Those are some very powerful words. When you get milk out of the refrigerator, you put it back, right? Yes, because that’s where it belongs. When you put clean dishes away, you don’t just stack them on the countertops, or do you? So, when you get something out of your closet or a drawer, it follows that you can return it there when you are finished with it. If you just put it down, eventually you’ll have to put it away so why torture yourself with a big pile later and take the 10 seconds now to put it away.
Next time you find yourself vacillating between putting it down or putting it away, time yourself as to how long it really takes to put it away and you will be surprised. Would you rather take a few seconds now or face piles and piles later on when you have to spend a valuable Saturday afternoon cleaning up after yourself? I know this makes you procrastinators cringe, but if you can change your habits in small ways, it can improve your daily life in big ways! Think of it as 10 seconds now or two hours later. It’s your choice!
Jan Davis
ClutterBye
www.ClutterBye.com
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
I'm Not Perfect
As a Professional Organizer, people often ask me if my place is perfectly organized. I’m going to publicly out myself and admit that it’s not.
I look at being organized as a way to find things, not a way to hide things inside matching baskets just so they look nice on shelves. When you have 10 matching baskets without labels on them, how can anyone find anything or put something back?
I’m more practical than that and certainly can understand when clients want to just achieve a level of organizing where they can find things and not necessarily make it beautiful. A good example is files. Typed filing labels look the best but if you’re not the type of person to type labels, then why bother? If it’s more work than you’re willing to do, then you’re probably not going to do it so hand write your labels. It’s better to just do it than to avoid doing it for lack of perfection.
I have a very dear client who is afflicted with perfectionism and the poor woman cannot complete many things that she starts because she doesn’t have the time or energy to make them perfect. Just getting something done is more important (in most cases) than getting it perfect.
Organizing is an ongoing, never ending project. You don’t do it then it stays that way forever. Organizing is about having like items together so you can find things and know what you already have so you don’t buy more! It doesn’t have to be about living in a perfectly straightened up environment all the time. That’s called being neat.
I look at being organized as a way to find things, not a way to hide things inside matching baskets just so they look nice on shelves. When you have 10 matching baskets without labels on them, how can anyone find anything or put something back?
I’m more practical than that and certainly can understand when clients want to just achieve a level of organizing where they can find things and not necessarily make it beautiful. A good example is files. Typed filing labels look the best but if you’re not the type of person to type labels, then why bother? If it’s more work than you’re willing to do, then you’re probably not going to do it so hand write your labels. It’s better to just do it than to avoid doing it for lack of perfection.
I have a very dear client who is afflicted with perfectionism and the poor woman cannot complete many things that she starts because she doesn’t have the time or energy to make them perfect. Just getting something done is more important (in most cases) than getting it perfect.
Organizing is an ongoing, never ending project. You don’t do it then it stays that way forever. Organizing is about having like items together so you can find things and know what you already have so you don’t buy more! It doesn’t have to be about living in a perfectly straightened up environment all the time. That’s called being neat.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Are You Like Angel Hair Pasta?
Spreading yourself too thin. I see it all the time from the busy, successful people that I work with. You’re smart, talented people with big hearts and you try to do too much! When you do too much, you don’t leave any time for yourself which results in not weeding out your own garden of stuff!
I recently started working with a client who is retired but volunteers for so many activities that she hasn’t had time for herself. She has the potential to be an organized, clutter free person but she’s so involved with helping others, that her personal life has suffered. She has a very active social life, volunteer activities, grandchildren, husband, the whole nine yards but no time for tune ups of her office, den, or other places that she spends her time. Once I identified this for her, she realized it was time to step down from one or two of her major responsibilities, let someone else take it on, and spend more time on herself.
I saw her today for our second appointment and I was pleased and impressed to learn that she had given her “notice” to one volunteer activity and was considering a second. She was relieved and excited at the possibilities that will bring and her new found time. She even wants to pursue a new interest that will involve less time but be more personally fulfilling. She had already cleaned out years of recipe accumulation, books, articles, and things she just didn’t need anymore just since our first appointment and she was energized! Just knowing that she could pass on the accumulation of years on one committee was liberating in itself!
So, before you say yes to that next committee, consider what else you have going on in your life and allow time for some weeding of your own.
Jan Davis
ClutterBye
www.ClutterBye.com
I recently started working with a client who is retired but volunteers for so many activities that she hasn’t had time for herself. She has the potential to be an organized, clutter free person but she’s so involved with helping others, that her personal life has suffered. She has a very active social life, volunteer activities, grandchildren, husband, the whole nine yards but no time for tune ups of her office, den, or other places that she spends her time. Once I identified this for her, she realized it was time to step down from one or two of her major responsibilities, let someone else take it on, and spend more time on herself.
