Donna Smallin Kuper's Blog: The One-Minute Organizer Blog, page 13

9 Tips for Organizing a Home Office

Whether you use your home office as a regular work space for telecommuting or running a business from home, or just as a place to pay bills, it needs to be organized so you don’t lose important documents or waste time hunting for essential objects or information. Here are 9 tips to keep your home office organized and decluttered so you can get your work done in record time with less stress.

Don’t Mix Business and Pleasure

A home office is a work space. If you’re running a home-based business, the first step in organizing a home office is removing everything not work-related from your office area. According to the Internal Revenue Service, a home office is only deductible if it is used exclusively for business purposes. Of course, if you’re not planning to take the home office deduction, your office can double as a craft room or guest room. But do yourself a big favor – create separate zones for those separate purposes.

Ergonomics Matter

If you spend several hours a day working in your home office, proper selection and organization of your work space will result in more personal comfort as well as less fatigue. Choose an office chair with good back support, a desk that raises your computer screen to eye level, and a keyboard tray to position your hands naturally without hunching your shoulders.

Create Stations

Divide your space into stations, with objects you use together grouped together. For example, create a printer area with spare paper and printer cartridges and a mailing area with address labels, stamps, and envelopes. You might also consider creating a home office supply center to store extra paper clips, notepads, pens and pencils, and other items.

Filing Systems

How much filing space do you need? When buying a desk, choose a model with one or more built-in file drawers where you can store the folders you access most often. Or add one or more standard or rolling file cabinets. Sort your files into major categories and place papers in clearly labeled hanging file folders. (You can skip the interior file folders.)

Pruning Files

In many business, you are legally required to keep files for many years. For example, the IRS suggests that you keep certain tax records for a full six years along with documentation for the current tax year. At least once a year, go through your files and divide them into three categories – current files, archival files, and obsolete files. Shred the obsolete files and move the archival files that you need to keep into clearly labeled file storage boxes that can be stored separately from your current files.

Invest in a Shredder

Any paper that includes your name and at least one personally identifiable bit information such as an account number should be shredded before being discarded to reduce the risk of identity theft. Keep a shredder and wastebasket in easy reach of your desk chair to make it easier to get rid of paper clutter.

Scan When You Can

Reduce paper clutter by scanning documents and storing them electronically when possible. Organize your electronic files into clearly labeled directories on your computer hard drive and get in the habit of backing up all your files to an external hard drive at least once a week. You might also consider automatic backup to Cloud storage.

Use Containers

Organize the contents of your drawers with separate containers for pens and pencils, paperclips, staplers and staples, and stamps. Invest in a desktop organizer to keep frequently used items handy, including folders, your favorite pen, and a notepad.

Label Your Cables

Nothing is quite as frustrating as searching through dozens of cables and not being able to find one that actually works with the device you intend to use. Buy cable labels to clearly identify every cable and power cord in your office. Or simply label and use plastic bread tags.

This guest blog post was submitted on behalf of Modernize.com. For more home ideas and inspiration for every room, please visit Modernize.com.

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How to Organize Your Photos

photo credit: Family Collage via photopin (license)

Just like any clutter in your home such as paper, mail, clothing, or toys – boxes of printed photos can take up valuable space. Worse, if that space happens to be a damp basement or hot attic, you run the risk of ruining your precious memories.

Here are some quick tips to help you organize your photos and protect them from damage, plus organize all of your digital photos as well, so you can enjoy and share them with friends and family.

5 simple steps to organize and preserve prints

STEP 1 – Collect photos from every place where they are stored and get them in one spot. A good area is one with a large, flat surface such as a dining room table or guest room bed.

STEP 2 – Ready, set sort! Choose one of the following ways to sort and organize your photos:

Chronologically – Sort by year or month. Start with the most recent photos and work backward.

By theme – Group like photos together and toss the duplicates. Sort into categories such as vacations, life cycle events, or by family member or generation.

