Organizing Your Documents and Go Paperless!!

The 2012 organizational crusade continues in our home.  The next project I have almost completely tackled is the file cabinet.  Let me introduce you to my file cabinet.  It has four drawers, it's black metal and it's incredibly ugly.  I hate it.  It has served its purpose over the last few years however, it's time to get utilize the technology I have available to me. 

I have a ScanSnap document scanner hooked up to our home network.  Our home network has an external hard drive that we can store everything from documents to pictures.  We back our computers up to this hard drive and always have a fail safe.  This hard drive has a back up hard drive in case one fails.  Nifty huh? 

So last night I began the task of sorting through that giant filing cabinet.  The only papers that I didn't put in the shred box were birth certificates, car titles, etc.  Everything was scanned and named as a PDF.  The part I'm super excited about is the kid's drawings.  I scanned in art work I had been saving from my kiddos.  The result is a beautiful color PDF of their pictures.  The macaroni art however, was sacrificed to the trash can gods.

You don't have to have a ScanSnap or a crazy complicated external hard drive network to do this yourself.  Most printers these days are 3-in-1 with scanning capabilities.  You could scan and save to a disk or use an online document storage service.  The options are endless. 

Sort your mail while at your scanner.  If you are still receiving paper bills, you can scan them right away and toss them.  Doing this and being diligent about it will stop those piles of envelopes and paper from piling up on your table, mantle, dresser, counter, etc.  Handle all things once, to keep from moving them from place to place and wasting precious time shuffling paper.

Now I have a partially empty file cabinet for sale.  Hundreds of hanging file folders and manila folders to go with it as well.  The black file cabinet will be at the yard sale this weekend if you would like to visit.  I feel fantastic to be rid of the paper that is bogging down my life!

Cleaning out your closets is a daunting task. It is one of those things that makes more mess before you see any results. Let me walk you through this step by step so that you don't end up with an unfinished disaster on your hands.

Allow a big chunk of time to do this, preferably when there aren't children running around that may need you or distract you from your mission. Have 3 boxes or bags ready. Box #1 is TRASH. Box #2 is DONATE. Box #3 is SELL. Grab a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, whatever motivates you more. Now it's time to dig in and simplify your closet!

First, take a 'Before' photo and post it to Facebook. This may help if you need some accountability. Allow your friends to ridicule you and make comments about what a slob you are. Second, remove everything! Make it look like the day you moved in. Dust, wipe down shelving, sweep, vacuum, etc. Ahhh....now gaze at it for a minute. Take a second picture.

Now it is time to begin the purging process. Here is a decision tree you will use for all items before they are placed back in the closet.

Try everything on (if it doesn't fit it don't you dare put it back in that closet!)

It goes back in the closet if it meets the following criteria:

• You've worn it in the past 6 months 
• You love how you feel in it 
• It is in good shape without holes, rips, stains, etc.

If it doesn't fit (or is completely out of style) you have 3 choices:

• If it is in good shape place it in the 'Sell' box (I'll address a paragraph on selling items later)
• If it is in Fair/Questionable shape, place it in the 'Donate' box (Anything they can't sell gets donated to other countries)
• If it is damaged, stained, ripped or just plain ugly, TRASH IT!

Just a note to those of us who at any given time have a range of 3 different sizes of clothes in our closets:

Those tiny jeans that don't fit... and you are using them as inspiration to lose weight... so that you one day might fit into them....you know those jeans? Please... for your own sake, place them carefully into one of the boxes. Those jeans will only make you cry and feel like a failure. Plus, most importantly, they take up valuable closet space!!! Make a promise to yourself that if you lose that weight, you will treat yourself to a brand new pair of jeans that are not acid washed jeans from 1993.

Ok, so now you have tried everything on, placed items in your boxes, and are ready to refill your closet with only things that make you happy.

 Shoes: I keep the shoe boxes for most of my shoes, especially seasonal shoes that are only worn certain times of the year. These can be stacked out of the way and brought out for the season or for a special occasion. They do not need to take up space on your shoe rack.

 Purses/Accessories: I have a lovely fabric covered box from IKEA that was super cheap to store my purses. They all go in there and I purge them once a year. If I haven't used a purse in a year, it goes buh-bye.

