Upsizing my life - step 1

Upsizing my life - step 1

For the last several years, I have pulled into myself in order to find peace and quiet. No friends to speak of, anything I did was alone. That kind of life is rather easy. I didn't really need to spend time outside of my little shell of work, workouts and some family time.

Now I feel like that phase has past. Not radically, like "TADA!" and some silver gates are flung open but  in a slow, flowing way.

I set off to find a hobby. Something to bring balance into my life.

Last summer, I went to Italy to spend three weeks learning some Italian and trying out the art of painting. I let myself get inspired by the food there through a cooking course and some lovely eateries.

When I came home, I enrolled in a watercolor course. Even though I thought I wouldn't care for it, I really did enjoy it. Step by step.

Then I tried out a course in experimental painting with acrylics. WOW! I glued textured wallpaper on canvas, attached wrinkled tissue paper and smoothed on marble paste for structure. Then I painted a picture on top of that. Really amazing what effects can be achieved.

Monday and Tuesday were my usual work days - long and hard. Exhausting. For the last few months, I have been taking painting courses on Tuesday evenings, and, despite my tiredness, I had a wonderful time working with paints and the fascinating colors.

My art teacher took a liking to me and asked me over for tea.

At the moment, I am "looking" for new things to do that stimulate my senses and give me joy. Maybe a "stretch" at first if I have to learn something I don't yet know how to do. At my age, a stretch is pretty much easy to conjure up!

And maybe a few acquaintances to laugh and do things with.

Hark, sentimental hoarders

Hark, sentimental hoarders!

January 24, 2013

Here's how you can share and bless others with all of your stuff—and end up with a cleaner, more peaceful home while you're at it.

Kitchen

Drawers

Place everything—all the spatulas, rubber scrapers, pie servers, and so on—into a carton. As you use a utensil from the box, put it back in the drawer. After a month, check what's left in the box. Keep those once-a-year items that remain in the box, like a turkey baster or candy thermometer. But donate the rest.

Coffee Mugs

Coffee mugs and cups are hogging valuable cupboard space at my place. They are stacked on each other and jammed behind plates. I must have 20!!

Plastic containers

Plastic containers have a secret life (probably killing time with those AWOL socks accumulating in my washer). If I buy gummi bears or the like, I can’t resist saving the container. I especially liked the one shaped like a Christmas tree. Blush.

Now I have only two containers of each size. Each container has the correct lid. The rest have been sent off to LaLaLand.

A larger family would have a few more perhaps but, hey, how many leftovers do you need to store? (Hint – check out your fridge.)

Pans, machines & Co.

Take everything out of your cabinets and only put back what you use regularly. The things that you leave out that didn't get used much, you have to choose. If you put one thing back in the cabinet, you should pick one thing to donate or sell. Or you could trade with friends for what you do need.

Vases

Got vases from the last three Mothers Day bouquets? Put flowers in them and give them to someone who doesn’t expect them. A neighbor or a colleague perhaps. Or take them back to the florist.

Food

Do you also have cupboards full of food you're not sure you're going to use?

Some solutions:

•Check the expiration dates on everything in your pantry, fridge, or freezer. If it's about to expire, put it on the menu for that week.

•If you know you're never going to use an item—and it's still good—give it to your local food pantry.

•Have an "Eat Out of the Cupboard or Freezer" week. You'll be surprised at how creative you can get with your menu planning when you're only using the ingredients on hand. (I’ve even seen a show on TV that does this. The contestants must produce a three-course dinner with the products they are surprised with.) When you throw away food, imagine you're throwing dollar bills in the trash can!

Spices

They don't mold and don't appear to go bad, but spices don't last forever, not even cayenne pepper. (Cinnamon's an exception.) Dried is one thing, tasteless is another. I still have spices I brought back from my Morroco trip three years ago. Out you go!

Give your spices the smell and taste test and if they've gone bland and boring, ditch them. When you buy new spices, mark down the date on the package.