STEP 3 – Decide how you want to store your photos – in photo albums or boxes? What you want are archival-quality photo organizing products and supplies that are classified “photo-safe” and “acid-free.” Boxes with dividers or envelopes (again acid-free!) can be used to help you sort your prints and label them into whatever categories you choose.

STEP 4 – Purchase supplies. Archival storage costs a bit more, but if you want to protect and preserve your photos, it’s the way to go. Look for archival products including photo-safe marking pens and adhesives on sale at your local craft store or online scrapbooking sites. Some big-box retailers have started to carry photo and scrapbooking products as well. If you choose to store your photos in boxes, all of these vendors also have an assortment of decorative and functional boxes.

STEP 5 – When you have new prints, take a few minutes to sort them right away to save you from having to deal with a massive backlog tlater.

Organizing your digital images

Organizing digital photographs does not require a degree in computer science. A few minutes of your time every month can save you a lot of headache in the future – and a good backup system for your precious digital memories can save you from heartache as well.

Set Up a Schedule

Many people get overwhelmed by the process of organizing photos. It’s one of those projects that can fall by the wayside in our busy lives. But after a while, the task gets too big to manage because you’ve put it off for so long. So the time to get started is now.

Just like other organizing projects, keeping up with your photos is an ongoing task. I recommend setting an appointment with yourself once a month to download photos from your camera, sort them into folders on your computer, or even have them printed. Labeling as you go will prevent guesswork down the road.

Save Only the “Gems”

We all take far more photos than we actually need. The convenience of smartphones, tablets and digital cameras allow us to take thousands of photos – yet nobody wants to sit and look through these thousands of images. Sorting and saving the key memories, the truly beautiful shots, the true “gems” of your collection will end up saving you money in the long run on the supplies needed to keep these memories safe.

For digital photos, it is best to sort directly into file folders on your hard drive. Create a file folder for each year. Within each of those folders, create folders for each month (use numbers 01-12, not the alphabetical names of months so that the computer will keep them in the correct order). If you wish, within each month, you can create folders for sorting photos into special themes or events.

Be sure to have a double back-up system in place. I recommend a portable hard drive and a form of automatic cloud storage to back up your main computer hard drive. The portable hard drive provides backup should your computer hard drive fail. The cloud storage is the failsafe for catastrophic events that could affect your hard drive such as theft, fire, or water damage.

Organize As You Go: Picture-Taking Tips

As you take photos, be mindful of taking too many “background” shots such as landscapes or buildings. Without a person in the photo or a personal connection to an emotion or a time, a photo of a landmark or mountain might as well be a postcard you bought in a gift shop. If you add personal relevance to the image, you will be more likely to save it for generations to come…and isn’t that why we take photos in the first place?

Jody Al-Saigh has a background in photography and design and earned a B.S. in Photojournalism photography from Syracuse University.  She worked for 10 years in print production and graphic design. In 2008, Jody decided to follow her passion for organization and started her own business, Picture Perfect Organizing. Her background in photography and design led to her specialization in photo and collection organizing. Jody is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and a Certified Personal Photo Organizer with the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO). In her business, she serves all of Northern Virginia, NW Washington DC and Montgomery County, Maryland. Follow Jody on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Pinterest for free, weekly organizing tips.

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Organizing Tips Newsletter – February 2015

ORGANIZING PLAIN & SIMPLE MONTHLY

Tips & Inspiration for Organizing a Simpler Life

February 2015 – Vol. 14 No. 2
Sweep away the clutter of things that complicate our lives. ~ Henry David Thoreau


A day in the life of an authorpreneur

I am very appreciative that you read my newsletters and blog posts, especially since I write them for you! I do my best to make them helpful and to put a bit of myself in them.

People often ask me if I’ve always been organized. The answer is yes, thanks to my parents who are two of the most organized people I know. But here’s something that might surprise you. I am a decluttering and cleaning expert, but I don’t make house calls.

I like to joke that I snuck in the back door of the organizing industry. My first book, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas, was published in 1999. I was a freelance writer back then and I wrote that book on a whim. I had no idea that it would lead to another and yet another book on the subject of decluttering, organizing, and simplifying life.

