NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING

Q & A: How to organize cat, dog, & pet stuff to keep your home easy-to-clean

Question

Hi Ariane,

I'd appreciate your insights -- two or three tips would be fine -- on how dog owners can create an easy-to-clean house. That is, how to create an environment that's easier to keep clean. Any ideas?

I'm working on a short household-hints piece for Dog Fancy magazine, considered the nation's most widely read dog magazine. Since you're an expert on organizing and a cat owner (presumably accustomed to wayward cat hair), perhaps you've developed techniques for making your own household easy to clean and relatively clear of cat fur.

Or perhaps you have a nifty storage solution or two -- like for giant bags of pet food. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best, Sally Deneen
Contributing Editor/ Dog Fancy
www.DogFancy.com

Answer

Hi Sally, Thanks for writing!  Thanks to your question, I have collected a bunch of ideas for dog and cat owners! Here are my tips for creating an easy-to-clean home when you have pets.....

Words for your Walls

Link: Words for your Walls: Decorative custom lettering for your home.

This is a cool site!  You input the text you want, choose a font, and they make a clear decal that you can put on your wall for inspiration!  Great Idea.  I think I'll try this for my office when I repaint in 2006.

Goal-Free Living and Blogging can be a GOOD thing!

BRILLIANT concept!!!  If you enjoy blogging, Goal-Free Blogging is a must-read post by Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal Free Living .  I’ve been blogging since August and I also have found that blogging is best as an adventure and a journey - not a goal. It started out as part of my organizing business, but now it’s much more than just about organizing and productivity.  It's about learning, discovery, insights, sharing and community just to name a few. And yes...it's so much more fun and insightful when you just let it flow rather than set goals and objectives for the blog.  At first, it was tough.  But now, ideas for the blog just hit me all the time. And, I think it helps me be a better organizer as well.  It stimulates my creativity and innovative problem-solving. 

I can’t wait to read Goal Free Living - the new Book by Stephen Shapiro coming out in January.

I suspect Goal-free concepts can be applied to helping my clients enjoy getting and staying organized, rather than seeing it as a dreary task or goal that must be done.  If you see organizing as a chore, then it is.  If you see it as a way to creatively make your life easier and more fun...then it will be! 

Why wait to enjoy life "once I get organized".  Start enjoying your life NOW!  : )

All the best,
Ariane

Being unavailable in a high availability world

To be your best, and get things done, sometimes you have to turn off the phones, and learn the value of Being unavailable in a high availability world.

If you have your cell phone on all the time, or if you answer it even when you are talking face to face with someone else, try turning it off for 4-8 hours and just focus on your own projects.  Return calls all at once rather than let them interrupt you. You'll be amazed how much more you can accomplish.

How to Become an Early Riser

If your productivity is inconsistent, Steve Pavlina's post on  How to Become an Early Riser may help.  Getting the right amount and getting good quality sleep is one of the most important factors in good health AND in maintaining the motivation to get and stay organized.  Insomnia and poor sleep habits can also lead to depression and lethargy.  Steve presents a sound and useful strategy on how to get an optimal amount of sleep, avoid insomnia, and become an early riser.

In my own experience, I can validate his theory that insomnia is caused by going to bed and trying to sleep when you aren't sleepy.  Every time I try to do that, I lay awake for hours.  When I get up and read or watch TV till I'm sleepy, then I'll go right to sleep.

I've also noticed that if I do something right before bedtime that is very engaging, or that provokes intense thought, like working on the computer, paying bills, or even reading or watching certain books, it will be very difficult to fall asleep.  So, I try to make sure I read something easy on the mind like fiction, or US magazine, rather than say Discover magazine.

Another way to ensure a good night's sleep is to exercise and avoid caffeine.  When I get plenty of exercise during the day, and only have one cup of coffee in the morning, I sleep MUCH better.

Sweet Dreams!
Ariane

IRS Audits to Increase for Small Business

Here's ominous news I found at The Self Employment Blog for Small Business Owners: IRS Audits Increase for Small Business.

Karyn Greenstreet says:
"According to a recent article on Inc.com, the IRS has been given additional funding for enforcement. This means that small businesses will likely feel the effect of increased scrutiny and audits. You can read the article here:

http://www.inc.com/criticalnews/articles/200512/audits.html

Now more than ever, it's important to keep accurate records of all your financial transactions as it relates to your self-employment and small business. I know it's a daunting task for many, and many put off entering all the revenue and expense numbers into a ledger (paper or electronic). It's a case of divide-and-conquer: do it weekly and the stacks of paper will never get overwhelming."

