Your Life. Organized.

New Year, New Opportunities!

We're at the bottom of the calendar and it's the time of year when some people choose to reflect on the past year, while others look to the year ahead. I like to do both. I reflect on what I could have done better, and sometimes I need to remind myself to acknowledge my accomplishments too. It's often easier to see what wasn't right than what was, isn't it? I'm always working on that and I invite you to, also!

What great things did you create in 2010? What insights did you gain? What new experiences taught you something? And how will you use them to make 2011 even better? I can't wait to hear!

Happy New Year!

 

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Quote of the Week: Moments

"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."

Henry Drummond
1851-1897, Scientist and Author

 

 

 

 

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Merry Christmas!

Christmas Boy and I would like to wish my readers a wonderful Christmas spent with those you love!

 

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Cleaning Has Come Full Circle

Earlier this year at the International Housewares Show I had an opportunity to speak with Heather Tomasetti, of Full Circle, as she demonstrated their new product, the Come Clean Natural Cleaning Set. It's a cool little system that allows you to make your own cleaning products from inexpensive ingredients that you already have around the house. In this demonstration, Heather showed me how to use the product to easily make an all-purpose cleaning solution out of white vinegar, water and a fresh lemon. The set also comes with a recipe booklet, explaining how to concoct recipes for cleaning all kinds of things around your house, saving you a ton of money that you'd otherwise spend on a bunch of different cleaning products. You can see the demo video below.

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Quote of the Week: Your Future

"To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny."

Alan Cohen

 

 

 

 

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4 Steps To Organize Any Space

It seems every organizing expert has their own acronym for some super-awesome process and hey why would I be different? My acronym is ATOM and good ol' Atom allows you to organize pretty much any space using four simple steps. This week Vicky, Jen and I discuss the simplicity of the ATOM process.

 

Step One: Assess (and sort)
Figure out what you want the space to DO for you, and then ASSESS the items that are presently in the space to determine which items support the mission of the space and should stay there, versus which items need to be moved out.

Step Two: Toss
Once you assess the items in the space and figure out what stays and what goes, your next step is TOSS -- remove the items you no longer want or need. There are so many ways to move items out of a space: trash, recycle, donate, sell or shred. Whichever way you send your stuff, do it quickly. Don't get stuck trying to make sure every item goes to the exact perfect home -- just drop it off at Goodwill or have the Salvation Army come pick it up.

Step Three: Organize
Once you know the mission of the space and you've moved out the items that don't support the mission of the space, it's time to ORGANIZE what remains. You'll want to put simple systems in place to store the items in the space and make sure they're easily accessible when you need them. This will require some thought, some tools and products, and a plan to implement your solutions.

Step Four: Maintain
You must MAINTAIN your space and maintenance is your best friend. I know you might be disappointed that you can't just organize a space and be done with it forever. Well, you CAN if you rope off the entrance and never step foot in there again. Since that's not likely, maintenance is your key to long term success. Don't you brush your teeth every day (twice!), do your dishes every day, and vaccum your house more than once in your life? Life is a series of ongoing maintenance tasks. The simpler your organizational systems are to use, the easier your maintenance will be.

Listen to the new podcast with me, Vicky and Jen to find out more about each of these steps. You'll also learn way more about Jen's basement, laundry, and the things Vicky struggles with letting go.

What do you have a hard time letting go?

 

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Quote of the Week: The Thoughts You Entertain

"If we are not responsible for the thoughts that pass our doors, we are at least responsible for those we admit and entertain."

Charles Newcomb
Screenwriter/Director

 

 

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Tipping The Power Balance

Remember when we were kids we used to say to other kids and especialy siblings, "You're not the boss of me!" It's hilarious. Somehow every American kid is born knowing that phrase! And it's true. Other kids weren't the boss of you.

Now that you're an adult, YOU are the boss of you -- and that means you're the boss of all your stuff, too. So who's winning? You or your stuff? Who has the upper hand? My friend, if it isn't you, that's a sad state of affairs. When stuff begins to overtake your space, affect your sanity and quality of life, and impede your happiness, it's a wake up call for you to act. 

Say what you will... it's because you're busy, you had a baby, you changed jobs, you got married, you got divorced, you moved, whatever your excuse, the truth is that stuff is overtaking your life because you're letting it. You have failed to assert your power over it, so it accumulates and begins to smother you.

