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It's time to hit it again! Since we are moving cross-country this month and had to get estimates from three different moving companies, I saw things in our living space with a refreshed eye. As I decide, "That stays, this goes, and this goes," I see again that there is a lot more 'going' than I really want, and it reminds me once again that I have not quite finished all those decluttering projects I added to the reorganizing list when we first moved in seven months ago.
But no worries; it's never too late to start again! In fact every day and any given moment is a fresh start. So here is today's list of tips for how to tackle just one small project at a time:
1) First, pull out only one bin, box, or tote of memorabilia containing pictures of the kids' school or sporting events, family vacations, etc. that you've "been meaning to sort".
2) Take it to the computer next to your scanner to set up a sorting and digitizing station.
3) Break it down into a smaller, bite-size increment. For example, I have an envelope full of Christmas cards and letters. Perhaps you have a shoebox full of mementoes from your family camping trip? Take just one group or set of things right on top and make the decision to start with that.
4) Do yourself a favor and set a timer! Maybe it's only for 15 minutes or ‘until that envelope or shoe box is empty’ if you have that much time. This is imperative if you have a tight schedule or, especially, if you have all day yet are prone to procrastinate or distractedly flit from one project to another like I tend to do. Decide how much time you are willing or able to devote right now and commit to that without letting distractions get in the way.
5) Promise yourself that you will handle each item only once today. The key is to save yourself time and not do double-duty. I pulled the shredder over next to my work area so that I have an instant disposal area as I work. That way I don't have to keep getting up and down to walk to the paper recycle bin, and I won't have to spend additional time afterwards to pick up scattered piles of trash.
6) Next, as you look at that first item, ask yourself these three questions:
Is this a clear and easily identifiable photo? If it isn't, discard it immediately!
Do I even still care about or remember this place, event, or the people in it? Hint: If you cannot remember the details, then it probably isn’t that significant or worth keeping. Chances are really good that no one else will want it either when you aren’t around later to gush over it and explain what it means to you.
If I were to throw it in the trash, will this invalidate or destroy the memories I hold? If yes, then slap it on the scanner and save it right away.
7) Now take one additional minute to document the event by ‘renaming’ it in your software - the date, who was there, and what you remember as significant enough that you wanted it to begin with.
For the really self-proclaiming hyper-organized: if you want, go ahead and sort it into your electronic folder grouping. I'm working with a deadline right now, so my current focus is to get rid of more things. I will skip this part for now; leaving it to do some evening while I'm sitting on the sofa and catching up on my favorite DVRd shows.
8) Here's the really hard part for some people: after you have scanned, saved, and documented it, put it in the shredder if it has private information or in the trash can sitting next to you. Yes, throw it away!
The only exception to discarding things is if it is truly an heirloom piece – i.e. historical family documents, important paperwork that is cumbersome to replace, etc. If this is the case, take a moment to create a generic paper file folder labeled something like “Important Docs” or “To be Handled” and pop it in there for now. Also, if identifying details about it come to you right away, write them on a Post-it note or on the back of the photo (preferably with photo-safe ink or pencil) while it is fresh in your mind. Tuck that into the “Later” folder.
Assurance: It really is okay to finally let go of this stuff! If you have an electronic back-up system in place, then it will still be there when you want to make that paper copy for your future scrapbook.
Reality Check: If you are having difficulty with the fantasy that your children might want this later or that you think you will take time to put this stuff into a scrapbook or photo album later, then take a moment to check in with what has been true up to this point. If you are anything like me, I have way too many boxes that I have moved over the last nine years with the "intention to put these in albums". We all know what they say about the road to hell, so take a deep breath, and toss it anyway!
Caution: One last thing to keep in mind is that now is not the time to reminisce over these memories with yourself or anyone else in the proximity. That will only sidetrack you and eat up your valuable and limited time. Stay focused on the project as if you were getting paid to this task for someone else. You have only 10 or 15 minutes (or whatever you allotted) to "Git 'er done!"
We’ll talk more later because I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses!
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always and all ways ...
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Customer Service and Sustainability
Relationship sustainability beckons one to genuinely listen. In order to understand what someone is asking of us, paying attention to the smallest details will take us far. Sometimes that means seeing things beyond what is said. Maybe it's in their body language, or it's in what they aren't saying. By identifying the needs and capacities of the people we serve, and meeting that, it will most likely lead to future relationship.
