In the News

Letting it all hang out (The Chronicle-Herald - Nova Scotia, Ca.)
URL: http://thechronicleherald.ca/AtHome/544852.html
Writer Janice Wells reflects on her experience in decluttering: “…it appears that maybe all people like me need is a better understanding of how our brains operate and a few tools and tips to work with, and that’s where a session with a professional organizer can make your good intentions succeed and your fantasies of organization come true.”

Coming clean (Sacramento Bee)
URL: http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/84210.html
This article looks into what the state of cleanliness in your house may say about your state of mind. Then it discusses what it can do for your state of mind.

Turn holiday chores into cheer (The Wichita Eagle - Kansas)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/wue8k
Articles about curbing the potential holiday madness are inevitable around this time of year…and with good reason. This one has pointers on making some common holiday “chores” enjoyable…

Get organized to enjoy the holidays (The West Linn Tidings - Oregon)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/y4pu39
…and this one has some pretty smart advice on using organization to make some of those chores easier.

Pack smart (Washington Post via Winston-Salem Journal - North Carolina)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/y2q8kf
The most extensive article of tips on packing and traveling we’ve seen in a long time. This author has thought of just about everything…now you don’t have to. :-)

Keep it simple (The Press-Enterprise - Inland Southern California)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/yylhpf
This is a good overview of the modern movement toward simplification.

Averting seasonal/holiday insanity (The News-Sentinel - Fort Wayne, IN)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/yy6vav
It’s the fabled “holiday season” again—which means it’s time to lose your mind with stress and franticness. Unless…

Basement? Don’t waste it (McClatchy Tribune - Wilkes-Barre, PA)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/y5kro3
Basements, which are dreadfully under- or -mis-used in many cases, can be one of the most useful areas of house. This article breaks it down for you.

Harvey Mackay: Make the most of your time (Orange County Register)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/ydumhd
The best-selling inspirational business writer (”one of the greatest writers of our time”, according to Norman Vincent Peale) drops some time management truth bombs.

Prioritizing duties builds productivity (Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/ykb7dc
This article focuses on one simple method for getting things done. It worked for Charles Schwab!

Family’s high-tech day has 43 hours (Toronto Star)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/ygbueo
“Technology has us multi-tasking to the point that if we add up all the hours we spend sleeping, working, commuting, watching TV, emailing, text messaging, spending time with family and using the Internet, the average person’s number will add up to more than 43.”

Falling victim to procrastination (The Spectrum - University of Buffalo)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/yav6qm
Advice for college students on combating a very common demon. A solution suggested by one student: Stay busy. “It’s hard to be a procrastinator when you have a lot of things going on,” she says. (Obviously, having the right things going on is key too.)

Procrastination is a Waste of Time (Carolina Newswire)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/pghfm
“We all have tasks that we don’t like to do. Procrastinating only prolongs the agony.” This article has some good ideas on how to end that agony.

Back-to-School Time Management for Moms (The Conservative Voice)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/o9dhx
This article focuses on stay-at-home or work-at-home moms. Now that the kids are out of the house for a big chunk of the week, you have more time to work with. Here are some tips on how to work with it.

Moving toward effectiveness in your business (Entrepreneur Magazine)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/oc4pu
Three basic, smart tips on how to be, well, more effective in your business!.

Purging your closet (The Vancouver Sun)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/qbq8o
Fall is easily the best time of year to clear out your closet, since the change of season demands that you re-evaluate your clothing options anyway. This article takes you through the process with a fair amount of detail.

All Work and No Play? No Way  (LA Times)
URL:  http://tinyurl.com/kp8dp
Americans find it hard to vacation, it seems - and many companies are pushing harder to make sure they take time off.

Time manager talks about balanced lives (Arizona Republic)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/qvayb
Time management expert Kim Ussery talks about starting your scheduling efforts not with the calendar, but with your priorities instead…and about determining what balance means to you. (NOTE: AZCentral.com requires some minimal demographic information (though not registration) to view this article.)

Learning to Manage Your Energy (Entrepreneur Magazine)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/ntz36
“Unlike time, your energy capacity is something you can increase and renew in order to meet the challenges you face on a daily basis.”

A disdain for disorder (The News Journal - Wilmington, DE)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/nzkxz
This profile of professional organizer Sue Frost ends with 15 organization tips.

Now is the ideal time to get kids, parents and calendars organized  (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/efdfe   

Study rooms: Space management for students (Toronto Star)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/rtz6n 

Garages: Give car a space alongside clutter (Contra Costa Times)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/qbg5d 

Book review: Organizing Magic—40 Days to a Well-Ordered Home and Life  (Newsday.com)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/f2fay
This review doesn’t sugar-coat the book or pan it. It’s an even-tempered review which lets folks know if the book might be for them.

