The Clutter Diet Blog

Fanatical Over Forms

We always say that to be organized and more productive, you should think like a lazy person. Constantly ask yourself how you could do things faster, better...or not at all!

Forms are one of the best ways to save time and gain efficiency. I daresay I am in love with forms. If you're doing something that might ever possibly need to be done again in the future, it's likely worth the time to invest in creating a form. Forms help you capture what you need to know, capture what you learned about the process, and communicate the information easily to others.

Last Saturday my son had a bunch of boys over for his birthday, and we were going over to our new neighborhood burger joint to pick up their lunches. For each boy we needed to know if they wanted a small or large burger, whether they wanted fries, what kind of milkshakes they wanted, and what they wanted on their burgers. Since we really like this burger place, I figured we would be doing this again at another party in the near future... and I didn't want to stand there embarrassing my teenage son like a diner waitress asking each person and waiting around for the answers. So I did a quick table in Word, printed it out, and had them fill out the form in writing with exactly what they wanted. They passed it around quickly and completed it, and I came back for it in a few minutes. I saved the form on my hard drive knowing I would definitely be glad to have it.

The burger place employees were really impressed because we just handed them the form and they were able to fill ELEVEN orders in no time with no confusion. I think if this burger place is smart they will make a form like this of their own and put it on their website... there are many office lunches and other times when people might want to do the same thing we just did.

I have checklist forms for the kids when they pack their suitcases and forms to send notes to the school office, along with many forms for running our business like procedures for wholesale orders of our products, etc. In fact, as a bonus for my readers, I have just put my "Note to School Form" on our free tips page for all of you to have! It's on our flagship Clutter Diet site where we have our online coaching program, and it's on the left side of the page when you go there, in a list of other handouts. It's a way to quickly communicate school absences, dental appointments, early pickups, etc. without reinventing the wheel every time.

I might add that another way to gain efficiency in your life and work is to make sure you know how to use the software applications you have. I have never regretted one minute I spent taking classes on how to use my word processing and spreadsheet software to intermediate and advanced levels. I can whip out tables and forms in record time and filter and sort things with ease.

What forms have you developed in your life to make things easier? Share in the comments!

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Sowing the Seeds of Organizing Success

At the Clutter Diet, we have a lot of fun with the weight loss metaphor—how the personal change involved in getting organized is very parallel to what it takes to lose weight.

Both endeavors are not an overnight process. Little choices and little changes add up to a lot… It’s choosing baked chips instead of fried; it’s eating just one cookie instead of two; it’s switching from sodas to sparkling water. It’s no different for organizing!

Lose those Clutter-Pounds from your home and your life by sowing these simple seeds of change, and before long, you too will reap the benefits of a streamlined environment:

• Don’t pass things by—pick them up now! So many times people step over something like a newspaper on the floor or a blanket that fell off the sofa. Make it second nature to handle those things as you see them.
• Think before you act—how can I consolidate my efforts? Before going up or down stairs, before running errands, before heading over to the office… always ask yourself how you can maximize that trip.
• Morning routine: Just “DEW” it. Have a morning routine to support the rest of your day. We recommend the “To DEW” List… Dishes, Eating, and Wash.  Empty the dishwasher, decide what’s for dinner, and take the laundry to the next step.
• Have an evening routine that supports you in the morning. We recommend the three S’s:  Start the dishwasher, Straighten up the house, and Set for tomorrow. Make it as easy as possible to leave the house on time by gathering up things you’ll need the next day.
• Stop yourself when you delay a decision. If you catch yourself saying, “I’ll put it here for now,” or “I will come back to that later,” STOP. Instead think about how you can finalize that decision now. Where will you put it? What is the next action?
• Unsubscribe to publications you’re not reading. We’ve worked with so many clients who took the daily newspaper subscription just because it was a good deal. In reality, they only have time to read it on the weekends and would be much happier with a weekend-only subscription. Is your reading material stacking up?
• Establish homes for the important things. Most people know where the milk is stored, and most people have an underwear drawer. Take this concept of having definite homes for your items and apply it to as much as possible in your environment.

Making change all at once is rarely as effective long-term. Take time to sow these small seeds of organization, and they will bear very rewarding and productive fruit as the years pass!

(This is abridged version of an article I wrote for Connections For Women-- read the full version here.)

