Archive for ‘Books and Reading’ Category

Calm Cooking Chaos (Part 1): Organize Your Paper Recipes

Posted on: November 7th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 16 Comments

The flip of the calendar page to November doesn’t just bring darker evenings and colder weather. The minute the Halloween candy left the store shelves, it was replaced with holiday ingredients. Minutes ago it was barely autumn and now we’re mere weeks from Thanksgiving, and you know what’s right around the corner after Turkey Day!

There’s never so much of a resurgence in interest in recipes — and recipe organizing — as during the approach of the holiday season. Clients start calling with a twinge of trepidation in their voices.

They’ve got decades of acquired cookbooks, recipe boxes filled with handwritten index cards, and mountains of recipes culled from magazines or printed from the internet. The desire to create a perfect family holiday is weighed down by the stress of recipe clutter.

And with some families, there’s a desire to create a culinary legacy, a way to pass down the favorite meals prepared for special times. For example this recent Washington Post piece, A Holocaust Survivor, A Rescued Family Cookbook, and the Taste of Home, reminds us of how important it is to be able to bring alive the favorite tastes of childhood.

THE COOK CONTINUUM

You might think this is only a problem for people who suffer with general household clutter, but I assure you recipe clutter is a problem all along the culinary continuum, from people who rely on PB&J skills (that would be Paper Doll) to lifelong cooks to professional chefs, and the existence of recipe clutter may or may not correlate with any other clutter in the home.

Sex and the City‘s Carrie Bradshaw famously kept her sweaters in the oven. Similarly, to Paper Mommy‘s distress, I’m really not inclined to cook, and if it requires more than boiling pasta and drizzling it with olive oil, I’m not going to do it. There’s only one “special” recipe I make when called upon to bring something to a potluck, Hello Dollies (also known as Magic Cookie Bars), the recipe for which has lived under a succession of magnets on my fridge for several decades. 

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have cookbooks or even individual recipes. I do, but they’re organized and out of the way. 

But even for non-cooks, cookbooks and loose recipes represent potential. Those glossy photos enchant us. We can imagine ourselves as Julia or Nigella or Ina, whipping up something fabulous.

For the same reason we read fashion magazines and follow tips on “how to turn a daytime look into an evening look” when our evening “look” is actually leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, we non-cooks collect recipes because they represent an imagined lifestyle.

Whether we’re the ones whipping up healthy and visually stunning recipes to delight our families and friends, or we imagine our butler Jeeves taking our recipe collection in hand, recipes seem like a more reasonable fantasy than jetting off to Paris or Madrid.

For those who actually do cook, whether a little or a lot, recipe clutter tends to expand over time. If you’re a good cook, people give you cookbooks as gifts. If you’re a good eater, people press their lovingly handwritten recipes into your palms at the end of dinner parties, believing their secret sauce will help you achieve your greatest dreams.

So no wonder, between our own inclinations to gather potentially delicious and delightful recipes and others’ penchants for sharing the magic with us, we all end up with more recipes than we will ever make, and that leads to clutter.

HOW TO PARE DOWN A COOKBOOK COLLECTION

Is your family food headquarters littered with clipped and copied recipes, cooking magazines, regular and diet-related cookbooks, and other detritus from the pandemic sourdough wars? It’s not just you. Kitchen clutter is often a sticky mess, preventing us from ever finding the perfect recipe when we want or need it.

The toys and clothes that surround us may no longer be age-, size-, or lifestyle-appropriate. Similarly, we can outgrow cookbooks, diets, and recipes that once fit us so well. You have probably accepted that it’s time to (amicably) part with Macrobiotics for a Groovy Life or 172 Ways To Lose Weight With Grapefruit.

Find all the tendrils of your sprawling cookbook collection.

Most people tend to treat their cookbooks as a separate entity from the rest of their personal libraries. They are content to keep their fiction and reference books on bookcases and shelves in their living rooms, family rooms, and bedrooms, in their reading nooks and wherever they cozy up to read.

But herein lies the first problem. If your cookbooks are far from where you cook, you’ll probably never use them. It’s not like there are miles between your living room and kitchen counter, but if your cookbooks are on the bookshelves two rooms over, unless you’re diligent about creating new menus, you’ll probably forget that you even have the cookbooks.

Conversely, if you follow the general organizing practice of keeping possessions where you use them and your cookbooks are in or near your kitchen, you’ve probably got sticky, sauce-stained, powdered sugar-covered pages piled on spare chairs and kitchen counters and inside cabinets. No matter how excited people are to cook, and then eat, their creations, most people aren’t that excited about tidying up.

