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Minimalism = Less stuff = Less worries = Freedom

Christine Simiriglia — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:51:30 +0000

On February 27th, after Chile's earthquake and during the tsunami watch, I read this Tweet from Leo Babauta,

"Guam's on tsunami alert. I live nearly at sea level, 1/4 mile from beach, so may head hillward. Luckily have no possessions I care about."

I stopped and stared at it for a moment, really understanding, maybe for the first time, what it means to be a minimalist. It is not just about having less things. It is about not caring about things (the things you have, the things you don't have). It is about being able to live and function and be happy with whatever you have or don't have, wherever you happen to find yourself.

It is really all about freedom.

I sat for a moment reading Leo's words over and over again: "Luckily I have no possessions I care about". How many of us can say that? I know that I can't. I'd like to. I'm working on it. But -- truth be told -- I'm not there yet.

The fact is, the more I get rid things of the more I value the possessions that I keep. I don't want to care about them but I do. I'd much rather not care and not have the worries, but I haven't quite figured out how to or how not to, yet. I'd like to not lock my door because I don't have anything to steal; or if something got stolen, I wouldn't care about it. I'd love to have empty shelves and not have to dust. I'd celebrate being able to have a minimal wardrobe and not have think about style. I'd savor the chance to have a real "no fuss" hairdo. I relish the chance to get into shape and form healthier habits so that I don't have to fumble around with medicine bottles and worry about when my prescriptions are due to be filled.

I believe in all of this, and I'm working on it, but its a long and winding path.

I don't think there is an endpoint called "minimalism". It is a path, or a journey. One that we must take slowly, thoughtfully and carefully. One that must be enjoyed along the way, knowing that the journey itself has value. It is a path on which we meet many other people -- all in different places, with different values, and different ideas. All of these people may consider themselves to be working on minimalism. Their minimalism may look different than your minimalism or my minimalism. No one is right or wrong, better or worse.

All of a sudden, as I sit here writing this post I can't get Janis Joplin out of my head. She keeps singing the same line over and over again. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose..." The song is getting louder and louder, clearer and clearer.

I'm glad the tsunami missed Guam. I'm glad Leo and his brilliant mind are safe. I'm glad he took 5 seconds to post on Twitter and that I took the time to read it. That one tweet has changed the way I look at things. I hope my sharing it has shifted you a little too.

Please comment and let us know where you are on your journey.

Ode to Common Sense

Christine Simiriglia — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:48:05 +0000

nowing when to come in out of the rain;

Why the early bird gets the worm;

Life isn't always fair;

and maybe it was my fault.

Email Management for People who Prefer the Phone

Christine Simiriglia — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:14:55 +0000

I just read 15 Tips for Managing Inbox Obesity posted on Clutter Diet. It is a concise and well written piece. It offers all of the standard great advice about how to keep the incoming message flow down and how to organize what does get through. Reading it was a good reminder to me of what we should all be doing on a regular basis (yes, I too need reminders).

It also got me thinking about some of the people I know who's email is out of control. I've worked with some of them on all of the topics listed in this article and they still can't seem to get ahead. I think there is another issue that needs addressing, separate from the mechanicals of managing and sorting of one's inbox -- and that is how to respond quickly, concisely and adequately to the messages that require responses. This is where a lot of people get paralyzed and this is where their box starts to back-up.

Communication Preferences

We can basically break ourselves into three categories:

1)those who prefer the phone,
2) those who prefer face to face meetings, or
3) those who prefer email communication.

We can make a lot of assumptions about why people have certain preferences, but assumptions are usually wrong. Remember the rhyme: "when you assume you make an ass out of u and me". It was right on point.

For example, many people assume that the "email people" are introverts. I am someone who prefers email communication. I am an extrovert (very much so). I am a very social being... so much so that it sometimes drives my husband bananas. The reasons I prefer email are:

1) I write fairly well -- clearly, and concisely, and

2) I usually follow up phone conversations and meetings with email, anyway, so there is a record of the conversation -- so why have the meeting or phone call in the first place?

Now, don't get me wrong. I love talking to people and being with friends. There is a time and place for everything. But in business, I like to cut out the redundancy of talking about and writing about the same something. And in my social life, I like to be clear and provide good information in writing about dinner dates, parties, book recommendations, etc. I read my email, sort it efficiently, and answer it immediately. I receive a high volume of email each day and usually maintain an empty in-box . It is a good feeling!