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Broken Windows- There Goes the Neighborhood

Stay with me for a moment, because this really does relate to clutter! In sociology class in college I remember hearing about the "Broken Window theory," from the book Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities by George L. Kelling and Catherine Coles. (To my Kindle subscribers: sorry, that book's not available on Kindle) The idea is that crime can be reduced in urban areas by implementing a zero tolerance policy for declining indicators of a neighborhood, like broken windows, graffiti, and other vandalism. This policy was implemented in New York in the 80s--fixing windows, cleaning graffiti and litter-- and it resulted in significant crime reduction. This theory has since been disputed in books like Freakonomics, but let's explore the idea as it might apply to our own homes and workspaces.

If one window is broken and left unrepaired, it encourages vandals to break more windows. If more windows are broken, the building appears neglected. It's perceived as available for other criminal activity like drug dealing and squatting, and things quickly go downhill. If you fix the first broken window as soon as it appears, the building stays maintained and seems to be cared for and noticed. It discourages crime because there is the appearance of vigilance.

If there is litter on a sidewalk, the next person to come by thinks less of throwing his/her own litter down next to it. Do you see where I am going with this?

The idea of "zero tolerance" for clutter is probably not realistic in one's own home-- in fact, I talk to people all the time who are paralyzed by perfectionism and all-or-nothing thinking. But let's approach this idea of preventing clutter by maintaining something that is already really good. Don't let the first pile start, because it will soon beget another pile.

Something to think about this weekend. Is there "broken window" clutter in your house that needs to get addressed before other clutter starts to be tolerated around it? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Boxes Full of Air

One of the funniest things I see in offices is many linear feet of neatly lined-up rows of software boxes on shelves. Photoshop, QuickBooks, flight simulators, pretty much any and every kind of software and game. Open the boxes and they are often empty! Boxes full of air, taking up valuable storage space. Why is this? If you take just a minute to process the packaging materials when you buy your software you can prevent the "Boxes of Air Syndrome." Here are some guidelines:

There are really three kinds of software:

1. The kind that comes bundled with the computer when you buy it
2. CDs/other media in boxes that you purchase later and install yourself (the Boxes of Air)
3. The downloadable kind that you purchase later and install yourself

Bundled with your computer: You can keep all the software that comes with the computer together in a box, with all of the manuals and extra cords, etc. Sometimes the computer company sends a box with the new PC just for this purpose (Dell used to do this, at least). That way if the computer is sold or transferred, it's easier. Make sure the box is labeled clearly as to which PC it goes with, and put it on a shelf out of the way.

Purchased CDs in boxes: Do throw them out if you can. You have to be very careful that you do not throw away any license numbers or serial numbers, or any other important registration information! Always check the boxes before you throw them away, because occasionally there is a “box top” number that you might need. In that case I cut it off and put it with the other information. I keep the CDs in a CD wallet usually, or in a specialty CD box available at any office supply store. Occasionally I have filed CDs in folders in their paper filing system if that makes sense to the client. Sometimes it makes sense to write the serial number on the CD itself with a Sharpie.

For downloadable software: Whether downloaded or physical CDs, I like to make a spreadsheet to keep all software licensing information together. Columns are for name of the program, date purchased, URL, support info, license numbers, etc. Software is very expensive to replace, and it's worth it to take the time to write this stuff down immediately after purchase—especially software that you download, since you often need a special URL to go back and reinstall.

About books/manuals: The instructions are another story…I try to throw them out, after checking if they have licensing and/or tech support information on them first. The reason is that they are obsolete as soon as they are printed. Most often people never look at those again, and they just call tech support anyway. The same information (and more) is almost always available on the company's website and is much more recent than the books. You might want to look for a PDF of the manual on the company's support site and save it to your hard drive if you are concerned.

If you want to keep the books, which occasionally does make sense to do, I use magazine holders to put them upright on a bookshelf and label them “Software Manuals.” You do have to clean those out periodically when they get full.

I did a segment for News 8 Austin on this concept a while back-- click here to watch (scroll down to where it says "Watch The Video").

What are your favorite tips for organizing software? Share in the comments!

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National Organize Your Files Week- Yippee!

The third full week in April (next week, 4/19/09-4/25/09) is National Organize Your Files Week-- aren't you excited? How will you celebrate?

What do you mean, you're not celebrating?

Let's just get this out of the way-- Nobody really gets excited about paper. Even those of us who teach about managing paper and help others file things for a living really don't love it either. We just don't mind when it's someone else's paper. Our own papers are much less fun.

