To Keep or Not Keep

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Tip:  If making the decision to keep or not keep is too difficult, do the following.  Pack up the items and label the container with a list of contents and the date the items were packed.  Store the container in an out of the way location for one year.  If you look for items in the container within the year, consider keeping those items only.  If you don’t, get rid of all the items in the container.

Containers for Organizing

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Tip:  When searching for an appropriate container to store items, take these 5 aspects into consideration, proper fit, durability, manageability, dimensions, and labeling options.  Remember that function should take prescience over ascetics.  I recommend getting a container you like, because you’ll be much more apt to use it.

Cost of Ownership

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September brings colder nights, and soon we’ll be turning on the heat.  We received the depressing news from our plumber that our furnace should be replaced this year or next.  Oh, the joys of home ownership.  What about the joys and cost of owning any item?

Costs of Ownership

Do you agree that it’s easy to accumulate belongings, especially if you have children?  Things, stuff, and junk seem to multiply at a very rapid rate.  Have you ever asked yourself what is the cost of owning all these things, all this stuff, all the junk?  Just like home ownership, I bet it’s not always pleasant to own things.  In fact, just like home ownership, it can be costly.
What is the cost of ownership?  To figure out the cost of ownership of an item consider these 5 factors:
1.  Purchasing it
     A.  Time – going to store or ordering
     B.  Effort  – researching and comparing products
     C.  Money – cost of item and cost of gas or shipping
2.  Time and effort exchanging it if it’s not the right item
3.  Real estate required to store it
4.  Effort to organize, clean, repair, and update it
5.  Stress of loosing or ruining it

Are the things, stuff and junk you have in your space worth the cost of ownership?  Answering this question can help you determine what is worth keeping and what isn’t.

Try it and share with me what you discovered.  If you’d like assistance with the process, I’m at your disposal.

Organizing Photos

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Tip:   Organized photos, whether they’re digital or actual prints by theme.  First gather them up, purge the blurred and oops ones, and then sort and store by theme.  Organizing photos by theme is much easier than trying to determine the chronological order of each individual picture.  Some themes may be birthdays, holidays, school events, weddings, anniversaries, and family vacations.

 

 

Organizing Manuals

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Tip: Store product manuals and instructions in one file with three subcategories, kitchen, children and other.  Be honest with yourself when asking if you’ll ever reference this information again.  If not, don’t keep the manual or instructions.  Manuals often come in more than one language, only keep the language you reference.  Sort through this file every year and recycle all that you can.