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The Cost of Clutter and Managing Your Passwords with 1Password

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              Google Drive Tutorial

Yay!  The Google Drive Tutorial is now available for purchase! This tutorial is just over an hour long and focuses on all the fundamentals of how to use Google Drive for creating, sharing, and storing  documents using Google’s free, full-fledged office suite. This tutorial will be available at the discounted price of just $7.99 until 30 June 2013, when it will increase to $9.99. Either way, it’s a bargain! In this introduction, you’ll learn how to create text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and even forms and surveys! So, don’t wait to pay full price! You can have immediate access to Dan’s 1 hour+  windshield tour of Google Drive right now! Simply click here or go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/GoogleDrive. Plus, if you’re not completely satisfied I’ll give you your money back. So, no clutter and no risk…simple!

Vanessa’s Topic: The Cost of Clutter

In preparation for my Certification at the end of June, I’ve been doing a little bit of reading, studying and freshening up on my professional organizing skills.

Well, during my studying I came across some articles and books that talked about the cost of clutter. I’ve talked quite a bit about clutter in previous episodes and I’ve mentioned here and there some of the costs of clutter, but I thought I’d bring all those thoughts and some additional ideas about the cost of clutter together in one discussion.

Now, as a reminder let me define what clutter is:  Clutter is anything we don’t need, want or use that takes our time, energy or space and destroys our serentity (Clutter’s Anonymous definition).

With that definition and with the various things I’ve read, I think there are 4 Main Areas Where Clutter Costs us:

• It can cost us in regards to Money
• It can cost us Time
• It can cost us our Health
• And it can cost us our Sanity

Let me explain a little more…

In regards to Money:

• 10% of American households rent storage units which can cost between $600-1000/year.
• 23% of Americans are late paying their bills because they lose the statements or just plain forget to pay their bills altogether. And of course, late payments result in late fees. Even worse, repetitive late payments can even cost you your credit score! (Which by the way can cost you time as it may now take longer for you to pay off your debts)….oooh…clutter can be a vicious cycle!

Let’s talk about food:

• You know what happens to us when we don’t have a plan for our weekly dinners? We end up going out to eat right?! Which cost 2-3 times more than if we ate at home!
• Food can also cost you at the grocery store when you don’t know what you have at home because your pantry is a mess and you end up buying duplicate food items or throwing things away because they’re expired! That’s one of my peeves at home….I do not like to waste food!

Ok…so this also happens with other things in the home like office supplies, cleaning supplies, toiletries, light bulbs, batteries etc.

• When your home is cluttered and you don’t have homes for these things, it often results in them being misplaced….and increases chance of duplicates being purchased….because you can’t find them!
• At work, clutter has the potential of costing you a promotion because clutter can result in disorganization, missed documents, missed deadlines, and so on.

Now, let’s not forget about digital clutter:

• Having to buy more memory for your computers, or more storage space on the cloud…or what about apps that you purchased and never use?
• All that digital clutter can cost you money!

And of course, another way clutter can cost you in regards to money, is having to pay an organizer to help you get organized! Although I’d like to think of a professional organizer as more of an investment…I know at least for me…I’m usually transferring mad organizing skills to my clients!

Ok…so let’s talk about how clutter costs you Time:

• According to NAPO, the average American spends 1 year of their life searching for lost documents or misplaced items. Yikes!
• Too much clutter means more time you have to spend cleaning or managing your things.
  • For example, a lot of my clients have a lot of properties and vehicles….which is totally cool.
  • Even though most of them pay someone else to trim the trees, clean the house, take care of the lawn and service their vehicles….they’re still responsible for their stuff and still have to manage all of those accounts…or pay someone else to.
• Clutter also costs you time when you have to constantly go to the store because you can’t find what you’re looking for!
• And it can also rob you of time you’d rather spend with your family or friends…or just relaxing.

Now let’s talk about how Clutter can cost you in regards to your Health:

• Too much clutter can result in dusty, dirty and moldy environments.
  • There have been a few occasions where my eyes and sinuses came under attack by all the dust and allergens that were kicked up when I was organizing at a clients house.
  • There was even a time where I visited someone for a needs assessment and after only being in the home for an hour, my nose burned and I coughed for about 4 hours after the appointment.
  • That was only an hour…can you imagine how the health of the children were effected by living there day in and day out? That gives you something to think about.
• Another thing is that critters like clutter. And when critters get in the house…they like to leave little gifts like…their poop, pee, fur and germs….which of course aren’t necessarily good for your health.
  • Folks lemme tell ya…being an organizer is not all Martha Stewart and making pretty labels on jars in the kitchen.
  • Most of the time I’m playing kick the dust ball, running from live dusts balls (aka…rats) or dancing to La Cucaracha…not the song…the actual critters! Yes…I actually had a Texas sized cockroach jump on me while working in a closet!
• And a final thought in regards to your health…is the cost of medications to treat your health due to your clutter and that you’ll have to spend time going to the doctor and pharmacy as well as pay money for seeing the doctor and getting your meds. You see that? There’s that vicious cycle of clutter again. We’re talking about health but it can affect your time and money!

Moving on to the last area, let’s talk about how clutter can cost your in regards to your Sanity:

• Clutter can be overwhelming. For many folks clutter makes them anxious and they have a difficult time concentrating.
• Clutter can be very stressful. Imagine how frustrating it is when you can’t find something? And the stress it puts you under because now you’re running late for work.
  • Stress can lead to serious health problems like anxiety, depression, ulcers, headaches, and high blood pressure to name a few.
  • Did you catch that? Again, it’s a vicious cycle.
• Clutter can affect your relationships and cause unwanted emotional turmoil….making you feel like a bad spouse…a bad parent…a bad friend…or a bad co-worker. Which can then lead to low self-esteem….which isn’t a place I wish anyone to be.