This week I started a client's project thinking that I have a "wonderful system" for organizing his downsizing project. It has helped me, so why wouldn't it work perfectly for him too? Yesterday I was reminded that no matter what systems or processes work for me, the thing that really counts is listening to what he wants the end results to look and feel like - a new way of doing things that is manageable for him. After all, he is the one who must continue to handle these things when I am no longer there to work through it with him.
Relationships build and are more likely to sustain themselves when we share common interests and similar goals. The lesson I remembered is that as an effective service provider, it creates a win-win for both of us when I tweak my know-how to match my customers’ preferences. When my customer's needs are met, it builds their trust and confidence in me. Good customer service - and building any kind of relationship for that matter, stems from acknowledging the other person's requests as valid. From there we collaborate to find a workable solution.
Would you return to a place where you were disregarded? What constitutes good customer service to you? Do you remember someone in particular who gave you what you wanted and you felt especially satisfied?
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses!
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
This week I started a client's project thinking that I have a "wonderful system" for organizing his downsizing project. It has helped me, so why wouldn't it work perfectly for him too? Yesterday I was reminded that no matter what systems or processes work for me, the thing that really counts is listening to what he wants the end results to look and feel like - a new way of doing things that is manageable for him. After all, he is the one who must continue to handle these things when I am no longer there to work through it with him.
Relationships build and are more likely to sustain themselves when we share common interests and similar goals. The lesson I remembered is that as an effective service provider, it creates a win-win for both of us when I tweak my know-how to match my customers’ preferences. When my customer's needs are met, it builds their trust and confidence in me. Good customer service - and building any kind of relationship for that matter, stems from acknowledging the other person's requests as valid. From there we collaborate to find a workable solution.
Would you return to a place where you were disregarded? What constitutes good customer service to you? Do you remember someone in particular who gave you what you wanted and you felt especially satisfied?
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses!
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Another decluttering tip - Clean out your car files
Take 15 minutes to sort your vehicle file(s).
Remove all outdated insurance information, old brochures (that most likely can be found online), and organize service records chronologically.
Now your are ready to bring your service log up-to-date in a flash! vroom, vroom, vroom!
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
Remove all outdated insurance information, old brochures (that most likely can be found online), and organize service records chronologically.
Now your are ready to bring your service log up-to-date in a flash! vroom, vroom, vroom!
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Decluttering tip: Software & Purchase Receipts
Go through all of your software disks & receipts.
Discard (recycle) the ones that are outdated and no longer in use.
It is a 15-minute task assuming that it's already all in one spot.
If not, this 30-minute task is well worth your while to organize into a labeled storage bin or a 2-gallon plastic bag.
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
Discard (recycle) the ones that are outdated and no longer in use.
It is a 15-minute task assuming that it's already all in one spot.
If not, this 30-minute task is well worth your while to organize into a labeled storage bin or a 2-gallon plastic bag.
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Clean House and Lighten Up
Paging through clip art looking for stuff to build a logo, I pondered our vision of decluttering – cleaning out our house and lightening our load. The stuff that clutter is made of is everywhere lately. I don't mean just the boxes of stuff crammed under the breakfast bar or shoved in storage closets. Peter Walsh on Enough Already says that an estimated 200 million American households are swamped by clutter every year. This stuff invades our lives every day. We live with at home and we take it to work.
It perches on closet shelves, snarls on garage floors, and looms over rented units. Stuff peeks out of drawers, from under beds, and around corner boxes. It slinks around in purses, falls out of wallets, and bulges from computer bags. It bodaciously keeps company as dinner’s honored guest or audaciously stows away and hi-jacks the car.
Clutter is getting attention from television shows, magazines, and blogs. It’s constantly in our face and under our feet. People blatantly talk about it and some minimize it with code-speak. Frequently, the most (ah-hem) productive thing that arises from discussions of hoarding is that their mess makes us feel loads better about our own.
Once you circle the wagons back at your homestead, have you ever noticed the mangy little mutt that hitched a ride home in your pocket? I named mine “Overwhelming Guilt” and its middle name is “Rationalized”. Its frenzied, yipping snips rebound like paddle balls, and it pisses on my party leaving stains on my thoughts. He is a persistent little dog-on-a-bone; surely finding the bird-in-the-bush and calling attention to justifications buried on the hunt.
When time comes to deal with our stuff, the reality is that not many of us are chosen for the miracle makeovers we see on Hoarders; nor do we get the personal attention of Peter Walsh. So short of striking a match to set fire to it (how many times have you said that?) the millions-of-households question is, “Where do I start this process of decluttering?” Thank you for asking! My answer: Stop it.