Email Assistance for Those Who Prefer the Phone or Face to Face Meetings.

These are the people who tend to have full boxes. Some don't enjoy writing, or think that they don't "write well", and feel that the internet is a "sorry second" to actually speaking with people. That's fine... but if you have an email account and are getting email, you need to master it -- or else don't use it at all because it will make you bonkers. These seven tips are for you:

1. Use the minimum amount of sentences. I’ve been trying to stick to the 5-sentence rule, but you can use more if needed (I usually do, but they are good sentences). The question is: how many sentences are needed to communicate what you’re trying to communicate? Or how few sentences can you get away with. Cut it to that number, and no more. That ensures that you’re not wasting the time of the recipient, and that your email actually gets read (people tend to put off reading longer ones, and might even delete them).

2. State what you want right away. Don’t write a long introduction, telling your life story, or any story for that matter. People aren’t interested. They just want to know what you want. So state that, in the first sentence. Skip the niceties. Don’t make the recipient wade through 10 paragraphs to find what action is needed for the email.

3. Write about only one thing. There have been numerous times when I read an email, saw the action needed, and went and did it … only to find out that three other things were also needed to respond to the email. I’ve also responded to the first part of an email and not to others, just because I didn’t have enough time.

If you write about multiple things, with multiple requests, you do two things: 1) make it likely that your email actually won’t be read or acted on; and 2) make it likely that even if it is acted on or responded to, the recipient will only do one of those things. (I'm guilt of this and am working on it -- really I am).

Instead, stick to one subject, with one request. Once that’s done, you can send a second one, but don’t overwhelm the recipient if at all possible.

4. Leave out the humor and emotions. These don’t come across well in an email. Even if you use emoticons. There’s just no way to express tone, inflection, etc. … and there’s no way to know if the recipient understands that you’re joking. If you’re communicating in person, you can see that the person didn’t understand the humor, and say, “I was only joking!” But not in email.

So, unless you know the person well, and you know they’ll understand that you’re joking, leave out humor. It’s a risk that you don’t want to take.

5. Use “If … then” statements. As email is a back-and-forth method of communicating, and it can take a day or more for a response (in some cases), you want to limit the number of times a message has to go back and forth. To do that, use “if … then” statements, anticipating the possible responses to your question.

For example, if you want to know if a person has received a response to an inquiry, instead of asking if they’ve received a response, and then waiting for a reply, and then sending another email based on that reply, try doing it all in one email:

“Have you received a response from Mr. X yet? If so, please finish the report by Tuesday and email it to me. If not, can you follow up today and let me know the response?”

By anticipating the possible responses, and giving a desired action for each possible response, you’re cutting a lot of wasted back-and-forth time.

6. Review for ambiguity, clarity. Once you’ve written an email, take a few seconds to read over it before pressing the Send button. Read it as if you were an outsider — how clear it it? Are there any ambiguous statements that could be interpreted the wrong way? If so, clarify.

7. Revise for conciseness. As you review, also see if there is a way you can shorten the email, remove words or sentences or even paragraphs. Leave nothing but the essential message you’re trying to communicate.

Let me know if you find this information to be helpful. For more help will all of your personal productivity, organizing and time-management needs, consider getting a coach.

Carry less, or pockets like air

Christine Simiriglia — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:31:26 +0000

How much do you carry around with you, every day?

It’s something we don’t often think about, but each item we carry around is a little burden, and these little burdens add up.

They contribute to our general fatigue, they are one more thing to worry about, and they can cause actual back problems if we carry too much.

This is something I’ve greatly improved in my life, starting a couple years ago when I decided to try to be as minimalist as possible.

As Robert Daeley said in an old post, Zen Pockets:

In the spirit of GTD, in which you try to empty your head of all the cruft and worry so you can concentrate creatively on the task at hand, let us look to our burdens to see if we can undo a little of our daily Sisyphean-wear. Mind like water? Meet pockets like air.

Let’s see how we can get to pockets like air.

