The Clutter Diet Blog

The Day of Reckoning! How to Make Progress Fast

Many people are off for the holidays starting this week, and sometimes they are home looking around wishing they felt a little more relaxed in that environment. Here's a quick way to make some progress while everyone's around to help.

Periodically, we have around here what I refer to as a "Day of Reckoning." Things have been accumulating in various trouble spots around the house, in the common, shared areas, and I just throw it all together and tell everyone they have to sort their stuff out and put it away.

I get some extra laundry baskets and designate one for the boys and one for my husband, and anything I find of theirs, I put in their corresponding baskets. Then they have to clean it out and everything looks great again! Fast!

As you are doing the gathering and sorting for your Day of Reckoning, ask yourself these questions:

• Why is this particular type of item showing up repeatedly?
• Why is there a logjam or bottleneck in this certain area?
• What could I do to prevent this from happening again?

When you analyze this you may find that there are improvements you can make in your current systems-- a basket here, a hook there-- that would prevent repeating these same pile-ups. 

Make sure your family understands that they need to clean out their boxes or baskets BEFORE doing something they consider to be fun--there is a deadline! It probably won't take them that long-- in our house much of what ends up in those boxes or baskets is either trash or it has a home already where it can be put away. It usually takes about 15 minutes for them to deal with it.

Do be careful that these baskets or boxes don't just get stashed away instead!

This works well and quickly only if you have regular maintenance tasks that are getting done that keep things from getting too out of control. If you have no systems in place already, you'll need to do some deeper organizing projects before you can get to the point where a Day of Reckoning will be feasible. If you need some help with creating systems and doing that deeper level of focus, you can get unlimited support from our team of organizing experts in our online program! For just $4.95 for the first month (UPDATE July 2011: We now offer the FREE 7-Day Quickstart which includes seven days of focused guidance from me plus an additional 7 days of full access and support!), you can find out if we can help you and see what we're all about. Click here to read more about our program.

Will you be having a Day of Reckoning this week? What are your favorite quick decluttering methods? Share in the comments!

(NOTE:  I won't be posting on Friday as usual this week due to it being Christmas Eve. Enjoy yourselves! Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!)

Cheers,

Follow me on Twitter for my Daily #ClutterTweetTip: www.twitter.com/clutterdiet, and see our weekly #ClutterVideoTip on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/clutterdiet

If you are not reading this on www.clutterdietblog.com, in your own RSS reader, or via an Amazon Kindle subscription, this content most likely is being used without the author's permission and is violating copyright law. Please do not support these scraper sites!

Do You Have a "Destination Station" in Your Home?

Where do you enter and exit your home most often? That door should be near to what we call a "Destination Station." It's a place for your purse, your briefcase, your keys, your chargers, your sunglasses, and kids' backpacks and gear-- right where you need it most.

I want to show off another one of our brilliant members of our online program... she just shared this great before and after photo in our member message boards, which is of her Destination Station by the back door in her home. She was able to set this up using what she had, not purchasing new shelving or anything. (Click photo to enlarge)

Several things to note here:

1. She is awesome. (Congrats! You know who you are! :) We love working with you!)
2. Old before picture shows those shoe cubbies that DON'T work. They look like a good idea, but open shelving typically works better.
3. Lots of hooks. There are very high-quality removable adhesive hooks available now that work wonders and don't require complicated installation.
4. It requires regular maintenance. No, the kids will not put their shoes back in such a lovely way as this photograph shows. Of course! It's real life. She'll need to periodically clear out and straighten the shoes that end up there. Some of the big mistakes people make in their organizing projects are not considering maintenance during the process, and then not doing the maintenance tasks that are required to keep it up on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

In newer homes we are starting to see that builders are thinking about this concept, with "lockers" and nice beadboard cubbies with hooks. If you don't have the wonderful option of a built-in, you can buy "entryway" or "mudroom" furniture instead. Do a search for these terms on Google and you'll be surprised how many benches and cubbies are available. Even a normal bookshelf or table can make a big difference when dedicated to this purpose.