Cookbook Photo by Alfred Kenneally on Unsplash

Even if we organizers persuade clients that dinner isn’t done until the dishes are washed and the leftovers are put away, that final step of wiping down spattered cookbooks and putting them back into the collection tends to be a bridge too far.

So, meet your cookbooks where they are. If there are too many to deal with all at once, start with the ones that constitute clutter, that live where they’ve been dropped, in and near the kitchen, and once you’ve reviewed them, then move on to making determinations about the ones that are tidily living (if forgotten) on your bookshelves.

Take one book at a time and ask yourself some important questions.

Have you ever used a recipe from this cookbook?

If you received a cookbook as a holiday present or for your birthday, you likely flipped through the book, perhaps looked at the Table of Contents, and then tucked the book away to clean up after all the wrapping paper was tidied away. Maybe you never looked at it at all.

Sometimes, we buy cookbooks because the cover or the author made the book tempting. A few years ago, Spoon University published a piece on The Hottest Male Chefs of All Time. I’m sure it sold cookbooks. But just because you love watching Jamie Oliver cook, melt over Gordon Ramsay yelling at his kitchen staff, or giggle over the performance stylings of Alton Brown, it doesn’t mean you’re ever going to prepare recipes from their collections. Let go of unread cookbooks!

Just because you love watching Jamie Oliver cook, melt over Gordon Ramsay yelling at his kitchen staff, or giggle over the performance stylings of Alton Brown does not mean you're ever going to prepare recipes from their collections.… Share on X

As you go through your cookbooks, if you come across one you’ve never made even one recipe from, flip through the Table of Contents to get a sense of the chapters or categories. If you don’t see at least a handful of recipes you’d like to try — like in the next two weeks — it may be a sign that it’s time to set that cookbook free.

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If a cookbook is a time-tested classic, like Irma Rombauer’s The Joy of Cooking, Julie Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or even a modern classic like Samsin Nosrat‘s Salt Fat Acid Heat and you consider yourself a shaky cook, you might find comfort in these standard-bearers.

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But if you’ve got a big tome of recipes that you’ve never used, and you aren’t inspired by them? Buh-bye!

Have you used a recipe from this cookbook in the last few years?

I used to ask if you’d used recipes in the past year, but nothing about the past few years has been normal.

In quarantine, people cooked more, but they entertained less, and using only one year for a gauge isn’t helpful, just as the old rubric of determining wardrobe purging by whether we’ve worn it in the last year isn’t wise. (Has anyone worn a cocktail dress in the era of COVID?)

But if you pick up a cookbook and have fond (or not-so-fond) memories of what you used to make, but haven’t touched since your kids went off to college or you and your spouse opted for heart-healthy meals, that cookbook has overstayed its welcome.  

How many recipes from this cookbook do you ever actually use?

If you use the cookbook heavily, even in just one season, it makes sense to keep it and give it a place of pride in your eventual (but reduced) cookbook library.

However, if you seek the cookbook frequently but only for the same two or three recipes, copy out what you use and set the cookbook free. Next time, we’ll look at options for maintaining your recipes digitally, but for how, you have a few options:

  • Hand-copy the recipe to your paper system.
  • Photocopy the pages from the cookbook if you’ve got a home copier/scanner.
  • Scan the recipe (with your scanner, a scanning app on your phone, or even just the scan function in your phone’s camera), then store the recipe in a digital file. 

However, if you can’t remember the last time you opened it, the book has become a stranger in your home — send it away! 

Give the cookbook away. If you don’t cook, but someone you love does, gift it with the chiding stipulation that you’d love it if they’d invite you over when they make the soup on page 135 or the pastry on page 310. 

Donate the cookbook to your local library book sale or a book-related charity. See Ask Paper Doll: How And Where Can I Donate Lots of Books? for guidance. See if your local middle or high school has a Home Economics department (though they are vanishingly rare) that wants cookbooks or leave them in a Free Little Library.

Sell it at a local used book store or online. If your cookbooks are vintage, make up an inventory and inquire about selling them at Blackbird Cookbooks or even open your own Etsy shop. For a behind-the-scenes look at vintage cookbook sales, Taste recently published Vintage Cookbook Collecting Is Often Kind, Sometimes Cutthroat, and Now Extremely Online

Store it elsewhere than your kitchen. If you can’t bring yourself to let go of some cookbooks, whether because they’re gorgeous and or because they represents family history, and you have the bookshelf space elsewhere in your home, store extraneous ones as you would history or reference texts.