Living Room

Magazines

Do you have a stack of magazines that you haven't read? If two months have passed and they're still sitting there, consider donating them to a retirement home, hospital, or doctor's office. Many schools take magazines for art projects (if not for reading material). Or do the flip-and-rip: Rip out recipes or articles you want to keep and throw the rest into the recycling bin. Put the recipes and articles in special binders. Then check every few months if you’ve read or used the articles/recipes. If not, “off with their heads!”, er, too ‘em.

I like to tear out articles and put them in my purse for when I know I'll be sitting and waiting (think doctor's office).

If you're a techie, you can get many popular magazines as digital editions for your phone or electronic reader. I have a whole year of certain magazines on my iPad and it hasn’t grown a bit!

Mail

Is this your habit? You fetch the mail, flip through it for anything interesting, and then set it on "the pile" that accumulates until the day you start searching for overdue bills. "Scan and stand" is the system recommended by many professional organizers. Standing is the trick - don't be tempted to sit down: Bring in the mail. Leave your coat on. Find a place by the wastebasket, recycling bin, or shredder, and stand and handle each piece of mail. Put bills in a basket or designated container, take magazines to where you read them, scan any newsletters and bulletins for important information (you can probable toss them right away), and discard the rest. Your goal is to make the mail disappear quickly.

If you don’t have time at the moment to implement this system, don’t even take the mail out of the mailbox!

Other rooms

Linens

I have so many towels, I could put Bed and Bath to shame. Well, maybe not that bad. Most of us have way too many towels and sheets. Some people no longer even have beds that the sheets fit! I still have a straight sheet from my college dormitory years – yikes.

How about keeping two sets of sheets per bed and keeping the extra set under the foot of the mattress or in a drawer in the bedroom to free up room in the linen closet?

Medicine

I checked my medicine cabinet for expired prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs, but didn’t throw them in the trash. Instead, I took them to my local pharmacist for proper disposal.

Curb It

Most towns charge to have the garbage crew haul off a piece of furniture or other large item, but — in my experience - almost anything remotely useful or recyclable will walk off on its own if you put it on the curb a few days before trash day. We have a scrap metal collector who drives through our neighborhood and is willing to haul the thing away for free.

Have a party!

I’ve even thought about having a “Give-Away” party. I could invite my kids and friends and tell them to pick out anything they want from a designated space. Knowing my kids, though, they wouldn’t want any of it!

I won’t let stuff cramp my style!

People like myself live with their clutter for years and become anesthetized to the drag it adds to their life. It slows you down, cramps your style. It makes it hard to move around and hard to concentrate. It means you’re stuck where you are because relocating to a better environment would be too much hassle.

As part of creating a simpler way of living, I have found myself feeling a massive urge to declutter, to get rid of all this stuff that seems to arrive in my apartment of its own free will. Okay, okay - I voluntarily brought it in. Sheesh.

Here’s the deal: Our living spaces are basically 3-D portraits of our inner lives. You can’t declutter your living space without decluttering your inner life and vice versa. I am ready for a change even though I liked a lot about the „old me“.

Coach Marth Beck uses a Pray Rain Journal to structure the change. A Pray Rain Journal is basically a written vision board in the form of a small journal. You get yourself a very small empty notebook. Each day, write a page as if you were living your ideal life and are journaling about it (kind of like a „Back to the Future“ kind of diary). Use present tense and write about all the wonderful things that are happening and the ramifications of every event. Then think of at least 10 reasons why the things you want actually can happen.

If you have trouble letting go of your stuff, create something called a Limbo Box. Limbo is where some religions believe God puts souls before deciding if they will go to heaven or to hell. Give your Limbo Box to a friend who is not afraid to purge. Together, choose a date six months in the future. If you have not asked for anything in the box during those six months, your friend will then take everything to the donation center without even mentioning it to you.

Now I am off to get rid of the corn holders I’ve had for twenty years and only used once.

Downsizing the pounds!

Downsizing my hips.

January 22, 2013

Well, it had to come. The page about losing these pounds.

I was avoiding the subject but not avoiding the carbs and wine. That is the trouble.