Organized for Success (The Gainesville Times/Prince William News)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/j9ywe
This article is supposed to be a “back to school” organizing guide, but it makes for a comprehensive set of pointers for anyone who’s looking September in the eye. It’s very long and detailed.

Time Management for Retail Sales Professionals (Furniture World Magazine)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/kupck
This is another article that’s supposed to be for a target population, but should work for almost anyone. You don’t need to be in retail to get a lot of good ideas from this extensive article on time management for business owners. We stole our quote of the week from this article.

Time management for your livelihood (Entrepreneur.com)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/n7lq6
This article uses a variation on the “rocks in a jar” metaphor—different-sized “bricks” to build with—to help describe how to break your day’s time up into chunks in the most effective way you can.

Prioritizing is the key to staying organized (The Star Tribune - Minneapolis-St.Paul)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/nd4bx
This review of the new book It’s About Time by Schar Ward includes some “common-sense, homespun advice” from the author. And of course, it emphasizes prioritizing as the number one step toward getting and staying organized.

Electronically Organized (Philadelphia Enquirer)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/rf5zz
While author Schar Ward disses electronic organizers in the above article, this one talks about how more and more families are using an increasing selection of software-based calendaring and scheduling tools to keep things flowing smoothly—and with successful results. It’s an extensive look at the options and possibilities.

A system to cope with (paper) clutter (The Post-Standard - Syracuse, NY)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/rwje7
This article offers a series of step-by-step processes to help get control of the constant flow of paper in your life.
NOTE: Syracuse.com requires some basic demographic info (but not registration) to read this article.

When life moves too fast (Arizona Republic)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/qjwuo
“7 ways to slow your pace, live in the moment and enjoy your family more”
NOTE: AZCentral.com requires some basic demographic info (but not registration) to read this article.

Entrepreneurs Take Time To Organize Their Time (New York Times)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/lnkx3
Here’s an excerpt from this excellent article: After working with Ms. Ricci, Jonas Berwick, a private detective in Lawrenceville, Ga., decided he should spend his time directing and expanding his seven-person business, not “the minutiae” like paperwork and routine administrative tasks. He reduced his workweek to 40 hours, from 70, and said that his stress level had dropped as well. Mr. Berwick later hired Ms. Ricci to conduct a seminar for his staff on overcoming procrastination. “Before, my life was one of worry and anxiety and stress,’’ he said. “I was a firefighter. All I did was put out fires. I never prevented fires from occurring, as I do now. I did not get any business growth or development accomplished.”
NOTE: registration required — or use the username “projectsimplify” and password “simplify”.

Address this mess (Chicago Sun-Times)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-messy25.html 
The story of the transformation of one teenager’s bedroom from nightmare to shining example—in two hours!

Cleaning up clutter: You’ll save time and money, experts say (Bradenton Herald)
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/living/15129448.htm
Excerpt: People who consult with professional organizers are rarely the chronically disorganized, [Barry Izsak, president of the National Organization of Professional Organizers] said. “They are people who recognize that personal organization is a survival skill.”

Getting a grip on schoolkid clutter (Chicago Sun-Times)
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/31/Floridian/Get_a_grip_on_schoolk.shtml 
Many solid tips and recommended accessories for helping your kids have an organized school year.

Professional organizer helps increase workplace productivity (The Reporter - Vacaville, CA)
URL: http://www.thereporter.com/business/ci_4086074
Excerpt: [The satisfied customer] added that while some people may view calling in a professional organizer as frivolous, “It’s not frivolous if you value your time as much as your money. If you are challenged by organizing, then you would be better off with someone to assist you, or you can languish in the self-imposed limbo that you’re in.” It’s like landscaping a home without any experience, he said. “If you have an idea what you want your landscaping to look like, you can choose to go out and start digging or you can hire a professional to come in and do it, make it look really nice and do it much quicker than you can,” he said. “This is the same thing.”

Closet Organizing 2-parter (ABC.13.com/KTRK News)
URLs: http://tinyurl.com/gy5t2 and http://tinyurl.com/kosol
Last week we had a basement-taming article—this week it’s a 2-part article on closet-busting. The first page is more the “article” part; the second page is a tip sheet that goes over most of the main things to consider.

Take command - stay organized! (Loudoun Times-Mirror)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/jld4s
This article discusses how to create a useful “kitchen command center” for your home.

Going Clutterless — Cleaning a bit at a time the answer to the mess (The Monitor - McAllen, TX)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/geknc
This is yet another article on decreasing clutter, which repeats some themes we’ve heard before, but includes some new points and angles. (We try not to include articles that don’t bring up something new.) Examples? Accept that there is a certain amount of mess that you are OK with, and go from there. And recognize your clutter patterns—it’s the key to fixing them.