Prevent cookbook clutter in the future.

Test-drive a cookbook to see if it’s a good fit by borrowing it from friends or the library before making a purchase. Set aside a newly gifted cookbook where you can easily review it. If there’s nothing that inspires you to cook it (as opposed to inspiring fantasies of an Instagram photo showing you have cooked it), return the gift.

(Once you write the thank you note, a gift is yours. Do with it as you would if you bought something for yourself and later realized you didn’t want it!) 

If you feel like you must store your active cookbooks in the kitchen, create dedicated storage where you can maintain your cookbooks upright. That might be in an unused cabinet or shelf, or you might want to invest in creating a cookbook box or drawer, building shelves, or creating a display area. For some ideas, peruse:

Food 52’s Clever Ways to Store Your Many, Many Cookbooks

The Spruce’s 15 Stylish Cookbook Display and Storage Ideas

HOW TO PARE DOWN A LOOSE RECIPE COLLECTION

Cookbooks are hard to part with because they’re fancy. Someone went to the effort of writing and collecting the recipes, taking photos, and the editing and publishing it. It’s easy to see how all that expended effort makes it hard to discard a book from your collection. 

But what about the piles of loose recipes clipped out of magazines or copied after tasting a friend’s culinary triumph? They still represent potential, just as cookbooks do, but they’re usually a little easier to discard.

Unless you’re a beginner, you’re not going to tackle all of your recipes in one sitting. Instead, try to gather your recipes of similar types. Aim to deal with loose recipe pages first; later on you can tackle index cards that are banded or boxed together, or recipes already gathered in notebooks using the same process.

Select one recipe at a time and follow these simple rules:

Sift for gold.

When you pick up a recipe page, especially one clipped from a magazine, your first task may be to figure out what you were saving. If there were multiple recipes in an article on a particular theme, you may have been endeavoring to downsize your magazine collection and just clipped all the recipe pages to make a fast getaway.

Photo by Klaus Nielsen

When you find a recipe, identify whether it’s actually a masterpiece or a reproduction. Do you need yet another recipe for chocolate chip cookies or smoothies or meatloaf?

Is there anything special about this recipe? Did you clip it because you were hungry when you were reading the magazine? Or because the magazine’s production team made the glossy photo look gorgeous? (Do your creations ever look like the food in magazines?) Did you clip the recipe because it was created by a popular chef on TV?

If a recipe truly still appeals to you, keep it; otherwise, set it free.

Separate dreams from reality.

Friend, I ask you, will you ever really cook this?

We have to be honest with ourselves and realize that if the fanciest thing we cook is spaghetti, we’re not really going to be dabbling in egg drop soup or meringue flambé from scratch.

If your lifestyle is such that you, your spouse, and your kids aren’t home until 15 minutes before stomachs start rumbling, recipes that require all-day attention just won’t fit your lifestyle.

If the recipes (or, more likely, the photos with those recipes) are truly dazzling but out of your reach, create a “Dream Recipes” folder to keep in your files along with dream vacations and dream decorating ideas. You can preserve the dream without cluttering your kitchen.

If the photos with those recipes are truly dazzling but out of your reach, create a Dream Recipes folder to keep in your files along with dream vacations & decorating ideas. You can preserve the dream without cluttering your… Share on X

Divide and conquer.

Once you’ve managed to reduce your recipe pile from a mountain to a bundt cake-sized mole hill, sort your recipes into categories. Ask, under what meaningful category does this recipe fall?

By meaningful, I mean meaningful to you and your family. Pretend you’re a cookbook editor and come up with some major categories, and then add the ones that fit your family’s dining style. For example:

  • Appetizers — if you’re the type to design charcuterie (warning: you will salivate when exploring that page) or have jumped into the viral trend of butter boards, and your pre-dinner delights are more hors d’oeuvres than string cheese and potato chips, gather your inspiration here.
  • Salads
  • Entrées
  • Side Dishes
  • Desserts
  • Holiday recipes and menus — think: family traditions by holiday and celebrations, with each  family member’s favorites
    • Birthdays 
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Independence Day picnics
    • Sporting event tailgates
  • Ethnic dishes, subdivided by world region, if you don’t blend them into your other categories
  • Specialty recipes for family members with dining limitations — vegetarian, vegan, allergy-free, gluten-free, etc.

Once you have a healthy stack for each category (and are certain you’re really going to attempt to cook each item), you’re ready for the final step.

“Publish” your own cookbook.