What people normally carry

What’s in your pockets, bag, purse, briefcase? What do you load up with before you leave your home? Some examples of things people carry include:

Wallet, containing money, lots of cards, coffee stamp card, etc.
Purse, containing grooming items, makeup, tissues, address book, etc.
Laptop w/ cords and accessories
Briefcase with files and papers
Cell phone, PDA, iPhone or other mobile device
Backpack
books
keys
notebook
pen(s)
paper organizer or Hipster PDA
watch
toiletries
coffee mug
lunch
a kit of stuff like snacks, tissues, band aids, etc.
Bat belt

OK, the last one might only apply to Batman, but the others are fairly common, give or take a few items. I too carried most of these items at one time.

My Minimalist Pockets

These days, I’ve gotten it down to something fairly simple:

cell phone (not an iPhone – it only makes phone calls, doesn’t do email or web)
keys – although when I’m not actually driving I only bring the remote control unlocker for the car, not the keys
slim “wallet” – actually just a moneyband with ID, debit card and cash

And that’s about it. Sometimes I’ll bring a book, other times a notebook, other times a laptop in a backpack if I’m going to do some writing. It depends on what my plans are.

You’ll notice I don’t carry lots of electronics around (I’ll only bring the laptop once or twice a week), I don’t have a watch, I don’t have much in my “wallet”, I don’t have any grooming products (of course, my shaved head helps with that).

How I got to minimalist

I didn’t get to this point overnight. I got this way by reducing my needs, and examining each item to see whether I really needed to carry it.

1. Reducing needs. As I mentioned, when I decided to shave my head, it meant I didn’t need any grooming products. Now, I’m not saying you need to shave your head, but consider finding ways to reduce your need for these products by simplifying. I also decided I don’t need a watch, because (1) I prefer not to worry about time so much and (2) if I do need to know the time, I can check my cell phone. I decided I don’t need a mobile device such as an iPhone or Blackberry, because while it would be nice to check email or look something up online or check on my website or business while I’m out on the road, I would rather not have that constant distraction. I like being in the moment, especially when I’m with my wife or kids or a friend. I like not being interrupted. Think about your needs and whether they’re really needs, or if they can be eliminated or reduced.

2. Put each item to the test. Consider each item you take with you, and whether you really use them every day. If not, only take them on days when you will need them. If you carry a briefcase full of files you never open, why carry them back and forth? In fact, why not keep your files on your computer, and just access them online, from anywhere? If you have a purse or messenger bag, make each item in the purse or bag pass this critical test: Do you really use it, all the time? Do you really need it? If not, consider leaving them at home or, if you can’t decide, put them in your glove compartment so you don’t have to carry them around. I did this for awhile, just to feel safe, and I ended up not ever needing the items.

Be light

It’s nice to walk around without things weighing you down. You feel light and free. It’s less of a burden.

There’s something peaceful about walking around without these distractions. You can focus on the wonderful world around you. You can talk to a friend or family member without interruptions. You can create without distractions.

Walk lightly, and be light in your heart.

By Leo

Organizing Your Refrigerator

Christine Simiriglia — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:18:19 +0000

When is the last time you took a good long look in your refrigerator? Anything green starting to grow? This is your fridge, not your garden. Let's get it clean and organized to save you money on your food bill and time when preparing meals.

Start with a purge. Have two cans handy, one for garbage and one for the compost heap (what, you don't compost? START HERE). Don't agonize over whether to keep something or not -- if you have to think twice, it goes. If you'd like more information about how long food "keeps", go to www.stilltasty.com.

Pile everything that is left on the kitchen counter. Only do the refrigerator right now. We will repeat the process for the freezer.

Now we need to clean all of the shelves. Start with the top shelf and work your way down (crumbs and other nasty things fall to the lower shelves as you move along). I like to wash mine out with soapy water and a sponge and finish with Windex Multi-Surface Cleaner (I've got a "thing" for Windex). Make sure you clean each shelf, each drawer, and all of the door compartments. You may need to put a little "elbow grease" into the old yellow mustard stain, but it will come clean.

