Archives for Simple Living

A simple Thanksgiving solution

Thanks to Asha at Parent Hacks, I have stumbled upon a simple living suggestion that I will use this Thanksgiving.

Until yesterday, I had no idea that chalk wrote easily on matte-finish oilcloth. The concept is so basic, yet its implications have my head spinning. I’m no longer trying to think of ways to decorate my Thanksgiving table, entertain the kids during mealtime, or am worried about a centerpiece — I have my solution:

Simply buy enough solid-color, matte-finish oilcloth to use as a tablecloth for your dining table. With either regular chalk or chalk pens, write guest names next to their plates. This replaces any need for place setting holders.

Additionally, you can write menu ingredients next to platters, draw seasonal designs down the center of the table, and give young guests chalk pens to play tic-tac-toe and draw pictures with during the meal.

Matte-finish oilcloth is extremely inexpensive (less than $10 a yard most places) and wipes clean with a damp cloth. And, you can redecorate and reuse it again and again. A piece of solid white oilcloth with colored chalk can make it perfect for everyday use — especially in homes with young kids. Just be sure to cure the oilcloth first.

I love simple solutions.

(Anyone know if this works on just regular, glossy-finish oilcloth? If so, the price per yard is significantly less expensive. Image from Yum Sugar.)

Popularity: 4% [?]

Posted by Erin on Nov 19, 2009 | 11 Comments | Tweet This

Being a smart furniture consumer

Smart consumerism is based on the principle of buying the best quality of good to meet your needs and budget. Saving up your money and buying a beautifully crafted piece of furniture out of durable materials will ultimately keep you from wasting money and time in the future. Plus, if you research and buy only quality goods, you won’t make impulse purchases.

An unclutterer is a smart consumer.

In September, Karawynn Long (a guest author on the website Get Rich Slowly), posted the informative article “Furniture Shopping Secrets: How To Tell Superior from Shoddy.” This article helps anyone shopping for furniture to be an informed consumer. And, when it comes to being a smart consumer, knowledge is essential.

A brief selection of the text:

Wood furniture — composition
I used to think hardwoods were hard and softwoods were soft. Silly me! Actually, hardwood just means ‘from a deciduous tree’ and softwood means ‘from a coniferous tree’, and some hardwoods (like aspen) are softer than some softwoods. What you want on exposed surfaces is a wood that’s reasonably scratch-resistant. You can test this easily enough by attempting to draw a thin line with your fingernail across the wood; if it makes a visible dent (use a flashlight here if necessary) you know it won’t stand up to much use.

Structurally, any kind of solid wood or sturdy plywood will do the trick. If plywood, look for at least nine layers. Check the wood for knots, even on unexposed pieces; all knots are susceptible to cracks. Some woods, like pine, are ‘knottier’ than others, and therefore less desirable. Avoid particleboard, pressed wood, or fiberboard.

Veneers — a thin piece of premium wood covering a lower-quality piece of wood — are often used even in very high-quality furniture. As long as the base piece is solid wood or plywood, the only drawback to veneer is that it limits the number of times an item can be refinished.

The article discusses composition and construction of wood and upholstered furniture and includes a quick furniture checklist to have with you when shopping. Remember: informed consumers are smart consumers, and unclutterers are smart consumers.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted by Erin on Oct 6, 2009 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

Setting goals when you don’t know what you want

Today, Ali Hale has a wonderful post on goal setting over on the blog Dumb Little Man. The post, “How to Set Goals When You Have No Idea What You Want,” talks about how to set goals for the less-ambitious things in life.

We’ve written in the past about how determining what matters to you most is an important aspect of uncluttering. Not only does focusing on what matters most to you keep up your motivation, but it also helps you to decide priorities for your time, energy, money, and space. “How to Set Goals When You Have No Idea What You Want” is a great resource for getting you thinking about the day-to-day things that are important to you.

A “goal” is simply something which you’d like to do or achieve. It could be buying a house or a car, yes, but it could also be something which might matter to no-one in the world except you — perhaps your goal is to learn to bake cakes as good as the ones your grandma used to make.

Goals aren’t things that you feel you “should” do, and any good life coach will steer you away from goals that have been imposed upon you by other people.

Spend 15, 20, or 60 minutes working on determining what matters most to you. Uncluttering will be easier and more productive when you know why you’re simplifying your life.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 1, 2009 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Staying focused on the big picture

On Friday, my grandmother turned 100 years old. She is an amazing woman, and turning 100 is just one more accomplishment in her incredible life.

