The Clutter Diet Blog

When Lightning Strikes

Part of our definition of being organized is being ready and prepared. I was certainly glad that I was prepared last night with a surge protector for my laptop! I am in Florida right now, and we had a huge thunderstorm last night. (And I understand my hometown of Austin is getting pummeled with storms as well!) Whenever I hear thunder, my first thought is, “I must unplug my computer right now.” It is a fact that lightning strikes can ruin electronic equipment, especially if they are not plugged into surge protectors. I personally have lost a printer this way, and I know someone who has lost a laptop. I am fanatical about using surge protectors, and even with them, I will still jump up at 3:00AM to unplug things anyway. Computer expert Kim Komando says that not unplugging during storms is one of the biggest mistakes people make with their computers.

I packed this great little surge protector with me while traveling that is just perfect. It’s the APC Essential Surgearrest for Notebooks (model P1T) --this photo is from their website. It’s only about 3x2x2” and costs $12.99. I got mine at CompUSA. I was really glad my laptop was plugged into it last night during the storm, and last week in Puerto Rico I was very glad to have it because the power supply there is somewhat unreliable and fluctuating.

Frying your computer definitely has a negative effect on your productivity! Make sure your stuff is protected today.

Newspapers are Old News

One of the clutter traps we see often in people's homes is reading material... there is this strange guilt hanging over people's heads about all of the things that they "should" read sometime.  The reading material that stacks up the quickest is newspapers.  Sorry, Lois Lane-- the newspapers have gotta go.

Here is what my colleague Judith Kolberg says about newspapers in her book Conquering Chronic Disorganization:

The information in newspapers is obsolete about eight hours after it is published.  Over 70% of a newspaper is advertising.  Of the 30% of real news and information, 80% can be accessed with ease through other kinds of media, like radio or TV.  100% is obtainable over the Internet.  A good 50% of any newspaper will repeat in some form the very next day.  A newspaper unread is closer to trash than orange peels.

OK, how's that for a reason to recycle that stack??  Please do not guilt yourself into thinking you should go back and read those unread papers.  You don't have time.  And if your newspapers are consistently stacking up unread, you might consider changing your subscription to weekends-only, when you may have more time to read and enjoy them.

Lost Luggage Lessons Learned

Since I am on vacation this week, I am enjoying signing on and chiming in here with a few travel tips every few days.  I hope it's helpful!

The organized traveler knows to be prepared for all kinds of contingencies. Ideally, everyone would just carry on their luggage, but nowadays, that can be more challenging given the limitations on liquids, etc. I did check my bag coming here to Puerto Rico, and my bag was "delayed."  They said that the plane was too heavy in Dallas, so they had to take some bags off.  So luckily, it was never truly lost at any time, but it was just delayed getting to San Juan... they told me we'd probably have my bag by 2 or 3 o'clock the next day.  Ha!  I did not get my bag until 11:00am two days later.

Here is what I have learned about missing luggage:

1. Never pack anything in a checked bag that you cannot live without.  I was SO glad that I had packed my medication in my carry-on laptop case.  However, what I really wished for was underwear and a change of clothing.  Puerto Rico in June is not a place where you want to be wearing the same clothing more than one day in a row.  I did buy a sundress in the hotel gift shop, but I would rather have had my own stuff.  Think ahead for what you might need if your luggage doesn't make it.
2. If your bag gets delayed, if at all possible, arrange to pick up your own luggage instead of relying on the delivery service.  The airline loves to take responsibility off of itself and put it on the delivery people-- they said they gave my bag to the delivery service at 6pm and it should be delivered within 6 hours of that time.  It did not arrive until the next day at 11:00 and nobody could tell me anything.  It would have been great to just swing by the airport and pick up my bag myself that first day.
3. Make sure you mark your bags well so they are easily identified.  I was SO glad that I have a blue bag, not a black one, and that I could easily pick my bag out of a group.  That way I was sure when it did not come through, and it was easier to explain to them how to identify it.  FYI, they will ask you for something unique inside the bag that only you would know, so think about what that might be when you zip up your bag for the last time.  And make sure there is something with your name and cell phone number on both the inside and outside of the bag (my paper airline luggage ID tag was ripped off when I finally got it).
4. Look at it as an opportunity if you can.  Thank God for 24-Hour Walgreens stores... I was able to pick up a toothbrush and some other toiletries late that night after we arrived.  I was thinking it was kind of a cool opportunity to try some new stuff I don't normally use.  I tried a new toothpaste, a new facial sunscreen, and a new deodorant, and I liked them, so that was good information.
5. Use a Stuffbak sticker for extra confidence.  It did not get used in this situation, but I really felt better knowing that my bag had a sticker on it that says "Reward for Return" with a phone number on it.  Stuffbak is one of those "wish I'd thought of that" companies who created a way to get laptops, luggage, cell phones, iPods, and anything else returned to you if you lose it.  They have a proven 75% return rate!  I went nuts over these stickers and gave them to everyone last year as stocking stuffers at Christmas.
6. Visit www.onebag.com for some great packing-light ideas.

