall wart is black, sometimes we’ll even just write directly on it with a silver Sharpie. If we plan to store the cable/charger/whatever until we donate the device to charity or sell it, we stuff it inside a zip-top plastic bag and write on the bag with a black Sharpie what is inside and what it belongs to.
All manuals for items we plan to sell or donate go inside a plastic sheet protector of a three-ring binder. If we don’t plan to get rid of the item and simply keep it until it breaks, we go online, find a .PDF of the manual, and link it to a spreadsheet. If the manual isn’t online, we’ll scan it, save it as a .pdf, and link the file to the spreadsheet. Once we have access to a digital copy, we recycle the print version. Learn more about the spreadsheet method in our 2007 article “Organizing digitally scanned data.”
Old products. When we started labeling our new stuff, we took a couple hours and sorted through all the old stuff in Mount Techmore. We labeled everything we wanted to keep as described above, and ultimately got rid of a good amount of electronic accouterments we no longer needed. Do a little each day, or tackle it in one afternoon, but it is important to figure out what all the old stuff is and if you really need it. If you’re like us, you’ll be surprised by how many USB cables you own.
Storing. We store Mount Techmore exactly the same way you do, but we use a Rubbermaid Footlocker because we have so much electronic equipment in our house and for our company. We have zip-top bags grouped into bins inside the footlocker based on type (all cords in one, all adapters in another, all chargers in yet another) and the manual binder is in there, too. There are also hard drives and electronic repair tools in it.
I’ve seen people use over-the-door shoe storage organizers and put a printed label on the pocket, which seems to work very well. I also like when people use drawers for cable storage and use a sock drawer organizers for each cable. I don’t think there is a wrong way to store these things, as long as everything is well marked and can easily be found.
Out with the old. When we replace an item, we dump the old device and all of its accompanying stuff into an electronics recycling bin that we keep in our laundry room. The device and its stuff usually sits in the bin until the bin is full and we have to decide if we want to sell, donate, or simply recycle the items in the bin. The bin we use isn’t very big (it’s kind of like this one, but in navy blue), so we go process it four or five times a year. Since we don’t immediately get rid of the items, we have a crossover period in case the new device doesn’t work. And, if we offer the old device to a friend, we know exactly where it is when the friend comes around to retrieve it.
Even doing the one-in-one-out method, we still wind up with obsolete cables, duplicates, etc. lingering in our footlocker. Because of this, we still go through it once or twice a year and pull out anything we no longer need.
Thank you, Katie, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. I hope something I wrote above will help you. And, again, be sure to check out the comments for even more suggestions from our readers for how to conquer Mount Techmore.
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.
Ask Unclutterer: Parting with a cherished item that has been broken
Reader Lirpa submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:
I have something that I love that recently broke by accident. It has sentimental value (passed to me from an aunt), it is aesthetically my style, it was useful, and it made me smile whenever I saw it. It is still all those things, except that it can no longer be safely used (nor repurposed). It’s also not reparable, and I don’t know where I could get another one to replace it.
How do I get rid of it? Any other object like this would go in the trash, but I love it so much. There’s really nothing that can be done with it even if I did save it—it would be clutter. How do I walk myself through this process of getting rid of it? Seems silly to be grieving such a simple object, but I am.
When accidents happen to objects we used faithfully and loved, it can be difficult to let them go. It’s certainly not easy for me. The objects feel like trusted friends who were there for you when you needed them.
I think the first thing you need to do is thank the object for its service. You could literally say something aloud to it, or you could just spend a minute or two thinking about all the good times you shared. It seems a little silly, but it helps to have the formal goodbye.
Once you’ve acknowledged its service, you can decide how to proceed. Obviously, you can just dispose of the object and be done with it. However, you might need a little more than this to help ease the pain.
You can make a visual tribute to it. Get a shadow box and decorate it with pictures of you and your aunt using the item and maybe a piece of the actual item that broke. Hang the tribute on the wall as long as you need to until your time of grieving has past.
If you’re a journal keeper, you could also glue a picture of it in your journal and then write down the things you thought about it in your formal goodbye.
Since you don’t say exactly what the item is, it’s hard for me to know if you sincerely can’t repurpose it. My guess is that you could break off a chunk of it, drill a hole into it, and make a small piece of it into a bauble on your key ring. If it’s soft, you might be able to sew a piece of it onto a quilt or something else that you use in your home.
I’m sorry you have lost a favorite item. Be sure to check out the comments where our readers may have even more ideas for you.
Thank you, Lirpa, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.
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