Fourteen years and fourteen books later, I spend less time writing books and more time writing this monthly newsletter and my blog. As an “authorpreneur,” I also spend a lot of time doing things that I would delegate to an assistant if I had one. Yup, it’s just little old me here behind the curtain.

A typical weekday for me goes something like this:

7:30am Get up, make a cup of coffee, sit down in front of my computer, and start reading. I read articles about writing and publishing, social media, and entrepreneurship. I also read articles on decluttering, organizing, and cleaning life that I share on my Twitter and Facebook pages. And I spend time doing research on new products and services that I think might help simplify your life.

9:00am After breakfast, I knock off a few quick tasks like welcoming new members to my Unclutter.com Organizing Support Group on Facebook and adding my two cents to some of the group conversations. My husband writes a daily blog about our life on road, so when he’s ready, I edit that for him. By mid-morning, I’ve already responded to a bunch of emails.

10:00am Every day, I exercise for at least an hour – I go out for a hike or bike ride or play pickleball. (Did I tell you that I qualified to compete in a 40K bike race at the National Senior Games this summer?)

11:30am After a quick shower, I throw in a load of laundry, make the bed, and do some light cleaning. (I find that it’s a lot easier to keep up than to catch up, don’t you?)

Noon – Time for lunch! My favorite lunch is a big salad with lots of chicken or fish.

After lunch, I might write a blog post, edit a guest blog post, or write an article, which can take the rest of the day. Or I’ll work on whatever special project is on my plate. (I’m currently revising my book, How to Declutter and Make Money Now and also organizing a bookstore for the upcoming annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers.) Or I might blow off work for the afternoon and do something fun with my husband or a friend. Or run errands. Or meet up with a colleague.

Once or twice a week, I have phone interviews scheduled with magazine or newspaper editors looking for tips on cleaning or organizing for articles they are writing. For example, here’s a Better Homes & Gardens slideshow article that I contributed to (opened to slide #7 so you don’t miss my tip!): Cleaning Hacks to Add to Your Cleaning Bag of Tricks. And here’s another article that was just published on BobVila.com: Maximizing Storage in Small Spaces.

Once a month, I review my financials (income vs. expenses), web site and social media stats, and things like that because if I don’t, who will? Every few months, I get hired to do a national Satellite Media Tour (SMT) which entails back-to-back interviews with television news programs for about four hours straight from a studio in New York City, sharing tips on a particular subject like “Clean & Healthy Home” and demonstrating products. A few times a year, I attend industry conferences and shows.

By the end of the work day, I have responded to what seems like 100 emails, but who’s counting? Not me. We almost always eat dinner at home (I think it’s healthier to eat home-cooked food, not to mention less expensive, plus I enjoy cooking). I spend some time each day looking for new recipes and planning meals. I generally start preparing dinner around 6pm and we eat by 7pm.

After dinner, I’m ready to put up my feet and watch a movie or a favorite TV show or read a book. (I just finished reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and before that it was North to the Night by Alvah Simon – both excellent books that were given to me as a gift by Changing Hands Bookstore after my book signings there last month in Phoenix and Tempe.) I also like to check in on my Facebook friends to see what they’ve been up to.

Around 10pm, it’s lights out! This gal needs a lot of beauty rest these days.

How to help a person who hoards

If you know someone who is hoarding and you want to help, you may want to register for this 3-session webinar with Susan Gardner, a fellow professional organizer who is also a Chronic Disorganization Specialist and Hoarding Specialist.

Session 1:  Sunday, March 8, 2015 – 4-5pm Central Time

This introduction to working with someone who hoards includes an overview of hoarding disorder, finding a therapist, approaching the subject of change, and assessing the situation at hand. Learn about hoarding disorder and some of the best practices in treatment and response.

Session 2: Sunday, March 15, 2015 – 4-5pm Central Time

In session two, learn body doubling, a method where a companion is calmly present while a person sorts and discards. In body doubling, you are present without giving advice or commenting on the person’s work. Even isolated people can become open to another person in the home.