My grandmother’s birthday has me thinking about a phrase that I often repeat to myself:

Even if you live to be 100, life is short.

It’s a reminder to me to not procrastinate and to stay focused on what matters most. There are only 24 hours in a day, and I want to spend those hours focused on what is important to me — sharing with others my passion and knowledge of simple living, embarking on new adventures with those I love, and nine other priorities for my life.

Uncluttering is about clearing the distractions that get in the way of your remarkable life. Once the distractions are gone, you can pursue your priorities and make the most of your life.

My life’s motto is to Carpe Vitam — Seize Life — and my grandmother is a testament to this form of living. I’m glad to have such a happy reminder of this concept as we celebrate her birthday.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Aug 24, 2009 | 13 Comments | Tweet This

Nesting cookware for camping

Back to Monday’s theme of “Wow, this is cool!” I want to introduce you to the MSR Flex 4 System Cookset:

If you’re a camping enthusiast (or even if you live in an apartment with a tiny kitchen), this incredible nesting cookset is perfect for you. I can’t stop looking at it. I may even be drooling.

(via NotCot)

Popularity: 11% [?]

Posted by Erin on Aug 19, 2009 | 25 Comments | Tweet This

Does uncluttered have to mean symmetrical?

I recently devoured Muriel Barbery’s book The Elegance of the Hedgehog. The novel, originally penned in French, follows a woman and a child who live in the same building in Paris. Both female characters are incredibly intelligent, and both go out of their way to hide that fact from everyone they encounter.

In the fifth chapter of the book, I was intrigued by a conversation between one of the book’s main characters, Renee, and a cleaning woman named Manuela. In the following dialogue, Renee and Manuela are discussing the apartments of residents in the building — a French family, the Arthens’, and a retired Japanese man, referred to here as Ozu. Renee begins:

“I’ve never thought about it. But it’s true that we tend to decorate our interiors with superfluous things.”

“Super what things?”

“Things we don’t really need, like at the Arthens’. The same lamps and two identical vases on the mantelpiece, the same identical armchairs on either side of the sofa, two matching night tables, rows of identical jars in the kitchen …”

“Now you make me think, it’s not just about the lamps. In fact, there aren’t two of anything in Monsieur Ozu’s apartment. Well, I must say it makes a pleasant impression.”

“Pleasant in what way?”

[Manuela] thinks for a moment, wrinkling her brow.

“Pleasant like after the Christmas holidays, when you’ve had too much to eat. I think about the way it feels when everyone has left … My husband and I, we go to the kitchen, I make up a little bouillon with fresh vegetables, I slice some mushrooms real thin and we have our bouillon with those mushrooms in it. You get the feeling you’ve just come through a storm, and it’s all calm again.”

“No more fear of being short of anything. You’re happy with the present moment.”

“You feel it’s natural — and that’s the way it should be, when you eat.”

“You enjoy what you have, there’s no competition. One sensation after the other.”

“Yes, you have less but you enjoy it more.”

I read this passage and couldn’t stop thinking about my own home. All of my shoe storage boxes are identical, I have three matching vases on the fireplace mantel, and every piece of furniture in the bedroom is made of the same type of wood in the same finish by the same designer. Yet, in other areas of my home, nothing matches. The chairs around my dining room table are all different, the knobs on my kitchen cupboards purposefully don’t match, and my filing cabinet doesn’t come close to resembling my other office furniture.

When organizing and decorating your spaces, do you tend toward symmetry in design or do you seek out the one item that pleases you the most? I don’t think that there is a “right” answer; I am simply curious as to your thoughts on a streamlined space. Does uncluttered have to mean symmetrical or repetition of the same? Is different discordant?

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Aug 10, 2009 | 43 Comments | Tweet This

You don’t have to be the best

When I was younger, I studied ballet. By the time high school rolled around, I was spending 16 hours a week at the ballet studio, and that number would easily double when we were getting ready for performances. I wanted to be a prima ballerina and I poured most of my free time into preparing for that goal.

Then one day, I looked in the studio mirror and realized I wasn’t the best dancer in my company. I was technically proficient and extremely graceful, but there were at least two other girls who made me look like I had never taken a dance class in my life. These girls were exquisite, and a part of me knew that I would never be the prima ballerina as long as they were dancing.

So, I quit.

After 13 years of eating, studying, training, and living the life of a ballerina, I walked away from all of it without any notice.

I rarely talk about my time studying ballet because I am embarrassed by how it all ended. I can’t believe that I was so arrogant as to believe that if I wasn’t the best, I wanted nothing to do with it.