Stop picking at yourself and stop picking at your stuff
The first step in getting an unruly mutt to calm down and behave is to reinforce its response to our voice above all others. When you catch yourself belittling old choices, stop. Take a deep breath and notice the value of your thoughts. Notice how those thoughts feel in your body and where. Do your shoulders sag or do you want to throw up? You can soothe it the same way you comfort someone you love. Say something kind and assuring to yourself.
Stop bringing more stuff in than what goes out
Engineer hubby keeps reminding me of the basic law of physics. Accumulation equals In minus Out. Having an overwhelming amount of stuff multiplies when we keep buying more stuff than we are trashing, recycling, or giving away. Stop adding to what you already have by letting go of at least one thing to offset whatever new thing you bring in.
Stop kidding yourself
Sometimes the most powerful way to give ourselves a break is to look reality in the face. Yes, it can be scary. I promise there is relief, though, in asking the question, “What is the worst thing that can happen if ..?” Are you ever really going to absolutely, without one shred of doubt, use all of that stuff specifically the way and when you think you will? When was the last time you used it? Does someone else in the family use it? Notice what stuff you use consistently - day in day out, weekly, monthly, or just once a year.
Remember: You don't have to do anything else with this stuff right now. The accumulation didn't appear in a poof so, as much as I wish it would, it won’t disappear with a blink of an eye either. When “Overwhelming Rationalized Guilt” pops up in your pocket again, threatening to piss on your party (or chase you out to the doghouse), stop and remind yourself that you can do this one step at a time. The maddening frenzy lessens and calm appears when we stop self-defeating thoughts and behaviors.
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
It perches on closet shelves, snarls on garage floors, and looms over rented units. Stuff peeks out of drawers, from under beds, and around corner boxes. It slinks around in purses, falls out of wallets, and bulges from computer bags. It bodaciously keeps company as dinner’s honored guest or audaciously stows away and hi-jacks the car.
Clutter is getting attention from television shows, magazines, and blogs. It’s constantly in our face and under our feet. People blatantly talk about it and some minimize it with code-speak. Frequently, the most (ah-hem) productive thing that arises from discussions of hoarding is that their mess makes us feel loads better about our own.
Once you circle the wagons back at your homestead, have you ever noticed the mangy little mutt that hitched a ride home in your pocket? I named mine “Overwhelming Guilt” and its middle name is “Rationalized”. Its frenzied, yipping snips rebound like paddle balls, and it pisses on my party leaving stains on my thoughts. He is a persistent little dog-on-a-bone; surely finding the bird-in-the-bush and calling attention to justifications buried on the hunt.
I have so much to do already that I can't see straight as it is. How will I find time to do that too? Besides, I have too many other things to think about right now. I wouldn’t even know where to start. However, I only need one little part then I can glue it back together, and it'll work as good as new. I know I have one here somewhere, if I can find it ... Mom would kill me if I got rid of that. Well look at this; it’s Grandma’s garter. I’m going to hang onto this for a little while longer just in case someone ever needs it. Here, I’ll move this so you can sit down if you’ll just ignore the stuff on the other chair. I haven’t had time to deal with that lately. I’ve just been so busy these last two _____ (Weeks? Months? Decades?) Someday when the girls aren’t in soccer anymore and I don’t have to spend so much time at the office, I'll take care of that.Hey, I get it. It’s a conversation straight from my head, and I’ve had it with others for years. We end up dog-tired, constantly chasing our tails, and getting nowhere fast in that vicious cycle of holding onto stuff.
When time comes to deal with our stuff, the reality is that not many of us are chosen for the miracle makeovers we see on Hoarders; nor do we get the personal attention of Peter Walsh. So short of striking a match to set fire to it (how many times have you said that?) the millions-of-households question is, “Where do I start this process of decluttering?” Thank you for asking! My answer: Stop it.
Stop picking at yourself and stop picking at your stuff
The first step in getting an unruly mutt to calm down and behave is to reinforce its response to our voice above all others. When you catch yourself belittling old choices, stop. Take a deep breath and notice the value of your thoughts. Notice how those thoughts feel in your body and where. Do your shoulders sag or do you want to throw up? You can soothe it the same way you comfort someone you love. Say something kind and assuring to yourself.