I hope this helps someone else avoid inconveniences when they are trying to relax and get away-- or worse, when you're trying to work!  I was so glad this happened when I did not have a presentation the next day to deliver.  Be an organized traveler and learn from my misfortune!

Travel Tips

Hi, everyone-- I am traveling today with my family, and I got reminded of several little tips I wanted to share with you (while I am sitting here waiting for 2+ hours for a plane).

I always travel with a few things that really make things easier:

1)  A clear red poly string envelope for my travel documents (see this photo from Office Depot's site--this one shown is clear, but they do make them in see-through-red)
2)A Sharpie marker-- for labeling things, especially if you have children (whose water bottle belongs to whom, which identical Disney souvenir belongs to whom, etc.)
3)Preprinted address labels-- for making quick luggage tags while you're in line at the ticket counter, filling out forms, etc.

I hope this is helpful to someone-- there are so many more tips about travel, but I was particularly thinking of these today.  Bon Voyage!

Organizing Your Passwords- Be Safe!

I belong to a Yahoo Group of Austin business owners, and someone in our group just posted a long message about what he learned from being the victim of identity theft.  The main violation that occurred was the compromise of the person's Yahoo e-mail address.  From there, all hell broke loose, involving eBay, PayPal, and $32,000 of merchandise about to be shipped to Africa... no kidding.

When I speak to audiences about identity theft, I stress to them that your e-mail account is one of the most important passwords you must protect-- it needs to be as strong as the password you would use for your bank account!  Think about it-- when you forget a password to some account, what do you do?  You click "Forgot password" and they usually send it to your e-mail address.  How many accounts would people be able to access if they could check your e-mail?  It's a little unsettling, isn't it?

The other thing I am always telling people is not to use the same password for everything.  It's probably okay to use a few that you rotate among less important accounts, but for the really important ones like banking, anything else financial, and your e-mail address, NEVER use the same one for those.  This person who just wrote to our group said this was his downfall-- he had used the same password for PayPal as he used for his eBay account, so once they had that, they just tried it on everything.

So, if you are using so many different secure passwords, how do you organize and keep track of them all?   My favorite password management software is SplashID, because that is what I use daily.  It does require that you have a PDA, like a Palm, to install the software, and it syncs to the PDA as well. I love having this information with me securely. It uses very secure encryption and you basically need to remember just one master password to unlock the rest of them.  I use this software not just for passwords, but as a mini-database of little factoids I need to remember. My husband's drivers license number, my kids' social security numbers, my clients' gate codes, software purchase information and license codes, and a hundred other things.  Obviously, you need to check it out and decide for yourself about its security before you use it (use at your own risk).  I also like Password Agent.  Here is an article from Lifehack where there is a list of others people use.

Whatever you do, DON'T just keep this kind of information in a handy little Word or Excel document.  This is not secure for so many reasons! 

How are you going to protect your information?  Do it today!

Smart Furniture

Our organizer Laura found this website last week:  www.smartfurniture.com. This photo is from their website. They make customized shelving units and other pieces for both residential and commercial purposes-- very clever!  It's a modular system that you can configure the way you want, with the finishes you want, etc.  Particularly great for bookshelves and other media storage. 

Their "How It Works" page shows how the pieces fit together, which I have taken a small screenshot of here.  It's "TOOL-FREE" which is amazing.

Does anyone have experience with this furniture?  We'd love to hear your comments.  It's absolutely beautiful and can provide thousands of combinations of storage solutions.

Let's Talk Drawer Dividers

In our work as Professional Organizers, we use drawer dividers probably more than any other profession on the planet!  Luckily, retailers have caught on to the different needs and preferences in this niche, and there is now a great selection of different options.