What surprises me, though, is how often I turn to this flawed logic. Maybe you do the same thing? I didn’t take up running until my mid-30s because I knew I was a slow runner. It never crossed my mind that I might run for some reason other than winning a race. I never thought about the benefits of the exercise, how good I would feel while running, and that I might love running just for the sake of running. I missed out on decades of running because I wasn’t going to be the best runner. Ugh.

I run into this type of all-or-nothing absolutist thinking a great deal when talking to people about uncluttering. They see it as a dichotomy where a person will either be organized or disorganized. They don’t try to get even a little clutter out of their lives because they can’t get all clutter removed. They know that the prima Unclutterers will always be “better,” so they don’t try at all.

The humbling truth of the matter is that there will always be someone who is better at doing something than you are. Thankfully, uncluttering isn’t a competition and it doesn’t require you to be the best. It doesn’t matter if someone does it better than you do. You don’t get rid of clutter for someone else, you get rid of it for you. Comparing yourself to another person is unnecessary; you only need to look at your life and your needs to decide what is best for you.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted by Erin on Aug 3, 2009 | 77 Comments | Tweet This

Promoting simple living

On Friday, reader Martin asked for me to write about my ideas on how to promote simple living to friends, family and others, and I instantly fell in love with this topic. So, I moved a few things around in the schedule to write about it today.

(Before I get too far in, though, I want to say that this post concerns people who don’t live in your house and who are adults. We’ve talked in the past about spreading simple living concepts on to children and how to live with others who aren’t unclutterers. This post is about spreading simple living concepts to people outside your home.)

I wholeheartedly believe that there is only one way to introduce others to simple living:

Lead by example.

If other people see how relaxed you are, how stress-free your home and office are, how clear your life is of clutter, and how focused you are on what is important to you, they will ask you how you do it. When they ask, you can pass along the resources you have found helpful for your life.

You can recommend books, websites (Unclutterer!), workshops, listings for professional organizers (NAPO), and suggestions from your personal experience. Be helpful, but try not to be overwhelming. You don’t want to make the person feel even more stressed than she is already feeling.

In my mind, forcing someone to follow simple living practices is futile. I think that living an uncluttered life is amazing, but it’s a personal choice. As my Quaker friend often proclaims, “let your life speak.”

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted by Erin on Aug 3, 2009 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

Simplicity and sincerity

My friend Harry gave me a copy of an out-of-print book from the 1950s that includes a chapter called “Simplicity and Sincerity.” The chapter is actually very short and doesn’t explain much, but the title of the chapter has stuck with me since the first time I saw it.

After taking notice of it, I’ve come to see how simplicity and sincerity are profoundly connected. The choice to live simply isn’t one of denial or exclusion, but rather one of being sincere in all of your actions.

Take for example an offer to sit on the board of a local charity. You might think that the charity does good work. You might want the charity to succeed. You might feel honored that the organization thought of you as a leader. You might even volunteer in single-day events a few times a year. But, if you don’t sincerely wish to partake in all of the meetings, planning, cultivating, and financial development that a position on a board requires, then you would decline the offer. Accepting the position would be insincere, both to you and the organization. In addition to wishing that you were doing something else with your time, you’d be depriving the organization of a board member who would be sincerely committed to participating.

I think about physical objects in a similar fashion. If I sincerely do not wish to put forth the effort to properly maintain and care for the item, then I don’t bring it into my home.

Being sincere with your actions makes it easier to live simply.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jul 29, 2009 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

Musings on apologies and uncluttered speech

Last Thursday, Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos made an official apology for the way Amazon deleted unauthorized George Orwell books from people’s Kindles.

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

When I read Bezos’ apology, I was impressed by how direct, sincere, and uncluttered it was. It didn’t contain an excuse. It didn’t shift blame to someone else. And the statement in its final sentence wasn’t an over-promise or an out-of-proportion exaggeration, it simply said that they will try to do better in the future. The apology also came pretty quickly, while consumer feelings were still riled.

Everyone makes mistakes. Apologizing when those mistakes are made isn’t a sign of weakness, but a sign of personal responsibility. I try to apologize when I mess up or hurt someone’s feelings or forget something important, but I don’t always get the apology right. So, I’m going to take a few lessons from Jeff Bezos and try my best to give uncluttered apologies when they’re necessary:

  • Be sincere with your contrition. If you don’t feel sorry and you say that you are, you’re just lying to the person — which is yet another wrong.
  • Be prompt. The longer you wait, usually the worse a situation spirals out of control.
  • Take responsibility. If you are responsible, say so.
  • Leave out the excuses. If the other person wants to know why you chose to do what you did, he or she will ask. An excuse doesn’t belong in your apology.
  • Match the apology to the mistake. If you wrecked your friend’s car while you were borrowing it, offer to fix your friend’s car when you apologize (and do it). If you yelled at your child without warrant, apologize and explain what you will do in the future to try to prevent it from happening again.