Session 3: Sunday, March 22, 2015 – 4-5pm Central Time

Session three teaches about forming, training and supervising a team that will work in the home of a hoarder. From learning the traits to look for in team members to the supplies to take on the work day, Susan will teach appropriate team formation with a person who hoards.

Register today for the entire series and take half off the $48 course fee when you enter the code HRD2015 at checkout.  (It’s Susan’s way of saying thanks to me for sharing this event with you, which I am happy to do because I know that many of you DO know someone who hoards.)

For more information about Susan, visit her web site at ClearingTheWayHome.com.

Favorite organizing products and resources

As a professional organizer for the last 14 years, I’ve used and recommended a lot of organizing products, services and resources. Every month, in this column, I share my favorites.

Last month, I encouraged you to sign up for a subscription to Get Organized magazine. This is the only magazine that is dedicated to getting organized and written by some of the best, most dedicated professional organizers in the country. And it’s available in print and digital forms. Click HERE to learn more or to subscribe using the coupon code WEB14 for a 10% discount.

This month, I want to introduce you to affordable backup solution for ALL of your devices. IDrive offers backup solutions for PC and Mac along with backup via an app for your mobile devices. Your data is secured with military-grade encryption. You can access it from anywhere via any browser, computer or mobile device. And you can share your IDrive files via email, Facebook or Twitter, making it great for picture sharing. IDrive even backs up your Instagram and Facebook accounts – I didn’t even know that was possible.

IDrive is a top player in the online backup space with more than 3 million customers worldwide. What confirmed this choice for me was when IDrive won the prestigious PC Magazine editors choice award for best online backup solution for 2015. That’s a big deal in the online backup industry. Here is PC Magazine’s review for your review. Not only can you back up all of your devices, it costs less than similar services. I made contact with the company and they have agreed to offer my readers a 75% discount off the regular annual price for 1TB of space for one year, or just $14.88 a year. If you decide to try it out, click here to access this special offer.

Shameless promotion: More about me – really?

In a previous newsletter, I mentioned that I attended a two-day course to become a certified House Cleaning Technician. I passed with a grade of 96!

Speaking of cleaning, I was asked to share some of my favorite tips in these magazines that you’ll find on newsstands now:

Martha Stewart Living (February 2015) Order in the Bathroom (page 58)

O Magazine (March 2015) Declutter Your Space Once and for All (page 101)

Good Housekeeping (March 2015) 16 Ways to Organize Your Life (page 54).

Okay, this concludes the “all about me” issue of Organizing Plain & Simple Monthly. (Was that a sigh of relief I just heard?) Stay tuned for two guest blog posts on digital and print photo organizing coming your way next week!

That’s all for this month. Until next month, keep it simple.

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FULL DISCLOSURE: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission which goes toward the continuation of this complimentary newsletter. Please note that I only recommend products that I would recommend whether I got paid or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Organizing Tips Newsletter – February 2015 appeared first on Declutter Your Life with Donna Smallin Kuper.

Shout-out to Becoming Minimalist

A member of my organizing support group on Facebook recently posted this quote from Joshua Becker:

We can never fully know how much of a burden our possessions have become until we begin to remove them.

I had the pleasure of meeting Joshua Becker this week. The founder of Becoming Minimalist, this is a guy who walks his talk, inspiring and encouraging others to find more life by owning fewer possessions.

Joshua’s book, Clutterfree with Kids, is currently the #1 parenting book on Amazon, and Simplify, another one of his books, made the Wall Street Journal’s best-selling nonfiction e-books list back in November. And he’s hard at work on another book that will be released later this year.

It’s always fun to meet a fellow author. It’s even more fun to meet a fellow minimalist. Thanks to people like Joshua who write and speak about the joys of living with less, millions of people are embracing the minimalist lifestyle.

Still though, I think when people hear the word “minimalist,” many think of “living without” when what it really means is “living with plenty.”