Here are a few tips to help you tip the balance of power back in your favor:

1. Pay Attention: Your home is essentially a container and just like any container, when you add things to it without taking anything out, it fills. Quickly. If you pay attention to the number of THINGS you and your family bring into your home every day, and simply reduce that number, you're nipping the clutter problem in the bud, so to speak. If you don't bring it inside in the first place, you never have to take them OUT again.

Leave junk mail outside in the garbage, opt out of credit card offers, don't accept donations from well-meaning friends unless you REALLY need the item, resist "free stuff" at the mall, and create a simple system for processing mail & school papers daily.

2. Shop Consciously: Buying is one of the chief causes of clutter build-up in your home. If you find yourself shopping for fun, to relieve boredom, or to make yourself feel better, I ask  you to stop and consider what it's doing to your home. You might get a fleeting, temporary "feel good" from a new purchase, but the feeling goes away when you get home and find that you have little or no space for anything new. Stay away from the store unless you are going with a list to buy things you really NEED, and never shop when you're feeling sad or angry.

3. Customize Your Storage Spaces: Closets, cabinets and other storage spaces are essential for keeping your life in order. If your storage spaces are too small or just aren't working for you, consider changing them to make them as effective as they can be. Add shelving to existing closets, use lazy susans inside kitchen and bathroom cabinets, apply hooks to walls and inside cabinet doors to add storage capacity, and add overdoor shoe bags to hold small items in bathrooms, basements and garages.

These three simple changes will help putYOU back in the driver's seat when it comes to taking your power back from clutter and loving your home again!

 

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Quote of the Week: Infamy

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was surprise attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the morning of December 7, 1941, and the resulting declaration of war on Japan by the United States signaled the states' official entry into World War II.

That December morning, the United States lost over 2400 Navy personnel and nearly 1300 more were wounded. Today, I hope you will take a moment to remember the great loss sustained that day, and honor the men and women who gave their lives. 

Click on the clip to listen to the stirring audio of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech to the American people and declaration of war upon Japan.

 

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Are You Just Like The TSA?

New TSA and Department of Homeland Security "airport safety measures," which include using backscatter X-ray scanners, terahertz wave scanners, and very thorough pat-downs, are causing quite an uproar. I find it interesting that these incredibly invasive policies are being implemented ostensibly to thwart another terror attack on an airplane, yet the number of terror attempts on American planes since 9/11 has been approximately 30 -- miniscule in relation to the literally millions of flights that have taken off and landed safely in the U.S. since then.

Not that we shouldn't be worried about terrorists on planes. Of course we should. But subjecting every man, woman and child (do NOT get me started on the pat-downs of children!) to a personally invasive, humilating security check before being permitted on a plane is clearly what corporate America calls managing to the exception.

Simply put, managing to the exception is something big companies and governments do all the time when they create policies based on the smallest possible negative consequence. This often results in other larger unintended consequences.

Managing to the exception is a failure of leadership that we've all seen before. It's the boss who eliminates Casual Fridays because one person came in dressed way too casually and other people MIGHT do it too. It's the restaurant chain that eliminates their frequent customer rewards program because a handful of unscrupulous people were "working the system" to get free food and others MIGHT do it too. You get the idea.

Clearly, the new TSA policies are a supreme example of managing to the exception. Are you like the TSA in your own life? Would you love to simplify your life, your home, or your office, yet you can't seem to let go of a lot of your STUFF because you're managing to the exception?

You'd like to toss all that paper, but you MIGHT want that information again. You'd donate that gold suede jacket you haven't worn in four years -- but gosh, you MIGHT need it. You'd love to sell that Casio keyboard that's gathering dust, but holy cow, your church worship band MIGHT need a fill-in performer one Sunday in the next several years!

When you allow what would clearly be THE EXCEPTION to dictate your day-to-day decision making, you're just like TSA using naked scanning and feeling up passengers based on the truly MINISCULE chance that they MIGHT have a stick of dynamite stowed away in a bodily orifice.

The land of MIGHT is no place to hang out, my friend. MIGHT keeps you stuck. MIGHT paralyzes you and prohibits action. And worst of all, MIGHT ensures that you stay focused on the exception rather than what's possible in your life.

 

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