Scarves/Hats/Gloves: Cold weather gear should have it's own home. I use another IKEA box for this as well. I'm a scarf and hat hoarder. This might be acceptable if I lived in a cold climate. I have more scarves and hats than any Floridian should rightfully have. I am at peace with this and would rather give up something else and keep my cold weather box of goodies. Balance....that's the key here.

Clothing: If you have the inclination, buy hangers that match. Get rid of all those hangers from the dry cleaners. It brings a 'zen' to your closet to have matching hangers. Try to organize your clothing in groups of slacks, skirts, shirts, sweaters, etc. Fold what you can to give you as much hanging space as possible. If your clothes are cramped in there, they get wrinkled, fall down and you really can't tell what you have. Get some inexpensive under the bed storage boxes for bulky items like jeans and jackets. You'd be surprised how much space you can create.

 Now everything is back in the closet and it looks fantastic! Awesome job! Now for the mess left behind on the bed and in the bags/boxes on the floor.

We'll address this, box by box. Ok, let's do the easy one first.

Box #1, TRASH, take it right now to the can, the curb, the dumpster. Get it out of your life.

Box #2, DONATE, place this box in your trunk, right now. That way, when you pass your local Goodwill store, you will have it with you.

Box #3, SELL, this one is going to take a few minutes to work on. Grab another cup or glass of whatever it is that you are staying motivated with.

Selling:

Ok, let's make some money! I sold 5 Polo shirts the other day on eBay for $25. We were just going to toss them into the Goodwill bag. $25 bucks is $25 bucks. I'll take it. Look through these items and sort them.

The easiest route is to consign these items at a local consignment shop. Call around, ask if they pay upfront, drop off times, what season of clothing they are accepting, etc. Boom, done. Money in your pocket. This is the fastest way to rid yourself of these items, but also the least profitable. Money is money though, you weren't making anything with it sitting in your closet.

The second option is to use Craigslist. Almost every city has one. www.craigslist.com. Who is 'Craig' anyway? If you have an iPhone, download the Craigslist Pro app. This makes it super easy to list your items from your phone. It's completely free to use. There are a few cons to be aware of with Craigslist though. #1 you have to answer questions by email/phone/texts from prospective buyers #2 Make a plan to meet them to give them the items (I hate having them come to my home) #3 People back out all the time and leave you hanging.

       Option 2b: Have a yard sale. Post the ad for the yard sale to Craigslist. Whatever doesn't sell, donate. Done.

The third option is eBay. Probably the most profitable, but definitely the most labor intensive. If you have a smartphone, download the eBay app. Again, this makes listing your items very easy. Cons: You will pay a small listing fee for each auction. You will have to ship your items to your buyers. There is a wait time for auctions to end, payments to be made, and items to be shipped. Meanwhile, these items sit in a box taking up space.

Chose the option that works best for you and your lifestyle.

Whew! Now that closet is all cleaned up and organized...take a picture...post to Facebook. Now start dreaming of how good you'll feel when you clean out your garage!

Declutter and simplify for 2012

Happy New Year!  A cleaned up blog with a fresh start for 2012.  I didn't make a resolution this year on New Year's Eve.  I really don't like the pressure or feeling of failure that a resolution tends to ellicit.  I decided I will do the things I need to do on my own terms this year and not beat myself up if/when I fail.  Every year we all want to get healthier, lose weight, stop smoking, exercise more, etc.  Look at the sale ads in your Sunday paper this week.  It's overloaded with treadmills, yoga mats, running shoes and other exercise paraphenelia.  In retaliation to this, I just listed my Aero Pilates machine on Craigslist for sale and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies while smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee.  Life is good.

On the flip side though, we (partially) cleaned out  our closets, the kid's closets and the garage.  I've listed multiple items on eBay and Craigslist.  We cleaned the garage, pressure washed the driveway, changed lightbulbs and other various chores around the house that were being put off.

The theme this year is 'SIMPLIFY'.  In order to do this, we have to declutter and rid ourselves of the silly little items that we pick up and shift from place to place in this house.  So much time is wasted handling these items and life is too short.

Watch for blog entries dedicated to the decluttering and simplifying of a house with 6 occupants.  I should be quite a feat.