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that my husband and I sold our home in July 2013, along with most of our belongings, to travel the country in our motor home. We took with us everything that was important to us and let go of the rest. And you know what? We haven’t missed a thing.

We didn’t set out to become minimalists. We simply made a choice to live with less so we could have more freedom. We traded an abundance of stuff for an abundance of experiences that have expanded our lives and brought us closer to each other and to our family and friends. We have everything we need, everything we want. And it’s more than enough.

How might your possessions be holding you back and keeping you from enjoying life more? If you made a conscious decision to live with less – just the stuff you really love and use, could you maybe have the freedom to work less – and have more time for the people and things that make you happy?

The post Shout-out to Becoming Minimalist appeared first on Declutter Your Life with Donna Smallin Kuper.

Listen Up!

photo credit: Radio Transmission Towers Atop Mt. Wilson via photopin (license)

 

I was asked recently – twice in one day in fact! – if any of my books are available in audio format. The answer is “no, not at this time.”

That question got me thinking that instead of reading tips in today’s blog post, you might enjoy listening to some tips.

Last Tuesday, I spent 6 1/2 hours doing live and taped interviews with radio stations across the country. And today, I found a clip of one of those radio interviews.

In just 5 minutes and 35 seconds, we cover a simple strategy for dealing with kid clutter, three things you can do to reduce mail clutter, something I call the poverty mindset and how it makes it hard to let things go, and how to declutter your closet. And we laugh a lot!

If you’d like to listen to the interview, simply (license)" target="_blank">click here.

 

 

 

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A Happy Ending to Paper Clutter

I look forward to decluttering as much as I would look forward to delousing, which is not at all. But having started the ball rolling last year by cleaning out my unmanageable file cabinet in the garage, I decided that as part of my 2015 resolution, I should pick another clean-up project so that I could pat myself on the back and feel smug.

Ha! Fat chance that I could find a reasonable task that easily!

Here were some ideas that I explored: Take on the attic? Noooo, maybe next year. Kids’ toys? No, I’d rather go to the dentist. Clean out my husband’s clothes and get him to part with some of his tattered favorites? Couldn’t stop laughing at this one.

Trying not to give up hope, I opened a bottle of red wine and after sipping a glass with some seriously dark chocolate as an additional treat, I spent time exploring my options. Finally, I decided to continue with last year’s “theme” and add a few manageable bells and whistles to what I had worked on last year.

The task I decided to attempt was to go through all the paperwork that had been added to the filing cabinet this year, clean out what I could, and then find ways to reduce the amount of paper that I collected in the coming year.

When the day came…

I cleared a large area in our family room and brought in the folders that needed to be reviewed. Unlike  last year, they were actually manageable. Then I gathered all the other things that I thought I would need. This included the shredder, my laptop, and my secret weapon…my son. (I bribed him with promises of candy and money if he would scan documents and shred and recycle as needed.)

Like last year, I went folder by folder and separated the documents. I also thought about whether I needed paper copies of statements for an account as I went through its folder. In a few cases, the answer was a resounding “yes,”  while in most cases I realized I had never looked back at the statements. I just wanted to be sure that I could get them if I needed them.

So while my son scanned and shredded documents as necessary, I logged in to my Finovera account (Finovera is a free personal financial management tool) and added my bills and financial accounts for automatic download of statements. Finovera supports most popular national providers and many regional providers. The advantage here is that now my statements will get downloaded automatically and will be in the same place as where I am storing my other important documents.  Along with many other nifty features, I’ll get automatic reminders when a new statement is available or a bill is due.

I then logged in to each of the sites that I had added to my Finovera account and set them up for e-bill delivery only.  A big win for the trees and great brownie points with my kids who are always nagging me to be “green” so there is a world left for them to enjoy.

Finally, I logged in to my bank and checked which bills were set up for auto-pay and found that we were still paying some of the utilities manually. I changed them and other bills (like the mortgage) to auto-pay. Goodbye late fees! I did choose to not make some of my bills auto-pay (like my credit card bill) as I’d like to see the bill amount and then pay it. Finovera is useful here, too, as it sends me a reminder when a new statement is available. I then log in and can review the statement and use their “one-click” access to log in to my credit card or bank site and pay the bill.