Bottom line, everything has a cost…especially clutter.

• Not only does it rob you of your money, time, health and sanity…it robs you of your life and your dreams.

So getting organized and ditching the clutter can help you not just with saving you time, money and stress…but it can help give you space to breathe…to think…relax….and build your confidence and your self-esteem. It’s not about being perfect…far from it. It’s about controlling your space, your time, your health…your life.

A Few Random Things

• A real paperless success story! Check out our friend and SLT listener Chris Jeub’s post on ChrisJeub.com titled My Paperless Plan
• Thanks for all the notes of concern from the last show where I spoke about my Mom passing away. You guys truly are amazingly supportive. Again…sorry I kind of left you hanging there for a couple weeks, but it sure is nice to be missed!
• We changed a category in the iTunes listing and it sure would help if you took 2 minutes and give us a rating and review in iTunes. The more positive ratings we get the more likely people are to find the show because iTunes promotes shows based on your ratings and downloads, so it really helps more than you can imagine. Just go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/iTunes, from there click “view in iTunes”, then click Ratings and Reviews” and you’ll be able to click the stars to rate and leave us a comment to review. Thanks for doing that for us…it means a lot.
• We also wanted to say thanks for all the comments recently. We’ve been getting some great suggestions for future shows about topics such as photo organizing, more recommendations for apps that help simplify life a bit like HomeZada and others, and a topic that always comes up…what if you’re into simplifying and your significant other isn’t. Hmmm, lots of stuff to look into. So we’ll be exploring those topics and lots more in the episodes to come!
• Finally, for those who took the time to reply to the survey about the Simple Life Together Community… you rock! We have learned so much about what you want in the show and more. If you haven’t had a chance to take the survey, please go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/survey, take one minute and let us know your thoughts on whether you’d like to see an SLT community, more tutorials and products, or take part in an SLT Mastermind Group. We don’t want to go in a direction that you don’t want or need, so we’re counting on your feedback.

Dan’s Topic: Managing Your Passwords with 1Password

If you recall back in the day, you probably had to remember two passwords. Actually, they weren’t even passwords, they were combinations. One for your school locker and one for your gym or PE locker. If you were lucky, you probably had a lock for your bike, too.  That’s it…you were probably maxed out on your own personal RAM at that point. Fast Forward to today…EVERYTHING has a password, a PIN, security questions…yada, yada, yada. So how do most people handle it all. Typically, people use simple passwords such as names, dates, some type of easy to remember (and unfortunately, easy to hack) combination of the two. Or, they use the same password for everything!

Well, today I’m going to talk about what we use to manage our passwords and yet still have rock solid security for our vital digital information. Yes there are other password managers out there, but this is what we use…so let’s get started.

So what is 1Paswword?

• 1Password is a full-featured password and identity manager.
• 1Password has powerful desktop client programs for Mac OS X and Windows, as well as mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, 1Password gives you a more secure and convenient online experience, no matter where you are.
• For brevity’s sake I’ll just be covering 1Password for Mac and Windows. We’ll leave the mobile app for another time. But trust me, once you start using 1Password for your desktop or laptop, you’re going to want it for your mobile devices, too!

So the vast majority of the info I’m going to cover today come almost word-for-word from the Introduction pages for 1Password. So, what I don’t cover here, you can find on the 1Password website.

Let’s Start with Features:

Here are some of the features that make 1Password an indispensable tool for managing all your passwords, online IDs, and personal information and for streamlining many aspects of computer use:

• Automatically Save and Fill Web Site Logins

• True Integration With Web Browsers

• Support for Popular Web Browsers

• Super Strong Password Generator

• Advanced Security

• Securely Organize Your Digital Life With Wallet Items

• Secure Notes

• Stay Organized

• Get Access to Your Data Anywhere

• Automatically Keep Your Data in Sync on PCs, Macs, and iOS devices

Automatically Save and Fill Web Site Logins

• 1Password allows you to quickly save new Logins from within supported browsers.

• It detects when you are logging into a web site, and if it notices a password you have not yet saved, 1Password prompts you to save the new Login in your secure, encrypted data file, for later use.

• When it comes time to log into a site, 1Password makes it easy with your choice of browser buttons and keyboard shortcuts.

• You can also use their innovative Go & Fill feature, which in one fell swoop opens your default browser at a site’s login page and enters your saved login credentials, optionally submitting the filled login form.

True Integration With Web Browsers

Many applications provide safe storage areas for your private web information, but you often need to add your data by hand, then manually copy it back out when the time calls.

• 1Password is designed to work directly with your browsers.

• When you need to log into a site, create a new account, or generate a strong new password, the capability is just a click or two away, and your information is always stored in an encrypted data file.

• It’s a great combination of security and convenience.

Support for Popular Web Browsers

• The password, identity, and personal information tools that come pre-bundled with web browsers are specific to those browsers.

• Such as on a Mac using Safari, you have what’s called a keychain.

• Well, your data is locked up in each browser, forcing you to find a way to migrate your passwords—if that’s even possible—every time you switch browsers.

• With 1Password, your information travels with you.

• 1Password lets you truly integrate with your browsers through browser extensions.

