Published by Crystal February 9th, 2009
in Organizing 101.
Check out today’s post on Zen Habits called How to Declutter an Entire Room in One Go. This article has some excellent advice, to which I’d like to add the following two tips:
When you want to declutter but only have 10 minutes, use a laundry basket.
Grab hold of a laundry basket. In a five minute period, make one circle around the house, picking up and putting into the basket everything that doesn’t belong. Now recirculate around the house one more time (5 additional minutes), delivering all the items in the basket where they’re supposed to go. The key is not to stop to ponder things or get sidetracked!
When you have more time to organize a room, use the Group and Pile Method.
- First, group similar items together. If you’re organizing the garage, similar item groups might be Sporting Goods, Tools, Automotive, Entertainment, Pets, Gardening and Other. These groupings reveal what you have and how much you have. As a result, decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of can be made more efficiently. For example, by grouping similar items you might discover that you possess 14 crescent wrenches of the exact same size.
- Next, create decision piles, such as: Keep here, Move to somewhere else (specify where), Toss, Shred, Recycle, Donate, and Sell. I use index cards to clearly label each decision pile.
- Finally, execute your decisions!
Thoughts on this? Other ideas? Post a comment, or write to Crystal and let her know!
Published by Crystal February 6th, 2009
in Closets.
It’s a good idea to organize your clothing closet at at least twice yearly. Haven’t done it in a while? Set a date to organize your closet this spring!
Here’s a list of closet maintenance tasks to consider:
- Retire the old. Is anything permanently stained or completely worn out? Remove them from the closet. Donate any items which are still wearable and re-purpose what isn’t. For example, old socks make chew toys for dogs and t-shirts become great cleaning rags.
- Be honest about what fits you. If it doesn’t fit you now, and it hasn’t fit you for the past calendar year, it probably never will. It’s time to let it go.
- Examine what you wear most frequently in terms of style and fit. There’s a good reason that your favorite pair of pants are your favorites. The more you learn about your own likes/dislikes, the better you’ll become at shopping effectively for yourself next time.
- Get seasonal. Box up wintertime clothing such as wool socks and bulky sweaters, clearly label the boxes, and store them in an accessible area of the attic, basement or garage so you can pull them out again next fall.
- Tidy up. Neatly fold and stack your casual wear. Dressier items like slacks and blouses should be ironed and hung up. Facing clothing the same way and hanging them on quality, matching hangers will create a sense of uniformity and order. For more ideas on organizing your clothing, check out my article called An Organizer’s Closet, Revealed!
Thoughts on this? Other ideas? Post a comment, or write to Crystal and let her know!
Published by Crystal February 1st, 2009
in Bathroom and Kitchen.
One easy way to work toward a simpler, less cluttered lifestyle is to choose products with less packaging.
As an example, opt for bar soap – which comes simply wrapped in paper – instead of liquid hand soap dispensers.
Plastic containers of liquid hand soap may seem convenient.
Yet the simple act of choosing bar soap saves time and money spent having to refill or replace sticky, half-empty containers of liquid soap. As we all know, production of plastic containers require fossil fuels, and these containers usually get tossed into the trash. Even if you do recycle, they are a pain to clean out.
Reasons to buy local, handmade bar soap:
- Handmade soap from your local farmer’s market smells great (I choose scents like Lemon Verbena, Bergamot and Coriander, Lavender, and Mint);
- They are usually made with natural ingredients which can be gentler on your hands than your average liquid soap;
- They are fun to use;
- Your purchase of these types of bar soap supports artisans and the local economy.
Need a soap dish for your new bar soap? I had fun picking out handmade stoneware soap dishes from Etsy.
If you have thoughts or other ideas to share, please post a comment or write to Crystal and let her know.
Published by Crystal January 21st, 2009
in Office and paperwork.
STOCK UP. Stocking your paperwork processing area with envelopes, return address labels and plenty of stamps will encourage bill paying and reduce procrastination!
Published by Crystal January 19th, 2009
in Organizing 101.
Clutter, disorganization and unhappiness. Sound familiar? If yes, it might be time for an intervention.
Here’s my prescription:
- Watch The Story of Stuff, an informative way to spend 20 minutes. It will get you thinking about your own role in the consumerism cycle.
- Stop watching television. TV makes people want more things. People who live in want of more things tend to be very unhappy. Unhappy people go shopping, because it’s a quick way to feel better for a short amount of time, but in the long-term it leaves them unsatisfied with their lives and smothered in their own possessions.
- Politely say no to all freebies. Just because it is free does not mean you need it in your house. Keep in mind that getting rid of something is 10 times harder than acquiring it.
- Teach yourself to shop mindfully. Ask yourself: “Do I really need this thing, or do I want it?” and “Why do I want it?” Take time to honestly and thoughtfully consider the answers. If you decide you must obtain this item, wait one week before purchasing it. Then ask yourself these questions again. Imagine your life without this item. Would you feel an emptiness? Could you fill the emptiness with something more fulfilling and long-lasting — such as spending time with a friend, calling your sister on the phone, going for a walk, or volunteering?
- Feed your soul with friends, family, love and leisure time rather than stuff. My personal favorites are playing board games, holding hands, meditating, having a potluck with friends and reading to kids.
To read about people who have stopped shopping altogether (and are doing just fine), check out Good magazine’s post called The Anti-Consumers.
Thoughts on this? Other perspectives? Post a comment, or write to Crystal and let her know!
Published by Crystal January 18th, 2009
in Inspiration.
Everyone’s been talking about President Obama and the enormous problems he needs to fix to get our country back in shape.