Separate the items that you are going to put back in two ways, 1) by what is most used and least used and 2) by height. What is used most (milk, juice, butter, cheese) should be at eye level. Then it should be arranged by height with the shortest items in front and the tallest in back. Lesser used items can go on higher and lower shelves. If you have kids, a lower shelf might be specifically for their favorite items. Wipe off containers before returning them to your newly cleaned refrigerator. If a container is not clearly marked, use a Sharpie Marker and label it. You are more likely to use what's in it if you know what's in it.

Everything should have a place in your refrigerator. Most come with crispers for veggies and fruit -- use them. If you have a butter shelf on the door, put the butter there. If you have an egg container on your door, put your eggs in it and the carton in the recycling. If your family eats a lot of cheese or cold cuts (which they probably shouldn't) use the drawer for that or a large see-through container with a lid.

Never, ever put anything loose, unwrapped or uncovered in your refrigerator. It will spoil everything else in there.

Now repeat for the freezer.

Make it a habit to clean out anything semi-funky on trash day. Our trash is picked up on Wednesday mornings so we clean out the refrigerator on Tuesday nights. Sometimes there is nothing to toss, and sometimes there's a lot.

There was a time when I would buy things that I already had because I didn't see them in the cabinets or the "fridge". There are times, even now, when we buy too much because we haven't felt like eating the fish in the freezer and so we go out and pick up a couple of steaks. Eat the fish!

The neater, more labeled and more organized your food is, the more you will get out of it and the more you will save at the grocery store. Don't be afraid of it, and remember that an open box of baking soda goes a long way in the "fresh" department.

Organize Your Money and Save for What You Want

Christine Simiriglia — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:31:49 +0000

Remember when people had Vacation or Christmas Club Accounts at their local banks, helping them to save for those occasions instead of going into debt each summer and winter?

Budgets and Savings

When did we, as a nation, lose our focus on saving? When did we fall into this black hole of debt? I had a Christmas Club and a Vacation Club Account when I was younger (I'm 45 and I'm talking about 25+ years ago). Every week I'd cash my paycheck and make deposits into my checking, my savings, my Christmas and my Vacation accounts. Things weren't instant way back then. We didn't have ATM machines. We planned our spending. We had budgets (sometimes not on paper, but we knew how much money we could spend). We went to the bank and took out enough money to last for the week (actually, at that time, I only had enough money to last for the week).

The Envelope System

I kept mine in labeled #10 envelopes in the top drawer of my bureau. There was an envelope for groceries, one for eating out, one for misc. entertainment, one for new clothes -- you get the picture. When the envelope was empty, I was done spending until my next paycheck.

That was a great system. I miss the simplicity of it. My envelope system went to "hell in a hand basket" when I got my first credit card and my first ATM card.

Then Came Technology

ATMs, direct deposit, and internet banking don't work well for those of us who are not disciplined. I needed the limits that having to go to the bank (and physically stand there in line) imposed on me. Without them -- I'm toast.

I started spending and not keeping track. There was no savings. Everything was instant, and I became very good at instant gratification. I'd stop at the ATM and take out $20 at a time, and pay the fee associated with the withdraw. When the ATM ran out, I had my VISA. I became a party girl -- a "check picker upper". It was out of control.

Recovery

I took a long time to recover from all of that, but I got organized and married a frugal soul. Two very different events that both helped to get my finances in order.

Most recently I discovered a new tool that helps me save for specific goals, just like my old Christmas and vacation club accounts. It is called SmartyPig and I highly recommend it.

SmartyPig

SmartyPig is for people who want to save for specific goals. Whether it’s a family vacation, the latest electronic gadget, a wedding, or a down payment on a house, SmartyPig’s unique system can help you along. Just tell them how much you want to save and when you want to reach your goal, and they will offer you a number of unique options to help you get there. When you reach your goal you will find that you've accumulated a nice bit of interest, and if you spend your goal money at a participating vendor (Amazon, Travelocity, Sandals, Macy's, Overstock, etc.) you'll get an additional percentage added on to your savings, up to 12%.

Back to Basics

Its all about returning to "pay with cash" lifestyle. A lifestyle where you earn interest instead of paying it. Cut up your credit cards and start saving for what you want. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck in the end.

I love SmartyPig.

The Shame of the Mess

Christine Simiriglia — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:32:41 +0000

A reader (we will call her Chris) wrote to tell me that she hasn't invited anyone into her apartment for over two years because she is ashamed of the mess.