• As we mentioned on earlier shows, browser extensions give your browser increased functionality.

• We’ll get into that added functionality in a minute, but know that these extensions give you instant access to your passwords and personal information that you have loaded in 1Password.

• Supported Browsers for Windows version:  32-bit Internet Explorer, 32-bit Firefox, Chrome, Safari

• Supported Browsers for Windows version: Safari, Firefox, and Chrome

Strong Password Generator

• As the Agile Bits website says, “Let’s face it: the days of using your pet’s name or your anniversary as a password are long gone.”

• While 1Password remembers all your passwords so you don’t have to, it also has a great tool called the Strong Password Generator for creating really strong, unguessable passwords to keep you safe online.

• What I like is that you can choose whether the password includes numbers or symbols, whether it’s pronounceable or not.

• Even the number of characters it uses.  Really, lots of flexibility here.

• 1Password’s Strong Password Generator creates unguessable passwords for you.

• With the Strong Password Generator you can quickly create complex passwords on the fly, save them to your encrypted 1Password data file, and automatically fill them in on website login forms.

• This protects your accounts from prying eyes, and also gives you protection from keyloggers, as 1Password never types your password and does not rely on the Clipboard.

• And all you need to remember when it comes to unlocking your data file and using your information is—you guessed it—your one password, known only to you.

Real, No Kidding Security

• I want to preface this with this…in my opinion NO system is foolproof and I wouldn’t trust anyone or any company that says their system is.

• But with 1Password, all of your confidential information is encrypted using the Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES.

• This is the same state-of-the-art encryption algorithm used as the national standard in the United States.

• 1Password uses 128-bit keys for encryption, which, according to 1Password’s developers, Agile Bits, claims would take millions of years for a criminal to decrypt your data using a “brute force” attack.

• So, I did a little checking and found out that according to ScienceDaily.com, the effort to recover an AES encrypted key is huge: the number of steps to find the key for AES-128 is an 8 followed by 37 zeroes.

• To put this into perspective: on a trillion machines, that each could test a billion keys per second, it would take more than two billion years to recover an AES-128 key. Source: ScienceDaily.com

• The folks at Agile Bits go on to say that of equal importance is where 1Password stores your data: neither an Internet connection nor an online storage is required.

• All your data is stored locally, on your computer.

• Even if you choose to sync your 1Password data with other devices using an online service like Dropbox, though, your master password keeps you in complete control of your data.

OK, Dan…I Get It, But I’m Still Worried About Security

• So here’s the bottom line and what I’d ask you to consider when thinking about security.

• What system are you using now?

• Are you writing down all your passwords in a book? How secure is that?

• Are you writing them on sticky notes and leaving the on your computer?

• Do you have a spreadsheet that has them all listed?

• Worse yet, are you using the same password for EVERYTHING?

• If so, let’s face it, your data is more susceptible to loss or misuse now than it likely would ever be using a product like 1Password.

Securely Organize Your Life With Wallet Items

• The Wallet vault provides a secure place to store sensitive information like credit cards, bank accounts, memberships, and reward programs.

• You can use 1Password’s powerful encryption technology to safely save all this information and find it when you need it.

Secure Notes

• For any information that doesn’t fit nicely into a Login or Wallet item, 1Password allows for Secure Notes.

• Secure Notes provide some of the text-entry freedom of your favorite plain-text editor with the added benefit of strong encryption—so, like everything else in your 1Password data, they’re safe and private.

Stay Organized

• 1Password items like Logins, Secure Notes, Identities, and Software Licenses are easy to find in their own “vaults” in the upper left quadrant of the 1Password window.

• If you want a little more order to your digital life, you can create folders and drag and drop one or more 1Password items into them.

• Create one folder for work-related Logins, Identities, and Wallet items, and another with Secure Notes and Logins for other areas of your life.

• A third “banking” folder could hold all your credit card and bank Logins, along with your social security Wallet item.

• We have separate identities set for our business IDs and entities and our personal profiles.

Get Access to Your Data Anywhere

• 1Password has many solutions available that allow you to access your data anywhere you need it.

• With 1Password’s apps for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices, you can securely take all of your information with you.

• With a tool called 1PasswordAnywhere, you can view the contents of your Agile Keychain from almost any computer if you store it on a syncing service like Dropbox or place a copy on a USB flash drive. This one is new to me and I haven’t used it yet, but I’m going to look into it more.

• You can also export your saved Logins as an unencrypted delimited-text file that you can carry with you on a USB stick or store in your safe deposit box as a “last line of defense” in case of drive failure.

Automatically Keep Your Data in Sync on PCs, Macs, and iOS devices

• With 1Password, leaving home won’t leave you dead in the water…at least not in terms of password and identity management.

• In addition to providing access to your logins, credit cards, and personal information across browsers on your PC, your 1Password data file can be shared among multiple PCs and Macs with a file-based sync solution like Dropbox.

So Let’s Wrap This Up…

• So, if you’re in the market for a password management system, my pick is 1Password.

• In the few years of using it, it hasn’t let me down.

• Better yet, it makes managing the myriad passwords we inevitably have these days so much easier and so much more secure.

• It’s not a free program…matter of fact it can be a little pricey at $49.99 for a single user license and $69.99 for a family license. But to us it’s well worth the cost.

So, if you’re interested in 1Password, just go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/password for a direct link, or if you’re a Mac user you can go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/macpassword for a direct affiliate link to the Mac App Store.

