Archives for Unclutterer
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: 14% [?]
Keep your Twitter account clean with the Nest Unclutterer
We love Twitter.
But we don’t like it when a tweetbot follows us just because we mentioned a particular word or brand name. We could protect our updates, but that would just make it more difficult for people we actually know to follow us.
We don’t like tweetspammers who follow so many people that they’re probably just trying to get people to follow them back. You can’t be really listening to what 2000 people have to say.
We don’t like having our friend list filled up with inactive users who never tweet anymore.
These are just a few of the reasons we have created the Nest Unclutterer. It uses Twitter’s excellent API to help you maintain a tidy Twitter account:
- The Nest Unclutterer protects your privacy from marketers and businesses by blocking followers who are already following a user-specified number of people.
- It removes followers who have been inactive for a user-specified period of time.
- It helps create a whitelist of users exempt from any of these rule-based actions.
We hope you like it, and we would appreciate any suggestions for additional features.
Popularity: 17% [?]
Unclutterer on tv with spring decluttering tips
Yesterday morning, I appeared live on WUSA 9, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.
For three minutes, I talked semi-coherently with news anchor Andrea Roane about clearing clutter from your kitchen pantry. Check it out:
Popularity: 18% [?]
Unclutterer article in latest issue of Real Simple magazine
Please check out the March 2009 issue of Real Simple magazine, which features an article I wrote titled “10 ways to let go of your stuff.” In the article, I talk about my transformation from a clutterer into an unclutterer (pgs. 119-120).
As of right now, the article isn’t yet on line. If this changes, I will return to this page and update the article. Until it goes online, or until you check it out on the news stand, enjoy this excerpt from the article:
5. Do look a gift horse in the mouth. My decorating tastes may change over time, but I am fairly certain I will never enjoy a home filled with a series of rhinestone-accented paintings of scary clowns. Yet I had hoarded these and other unattractive presents because I thought that was the decent thing to do. I also wasn’t sure what I would say if someone noticed his gift missing and asked why. Well, you know what? No one has. Not even the bestower of the scary clowns.
The magazine is scheduled to hit news stands today. If you have a subscription to the magazine, you probably received it in the mail at some point over the course of the past two weeks.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Coming in 2009: An Unclutterer book
I wanted to let everyone know about an exciting adventure I’m undertaking.
In late November, I signed a contract with Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, to write an Unclutterer book. The book is slated to be released this fall and will cover home and office organizing, time management, productivity, clutter clearing, and many additional simple living issues.
The book is currently untitled, does not yet have a cover, and will spend the next two months in editing before I even turn over my first draft to my publisher. However, since things are progressing as they should, I wanted to share with you this happy news.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support and inspiration. If it weren’t for you, our Unclutterer readers, this opportunity never would have arisen. You are sincerely the best readers on the internet.
Also, I want you to know that the book isn’t a reprinting of the website — it’s new content for a new medium. I want it to be useful to new and continued readers alike. That being said, however, it is definitely written in the same spirit as the website. You should expect to laugh and have a good time while reading it, as well as learning a great deal about uncluttering. There also will be an audio version of the book, but I know even fewer details about its production and release.
There shouldn’t be any service interruptions on Unclutterer.com while I finish my work on the book. My proposal writing started more than six months ago and I have been putting in long hours since to ensure that the quality content you’ve come to expect on the site continues.
Thank you, again, and I’m so glad that I can share the news of this adventure with you!
Popularity: 12% [?]
Fix My HTML
Having trouble trimming down your HTML code? Would you like to clear the clutter and make it easier to read and edit? Well, you can clean it up at Fix My HTML. This single-service site is a project of Dancing Mammoth, Unclutterer’s parent company.
HTML code can quickly become a depository for useless tags and slower load times. For an easy way to figure out how to clean up that chunk of HTML code that has been giving you a headache, give Fix My HTML a try.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Happy birthday to us!
Today marks the second anniversary of the first Unclutterer post. On this day in 2007, all this uncluttered blogging began.
Thank you, to all of our readers, for making the past two years an incredible adventure. We look forward to the next year of Unclutterer!
Popularity: 5% [?]
Unclutterer on BBC Radio
Earlier this week, in the hubbub of the holiday, I forgot to let all of you know that I would be appearing on BBC Radio. Do not fret, however! The show I was interviewed for, Pods and Blogs with Jamillah Knowles, on the Five Live station, still can be found online.
My segment is only a few minutes long and occurs just before the middle of the program. The whole show is terrific, so, if you have half an hour, I recommend giving it a listen. I talk about how I stopped being a clutterbug and give advice on how to backup sentimental data.
Enjoy!
Popularity: 11% [?]
A fond farewell to 2008
The Unclutterer staff wants to send off 2008 with a list of our favorite posts from this year. These aren’t necessarily the posts that were the most read or the most commented, but are the ones we treasured for some reason we can’t explain. Most of all, we hope you enjoyed them!
Sue’s favorite posts:
Matt’s favorite posts and unitaskers:
- Tips for quick grocery shopping
- Handling sentimental clutter
- Unitasker Wednesday: The dough-nu-matic
- Unitasker Wednesday: Mascara warmer
Erin’s favorite posts:
- Storing Coffee
- Creating a weekly meal plan
- Brainwash your way to a clutter-free life
- Saying farewell to a hobby
- Getting to know you
- Understanding how you process information to help you get organized
- How to be prepared in case of fire
- Can a deep freezer save you money on meals?
