Minimalistic Stress Reduction

Most of us are pretty organized at work. We walk in, check over our emails, create a list of things we need to get accomplished, enter deadlines into our planners, etc. As we all know, if we fail to do these things, we will certainly hear about it. (Oh, sorry I forgot about that meeting doesn't cut it at work.) Yet, it is all too easy to feel like we've had enough of this ultra organization by the time we get home and just want to relax, as if our personal lives would just flow along without any organization at all.

But we can use the same tools we use at work at home without over organizing our lives. Take email for example; we can set up many bills to come to us as emails and then pay them with on line banking which gives us a record of when they were paid. This is a huge time saver and cuts down on paper mail which helps me to be a better tree hugger!

Sadly, we spend less waking hours at home than at work,  so our to do lists for home should be much shorter, say two items. This may not sound like a lot, but after a week, you will have crossed off 14 items that you may have been putting off for months! It may be sending a thank you note, making an appointment, or making a phone call, etc. You may have to make a call during business hours and thus accomplish this on your lunch break. You still get credit for this though, because if you assign yourself too many of these things to do you will get even more stressed out. As you clear these types of items off of your list you may want to add items that help organize your home such as go through one drawer, organize your wallet or purse, or list an item on eBay, Craigslist or Freesell.

Just as you use a planner at work to make sure you are where you should be when, you can use a home calendar in the same way. Just like at work, when you make an appointment you write it down. You can go one step further and write a detail that gives you a record of what that appointment was about. You can note phone calls as well, giving you a record which may come in handy in the future.

I challenge you all to try my two item personal life "to do" list for one week and see if you can declutter 14 items from your stress list. Good Luck!

Why do we keep stuff?

I am amazed when I see what some other people feel are their "treasures:" Little League baseball trophies, childhood games and toys, tools they never use, broken things they'll never fix, a breadbox? Anyone using a breadbox hasn't read my blog about how valuable counter space is!
I helped a friend move recently and he put as much stuff into the garage as he did the house!

I do have a few good ideas why people keep such things. I think they tie them to someone who gave them to them or someone they were with when they bought them somewhere in their past. Of course, many people hoard out of fear they'll have nothing one day, or they might need that useless thing one day. But the truth is: we need to get over this stuff! There's always more stuff in our future - the Good Will is full of other people's stuff they wasted their time, money, and our planet's resources on. You won't be young again, and your kids don't want your old toys. Oh, and your old girlfriend's not coming back, so make some room for a new one!

Minimalist's Angst: Not Clutter Again!

I don't know how or why it happens but clutter just seems to happen. Somehow yesterday I looked at my kitchen and thought, wow, we're slipping. The thing is I have zero tolerance for clutter. I have never understood how some people can sit happily with a neighbor sipping tea in their kitchens with piles of paperwork that needs to be dealt with, dirty dishes in the sink, random items that should be put away in other rooms and perhaps even a basket of laundry that needs folding. It makes me feel like Monica from Friends! I just want to start cleaning!

So to my horror, I looked at my own kitchen realized it had lost it's sparkle and needed to be decluttered. So what was wrong with it? All of my systems were in place and functioning, no appliances on the counters, no dirty dishes in the sink but some odd items were creeping in where they don't belong. First of all, my table has six chairs which seems like a great place to drop my purse, jackets, and dog leash. No, this is not where the go and I have an easy place to hang these things in the entryway closet but alas they were there. A pile of checks and misc. papers had accumulated on the table as well as some keys. Under the sink my recycling system had exploded, there were two cutting boards on my counter, a fruit bowl with one apple and two tomatoes in it, and a watering can that belongs outside. This may not sound like a lot, but in my tiny row house kitchen it is.

So I took action. First I got my iRobot vacuum going and took out all of the recycling to the garage. ( Green note: I recycle and compost 90% of my garbage so we only have garbage pick up once a month.) Next I put all of the items away that didn't belong there. Then it was time to pare down. I put the watering can on the back deck, put the random fruit in the fridge, washed out the fruit bowl and put it away, and put one of the cutting boards away. I decided to lose the table runner and put a new candle in the center of the table and wash the throw rug by the door. I had a huge bamboo bowl filled with pine cones that spilled over in what can only be described as "Northwest Chique" that seemed to be screaming winter, so they had to go. I bagged them up, put them into storage in the garage, washed the bowl and put it away. Next all of the surfaces were sprayed with bleach and water which then sat for one minute and then I wiped them all down. That kills most of the germs and bad bacteria in your kitchen. I of course washed the floor then picked some flowers in the back yard and put them where the pine cones had been. This may not seem like a lot but the room now feels bigger and more comfortable and inviting.

I hope this post will inspire you to hit your own kitchen and if you want to check out how my kitchen systems work, read some of my past posts on reducing kitchen appliances, reducing the amount of junk mail you get, and composting.

16 Ways to 'Green Up' the Kitchen

Green up your kitchen and it will be less cluttered, cleaner, and prettier too!