Chris sent me some pictures (this pic is not one of her pics)... it really is a mess. I believe she has a problem with chronic disorganizatiion and the beginning of a hoarding problem. We all know people who live in a mess. Some of us are people who live in messes. Some of us are reformed clutterers.

I'm not going to get into mess and clutter and how to clean it up here -- there are hundreds of articles on this website with instructions and encouragement for doing just that. What I am going to addresss is the "shame" involved in these problems.

Shame is never good or productive. Many people mistakenly believe that when "how we live" becomes something that we are ashamed of, the shame will motivate us to make different and "better decisions". Somehow the shame will motivate the cleaning of the mess. People... believe me when I tell you that it doesn't work that way.

What is true is just the opposite. Mess begets shame. Shame begets more mess and less self-respect. Less self-respect increases shame and guilt. Guilt causes people to want to hide the mess and bury the shame. The outcome is that they feel really really awful and don't invite people into their lives. There are very few real friendships and relationships. No one knows that there is an issue or problem. If no one knows, they can't help. They person with the clutter problem bares the brunt of all of this alone, afraid to let anyone in. It is a lonely and isolated way to live.

A life of mess and clutter, and the shame that accompanies it, doesn't "clean up" in a weekend. There is no magic answer. Merry Maids can't sweep it all away for you. The mess will always be with us until the shame is dealt with.

Many times, hoarding behaviors and chronic disorganization stem from some trauma in life that has never been shared or worked through. There are cases where people, until they got help, had no idea that they had been traumatized. We all have behaviors today that stem from things in our past (mine revolve around food). Chronic disorganization is the same... it comes from something else. The something else is what really needs to be dealt with.

My suggestion for Chris has two components. Both need to happen at the same time:

1) Engage the services of an organizer who specializes in working with people who hoard and/or are chronically disorganized (I sent Chris a list of folks in her area who might be able to help) and

2) find someone to talk to about what may be the root cause of the mess... a therapist, a minister, a local support group, an old trusted friend. By slowly working on the mess (outside) and the causes (inside), she will start to dig out and be able to live a life that is happier and filled with loving relationships.

Remember to shop around when looking to pay for any service (organizing, roofing, therapy, coaching, plumbing, etc.). Find a good fit for your comfort level and your wallet.

I suspect that there is a long overdue dinner party under all of Chris' mess -- just waiting to happen.

What is keeping you buried? If you can't identify the problem, look outside yourself for a little help. E-coaching could be a good starting point.

Coaching is not therapy, but it is a way to get some help without having to fully commit to someone being in your space and in your life at unwanted moments. You decide when. You work at your own pace.

If this post speaks to you, please leave a comment. Let me know if I can help.

Scam or Opportunity: Making Money on the Internet

Christine Simiriglia — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:43:52 +0000

We all have the recurring dream of only having to spend 2 hours per day in your home office and making $1,000,000 per year from that 2 hours of work. It's a dream... yes, really just a dream. There are lots of promises out there and lots of scams. Great stories of people who "made it" with very tiny fine print saying that the person in the video is an actor. MLM schemes, affiliate marketing ideas, using Adsense and Clickbank to make it rich... many of them may actually have a grain of truth buried in the idea but the promo your being offered is all lies, lies, lies!!!!

Read my lips blog: "You are not going to strike it rich using the internet."

You are not going to be able to replace your existing full-time income. You probably won't even make thousands... but there is some money to be earned. You'll notice I said "earned". You will have to work for it. You will have to follow-up and be consistent in your work. But it can be work that is enjoyable and flexible with time (how much and when you work) and space (from your home office or Starbucks).

Working outside of a regular office environment requires a lot of organizational and time-management skills. You have to create your own work rules -- your own parameters. It will require some discipline and some chutzpah. But, if you are looking for some supplemental income with flexible hours, it can be found in cyber space.

I can tell you these things from experience:

1) You must have a PayPal account. Its free and you can open one at Paypal.com. It is how most opportunities will pay you.

2) If you do a few legit online surveys, you can expect to cover the cost of your morning coffee. I love Buzzback. I do 1 or 2 surveys a week and have $5 or $6 deposited in my PayPal account. I enjoy their surveys and feel like I get to contribute to creating better products and marketing strategies. You can do more and make more by signing up with multiple companies. I just do it for fun!

