Best Results Organizing

Kabarett der Komiker; Gisela Schlüter unter Friseurhaube by Willy Pragher (CC BY 3.0)

What’s annoying you today? What’s been annoying you so long that you almost don’t notice the annoyance until someone else mentions it?

Over Labor Day weekend, my air conditioner died. This was an acute problem, one that I noticed almost immediately (as the temperature was rising overnight instead of going down) and which led to much misery until the holiday weekend ended and the maintenance staff could address the problem fully.

(To be fair, they did bring a mobile A/C unit, which cooled my bedroom to a bearable temperature; unfortunately, it was so loud, I felt like I was sleeping adjacent to a jet engine. Sometimes, you trade one intolerable thing for another. That’s often what keeps you from seeking, or implementing a solution in the first place.)

That same weekend, I realized that my fridge was dying. Unlike the A/C unit, this was a less obvious thing to tolerate. The freezer was still working perfectly, and the contents of the fridge weren’t warm; they just weren’t entirely full-on chilly. Weeks earlier, the refrigerator had been making some moaning noises, but fiddling with the settings of the circa-1986 fridge seemed to stop the noise. And then I stopped noticing.

Two household problems, but one felt a lot more urgent than the other. But these weren’t the only problems.

Early in the pandemic, to ensure everyone’s safety, our complex had asked us to understand that they’d only be performing inside maintenance for emergencies. So, when we had torrential rains in the summer of 2020, the roof was repaired immediately; the ceiling, well, not so quickly.

When my hot water heater expired in the spring of 2021, I vacated my home and the nice gentlemen figured out the complexities of draining a water heater on the second floor to enable removal and installation of a new one. And later that summer, my smoke detector decided to start beeping in eight sequences of three loud bursts, every ten minutes, ALL.NIGHT.LONG. That was something I could not tolerate (and thankfully, the leasing office agreed).

However, there were other, smaller repairs where I managed DIY solutions or made do. It was easier to avoid contact during the pandemic for non-emergency issues. And then I just started tolerating some inconveniences.

WHAT YOU TOLERATE NEVER GOES AWAY

A few years ago, in Organize Away Frustration: Practice The Only Good Kind of “Intolerance,” we discussed how the first step to creating the kind of life you want is to start by identifying the unsatisfying things that you tolerate. Knowing what makes you unhappy helps you create a strategy for eliminating those “tolerations,” the obstacles to your happiness. (This is true with organizing tangible items, as well as dealing with things in your schedule, and even non-organizing things, like annoyances in our relationships and whether we live our true values.)

As I mentioned in that prior post, I see part of my role as a professional organizer and productivity expert as helping my clients identify the areas in which they’ve been tolerating inconveniences far too long. Recent client situations have included:

• Carla* never could find gift certificates when she was ready to use them. They were always in drawers, or in the greeting cards with which they were given. We collected all of them and then separated restaurant gift certificates from shopping gift certificates. The former might be used on any given evening when she and her spouse were already out of the house and might drop in somewhere to eat, so we created a wallet for dining out cards. For the latter, given that Carla only shopped on Saturday, we clipped them together and put them in the Saturday slot of her tickler file. (Every new gift card or certificate went to one of those two places from then on.)
• Joe always had trouble figuring out how to adjust the settings on his DVR. It didn’t help that his box of manuals included instructions for every gadget and device he’d owned since the early 1970s. We purged all of the manuals that applied to defunct gadgets, created folders in the “household” section of the Family Files with one folder for each type of technology (computers, entertainment, kitchen, etc.) But then we scanned the DVR instructions that plagued him as a PDF and put it in the Notes app on his phone so it was even easier to access (and enlarge).
• Jenny’s pantry was crowded with ingredients, including a wide variety of items marked “gluten-free.” But nobody in Jenny’s household was avoiding gluten! It turns out that an occasional weekend houseguest cooked while visiting and she needed gluten-free ingredients. We rearranged the pantry so that the occasional guest had her own labeled shelf, and everyone was happier.
• Patsy saw that when she’d click on a link, her browser would sometimes give her a “web kit error” or just a blank page. She’d been copying the link from one browser (Safari) to another (Chrome) where it would work just fine, but lately, she’d been having to do that more and more, increasing her frustration. Upgrading her operating system allowed her to upgrade her browser, and she no longer had to struggle.

* All names have been changed to protect client confidentiality.

Sometimes professional organizers are dealing with clutter, but all organizers end up dealing with obstacles to productivity. The problem is that we’re all more likely to ignore a problem that can’t be fixed immediately.

When we’re focused on the task at hand, whether that’s work or school or driving or parenting, the thing we’re doing is more likely to have a deadline or at least be time-based. We postpone removing the obstacle until such time as it becomes too large or problematic to withstand. This is what happens when people keep driving with the “Check engine” light glowing on their dash panel.