Why is that? Objectivity! If it's someone else's paperwork, you have no emotional attachments or guilt related to the decisions in the piles. You can breeze through them faster.

We talk about how all clutter ultimately is delayed decisions and actions. Paper is a very concentrated dose of this-- each pile of stacked thin sheets is compactly and efficiently holding potentially hundreds of delayed decisions and actions in a small 8.5 x 11" space.

When going through your own paperwork and mail, try to step back from it mentally and concentrate on these three questions to help you get through the piles faster:

1.  What is this? What does this paper want from me? I have had years of practice refining this skill... scanning the paper to quickly figure out the bottom line. You can learn this too! Look for the first question or sentence in the letter; anything that is bolded, underlined, highlighted, large, or red; and the last sentences in the letter. Look for catch words and phrases like "Pay by," "Due Date," "Return by," "Statement Enclosed," or any actual dates on the page. 

2.  Does this paper fall into the category of Action, Reference, or Trash? (Just remember A.R.T.) Once you've figured out what the paper is and what it wants from you, you can decide if you want to take action on it, keep it in your files, or shred/recycle it. If it requires action, keep it separated from the papers that you're simply keeping for reference. This is half the battle, my friends. Don't mix the two together.

3.  If this person or company knocked on my door or called me on the phone, would I spend time talking with them? For all of the catalogs and junk mail sales pitches directed your way, pretend that you are a super-busy executive who has time for only the things that matter most. Try to quickly bottom-line what they're selling and whether you are remotely interested, and don't fall for the trap of essentially "going out shopping" in the middle of the day by leisurely browsing through catalogs. Save the catalogs for a time when you really want to shop and put them together in a reading basket. Don't let them distract you from sorting all the way through the pile.

See if these questions will help you make the piles disappear more quickly! It leaves you more time to celebrate occasions like National Organize Your Files Week, which I plan to celebrate like author Katherine Mansfield, who said, "Tidied all my papers. Tore up and ruthlessly destroyed much. This is always a great satisfaction." Next post: dealing with the actual files already in your cabinet. Share your favorite paper tips in the comments!

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Digital Spring Cleaning

Along with your patio furniture, window screens, and seasonal clothing...your hard drive needs attention too! Larger portions of our lives are increasingly spent in the digital world and we've got to think about streamlining that information. A survey just done by Microsoft showed that 60% of us sometimes think our online lives are more disorganized than our physical lives!

I just agreed to work with Microsoft as a spokesperson representing their Windows Live suite of products, because I am really impressed with how they organize your information in such an integrated way! These offerings include Hotmail and Windows Live Photo Gallery, among many others. My favorite Live features are SkyDrive, a free 25GB of storage that you can use to store and share documents, and the "What's New" feed that allows you to see what all of your friends on Windows Live are doing in one place, whether they are updating to Twitter, Facebook, or any number of social media sites. It's amazing to think about having only one place to check for what's happening with your friends, your calendar, your e-mail, and even your internet favorites.

Here are some tips to help you organize your digital information: 

1. Declutter Your Desktop: Treat your desktop as you would the top of your actual desk and keep only active files and shortcuts there for convenience. Use your My Documents folders for more lasting storage. Clean off unnecessary shortcuts that clutter the screen. 
2. Get Your Files in Order: After you get your desktop sparklingly clean, take a look through your folders.  Can you consolidate?  Are there old files you can remove, or drafts that are no longer relevant? Remember, your time is valuable and storage space is plentiful, so archiving to a folder or external storage space is usually a better use of time than wading through lots of old documents. 
3. Time for Your Inbox to Drop a Few Pounds:  Do you really need those attachments in email? Save your large files to an online storage drive like Windows Live SkyDrive, which offers 25 GB of free storage.  Easily upload videos, photos and files, and share them with whomever you’d like – without overloading their inboxes. 
4. Take time to Back up Important Files: Granted it’s easy to get too busy to back up files, and it’s not something many of us take time to do. But your valuable photos and documents are irreplaceable. By saving them to an external hard drive, you’ll never worry about losing precious memories and information. (I also like online services for automated backup-- see previous post on this here.)
5. Calendar Coordination:  Who is supposed to drive carpool today? If the carpool schedule is on your refrigerator and you’re at work, it can be difficult to coordinate multiple schedules in multiple locations. Free online calendar services such as Windows Live Calendar allow you to easily share multiple calendars with family members and friends from anywhere.
6. Optimize Your Computer’s Performance:  For greater efficiency and avoiding the heartache of technical problems, remember to update and run important utilities like spyware and virus scans and defragment your hard drive periodically. 
7. Organize Your Email Contacts:  Do you spend more time searching than you spend sending?  Consolidate your contacts from multiple accounts and applications in one place with Windows Hotmail. You can also create email groups from your contact list for your book club or close set of friends so you can easily send email without wasting time digging for addresses. 
8. Email Overload: Practice the “A.R.T.” of e-mail reduction. Process your email inbox daily by immediately deciding whether the messages fall into the category of Action, Reference, or Trash.  File your mail in specific folders, like bills, travel, or entertainment, so you can easily find what you’re looking for.
9. Be Camera Ready: Make sure your digital camera is always ready for more pictures by uploading your images after each event. Free downloadable applications such as Windows Live Photo Gallery make it easy for you to find, fix and share photos immediately with friends and family. 
10. Organize Your Favorites:  Imagine finding and accessing your favorite web links from anywhere and sharing them easily with your friends! Organize your favorites in Internet Explorer and synchronize them with an online storage drive, and you can access them from any computer and keep them up to date as you find new things to remember and share online.