3) If you write well and often, you can freelance some articles that you write in the evenings and on weekends and cover your car payment -- same with pictures if you are a photographer, or graphics if you are a designer. Freelancing allows you to sell what you already do.

4) If you blog, provide consistent valuable content and run ads on your blog -- you will start seeing profit around year three (I'm not covering the cost of this site yet, but I get a little closer every day. Please use my links if you buy from Amazon and click on the Google ads just to keep things interesting).

5) There are also a host of opportunities for virtual tutors, virtual administrative assistants, and the like -- all outlined on eHow.com. I am a virtual organizing and time-management coach... you can read more about this fantastic service on the coaching page.

6) If you are willing to do a little leg work, there is money to be made selling used books to Cash4Books.net. I made $82 for some knitting books that I hadn't look at in years. It's a free and easy service that even sends you the shipping label. Be entrepreneurial and offer to clear out other people's old books for them, and then sell those to Cash4Books.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have a clean and uncluttered space in which to work. Carve out your "work from home" time on your calendar and make sure it is really used as work time. Persistence and perseverance add up, as do the dollars (one at a time) in internet money making.

There is a really great article on eHow.com offering 30 tips about making some realistic money on the net. I didn't give you a lot of details or links in this piece, purposefully, because eHow did such a great job with them.

Good luck in whatever you do.

The Four Laws of Simplicity, and How to Apply Them to Life

Christine Simiriglia — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:41:57 +0000

The problem with many books and guides on simplifying your clutter, your work life, your desk, your life, is that they are usually too darn complicated.

We need a simple method of simplifying.

It’s been nearly a decade since I first started trying to simplify my life, and in those years I’ve struggled with clutter, I’ve had surges and ebbs of complications and simplicity, I’ve tried dozens of methods of simplifying from as many sources. It’s been an interesting journey, although not one that I can recommend to everyone.

If you’re looking to simplify a certain aspect of your life, you don’t want to go through that kind of confusion. So I’ve boiled it down to a simple method of Four Laws of Simplicity that you can use on any area of your life, and in fact on your life as a whole:

1. Collect everything in one place.

2. Choose the essential.

3. Eliminate the rest.

4. Organize the remaining stuff neatly and nicely.

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. - Confucius

To illustrate, let’s take a quick look at how to declutter a drawer. Let’s say this is the worst junk drawer in your home — it has take-out menus from restaurants that closed down a dozen years ago, manuals for computers that used DOS as their primary OS, tools that you have no idea how to use, more rubber bands, paper clips and chopsticks than you can ever use, mementos from your unfortunate foray into rubber stamp hobbying, souvenirs from that Mexico City trip you’d rather forget about, not to mention a funky smell that reminds you of gym class.

You could spend all day sorting through such a mess and still have a mess. (Or more likely, you’ll close the drawer and forget about it.) But let’s see how the 4-step method would be applied to our drawer:

1. Collect. Take out everything and put it in a pile. Empty the entire drawer, and pile it all on a counter or a table. Take everything out, down to the last paper clip.

2. Choose. Pick out only the few things you love and use and that are important to you. Just sort through the pile, picking out the really essential stuff. Be very selective. Put the important stuff you pick out into a separate, smaller pile.

3. Eliminate. Toss the rest out. You know you’ll never need those manuals again. Don’t be sentimental with this step. Either throw everything into a big trash bag, or find a new home for some of the items if you think someone might have a use for them — donate them to charity or give them to a friend who would love them. And yes, you have to toss out all the chopsticks.

4. Organize. Put back the essential things, neatly, with space around things. Clean the drawer out first, of course, and put the very small pile of things you chose back in the drawer, grouping like things together and leaving space around the groups. Having space around things makes everything look neater and simpler.

That’s it. You now have a very nice, simplified junk drawer, with (let’s hope) a much less funky smell.