Paper clutter gone!

Compared to last year’s project, this project took a lot less time, especially with my son helping. By late Saturday afternoon, we were done! As promised, I took my son to the local grocery store and let him spend a few bucks for a sugar fix. While he was busy exploring the candy aisle, I bought a container of mixed olives, a bottle of wine, some crusty bread, cheese, and a variety of salads. On the way out of the grocery store, we rented a family movie. Finally, we headed home to put our feet up and enjoy a good meal and movie!

It was such an amazing feeling to know I’d managed to make my kids happy by using less paper, my husband happy as he’d have less bills to look at, and me happy as I’d have less to clean next January. Cheers to a happier, greener new year for all!

Preeti Ray is a Senior Product Manager at Finovera Inc. Finovera is a free service that automatically downloads bills and statements from your financial providers and organizes and stores all of your important papers safely and securely in your own personal online filing cabinet.

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Organizing Tips Newsletter – January 2015

ORGANIZING PLAIN & SIMPLE MONTHLY

Tips & Inspiration for Organizing a Simpler Life

January 2015 – Vol. 14 No. 1
You may never know what results come of your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. ~ Gandhi


5 Armchair Decluttering Tips

You want to declutter your home. I know you do. I also know that the hardest part is getting started. So I’ve come up with five things you can do to declutter, organize and simplify your life – without even getting out of your seat. No excuses now…get to it!

1.    Declare your freedom. Make today the day you declare your freedom from clutter by making a decision to surround yourself with ONLY the things that are meaningful to you today. Let go of the rest. If you don’t love it or use it, lose it.

2.    Phone a friend. Who do you know who is always saying she needs to get organized? Call that friend or family member. Float the idea of decluttering together – one week at your house and the next week at her house and so forth. Or set weekly goals and hold each other accountable. Or commit to helping each other work on bigger projects like cleaning the basement or garage. No luck finding an accountability partner? No excuse. Join my free organizing support group on Facebook.

3.    Be a daydream believer. Picture yourself in a home that’s clean and uncluttered. Close your eyes and mentally walk through your home, room by room. What does it look like? What do you love most? How does it make you feel? Before you start every decluttering session, return to that vision and hold it in your mind.

4.    Decide to share your abundance. Someone, somewhere could really use the stuff that’s just taking up valuable space in your home. Donating it all to one charity is the quickest and easiest way to get clutter out of your house. Go to Donationtown.org and find a charity in your area that will pick up donations. Bonus: Your donations may be tax-deductible; check with your tax advisor.

5.    Make a promise to your future self. Ask yourself: What is one thing I have been avoiding that if I did it, would make me happier or make my life easier? Take a deep breath. Stand up and get started on that task, even if it’s only to schedule time to do it. Your future self will thank you.

Originally written for and published at Inside Storey, Storey Publishing’s blog

Top 5 blog posts in 2014

January 2015 marks the beginning of my 14th year publishing the blog. According to my blog stats, these were the most popular posts from 2014. Maybe worth re-reading?

Help with Clutter: A Flow Chart

Paper Piles and Delayed Decision Disorder (DDD)

Decluttering and the Broken Windows Theory (inspired by a trip to Walmart)

Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

Letting Go to Create a Richer Life

Favorite organizing products and resources

As a professional organizer for the last 14 years, I’ve used and recommended a lot of organizing products, services and resources. Every month, in this column, I share my favorites.

Last month, I introduced you to a way you can scan all of your photos without buying a scanner or paying someone to scan them for you. You can rent a photo scanner from EZ Photo Scan and do it yourself, saving yourself a lot of money in the process. They offer 3-day and 7-day rentals. Imagine having all of your photos digitized in a matter of days! Here’s an idea for you: Get some friends and/or family members to go in on the cost with you and have a photo scanning party!