It took my very diplomatic son to remind me about eating the right things: "Mom, you do so many things right. You exercise and get enough sleep. You are an optimistic person. But the way you eat is terrible. It is like putting sludge into a Ferrari's gas tank!"

That did it! The kale chips are in the oven and I've pulled out my dusty nutrition books for inspiration.

Then my son told me about a book he read where the author started off:  "If you are going to read this book but then not do everything it tells you to do, put the book down NOW!" 

Was I thinking the information alone would make me slim again?!

(The kale chips are drool-worthy. I'll try baked sweet potato "fries" next.)

Unfortunately I can't toss out my pounds and Amazon won't sell them. This part of downsizing is definitely going to take more effort.

We eat whatever portion is placed before us so I could downsize my plates and just use kid-sized dishware. According to the National Institute of Health, the average blueberry muffin today contains about 500 calories. Twenty years ago, it would have contained 210! Typical pizza slices have ballooned from 500 calories in the 1980s, to 850 calories today. So I need to consider that when eating out. I generally take home a doggy bag after eating in a restaurant (very embarrassing for my daughter). I can eat two whole meals at home from the leftovers!

And I need to get rid of my drinking glasses. Partly because I have too many (downsize your stuff) but mostly because the ones I have hold too much. Who doesn't unthinkingly fill up their glass when thirsty?

According to Lisa McRee, former Good Morning America co-host, I should "Eat at least 80 percent things that grow and no more than 20 percent things that walk." Okay, less meat and more veggies for me. No, I don't eat that much meat. I eat too many carbs. That has to stop.

I could eat the peel of my apples because a substance in apple peel increases muscle and healthy, calorie-torching brown fat,. Hmm, I really don't eat apples. Have to start then. But only organic because  I am allergic to the poisons on the skin.

Most people typically overeat two or three favorite foods—usually pastas, breads, meats, snacks, or sweets. I definitely have trouble with salty snacks and wine in the evening when my willpower takes a nap. That is my danger time and I must plan and prepare better things to eat for when I get home from work.

Perhaps I could think of meat and pasta as side dishes. That means I'll fill half my plate with broccoli and cauliflower, a quarter with chicken, and a quarter with sweet potato.

Here is an interesting read: http://downsizingyourbody.com

One habit I started a few months ago will help. Before every meal, I drink one big glass of water. (In the future, it will be two of the little ones.) Often we are thirsty, not hungry. Drinking before eating is a good way to fill up faster and feel satisfied.

One habit is going to be tricky to change. I eat in front of the TV. There, I've told everyone and I am not even blushing. But everyone can see the pounds that have come through it!

And I can't buy junk. If it's not there, I can't eat it!

Less buying means less to declutter!

January 20, 2013

 Less buying means less to declutter!

We have been influenced by clever marketers for years but the time since WWII has been incredible. In many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of the population’s income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs. And buying lots of things makes us happier, right?

Polls show that our national happiness quotient peaked in the ’50s and has been steadily declining ever since. Obviously shopping has not made us happy and all of this stuff has not given us more spare time. Indeed, research indicates that we have less leisure time than we have ever had before. Somehow we have gotten into a cycle of nonstop work in order to earn the money to incessantly consume.

Let’s stop the madness!

Awareness is probably a great starting place for stopping this endless circle. I feel like I was the nuttiest consumer on the planet and have only now come to my senses. I just never really thought about it. Everybody around me was in the same whirlpool.

It was a constant cycle of spending and consuming and tossing (or storing) to make space for more stuff so I could do it all over again. 

Shopping often provides a diversion from having to look at what is really making us dissatisfied. We consume to fill a void. More often than not this void is completely unconscious to us. We are simply not aware of it.

Many people buy big homes or spend money on storage units to store all their stuff. They pay a larger mortgage (or monthly storage unit payments) to store it all, and then pay the increased utilities that go along with the bigger house.