Stop bringing more stuff in than what goes out
Engineer hubby keeps reminding me of the basic law of physics. Accumulation equals In minus Out. Having an overwhelming amount of stuff multiplies when we keep buying more stuff than we are trashing, recycling, or giving away. Stop adding to what you already have by letting go of at least one thing to offset whatever new thing you bring in.
Stop kidding yourself
Sometimes the most powerful way to give ourselves a break is to look reality in the face. Yes, it can be scary. I promise there is relief, though, in asking the question, “What is the worst thing that can happen if ..?” Are you ever really going to absolutely, without one shred of doubt, use all of that stuff specifically the way and when you think you will? When was the last time you used it? Does someone else in the family use it? Notice what stuff you use consistently - day in day out, weekly, monthly, or just once a year.
Remember: You don't have to do anything else with this stuff right now. The accumulation didn't appear in a poof so, as much as I wish it would, it won’t disappear with a blink of an eye either. When “Overwhelming Rationalized Guilt” pops up in your pocket again, threatening to piss on your party (or chase you out to the doghouse), stop and remind yourself that you can do this one step at a time. The maddening frenzy lessens and calm appears when we stop self-defeating thoughts and behaviors.
We’ll talk more later, but I’ve gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Everything Starts Somewhere
You have moved away and live elsewhere now. Gone out to brave that big, beautiful world on your own. It's not like you left just yesterday or even last month. It's only that I'm now beginning to feel like I can finally get a leg up in my own world again.
When your "baby" has been a constant in your life for so many years, it's not easy letting them go off on their own. Toddler or legal, two-legged or four, it matters not. I started to write what my mama used to say, "You won't understand until you're a parent yourself." I hated hearing stuff like that, so when I was your age, I swore to myself that I wouldn't say things like that to my kids. I guess I lied.
I was thinking again today that all of us have experienced a lot of changes in the last couple of years. Well, make that eight. Separation and divorce can do that to a family. But, that's not really news to you, is it? Then there's the remarrying and blending, and moving from one house to another and another and another. All of you going your own separate ways as young adults eager to "I do it Self!" just as when you were three and Little Miss Independent wanted to dress herself.
There was one morning when I tried to save you from the snickers I was certain you would get if we went out in public that day. You vociferously rejected my suggestions to find something more acceptable. You pranced your way through the grocery store with one hand on the cart, waving to everyone we passed, and singing at the top of your lungs "I so pretty!" Your toothy grin was bestowed on anyone who couldn't help but look our way.
Smearing your hair back with your open hand, you gently rested it against your neck and said, "Isn't this fun, Mommy?" I wanted the whole world to see you then - so free, oblivious to anything but your own wonder. I learned that day that details like wearing a red and blue horizontally-striped shirt over a dark pink floral skirt, topped off with dark brown cowboy boots, really won't make the world stop spinning. In fact being okay with yourself, just as you are, may unexpectedly bring joy and a smile to someone's heart for a change.
Gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
When your "baby" has been a constant in your life for so many years, it's not easy letting them go off on their own. Toddler or legal, two-legged or four, it matters not. I started to write what my mama used to say, "You won't understand until you're a parent yourself." I hated hearing stuff like that, so when I was your age, I swore to myself that I wouldn't say things like that to my kids. I guess I lied.
I was thinking again today that all of us have experienced a lot of changes in the last couple of years. Well, make that eight. Separation and divorce can do that to a family. But, that's not really news to you, is it? Then there's the remarrying and blending, and moving from one house to another and another and another. All of you going your own separate ways as young adults eager to "I do it Self!" just as when you were three and Little Miss Independent wanted to dress herself.
There was one morning when I tried to save you from the snickers I was certain you would get if we went out in public that day. You vociferously rejected my suggestions to find something more acceptable. You pranced your way through the grocery store with one hand on the cart, waving to everyone we passed, and singing at the top of your lungs "I so pretty!" Your toothy grin was bestowed on anyone who couldn't help but look our way.
Smearing your hair back with your open hand, you gently rested it against your neck and said, "Isn't this fun, Mommy?" I wanted the whole world to see you then - so free, oblivious to anything but your own wonder. I learned that day that details like wearing a red and blue horizontally-striped shirt over a dark pink floral skirt, topped off with dark brown cowboy boots, really won't make the world stop spinning. In fact being okay with yourself, just as you are, may unexpectedly bring joy and a smile to someone's heart for a change.
Gotta go for now, honey. I'm sending you loads of love and barrels of kisses.
P.S. I carry you in my heart. Always ...
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