Peace of Mind Organizing

Another advantage to a minimalist wardrobe: easy packing in a crisis

29 March 2018

I had to leave town suddenly over the weekend because my 87-year-old father had an acute health crisis that caused him to be flown to a hospital in Spokane, three hours from his home in Walla Walla, Washington. It resolved quickly, I’m glad to say, and I was able to arrive just in time to drive him home from the hospital and stay with him for a week to take him to his follow up appointments.

There were many reasons to be stressed in the situation after I got the call, but at least I wasn’t stressed about packing. There are so few clothes in my closet that selecting what to wear was a piece of cake. Plus, my travel toiletries kit is always packed, so all I had to do was throw in my electric toothbrush and call Lyft. (Well, and book a flight and rental car.)

I keep finding new ways to appreciate having fewer clothes in my closet!

Worth repeating: Expert clothing advice for women of a certain age

26 March 2018

I wrote this post back in 2015. Geralin remains my wardrobe advisor and she never lets me down! I thought this concise advice was definitely worth repeating. I’ll ask Geralin to weigh in on the comments if her advice has changed. Great news! If you’d like the benefit of more wardrobe wisdom from Geralin, you can now purchase her Wardrobe Wisdom Workbook for only $9.99.

Geralin Thomas

As I posted last week, I had a lovely time creating a capsule wardrobe with my friend and wardrobe advisor, Geralin Thomas. Geralin has been helping me with my clothing for eight years and I am so grateful for her expert advice.

In 2007, I was 45 and now I’m 53. In that time, my body has changed somewhat, with a little more padding in the hips than used to be there. That, plus the fact I’m now in my fifties, has changed Geralin’s advice for me a bit.

Last week, she gave me five bits of clothing-selection advice (and permission to share) that is specific to me, but applies to many fifty-something women. (The last one is specific to narrow-on-the top, wider-on-the-bottom women like me.)

1. Colors matter. They help simplify the shopping process by ruling some colors out.
2. Some colors are so much more flattering than others. Try to shop for colors that match your hair and eye colors and complexion.
3. Smaller lapels are less trendy and more classic and therefore have more staying power.
4. Thin knits are not so great on many of us as we’re getting older and losing muscle tone, gaining lumps and bumps. Instead, look for thicker knits; ponte knits are especially nice if you’re trying to “glam-oflauge” areas like thighs, bottom, or back-bulge.
5. Longer cardigans are not figure friendly for me. Instead, a little structure in a sweater or a jacket helps bring balance.

Geralin always looks amazing and I am delighted that she is so willing to share her wardrobe wisdom. Thank you, Geralin!

From inexpensive glassware to pretty desk accessory

22 March 2018

I took a stroll through IKEA the other day, just looking for inspiration and ideas for organizing. I love their home organizing department. But I also love using items intended for other purposes to organize my stuff.

Case in point: I have an extensive collection of pens and markers. My excuse is that I like to color, but the truth is that my coloring markers are upstairs and I still have a hefty supply in my office. I had been storing them in mason jar, along with a bamboo-and-cloth desktop organizer I’d picked up somewhere along the way. It was working fine.

But then, on my stroll through IKEA, I came across GODIS drinking glasses. The shorter, eight-ounce ones seemed perfect for pens. (I pulled a Sharpie out of my purse to check.) So I bought six of them for only $2.99. (That’s the IKEA Family price.) As soon as I got home, I put to them use housing markers and pens. Here’s a photo of how the pens used to be stored and how they look now.

I love that they’re tapered a little so the pens sort of fan out. I like that they’re nearly invisible so all I see are the lovely markers. It feels like a big improvement.

This is a great example of the joy of repurposing an item to help with organizing. Do you have favorite things you like to use for organizing that weren’t originally intended that purpose?

Has someone helped you? Thank them!

19 March 2018

Last Friday, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It’s unusual for me to wake up grumpy, but I did. And for the whole morning, I had a black cloud hanging over my head.

Then, about noon, I checked my email. In it was a message from a blog reader named Susan, who started her message with these golden words:

“I wanted to tell you that your blog/advice has made a big difference in my life.”

She went on to describe in detail four areas of her home where she has made progress in decluttering and organizing and what a big impact that has made on her life.

Oh my, I appreciated her message so much! The black cloud over my head lifted, the sun came out and the birds started singing. The fact that she would take the time to let me know that I’ve helped her was so kind.

It got me thinking about the many people whose blogs or books I have read or whose podcasts I have listened to who have made a difference to me. And they have no way of knowing they’ve helped me. Unless I tell them.

So today I encourage you to take a moment and thank someone who has had a positive impact on your life. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it.

Worth repeating: Trying out the KonMari method

14 March 2018

The popularity of Marie Kondo and her best-selling book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” has not waned since I reviewed her book back in 2015. In fact, Marie Kondo has scored a reality show on Netflix and there were reports of a sitcom based on her. Wow! So I thought it might be interesting to repeat my 2015 post on my impressions of her method when I tried it out on my clothing.

In a blog post earlier this week, I reviewed The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. In this short book—an international bestseller—the author details her KonMari method for decluttering and organizing.

As I wrote in my review there were aspects of the agreed with and aspects I didn’t agree with. But reading the book did make me want to give her methodology a try. The book does a great job of sparking action.

I decided to try out the KonMari method on my clothing. That’s the category that she recommends starting with because it tends to be the easiest category of items to part with. So, as instructed, I gathered up clothing from various storage areas in my house. I keep almost all my clothes in my bedroom, but there were some items in the guest bedroom closet, including out-of-season clothes and some that weren’t fitting when I moved them there.