This month, I want to remind you that this is your last chance to get 20% off a new subscription to Get Organized magazine. This is the only magazine that is dedicated to getting organized and written by some of the best, most dedicated professional organizers in the country. And it’s available in print and digital forms. Click HERE to order. Enter the discount code GETORGJAN15 to save 20%. And then check out the giveaway tab for a chance to win a Scan Snap ix500 scanner – a $450 value. This amazing scanner scans a blazing 25 pieces of paper per minute! But the giveaway ends today January 24. So hop to it!

Shameless promotion: Catch me if you can!

Grab your copy HERE!

I’ve got a busy week coming up with live events from coast to coast. Catch me if you can!

On Tuesday, January 27, I am participating in a nationwide radio media tour to promote my new book Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness. Some of the segments will be taped to air at a later date. But following are the radio programs where you can catch me live:

8:15-8:25AM ET GREENVILLE/ JACKSONVILLE, NC WTKF-FM / WJNC-AM COASTAL DAYBREAK

8:35-8:45AM ET NATIONAL SYNDICATED DAY BREAK USA

8:50-9:00AM ET REGIONAL MASSACHUSETTS & RHODE ISLAND WBSM-AM PHIL & KASEY LIVE

9:00-9:10AM ET COLUMBUS/BUCYRUS WQEL-FM MORNING SHOW

9:10-9:20AM ET BALTIMORE WRBS-FM MORNINGS WITH TRACEY, MIKE & DAVE

9:35-9:45AM ET MADISON/LACROSSE MADISON,LACROSSE MORNING SHOW

11:35AM-11:45AM ET KANSAS CITY KMOX-AM/FM THE CHARLIE BRENNAN SHOW

On Wednesday, January 28, I will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Phoenix chapter of the American Marketing Association. My topic: Organizing Yourself for Success in 2015.

On Thursday, January 29 at 7pm, I’ll be sharing how I downsized from a 3,500-square-foot home to a 300-square-foot home on wheels and presenting tips from my book Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness at Changing Hands bookstore in Phoenix. Come say hello!

On Friday, January 30 at 5pm, I’ll be grabbing a light supper at Wildflower Bread Company at Tempe Square Shopping Center, 6428 South McClintock Drive, Tempe, AZ 85283 (next door to Changing Hands bookstore). You’re welcome to join me for an informal chat over soup and salad. Please email donna@unclutter.com if you want me to reserve a seat for you.

On Friday, January 30 at 7pm, I’ll be at the Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe doing a repeat performance of the previous night in Phoenix.

And don’t forget…

The eBook version of Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness is on sale for just $2.99, but only through the end of this month! Snap it up from your favorite online seller:

Buy from Amazon

Buy from Barnes & Noble

Buy from iTunes

Buy from Kobo

Buy from eBooks.com

That’s all for this month. Until next month, keep it simple.

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FULL DISCLOSURE: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission which goes toward the continuation of this complimentary newsletter. Please note that I only recommend products that I would recommend whether I got paid or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Organizing Tips Newsletter – January 2015 appeared first on Declutter Your Life with Donna Smallin Kuper.

A Gift for My Top Fans

Last year, I started using a service called MailChimp to send an email when I have a new blog post for you. At the end of the year, I received an annual report with some interesting stats.

From this report, I learned who my top five fans are based on how often they open emails from me and click through to read the latest blog post. Were you one of them? If so, I want to thank you, which is why you will be getting an email from me offering to send you an autographed copy of my latest book – Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness!

And I have a little gift for the rest of you as well. Right now, you can download the ebook version of Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness for just $2.99 all month long from your favorite online seller:

Buy from Amazon

Buy from Barnes & Noble

Buy from iTunes

Buy from Kobo

Buy from eBooks.com

Grab your copy HERE!

This book is filled with practical tips and inspiration to help you find happiness through the process of clearing the clutter from your home and life. It’s the kind of book you can pick up and turn to any page for a fresh idea or simple thing you can do in a matter of minutes.

