Tag: organization

How To Organize Your Life In 2020

On January 15, 2020

A new year, a new decade, a new chance to revamp your home–and while you’re at it, your life. Start 2020 right by setting aside some time to assess what you need and don’t need moving forward. Start with these tips.

1. Assess your belongings.

Start in your room and take stock of your wardrobe, dresser, and desk. Assess each one of your belongings: to borrow Marie Kondo’s terminology, if it doesn’t spark joy in your soul (or if you have no use for the item anymore), it’s time to bin it. Clothes you haven’t worn since 8 kilos ago? Sell or donate them. Gadgets from the early ’00s? Throw them away if they don’t serve their purpose anymore. Grooming products that are way past their expiration date? Toss, ASAP.

From there, proceed to the other rooms in your home and declutter each of them. Take out everything in your cupboards, drawers, and closets, sort out everything into “need” and “don’t need” piles, and dispose of the things in the latter pile. You don’t have to do this in one go–you can do your bedroom one weekend, the kitchen next, and so on, whenever your mood and schedule permits.

2. Straighten out your priorities for the year.

Once your desk is straightened out, sit down and write your goals for the year. The beginning of a new year always makes people excited to do so many things, but let’s face it–with all your other responsibilities, it’ll be difficult to accomplish everything you want to do. So if you want to actually finish something this year, we suggest trimming down your to-do list into a set of S.M.A.R.T. goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based objectives per quarter. This should align your priorities for the year, helping you stay focused and be more productive.

3. Track Your Spending.

Did you go above your budget in 2019? Don’t worry, we’re here to help you avoid making the same mistake in 2020. An easy way to go about it is to download a spending tracker onto your phone. Every time you spend on something, make sure to jot it down on the app. You have to practice accountability, and you should note everything–especially purchases you feel guilty about. At the end of the month, review your spending and streamline where you can. This is a good habit to start

4. Create Good Habits.

It’s never too late to start a good habit! Whether it’s to stop being late, shop less, or work out more, you can always turn over a new leaf. Create a tracker on excel to note what you’ve done (or have not done), or, similar to what we told you in the previous number, download an app to help you monitor your habits. It’ll also help you reduce mental clutter.

5. Scan and Save Your Photos.

You probably have a handful of photo albums at home, gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere. This defeats the purpose of having photos–they’re meant to be displayed and revisited. So this year, go through all your printed photos and scan each one of them. It might take a bit of time, but it’s totally worth it. Save it on a hard drive, or better yet, on the cloud, where you can retrieve your photos whenever, wherever. Don’t forget to display your pictures on a Nixplay Frame so you’ll be reminded of your favorite memories all the time!

Mars Salazar

Marianne is Nixplay’s Web Content Editor. Her hobbies include exploring new places, playing table tennis, and cuddling puppies. Send her a message at marianne.salazar@nixplay.com.

5 Ways To Clear Mental Clutter

By Lisa Luken

On July 9, 2019

In Home & Interiors

Marie Kondo’s books and Netflix series have inspired people everywhere to empty out drawers, clean out cabinets, and get rid of anything that doesn’t “spark joy”. Her work highlights the benefits of clearing the clutter from your life, something professional organizers around the world have been helping families do for decades.

However, it’s important to know that physical clutter is only one piece of the simplifying puzzle. Getting rid of the piles of paper, the clothes that don’t fit, and your now-teenagers’ childhood toys littered in your home is a significant first step in the journey to eliminating stress and unwanted things. Clearing your mental clutter is another powerful step in the process of truly simplifying your life.

What is mental clutter?

I define mental clutter as the thoughts that take up space in your mind, creating confusion, stress, and exhaustion. Mental clutter keeps you from thinking straight, making decisions and living intentionally. With intention, focus, and patience, you can clear it from your life just as easily as tossing those holey socks and worn towels.

Here are six ways to clear mental clutter:

Spend time in nature (without your phone).

When’s the last time you went somewhere without your phone? Do you even remember?

We’ve become so used to always having a phone that it feels unnatural to leave home without it. But being unplugged can help you settle into a few minutes or a few hours of much-needed downtime. Immerse yourself in nature and let your mind wander. Approach this time away with curiosity and engage your senses to notice the sights, sounds and smells around you. This experience is an opportunity to clear your mind and set your thoughts aside.

Do a brain dump

How often do you think about all the things you have to do? Maybe you have sticky notes, notes on your phone, or voicemails and emails spread out, all over reminding you of the many tasks you need to complete. A brain dump will help fix this.

Choose a central location, either a notepad or a digital app, to serve as your main brain dump location. Write an exhaustive list of everything you can think of that requires your attention. Just getting these thoughts out of your mind enables you to see them as a whole, sort them, and act on them. Knowing your responsibilities and having a plan to tackle them takes the swirling thoughts out of your mind, eliminating your stress.

Finish or let go of an unfinished project.

Do you have any unfinished projects in your life? I’m guessing your answer is “yes” based on what I’ve seen in my experience working with families to simplify their homes and lives. Whether it’s a broken ornament you’re planning to superglue back together, a scarf you had the best of intentions to knit, or the storage rack you bought on sale last year and planned to put up in the garage, unfinished projects abound in our homes and lives.

While these unfinished projects don’t seem to affect us on a day-to-day basis, they can drain our energy and contribute to our mental clutter more than we realize. What do you think about each day when you pull into the garage and walk around the storage rack box sitting on the floor? What happens when you see the yarn basket next to the couch each night? Being aware of these unfinished projects is a significant step in clearing this clutter.

With your brain dump, you’ll have a clear list of the unfinished projects in your life. Once you know what your unfinished projects are, you can decide what to do about them. Your options are simple: Finish the project, or let it go. If you’re planning to finish it, schedule the time, set a deadline, and purchase any needed supplies. Break it down into chunks or ask for help if needed.

For example, if “organize my pictures” has been on your list for years, ask family members to share the responsibilities and costs with you, set goals for each month, and schedule the time in your calendar. Make the project fun by planning family gatherings to work on it or listen to music as you sort and scan. Stay focused on your end goal, such as seeing all of your photos organized and digitized on your Nixplay frame and think about how great it will be to finally finish the project. Of course, if you have unfinished projects that no longer sound exciting or necessary, return products and supplies that you can, then donate the rest to an organization that would be happy to have them.

Focus on one thing at a time.

Do you ever feel like your mind is a computer browser with 22 tabs open, all needing your attention? Just like your computer can’t function well with too many programs running at the same time, neither can you. Research continues to show that multitasking isn’t effective.

Learn to start focusing on and fully finishing just one project at a time. Use your brain dump to prioritize what you need to work on and schedule time in your calendar to complete the steps. Choose to delegate tasks that others can do and delete things that really don’t need to be done after all. Be mindful when you find yourself inching back toward multitasking. Use this as a signal to shift gears and do another brain dump.

Clear a shelf, counter, or surface.

Just as your unfinished projects subtly steal your attention and drain your energy, so can cluttered shelves and surfaces in your home. Experiment with this by clearing one shelf in your home. Choose one that you see every day and clear everything from it. See if you can keep it this way for one week (or longer). Creating this white space gives your eyes and mind a chance to rest. See what you notice over time. As you learn to embrace this space, continue clearing areas around your home and clearing your mental clutter.

You don’t have to be super busy all the time. Using these tips, you can clear the mental clutter from your life and spend more time enjoying the space you create!

I Need Help With The Pile Of Artwork In The Corner

By Jordan Babeon

On June 18, 2019

In Home & Interiors

As a parent, nothing makes me prouder than seeing the arts and crafts projects my kids bring home from school. But as much as you’d like to keep each precious handmade creation, there will come a time when you have to ask: What are you supposed to do with all of the paintings, drawings, toilet paper-roll sculptures, paper mâché, egg carton creations, glitter bombs, science experiments, crafts, and other school work that your kids bring home nearly every week?

If you are like me, you do your best to sort what’s important and what’s worth recycling. Still, there is a corner in my house that is always full of artworks that symbolize a significant chapter of my kids’ lives. I want to preserve these accomplishments so that one day, my child can look back at them and be filled with nostalgia.

However, I also have a strong dislike for clutter.

As a working mom, simplicity was what I was after. Trying to be present for my children while building a business was tough. Juggling work, home, and school, in addition to keeping up with the playdates, meetings, and date nights, and finding time to sleep despite everything was even tougher. Coming home to a tidy house really helps alleviate stress.

Now, cleaning out extra clothes, furniture, household goods, and other tangible junk was seemingly easy for me. As Marie Kondo would ask, ‘Does it bring me joy?’ My answer, every time, is a heartfelt ‘No.’ But the first letters my kids drew, their own creations—these were harder to part with. These things did bring me joy, but there was so much of it that the piles have become overwhelming.

I felt like I was trying to organize our memories, something that felt familiar to me.

In 2018, I started SurroundUs! Services, a company that helps families organize and manage their digital photos and videos. I have observed that people want to surround themselves with their memories, achievements, and successes, but don’t always have the time and skills required to get this done. I know this because I am a working Mom who has been there and done that.

I was working as a software consultant for Oracle when I realized I needed someone with my skills to help me navigate through all of the available solutions. Thus, SurroundUs! Services was born, and I haven’t looked back. Helping people manage their memories and ensure that these are appropriately backed-up while still being accessible has become my passion.

Kids’ artwork logically fell into this same bucket. It was easy for me to scan my children’s 2D artwork and add it to our family’s photo library. But most of the artwork and things I wanted to save just weren’t flat enough.

But I was determined to find a solution.

Inspired by my classes as a film major ages ago, I took to photography and started to take pictures of all of the 3D artwork. The result was beautiful digitized versions of my kid’s artistic maturation, taken in a glitter-filled photography studio! I printed the images and bound them together in a book that the kids have cherished. But while the photobooks are fun to pick up and look through, I missed seeing my children’s art propped up by magnets on my fridge.

My Nixplay frame was the perfect complement to our new lifestyle. It was easy to set up a playlist and see my kids’ artwork shuffle through the last few years. It sparked conversations, reminded us of crafts created on rainy days, and more importantly, “sparked joy”! I was able to recycle and remove the last pile of clutter in my house and still celebrate my kids’ accomplishments. Mission accomplished!