The Clutter Diet Blog

Are You an Information Glutton?

The Magazine Publishers of America say there were 22,652 different magazines published in 2007, and hundreds of thousands of new books are published each year in the US and the UK alone. If you are one of our Kindle readers, you could be holding over 200 books in your hand, and you can choose from over 1000 blogs available.*** And outside of the Kindle, we're one of literally millions of blogs you could potentially read any given day.

Each day we collectively send over 210 billion e-mail messages, sometimes with attached documents to read, and we can visit billions of web pages (and print them out). The amount of information available to us is truly infinite, as it grows daily and shows no signs of stopping.

The availability this information is a great thing. However, the expectations we put upon ourselves to digest this information can be unrealistic and stressful to the point of gluttonous excess.

I have seen several clients over the years who suffer from this "Information Gluttony." Typically intelligent and diverse in their interests, they subscribe to many magazines, they order from catalogs, and they read a lot of information online. They also subscribe to professional journals that they feel compelled to read. Each day when the mail arrives, it's overwhelming to even sort it out and make sense of where to start! And that is not even counting the electronic information they have piling up on their hard drives, often resulting in stacks of printouts they have not yet read either.

The compounding problem is that, even with the tremendous guilt and anxiety they feel as they survey the stacks around them, they continue to buy more and add more to the piles.

Here are some tips to stop the cycle of Information Gluttony:

• Accept the fact that you cannot ever possibly digest it all. Just as you can only comfortably eat until you're full, there is only so much information one can consume before you run out of time and capacity.
• Prioritize what your top three areas of focus are for learning at this time. For one doctor client of mine, it was her practiced medical specialty, her culinary hobby, and her religious study. All other subjects were then considered second-tier. Re-evaluate this as your interests change.
• Prevent more information from coming in. Stop buying and subscribing to new things until you feel you're back in control. Unsubscribe to magazines you have not read and anything that does not contribute to learning in your three prioritized subject areas. Make sure you check privacy policies when purchasing from catalogs or online stores so that you can prevent being added to more mailing lists. You can also manage catalog subscriptions at www.catalogchoice.org.
• Purge all information older than a certain cutoff date that you determine. For some, anything older than 3 months will be too old, and for others, anything older than 6 months or one year. Adjust this threshold to your comfort level, and then stick to it. Recycle your way back to a manageable stack or two.
• Prune the information that continues to come in by continuing to unsubscribe to unread items and using a "limiting container" to keep the piles managed. When the container, like a basket, is full, it's time to clean it out.
• Stop feeling responsible for creating your own personal library and index of information. Clipping a few articles is okay, but extensively clipping and filing simply is not necessary any longer now that almost everything is searchable and retrievable online.

You can also prioritize by using our A-B-C-D method: 

"A" magazines are ones you never want to miss or you must read for work.
"B" publications are favorites but are not quite as important as the "A" ones.
"C" publications are ones you are rarely reading, and
"D" publications are ones you are not reading at all.

Most people have time to read only A and B items, so seriously consider getting rid of anything that is C or D.

For a summary of some of these concepts, watch the video from my spring News 8 Austin series on managing your reading material.

***Hey, guess what!? We're the #2 bestseller overall on Kindle Blogs. THANK YOU everybody!

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New Clutter Vocabulary Words, 2008 edition

Based on the popularity of last year's New Clutter Vocabulary Words post (and because I just like lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases), here is the latest edition of organizing-related buzzwords. These are collected from uber-cool sites Wordspy and Urban Dictionary.

trashout n. The disposal of the entire contents of an abandoned house.

Garage Mahal n. A large or opulent garage or parking structure. [I know people who have spent over $10k on their garages. See previous posts "Pimp My Garage" and my own garage floor adventure, "Lorie's Garage Floor Makeover."]

data fast n. The act of turning off your computer and other electronic equipment for an extended period of time.

joy-to-stuff ratio n. The time a person has to enjoy life versus the time a person spends accumulating material goods. [I would add, "and maintaining" material goods.]

chairdrobe n. The art of piling clothes on a chair to be used in place of a closet or dresser. [see also last year's featured word, "floordrobe"]

fritterware n. Feature-laden software that seduces people into spending inordinate amounts of time tweaking various options for only marginal gains in productivity. [New wallpaper and color scheme for your Windows desktop, anyone? New cursor? See previous post on "faffing."]

clutter blind adj. Common symptom in males of all ages. Occurs when there could a small mess somewhere around the house and guys do not seem to notice this mess at all, even when told to clean it up. [I did not write these definitions, so the jab against all males at the end here is really not mine, although I do live in a house with two teenage sons, a husband, and two male pets... um, no comment.]