Buy a fat (2″ or 3″) three-ring (D-ring) binder notebook or several 1″ binders, depending on your preference, and a box of transparent, plastic sheet protectors.

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Slide each recipe into a sheet protector. If a recipe is continued on the back of a page, you’ll be able to see the front and reverse easily; if the recipe is continued on another page, place it back to back with the prior page. For recipes that are only on one page, you can arrange two recipes back-to-back.

If you’re happy with recipes on index cards and have a preferred metal or wooden index box, stick with it, but to blend your recipe cards with the binder system, you can purchase recipe card sheet protectors in 3″ x 5″ or larger sizes.

Why else do you want a sheet protector? You will not want to punch holes in each of your recipe sheets before putting them in your binder, and you won’t want to deal with ripped edges/holes of often-used recipe sheets.

The sheet protectors keep the recipes from getting damaged or sticky and can be easily cleaned with a sponge.

If you’re keeping multiple categories in one binder, label simple subject dividers to separate the categories. I find clients prefer hard plastic dividers and use my label maker to create clear and uniform labels.

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Alternatively, you can use adhesive index tabs. Post-it has some nice versions in primary colors and richer assorted colors.

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3-ring binders come with clear front panels. Slide a yummy photo into the front panel to make it look snazzy. Similarly, most binders have a stiff, removable piece of paper under the plastic spine; remove it to decorate and/or label it before reinserting. Alternatively, just stick a label right on the binder’s spine.

For an upgrade that’s still DIY, the Cookbook People specializes in personalizable binders and labels. Taste of Home Magazine recently published 15 of the Prettiest Recipe Books You Can Buy, and The Spruce Eats reviewed The 8 Best Recipe Organizers in 2022. The Kate Spade recipe binder in multiple styles seems to be a favorite, but I find the version listed in both articles to be garish and extra-pricey. Not that my preference matters, but I prefer this lemony version.

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Check the measurements of any recipe binder you purchase; the binder needs to meet or exceed the length and width of any recipe page you have. Most magazines are just about 8 1/2″ x 11″, the same size as the copy paper onto which you might print a recipe from the web; larger magazines like Real Simple are 9″ x 11″. However, some pre-made recipe binder kits can be shorter and/or narrower, leaving recipes sticking out.

Preserve the family recipes you love — and actually use — in a way that’s handy, organized, and easy to keep intact. If paper is your preferred method, these tips with keep you afloat through the holidays and for all cooking seasons. 

However, if digital is more your style, next week’s post will offer more modern, sharable options for organizing and accessing your favorite recipes.

How do you keep your family recipes?

In Search of Lost Time: Productivity, Proust, and the Culture of Availability

Posted on: January 31st, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 14 Comments

Marcel Proust’s seven-volume novel, In Search of Lost Time, translated from the French À La Recherche du Temps Perdu, was first translated into English as Remembrance of Things Past and is known for its theme of involuntary memory.

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It’s apt because, as I tried to decide what to write about this week, conversations and internet discoveries kept bringing me back to the concept of time: the way we accommodate our time for others, how we aspire to (and fail to) use time for tasks, and how we struggle with “managing time,” which is really an attempt to manage our thoughts, actions, and inner selves.

So, rather than a typical Paper Doll post of how-to and what-to, today’s post is a chance for you to look at my Proustian involuntary thoughts and memories. I’m going to share the thoughts that resulted; please join me in these rabbit holes of time-related thought. 

IT ALL STARTED WITH SOME ROCKS

I wasn’t even searching for anything about time. But one of my superpowers is to notice headlines with words related to my work, like organizing, time management, clutter, lost, missing, etc. And a headline caught my attention.

A Billion Years of Time Are Mysteriously Missing. Scientists Think They Know Why.

I mean, I’ve had clients lose checkbooks and passports, Halloween costumes and crockpots, birthday checks and tax returns. And, as we’ll get to, I’ve heard them complain about many ways they lose (and lose track of) time.

But I can’t say that any of them have ever reported losing a BILLION YEARS!

Scientists are savvy. They can tell how old a body is by its bones. Cut down a tree and they can look at the rings to know its age.

Well, geologists can reconstruct whole chunks of our Earth’s history from the rocks, fossils, and detritus of eons under the surface. And it turns out that while we were all searching for free COVID tests and KN95 masks, playing Wordle, and seeing how Irish fisherman were putting Vladimir Putin in his place, found a big, gaping whole in our planet’s history.

Well, not a hole. Maybe a wormhole? But definitely a huge lapse in time where there’s no evidence that anything has been going on. It’s like how you eat lunch and figure you’ll just check your Twitter feed before getting back to your next project, and then next thing you know it’s 5 o’clock and there’s no evidence of what happened with your whole afternoon!