Leave work behind while on vacation (CNN.com)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/h7qjw
This article talks about how to make sure your using your vacation time as play time, not as work time. Best tip? If you have to connect with work while on vacation, do it early in the day, so the rest of your day is truly free.

A Place for Everything (Los Angeles Daily News)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/fy6mp
In this article, TV organizer Peter Walsh is consulted on how to get closer to that key organizing ideal “a place for everything” in your home. Lots of good tips ensue.

Boxed-In Basement? No Sweat! (Detroit Free Press)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/f8gdh
During the brutal July heat is just the time to descend to your nice cool basement and straighten it up, says this article. If you agree (and if I had a cool basement, I would), it’s got a comprehensive guide to help you out with the job.

The financial and psychological costs of disorganization (Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/h9wkb
If you hear all this esoteric-sounding stuff about simplifying and mindspace, and wonder, “What’s the practical impact of it all?”, this article is for you.

Creating flow helps a firm go (The Kansas City Star)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/j5wo9
The organizer in this article “helped identify the reasons he procrastinates and restructured his daily schedule to better focus on priorities and “high payoff” activities, such as finding new clients. And it’s worked, he said. ‘Instead of 20 percent of my time being extremely productive, I’m about 80 percent productive.’”
[Note: Shawn brought up “flow” in The Weekly Simplifier #8.]

Want more free time? (The Oregonian)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/koypj
This article is about organizing for parents–especially, the benefits of making a family schedule, and tips on doing it. One tip: if you fear adopting a full-fledged super-schedule, try just setting maybe two or three regularly-scheduled activities during the week. The benefit? You can stop concerning yourself about the item, knowing that you’ve blocked out a time to make sure you do it.
[Note: Some demographic info (but not registration) is required by OregonLive.com in order to read this article.]

Time management is a big key to success (Miami Herald)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/14918269.htm
This article talks about adopting a time management system that works for you. The accompanying sidebar has 5 additional time management tips (two of which should sound familiar to The Weekly Simplifier readers, from our own Tips of the Week!)

If time management confuses us, then why not children? (Scripps Howard News Service)
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=HOMEWORK-FAM-06-29-06
How to help ease children into learning about time management, planning, and scheduling. According to this article, summer vacation is the perfect time for it!

21st Century Business: When 24/7 is simply not enough (Belfast Telegraph)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business_telegraph/story.jsp?story=697266
The title of this article could be titled “Dealing With Lots of Email”, but that’s not very flashy and buzzwordy, I suppose. There are a few new suggestions here, including “quit needless cc’ing”, which is a good one for sure.

What lurks behind pantry doors (Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20060620-093828-7627r.htm
My solution to the “pantry problem” was to live by myself and hardly keep any storable food around. (I actually have a cabinet in my kitchen which is completely empty all the time!) But for those of you for whom that is not a viable option, there is this article which explains the fine art of pantry taming.

Energize! (Arizona Republic)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0619energy0619story.html
According to the experts in this article, “energy management” is just as important as time management, if not moreso. (And I don’t mean electricity and fuel…we’re talking personal energy here.) One woman in the article developed an “energy template”, and found that “her productivity had increased tenfold and ‘I make more money working less time - a lot more money working less time.’”

Organize Your Books and Magazines (iVillage.com)
http://home.ivillage.com/cleanandorganize/organize/0,,98bl,00.html
Organization expert Regina Leeds doesn’t want you to abolish books, magazines, and catalogs from your home—she just wants you to control them. Why? Because “brought into the average home or office without rhyme or reason, magazines, books and catalogs will take over like a plague of locusts.”

Clearing the way ahead (Stuff - New Zealand)
http://tinyurl.com/fc5op
This profile of New Zealand time-management expert and professional organizer Rosita Guy may be the most useful and informative profile/tips article we’ve featured yet. Or at least, it seems to get at a little more of the meat than some of the others. (And it has the seemingly revolutionary suggestion that businesses should consider reducing their operating hours - or even closing an extra day!)

Interview: Donald Wetmore, founder, Productivity Institute (Washington Technology)
http://tinyurl.com/zs22v
Washington Technology’s editor talks with the Productivity Institute’s Donald Wetmore about “about how to increase personal productivity, avoid procrastination and, best of all, avoid unnecessary meetings.”

Downsizing has its ups and downs (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
http://tinyurl.com/fsjc7
This story about moving from a larger home to a smaller one focuses primarily on retirees, but the stories and tips there should be relevant to anyone “downsizing” their living accommodations.

Organizer finds her place in life (Baltimore Sun)
http://tinyurl.com/g7ehr
“Professional organizer Susan G. Romanic declutters closets, organizes garages and turns home offices into models of efficiency. But she specializes in cleaning up a particular kind of mess, the kind caused by people who hoard. One client, she said, was living out of his SUV because his house had become uninhabitable. Another had piled so much stuff on the dining room table - including 17 rolls of tape - that the table’s feet were starting to split….”