This means that now more than ever, you need to make sure you are keeping appropriate records, filing them properly, and archiving the right stuff in long term storage.  I have created a 3 page tool that lists all types of paperwork and how long everything should be kept.  It includes Filing tips and IRS tips.  To get it, sign up for my newsletter.  For more filing tips, check out http://blog.neatandsimple.com/blog/2005/12/tips_for_creati.html

How to Save the World The WalMart Dilemma

I've written my piece on Wal-mart...but wanted to share this Canadian's view.  He has an excellent point about the real blame being on the way the Free Trade laws are structured.  However, It should be noted that Wal-mart expends a HUGE effort to influence Free Trade agreements that make it easier for them to import from China - even though China actually subsidizes businesses there so that they can export cheap goods to us. 

See: How to Save the World - The Wal-mart Dilemma.

links for 2005-12-27

• A VC: how to post Delicious Daily Links-automatically   Great tips for getting Typepad to automatically post your del.icio.us links.  If you haven't tried del.icio.us, check it out.  I've just started myself.  It's a much easier way to Organize your links than the typical browser bookmarking.  Mainly because you can assign tags, AND you can add notes as to why you bookmarked it in the first place.  This allows you to file a single bookmark under multiple categories.  I LOVE THIS!  I'm all about making it easier to find what you're looking for.  The bookmark (Favorites) filing structure in Explorer and Firefox requires you to put your Bookmarks in a single folder.
  
  The concept of tagging files to organize them is an amazing tool.  I can't wait till we figure out how to do that with paper files!  Another tool that uses tags is flickr .  It allows you to upload your photos and tag them.  It's really awesome.  The only problem I have with flickr right now is that I can't control the order that photos appear in a set.  There may be a hack for that, but I haven't learned it yet.  Feel free to leave me a comment if you know how to do this.

(tags: blog hacks bloghacks)

• Micro Persuasion: Ten Blogging Hacks  If you are a blogger or hope to be, these are some great tips on using del.icio.us and other tools to really take blogging to a whole new level.  I don't have the time to implement all of these.  But there are few I really like.  Like for example, I'm going to experiment with having my del.icio.us links post here daily - automatically.  I think it will be a great way to not only track my best finds on the web and blogosphere but also to share them with you.
  (tags: bloghacks blog)

6 reasons why we switched to Firefox

We tried Firefox when we discovered that over 60% of the visitors to our site were using it!  At first we HAD to get it - just so we could ensure our website was optimized for both Firefox and Explorer  (which it wasn't - that sent us in to redesign mode - all fixed now) 

After using it during our redesign, and using it for our own surfing, we found it to be much better than Microsoft Explorer and switched for the following reasons.

1. It's MUCH faster than Explorer - Seriously, we have loaded pages side by side in both browsers at the same time and FF is really faster!
2. We almost never crash!  I'm known to have 20 windows and 10 or more tabs per window open at the same time. (Yeah, yeah...my husband can't believe it either. He calls it ADD, I call it multitasking.)  With Explorer, I would crash at least 5 times a day. I've only crashed FF once in over 2 months of seriously challenging it to crash!
3. I don't get all those annoying Javascript errors! From the moment we installed XP, Explorer gave us CONSTANT JS errors, pretty much on every site we visited.  I think it was due to the whole mess Microsoft had with Sun Java where they had to stop using Virtual Machine.  Whatever the reason -  it's not an issue at all with FF.
4. It's separate from Windows!! So if DOES start acting goofy, we can just reinstall it -  without reinstalling Windows.
5. Not only does it work better than Explorer, it frees you from depending on Microsoft. 
6. I love the tabs!  Within a window you can open related sites and easily switch between them.

All the best,

Ask Ariane - Free Organizing Advice

As part of my newsletter I offer a free advice colum.  If you have an organizing question, just post a comment here.  I'll respond as soon as I can.  Can't wait to hear from you!

Sending Neat Thoughts,

Neat Living wins an Award!

No one was more surprised than me to learn that I won a ZBest award from Ziggs.com

They even sent me an engraved plaque and sent out a press release!  Check out the award and my profile here  http://www.ziggs.com/about/nsZBest.aspx!