Rock/Geology Photo by Aaron Thomas on Unsplash

More than one billion years of time is missing! This period is known as the The Great Unconformity, and it’s been puzzling geologists, who have been trying to figure out why sometimes, in some places, there are 550 million-year-old rocks sitting on top of completely ancient layers of rock that apparently date back as far as 1.7 billion years ago. And there’s no sign of what happened during all those lost eras, epochs, periods, and TV seasons.

Scientists are still working on the mystery, and there are some theories you can read about at the above link. But this is what first got me thinking about lost time.

LOST TIME

Do you ever wonder where the time goes?

In the last few days, I kept hearing people say some version of, “How is January over already?” 

Last week, a client was referring to something that happened “last year” when her spouse chimed in that, no, what she was thinking of was actually two years ago, in 2020. 

Culture of Availability

Some of the amorphous aspect of time is because modern life just moves at a different pace, with a greater sense of immediacy baked into “instant” messaging and expectations of immediate responses. If we’re “always on,” when do we have the opportunity to recuperate and rest our engines? 

If we’re always living for others’ expectations, when are we living our own lives?

If we're *always on,* when do we have the opportunity to recuperate and rest our engines? If we're always living for others' expectations, when are we living our own lives? Share on X

In ye olden days, people wrote letters. They arrived when they arrived (if at all, not unlike the current postal kerfuffles); if you needed someone’s attention sooner, you sent a telegram.

Eventually, you could place a phone call through the operator (and later, directly), but there was no guarantee you’d reach someone when they were in. (And on the flip side, much time was lost in the lives of young women who waited by the telephone, as immortalized in the plaintive prayers in Dorothy Parker’s famed A Telephone Call short story.)

At work, one might have a secretary to take messages during business hours, but it would be another half-century before “important” people (doctors, physicians, movie stars) would have answering services.

Answering machines were still uncommon enough in the 1970s that the opening sequence of The Rockford Files, with a new inbound message each week, was still novel.

(But click to hear the show’s actual theme music.)

And of course, voicemail was still even further away. And this doesn’t take into account all of the other places we can be found today — and where we are expected to reply. There’s email, texts, Facebook messages, Twitter DMs, WhatsApp, SnapChat, Slack, and who knows what else.

To that end, I direct you to I’m Not Sorry for My Delay, a recent piece in The Atlantic about our culture of availability.

The piece quotes Melissa Mazmanian, an informatics professor at UC Irvine, about the trend that started with the post-beeper, circa-1999 invention of RIM’s BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Photo by Randy Luon on Unsplash 

With this magical “two-way pager” came the almost-miraculous ability of professionals to conduct business on-the-go, and it’s easy to see how, in two decades, we got to what we have now, including the ubiquity of ways we can — and are expected to — be available. The author notes that “The superpower morphed into an obligation” and Mazmanian calls it a spiral of expectations. 

Yeah, it is!

Certainly, the more work we are expected to do, and the more often we are expected to be available (at the in-person meeting that could have been a Zoom, the Zoom that could have been an email, and the email that could have just not been), the less time we have for anything, and especially, anything important.

As an organizing and productivity expert, my job is to guide clients past the morass of overwhelm brought on by this spiral of expectations. The key (and I do not mean to ignore the difficulty in the simplicity) is to set and maintain boundaries. For example:

To set boundaries for yourself:

  • Know how, when, where, and by whom you are often distracted. 

You can’t change what you can’t identify. If you tend to get lost online, but aren’t sure where the quicksand is, try an app that tracks your time and gives you a report of where you’re spending it. RescueTime, Toggl Track, and MyHours are a few good options to consider.

And if your lost time is more vague and non-techie, try keeping a time log for a week. Set a phone alarm at frequent, regular intervals prompt you to fill in the log. A few years ago, A Life of Productivity’s Chris Bailey interviewed time management expert Laura Vanderkam about how to track time. There’s even a link to time logs you can fill in, either via excel or on a printable log.

  • Make some rules regarding how you will respect your time.

You can start with a classic Paper Doll post, R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The Organizing Secret for Working At Home.

Set specific office hours. When does your work day start and end? When will you do only “work” things” and when will you do only “home/family” things and, yes, shockingly, when will you do only “personal” things? While there’s certain to be overlap in some parts of your day, having a plan for who gets to pull you or push you when is a mighty first step in controlling your day.

  • Head technology off at the pass.