I saw her today for our second appointment and I was pleased and impressed to learn that she had given her “notice” to one volunteer activity and was considering a second. She was relieved and excited at the possibilities that will bring and her new found time. She even wants to pursue a new interest that will involve less time but be more personally fulfilling. She had already cleaned out years of recipe accumulation, books, articles, and things she just didn’t need anymore just since our first appointment and she was energized! Just knowing that she could pass on the accumulation of years on one committee was liberating in itself!
So, before you say yes to that next committee, consider what else you have going on in your life and allow time for some weeding of your own.
Jan Davis
ClutterBye
www.ClutterBye.com
The Drawers of My Dreams
It’s Memorial Day weekend and I’m taking a whole three days off (WhooHoo) but one of the things on my To Do List is to clean out the drawers in my bedroom. That might take me about an hour so I certainly can take an hour to create the drawers of my dreams! One of the cool things about clearing clutter and getting more organized is that the more you do it, the more you can do! It’s not a one time event but an ongoing process that you get better and better at once you develop the good habits. It’s like cleaning. You can clean but eventually you’ll have to clean again, right?
I love poking through my old stuff every so often and deciding that I don’t need this “thing” anymore. It’s almost like a measuring stick of my life’s progress. I look at it with a fresh eye and suddenly realize that I don’t “need” this thing anymore and I can let go of it. For example, I bought a box of those funny little “40” confetti that you throw in cards or on a table for someone’s 40th birthday. No matter how many 40th birthdays have passed since then, I never remember to use them so this weekend, out they go. It’s a small box but I don’t need it anymore so I can let it go so that something I DO use can take its place.
I’m excited about cleaning out my drawers but then I’m an organizer so that’s what floats my boat!
Jan Davis
ClutterBye
www.ClutterBye.com
I love poking through my old stuff every so often and deciding that I don’t need this “thing” anymore. It’s almost like a measuring stick of my life’s progress. I look at it with a fresh eye and suddenly realize that I don’t “need” this thing anymore and I can let go of it. For example, I bought a box of those funny little “40” confetti that you throw in cards or on a table for someone’s 40th birthday. No matter how many 40th birthdays have passed since then, I never remember to use them so this weekend, out they go. It’s a small box but I don’t need it anymore so I can let it go so that something I DO use can take its place.
I’m excited about cleaning out my drawers but then I’m an organizer so that’s what floats my boat!
Jan Davis
ClutterBye
www.ClutterBye.com
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Business Cards - They Mate
I've been suspicious of it for a while now, but I think that business cards mate when you're not keeping up on them. They get bored just laying in a drawer, in a pile, not being used, never referenced. You have to clean them out once in a while or they will overrun your desk!
You have good intentions when you collect them. "Oh, she seems so nice, I love this bakery, he was helpful, I want to try this handyman sometime", you know the reasons. It really gets out of control if you are a networker and go to lots of functions. You honestly believe at the time that you'll get back in touch with the financial advisor you met and liked or that you may want to recommend the closet designer that was there. Like all of us, you have good intentions but they're just pieces of paper unless you actually do something with them.
There are a few ways you can go. Buy a binder and a pack of dividers. Label your dividers with the major categories of cards such as Health, Home Resources, Restaurants, Friends or whatever pertains to your life. Behind each divider, put a few plastic pages of business card holders. You can also get the slim brochure size holders but then there is no categorizing them so I use different holders for different reasons. I have one that is just people that are in my business networking group or people that I have met through it. I have another that is just resources that I use such as handymen, painters, accountants, and other kinds of people that I recommend to my clients. I keep both of those in my car.
Then in my office, I have one that's full of industry specific cards that are only meaningful to me and another of duplicate cards of what I keep in the car. And YES, I clean them all out every few months. It only takes about 30 minutes to clean out all four and it's worth the time. I still have cards from 4 to 5 years also that I've never used but still want. Others I can't remember or don't care so I toss them.
The secret is to write on the front of the card when and how you met this person. "Antique show 2004" is good enough, that way when you're cleaning them out, you'll know why you even have the card.
I see people with hundreds and hundreds of cards in piles with no rhyme or reason to them. Do you think they would ever go through all those looking for someone in particular? What's the point in keeping them if they aren't even useful? Make them useful by tending to them and using them. That's what they're for!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
You have good intentions when you collect them. "Oh, she seems so nice, I love this bakery, he was helpful, I want to try this handyman sometime", you know the reasons. It really gets out of control if you are a networker and go to lots of functions. You honestly believe at the time that you'll get back in touch with the financial advisor you met and liked or that you may want to recommend the closet designer that was there. Like all of us, you have good intentions but they're just pieces of paper unless you actually do something with them.
There are a few ways you can go. Buy a binder and a pack of dividers. Label your dividers with the major categories of cards such as Health, Home Resources, Restaurants, Friends or whatever pertains to your life. Behind each divider, put a few plastic pages of business card holders. You can also get the slim brochure size holders but then there is no categorizing them so I use different holders for different reasons. I have one that is just people that are in my business networking group or people that I have met through it. I have another that is just resources that I use such as handymen, painters, accountants, and other kinds of people that I recommend to my clients. I keep both of those in my car.