Instead of sitting back and waiting for change to happen, let’s all step up and do our part to help out. It can begin tomorrow with a volunteer opportunity on MLK Day. Check out the Obama team’s USA Service site, which makes it easy to find a local volunteer event and sign up.
What happens to our country and to the world is in our hands.
Published by Crystal January 17th, 2009
in Interior design.
This is probably insanely expensive, but it looks really cool: check out The Sky Factory, a company which offers custom-designed “authentic illusions of real skies that transform confined interiors into spaces of natural beauty and freshness.”
I guess when wealthy people can’t install a real skylight, they can buy these to make rooms feel more spacious and open.
The “Programmable SkyCeiling” simulates the rising and setting of the sun. I can dream, right?!
This week, my friend Julia attended a workshop called “Reboot Your Work: Modern Methods for Productivity, Sanity, and Control”, presented by productivity consultant Matt Cornell. (Oooh! I wish I could have gone too!!)
I thought Matt had a good suggestion for people whose e-mail inboxes are out of control. One not-so-productive workshop trainee (we’ll call him “Phil”) complained of having 17,000 unread messages in his e-mail account. Matt advised Phil to (1) focus on dealing with only the e-mail messages from the last 2 weeks, and (2) put the rest of the messages in an archive folder to work on later (if he finds the time to.)
Finally, if the e-mail becomes more than Phil can handle, Matt says he could always file for e-mail bankruptcy.
Here are my two tips for keeping e-mail under control:
(1) Set yourself up for success.
- For the love of God, consolidate your e-mail accounts. If you have more than one e-mail address, set up your system to receive ALL e-mail messages at one central account.
- Create filters. How do they work? Filters will automatically label, archive or trash messages for you based on specific criteria you set. I use filters for managing my all newsletter subscriptions and listservs – basically anything that holds my general interest but does not require action. With filters, I can read newsletters and mailing list stuff whenever I have time (which isn’t very often!), and they stay out of my inbox, which I chiefly reserve for actionable items.
- Set an intention for time spent working on e-mail. Decide before you sit down what your goals are. Do you want to address the most urgent messages and spend only 10 minutes doing so? If yes, then identify the urgent, actionable messages, reply and get out of there quickly. You must fight the urge to get sidetracked following YouTube links or reading forwarded jokes!
- Unsubscribe from mailing lists, junk and newsletters as often as possible. It is worth your time to unsubscribe so you will not receive them ever again.
(2) Check e-mail the smart way.
- Identify the action step inherent in each message. Tagging actionable messages with brightly colored tags (thanks Gmail!) such as “Do”, “Schedule”, “Read”, “Write Back ASAP”, “Write Back Later”, etc. will help you prioritize and clear your inbox much faster. For example, if you have three items labeled “Schedule”, you can take care of all three in one sitting the next time you have your calendar open.
- Add specific tags to the messages you plan to archive but may need to find again later. The most useful tags refer specifically to the content of messages. Examples are “Blog ideas”, “Running group”, and “Recipes”.
- Put off less urgent responses by writing a short note to the person such as, “Dear _______, Thank you for your message. I hope to get back to you next week with a thoughtful reply to your question.” Tag the message “Write Back Later”. Now you can put your energy into tackling the messages that require a more immediate response.
- Archive messages immediately after taking action.
If you need more tips, I recommend checking out 43 folders’ Inbox Zero series.
Thoughts on this? Other ideas? Post a comment or write to Crystal and let her know!
Published by Crystal January 15th, 2009
in Inspiration.
I really like the candor of Danielle LaPorte’s post on Unclutterer today, which gives the Top 4 By-Default Clutter Choices. These are choices we make, she says. Clutter doesn’t just happen:
- My [insert name of well-meaning relative] gave it to me and I just can’t throw it out.
This is tricky. But it gets down to this: life’s short and it’s your place. Objects carry memories and attitudes with them. If you want your home to be your temple or your chill-zone, then making choices based on obligation are only going to weigh you down.
- I really hate this [insert home item or piece of clothing] but I’m waiting to have the money to buy a new one.
Something amazing happens when you get the stuff you don’t like out of your life – stuff that you do like has the room to show up. So chuck the old futon chair from university days, even if it means you sit on the floor for a while. You’ll be raising the vibe, shedding unwanted pounds and sending the universe a clear signal that you’re ready for quality…right now, not later.
- I got it for free, so I may as well keep it.
Gasp. This is the ultimate gotchya-sucker default choice. ‘Cause ain’t nothing for free, baby! (Well, true love is free, but that’s about it.) If it’s taking up physical or mental space – it’s costing you. Everything has an environmental cost to manufacture, ship and dispose of. And when I think of all the “free” crap that I lugged around from apartment to apartment in moving vans – I could have saved enough to buy stuff I really loved.
- But what if I need it someday?
Trust that if you ever need it, you’ll have what you need to get it. If you haven’t worn it for a year and half – give it away. If you’re waiting to lose the ten pounds, forget it. Just love yourself now. A happy life is an as-is life. And junk drawers are called junk drawers for a reason.
LaPorte says, “simplicity demands ruthlessness.” I can’t agree more. Until we can challenge our assumptions about possessions, we’ll remain paralyzed by our own stuff.
Thoughts on this? Post a comment or write to Crystal and let her know!
Published by Crystal January 13th, 2009
in Sustainable living.
Hey Sparkleize readers, think environmentally responsible organizing!
If you live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area North Carolina, please check out the new Crystal’s Triangle-Area Guide to Donating and Recycling. I’d appreciate any comments or feedback you may have. With the input of others, I’m hoping it will become more and more comprehensive and useful over time.
Thanks, Crystal