What do you think about apologies (in general, not necessarily Bezos’) and their ability to be uncluttered? Are they better with or without excuses? What do you think of this example? I’m interested in reading your musings in the comments.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jul 27, 2009 | 32 Comments | Tweet This

Peter Walsh provides organizing tips for Microsoft Office users

Last month, reader Bev wrote in to our Ask Unclutterer column looking for tips on how to use Entourage on a Mac to organize e-mail and create tasks. A few days before I received her question, I had spoken to super organizer Peter Walsh about the program and was able to pass along a few of his tips.

Peter has gone on to create a 15-minute video for Microsoft talking about how he recommends using Microsoft Office to organize three specific areas of one’s life (family, finance, and health). It’s on the Microsoft for Mac section of the website, but I’ve watched most of the video and can’t really see that any of his tips are necessarily Mac-specific. If you’re a Microsoft Office PC user, you can benefit from the video just the same.

A few words about the video:

  • If you don’t have Microsoft’s Silverlight browser plugin on your computer, you’ll be prompted to download it. It’s free and you don’t have to reboot your computer after installing it.
  • The video includes helpful advice, but in this specific situation Peter talks much slower than he usually does. His slow speech is obviously so that people can open up programs and move things around while following along with the video. However, if you’re not opening programs and following his advice while watching the video, you’ll probably miss his typical fast-paced, cheerful style.
  • He recommends backing up your data to CDs or DVDs. I disagree with this since a disaster that could destroy your computer very likely would destroy this disc-saved data. It’s better to back up your data online (gmail, Mozy.com, a Flickr Pro account for your pictures, etc.) at an off-site location than having your backup and the original in the same house.

I was particularly interested in seeing how he recommended using Office to help track health-related matters. If you’re a Microsoft Office user, you might be interested in checking out Peter Walsh’s video.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jul 8, 2009 | 15 Comments | Tweet This

10 uncluttering things to do every day

  1. If you have pets, make your bed. You can make your bed even if you don’t have pets, but people with pets can’t miss this uncluttering step. Pets have litter, dirt, fur, dander, dust, and/or a bunch of other yucky things on them that don’t belong on your sheets. Plus, a made bed is easy on the eyes.
  2. Know where you’re going. Before taking to the road, make sure to know the travel conditions and best route possible for your destination. Getting lost or sitting in a widely-reported traffic jam is nothing but time clutter.
  3. Plan your perfect day. We’ve written quite a bit about this task, so I’ll simply direct you to our previous post.
  4. Clean out your desk’s inbox. File papers, enter items onto your to-do list or into your project management software, scan papers you don’t need in physical form, sign documents — just be sure that your inbox is clean by the time you leave work at the end of the day.
  5. Set your desk for tomorrow. Right before you head home from work, be sure to clear your desk and have it ready for tomorrow. If you have an early morning meeting with handouts, make sure that the handouts are easily accessible and ready to go. In case of an emergency, it should be simple for a co-worker to come into your office and quickly find the materials. Even if you don’t have an early meeting, your desk should be set so that when you arrive to work you can get right to work.
  6. Sort, open, and act on your mail. When you immediately walk into your home, sort through your mail. Recycle all junk mail that doesn’t include any identifying information. Shred all junk mail (like credit card applications) that someone could use to steal your identity. Open and act on all other mail. Your action may simply be to scan and then shred the information, file papers, or pay a bill — but doing it right when you come home keeps it from being clutter in your home.
  7. Load (and, if necessary, run) the dishwasher or hand-wash the dishes. Dirty dishes on the counter, sink, and anywhere else in your home are invitations to bugs, pests, and bacteria. Additionally, they clutter up your kitchen and make preparing meals a pain. You’re more likely to save a few bucks and eat at home if your kitchen is clean and ready to be used.
  8. Get ready for bed an hour before you plan to go to sleep. Doing this means that your dirty clothes are more likely to be returned to a hanger, dropped in the hamper, or put in a mesh bag for dry cleaning, hand washing, or repairing. Also, a set bedtime routine signals your brain that it’s time to relax and prepare for sleep.