 Thing Segment

Vanessa’s Thing: I Love “Found Time”

• Last week a client rescheduled her appointment with me and I was so thrilled because I really needed a break!
• So Dan and I decided to hang out and spend the day together.  We decided to go get some breakfast and then go for a quick ride to a small town or something.
• After breakfast, I suggested we swing by our bank to set up our daughter’s college fund before we headed out on our drive.  I figured we spend 30 minutes max in the bank and then we’d be on our way right?!  NOPE!  30 minutes turned into 2 hours but you know what?
• It was totally worth it because we ended up taking care of some things that we’ve been meaning to do but just hadn’t gotten around to.
• We were able relook, refocus, and reallocate resources in our investments, retirements, savings, insurance and college funds.
• I was on cloud 9 because these things were on my Master To Do List…and we finally got them taken care of!
• Not to mention these things focused and helped fortify 3 of our 5 pillars/priorities in life…FAMILY, FINANCES, AND FUTURE!  So that is my thing!

Dan’s Thing: Reminders in Evernote!

• Finally! Evernote’s latest release includes a reminders function. This has been their most asked for improvement and now it’s here!
• Currently, Evernote Reminders is available on the Mac, iOS and Web versions of Evernote
• I’ll be doing a more in-depth review of this new function within Evernote and cover it in a later show
• For now, know that reminders are incredibly easy to use.
  • You can add a Reminder to a note by simply tapping on the alarm clock icon located at the top of the note on Mac and Web, and at the bottom of the note on iPhone and iPad.
  • If you like, set a date and time for when this note must be completed.
  • You’ll get an in-app alarm and, optionally, an email the day that a Reminder is due.
  • Once set, you’ll see the note title appear in the new Reminder section at the top of the note list.
  • You can change the order of Reminders simply by dragging them around. When you complete your task, tap on the check or, on iOS, swipe to remove the Reminder from the list.
  • Like most things in Evernote, Reminders sync across all versions of the app that support the new feature, which again are Mac, iOS and Web versions of Evernote.
• Evernote promises that they have big plans to expand the functionality, and to bring it to more platforms in the very (very) near future. So, check it out and let me know what you think.

Links:

Support Charity Water Through Your Amazon.com Purchases

1Password for Mac

1Password for Windows

Chris Jeub’s post “My Paperless Plan”

Google Drive Tutorial

Simple Life Together Community Survey

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Spring Cleaning Your Home, Life & Tech

Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks!

Vanessa Topic: Spring Cleaning Your Home and Life

Spring cleaning is all about de-cluttering, deep cleaning, and prepping for the summer!  

• ceiling and floor vents

• ceiling fans and baseboards

• gutters

• washing the windows and window sills

• clearing out and wiping down the inside of drawers

• de-funkifying the inside of your oven and degreasing the stove vents

• sweeping and moping under appliances, couches, beds, etc.

• decalcifying your water fixtures

Spring cleaning can also include other things like:

• switching out seasonal clothing and home decor

•  testing fire alarms and replacing batteries Fire alarms

• checking fire extinguishers for their expiration date

• service your lawn and gardening equipment How to prep lawn equipment for Spring

• service your vehicle and stock up on vehicle emergency supplies before a summer road trip.

• get your  AC unit serviced too

I also like to include a little  planning and prepping for summer and fall:

• Sign your kids up for summer camps Summer Fun Activities for the Kiddos

• Plan out your trips and vacations (Vacation Travel Preparation)…you can use Travel Checklists to keep you organized.

• Enroll your kids for school; get their records, immunizations and physical taken care of now! Or at least have it on your radar. Back to School Tips

Sounds like a lot of stuff right? Your Spring Cleaning List is manageable if you keep these things in mind:

• You don’t have to do it all at once! You can do a little bit at a time everyday

• First: Identifying ALL TASKS you need or would like to do in priority order

• Second: Assign a reasonable amount of time to complete each task

• And finally….make a date and don’t break it!!!  That means schedule it on your calendar.   Remember…A TO DO item is actionless unless you attach a date to it!

• Book your priority tasks first.  Save big tasks for days that you have more time to dedicate to them.  Smaller/easier tasks can be listed on a daily basis.

• Now, if your list is still looking too long then consider spreading your tasks out throughout the year instead of just at springtime!

• And don’t forget about delegating tasks to family or other members of the household…

• Or even hire someone else to do it for you!   Sometimes it’s worth outsourcing help!!!!

I mentioned getting others involved…but what if others in the family aren’t “into it”? Well, here are some tips to help get Spring Cleaning “buy in” from others:

• Communication is key. Explain why certain tasks are important to get done and that you really need their help.

• Start with a small task.  Then move to a team oriented task.  Keep it fair too…everyone should be involved not just the oldest child.

• Give them ample notice of a cleaning project…don’t just drop it on them at the last minute!

• When all else fails bribe them or threaten them!  That’s what I do!  Just kidding. 

Let’s talk about some popular spring cleaning projects around the home (Note: I’m just going to mention the more unique tasks)

• Kitchen: clean out ovens and vent hoods; edit and organize your pantry tossing all expired items; clean out the inside or your fridge as well as sweep and mop under it; may need to defrost your freezer and wine fridge too; and decalcify your coffee maker

• Living Rooms: clean sofas and chairs; wipe down remotes; edit and organize media like DVDs, CDs and video games; edit magazines and newspaper collections

• Bathrooms: wash shower curtains and shower mats; dust vents; throw away old and expired jams n jellies and medications; srub away lime deposits on your water fixtures.