I just did a bunch of running of utilities, archiving, and other cleanup recently and also ended up buying additional RAM for my PC--wow, now my PC is really running fast! I love having everything running efficiently. For more information on Windows Live features, visit WindowsLive.com/explore. What are your favorite digital spring cleaning tasks and tips?  Share in the comments!

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Wide Open Spaces...

Someone in our Clutter Diet program just posted a suggestion for us to talk about "table clutter." We in the organizing biz refer to this as a problem with "undesignated space."

Let's say you have some kind of open, flat surface--it could be a countertop, a formal dining table that you never use much, a sideboard or credenza, or a ledge. We call it "undesignated space" because the flat surface does not have any kind of formal purpose. Since it has no designated, regular function of its own, it doesn't really need to get picked up and maintained because there is nothing else more important that needs to be done there. It invites you seductively to set something down "just for now," and when one object gets placed there, it seems like it's more acceptable to put another one there. Before you know it, the surface is covered.

What is it covered with? DELAYED DECISIONS & ACTIONS. These delays are the root of almost all clutter... things that you don't know what to do with or have not done. Here's what you need to do to fix this problem:

1. Catch yourself before putting something there out of habit. If you're thinking "just for now" or "let me just do (something else) first," you probably just created some new clutter.
2. Instead of looking at the items on the surface as things, think of them as delayed decisions and actions. Ask yourself what is the next action that needs to be taken with each object. It may be, "I need to decide where to put this in my house," or "I need to take that back to my sister's apartment," or "I need to put that in my recycling bin." Make the decision & take the action as soon as possible.
3. If there are themes and trends to the items you're placing on the surface, you probably need to establish a permanent home or station for those common objects. For example, we talk all the time about creating a "Destination Station" at the place where you enter & exit the home. Make a home for your keys, your purse, the kids' shoes, the phones & chargers... all of the things you know are going to keep coming in and out consistently.
4. Have a rule for yourself and your family about how often the space will get cleared. Your kitchen countertops probably need to get cleared daily, but you may have other surfaces that you allow to go for a week before calling in the troops. Your rule will be unique to your situation, but whatever it is, stick to it and deal with the items you find there.
5. Discuss this with all parties involved, get their perspectives on the situation, and make sure they understand what's expected of them. If kids are involved, well, you're going to have to be involved too. Think about how you can make it as easy as possible for them to put things away in the right places. Using wall hooks and open containers without lids, and thinking about height and proximity to the door are all important considerations for making it easier and more intuitive for them.

Another place where the "undesignated space" concept happens is those tempting little cubby systems that look like they are the answer to all of your organizing problems. On your desk or countertop it would be the perfect place to put those papers and get them out of the way, right? If you don't designate those cubbies with a purpose, they soon become a NEST of jumbled papers that make no sense. You can label them for Bills, Catalogs, Deposit Slips, or whatever categories make sense for your situation, and that will keep a structure to them that works well. Usually we set these up as bill paying stations when we work with clients.

What undesignated spaces do you have in YOUR house? Share in the comments!