All the best,

TYPEPAD PERFORMANCE ISSUES

Dear visitor,

You are probably noticing problems with this blog.  Typepad hosting servers crashed and we were down an entire weekend.  they are attempting to restore all data.  I'm so sorry for this.   Don't worry, we are considering moving the blog to a new reliable host, but in the spirit of the season, we're going to give them another chance.  Just keep http://blog.neatandsimple.com bookmarked.  That will NOT change even if we change hosts.  Thanks for understanding.

Resources for Stay At Home Moms

http://www.momswish.com

Lots of great resources for Stay at Home and Work at Home Moms.

Seek and Ye Shall Find: Top Ten Alternative Search Engines - Lifehacker

If you are tired of the irrelevant results you often get on the well-known search engines, Lifehacker.com has posted a great review of 10 Niche Search Engines.  So if you are looking for a job, a recipe, images, or just unique & different approaches to searching, check out this article:

Link: Seek and Ye Shall Find: Top Ten Alternative Search Engines - Lifehacker.

Kicking Sugar

I've wanted to kick sugar for a long time.  My cousin Heidi did it several years ago with the aid of her Vitamix Blender.  She lost 70 pounds and has more energy and health than ever.  She's a new person.  So, I've got the role model. I've got the motivation.  I've got the blender and I love it.  I've decided I've got to really give it a serious try. Especially since I've discovered there are blogs devoted to this, and a FREE program to help you do it with the support of someone whose done it.   When I kicked gluten the first 6 weeks was really tough, but after that the cravings really did go away and now I can have gluten once in a while and it's not an addiction.  Sugar is something I can't say no to.  I don't have a choice...and that's how I define that I'm actually addicted to it.  So, it's time to stop.  Wish me luck!  here are links to the blog and program I'm trying

http://www.sugarshockblog.com/

Fast Track Kick Sugar Countdown Program™.

All the best,

The Hypomanic American and Organizing

Link: Hypomanic American, The - New York Times.

This article in the NY times is fascinating.  It doesn't say it, but there may also be a link to ADD and even to the difficulty many creative people have organizing themselves. 

Creative, risk taking people are very eccentric in the way they organize themselves.  Being a "creative" (ENTP) personality myself, and the grandaughter of immigrants from Spain, Portugal, England and Montreal, organizing was a skill I really had to work at. 

I suppose that's why I'm always seeking out new approaches to organizing.  I don't believe one size fits all and love helping other people find non-traditional organizing systems that work for their personal style.   

All the best,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's the article in case the link stops working.....

Clutter-free gift ideas and a less commercial Christmas

Have you ever thought Christmas has become way too commercialized? Have you ever wished you could just not participate in the frenzy the holidays have become?  Do you worry you might seem cheap to your friends and family?

Well, thanks to Dawn at www.frugalforlife.com I discovered a site that actually gives you amazing resources to get started decommercializing the holiday! They even have a Kit!  It's called www.buynothingchristmas.org This site is EXTRAORDINARY! They have coupons you print for services you can give. They even have a Buy Nothing Catalogue.

Here are 10 ideas of mine for gifts you can give without buying anything.  I'd love to hear any ideas you have!

1. Create a...

Preparing for Disaster Tips

A few years ago, I was evacuated from my home in the middle of the night because of a fire that broke out in the house behind mine. It was then I learned the importance of being prepared for a disaster.

Having to decide what to take in the moment was like a nightmare come true.  Especially when you only have 5 minutes to decide and gather. I can't imagine what it would have like if the fire were in my own home and I did not have the 5 minutes to pack before leaving.

In about 5 minutes I had packed my photo albums, my laptop, portable hard drives, cell phone, current project files, backup DVDs of all my critical files, vital paper files, and of course my cat. Thank God I had my pet carrier handy! I also grabbed a suitcase and took my most frequently worn clothes

What would you take in a case like this?

Here are a few tips to help you be prepared to evacuate quickly. First, make sure you know at least know what your most important items are and where they are located!

• Make a list of all your important items and information. Keep this list in a safe and handy place.
• Use an external USB drive / flash drive / DVD or other easily portable media as a backup for all your central files. Back up daily.
• Make a video of each room in your house. Zoom in on all the expensive and irreplaceable items. Also include your outdoor furniture and possessions, even your car(s).
• Update the video regularly and store a copy in a remote place. If possible, digitize and upload the file to a website such as Google Video as a backup.
• When you acquire new large purchases, take photos and add them to your list.
• Make sure you scan all irreplaceable receipts and proof of ownership for irreplaceable items like art and jewelry.
• Make sure all your valuables are recorded and covered by your home insurance policy. 