• Garage: service lawn mowers, move winter supplies, bring out sport equipment; you may want to check out:  17 Secrets to Organizing Your Garage and 7 Steps to Organize Your Garage

• Closets: switch seasonal clothing, edit old, unused clothing, rearrange, organize How to Store Seasonal Clothing and Closet TuneUp and  How to Edit Your Clothes Quick Tip and  SLT Episode 20 How to Organize Your Closet

• Kid’s rooms: clear out old toys, clothes and even papers. Be ruthless!  Switch out seasonal clothes and bedding.

• Home Office and Papers: great time to edit papers, especially after Tax Season Simplify Your Taxes. Clean out old files and spruce up current ones with nice file folders and labels.  Consider using an action file to keep up with daily influx of mail and papers. Maybe even think about going paperless like we’ve talked about numerous times here on the show (Episode 06).

• Outdoors: windows, gutters, power wash siding and sidewalks/driveway, check faucets and hoses, mulch, weed and fertilize. How to prep lawn equipment for Spring. Clean your BBQ grill.

Dan’s Topic: Spring Cleaning Your Tech

Take a few moments to go through your RSS reader and pare down some of those feeds you’re no longer interested in or add some that you’ve been meaning to

• When it comes to feeds, digital simplicity is about having the RIGHT feeds, not just FEWER feeds.

The same thing goes for your podcast subscriptions

• Look through the podcasts you subscribe to and consider which ones you really listen to.

• With nearly 50% of podcast listeners listening on smartphones, keeping your subscription list well pruned is more important than ever.

• Even if you’re streaming versus downloading, stick to your favorites and check out the others on an individual basis

Speaking of podcasts, here’s something I did just yesterday:

• I realized that some of my workflows hadn’t kept up with technology.

• Specifically, my old workflow for listening to podcasts was like this: subscribe in iTunes, download episodes to my laptop, sync my iPod to my laptop, and once or twice a year I’d go through the shows in my iTunes and delete old episodes.

• Well I realized that workflow was outdated because I no longer use my iPod, I listen to 90% of podcasts on my phone, and about 5% each on my iPad and Apple TV.

• With streaming, there is no need to download them.

• I was taking up tons of unnecessary space because I never adapted my workflow to my habits or technology changes.

The same goes for my music in iTunes

• It was taking up huge amounts of disc space yet…

• I  paid for iTunes Match, so my music was in the Cloud and ready to stream or download any time.

• Knowing I have my music library safely backed up on an external drive, I deleted all my music in iTunes that was already matched in iTunes Match.

• I did have about 300 songs or sound files that weren’t available in iTunes match that I kept in iTunes on my laptop, but that’s a lot better than many thousands of files!

Inbox cleaning: Back in Episode 12 of the show, we did an episode on The Art of Inbox Warfare to help you battle your email Inbox

• I covered lots of tips there but one thing I’ll mention is making good use of your “unsubscribe” button for mailing lists you’re no longer interested in, and maxing out the use of filters if you’re a Gmail user.

• A little time spent “spring cleaning” your Inbox can help you throughout the year!

Take some time to go through your Evernote Notebooks and Tags

• In tags view, see if you have duplicates that you can delete or combine with other tags.

• Often you’ll have singulars and plurals of the same Tags. Pare those down.

• Same goes for Notebooks. If you can combine notes into one Notebook from similar Notebooks, give that a shot.

• If you haven’t tried Stacked Notebooks, that, too, can help you organize your Evernote database visually.

• If you’re new to Evernote and need some help getting started, go back and check out Evernote Simplified Part 1 in Episode 17 and Evernote Simplified Part 2 in Episode 18.

If you spend a lot of time on the computer, it’s just as important to have a clear digital space as it is to have an organized and clean home.

• Edit your desktop, apps, and menu bar items down to those you use the most.

• If others that you don’t use tend to get in the way, they’re probably not helping your productivity much.

• I covered the ones I use most (and why) back in Episode 21.

• You might recall that two menu bar apps I use quite heavily are PopClip and ScreenFloat.

• Since then, Vanessa finally tried both of those (PopClip and Screenfloat) and has now become quite addicted.

Take some time to go through your Contacts list.

• First, do you have a system for updating them?

• Are the ones you have current?

• How about those old numbers and addresses…is it time to edit those?

• Personally, I use Contacts in Gmail and love it. Your mileage may vary.

• Remember “back in the day” when you got a new phone and had to re-enter all your Contacts? If that’s still you, maybe it’s time you hopped on the technology bandwagon.

And Spring Cleaning time might be the perfect time to review your digital backup plan, too. Way back in Episode 3 I talked about backing up your digital information

• Follow the 3 S’s…Make your backup Simple, Seamless and Solid.  

• Simple…so you don’t have to think about it, it just happens in the background. If you do have to think about it, set reminders in your calendar. Remember, it needs to be simple but complete…

• On site backup to an external drive.

• Cloud backup off site.

• Seamless…if you have regular backups to an external drive, make sure that drive is also backed up off site.  Initial backup to the Cloud can take up to a couple weeks, depending on your connection speed and how much data you have, of course.

• Solid…evaluate that your system works. Try to download files from your backup system and see if there are bottlenecks or barriers to your system. How easy would it be to do a complete system restore if you lost your hard drive?