Pre-dawn risers relish peaceful “me time” (Arizona Republic)
http://tinyurl.com/l5bfd
(NOTE: In order to view this article, you’ll need to supply some minimal demographic information to AZCentral.com.)
For those seeking true “quiet time” in our modern world, the time before dawn may be one of the last refuges available. At least that’s the thinking behind this article. Plenty of people are taking advantage of the opportunity–more and more folks are making use of the time “when no one else is up” to prepare themselves mentally for the day…and they are reaping the benefits that come from it!

Get Organized (Washintonpost.com)
http://tinyurl.com/kle6h
Several useful tips on how to get your home and your stuff organized, from professional organizers, cleaners, and movers. Some of these are a little basic, but we wouldn’t be including it if it didn’t offer something new–and it serves as a good rundown of the main steps and phases involved in decluttering.

Tidying up worth it (Regina Leader-Post)
http://tinyurl.com/fqklf
Once your place is decluttered (or maybe it already was), then it’s time for cleaning. This article reviews the process of clearing out your stuff, then gives a lot of useful tips on how to do a powerful “spring cleaning”, no matter what the season.

Freeing your mind from the stresses of the workday (The Arizona Republic)
http://tinyurl.com/nv4c8
This article has a handful of simple exercises “to help people stop working when they’ve stopped working”.

Professional Organizer Says FOCUS, Simplify (The Connecticut Post)
http://tinyurl.com/zegbj
This profile of professional organizer Anita Taylor highlights, among other things, her FOCUS acronym as a means to getting more done. The “F” in FOCUS stands for “Find the best time of day to get things done”—the theme of our own newsletter two weeks ago! Learn the rest of the acronym/method, and find out how one of Anita’s clients (a high school volleyball coach) uses mind mapping to make his team’s practices more efficient.

Business Is Booming for Professional Organizers (St. Louis News-Sentinel)
http://tinyurl.com/mypdh

This article highlights the “booming” professional organizing (P.O.) industry, and explains some of the reasons why a P.O. can help you to get better control of your stuff, your business, and your life. A handful of working organizers and clients are profiled.

There’s Something About Being Merry (American Chronicle)
http://tinyurl.com/h96u8
In Cyndi Seidler’s latest column she talks about making your room happy, and offers an experiment to prove that rooms show emotion.

Professional Organizers Cut Clutter (Buffalo Grove Countryside)
http://tinyurl.com/ekm95
This small-town (suburban Chicago) story follows organizer Michelle as she tames “lid-hoarder” Staci’s kitchen. “If you don’t need it, use it, or love it- get rid of it,” says Michelle. “So, I should just throw all these lids away?” says Staci (who devoted precious counter space to a large blender she had only used twice in four years).

Time Is On Your Side … If You Have Nothing To Do
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=9391
“Organizer to the stars” Cyndi Seidler muses on sleeping in, and the “scattered action” syndrome.

Mess Management (Bangor Daily News)
This in-depth article profiles several professional organizers in Maine and their clients. It discusses why different people become disorganized, and what can be done about it.

Solving the work-life dilemma (MercatorNet)
This interview with Chicago-based management professional Mary Hunt is an excellent discussion on balancing home life with work and career. She runs a training and consulting firm that offers home management solutions for blending work and personal life.

Tackling Time Management (Oshkosh Northwestern)
This review of an OshKosh (Wisconsin) time management seminar provides an overview of some of the basic principles and tips.

WLB (Work Life Balance) in Malaysia
URL: http://tinyurl.com/gnlew

This article, titled “It’s all about balance”, is about how one large company (Shell) is working to accommodate the Work-Life Balance needs of its employees, and getting (surprise!) happier and more loyal employees in return. Such win-win arrangements, which involve flexible scheduling, work-at-home potential, and activity groups (like yoga, bowling, or Toastmasters) are becoming more common. Here’s looking forward to the day when something like this is widespread enough to not be news!

BBC: The Science of Happiness
URL: http://tinyurl.com/ftkaw

The BBC is doing a six-part special about the latest research on happiness, and you don’t need to live in England to harvest the fruits of their labor. They’ve got a ton of resources and information about happiness in the 21st century at the web site for their program The Happiness Formula. (http://tinyurl.com/egvpk)

“The Science of Happiness” article discusses how scientists study happiness, and shares the findings of the top experts in “positive psychology” and related fields. At least one expert says that people may only have a limited range (say, 10-15%) when trying to adjust their happiness upward (”you can’t take a grouch and make him giggle all the time”)– but it’s probably worth trying. Scientists are trying to pin down the exact science of it all, but there does appear to be a correlation between happiness, better health, and a longer life. Learn more at the “Science of Happiness” article (http://tinyurl.com/ftkaw ), or check out the other resources from the BBC special, which are featured alongside the story.