If you paid careful attention, you noticed that there are only 8 items on this list even though the headline proclaims 10. I did this because I want you to add two more things that are specific to your life as the other two items. Tell us about your items #9 and #10 in the comments.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jul 6, 2009 | 62 Comments | Tweet This

Unclutterer and smart consumerism

We’ve been receiving an unusual amount of nasty grams lately regarding our practice of reviewing and writing about products on our website. As a result, we thought it might be a good time to review what Unclutterer is and its stance on smart consumerism.

Defining Unclutterer: An Unclutterer is someone who decides to get rid of the distractions (clutter) that get in the way of a remarkable life. Our website is for people who are or want to become unclutterers. It’s a site for people who are interested in getting and staying organized. Our motto is “a place for everything, and everything in its place.”

Consumerism: This website does not advocate freeganism, asceticism, or anti-consumer behaviors. If you want to live in this manner, we’re totally fine with it. However, it’s not required or expected of unclutterers.

Unclutterers have use for technology and tools and furniture. We appreciate not having to hunt and gather or live in caves. We enjoy the conveniences provided by the modern world. There are numerous physical things that make our lives easier and free up our time to pursue the things that matter most to us. Because of this, Unclutterer promotes smart consumer practices.

What is smart consumerism? Smart consumerism is spending less than you earn. Smart consumerism is researching products before your buy them to make sure that you are getting the best quality that you can afford. Smart consumerism is only buying products that you need or that help you to pursue the remarkable life you desire. Smart consumerism is refraining from acquiring clutter.

Around our offices, we talk about simple, uncluttered living the way Albert Einstein did, “Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.”

We review and write about products that we believe might be of use to some of our readers to better organize their lives. If we see something and think that it might help someone to get closer to their remarkable life, we put it in the queue to be researched and tested. There are tens of thousands of people who read this site on a daily basis. There are bound to be products that we review that aren’t of interest to every single one of our readers. So, if we review a product and you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Just remember that each Unclutterer is different and the product that would be clutter in your home might be significantly useful to someone else.

Noting this, isn’t our Unitasker Wednesday column a wee-bit hypocritical? Yes. But the purpose of our Unitasker Wednesday column is to have fun. This is a home and office organizing website, it’s not brain surgery. No one’s life is on the line, and it’s good to keep things in perspective and laugh once in a while. Everyone on staff owns at least one (or many more) items that have been featured in the Unitasker Wednesday column. We’re fine being hypocrites when it comes to having fun.

In fact, fun is a big part of what we do at Unclutterer. We want people to get rid of clutter and organize their lives so that they have less stress and more time for fun. My personal pursuit for a remarkable life involves a great deal of laughing and I love it when the people around me are happy. If you ever read something on the site and can’t figure out our tone, please just assume that we were trying to tell a joke and failed. Our goal is to help our readers, not offend them.

Do you have a question about smart consumerism or Unclutterer? Let us know about it in the comments.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jun 9, 2009 | 74 Comments | Tweet This

Piegato One shelves

Whenever I see a piece of furniture that is brilliantly simple, my first thought is, “I want to share that with the Unclutterer readers.”

This week, I learned about the Piegato One shelves and instantly wanted to share them with you. They’re designed by Matthias Ries and will be manufactured by his company MRDO Products. The shelves ship flat and then you bend the metal into place with very little effort:

A short video shows how to setup and install them.

I know that the industrial look isn’t everyone’s favorite style, but you can still appreciate that such a beautifully engineered product exists. This shelving system is simple, streamlined, and wholly uncluttered.

(via Dwell)

Popularity: 22% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jun 4, 2009 | 15 Comments | Tweet This

Surprise benefits of an uncluttered life

At 1:30 yesterday afternoon, my husband made an off-hand remark about his parents coming to visit from Chicago. I was in a zone, still focused on a phone call from that morning, and only really heard “my parents” and “dinner” and “arrival.”

About an hour later, I came to understand that he said, “My parents just called and they’re arriving around 8:00 tonight. I think we should take them out to dinner when they get here.” He meant 8:00 p.m., as in six and a half hours from when he first mentioned it to me. Surprise!

It’s exact moments like these when I am thankful that we live an uncluttered life. Instead of worrying about the state of the house or what we might feed our guests while they are here or anything hostess related, I simply nodded and told him, “good to know.”

The toilets and shower in the bathroom are clean, there is food in the kitchen cupboards, we have clean bed linens, and everything in the house is in its place. I ran the dishwasher a few hours earlier than normal so that it wouldn’t keep them awake (our “guest room” is a pull-out in our living room), but, except for having two wonderful guests, our schedule for the day was the same as a typical Wednesday.