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Divide and Conquer?

"Divide and conquer" is one of those old sayings that makes a lot of sense, but I feel the opposite can be true when you start organizing projects. I often like to CENTRALIZE first.

A project can feel overwhelming when things are scattered all over the place. I like using a staging area like a big dining table or a large open space to bring everything together. Gather things from around the house or the room and just pile them all together there to stage them for sorting.

We do this every year in January when we are putting away the holiday decorations, for example... we go around the house grabbing all Christmas things and putting them all at once into the dining room. This way the rest of the house is instantly back to normal, and all of the holiday debris is centralized to deal with it more easily.

Once things are centralized into a staging area, THEN you can divide and conquer. Sort it out from there. Doesn't that feel better? 

Other examples of centralizing:  Make your bed first when cleaning up your bedroom, then gather all clutter and pile it all on the bed. The rest of the room is clean now!  Sort what's on the bed and deal with it from there. (You'll be very motivated to finish because you'll need to use that bed when it's time to go to sleep.) We also use this centralizing concept when we gather laundry from various hampers around the house and bring it to the utility room to sort and wash.  And I also centralize when I am packing for a trip-- I gather and pile it all in one place and pack it up. Centralizing helps you gain one of the biggest advantages of the organizing process- VISIBILITY. You can see everything you have and make better decisions about it.

You can also think of this concept as the known vs. the unknown. Put all unknowns into the central staging area, and the knowns can remain in their homes. So in a garage with a small-to-medium amount of clutter, for example, you can take the cars out and go around the periphery grabbing the unknown, unclassfied, "homeless" items and centralizing them into the middle of the garage floor. The known items with a home can stay on their shelves and in their cabinets... and then you focus on the center of the garage and sort from there.

Share your favorite approach for projects in our comments!

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Organized Voting: Make It Easy

USA readers... it's almost time for the election to be over! I know we'll all be glad. Here are four ways to make it easy to be an organized voter:

Be Prepared. Understand the local races and propositions that will likely be on the ballot along with the presidential ticket. I have always appreciated the League of Women Voters' Voting Guides, a non-partisan, objective summary of both sides of each race that allows you to be an informed voter when you go into the booth and more quickly make your choices. Each side is allowed to submit their own written summary for inclusion. For example, here is the voting guide produced for the Austin, TX area. To find yours, search Google for "League of Women Voters" plus your city or county name. I like to spend a few minutes reading this guide before visiting the polls and make myself some notes to take in there. All of those propositions can be confusing! 

Vote Early. Early voting starts today here in Texas, and according to USA Today, 31 states allow people to vote in person before Election Day without requiring an excuse. Visit Vote411.org to find out the correct information about dates, times, and locations for your area. (Click here for Travis County early voting locations) If you vote early, you get to vote on YOUR terms, when it's convenient for you! You can vote on your lunch hour, on the weekends, or even possibly at the grocery store! I am going to vote at my grocery store polling place TODAY- so efficient to pick up some things for dinner while I vote.  :)

Get a Sitter. If you can't engineer a convenient time to vote early, get some help to make it easier for you. Trade child care with a friend so you both can get out and vote without the kiddos. Or how about some free and discounted sitters on election day?  From Today's Mama's press release:

TodaysMama and Sittercity.com today announced that as part of the MamaVote initiative, they will offer free and discounted babysitting on Election Day, November 4, 2008. From October 27 to November 3, all individuals who sign up for a membership at SitterCity.com with the promotional code MamaVote08 will be eligible for 50 percent off babysitting on Election Day. In addition, the first 50 individuals to register will receive free babysitting for two hours on Election Day.

TodaysMama joined with the League of Women Voters and Sittercity.com to launch MamaVote last year, a non-partisan, education and inspiration-based initiative that encourages mothers to get involved in the political process. By offering discounted, reliable babysitting, these organizations hope to get more women to the polls.

Plan for a Speedy Trip. If you must vote on Election Day (Tuesday, November 4th), make sure you understand exactly which is the correct polling place for you to avoid waiting in line only to find you're in the wrong place! This happened to people in the primaries-- not fun. Again, check Vote411.org to find out. Go at the off-peak times, which would be during mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Avoid, if you can, going right before work, right after work, during lunch, or at closing time for the polls. You will probably hit some long lines. Bring your voter registration card and ID, and have it handy when you arrive at the front to speed up the line.