I truly hope you never have a reason to actually need for the items you've prepared but even if you don't ever need them, spending a few hours today to make sure you'll have what you need is a pretty inexpensive insurance policy!

All the best,

note:  Updated in 2009.

Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston

If you or a loved one hang on to too much sentimental stuff, this is the BEST book I know of to help you "reframe" the way you relate to your things. It's very easy to read and will surely help you regain control of the stuff in your home. When I have a client that is having great difficulty letting of stuff, I give them this book to read.  It has always done the trick so far.  I even succeeded in getting my dear husband to let go of a ton of old stuff in our attic! An amazing feat! 

This book covers:  Why we keep clutter, how it affects you, the beneficial effects of letting go, and how to let go emotionally, and how to stay clutter-free. (see also "Clutter-Free Forever" in the Controlling Clutter category of this blog) 

Karen Kingston clearly and concisely addresses sources of clutter, such as paper clutter, sentimental clutter, and clutter that comes from other people - and what to do about them.

Feng Shui is about "balancing and harmonizing the flow of natural energies in our surroundings to create beneficial effects in our lives."  Some people think there it is about superstition and luck.  Some people may use it that way, but I don't beleive that you will get rich by putting a purple candle in your wealth calendar.  What I know is that if you have balance and flow in your environment,  you will be more peaceful, and more able to recognize and respond to opportunities that arise.  Essentially, by paying attention to energy, you can make your own "luck" or as I like to think of it - "positive outcomes in your life". 

Let me know how it works for you.  : )

Summary of "Getting Things Done" by David Allen

This is a great resource by Matt Vance over at Mine Zone.  He summarizes every chapter of the book so that you can determine if the book and David's process are right for you.

Link: MineZone Wiki - MVance.GettingThingsDone.

Thanks Matt!

How to Get Neat Living Content on Your Site

If you wish to publish a Neat Living article on your website or in your print publication, you must publish the article in its entirety.  Include an author credit as follows:

by Ariane Benefit, Professional Organizer at Neat Living
See http://www.neatandsimple.com for more neat tips and ideas to help you organize your life - at home, at work, at school.

If you use any of my content, an email letting me know where I can see the link or article would be appreciated.  If you would like me to customize an article to your audience or write an original article for your publication, I'd be happy to contribute. 

Email me at abenefit@neatandsimple.com or call 973-429-2100.

What Is the Neat Living Mission?

People aften assume that Neat Living is about being a neat freak, or being obsessed with being tidy. Well not to me. That is not my intention at all. So what do I mean by Neat Living?

Let's start by defining Neat.
(I've combined definitions from Word Reference.com, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com.)

neat (nēt)

1. Free from dirt and disorder: habitually clean and orderly free from clumsiness; precisely or deftly executed;
2. Free from dilution: STRAIGHT
   free from irregularity: SMOOTH
3. Marked by tasteful simplicity; refined; elegant
   
   
4. Showing care in execution; marked by skill or ingenuity: ADROIT, PRECISE, SYSTEMATIC
   
   
5. NET as in (neat profit)
   
   
6. Free from what is tawdry or unbecoming: FINE, ADMIRABLE

Neat Living: Philosophy & Lifestyle
In choosing the name Neat Living, I seek to embrace ALL these definitions! Neat Living to me means living a lifestyle that incorporates all these definitions by striving to be:

• Habitually clean and reasonably orderly
• Marked by tastefulness, simplicity, ingenuity and elegance
• Seeking peacefulness and good health
• Owning fine quality things that add value to our lives - not stress
• Living profitably by taking care on oneself, and using one's skills and talents to be of service to others
• Demonstrating admirable qualities such as strong ethics and generous charity to those less fortunate

Note the word "habitually". I love that word. It doesn't mean perfection. To me, it means "most of the time". It means we strive to be our best, knowing that we won't always achieve it. We are all human. Another aspect of the definition I like is "free from irregularity, SMOOTH". I think of Neat Living as a lifestyle that values SMOOTH as in peace and serenity.