We learn at an early age to identify ourselves with our stuff.  If we are good, we get more money and we buy stuff to show it.  If we work hard and are successful, we own more stuff than other people.  Those that are unfortunate are the only ones without stuff. People who push their belongings around in a cart are pitiable.

Money Saver - Downsizing

Downsizing and decluttering can save loads of money. In addition, downsizing and decluttering can make life significantly more stress-free.

Here is a real eye-opener from: http://www.moneycrashers.com/why-downsizing-can-save-you-money/#ixzz2IXmyAjpW

1.     Write down the total square feet of your house.

2.     Write down how much you pay monthly for your house or apartment.

3.     Divide your total square feet by your monthly payment; this is how much you pay monthly per square foot.

4.    Now estimate how many square feet you’re using to store stuff: include your closets, your basement, extra bedrooms, and your garage.

5.     Multiply that times your “monthly square foot” cost. Yikes!

6.     For instance, imagine your home is 2,500 square feet (including storage space) and your mortgage is $1,600 per month. You’re paying .64 cents per square foot, per month for your home space.

7.   If you’re using 1,000 square feet total to store stuff, this means your stuff is costing you $640 per month. How much would you save by downsizing to a smaller home with a smaller mortgage payment? You do the math!

The 100-Day-Challenge

January 20, 2013

The 100-Day-Challenge

It is January and we are busy making resolutions, feeling terribly pleased with ourselves for what we have started to change..

Yet all of us have experienced how these wonderful visions and goals get lost one snowy day on the way to the gym, or after the umpteenth salad. I am good about going to train but find myself tripping over bodies at the gym during January, patiently waiting for March when half of the people won’t return (until next January). I can COUNT on that.

Everybody has their reasons: “But, but – I have to ……. first!”. And yet another day passes without even a whiff of success.

Let’s embark on a 100-Day-Challenge! Every day, we think of SOMETHING that brings us a step closer to our bigger goals. Then we put a check next to it when finished. If the day promises to be a mad dash, we do a tiny morsel. When we are less pressed, we enjoy a larger bite.

Set up a date by which you want to start your 100-Day-Challenge.

What are your intentions and goals for the next 100 Days? 

Select the commitments that you will achieve for the next 100 days.

Share your journey on blogs or with friends (or on this blog). Maybe you’ll inspire others to go for it with you.

For 30 seconds each day, imagine yourself manifested into something that makes your heart sing, something that makes it thrilling because it feels so you. 

Maybe you want to discard one thing each day for 100 days. Perhaps you want to loose 100 grams each day (and no, taking a pee doesn’t count). Maybe you want to write one page each day or do 10 minutes of muscle training every day. Just do it! Write it down and post it where you can easily see it. Take pleasure in placing a check behind every task completed.

Be sure to celebrate yourself. Every week, do a personal inventory. How did you do that week? Do you need to tweak the plan to make it work better for you? Do you need to break down some jumps into smaller steps?

Here we go:

My special goal: _____________________________________________________________

100 steps, 100 days:

1.

2.

3……..

My steps today are:

Personal Fitness: Workout

Downsizing my Stuff: Pack the voice processor to ship to the buyer

Writing: blog one downsizing idea

Reduce your workload as a step toward downsizing

January 20, 2013-01-20

Reduce your workload as a step toward downsizing

Here are 15 tips to help you reduce your workload:

1. Be clear about your priorities

Know what your role requires of you and where you want your career to go, eliminate any activity that doesn't relate directly to these objectives. Do only the tasks with big returns. Of all the tasks on your to-do list, which is the most important? Not the one that will take the most time, or that you want to do least. The most important task is the one that will give you the biggest return, however you measure that in your job.

2. Avoid committees

They rarely make good decisions, they spend far too much time discussing minutiae and they pilfer your time into the future.

3. Learn how to close a phone call

How about the phrase “Don't let me keep you any longer” or “We both have things to do so I’ll end here”?  You can politely terminate the call without endangering the relationship.

4. Don't get comfortable

I’ve heard that the most productive meetings have been conducted standing up and the worst are meetings without a definite time plan and/or an incompetent chairperson.