Make sure when you vote to take a moment to appreciate your freedom to do so. I always have a very solemn and grateful feeling when I vote, knowing there are other people around the world who can't.

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The Economics of Organizing, Part 3: Hidden Gains

Here's the third and final post of our 3-part series about the many ways organizing saves you money and puts you back in control:

Part 1. The Stuff You Have
Part 2. The Stuff You Don't Want
Part 3.  Hidden Gains

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Hidden Gains

Getting organized offers obvious financial benefits as we've covered in our previous two posts, but the hidden gains may be even more valuable, hitting your pocketbook in a more subtle way.

Save time. Gaining efficiencies through the organizing process means you are getting back some of your time, and as we all know, time is money. In fact, time is more precious than money, because you can never get that wasted time back. Not spending an hour locating your bills or keys every month means you have another hour to spend on what is important to you. Here are some of the best ways to save time:

• Go online for common tasks.  You can print your own postage and arrange for a carrier pickup from the post office’s website, which means you don’t have to go to the post office.  Shopping online means you won’t have to drive to the mall, saving time both driving and parking. (See also previous post, "Save Gas & Time with 3 Simple Household Objects")
• Group your errands.  If you are going to run one errand, stop and think if there are others on your route you could do at the same time.  Make sure you have everything you need with you, and ask everyone in the family if they need anything else before you leave.
• Capture anything you may need to do again into a trusted system, such as your paper or electronic filing system, so you can let that information go from your own brain and move on to other things. We call this the Recipe Rule. Don't reinvent the wheel! Just yesterday I needed to refer back to a 3-page procedure I had written for creating a complicated report... it would have taken me half a day to figure that all out again.

Feel less stress. According to a 2003 Fast Company magazine article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state unequivocally that 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress-related. Getting control of your belongings and your finances means you will experience less stress, which means less cost in health expenses and less unproductive time off work for illness. Think about these ways that clutter and disorganization adds to your stress:

• Are you a "slave to your possessions?” More than once, a client has joked about how a match is the only organizing tool they really need. Our possessions do require maintenance, storage, repairs, and caretaking if you leave town, and sometimes that accumulated mental and physical baggage can get very heavy.
• Does your personal environment support your goals, or hinder them? Getting organized means that you have aligned your environment to support you in achieving your life’s goals, whatever they may be. If you are waking up each day to chaos, you are limiting yourself.
• Clutter and disorganization creates conflict. Within families sharing spaces or workers sharing an office, disorganization is at the root of many conflicts and annoyances. "Where did you put my ____?" "Why didn't you pay that bill?" "You ruined/lost/used up my _____." "Did you forget again?" "Why were you late?" If this sounds familiar, consider the harmony that would exist with these conflicts being prevented.

We are certainly in challenging times. The beauty and promise of America is, of course, our freedom, and Albert Camus said that “Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.” We all have an unprecedented opportunity to make things better from the bottom up, to start over if necessary, and to evaluate what is and isn't serving us. Getting organized in all aspects of our lives will help us get back where we want to be.
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Saying it one more time....

It may not be in your budget to hire a Professional Organizer right now, but affordable expert help and advice is right at your fingertips at ClutterDiet.com. We provide superb support to accomplish your organizing goals for about the price of a pizza. You can get access to our team online for a whole year for about the price of two hours of our time in person!

And for my Professional Organizer friends reading this, you can still help potential clients who call about your services but find they cannot afford your hourly rates in person. Join our affiliate program to refer clients on a budget to Clutter Diet, and EVERYONE WINS. You get paid for the referral, we receive new members into our online community, and the clients get the help they need.

I hope you have enjoyed this economy series, and that it has helped you get motivated to save more money and improve your life! As always, I'd love to hear your comments.

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The Economics of Organizing, Part 2: The Stuff You Don't Want

Here's the second in our 3-part series about the many ways organizing saves you money and puts you back in control:

Part 1. The Stuff You Have
Part 2. The Stuff You Don't Want
Part 3.  Hidden Gains

==========================
The Stuff You Don't Want

We discussed reviewing and organizing your belongings in Part 1, and when you do that you not only find some things that were forgotten about and wanted, but you also identify many things that are unwanted.