Your employer may dictate when you must be available and via what technology, but the rest of your time, you get to decide! Try removing all (or even all but one) social media app from your phone for a week. (You can easily download it again next Monday.) If you have an urgent need to see what’s going on at Twitter or wherever, you can always use your browser.

Turn off your app notifications. That doesn’t mean you won’t know someone tried to reach you. You’ll just only know when you decide to go find out. Read your email at the time you’ve blocked off for email review instead of having to focus while your email dings at you. Check your Twitter retweets and DMs when you decide to, rather than having your phone “whoosh” at you all day.

To set boundaries for others to respect:

  • Put a message in your signature block of your emails, letting people know that you check and return emails once in the morning and twice in the afternoon (or once a day, or never). The key is to set expectations.

Maybe you’re one of those folks who prefers a call to an email. Or an email to a text. Or perhaps you want everyone to call your assistant…who happens to be on a planned leave for the next six months, or forever, so everyone better be forewarned! 😉

The point is that if you set an expectation, nobody else (except within the realm of what your employer can control) has any final say.

  • Change your voicemail’s outgoing message to reflect your availability. Decades ago, I was shocked by a colleague’s outgoing message that said that “all calls would be returned by the end of the next business day.”

Really? 

No getting back to her home office from a full client day and returning calls at 8 p.m. as she rushed to make dinner? No returning calls that came in on Saturday afternoon? No identifying with Superman that someone out there needed her?

And no turmoil over the idea that if she weren’t sitting by the phone to answer a prospective client’s call AND she didn’t return the call the minute she finished with one client, even though she was supposed to be at her daughter’s dance recital, the person might call another company? (Some echoes of Dorothy Parker’s story, perhaps?)

After having spent my first career in the fast-paced world of television, where a succession of general managers and master control room operators would call me at dinner time, at 3 a.m., and on holiday weekends, this was a revelation. And it’s one I teach to my clients. 

Notwithstanding hiccups (a toddler’s meltdown, a canceled flight, fire, flood, blizzards, or burst pipes, you get to decide what to do with your one wild and precious life.

*Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?* —Mary Oliver, The Summer Day Share on X

If you’ve been following good time management guidelines, you’ve mapped out what you need to accomplish, grouped categories together, time-blocked your tasks, and scheduled them.

The next step is to analyze whether anything new that comes in is (truly) more urgent or (really-and-truly) more important enough to kick a pre-scheduled activity out of its slot.

And if it’s not? Well, it can go on the schedule for another day.

  • Only use the messaging apps at which you want to be reached. In my stride toward giving Facebook less and less control over my time, I deleted the app from some devices and deleted the Facebook messaging app from all of them. Only my friends and clients know my cell phone number; my public-facing phone number is my office landline, and you can’t text it.

Living in a Pandemic (and Still Not a Post-Pandemic) World

Of course, not all of our lost time is due to the culture of availability. Much of it is still dictated by the vagaries and whims of living and working during COVID.

All of the benchmarks and signposts of our week (and children’s weeks) have come unglued. To gain as much control (as possible) over the flow of your time, I encourage you read some of my lovingly crafted (and only rarely unhinged) posts from the past two years (but especially the very first one):

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 5 Strategies to Cope With Pandemic Time Dilation (Seriously, kids. Read this.)

The Perfect Unfolding As We Work From Home

Rhymes With Brain: Languishing, Flow, and Building a Better Routine

Count on Accountability: 5 Productivity Support Solutions

Organize To Reverse a Bad Day

TIME- AND TASK-RELATED PRODUCTS CALLING OUT TO ME

So, all of this has been on my mind. Massive lost geological time. Lost time due to the culture of availability. The weirdness of pandemic time. And then two products kept showing up in my analog and digital life.

Post-it® Noted Line

Post-it® has developed a whole series of Noted products only tangentially related to the regular (but beloved) Post-it® Notes we use daily. 

Yes, they’re paper. And yes, they’re adhesive. But if traditional Post-it® Notes are quotidian, workaday items for the home and office, and Post-it® Extreme Notes (which I covered in Sticky to the Extreme: Organizing Information in Extreme Situations with Post-it® Extreme Notes) are Brawny Man-level solutions, Noted items seem to be up-and-coming executive who appreciates pretty things.