It’s surprise situations like these that I like to focus my attentions to when I’m doing my 30 minutes of chores each evening. Being free from unnecessary stress is a powerful motivator when routinely taking care of the small things. A little bit of work each night means that there is never a big issue to solve, and house guests can show up for surprise visits without causing my stress levels to soar.

Now, I just need to be a detective and figure out how this visit never made it onto our family calendar.

What benefits have you found with leading an uncluttered life? Tell us about them in the comments.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Posted by Erin on Jun 4, 2009 | 44 Comments | Tweet This

Not getting things done? Try WSD

I want to welcome guest author Tim Chase and his “family friendly” version of WSD. His system is just as simple, just as much fun, but with a less-adult vocabulary.

Thanks to my local public library, I’ve joined the ranks of folks who have read David Allen’s Getting Things Done. However I became bogged down in the implementation details. Then I stumbled across this article on smallist.com and in a lightbulb moment I recognized it as a similar technique I’ve watched my father use for years.

Failed by GTD

Overwhelmed by GTD’s buzzwords (contexts, ubiquitous capture, tickler files, 43-folders, buckets, etc), the simplicity of WSD is appealing:

  • Find something to write on.
  • Find something to write with.
  • Finally, and most importantly, WRITE STUFF DOWN.

GTD also seems to promote beautiful yet expensive implements — PDA/smart-phones, Moleskine® notebooks, space-pens. WSD has no such pretensions. While you can use your PDA/smart-phone, your Moleskine or your space-pen, you can certainly employ a wide varity of writing surfaces and implements.

Writing Surfaces

Write on whatever is handy — 3×5 cards (Hipster PDA-ized or otherwise), Post-It® note pads, cheap spiral-bound pocket notepads, envelopes, margins of newspapers or magazines, or even paper-towels, napkins, tissues or toilet-paper in desperation. You can carry them with you at all times or just as needed. I prefer to only carry paper when I know I may not have something on which I can write. A box of old business cards and a small whiteboard in the kitchen for grocery lists; page-a-day calendar sheets in the study for to-do lists; a small tablet by the bedside and in the car; Post-It pads at work. For other places, I simply take a little pocket-sized notepad (a four-pack at the local dollar-store).

Things on which you should not write your important brain-droppings: receipts, bills you have to pay, cheques, paper currency, contracts, library books, the Dead Sea Scrolls, or the Magna Carta. Unless you copy them off ASAP to something less transient (and in the case of library books, the Dead Sea Scrolls, or important constitutional documents, I suggest removing your writing from them first).

Writing Implements

Writing implements also abound — while you can use your space-pen, that $180 gold-encrusted beast engraved with your name and business, or your favorite Hello Kitty® glittery gel pen with the glow-in-the-dark purple ink, I lean toward the cheap and abundant options. You’re not illuminating monastic manuscripts, you’re getting an idea out of your head and onto paper. Out and about, I usually carry a Papermate® medium-point point pen because they write well and come in 12-packs for under $2 (USD). Occasionally, I augment with a #2 automatic-pencil, also obtained in multi-packs under $2 (USD). I’ve found that the long narrow “tool pockets” in carpenter jeans/shorts hold my writing implements so they don’t jab my thighs like a regular front pocket can. And they make for a snazzy quick-draw holster effect when you whip out a pen on demand.

Depending on your location, you may find you don’t need to carry a writing implement. We keep stashes of implements around the house — in the nightstands, in the desk, in the catch-all drawer, in the bill drawer, in the cars, etc. If you’re the type who steals pens from coworkers and banks, cut that out. Or, at least give them back. At conferences, many companies hand out business-branded pens for free. In addition to the craft-boxes, parents likely find crayons under foot, in couch cushions, up noses, and on the floor under little Johnny’s wall-art. For those who do their best thinking in the shower, you can find shower/tub crayons to scrawl on the shower wall.

Conclusion

Get something to write on. Get something to write with. Write stuff down.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted by Tim on May 11, 2009 | 42 Comments | Tweet This

Uncluttered packaging

A graphic design student at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Steve Haslip, designed a prototype for a mailing envelope that transforms into a clothes hanger. As far as we know, the design isn’t yet manufactured. But, we absolutely love it and hope that someone starts using it.

From the product description:

The concept was fairly simple: I buy t-shirts online and they always come wrinkled and I always run out of coat-hangers. So I designed a sustainable, reusable way to send and keep your t-shirts. As you open the package you create a coat hanger. The packaging could be made from recycled material whether it is card or plastic and the only waste is the green tear-away tab.