Selling the stuff you don't want is clearly the most direct way to make money. Craigslist is my favorite way to sell things locally, and eBay is great too, especially when you have a special or rare item that needs a larger market. Some people might also enjoy having a garage or yard sale. (Check Yard Sale Queen and WeekendTreasure.com for tips)

If you choose to give the stuff away instead, you can still reap financial benefits in the form of tax deductions. (for USA readers) You would be very surprised! Most people grossly undervalue what they are donating to charity. For example, can you believe that frumpy bridesmaid dress in the back of your closet (in excellent condition) has a fair market value of $22.00? You can get the most tax benefit for your donations by quickly tallying up the actual fair market values using It’s Deductible Online from Intuit/TurboTax. It’s like the “Blue Book” for valuing household items. It’s free and only takes a few moments, and there is a tax savings calculator that adds up your savings as you enter your items. You can also get much of this information in booklet form from Money For Your Used Clothing. 

By organizing your finances, you will almost certainly find there are expenses you don't want. If you are disorganized, you may be routinely paying unnecessary costs like late fees and incurring higher interest rates because of your irregular payment history. You may also find that you’ve been paying for something you’re not using, like a gym membership or even a storage unit rental fee. You'll want to go through your credit card and checking account statements carefully, looking for recurring charges and ones you don't recognize or remember, and get a bill-paying routine in place to make sure you pay on time. If possible, it's ideal to simplify by consolidating all accounts down to one or two cards.

Getting organized can also help tremendously if you are downsizing to save money, or if you are in the unfortunate position of needing to sell your home quickly. You can speed up the process of selling your home by decluttering your environment and making it more show-ready. Getting rid of the stuff you don't want means that closets and other storage areas look bigger with fewer items in them, and if buyers want to envision themselves in the home, your personal stuff makes it harder for them to put themselves in the picture.

==========================
Saying It Again...

It may not be in your budget to hire a Professional Organizer right now, but affordable expert help and advice is right at your fingertips at ClutterDiet.com. We provide superb support to accomplish your organizing goals for about the price of a pizza. You can get access to our team online for a whole year for about the price of two hours of our time in person!

And for my Professional Organizer friends reading this, you can still help potential clients who call about your services but find they cannot afford your hourly rates in person. Join our affiliate program to refer clients on a budget to Clutter Diet, and EVERYONE WINS. You get paid for the referral, we receive new members into our online community, and the clients get the help they need.

Stay tuned for Part 3: Hidden Gains!  How has organizing saved YOU money? Share your story in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter for my Daily #ClutterTweetTip: www.twitter.com/clutterdiet

The Economics of Organizing, Part 1: The Stuff You Have

Given the current economic situation, it's important to regroup, evaluate, and streamline our lives. Getting organized benefits you right in the pocketbook! So I am writing a 3-part series to cover the many ways organizing saves you money and puts you back in control:

Part 1. The Stuff You Have
Part 2. The Stuff You Don't Want
Part 3.  Hidden Gains

==========================
The Stuff You Have

During the organizing process, you often find things you had lost or didn’t even realize you had. We once found over $5000 in undeposited checks and cash in the home of one of our clients, hidden in books and lost in stacks of unopened mail. You may not find this kind of bounty in your organizing projects, but you will probably find unused gift cards, rebate opportunities, and warranty information that can help you get some money back, and you might even find a $20 bill in an old purse or pocket too. Did you know that in 2006, the value of unused gift cards in the USA was estimated at $8 billion?

Knowing what you have also means you can shop smarter. Just using your wardrobe as an example, if you already know that you have two green turtleneck sweaters, you probably will not buy another one. I cannot tell you how many closets we've organized that have more than ten items of clothing with the tag still on them! The client often could not see the items previously in the closet due to overcrowding. We always talk about how visibility should be one of the primary goals of any organizing project; in other words, can you easily see and find what you have? If so, you're likely to make much better purchasing decisions.

If you can gain that visibility, you will save money by actually using what you have. This is especially true in your pantry and refrigerator. If you organize them (and maintain them) for greater visibility you are less likely to have to throw out stale food later. Planning meals to use up what you have is also a way of economizing and organizing. Try using ingredient searches at AllRecipes.com or RecipeMatcher.com to figure out what to do with that dijon mustard and leftover chicken in your refrigerator.

I invite you to prevent clutter from getting in the door in the first place with our free Clutter Prevention Wallet Reminder Sleeves! Use them to hold your credit and debit cards to remind you of the five important questions to ask before making any purchase.