Thing Segment

• Dan’s Thing: Asana, a task management tool

• Vanessa’s Thing: Prepping for her Certified Professional Organizer Board and Decision Making with a little help from Parkinson’s Law

Links

Real Simple Spring Cleaning Shortcuts

How to Clean Floors Walls Mrs. Meyers Clean Day

Green Cleaning Supplies by Green Cleaning/Goodhousekeeping

How to Store Seasonal Clothing

How To Organize Your Pantry

Organizing your Home Office

17 Secrets to Organizing Your Garage

7 Steps to Organize Your Garage

Like With Like

Closet TuneUp

How to Edit Your Clothes Quick Tip

Travel Checklists

Fire alarms

Back to School Tips

Summer Fun Activities for the Kiddos

Vacation Travel Preparation

Simplify Your Taxes

How to prep lawn equipment for Spring

Asana Project Management

Would you like to help us help Charity Water? If you make purchases on Amazon.com through this link it will be applied to  Vanessa’s Charity Water Campaign

Give directly to Charity Water Through Vanessa’s Campaign

To Create An Action File Quick Tip

Paper Piles, Paper Piles…Here’s An Easy Way To Control The Clutter

Working with Hanging Files and File Folders

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Simplicity Can Be Complicated & Tackling Piles of Files with Smiles

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Dan’s Topic: Sometimes Simplicity Can Be Pretty Complicated

One of the major topics people talk to us about is how it seems that a good portion of society has given up or lost their way when it comes to choices they make and and even seems like they’ve given up on taking responsibility for shaping their lives.

• On last week’s show I mentioned Stephen Covey’s classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
• Covey addresses at the beginning of his book that responsibility is our “ability to respond.”
• When it comes to living out our decision to pursue a more simple life, we exercise our ability to respond in the choices we make.
  • Choices on what to let into our lives, and choices on what to let go of.
  • In doing that, we exercise that responsibility at many levels..first in our choice to live simply and then with each decision we make to support that choice.

Simplicity is a completely personal choice. No one, including us, has all the right answers on how to make your life simple. Like most things in life that are truly important, there is no:

• magic pill
• definitive blueprint
• roadmap
• or treasure map to find the simple life that perfectly suits you.

The answer can only be found by truly contemplating your desires, formulating your life plan and tweaking it along the way as you get wiser. Matter of fact, listening to gurus and experts will often run contrary to your goals because it limits your ability to respond…to be response-able.

Responsibility is a like a muscle, if you don’t exercise it, it will atrophy over time and you won’t be able to use it.

That is the path a huge part of society has chosen to follow these days and their decision muscles become more and more atrophied every single day.

 So how did this happen? Well, I’ve thought a lot about it and wanted to share some things with you.

• So, as you’ve heard me mention before, many sources tell us that the average adult is exposed to as many as 5000 advertisements per day.
• Now, I think this number might be a little high, but who knows.
• I’ve done some research on it and to me there’s definitely a ballpark figure range from 1800 to 5000.
• Still, the crux of the matter is that we’re inundated with advertisements, and heck, traditional media for that matter, that are designed at their best to influence our decisions, and at worst, to replace our decision making process all together!
• Advertising tells us what we’re supposed to drive, what we’re supossed to look like, wear, live, what medicines we need to take if we want to be 70 and hold hands with our significant other as we sit in separate bathtubs after a long day’s motorcycle ride.

If you’re new to simplifying your life, I just want to reinforce the decision you’ve made to give this a shot. I wanted to start out by just going over what decision making was like back in the day and what it’s like now. I’m not going to get into what’s better and what’s not…just sort of present some realities and how our options have changed. Like “stuff” in our lives, more options isn’t always better. So let’s compare some available options of a few things between an era we’ll call “back in the day” to now:

• First off, television.
  • Back in the day we had about 3-4 TV channels to choose from.
    • If you’re like me and lived near Canada, maybe you were able to pull in 2 more, and maybe your town had a VHF channel to watch reruns of shows that were off the Big 3 here in the States of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
    • If you lived outside the States, then maybe you have even fewer options.
    • If you wanted some advice about what to watch, you asked your friends. The sample was small and just by asking a handful of friends would give you all the info you needed.
    • The advertising model was a holdover from the radio days. Products sponsored shows and trusted spokespeople told us what products were right for us.
    • But even then you were exposed to so few Ads that you could discern for yourself whether coffee A was better than B, or if more doctors really did smoke Camel cigarettes.
  • Today, most of us probably have access to 300+ channels
    • We say there’s still nothing on
    • There’s no way we could ask friends to sample all the options.
    • Many people just accept at face value the advertising they see as true.
    • They suffer from analysis paralyisis and have just given up.
    • Sure, it’s easier…but it won’t lead to the simple life you’re trying to build.

Tip: As a minimum, we should try to crowdsource our feedback by doing things like reading reviews on Amazon, checking site like Consumer Reports, and yes…still asking friends that we trust are informed. But taking things at face value from ads?  No way!

Tip: I’d be pretty skeptical that the celebrity spokespeople actually use these products. Here in the States you see a lot of ads for reverse mortgages that are hawked by celebrities.  Do you really think they’re using a reverse mortgage?  Doubt it.