The Noted line, which I’ll cover in greater depth in a future post, includes notebooks, organizing tools, pens, and of course, notes. But in my forays online and off, I kept finding myself face-to-display with a few Noted products related to keeping track of your tasks and time, including:

Noted by Post-it® Daily Agenda Pad — This 100-sheet pink pad measures 3.9″ x 7.7″ and is designed as a no-frills agenda pad to schedule or track your day hour-by-hour. If you generally use a digital calendar and are finding you’re missing the tactile granularity of a paper calendar, you might want to try this. You can affix a note to the front of a notebook or portfolio or stick it on your wall or the top of your desk to keep it in view.

Noted by Post-it® Daily Planner Pad  — Like the agenda, the planner is 100 sheets/per pad of adhesive notes with a more task (rather than appointment) oriented view. The Daily Planner Pad measures 4.9″ x 7.7″ and has section headings for:

  • Do That Work (with a checkbox on every line)
  • Move That Body
  • Drink That Water (with little water glass illustrations you can check off)
  • Morning, Noon, and Night activity spaces
  • “Etc.” for free-writing and other activities

Noted by Post-it® Habit Tracker Notes — If your lost time is keeping you from hitting your goals and keeping up with your habits, these 2.9″ x 4″ habit tracker notes (also available in a mini size) give you a teeny, tiny calendar-esque view to check off your important habits. Stick it in your planner or on your desk to track whatever habits you want to acquire or eschew. (This one one has a self-care theme, but there’s a generic Habit Tracker version.)

Mover Erase Combo

The precursor of the Mover Erase Combo had been just on the periphery of my attention for the past few years as part of Bravestorming’s crowdfunded Mover Line. (Mike Vardy, the Productivityist, mentioned it once and the notion stuck somewhere in the recesses of my brain.)

But for the last week, though I’m certain I hadn’t clicked on anything to put a cookie in all of my devices, it kept showing up! If a white board and sticky notes had a baby, and the midwife were magnetic, and the baby shower were thrown by crowdfunding sources, you’d get Mover Erase Combo, a reusable (analog) system for scheduling, accomplishing tasks, and brainstorming ideas.

I’m still wrapping my head around the new iteration, but rather than losing any more time (heh) before sharing it with you, I thought I’d see what you think of the video.

Please share your thoughts in the comments, below.

Readers, I doubt anyone would imagine that Marcel Proust and I have much in common. I’m certainly more likely to hit on unanticipated memories when I scarf down a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup than he experienced with his famed madeleine:

“No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me.”

But lost time and thoughts pervaded this week, and I thank you for letting me indulge in them.

Paper Doll Introduces 5 New and Noteworthy Books By Professional Organizers

Posted on: November 22nd, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 12 Comments

When we think of books about organizing (and books by professional organizers), there’s a tendency to focus on the how-toaspect. “Have these problems? Follow these steps.” Done-and-dusted, as my favorite BBC shows would say. There are many, many books like that, identifying the problem and offering turnkey solutions.

None of the books I’m sharing with you today follow that kind of recipe-for-success strategy. They’re deeper, wiser, and recognize the complexities of life that prevent us from robotically following a set of numbered tasks to get from chaos to serenity. Not all of the books I’m going to share with you today will appeal to every reader, but all are written by colleagues whom I respect and admire.

Professional organizers have opinions. LOTS of opinions. And they’re generally backed by years of expertise, continuing education, and research. The authors I’m sharing with you today have dug deeply into the vast quagmires of our human brains (and of society, itself) to understand the intricacies that got us where we are, the challenges we (individually and collectively) face, and the strategies for moving forward.

NON-FICTION

Emotional Labor: Why A Woman’s Work Is Never Done by Dr. Regina F. Lark, Ph.D, CPO® and Judith Kolberg

N/A

Whatever you think this book is, based on the title, it’s not just that. You’ll be surprised when you sit down to explore the social, economic, and historical threads interwoven to understand the idea of “women’s work” and why that expression is much more than just outdated concepts of divided gender roles. If it were just that, it would be interesting, but it wouldn’t be as compelling as it is.

Let’s back up. Maybe you’re familiar with the concept of emotional labor due to the Gemma Hartley piece, Stop Calling Women Nags—How Emotional Labor is Dragging Down Gender Equality from Harper’s Bazaar several years ago (which itself served as a precursor to Hartley’s eventual book, Fed Up). Or maybe you figure you’re too busy doing labor (physical or emotional) to get anything out of this. Au contraire, my friend!

Emotional labor, as defined in the book, is “the invisible, unnoticed, unwaged, unwritten, undervalued work women do at home and in the paid workforce.” It’s all about the “internalized gender role expectations that lead women to feel hyper-responsible for tending to the “niceties of life.”” And gracious, there’s a lot of that work!