You always want to measure your drawer(s) before going out to purchase dividers, and you might also measure significant items that you are wanting to store if they are out of the ordinary.  Mostly people are trying to store kitchen gadgets, utensils, cosmetics, toiletries, junk drawer items, and craft and office supplies, and the standard sizes will typically fit these items.  Don't forget to measure for the height of your drawer-- there are some bathroom drawers that are extremely shallow.

We like the white plastic, modular, interlocking type best; the type that you will typically find at discount stores. There are wooden ones, acrylic, metal mesh, and many other materials, but the interlocking plastic seem to almost always fit the bill.  Usually if you buy their assortment pack at the store that will accommodate most situations.  Long kitchen utensils really do best with a specialty product as shown here from Organize.com (click photo to learn more).  These utensil drawer dividers are really worth the money.

Our little trick of the trade:  Use a tiny dab of Museum Putty to secure the drawer dividers in place. Without this fix, often drawer dividers will slide all over inside the drawer when you open and close it.  Shameless plug: We do sell the Museum Putty in our online store because it's kind of hard to find.

Today I noticed the crumbs in our silverware drawer dividers and cleaned them out. It just made me think to remind our readers.  All those little dried food particles from the dishwasher gather in there over time. Not glamorous, but necessary! 

Organizing a drawer can take as little as 5-10 minutes.  What could you organize today?

Organized Giving- $416,000 Worth!

I just helped give away $416,000 tonight!  This is not exactly organizing-related, but I must share with my readers the amazing and invigorating experience I have had being involved for 2 years with Impact Austin, a women's philanthropy group. Each member gives $1000 and every penny of that money goes toward our grants for local nonprofit groups. 

We have an annual voting dinner, which was tonight, in which we vote for our grant applicant finalists to see who will receive our money. This year we had 416 members, so we gave away four grants of $104,000 each.  Tonight our gifts brought us over the $1 million dollar mark of how much our group has contributed in the last 4 years to our community.  These voting dinners are very touching because we hear speakers from the previous grant recipients who have had their lives changed by the funding we provided.  I wish I could somehow convey how much this means to me and to everyone present. There are few dry eyes in the house.

If you are interested in starting a similar group, Impact Austin has a great resources page with some information that will help.  There is so much people can do when they get organized and band together!

Passport Update-- Canada/Mexico Requirement Waived?

I wrote a post a few days ago about making sure you get your passport renewed... wow, it's amazing the effect my blog post had! There has been such a rush on passport processing that it is causing a possible change in State Department Policy!  Just kidding... But read this article from the Associated Press:

"A proposal set to be announced as early as Friday will temporarily waive a requirement that U.S. passports be used for air travel to and from Canada and Mexico, provided the traveler can prove he or she has already applied for a passport, officials said Thursday."

(UPDATE- JUNE 2009: Yet more rules are now in play. PLEASE check the State Department website to get clear on the rules. The new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative just took effect June 1, 2009.) There is a massive backlog in passport processing.  From the article:  "The backlog has caused up to three-month delays in issuing passports and ruined or delayed the travel plans of untold thousands of Americans." 

I also wanted to comment on a comment... culturelady commented here that she tried to order from "Vital Records" and it cost $70 with the shipping.  Culturelady, you are correct that you can order your birth certificate for $10 from most state offices-- but when I called to try to do this first, I was listening to on-hold messages for quite a while, and this state agency's message mentioned that you could use VitalChek.com.  It did not cost $70 for me-- I paid about $40, which I found reasonable given that I would have the document in a few short days with a trackable shipping method.  I am not sure what website you used but I think it was a different one.

Anyway, it pays to be an Organized Traveler and get this stuff taken care of as soon as possible.  Thank you to everyone for your comments, both public and private, on this post!

Babyproof Your Marriage!

Today I had the pleasure of having lunch with Cathy O'Neill, one of the authors of Babyproofing Your Marriage.  It's a fascinating subject-- what happens to a couple once children enter the picture?  Sadly, so many marriages split up because they cannot handle the changes that occur. 

One of the things that occurred to me was that division of labor in a household can be a huge issue when kids come along (number 2 on the top 3 concerns for women on their site is "He just doesn't get it!" about how much workload there is).  We have in the members' area of our Clutter Diet site our Household Systems and Routines Workbook that can really help facilitate a discussion of ownership of all of the things it takes to run the home.  I guess I did not think about how we could potentially help save someone's marriage with this workbook!  But I think it could!

Visit Cathy's site and check out their book-- it is a very valuable guidebook to navigating these issues and dilemmas.  What could you do today to strengthen your relationship as a couple?  Maybe getting organized can help!