Do you know of additional product packaging that keeps clutter and waste away? We’re always on the lookout for great, uncluttered design.

(via Packagings of the World)

Popularity: 15% [?]

Posted by Erin on May 11, 2009 | 30 Comments | Tweet This

Defining simplicity

When I was starting my transformation process from a clutterbug into an unclutterer, I wanted a checklist to tell me what I needed to do to live simply. I wanted there to be a clear line that told me if I did X, Y, and Z then all of my stress and anxieties would instantly be relieved. I wanted there to be zero ambiguity and I wanted someone else to make the hard decisions for me.

I never found such a list, and I’m glad that I didn’t. How I define simplicity and how I put it into practice in my life is very different than how you see it and live it. We’re complex human beings, and, ironically, that makes our definitions of simplicity complex.

When I was seeking my definition of simplicity, I repeatedly turned to three quotes for inspiration. If you’re looking to define simplicity and what it means to you, maybe these quotes will spark your process:

“Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.” — Albert Einstein

“Simplicity is an inward reality that can be seen in an outward lifestyle. We must have both; to neglect either end of this tension is disastrous.” — Richard J. Foster

“I can explain it best by something which Mahatma Gandhi said to me. We were talking about simple living, and I said that it was easy for me to give up most things but that I had a greedy mind and wanted to keep my many books. He said, ‘Then don’t give them up. As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. If you were to give it up in a mood of self-sacrifice or out of a stern sense of duty, you would continue to want it back, and that unsatisfied want would make trouble for you. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you, or when it seems to interfere with that which is more greatly desired.’” — Richard Gregg

These quotes aren’t dictionary definitions and they’re not precise, but they serve me well. How do you define simplicity? What guides you toward simple living?

Popularity: 11% [?]

Posted by Erin on Apr 21, 2009 | 19 Comments | Tweet This

Seven benefits of uncluttering

Today, we welcome Gregory Go. He is one of the personal finance and frugal living bloggers at Wise Bread, and a contributor to the new book 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget (available this May).

I come from a long line of packrats on my dad’s side of the family, and I definitely have a tendency to hold on to too much crap. But keeping my inner packrat in check is easier when I remember these 7 benefits of uncluttering.

1. Save money.

What if it only cost you $2 to read a brand new book that costs $24.95? Pretty good deal, right? Trent at The Simple Dollar shares his secret to reading brand new books for cheap (or sometimes even for a small profit). The key? Sell them as soon as you’re done reading to capitalize on the still-hot demand.

If you get rid of stuff you don’t need quickly, you can recover some portion of what you paid for the item. It’s like getting a discount on your purchase price. The faster you dump it, the bigger your “discount”.

Uncluttering (physically and emotionally) also makes a huge impact on your financial health, as Erin explains in this guest post at The Simple Dollar:

You will stop making impulse purchases because you can consciously evaluate a product and ask yourself if you really need it. You don’t operate on automatic pilot. You can easily foil retail marketing efforts. You don’t approach shopping with a “some day I might need this” attitude. You can better evaluate products because you’re aware of their components and inspect their quality. You are a mindful consumer, which is beneficial to your wallet and your commitment to simple living.

2. Make beer money.

In addition to books, electronics like cellphones, CDs, televisions, and computers are other items that retain more of their value the sooner you sell it. Dump it as soon as you don’t need it anymore. More money and less clutter for 30 minutes of eBay time? That’s a good deal.

Here’s a quick tip from The Digerati Life on how she cashes in on her clutter:

Post photos of your items on craigslist or some other web classifieds site for your local area. Ebay or other online auctions should work too if you’re able to ship the item. Amazon is great for used books, CDs and DVDs. Price your item well. I do this by checking what the going rate is for the item then knocking off 5%. Rules would obviously be different for auctions – try no reserve.

You probably won’t get what you want for your stuff, but anything is more than what you get if that crap stayed in your closet. Here’s an active discussion on Wise Bread about the kind of stuff you can offload on eBay. For example, Lynnae of Being Frugal shares in that thread:

I’ve sold “gently used” children’s clothing with some success. It does better in big lots according to size, and it helps if the clothes are name brand. Mostly I sell books, though. I’m a book-a-holic, and I always have extra books to get rid of. My books don’t fetch high prices, but every little bit adds up.

3. Get more space. Afford more house.

What percentage of your home is used for clutter storage? You may be shocked to learn the percentage of your rent or mortgage payments being used to store that old TV, extra couch, and broken coffee maker.