RECENT TOLERATIONS TACKLED

As I wrote about in Organize Away Frustration: Practice The Only Good Kind of “Intolerance,” many of the “intolerables” in our lives can be conquered with a little research and applying one of the following:

• A product
• A service
• A change in behavior
• A change in attitude

In that post, I shared how I was almost unrelievedly ecstatic to find a new kind of shower curtain hook that made changing out shower curtain liners much easier on my short-of-stature self. Today, I’d like to share just a few recent examples of how applying a combination of solutions have removed annoyances.

A Tale of Two TVs

Do you have any of those old, boxy CRT TVs in your home? I did. In fact, I had three, which is kind of ridiculous when you realize I’m a singleton. You see, I’d had a television in my living room and another in my bedroom. When the bedroom TV died (so long ago that I’m embarrassed to discuss the exact date), I moved the living room TV to the bedroom.

When I met a friend for lunch one day, she surprised me by having brought one of her old, boxy CRT TVs for my use! To this day, I’m flummoxed as to how she ever got it into her car, and though I recall basically rolling/sliding it up the carpeted stairs of my apartment, I’ve got no idea how I ever managed to get it from my car to my own front door. (Perhaps this is like how they claim women forget the pain of childbirth?)

Eventually, I got a modern flat-screen TV for my living room. But I also embraced the advice not to have screens in the bedroom (to avoid that sleep-stealing blue light) and got rid of cable in that room. Thus, I had a broken TV, a gifted (no longer used) TV, and an unused TV. All on the second floor of my home.

Did I mention these are big, heavy, boxy TVs?

Remember how I said I had my hot water heater replaced last year? Well, one of those TVs took up most of the empty space at the top of the staircase, and so even though our apartment complex had been pretty insistent that we were never to ask the maintenance men to carry or remove anything unrelated to their work, the guys decided that it would be to everyone’s benefit to get that one TV out. Yay! But that still left two.

To be fair, I wasn’t always just tolerating the annoyance of having two unused, dust-catching, space-hogging CRT TVs in my home. I had called the various junk haulers in town, but they wanted a frustratingly large fee for something that I could have done myself, had I only been stronger, had slightly longer arms to get fully around the TVs, and had been a bit taller (so I could have seen the stairs over the top of the TVs and not feared tumbling down).

Yes, even we professional organizers fall prey to those self-imposed obstacles. Had I thrown a little money at the problem, it would have been solved back then. 

I also called many non-profits, but nobody wanted donated CRTs.

Fast forward to late August, when I contacted Chattanooga’s Always Be Recycling. The owners, a couple who’d moved from Pennsylvania, opened their business here just at the start of the pandemic. I’d networked online with Leann Cinaglia to see how their services might dovetail with my clients’ needs. The last time we’d spoken, they weren’t able to handle CRTs because of the difficulty in recycling them, but on a day where the frustration had just gotten too high, I called to see if they might have any suggestions for other solutions. And that’s where the magic happened!

It turns out that annoyingly boxy 20″ CRT TVs have become popular with the retro gaming crowd! After one short phone call, Always Be Recycling’s co-owner Jamison Cinaglia and his associate Bret (pictured above) arrived on time the next day and quickly removed both TVs and oodles of old landline phones, cables, and cords as well — at no charge. (Had I lived significantly farther from their venue, there would have been a fee, but significantly less than the various junk haulers had quoted me.)

Throughout the entire interaction, they were professional, careful, friendly, and polite. This bodes well for knowing they’ll treat my clients, especially the elderly and/or delicate ones, with respect and compassion. 

So, this is a reminder that sometimes, the key is to continue to ask for input on solutions until the right one appears.

No Longer Hot Under the Collar

Not all intolerances are about excess or clutter. A major frustration in my life is heat. (And no, that’s not specific to the air conditioning and refrigerator woes.) I’m just always too hot. I hydrate. I wear temperature-appropriate clothing. But no matter what, even my head perspires and my hair frizzes and I end up looking like Art Garfunkel. (No offense, Art.)

And yes, I realize that a Buffalonian living in the Deep South might have found a more obvious solution to that problem over three-plus decades.

I’ve tried those evaporative cooling neck scarves and “chilly towels.”

Honestly, they just end up feeling damp and heavy. 

However, in addition to my own research, I’ve made it a habit of telling everyone I know, particularly people who participate in outdoor activities, that heat is the non-clutter bane of my existence. So, friends are on the lookout for solutions on my behalf.

Recently, Paper Mommy was at the hair salon and saw a stylist wearing something that looked like headphones around her neck. When my mom casually asked, the stylist enthused about this life-changing product, a fan that you wear around your neck. Paper Mommy bought me one (in pink) that very day!

Two days later, I received a Jisulife bladeless neck cooler. (Due to autocorrect, I accidentally praised it to my BFF as a “bloodless” neck cooler. Thankfully, it’s also that.)

You place it around your neck as if you’d just removed headphones, and the three-speed fan gently blows cooling air upward, along the neckline and up into your hairline (without causing any tangles or mess). I’ve used it several times to great effect at client locations where the combination of the kind of work we we’re doing and the actual temperature made the heat intolerable for me.

It’s battery operated and rechargeable via the included USB-C charging cable. The manufacturer notes that the 4000mAh large capacity batteries provide anywhere from 4-16 working hours of service, depending on which speed levels you use. 