• Now when it comes to food it gets even more deceptive, and I’m just going to hit a couple examples and I’ll have reference links in the shownotes at SimpleLifeTogether.com/024:
  • Did you know that here in the States, the Food and Drug Administration has no definition for “natural” or “organic”?
  • The US Dept of Agriculture does have an organic program which specifies how organic items are supposed to be grown.
  • So even taking for granted that labels such as natural and all natural lead you to healthy choice may not in fact be the case.  And that’s where sticking with your simple goals can get tough.
  • Advertisements by companies can be even more deceptive. Remember, these are publicly traded companies and their boards have a fiduciary responsibility to make more profit. “Trust but verify.”
  • Here’s an example…here in the States we have a popular “healthy cereal” (put that in air quotes) called TOTAL.  Well, Total came out with Blueberry Pomegranate cereal. Sounds delicious right? Well, the truth is, it contains no blueberries and no pomegranates. Seriously!  Here’s a quote I verified the ingredients right from the box labels on Amazon:

Quote from NaturalNews.com: “Yet it is called “Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal” and positioned as a highly nutritious cereal with the words “100% nutrition,” “Blueberry” and “Pomegranate” appearing prominently on the front of the box, in a very large font size. While the cereal contains no actual blueberries or pomegranates, it does contain eight different sweeteners: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Brown Sugar Syrup, Malt Syrup, Sucralose, Molasses and Honey.”

• Another thing I want to address briefly about advertisements and reality is this…how can a teenage girl compete with the advertisements that show what she’s “supposed to look like”?  I don’t want my daughter to spend her life trying living up to an impossible standard that has no basis in reality.

So, more options have given us a lot more to juggle around in our minds and have put the responsibility…like it or not…where it always has been, on our own shoulders. And when it comes to our self image, we need to know ourselves and help others see that if they’re going to measure themselves against someone or something else, be sure to use the yardstick of reality and not the Photoshopped version of reality that no one can compete with. Since any rant should include at least one dead guy quote, I think Teddy Roosevelt’s comments that  “Comparison is the thief of joy”, apply pretty well here.

And I think the most insidious thing is that, because there are so many options, because it’s hard to know what decision to make without taking the incredible amount of time it takes to research every option, people just give up.  They opt to relinquish their ability to respond, set their decision processes to “Receive Mode” and simply accept as truth what these media sources feed the. Worse yet, they typically take the next logical step and adopt a victim mentality when something doesn’t go their way. Why wouldn’t they? And that’s when things really start to break down for us…when we accept we can’t do anything about our circumstance.

Well for those new to the show, I can tell you this. You won’t find that mentality here from other listeners or from Vanessa and me. Sure, we all have our moments, but if you take some time to read through the reviews on iTunes, comments on the blog, or if you’re an Edit & Forget It Challenge member on the Facebook Page, what you’ll hear is people taking control of their complex lives and making them simpler for themselves. Nobody’s doing it for them…not me, not Vanessa, and certainly not society. They’re doing it themselves and we all care enough about each others’ success to offer some help, advice, tips and shared experiences…but certainly not the blueprint or the magic pill. When people send us notes they don’t say Dan or Vanessa can you tell me how to, “whatever.” They ask, “What are your thoughts on this?” or “Do you have any recommendation about that?” And of course, we’re happy to share what works for us. If it works for them, too, then great! The folks over on the Edit & Forget It Challenge page have been the same way…generously offering options and experiences so others can choose. And that’s awesome.

So when it comes to simplifying your life, the decisions you make during your life planning will help you limit the seemingly endless options you have. For instance, if health and fitness is one of the pillars of your life plan then it should follow that the food decisions you make are in line with that goal. Instead of having to choose between the 31 original flavors of ice cream, maybe it’s easier to be true to your goal and decide to stay away from ice cream all together?

So in the end, which is opposite of “back in the day”, yes…sometimes it’ll take a little bit more effort to find the answers or a trusted source for yourself, but one thing’s for sure…take the recommendations of conventional experts, gurus and advertisement with a grain of salt. But please, just pick a salt…because if you ask the “so called experts” which salt to pick you’ll have to decide between:

Or you could choose products like No Salt/Lite Salt/ExSalt, which aren’t salt at all. But don’t worry, they must be good for you, they’re labeled “all natural” and are made out of pure MSG.

Vanessa Topic: Tackling Piles of Files with Smiles

So, with our Edit & Forget It Challenge, there’s been a lot of buzz about folks digitizing their paper files. I think after Episode 6 Going Paperless with Brooks Duncan and Episode 15 Living Without a Printer…folks got totally motivated to banish their paper piles. I think it’s great to get those old files digitized.  And if you haven’t listened to Episode 6 with Brooks Duncan, you may want to go back and get some basic tips on how to organize your digital files.

You know what’s really neat is how liberated folks feel after letting go of piles and piles of files!  I have to tell you, paper clutter is one of the most common complaints I get from my clients.  Everyone has to deal with paper and sometimes folks just get lost in it!

One thing I’ve noticed is that sometimes, folks will get super motivated and get their digital and paper files all  organized….but then they struggle with managing the daily flow of new papers coming in!  Because isn’t it crazy how much paper we deal with everyday?

Well, guess what?  I’ve come to the rescue.  I got some really easy tips here to help you out.  And regardless if you’ve already gone paperless….or if you are trying to go paperless…or if you’re still keeping the hard copies which is totally ok…I’ve got a few ideas for you on how to control and maintain your daily influx of papers.  Because like I eluded to earlier, the fact of the matter is…we deal with paper on a daily basis and we’ve got to come up with ways to control it before it controls us!

So, here’s what I’m going to discuss with you today:

•  I’m going to talk a little about creating an overall paper plan.
• Then I want to discuss some tips on how to slow the flow of papers and stopping them at the source.
• And lastly, I’ll wrap up with a step by step guide on how to create a simple…but oh so powerful…daily paper management system called…an Action File.

Creating an Overall Paper Plan. Just like every other project or goal, what is it that Dan and I always say you have to start with first?  Yup!  The End State!  It’s that end state that’s going to drive your action steps and routines to manage your paper.