I emptied all my drawers and shelves and piled everything on the bed. Marie would have had me pile everything on the floor. But in my bedroom, there’s more bed space than floor space. Plus, I didn’t have to bend over to reach the items on my bed. Here’s how my bed looked with all the clothes on it.

I started with the clothes from the guest room closet, because they were the ones I’d worn least recently (per Marie’s instructions). As I touched each item, I asked myself her trademark question, “Does this spark joy?”

I found the question to be very powerful. It’s different from, “How recently have I worn this?” or “Does this look good on me?” There were items in there I had once loved and probably still looked good on me, but they no longer sparked joy. They went right into the donate bag.

I used the app iDonatedIt to keep track of my donations as I put the items in the bag. It was very easy and gave me a little boost as I watched my tax deduction rise. Here’s a photo of the donations:

The whole process took me about 90 minutes (not counting the donation drop off) and when I was finished, I had donated more than half my clothes. What was left easily fit in the drawers and shelves in my bedroom (no more guest room closet for me!) with room to spare. There were items that had been stored in the guest room I’d completely forgotten about and some of them sparked joy. Now I have easy access to them.

I feel absolutely no pangs or worries that I’ll miss any of the items I donated. It’s clear that I still have an abundant amount of clothes. I love that they’re more mindfully stored now.

As an aside, I’ve been using Marie’s folding method for shirts for years. She suggested folding items so that they can be stored vertically, like files. I hadn’t used that method on pants, but today I tried it. So far, I like it quite a lot!

I know how to declutter, obviously. Did using the KonMari method make a difference? It did provide a couple of real advantages:

• The book (and my promise to blog about trying it out) got me to actually take a look at these clothes and bring them together in one spot.
• Working on all my clothes at the same time gave me a sense of completion.
• The question “Does it spark joy?” was very effective at getting me to let go of items without regret.

Of course, the book addresses more than clothing. A couple of days ago, the book inspired me to dispose of a bookshelf full of seminar notes—the handouts that used to be distributed at the conferences I attended (they’re now distributed electronically). That was a little harder; they represented more to me, I think. But I acknowledged that I literally had not looked at any of them after the conference and they were just taking up space. It felt really good to let those go and I have The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up to thank for it.

I’m still not sure of the practicality of the book’s premise that one should always sort by category not by location—it’s great if you can do it in one session, but what happens if multiple sessions are necessary? it seems to me that you wouldn’t be able to find anything until the process is finished.

Maybe I’ll find out. There are still plenty of areas I can practice on in my own home. In any case, I think I’ll be using the “Does it spark joy?” question with at least some of my clients (giving Marie credit, of course). Perhaps I’ll post more here as I continue on this journey.

Don't give stuff power

10 March 2018

In my line of work, I sometimes see relationships that have damaged on account of clutter. I always urge people not to let stuff have the power to affect their lives that way.

Control your stuff, don’t let it control you.

My adventure with Todoist

26 February 2018

Two weeks ago I was inspired to give the task-management app Todoist a try. I’d heard of it before, but when I read the e-book The Paperless Home: How to Use Evernote to Organize Your Life by Donnie and Abby Lawson and learned how Donnie uses Todoist in concert with Evernote, I thought I’d check it out.

I love Evernote for keeping track of all my lists and ideas and I’d been using it for task management as well. But I recognized that the way I was using it, which was to create a daily list, I was still relying on my memory. And my memory isn’t what it used to be. So I was intrigued by Todoist.

Todoist has basic, free version, which I downloaded and started messing around with. (I used this great guide to getting started with Todoist.) I think that very same day I decided to pony up the $29 for the premium version, which allows me to add reminders, notes and files to a task, as well as view my tasks in my calendar when I want. I have no reservation in saying that it’s worth the money! (Note: Since I have the premium version and virtually no experience with the free version, some of the capabilities I mention below may not be available with the free version.)

Here’s a look at my Todoist screen about 5 pm today. I still have lots to do!

Today's task list in Todoist

Todoist, which I use primarily on my computer but can also use on my phone or iPad (it syncs automatically), has a simple elegance about it. It allows me to enter tasks and subtasks and assign them projects, effortlessly set deadlines and reminders, and attach notes to the tasks. I can forward emails to Todoist to create tasks with the email attached. I can also easily make a task recurring, using natural language. For example, when I type, “Blog POMO on Mondays and Thursdays,” that task automatically comes up every Monday and Thursday. If I type, “Call Client X tomorrow at 3 pm” it will appear on my list tomorrow morning with 3 pm attached to it.

If I don’t finish a task in the day it was scheduled, it comes up the next day as Overdue. I’ve managed to avoid that all days but one, by taking the time at the end of the day to reschedule anything that wasn’t completed as scheduled. And, of course, rescheduling is easy.

Todoist allows me to prioritize tasks. That way my most important tasks they stay right at the top of my list in the Today view. In Todoist I can organize tasks by project and I can also label tasks, so I can see similar or related tasks together, even if they’re in different projects. There are also filters that allow me to, among other things, see any tasks without deadlines, so they don’t fall through the cracks. I’ve set a recurring daily task to check for undated tasks.

Todoist is more flexible and easier to use than any task management app I’ve ever used. It’s simultaneously robust and simple. I love it. I should mention that I have a long history of a blissful honeymoon with new task-management systems, so take my enthusiasm with a grain of salt. If I stick with it, I’ll write a more detailed post about how I use it, in case that’s helpful to others. I know that I found it very helpful when I read other people’s blog posts about using Todoist.

Stay tuned!