Here is a list of elements to consider for your Destination Station:

• Errand shelf: A place to put things to be returned to other places or people. Videos, library books, store return items, and borrowed things can go here and wait to be collected when you leave.
• Key hooks: Hang up hooks for your keys so you will have a home for them right when you walk in. Decorative accessory stores now sell these kinds of hooks that look really nice in your home and will match your personality. You can also use a beautiful pottery bowl or dish to hold your keys if that works better.
• Family baggage: Purses, backpacks, and briefcases all need a home here. Since you are doing this work, give yourself first pick at the best shelf.
• Cellular phones & pagers: Leave these here and charge them when you come in.
• Incoming & outgoing mail: It doesn't have to be here, but it is a consideration. A wastebasket is helpful here for this purpose.
• Equipment for regular lessons or practices: musical instruments, sports gear, or other items needed regularly.
• Small “purse refill” items: Gum, mints, tissues, lotions.
• Sunglasses: Now they have a home!
• Shoes and socks for kids: It is efficient to have these ready by the door to go out, as otherwise they get sent to their rooms to put on shoes and that can take much longer, especially for young children.
• Coats and scarves: If necessary and possible in your space.
• Bench for taking off/putting on shoes or boots

Do you have a Destination Station? Share in the comments! And if you need help figuring yours out, our service provides unlimited online access to our team of organizing experts for about the price of a pizza. Learn more about our program here, where we help people, like our brilliant member above, 7 days a week.

Follow me on Twitter for my Daily #ClutterTweetTip: www.twitter.com/clutterdiet, and see our weekly #ClutterVideoTip on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/clutterdiet

Don't Put It Off: Fight Procrastination NOW!

A couple of things to remind you of... first, before I put it off any longer, I wanted to let you know that tomorrow (Sept. 1) is "Fight Procrastination Day!" What dreaded task can you commit to doing? USA readers have a long weekend coming up for Labor Day-- here's my big question to you:

What could you accomplish with that extra time that would give you more energy and make you feel terrific for the rest of the month?

One suggestion for a great project is to bring your excess clothing and household items to Goodwill. Back-to-School is a fantastic time to go through your family's folded and hanging clothing, especially since you probably are buying the kids new school clothes. Your children will have outgrown quite a bit since you last went through this, and the items they don't need can provide someone else with meaningful work, job training, resume writing help, placement services, and other employment assistance.

Did you know that is Goodwill's entire mission-- to help put people to work? I am surprised how many people don't know this! As their national spokesperson I am hearing many people's comments and feedback, and I am shocked at how many people think Goodwill's services are limited to providing work in their own retail stores. Goodwill does everything from career counseling to assistance with transportation; from interview skills training to actual job placement within the community. Some Goodwill agencies even obtain large contracts for assembly work, landscaping, document imaging, and custodial services and actually make the jobs happen for those they serve.

If there's anything we need now more than ever, it's JOBS, and I am proud to help people understand that Goodwill contributes 84% of their collective revenues directly to support this mission! You can use our donation calculator at http://donate.goodwill.org to find out exactly what kind of impact your donation has on your community. For example, one sweater, 3 pairs of jeans, and a coat provides someone with an hour of on-the-job training services.

I also wanted to remind you that Family Circle magazine has a Back-to-School Clothing Drive going on right now through September 30th, 2010. Last year, they helped Goodwill collect 11 million pounds of clothing. (That's a lot of Clutter-Pounds® lost from people's homes, as our members know!) You can participate by bringing in your donations, or by setting up your own clothing drive in your neighborhood, school, or office. You can download a how-to guide here, and you can find a donation center near you here.

So, how about it, will you do something you've been dreading? Or at least clear some space in your house to help others in your community find work?  How will you celebrate "Fight Procrastination Day?" Share in the comments!

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

What Are Your "Back to School Resolutions?"

One of our Clutter Diet members posted this yesterday in our member message boards: 

"The new school year to me is like setting new year's resolutions."

Yes, it is! It's a fresh start, just like a brand new calendar year. What will you do differently?

Here are some suggestions of small things you can change that will make a huge difference in your school year and how organized you feel:

• Create a lunch-making station in your kitchen, with storage for lunch boxes, plastic bags, food containers, thermal containers, plasticware, and common lunch treats all within easy reach of the fridge and/or pantry. Think about how easy it would be to make a peanut butter sandwich in your kitchen and adjust accordingly.
• Start a habit of making lunches the night before. Better yet, have the young 'uns start packing their own. Give them some guidance on appropriate menus and combinations and keep your supplies stocked for them.
• Find out if your school has automated reminders that e-mail you when your child's lunch money account is below a certain dollar amount. (Ours does and I didn't know that until the end of last year!)
• Get up earlier. Get ahead of the rest of the family, get your workout done, get a shower, or just get some quiet time to yourself before the whole day's wild rumpus begins.
• Do your "Sunday Planning"-- just 10-15 minutes a week could change everything! We explain exactly how and what this entails in our free report, "30 Ways to Find Time to Get Organized", available here.
• Set up family policies for homework time, snack time, and how much screen time the kids can have on weekdays and weekends. Agree to these policies together along with the consequences for violating them, and even have the kids sign an official paper about it. Eliminate arguments and constant policing!
• Make an effort to organize a carpool arrangement with at least one other family. It saves everyone immense amounts of time and is good for the environment too.

What are your "Back to School Resolutions?" Share in the comments!

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

Bored with Disorganized Board Games?

We see a lot of homes with stacks of board game clutter... broken game boxes, pieces scattered around or missing, and other problems like mixed up money. I was just playing Monopoly this weekend with my kids and was inspired to tell you about some of the ways we organize board games...

Sometimes all you need to make things easier is a simple Sharpie® marker. This photo shows one of the little things that my family does.  In the Monopoly rules it tells how many of each denomination of money is required to set up for play (2-50s, 6-20s, 5-10s, etc.). So we just wrote that number in Sharpie marker on the banking compartments as shown here, so setting up is faster. 

When we have a game that uses a big box of cards, like trivia questions, we always mark one side of the box with a Sharpie marker to say "DRAW HERE." That way you don't get confused between games about which end of the box you're playing from.

When we are organizing for clients, we always have a roll of clear packing tape with us, and we use this often to repair crushed board game boxes. Resealable zipper bags are great also for keeping sets of pieces together-- the "snack size" are just perfect for tokens and little Life-game "children and spouse" pieces, etc. And the humble rubber band is always useful for holding together stacks of cards.  

What are your favorite board game fixes?  And favorite games? Ours are Apples-to-Apples, Balderdash, and Hoopla. Our Clutter Diet members can join in the discussion on our message boards. Enjoy!

(I hope you enjoyed this encore presentation of a previous post from a while back... I thought my newer readers would enjoy it while I am doing some extensive traveling. Thanks!)

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

Mo-o-o-om! What's my Password?

It's about that time of the summer... the novelty of being out of school has worn off, the kids might have returned from summer camp, and they are... (GASP)... BORED! If they are on the computer and logging in to their favorite (safe) websites to pass the time, they might be starting to grapple with the same problem that many adults have:  keeping track of all of those passwords. And you are probably helping them with this when you may not even have it figured out yourself!

My colleagues over at GetButtonedUp have shared with me this great printable kids' password tracker form. It's colorful and fun and I love the little bulldog face on there reminding us about security!  :)

You can download the password tracker form here at no cost (PDF).

GetButtonedUp has some great organizing products and content-- we carry a couple of their products in our online store, the best-selling one being the Life.doc binder. It's a great "family binder" as we recommend setting up in our membership program, but this one is already done for you. You just have to fill in your own information and, presto! It even comes with the forms on CD-ROM so you can type in the information instead of writing everything by hand.

If you want some tips on storing your own passwords, you can read more about that here in my previous post, "Organizing Your Passwords--Be Safe!" You can also use this product in our online store if you want to have a paper method instead of electronic-- the Internet Password Organizer®. It's a nondescript black notebook that sits unnoticed on a shelf, silently storing your important information from prying eyes. This is a great gift-- many of our customers buy multiple copies to share with family members. You can also use a simple A-Z index card file with a card for each account, if you like. 

How's your summer going? If YOU are bored, now you can organize your kids' passwords and your own too! Share your favorite password tips in the comments!

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

Summerize the House for Kids

It's summertime again, and that means for many of you, the kids are out of school and probably underfoot a little more than usual-- in a good way! It's wonderful to spend more time together as a family, but there are challenges that come with the togetherness, usually related to the common areas of the house where people share spaces. Here are some strategies to make things go more smoothly:

• First, clear the school paper clutter out as soon as possible. Doing this means the transition from school to summer is really complete! Get closure by recycling and shredding as needed, and be choosy about what artwork you keep. Have the kids participate in this process, especially with the artwork.
• If you swim frequently, establish a home for swimming gear like towels, pool toys, club membership cards, etc. that constantly come in and out of the door. Hanging up a row of pegs in the garage or near the back door often solves a lot of dropped towel problems. And in the bathroom, if you need extra towel racks to hang up towels and suits, you can use these clever Hinge-It racks that easily install behind the door.
• Anything that is happening frequently, whether it's baseball or just playing outside, needs to have an established system for handling the gear so it isn't a constant problem or mess. Look for the bottlenecks and logjams and focus on solving them now before they drive you crazy!
• Make it as easy as possible for children to serve themselves for snacks and drinks. Look at your kitchen from a kid point-of-view and make sure they can easily reach cups and bowls and healthful snacks. Use our drinking glass "parking space" method for corralling the extra cups, and remember that it's not too early for most children to learn to clean up, too. Even kindergartners can put a dirty dish in the dishwasher. Really!
• Have some regular routines for your children so they still get a feeling of consistency in their lives. Make some of the routines about running the home, like cleaning and organizing and doing chores, and make some of the routines fun, like a weekly "library day." Chores for the kids might include sweeping the porch, putting shoes and laundry away in their rooms, and emptying the dishwasher in the morning. We have a 26-page Household Systems & Routines workbook that is a bonus item included in our membership program, which helps you go through your home and decide about frequency and ownership of all of the tasks it takes to run everything. This workbook has suggested responsibilities for children in every section (and our members say the process has been GREAT for getting spouses to share more of the workload too!).
• Get a grip on the family room with an evening routine. Along with the other routines you'll create, make sure you specifically focus on the family room or game room. There will be more snack mess and game accessory/movie clutter than usual. Make it a policy to clean up from the day's activities before bedtime. You might also want to have a rule that all snacks go on trays-- helps reduce mess and make cleanup faster.
• If you're getting ready for an overnight summer camp, make sure you check out my previous post on Organizing Your Happy Campers for some great tips on the packing process.
• Overall, loosen your standards for the house and enjoy your kids. As I always say, it's not about being perfect! Good Enough is really good enough. Make exceptions frequently!  :)

Have a great summer, everyone!

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

Keeping It For The Kids

Last weekend I met someone who told me that she has enough stuff in her attic to furnish a 3-bedroom house, no exaggeration. She has been storing it for decades "for her kids." The items she saved were things that the children loved and enjoyed when they were growing up, including toys, sports equipment, and furniture.

Her kids are now in their 30s and 40s and have their own homes and families. I have seen this situation before, and I know with almost 100% certainty that the kids don't want 80% or more of this stuff. They may possibly want a few keepsake items, and a special bed or dresser may be a welcomed heirloom. But their busy lives make it difficult to even come and survey the stash, and if they live elsewhere, the difficulty is magnified.

This person is convinced that her adult children should be delighted to have these treasures and that they should be grateful that she kept them all these years on their behalf. Here are a few gentle reminders that I provided:

• These items in the attic are just "stuff," and what gives you an emotional reaction is the memories associated with the stuff. Someone else just sees an old boot or a stained cookbook. Focus on the memories above the objects.
• Accept that your adult children may be completely uninterested, and further accept that they might not want to keep anything you feel is worthy, or anything at all.
• Remember that stuff can be a burden. Your intentions may be truly good, but you might be actually having a negative effect. You might even be imposing a financial hardship given shipping and storage that could be required if they live elsewhere or if they are moving soon.
• Respect your children's wishes. Don't jeopardize your current relationships with them by pressuring them with things from the past. People outrank stuff!
• Find a way to preserve the memory without keeping the whole object. Take a photo of the item, maybe even including within the shot the people involved with that memory. Clip a swatch from significant fabrics to frame, or arrange small objects in a shadowbox.
• Use the earnings from selling the objects as a donation to a meaningful charity, or contribute to a college fund for your grandchildren. You could also use the money to pay for converting memorabilia from old formats to new (super 8 to DVD, slides to digital photos, etc.). Memorabilia conversion often emerges as a project when you dismantle large storage areas.
• Make meaningful gifts by framing some of the items to make it easy for your children to enjoy and use them in their homes. What is better: shoving a bag full of wadded-up handmade doilies at them, or handing them a holiday gift of one of the best pressed doilies in a frame?
• Ask family members other than your children if they might like some family keepsakes. You can e-mail photos to them to get a faster answer.
• Donate as much as you can, and don't get fixated on finding the "PERFECT" home for each item. Giving to a general nonprofit organization like Goodwill means that several people in your own community can benefit from your donated objects-- the buyers of the items and subsequently the people that receive job training and placement from the proceeds.
• Whatever you do, please take care of distributing the stored stuff before your children have to do it for you. In that situation your memories are not available to provide context, and your children will be burdened with sorting it and disposing it without that information.

Handling family heirlooms and keepsakes can be an emotional mine field. I hope these guidelines will help you and your family. What have you experienced that helped in these situations? Share in the comments!

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

Messy Kids & Spouse? Help is On the Way!

Exciting news! Many of our Clutter Diet® members talk with us about how their families ruin their organizing efforts. I just read that there is a new pharmaceutical option that will likely be available in April 2011-- yes, you heard that right, a drug! The name is Assistrin®, and you'll soon be able to get at least a few hours a day of cooperation and help.

Taking Assistrin® will provide children 3-4 hours per day in which they will more easily notice work that needs to be done and will cheerfully take care of whatever is age-appropriate for them to do. In adults, the drug also brings out the ability to direct the activities of others, so if your spouse takes his or her dose at the same time as others in the family, he or she can help direct the rest of the family's efforts. (Unfortunately you'll need to choose whether school, work, or home is the best place to get that 3-4 hours of cooperation-- maybe they will be able to extend the effectiveness in the future with time-release dosing methods.)

It looks like it will be about a year before this fabulous drug hits the market, so we'll be starting a countdown! It looks like the target date is... April Fools Day...

APRIL FOOLS.  Keep dreaming!  :)

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

The Biggest Problem in My House

I have two teenage sons, ages 14 and 16. They are wonderful kids, they never get into any serious trouble, and they have nice friends. The problem is the Technology Tether. The kids are upstairs, we are downstairs... They are on the X-Box or the computer at every available opportunity. I carry the torch for "more quality time" and "less screen time" to the point that I am becoming a predictable caricature of myself. This has been going on for years and is sincerely the single biggest problem we have in our home, bar none. It causes arguments, resentment, distance, and other problems, not to mention that it's unhealthy for developing minds.

My colleague Peter Walsh was on Oprah yesterday with his "STRIPPED DOWN" approach to helping a family get unplugged and reconnected. It's so wonderful that people are talking about this problem! I know we are not the only ones-- and I know that it could be much worse.

Peter provided organizational help like closets and laundry systems, along with putting all of their technology in a "vault" for a week until they re-discovered what it was like to be a family and have quality communication and time together again. Organizing is definitely a piece of the puzzle, because clutter causes stress in the home too.

Along with managing our own time and activities, we have to help kids learn to manage their own. Over the years we have tried various things with our technology issues... one of the better successes we've had is the Time Scout device. It's a card reader device that controls the power to your electronic equipment-- in our case, video game consoles. Each child has a card that they swipe to start the power flowing, and it shows them how much time they have remaining to play. It gives them a warning beep to give them time to save their game, then it shuts it all down. Ahhh! I talked with the Time Scout people, and they are going to give you guys 10% off if you use the coupon code "clutterdiet" in their shopping cart.

Another product we've enjoyed using is Enuff, a software application that limits computer time. Each child has his own login, and you can set up different settings for different kids, evenings vs. days, weekends vs. weekdays, specific programs to use or not, etc.  I think they have thought of everything! And it's tamper-proof if you have tech-savvy kids, too.

Even with tools like these, it's still a constant battle and a "policing" type of feeling. Gaming is an addictive behavior...and they are actually not even into texting (yet?)! We do have family dinners, which is one of the best ways to help everyone feel more connected (that is why planning your menus is so important, so you can make that happen!). What is your experience with this issue? Share in the comments!

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