Please note….I’m just talking about one facet of paper organization. There are books solely dedicated

to managing paper alone, so just keep in mind I’m tackling just one facet of that today.

Think about having two general categories of paper: Permanent and Temporary.

• Your Permanent Files are files you want to keep permanently and be able to reference later.  These are the ones you keep in filing cabinets or bins.
• Then you have your Temporary Files… which are things you have yet to go through or things you need take action on right? Like bills, RSVPs, to-dos, appointments to make, etc….some of which may become permanent files later. Yeah….these are the ones that end up in little piles all over the house like the kitchen counter, dining table, coffee table, end tables and dressers, right?  Well, don’t worry, we’re going to solve that problem a little later.

Permanent  Files:  I want you to think about how you envision organizing them? Do you want primarily digital files or paper files?  Or maybe you need both?  How and where do you want to store them?  In your office, in your kitchen, out of the way, locked up, in a pretty cabinet, cardboard boxes, plastic bins?  Just think about it because all of these factors are going to affect how you set up your routines, how you organize your storage space and how you setup your action file….which we’ll get to in a bit.  Again, really think through that end state so that you can properly plan.

Temporary Files and Slowing the Flow. Again, these are things that you have yet to get to or need to take action on.  The thing about temporary files…especially the mail…is that half of it is junk!  It’s stuff that we really don’t need…and most of the time didn’t even ask for yet it’s made it’s way into our lives for us to deal with.

Well, the good news is that you can help slow the flow by stopping it at it’s source.

• Stop all those credit card and insurance company offers by going to OptOutPrescreen.com.
• Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance even if you don’t initiate it.
  • But the FCRA provides you the right to Opt -Out (how nece of them).
  • Now this is good if you no longer want or need those offer.
  • If you opt out you can always opt back in.
• Stop unwanted magazines and other mail by going to DMAChoice.Org.
  • DMA choice is a on online tool developed by the Direct Marketing Association to help you manage your mail. It allows you to manage catalog, magazine, credit card and other mail offers.
  • I always choose to unsubscribe to all of them, but you can be selective
• Unsubscribe from email.  Yes, once you order something from Harry and David just as an example…even if it was an online order….you’re bound to get a magazine from them.  So  unsubscribing from email offers is helpful too.
• Other ways to cut down on the paper in our lives is to do auto bill pay, cut down on printing and don’t give your information out to the cute guy or gal at the register.

 Let’s Create an Action File. Ok, let’s talk about how to tame those Temporary Files. 

• First things first…an action file is just as the name suggests….its a file for you to take action on.
  • This is not a permanent filing system.
  • It’s simply a holding facility for you to house your papers until you can take the appropriate action on them.
  • The idea here is to prevent paper piles from piling up and to give those random papers a home.
• Here’s what you need: a desktop file sorter and file folders
  • You’ll want a vertical desktop file sorter to either put plain manilla folders or hanging file folders in.
  • The idea is to File Not Pile so you can quickly.
  • You probably don’t want one deeper than 10 inches because it’ll take up too much space on your desk plus you want ones that’s portable.
  • There are all types: clear plastic, silver or black mesh, colored metal designed one, leather and linen wrapped ones.
  • They range in all sorts of prices but just remember: Function First…Aesthetics Second.
•  Now what you need to do is label your files.
  • At a minimum I recommend having a To Do, To Pay and To File.
  • You may consider other files: one for to read, for receipts, for coupons, for schedules, for each family member, or for take out menus, etc.
  • You can modify this to meet your needs.  For example, Dan and I have separate files for receipts and tax receipts.
  • Since we have both digital and paper files we have folders labeled: To Scan Then File and To Scan Then Shred.
• Next you need to put it in the right location.
  • Put it where you naturally dump or sort your mail.
  • A place that’s easy to access.
  • If it’s too far out of the way then you’re not going to use it and you’ll end up with paper piles again.
  • You’ll also want it in a spot that has the right supplies nearby like: a shredder, recycle bin, pen, sticky notes, calendar, checkbook, calculator, stamps, etc).
• Once it’s in the right spot, now you can use it. Here’s what I recommend:
  • Check your mail daily!
  • Sort your mail and any other papers and make decisions on each item
  • Check it daily for To Do’s or To Pay…or know that you can do right there because they now have a home!
  • Remember, this is a temporary paper home…you’ve got to take action.  So…you need an action plan!

Now, don’t forget…Check it Daily….or Weekly…or at the very least…clear it out Monthly!!!!  That’s it!

I have some pretty comprehensive videos for setting up your Action File on my GetSimplifized website. Be sure to check these out for a step by step guide to setting up your Action File!

How To Create An Action File Quick Tip

Paper Piles, Paper Piles…Here’s An Easy Way To Control The Clutter

OK…and here’s a bonus video on the basics of working with hanging files. Check out the “Handy Count” in the video:

Working with Hanging Files and File Folders

Thing Segment

• Dan’s Thing: Feedly as a Replacement for Google Reader

• Vanessa’s Thing: Oh How I Love My iPhone Camera!

Links

Would you like to help us help Charity Water? If you make purchases on Amazon.com through this link it will be applied to  Vanessa’s Charity Water Campaign

Give directly to Charity Water Through Vanessa’s Campaign

To Create An Action File Quick Tip

Paper Piles, Paper Piles…Here’s An Easy Way To Control The Clutter

Working with Hanging Files and File Folders

Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks!