Category Archives: Organising

Holiday Planning

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We have started looking at possible holiday destinations.  The first question was Australia or overseas.

I wanted to go to Central Australia  (Uluru and Alice Springs), Darwin and Kakadu National Park.  Due to the wet season, timing is crucial and accommodation is outrageously expensive and limited availability.

Due to the strength of the Australian dollar an overseas trip looked feasible.  Apart from New Zealand, our only other overseas trip was to British Columbia in 2007.  The East Coast of USA has always appealed so we are now looking at possibly going to Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston in September/October.

I have downloaded a couple of different Lonely Planet guides to my Kindle and am quickly learning some US geography.  We have friends who know this area quite well as tourists so caught up with them today and have come away with loads of ideas.  Now I need to distill the information and find what we want to see and do.

How do you decide where to take a holiday?  How much do you plan and book in advance or do you leave it to chance?

Any ideas or suggestions gratefully received.

My Desk

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As promised yesterday I have taken some photos of my desk and the drawers.  There are papers and files on my desk during the day but I always pack them up before I leave.  On the extreme left is a vertical file where I keep assorted envelopes and a couple of manilla folders of pending work on the desk.  There is a dual screen monitor with keyboard and mouse.  Other things on the desk are the telephone, rubbish container (we do not have rubbish bins at our desks), block of sticky notes, desk calendar, stapler, calculator, container of pens and filing trays.

To the left of the desk is a small cabinet with 2 drawers and a filing drawer.  This is the top drawer which is mostly stationery items.  There is a bit more in here that can go when I get a chance.  The thing I use most is the paper clips.  I use them for files I am currently working on and once they are completed the papers are shredded and the paper clips go back in the drawer for the next round.  I only use staples when I am sending things to someone else so that I can be sure they do not get separated.

The next drawer has more personal items.  The three containers at the back contain dry crackers, home-made muesli and psyllium husk.  I start work early and generally have my breakfast when I arrive.  The notebook and papers are from a Journal Club I attend.  I have a teatowel and cutlery in one ziplock bag and toothbrush and toothpaste in another.

Beside the drawers is a cupboard with 2 shelves.  This has old files in it and I could probably sort through and discard at least some of them.

Do your habits at home spill over to your work area or vice versa?

Decluttering Mindset

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It seems that once you actively engage in decluttering a part of your life, regardless of whether it is physical or mental clutter, there is always more that you can find to do.

My home is far from totally decluttered but I have increasingly found myself applying the same principles to my space in the office.  I work in an open-plan office in a 5 star ‘green’ building.  Many people are resistant to the ‘rules’ attached to this standard, however, I am pleased that we have initiatives such as separate waste and recycling bins in the kitchen areas.  Compared to some others, my work-station is positively spartan.

2012-03-15 01Nevertheless, there are always bits of paper and other junk gathering so each day I check to see what else I can clear away.  It is much easier to work when everything has a home and you have only ‘enough’ of things like stationery supplies.

2012-03-15 02Neither of these desks are mine but I definitely am closer to the tidy than untidy one, thank goodness.  One day I will take a photo so you can see what it is really like.

On another note, Joanna asked what is in my make-up module.  Here is a list.

Liquid foundation
Blush + brush
Mascara
Lipsticks x 3
Eyebrow pencil
Lip pencil
Pencil sharpener
Compact mirror
Tweezers x 2

Apart from that I have a bottle of organic foaming face wash which lives on the shelf in the shower. There is a jar of moisturiser and rose hip oil which I use around my eyes in a different container in the drawer.  I do not use an fancy make-up remover – just the face-wash and water.  So, it is not only the physical stuff that is streamlined.  My beauty and make routine is about as simple as you can get.

What routines have you streamlined to make your life simpler?

Module and Launch

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No , it is not the space shuttle!

I do not wear make-up every day but this afternoon I was going out and planned to put some on, so it was a simple matter of retrieving the module containing my make-up from the drawer of the bathroom cabinet.  Here it is.

Make-up module

Yes, this is my entire make-up collection.

In her book on minimalism, ‘The Joy of Less’, Francine Jay talks about setting limits on the amount of stuff you have and one way of doing this is to create modules.  My make-up module was simply a matter of putting my current streamlined supplies into a container, however, it will help me to maintain a small collection now that it is contained.

Since we do not yet have a bathroom mirror I was able to easily pick up the container and take the whole lot into my bedroom to use the mirror there and then return the module to where it belongs in the bathroom.  No fuss, no searching and no time wasted which suits me perfectly.

Now to the second part of the title – Launch.

I went to the Queensland launch of Rhonda Hetzel’s simple living book, ‘Down to Earth’ at the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre this evening.  I had bought my book about 3 weeks ago and it is well on the way to being a much-loved reference book in my home.  You can read my review in a previous post here.  There was a good crowd of interested and enthusastic people and I really hope that this is just the beginning of more people making a real effort to simplify their lives and reap the benefits.

Putting It Back

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Today was a fairly rare occurrence as we went shopping.  Not grocery shopping but to a couple of large stores.  My first goal was to buy some containers/dividers for the bathroom drawers.

We went Howards Storage World and I bought these.

2012-03-11 01They are acrylic and have small silicone feet on them to stop them sliding in the drawer.  This is how they look in the drawer.

2012-03-11 02I have  done the top two drawers like this, the third drawer is empty and the bottom drawer has the hairdryer in it.

Even though I have culled the contents of the bathroom cabinet a couple of times, most recently when I had to take everything out of the room for the renovations, there was still more to do.  I carefully evaluated every single item before I put it back into the cabinet.  There are still a couple of things that need to be used up and will not be replaced, however, it is almost to the point of having only those things that I actually need or use.

This is the top drawer.

2012-03-11 03The second drawer.

2012-03-11 04This is the cupboard.  I used to have 2 plastic boxes – one was first aid stuff and the other was extras of medications, sanitiser gel etc so I have now condensed them into one slightly larger box.  The bonus is that it is high enough that everything is able to stand up in it.

2012-03-11 05These are the baskets that I had previously used in the bathroom drawers.  They were slightly too big for the space so had got a bit squashed and one was cracked.

2012-03-11 06The broken one (not shown) went in the bin but I scrubbed the others and have now used them to contain some of the small items in the drawers in my sewing room.  They have replaced some cardboard boxes that were a bit the worse for wear after nearly 20 years!

All I have left to do is scrub the 2 plastic boxes from the bathroom cupboard.  One, which has an airtight seal will probably go back to being a food storage container.  That was its original purpose.  The other was previously used for storing toys when Belle and Missy were small so I may offer it to Belle if she needs it for a similar purpose.

How Do You Clean?

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Do you clean all like things together or do it room by room?

From an efficiency point of view I suspect that it makes sense to do all of the sweeping or clean all of the light fittings.  On the other hand , I like knowing that I have completed one room.  An example is the bedroom – I may strip the bed then remove any cobwebs, wipe the windowsills, clean the lightshade, clean mirror, dust and polish furniture, vacuum the carpet, remake the bed with fresh linen – and it is all done.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while will be aware that the office is the unofficial dumping ground here and getting it the way I want it is a struggle.  Since the weather has been miserable today I have stayed indoors and continued to work on this area.

I am very pleased with my achievements so far.  Here is the desk.

2012-03-04 01Another view of the room.

2012-03-04 02Finally, the pile of stuff that I have yet to sort and find where it is going to live – either in this house or elsewhere.

2012-03-04 03Wish me luck!

Accessories – How Many?

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I have written here previously about my 1 handbag and an evening purse.  In many minimalist and decluttering blogs there is often a focus on clothes and even shoes which led me to thinking about other accessories and how many is actually enough.

I am not a huge jewellery fanatic but I always wear earrings – I don’t feel dressed unless I have them on.  I do not tend to wear dangly earrings as I am not terribly tall and do not find them flattering.

This is where I keep my earrings.

2012-02-25 01Here is my entire collection of earrings – 9 pairs.

2012-02-25 02

My apologies for the poor quality photo, but I am sure you get the idea.  They are all fairly simple, classic designs which is what I like.

The only earrings I have are ones that I love and use.

What do you have enough of?

What to Keep?

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From my own experience and what I have read, I think the most difficult thing to declutter and keep under control is paperwork.  It seems to be so insidious.

After my post the other day, titled ‘Gone From the Office’, Angasagain asked, “How long do you keep bills and bank statements for? Some of my filing sleeves are bulging but I’m not sure how ruthless I should be.”

The first thing to remember is that there are legal requirements regarding documents relating to tax returns.  In Australia, you need to keep all taxation papers and relevant documents, such as bank statements, for 5 years after the completion of the tax year.  This may be different in other countries so it is important to check the local laws.

I have set up the suspension files in the filing cabinet with one for each year.  At the moment we have:

Current year 2011-2012

5 previous years

2010-2011
2009-2010
2008-2009
2007-2008
2006-2007

When the next tax return is done, I will discard (shredded) the 2006-2007, add 2011-2012 to the previous years and create a new “Current year” which will be 2012-2013.  This is based on the principle of 1 in, 1 out.  If you do not do this regularly you are likely to find that you have 20 years worth of tax returns bulging out of the filing cabinet.

In conjunction with the annual cull of tax stuff I also get rid of the relevant year of bank statements.  Remember to shred all documents carefully to protect your security.

For all other paperwork, I find the best method is to ask yourself why you are keeping it and what possible scenario could arise where you would need to refer to it.

Household bills – we usually keep for 1 – 2 years so that we can compare them with the same period of the previous year.  I do not keep a record of how much we spend on particular bills over an entire year but some people do.

Product warranties, instructions and receipts are kept for the life of the item.  I would suggest setting up a 6 monthly schedule to review all of these documents and discard any that are no longer relevant.

In order to reduce the amount of paper, we choose to receive whatever bills possible via email and save them in the electronic format.  We only print them if required.

Being a good gatekeeper is essential.  Stop that paper before it gets in the door.  Consider putting a ‘NO JUNK MAIL’ sticker on your mailbox.  What will you miss?  Store catalogues advertising stuff that you didn’t even know you needed?  Flyers advertising services that you do not require?  If you seriously want to follow what grocery specials are available, I believe these can be accessed online although I personally have not done this.

Everyone’s requirements will be different.  This may depend on whether you are renting or have a mortgage, are studying, employed or receiving Centrelink benefits.  The most important thing is to review all paperwork critically when it arrives in your home and decide:

Do I need to receive this information?
Do I need to retain this information?

Please tell me how you go about deciding what documents come into your home and more importantly what gets to stay and for how long.

Keeping Things Contained

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One aspect of organisation that constantly eludes me is pending paperwork.  We do not have much as most of our bills are direct debits or paid online as soon as we get them.  I am quite efficient at filing things once they are dealt with but where do you keep things such as concert tickets, flight itineraries?

I have seen all sorts of systems that different people have but none really seemed to suit this household.  That is the important thing – make sure your system suits your needs.  Do not expect that just because it works for others that it will work for you.

Yesterday I decided to use a binder with plastic sleeves in it and label each sleeve starting with 1st through to 31st for each day of the month.  There is also a sleeve at the back labelled next month and some spares if I need them.

2012-02-15 01

Here is the folder and so far I have put the tickets for a dinner we are attending on Friday night in the relevant sleeve.  There will be other things as they turn up.  This is not a permanent filing system but a dynamic container for paperwork that we will need to access in the coming days and weeks.

I am hopeful that this will eliminate the various bits of paper lying around on the desk and kitchen bench.

The other thing we have contained is all of the fittings for the bathroom renovation.  They are all tucked away in an alcove ready for the work to start.  The plan is for it to commence next week.  How fortuitous that I am away for 3 nights for work!  It will not be too much of an inconvenience as we have a second toilet near the laundry as well as a fairly basic bathroom downstairs.

2012-02-15 02

I am really looking forward to having it all done.  I will post more photos once the action begins.

Making A List…..And Checking It Twice

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Santa Claus certainly had the right idea when it came to being organised.

2012-02-14 01I am doing some paid work at home tomorrow but also have a long list of things to do.  It is essential that I write a list to ensure nothing gets forgotten and also to do things in the most efficient manner.

Things I need to do include:

Put out rubbish and recycling bins for collection

Pick cherry tomatoes at neighbour’s place

2012-02-14 02Pick up parcels from the Post Office
Deposit a cheque
Take poster to the picture framers and choose a frame
Drop off stuff to the op shop
Go to the Co-op to buy tamari, peanut paste, shower gel and face wash
Go to the IGA to buy bacon and salami
Pick up seeds that I have ordered
Meet friends for coffee and to swap/share our produce

2012-02-14 03The list in italics all needs to be done in Maleny which is a 16km round trip so I make sure that I bundle everything together and get it all done in one trip.

2012-02-14 04Now I am off to set up a new bit of household organisation.  More on that tomorrow.