Then in my office, I have one that's full of industry specific cards that are only meaningful to me and another of duplicate cards of what I keep in the car. And YES, I clean them all out every few months. It only takes about 30 minutes to clean out all four and it's worth the time. I still have cards from 4 to 5 years also that I've never used but still want. Others I can't remember or don't care so I toss them.
The secret is to write on the front of the card when and how you met this person. "Antique show 2004" is good enough, that way when you're cleaning them out, you'll know why you even have the card.
I see people with hundreds and hundreds of cards in piles with no rhyme or reason to them. Do you think they would ever go through all those looking for someone in particular? What's the point in keeping them if they aren't even useful? Make them useful by tending to them and using them. That's what they're for!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Let’s Lighten Up a Bit
Whew, all this serious talk about hoarders. Let’s talk about lightening up. If your telephone breaks, do you take it to the telephone repair place? No? Do you buy a new one? Please tell me that you dispose of your broken telephone.
We shall use the telephone as a metaphor for all the things you buy. I can’t tell you how many times I see boxes of old telephones that don’t work any more. Picture this. Your telephone breaks so you go to the box of old telephones to find a replacement. That’s not what you do? What, you go to the store or online and buy a new phone? Why do you do that when you have a whole box of phones in the fill in the blank area? Storage, garage, under your bed, wherever. So, if you’re not using those telephones and wouldn’t consider resurrecting one, why are you keeping them?
Ooooohhh, EBay has taught you to keep everything because it might be worth something someday. Your next door neighbor sold a couple of phones from the 60s for $25 each! Wow, that’s pretty cool. I wonder what it cost him to store those phones and then advertise them just to make $50. He probably paid $25 for them back in the 60s anyway.
Like I said, the telephone is just an example of tons of things that you could be holding on to that just aren’t worth the space. Lighten up and let in things that are truly meaningful and valuable to you at this time unless you have unlimited, free storage space.
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
We shall use the telephone as a metaphor for all the things you buy. I can’t tell you how many times I see boxes of old telephones that don’t work any more. Picture this. Your telephone breaks so you go to the box of old telephones to find a replacement. That’s not what you do? What, you go to the store or online and buy a new phone? Why do you do that when you have a whole box of phones in the fill in the blank area? Storage, garage, under your bed, wherever. So, if you’re not using those telephones and wouldn’t consider resurrecting one, why are you keeping them?
Ooooohhh, EBay has taught you to keep everything because it might be worth something someday. Your next door neighbor sold a couple of phones from the 60s for $25 each! Wow, that’s pretty cool. I wonder what it cost him to store those phones and then advertise them just to make $50. He probably paid $25 for them back in the 60s anyway.
Like I said, the telephone is just an example of tons of things that you could be holding on to that just aren’t worth the space. Lighten up and let in things that are truly meaningful and valuable to you at this time unless you have unlimited, free storage space.
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
Monday, December 22, 2008
Do You Know a Hoarder?
Most people do. Could be a family member or a friend. Just like an alcoholic, you can’t help them until they’re ready for help. They have to be the one asking for help and it may even be an eviction situation.
Hoarding can be debilitating to the person with the problem but especially to their loved ones. It’s frustrating enough to know a hoarder but to live with one can be devastating. I’ve seen couples break up over it and I’ve seen hoarders that can’t have relationships and friendships due to the insurmountable piles that they can’t control. To put it in a nutshell, a hoarder can’t distinguish trash from treasures. Everything is usable, collectable, and might be used someday. Some people pull things out of the trash, others buy too much without a clue as to how they will use it.
A collection is usually nicely displayed, taken care of, added to thoughtfully, and in an honored place for friends to admire and enjoy. A hoarder’s collection will be so huge and overwhelming that it can’t be displayed, they really don’t even know what they have, and there’s not much joy in it. There’s a difference between collecting and amassing.
We’ll talk more about hoarding later.
For more information on hoarding visit: http://www.ocfoundation.org/1005/index.html
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
Hoarding can be debilitating to the person with the problem but especially to their loved ones. It’s frustrating enough to know a hoarder but to live with one can be devastating. I’ve seen couples break up over it and I’ve seen hoarders that can’t have relationships and friendships due to the insurmountable piles that they can’t control. To put it in a nutshell, a hoarder can’t distinguish trash from treasures. Everything is usable, collectable, and might be used someday. Some people pull things out of the trash, others buy too much without a clue as to how they will use it.
A collection is usually nicely displayed, taken care of, added to thoughtfully, and in an honored place for friends to admire and enjoy. A hoarder’s collection will be so huge and overwhelming that it can’t be displayed, they really don’t even know what they have, and there’s not much joy in it. There’s a difference between collecting and amassing.
We’ll talk more about hoarding later.
For more information on hoarding visit: http://www.ocfoundation.org/1005/index.html
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
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