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Rebel Without a Clock

People usually think I am a very regimented person because of my work and expertise. In reality, I am a big rebel... against rigid scheduling. I tend to feel better and function better when I have a prioritized list and an open block of time, rather than scheduling out every minute of the day. When I see a week that is blocked out with numerous little appointments all over it, I cringe and the rebel inside of me wants to chuck it all to the wind and run away! And yet, many friends tell me I am one of the most productive and self-disciplined people they know.

Are you shocked? I think there is a huge myth out there that you must exactly follow someone else's expertly engineered system to manage your time. What I have come to believe is that time management is very personal and unique, as unique as a fingerprint, and unless you follow a customized system that works for your brain and your personality, it will never stick for long. I also think people may need to change their time management systems periodically because they get bored or their circumstances are different. One size does NOT fit all.

There are many kinds of systems out there, from elaborate paper planners to conceptual methodologies to sleek electronic solutions. Whatever system or combination you choose, I believe it all comes down to these five essential components: (UPDATE: I ended up writing a series expanding on each of these bulleted points. Click here to read those posts.)

• CAPTURE: Find the best ways for you to capture information about appointments, ideas, and tasks securely so you can relieve the stress of trying to remember it all. I have several capturing tools: paper & pen, Jott service on my phone, e-mailing myself, having others e-mail me, and typing things directly into my computer.
• COMMIT: Make the decision to prioritize and take action on projects and tasks that are right for your goals, obligations, and objectives. For some people, committing to something means putting an appointment on the calendar to do it, and for others it means moving it to the top of a list or highlighting it on a page. A big part of this committing process is deciding what the next action is. Sometimes you don't commit to taking action, and an idea ends up just being captured somewhere for the future.
• CUE: Find the best ways to remind yourself of things you have committed to at the right time. I use my calendar for this and check it daily. I also use reminder alarms on Outlook & Blackberry. Members of our Clutter Diet program can use our customized e-mail reminder system to send themselves messages at any kind of repeating interval (weekly, every other day, every 3rd month, etc.).
• COMPLETE: You ultimately must take action for any of this to work! I think Socrates said it best when he said, "Know Thyself." If you understand what motivates you to take action, that is probably the biggest factor of all. Rewards are a great motivator, and sometimes fear and consequences are very effective too! For me, I work best with deadlines and accountability to others, and I think that is true for most people.
• CORRECT: Take time out to review what's working and not working for you and adjust to changing priorities. Pay attention to new solutions and methods so that you can assess and improve over time. Travel, job changes, and other life transitions can mean temporary adjustments to focus more or less on your scheduling rigidity. David Allen's "GTD" concept of the Weekly Review is a great example of making corrections on a weekly basis.

Certainly there are weeks that necessitate my planning things out to the minute even if the rebel inside me doesn't wanna do it. But finding multiple reliable solutions that work for your own unique personality will ensure that a system has the flexibility to keep up over time.

Share your thoughts and your favorite Capturing & Cueing tools in the comments!

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Honey, I Shrunk My Clutter!

I have experimented with SpaceBags® with mixed results. They are those big zippered bags that you use a vacuum cleaner hose with to suck all of the air out and shrink down your blankets or clothing for smaller storage. Sometimes they have worked great, and sometimes I have gotten one with a slow leak that makes it balloon-up larger over time causing a problem. Organizing pros that are friends of mine have also mixed opinions. It's a great idea, though...

Well, now there is another option! It's so new that only certain people in our industry even know about it-- some of us have been testing it in secret for a few months. Finally we can talk about it-- I am so excited!

It's called the "ShrinkSizer." It actually shrinks your stuff! A team of university physicists has actually figured out how to alter the molecular structure of physical items so that they take up less space, making them into a tiny version of themselves temporarily. When you're ready to "reconstitute" your items, you just change a setting on the device to reverse the process. In my testing of household applications, one of my favorite things to shrink is books, and I also have loved shrinking out-of-season clothing and large sports gear in the garage.

Of course, I am sure you can see the implications of this for any kind of shipping or storage, and many other uses! The smaller household version won't be widely available to the public until the fall, but FedEx and UPS are starting to experiment with it commercially starting next month with permission from their test customers. There will be an upcharge to shrink your shipments, but it will still be cheaper than shipping at the original weight and size. Our little household uses for this will pale in comparison to all of the creative ways it will be used in business. It's absolutely revolutionary! And it's also a great APRIL FOOLS JOKE. (Click here for last year's.)

Big cheesy grin,

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