“The last thing any time-challenged, unorganized person needs is a psychological analysis of disorganization and ways to correct one’s thought processes. Smallin delivers practical and easy tips that teach us to save time, remove piles of clutter, and have fun doing other things. Advice ranges from practicing random acts of organizing to emptying the car trash bag when stopping for gas. Smallin also provides methods for cleaning out closets and sorting through clothes. VERDICT – The beauty of the book is in its simplicity. Perfect for New Year’s resolutions to become more organized.” — Library Journal

You, my loyal reader, are the reason why I do what I do and I am grateful for you.  Thank you for supporting my work.

The post A Gift for My Top Fans appeared first on Declutter Your Life with Donna Smallin Kuper.

Clutter and the Battle of the Bulge

I don’t know about you, but I ate way too much over the holidays. It started with two Thanksgiving dinners and ended with a three-day New Year celebration.

I was shocked to discover that in less than six weeks, I had gained nearly 10 pounds! At that rate, if I were to continue doing what I was doing, I would gain 87 pounds by this time next year. Yikes!

That’s how it is with clutter. It creeps up on us as the result of all the little choices we make every day. To buy things on impulse or because they are on sale. To drop things anywhere instead of putting them away. To put off decisions about what to do with things we no longer love or use.

All these choices eventually add up to a home that is bulging at the seams in much the same way that I am bulging at the seams! Needless to say, I am now on a diet, which I prefer to call a healthy eating program. It’s a sensible plan that is simple, effective, and sustainable. That’s the kind of plan you want if you, too, want to win the battle of the bulge in your home.

How do you think shedding the excess stuff in your home would make you feel? Happier? Less stressed? Proud of yourself – and your home?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The way get clutter OUT the door is to deal with it the same way it came IN – little by little. Day by day. Room by room. Drawer by drawer.

The hardest part is getting started.

Remember Newton’s first law of motion? A body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in motion at the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an outside force. It may be a bit of a stretch to apply the law of inertia to decluttering. But the truth is that the “body of clutter” in your home is not going anywhere unless YOU set it into motion.  Thinking about doing something is not enough. You have to physically act on it.

That said, getting your brain in gear IS a good start and it’s something you can do right now.

What if you set an intention – right now – to remove one thing a day from your home – or maybe even three things each day?

What if you make a decision – right now – to not buy anything except necessities throughout the month of January?

What if you resolve – right now – to clean out one drawer each night after dinner?

I know that the prospect of getting organized (much like the process of losing weight) can seem overwhelming when you’re looking at months and years of accumulation. So instead of thinking about how long it’s going to take, focus instead on the little things you can do each day that will move clutter out the door and keep it out.

Robert Collier, a 20th-century American author whose self-help books are still popular today said, ” Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.”

I set a goal to shed 18 pounds. I figure if I can lose 6 pounds a month, I will be at my ideal weight 90 days from today. That’s a pound and a half a week, which is very doable if I stick to my plan – day in and day out as Mr. Collier suggests. That – and the promise I made to buy myself a new wardrobe this spring when I reach my goal weight.

Are you with me? What’s your goal for the next 90 days? And what will your reward be?

The post Clutter and the Battle of the Bulge appeared first on Declutter Your Life with Donna Smallin Kuper.

Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness

Grab your copy HERE!

I’m so excited because today’s the day!

Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness is finally available on Amazon and in bookstores everywhere.

This is my latest book and it’s filled with practical tips and inspiration to help you find happiness through the process of clearing the clutter from your home and life.

It’s the kind of book you can pick up and turn to any page for a fresh idea or simple thing you can do in a matter of minutes. And it makes a great gift idea.

Who doesn’t want less clutter, more happiness?

And who doesn’t like a good deal?

I just discovered that for a limited time, you can take an extra 25% off any book on Amazon. Just use promo code BOOKDEAL25 at checkout. (Excludes Kindle eBooks and Audible Audiobooks.)

Get a sneak peak inside Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness on Amazon. If you like what you see, grab a copy today. You’ve got nothing to lose but the clutter.

 

The post Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness appeared first on Declutter Your Life with Donna Smallin Kuper.