5. Break habits

Just because meetings generally start at 10 a.m. and last for 60 minutes, it doesn't mean that's the right formula. Try different durations, locations and times depending on the urgency and desired outcome. Schedule meetings just before lunch or at the end of the workday. At these times, even the most talkative feel the urge for brevity!
I know a CEO who says that none of his meetings last longer than ten minutes! He thinks too much of his workers to steal their well-paid time. Don't you love it?

6. Say no

Not 'I'll consider' it or 'Come back to me, next week'. You might offer a trade: “I’ll do this for you if you’ll do that for me”. See Tip 1!

7. Ignore email

At the very start of the day, begin by mapping out what you really need to accomplish rather than allowing your inbox to determine your day. Set one or two times during the day to check mails. Prioritize the mails immediately. Reply, file or delete every email and letter on first sight,  only take more involved action on the most important.

8. Learn more about important aspects of your work

If Outlook operates your email or you use Microsoft Office, then commit time to improve your knowledge of their functionality and the settings you use. If you still type using the hunt-and-peck method, take a typing course. Most people don't use systems efficiently and hours invested in training could save you days over the next year.

9. Avoid computer stress

Computer stress is common to the point of being nearly universal.  The typical user has computer problems, on average, once every four months, and wastes around 12 hours each month trying to fix cyber mishaps. Avoid as much computer stress as possible by following these tips:

a) You can save yourself stress down the road by learning the nuts and bolts of how your systems work by reading the manuals and perhaps a book or two on computers. Tutorials on YouTube are informative and interesting.

b) Invest in the best equipment possible: newer and faster is better in terms of saving time and hassle, especially for those who use their computers often.

c) Back up often: If you don’t already have this worked into your scheduled procedures, it’s crucial that you start backing up your files frequently (once a week at least), so that if you run into major difficulties, you don’t lose much of your precious work. Just sayin’.

d) Make friends with a computer wizard!

10. Communicate your plans

How you operate, if you find it best to check emails at defined times, say before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m. include a note to that effect in your signature. Do likewise with 'out of office' and voicemail. If you need time free from distractions, communicate to colleagues why your door will be closed for a certain time.

11. Reduce your work hours

Give yourself a set amount of time to work each day and each week, and stick to it. You’ll become more productive during the time you actually work, because you have to get your tasks completed quicker. You become more focused. To help you commit to your new work hours, set appointments for 30 minutes after you’re supposed to get off work. If you want to leave work at 5 p.m., set an appointment for 5:30 p.m. and adhere to it.

12. Have a life after work

I have several burnout clients who finally realized that they stayed at work so long because there was no real reason to leave! If you are looking forward to something after work, the work itself flows smoother and leaving is easy.

This is a big problem for me. So, I have taken up painting, drawing and learning Italian! And this blog. That should keep me too busy to work. I notice that I feel a bit guilty doing something that doesn't generate money. Whew, I need a shrink!!

13. Telecommute

More and more people are finding ways to work from home (or from a nearby park!), to either do their current job by telecommuting or to find a new career that doesn’t require them to work at the office. It’s worth a check.

14. Don’t allow yourself to be available to the world every minute of the day

Set times when you will peruse and respond to email, or scan your feed reader, or listen to your voicemail, and stick to them. Turn off any attention-grabbing signals for that time. You really don’t need to be connected constantly.

15. Get help

It is quite possible that, even after completing the aforementioned steps, you still have a mass of paper work/ tasks or errands and, realistically seen, not enough time to complete them.

If this is so, then it really is time for you to take decisive action.

If you have a boss, speak to them, explaining the path that you have already taken to keep on top of things, but that you simply feel overloaded. Perhaps he or she can allocate some of the tasks to colleagues?

If you are your own boss, or if you simply want to handle your surplus without bothering your boss, then it is time to consider outside help. Consider hiring a Personal Assistant for a few hours to help you sift through your workload or run your additional errands.