This simple method can be applied to every area of your life. My suggestion is to focus on one area at a time, apply the method, and then move to the next area. So, if you just wanted to simplify a couple areas of your life, you could focus on one per week, but if you wanted to simplify your entire life, I’d do one area every couple of days until you’re done

Here are some examples of how you could apply the above method to other areas of your life:

Closets. Focus on one area of the closet at a time — a shelf at a time for instance. Take everything off the shelf and put it in a pile on the floor. Pick out only the really important stuff that you love and use. Put the rest in a box to donate. Put the important stuff back on the shelf, grouping like things together and leaving space around the groups. You could use containers for groups of things, using clear containers and labeling them. Or just leave the shelves fairly empty, and get rid of most of your stuff. Move on to the next area. My suggestion is to leave the floor of your closet clear — it makes it look much nicer and simpler.

Your desk. Clear everything off the surface of your desk (excepting, perhaps, you computer and phone). For the surface of the desk, I would suggest only putting your inbox and a nice photo or two, and nothing else. Put supplies in a drawer, and file the papers. Toss out the rest. Then do the drawers of your desk the same way, one at a time, leaving space in each drawer. It’s so much more relaxing to work in a simplified environment. After you’re done with the desk, do your walls.

Your work tasks. Have a long to-do list (or a bunch of long context lists)? Spend a little time adding every task or project you can think of to your lists, until it’s as complete as you can (GTD’s brain dump works for this). Then choose only the tasks that you really want to do, or that will give you the absolute most long-term benefit, and put those on a separate, shorter list. The rest of the stuff? See if you can eliminate them, or delegate them, or at least put them on a someday/maybe list to be considered later. Then only focus on your short list, trying to choose the three most important things on the list to do each day.

Your commitments. Make a list of all your commitments in your life, from work to personal. Include hobbies, clubs, online groups, civic groups, your kids’ activities, sports, home stuff, etc. Anything that regularly takes up your time. Now pick out the few of those that really give you value, enjoyment, long-term benefits. Toss the rest, if possible. It might be difficult to do that, but you can get out of commitments if you just tell people that you don’t have the time anymore. This will leave you with a life that only has the commitments you really enjoy and want to do. Leave space around them, instead of filling up your life.

Your wardrobe. Do you really need 40 T-shirts? Or 40 pairs of shoes? How many jeans do you actually wear? One drawer or section of your closet at a time, put everything on your bed in a pile, choose the clothes you really love and actually wear on a regular basis, donate the rest, and put the ones you love back in your drawers or closet. Leave space around the clothes — don’t stuff your drawers full.

A room. If you’d like to simplify your cluttered rooms, start with the furniture. Which ones do you love and use? Get rid of the rest. Now clear every flat surface in the room, from counters to tables to shelves to desktops. Choose the stuff you love, and get rid of the rest. Leave the flat surfaces as clear as possible, only putting back a few choice objects. Now do the drawers and cabinets the same way. Also do everything on your floor that’s not a piece of furniture, leaving the floor as clear as humanly possible.

Your email inbox. Have an email inbox full of clutter? Dump all your emails in your inbox into a folder. Scan through the folder, choosing only a few to reply to and putting those in a separate folder. Delete or archive the rest.

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. - Henry David Thoreau

This post was written by Leo Babauta.

Fight Cabin Fever

Christine Simiriglia — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:41:30 +0000

According to Wikipedia.com, cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in, in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness, excessive sleeping, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow or dark.

If you live anywhere that's been hit by blizzard conditions this winter, you know the feeling. On days when the weather is bleak, I always get sleepy and wish I could stay in bed. There have been a lot of those days lately.

I've decided, whent that feeling hits, to take the opposite approach. I get active. There are lots of things that need doing in the house. We all have home improvement task lists... some large tasks, some small.

Take the following steps to be prepared to use "cabin fever" time wisely:

1) Make a real list (written down on paper or your computer) of everything, little or big, that needs doing in your house: touch up paint, regrout tile, caulk bathtub, wax floors, paint moulding, clean out basement or attic, organize closets, hang a picture, fix a cabinet... anything and everything.

2) Next, make sure you have the tools and supplies needed to get these tasks done. Make a list of what is needed. Schedule a trip to your local home improvement store to buy all the necessary items. Store them in the basement or attic in a box marked "home improvement tasks" or "cabin fever".

The next time you get "snowed in", you'll have everything you need to make it a productive day. Put your favorite music on, pull out your box and start crossing things off of your to-do list.

Every cloud really does have a silver lining.