It may not be in your budget to hire a Professional Organizer right now, but affordable expert help and advice is right at your fingertips at ClutterDiet.com. We provide superb support to accomplish your organizing goals for about the price of a pizza. You can get access to our team online for a whole year for about the price of two hours of our time in person!

And for my Professional Organizer friends reading this, you can still help potential clients who call about your services but find they cannot afford your hourly rates in person. Join our affiliate program to refer clients on a budget to Clutter Diet, and EVERYONE WINS. You get paid for the referral, we receive new members into our online community, and the clients get the help they need.

Stay tuned for Part 2: The Stuff You Don't Want!  How has organizing saved YOU money? Share your story in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter for my Daily #ClutterTweetTip: www.twitter.com/clutterdiet

Digital Distraction: Focus Like a Postage Stamp?

Consider the postage stamp; its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there. - Josh Billings

I LOVE this quote. Evidently, Josh Billings was like another Mark Twain back in the day.

How much "multi-tasking" are you doing during the day? What if you just stuck to one thing until it was done? It's getting more and more difficult to do this in our modern times. Have you ever thought, "I'll just look at this website really quickly first," or "Hmm, that's interesting...I will click that," or "I wonder if I got that answer in my e-mail?" No? Well, excuse me, but your pants are currently on fire. Here are some suggestions for helping you to get back your focus:

• My favorite way to stop the madness when I really must block out everything else is to flip the "kill switch" on my laptop... the one that shuts off wireless network access. Most newer notebook computers have this physical switch, and it means no Internet for you! If you have a desktop computer, you could unplug your network cable as well.
• Location, location, location. There is something about going to work in a different place that makes you switch gears. If you choose a place with no internet access, that can be even better depending upon your needs. Even if you just move to a different room in your office or home, the change can help remind you that you are there for a reason and that you need to focus on that one thing. Many people enjoy focused work in conference rooms, vacant offices, library study rooms, Starbucks, or Panera.
• Do an honesty check on how you really spend your time on your computer with "Rescue Time." (See previous post all about this application) This free application lets you monitor exactly where you are spending time, whether it's in Outlook, on the web, or anywhere. You can set goals of how long you'd like to be in Outlook (for example) per day or per week, and you get a report on how you did. It really keeps you accountable!
• Speaking of accountability, have an Accountability Partner. I have had one for years, and now we've added another person to our group. We talk each Monday morning about what we are going to accomplish and check in on last week's goals. Sometimes we call each other during the week to get more help. Yesterday I got a call from one of them saying she was having a lot of trouble procrastinating a certain phone call. She wanted me to make her do it and have her call me back when she was done. It really works!
• Turn off the Outlook visual and audible e-mail alerts. In Outlook 2003 & 2007, go to Tools>Options>Preferences tab>E-mail Options button>Advanced E-mail Options button>"When New Items Arrive in my Inbox." You have the option of turning off the desktop alerts, which means the little popup window in the bottom right of your screen. See this screenshot for all of the choices (click image to enlarge). You can also go into Tools>Rules & Alerts and create specific rules to have alerts only show up when certain people send you messages, in case you need to stay really responsive to someone like your manager.

What could you do today to improve your focus and get THAT ONE THING done?

Related post: What is Faffing?

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Harvesting Some Time with Your Friends

It's that time again...once a month I write a column for Connections for Women online magazine. This month's theme is "Harvest- Reaping What You Sow." Here is an excerpt:

No farmer would ever expect to see a crop ready for harvest in a field unless he had first planted the seeds, watered them, and cared for the plants. In this same way, you cannot expect your home to be efficient and organized without investing time in certain habits, practices, and systems...

Read the entire article here to find out the five concepts I shared that you can continually apply.

And now for something completely different... my colleague Vicki Norris and I were in Parents Magazine together this month giving out tips on organizing your family's home office. You can read that article here. I am embarrassed to say that I did not realize that my dear friend Vicki was blogging! She has shared this great idea in her blog that I wanted to share with you:  "FriendScriptions."

The idea of FriendScriptions is that you share a magazine subscription with a friend, with the agreement that you get together once a month to pass on the magazine. One person receives it in their mailbox and hands it over to the other person at an arranged time over coffee, or as Vicki does it, with lavender scones and clotted cream! Vicki does everything with style. Visit her blog to read more about Vicki's lovely get-together with her friend to share their Victoria magazine. Makes me want to call someone right now and reward myself with some good friend time!

Enjoy!

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