All I can afford here in Los Angeles are small apartments far away from the beach. If left to my packrat ways, half (or more!) of my rented space would be used to store crap. By purging regularly, I’m getting twice the apartment. I can also move a little closer to the beach because my rental budget doesn’t have to buy as much space.

4. Help others.

Why horde that second blender when your college-bound nephew could use it for mixing margaritas? Or how about all those clothes you never wear anymore?

The stuff you don’t need anymore might be useful for someone else. Donating your unused stuff is a fine way to up your charitable budget without using cash.

Bonus: Giving your stuff away helps the environment. If old toasters, hair dryers, and books are handed around to different people, less stuff would need to be produced. Give your old stuff a new lease on life with a new owner, and save the planet at the same time!

5. Save time.

Without all that clutter, it wouldn’t take so much time to prep your home for guests. Regular household chores (vacuuming, dusting) will be faster and easier without so much stuff lying around. Having less stuff piled up on your desk also makes it easier to find that important piece of paper when you need it.

6. Be more productive.

What is your current R.O.O. (return on organization)? Being more organized will provide a positive return in time (and we all know that time is money). The returns can be quite significant.

It is estimated that increased R.O.O. can yield up to an extra two hours of productive time a week.

Decluttering is so powerful it actually creates time! Get things done by getting rid of clutter.

7. Reduce stress.

Eliminating clutter reduces your stress level. Instead of your home being a sanctuary from the stress of work and real life, it adds to your stress level. It’s a terrible feeling when home is more stressful than the workplace.

Ready to purge?

Here are more helpful posts on how to unclutter:

  • Instructions for Decluttering Your Home in 5 Easy Steps (Unclutterer) – Alex Fayle explains in less than 500 words the thought-process of organizing your home.
  • 10 Ways to Declutter and Put Cash In Your Pocket (The Simple Dollar) – All of that stuff stored in the closet is money just sitting there gathering dust. Here are tactics to use to clear out a lot of your unused stuff (freeing up space in your home) while also putting some cash in your pocket.
  • 9 Tips for Decluttering (Zen Habits) – Zen master Leo Babauta offers his best tips for getting and keeping your space clutter-free.
  • How to Get Rid of All Your Crap (Wise Bread) — “Professional Hobo” Nora Dunn explains what she did with all her stuff when she left her cushy Canadian life for the adventure of vagabonding.

Good luck, fellow packrats! If I can part ways with my crap, you can definitely do it too.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Posted by Gregory on Apr 14, 2009 | 18 Comments | Tweet This

Sure-thing investing

Once again, I would like to welcome Lauren Halagarda as a guest author on Unclutterer. Her ROI advice is perfect for the tax season. Lauren is a spectacular professional organizer living in the Washington, D.C., area.

We invest our time, energy and money on buying and acquiring things while futilely trying to achieve the life we want. I can assure you that you gain more return on your investment when you switch your focus from buying stuff to being organized. Here are just a few examples:

ROI: Self-confidence.
Put an end to the apologies you make for being late, forgotten commitments, and lost or misplaced information or belongings.
Investment: Time management basics
Stop over-scheduling. We often try to fit in “just one more thing” before moving on to our next commitment. We end up running late, frazzled, overwhelmed, and distracted. STOP and THINK, how long will it really take to get there or prepare for that meeting? Are you being realistic about traffic? Parking? Etc. Honestly, the worst thing that can happen is that you will be early. The horror! Bring a magazine or book and catch up on your pile of reading. Yes, you know, I’m talking about that “I’m gonna read it someday” stuff that has taken over your horizontal surfaces.

ROI: Quality Time with loved ones
Stop spending your “free time” maintaining, cleaning, storing, battling through, and tripping over your stuff.
Investment: Letting go
Let go of the stuff that you don’t love and don’t use that gets in the way of stuff that is important — which isn’t really stuff at all, is it?

ROI: $$
Investment: Clear your Kitchen
Unclutter your kitchen, rid your cabinets of idle appliances and gadgets, toss the excess plastic storage with no matching lids, and clear your counters of unused spice racks and unitaskers. Instead, create a functioning kitchen where you have room to breathe and the ability to access what you need. Involve the family (including children) in the cooking experience. Not only will you save money by not eating out as often, but you will be teaching your children a lifeskill.

Small investments in being organized will provide you with a huge payoff. If you are having difficulty getting started, check out the NAPO Professional Organizer Directory to find an organizer that’s right for you.

What are some small investments that you have made and what is the ROI?

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Lauren on Apr 13, 2009 | 8 Comments | Tweet This