So how does organizing fit into this picture?
To me you can't truly experience Neat Living if you are living with lots of clutter, always late or rushed, or chronically disorganized. You need to be organized enough to be in control of the things you own rather than letting them control you and cause you stress. Your things should serve you. Neat Living is a quest to use skill, creativity and determination to:

• Keep things simple
• Develop the habit of using time wisely to meet your goals
• Aquire and keep only the things you really love and use
• Give everything you own a home where you can find it if you need it.

My Personal and Professional Mission
My mission as a professional organizer and educator is to facilitate people learning skills and developing habits that enable them to experience Neat Living.

My hope is that through this Neat Living Blog and the Neat Living Newsletter, I can help people who struggle with getting and staying organized, can't afford to hire an organizer, or who are reasonably organized, but like me, are always on a quest to improve.

This blog is also a great way to for me to help my clients stay organized through continous learning and reinforcement without having to charge them for repeat visits.

So, that's what I'm about. If you like my Neat Living philosophy, then I look forward to having you as a subscriber to the Neat Living Blog and the Neat Living Newsletter

I want to hear from you!   
I hope you will also share your questions, ideas, comments and thoughts with me through email or the blog so that others can learn from you as well. I may share email content I receive with others, but I will only use your initials to maintain confidentiality.

All I ask is that you be civil and constructive if you have a criticism or disagree with me on something. There's room for many different philosophies in this world, and I can always learn and improve, but like most people, I don't learn well from insults.

Wishing you peace and sending neat thoughts,

Choosing Paint Colors for Your Home

If you are planning to paint a room in your home, here are a few GREAT ways to try on colors before you commit to them! Several sites offer free VIRTUAL ROOM PAINTERS. It's awesome.  You can try out various color combinations, or use the pre-selected color palettes to visualize your space.  Here a few I've used:

• SHERWIN-WILLIAMS Color Visualizer
• BENJAMIN MOORE Personal Color Viewer
• LOWES Signature Colors Virtual Painter

TRY OUT COLOR WITH SAMPLES
All the major paint suppliers now provide inexpensive trial sizes of paint colors to test out on your walls!  This is a great way to test the color in all light sources before you commit.   

(I recommend living with the samples on the wall for at least a week and seeing how the colors change in morning, afternoon, night, sunny, overcast and rainy conditions.  You'll be amazed at the difference in color!

Best Family Organizing Calendar - by ThinkBin

If you find yourself frustrated trying to keep your family's schedule coordinated - consider this calendar. For the money, you won't find a better family organizer. And, it starts in August and goes 16 months - perfect for the school year!  Other features we love:

• Notes section on each month
• A place to jot important notes and reminders
• Morning, afternoon and evening blocks allow you to easily see if there is an overlap of appts. you need to plan for
• You can easily see free blocks of time for scheduling a new event
• Pocket - Great for tickets, permission slips, invitations, directions and other items you will need on a specific date.
• Phone number page by categories -  a great tool for jotting down emergency phone numbers as well as things like a reference for a good plumber, your children's friends phone numbers, cell numbers, school numbers.
• There's even a space for Restaurants that Deliver phone numbers.

If you aren't happy with your current calendar, give this one a try!  Maybe even give it as a gift.  Just make sure the recipient will really like it and be able to use it. 

Our Kitty Family is Growing!

  Sasha-294X235
Originally uploaded by Ariane NJ.

We have a new addition to our Kitty Family! I'm a serious cat lover. My husband thought we had enough with 2, but I just got the best holiday present ever!

We are delighted to welcome Sasha to our family of delightful Maine Coon longhairs. We adopted Sasha from a local animal hospital where amazingly, this incredibly sweet and affectionate cat had been living in a cage for a couple months! Hard to imagine this little angel had trouble finding a home.

When our vet told us about her, we went to see her, and immediately fell in love. She is 5 years old and her owner got sick and could no longer care for her.

 
This is Sofie, 8 year old, mixed
Adopted from Bloomfield Animal Shelter 3/2002

Our other cats, Alex (below)  and Sofie (left), aren't thrilled, but every day they are getting more used to each other and are even beginning to peacefully sleep in the same room.

Life is good with 3 cats. Even my husband, who thought we had enough cats, agrees that she has just added even more love to our lives.

 
This is Alex, 5 year old pur Maine Coon.
Adopted from Bloomfield Animal Shelter 3/2002

As far as I'm concerned, Sasha is the best holiday present I've ever gotten!  So who knows?  Maybe if we hear of another cat in need of a home, we might have to add another one next yeat !   : )