A London PA firm called Exec Runs, and the firm Six Stars Personal Assistants in the USA specialize in hourly PA’s at affordable rates but there are many options out there that should be explored. I have used the services of Brickwork India to edit one of my books (very dependable but expensive).

You might want to check out this video - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/04/earlyshow/contributors/susankoeppen/main3571963.shtml

Extra Tip: Relax on the weekends

You will be must more productive during the week if you are refreshed and stress free. Spend the weekend relaxing. It’s not easy but somebody’s gotta do it…

Go on a light run outside, get plenty of rest, socialize but watch the alcohol, meditate or practice yoga, or simply get stuck into a good, easy-reading book. Eat healthily and don’t spend hours watching the television or surfing the Internet. The secret is to avoid exposing yourself to endless sources of stimulation, which will arouse your brain and not allow you to sink into a deep sense of relaxation and calm.

Countless studies have shown that we work much more efficiently when we are relaxed, so go for it!

Letting go of what no longer works

January 19, 2013

Letting go of what no longer works

Our brains play a trick on us when it comes to money. When we purchase something, the price we pay becomes a permanent reference point. Psychologists call this “anchoring” – and it can pull us down financially.

I’ve been doing this with stock. If I invest $2000 in a stock (Dell, I really believed in ya!), and its value drops, I tell myself, “I’ll sell it once it gets back to where I bought it so that I can at least break even”.

The trick here and with the whole downsizing thing is the question, “Would I buy it today?”. Then consider selling, if it’s a house, stocks or stuff.

Goodbye Dell...

I knew a doctor who was shackled to an horrendous mortgage. When I asked him why he didn't sell the money eater he said, "Then I would have to admit that I've lived over my means for years!" After he finally did let go, he remarked that his life had become wonderfully liberated.

I enjoyed this video: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Peter-Walsh-Helps-Declutter-Your-Life-at-O-You-2012. Start with minute 6.

In essence:

Clutter is never about the stuff. Getting rid of the clutter means getting to the best life we can live. Clutter is anything that gets between you and the life you should be living, be it stuff, debt or fat on your hips!

Types of clutterers

Behind-closed-doors-clutterer: The house looks neat but don’t, DON’T 1) go into the garage or attic, 2) open any closed doors. For this type, appearance is everything but they are not free.

It’s-just-not-worth-it-clutterer: This type has higher priorities for almost anything other than organization.

Knowledge-clutterer: This type has tons of books, magazines, newspapers and torn-out pages full of recipes and organization tips.

Sentimental-clutterer: Savers of gifts received by beloved persons, art- and schoolwork done by the kids, used baby clothes (you never know…). My ex just threw away a suitcase with baby clothes I was saving for my grandchildren (should they ever be born) – they were completely moldy. I am still struggling with a little statue my daughter sculptured out of clay when she was 8.

Bargain-shopper-clutterer: Has anyone ever seen that show about coupon-shopping-marathons? People buy 100 bottles of some sort of soda pop because then it comes MUCH cheaper. I watched one lady buy 20 shopper-bags! One for Gerda, one for my cousin, one for …

I think I am a hybrid. There are portions of all the clutter types in me.

The trashbag is your friend.  Peter Walsh suggests doing the “trashbag tango” every single day. Take two trashbags and go through the house placing 1) trash in one bag and 2) things to donate in another. EVERY MEMBER OF THE HOUSEHOLD should be doing this! See organize.com.

Bargain Madness

We are being had. There is always a “sale” going on somewhere and it is often just a bright-colored sign used to manipulate us. If price is the best part about something, you shouldn’t buy it – EVER! Sam’s Club, Cosco & Co. offer things in the bulk. People buy humongous bottles of shampoo and body wash which, in turn, encourages them to use more at each shower. And all the containers need to be stored somewhere. (where do you put your 100 rolls of toilet paper?)

We must have a vision for the home, space, finances, body, health, and life if we want to become successful in this endeavor. Then ask yourself, "Does my reality overlap with my vision?". If it doesn’t, why is it still in your life?

Our homes shouldn’t turn into storage facilities.