There are a number of brands with similar styles, but this one ranges from $32-37 and comes in dark blue, dark green, grey, and pink. 

They Say Nothing Can Live in a Vacuum

Recently, my longtime hair stylist (hey, this continues a theme!) left the salon where I’ve been going for years and moved to her own location. In this new place, several providers (offering a wide variety of beauty services) have one collaborative location. All of them have their own private pods or units, about the size of a single or double dorm room. As I’m still wearing a mask whenever I’m inside anywhere, and trying to avoid being in close contact with strangers, I love this bright and cheery, but private space.

Terri Hart of RoseMary Beauty Company in a photo at her old salon

My fabulous stylist (shoutout, Terri!) has decorated her salon space to make it inviting. At my first visit, I applied my professional organizer curiosity (with her permission, of course) and marveled at all of the scaled-down storage and gadgets. There’s a cozy snack bar with a lovely little fridge and coffee maker, cabinets and cupboards, a tiny towel warmer, and all sorts of appealing products.

At one point, I looked toward the floor and saw what I jokingly guessed was a Doctor Who Dalek-adjacent gadget. OK, I assumed was either a Bluetooth speaker, humidifier, or some kind of air cleaner. But nope. 

It’s an EyeVac Home Touchless Vacuum. The prior salon had been designed with one of those in-wall central vacuum systems. When homes have central vacuum systems, you can usually plug a hose into the wall in any of a variety of spots and attach the appropriate devices. In the salon, it was a matter of sweeping hair clippings up to the edge of baseboard and shwooooop it would get sucked in and away to some mysterious central location. But that was a big salon specially built for the purpose.

Terri found her EyeVac Home Touchless Vacuum through a site for salon products. She simply sweeps clippings up to the front of this little robot-looking dude, and motion detectors sense the schmutz! (There are buttons on the top for manual control when you want it.) Debris is stored inside an environmentally-safe canister until you’re ready to empty it, at which point it’s much like emptying a shredder.

It comes in six colors (Designer White, Tuxedo Black, Matte Black, Silver, Rose Gold, and Sea Glass), measures 8″ long x 13″ wide by 18″ high, comes with a six-foot electrical cord, and uses dual HEPA filters. It’s available for $129 from EyeVac and Amazon, which is currently offering a $10 clickable coupon. 

Had Terri not found this nifty tool, I’m sure she would have figured out a sweeping/vacuuming, but by acquiring this up-front, she avoided having a frustrating, untenable “toleration.” She also never has to bend down or deal with a dustpan! The company doesn’t have a YouTube channel, but the late, lamented (and slightly resurrected) gadget site The Grommet shows it off to nice effect here:

Cooler still, in the days after seeing this EyeVac Home Touchless Vacuum in action, I’d been mentioning it (as well as the bladeless neck cooler) to clients. And with this, we have solved so many frustrations in household with babies and toddlers who drop food from their high chairs, cats who swoop bits of kitty litter all over the room, and crafters who drop bits of cuttings, sequins, and yarn-y bits, etc. 

Instead of schlepping out a full-size or handheld vacuum or having to bend or lug, a quick and simple swoop of a broom right up to the bottom edge of this little Dalek cousin and all of your schmutzy clutter will be exterminated!

HOW TO STOP TOLERATING THE INTOLERABLE

Nobody’s house or office or computer gets cluttered overnight. Ignoring or avoiding frustrations for weeks or months or years just allows those frustrations to be build. So, I leave you with an update of the advice I offered a little over two years ago:

1. Google (or use your favorite search engine) to see who has created content about your problem, tweaking your search terms to find what you need. There are tricks to improve your searches on Google, on DuckDuckGo, and on Bing.
2. Search on YouTube (which is ideal for solving “how to” problems, whether for plumbing repair, tying a tie, or fixing a stuck spacebar). A few years ago, someone stole my driver’s side mirror, yanking it from the electrical connections. (Who does that?!) A clear, concise YouTube video allowed me to purchase just the mirror and replace it myself, rather than having to take it to mechanic and pay for service.
3. Search in an online forum like (the less dodgy parts of) Reddit, Facebook or community groups, or neighborhood groups. I’ve seen people ask for everything from how to get a car out of locked garage to how to get teenagers to respond to texts.
4. Ask for suggestions on your social media pages. (I learned from TikTok that you’re not supposed to roll/fold modern sleeping bags before putting them in compression carrying bags; you’re supposed to smoosh them in. Who knew?)  
5. Visit or call your local public library. Librarians are experts at finding information. (Let’s say your problem requires a tool, and you don’t want to buy a specialized tool. Did you know many cities have tool libraries?) You can also use the Library of Congress’ Ask A Librarian for general and specialized help solving those intolerable problems.
6. Ask a professional organizer. We know stuff. (We professional organizers get asked all sorts of things. “How do I fold a fitted sheet?” “What’s the best label-maker?” “How do I pay off my mortgage faster?” “Where can I donate this random item that’s of no use to me but might make someone else’s life magical?” Ask your PO!

And, if we’ve learned anything this week, consider asking your hair stylist!