I started this site not just to help people unclutter their lives , but also to help show that reducing our consumption of things we don't use much (like kitchen gadgets) or didn't even ask for (like junk mail), can really help our planet. I hope some of these ideas take some of the stress out of your everyday living as they have for me. Thanks, The Minimalist

1. Donate your Coffee Maker and instead use a French Press ...read more
2. Replace your old dishwasher with an Energy Star model that uses less water read more
3. Replace your old fridge fro an Energy Star model that dispenses filtered water...read more
4. Donate your microwave to a school and try living without it....read why
5. Use washable bar rags and a bit of bleach mixed with water in a spray bottle to disinfect your kitchen.... here's why
6. Limit your kitchen gadgets that will eventually end up in landfills......here's how
7. Buy your last set of good quality pots and pans .... read more
8. Store things properly so food doesn't go to waste .... here's how
9. Stop buying food in cans.... here's why
10. Support your local farmer's market... here's an easy way
11. Cook from scratch, it's not that big a deal...... here's some help
12. Reduce your junk mail and get it off your kitchen table ......here's how
13 Stop catalogs from piling up...here's how
14 Contact companies and request that they change to earth friendly packaging.....like this
15. Compost your kitchen scraps .... here's how
16. Reduce your use of all plastics, recycle numbers 1-6 containers at your local transfer station, and bring your own bags to the store .....read more

Minimalist Ways to Bank and Pay Bills

Using On Line Banking:

When it comes to making managing your money as easy as possible, on line banking is a huge help. Once it is set up, you can enter all of your bills just once and then pay them with a few clicks as they come in. If you aren’t so great about balancing your statement, don't worry, it deducts the money right away. So, if you only use your on line banking to pay bills, and your debit card for purchases, you’ll always know how much money is in your account. No more checks floating around out there to throw you off!

Some people prefer to have their bills automatically deducted. The only problem with that is that if something changes in your bill or a mistake has been made, the money has already taken out. It’s much easier to negotiate with a company when they’re trying to get you to pay them than after they’ve over billed you! And just in case you think that never happens, we had our mortgage escrow account recalculated with an error of over $6,000.00! Luckily I read the “New Escrow Estimation” letter they sent and refused to pay them a cent until it was resolved. It took a month of phone calls, emails, and threatening to turn it over to my attorney to get them to fix it. Unfortunately, I that mortgage set up to auto deduct so I had to pay the bank a $20.00 fee to cancel it. I’ll never use auto deduct again.

Any checks that you can have processed through direct deposit to your bank , however,will save you time. I had this at my last job and it was always nice to get my statement at work as good reminder of why I was working so hard!

So if you’ve been following my last few posts, soon you’ll have less junk mail to deal with, less bills in your mailbox because some of your bills are being e-mailed to you, and you’ll always know how much money is in your account by using on line banking, bill pay, and a debit card. No more checks! Now you’re in control!

Minimalist Finances: Getting Rid of More Junk Mail

When looking at simplifying finances, it makes sense to eliminate as much junk mail as we can. Not only are we helping the environment, but it makes it less likely that we will miss something important. In addition to arranging for paperless billing one can opt out of many catalogs and credit card offers.

To stop unwanted catalogs go to the Catalog Choice site. It’s a free service. Simply sign up and choose the catalogs you don’t want to receive. What's great is that you can update it whenever you want. I update it whenever I receive a new catalog. I feel that I am actually doing the retailer a favor by saving them their advertising money, because after all, I’m not going to order anything anyway! If I do want to order something that would be in their catalogs, I just go on line.

Here is a great time saver! Opt out of credit card offers. These are a huge time waster because they have to be shredded. What’s worse if they are stolen from your mailbox it could result in identity theft. Opting out is free and easy and you can opt back in at any time. Just go to the Opt Out Prescreen web site. And if you’re worried about missing some great credit card offer that would be mailed only to you, don’t. You can always shop for the best credit card deals on the Lower My Bills site or check with your mortgage carrier or bank.

Minimalist Finances and Junk Mail

Let’s face it managing money is a pain. I not only manage our family money but the money for our business as well. And the amount of paper that comes into our house is down right awful! It makes paying bills a cluttered event. The more stuff in our mailbox the more likely we are at risk of missing something important. Why does our government let random people send us stuff? Why is anyone allowed to send to “resident”? Well, we do have some recourse in this matter. I’ll share with you what I’ve been doing to reduce the amount of stuff that comes into my mailbox.

Step One: First of all, I went through my bills and found that our gas, electricity, and cable bills can be delivered via email. That change alone means that I don’t have to open the bill up, recycle the envelope it came in, the return envelope, the newsletter, etc. So at a minimum, that one action saves 72 envelopes a year plus 36 statements, and 36 newsletters. It also saves those companies money which could result in lower costs for the consumer. To manage these bills, I have created a simple email system. I set up two folders: bills, paid bills. These are the only bills I have been able to find that can be handled this way so far. I hope more will show up in the future.

Step Two: My bank lets me choose to have our statements delivered on line. So for us that means, line of credit, business bank account, personal bank account, IRAs, and credit card statements are all sent via email and don’t end up in my mailbox. That’s 5 x 12 = 60 less pieces of mail with their envelope, return envelope, statement, and newsletters. We’re talking 5 X 60 = 300 less pieces of paper that I have to handle per year.

These two steps save 444 pieces of paper a year that I don’t have to handle (i.e. open, shred, recycle.) What if everyone did that? How many trees wouldn’t have to be cut down just for the cost of doing business? And how much time do you think that saves? It’s hard to estimate it.

So as a minimalist, these two steps save time, space, ( in your mailbox) and our environment.