Do you have a favorite post? We would love to know which posts bookmarked a place in your hearts in 2008!
Popularity: 12% [?]
Celebrate!
Like a good chunk of the western world, Unclutterer’s offices are closed today. We wish everyone who celebrates Christmas a merry one, and the rest of you we wish a joyful day off from work! We’ll return tomorrow to share more Uncluttering insights.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Ask Unclutterer: Call for entries
Many of our best posts are a result of questions from readers. Plus, these posts are fun to write. It’s nice to know that what we’re creating will be helpful to someone.
In 2009, we want to create a weekly feature called “Ask Unclutterer.” The Ask Unclutterer post will run mid-morning on Fridays, in the second content slot after our Workspace of the Week article.
We are looking for questions relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, and any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve. To submit your questions, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. 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.
We’ll have our first Ask Unclutterer column on Friday, January 9 — so start submitting your questions now! Let the experience of the Unclutterer team go to work for you!
Popularity: 11% [?]
UncluttererTips now on Twitter
While everyone is waiting to find out who will win the DYMO labelmaker later this afternoon, I wanted to share a new Unclutterer service with all of you.
Unclutterer is expanding to include additional daily tips on home and office organizing over Twitter through the user account UncluttererTips.
We come across so many wonderful ideas and solutions, but not all of them have enough meat for a full Unclutterer post. Instead of letting these great ideas go unshared, we have decided to let you know about them in 140 characters or less.
If you’re not a Twitter subscriber, you can simply visit the page http://twitter.com/UncluttererTips to see a roundup of messages. We are big fans of Twitter, though, so consider joining if it seems like a service you might enjoy. Also, check out our post “Uncluttered ways to use Twitter” by Alex Payne to learn about ways that Twitter can help you be organized and productive.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Answering unique reader mail
Readers e-mail us some, uh, er, um, interesting questions. I’ve been collecting them, and I decided to do a whimsical question and answer column for today filled with my best attempts at responses. Feel welcome to play along and provide answers to any questions that interest you in the comments:
After organizing/minimalising/unclutterring a space, is it okay to write a poem about it if you are so inspired?
Sure. Why not?! If you feel inspired to write a poem, write a poem! Here, I’ll give it a whirl …
(A Humorous) Ode to Order
By Erin Rooney Doland
I love it when it’s clean in here
I love it when the counter is clear
I love to have my friends stop by
and not once have to apologize
Oh how I love my newly organized space
A place for everything, and everything in its place
Do you watch tv? What shows?
I love pop culture. I have a TV and a DVR, and I watch most of my shows in clumps on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings — and some mostly in fast forward (Project Runway, Top Chef). The following shows are programed to record into my DVR, but not all of them are currently in season: Burn Notice, Chuck, Closer, CSI: Las Vegas, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Eureka, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, In Plain Sight, Law and Order, Life, The Middle Man, Myth Busters, Project Runway, Psych, Pushing Daisies, and Top Chef.
If you could legally burn your house down and start over from scratch, would you?
One of Unclutterer’s programmers lost his house in a fire in June, and I know for certain I do not want to go through a similar experience. Please don’t burn my house down.
Are you married?
All of the Unclutterer staffers are married except for Intern Julia. And, Intern Julia would like everyone to know she has a boyfriend.
Is that really a picture of you in Ready Made?
Yes. Do I not look how you imagined? If you met me on the street, I’d likely be taller than you imagined, too.
Can you come and clean my house for me?
No, but I hear Merry Maids does a decent job with cleaning!
Seriously, if you’re looking to hire a professional organizer, I highly recommend you use NAPO’s referral service to find one in your community.
Can you yell at my husband for me?
I try not to yell except at sporting events. Does your husband play for the Nationals? If he does, I yell at him all the time.
Do you like Martha Stewart?
I’ve never met Martha Stewart, so I don’t know if I like her. I typically enjoy her work, though, and I am in love with her book Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home. I think it would be great to sit down and have a glass of wine with her. She has more experience in the home lifehack industry than any other human, and I know I could learn a great deal from her.
Why do you think you’re better than everyone else?
Really? Huh. Are you sure you’re reading Unclutterer.com? Because, honestly, trying to be better than everyone else would take a LOT of time and effort, and I just don’t have that sort of energy.
Can you please get rid of the cartoon at the top of the home page? He scares me.
The cartoon guy at the top of the page is staying. I have a crush on him. Around the Unclutterer offices, we call him Suck Face Man. I can’t tell if he’s inept and can’t figure out how to properly operate a vacuum, or if he’s so good at cleaning that he’s the only thing in the room left to clean? Have you seen the little guy hiding from Suck Face Man at the bottom of the page? I love him, too.
I got your contact regarding your trust worthy. I need assistance to transfer some money out of my country into your personal or company account. For your effort my family is willing to offer you Money for your expenses incurred. Can your help?
Your right, I trust worthy. You bad grammar spammer.
Popularity: 12% [?]