Let’s start with Lark’s introductory video for the book. (If this piques your interest, and I suspect it will, it’s worth going through the whole Emotional Labor playlist of videos.)

The book traces the sociological understanding of the concept of emotional labor (including a vast Emotional Labor Checklist, which I guarantee you will recognize from your own life). Elements include everything from planning and facilitating medical appointments for everyone in your family (your kids, sure, but also your spouse who’d gladly leave such appointments undone or up to you, and for elderly relatives), to being responsible for the (tangible) organization of your home and (temporal) management of family life. 

Emotional labor isn’t just about housework, but as the book explains, it’s about “noticing” what needs to be done and adding to your mental load for keeping track — which child won’t eat dinner if the foods touch, if the ketchup need to be refilled, who needs to be picked up when (and reminded of what), and what needs to be tracked, considered, prepared, done, and evaluated — all with consideration of everyone else’s emotional needs. Emotional labor involves keeping tabs on everything, and as our modern browser metaphor goes, we’ve all got dozens (or hundreds) of open tabs. 

Emotional labor involves keeping tabs on everything, and as our modern browser metaphor goes, we've all got dozens (or hundreds) of open tabs. Share on X

The book especially concentrates on “kin work” in terms of all of these activities as they relate to keeping nuclear and extended family ties strengthened. But it doesn’t ignore all of the elements of obligations that ending up resting with women in the workforce, from making sure the break room fridge doesn’t get gross to ensuring everyone receives a birthday card signed by the entire staff.

Emotional Labor provides an impressive historical perspective of socioeconomic issues over the last several hundred years. Then (as you’d expect, because it’s written by professional organizers) it delves into some key issues related to emotional labor and organizational skills, including high expectations and low self esteem, cognition and executive function, and the key skill of “anticipation.”

All of these concepts contribute to the focus of the second half of the book, disrupting the long-held narrative surrounding emotional labor throughout the lifecycle, learning how to delegate in a new, more functional way, and concepts (and solutions) for making our personal and professional worlds more equitable. Not a short order!

The book is extensively researched and ends with a robust set of end notes and resources for learning more about the various tendrils of the sprawling topic. As collaborator, Kolberg references that, for Lark, this book represents the “integration of feminist history, women and organizational challenges, and social change.” Whether you’re interested in social and economic history or just why the heck you are so overwhelmed and frustrated, this book will open your eyes and give you plenty to think about and discuss.

Lark is the author of Psychic Debris, Crowded Closets: The Relationship between the Stuff in Your Head and What’s Under your Bed. Her collaborator, Judith Kolberg, is the standard-bearer of professional organizing and author of Conquering Chronic Disorganization, ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, and so many other books you should read (and then read again).

Emotional Labor: Why A Woman’s Work is Never Done and What to Do About It is available in paperback and Kindle.

N/A

This book was actually published at the very end of 2019, just a few months before the world got caught up in the whirling dervish of COVID. Any big, scary goals (or even small, delightful ones) that most of us had on New Year’s Day 2020 got short shrift in a matter of a couple of months. But that shouldn’t deny Organizing and Big Scary Goals its place in the sun.

You all got a preview of this book earlier in the year, when I wrote Paper Doll Recaps the NAPO2021 Virtual Conference and attended Skillen‘s session,This is Scary: Embracing Discomfort to Help You and Your Clients Succeed. Skillen’s comment about pushing through fear, “Learning to tolerate discomfort lessens its power over you,” is still echoing in my head seven months later.

Skillen’s writing makes you feel like you’ve sat down with your kindest, most truth-telling friend, and her wisdom is punctuated with warm humor that dissipates any fear that might (OK, will) arise from thinking about, well, fear. Organizing and Big Scary Goals follows various clients through their challenges and successes; each chapter starts with intriguing quotes and ends with “Scribbles,” exercises to think and write about how you can apply each chapter’s lessons (both emotional and practical) to your life.

And throughout the book, Skillen shares her own bicycle-related bogeyman to show that she is no more immune to fears than any of us; by sharing her vulnerabilities, the lessons become even more relatable.

Organizing and Big Scary Goals looks at the various types of obstacles we face, including self-criticism, perfectionism, shame, self-doubt, backsliding, and difficulty with life transitions. Skillen focuses on organizing, and how all of these elements stand between us and the homes and lives we might wish to have, but the concepts for dealing with these fears can be applied in a broader, more overarching way to any big project or change you’d like to take on.

If you’re looking to read a book in December to help you get out of a fear-based rut and into a motivational mode for 2022, snuggle up on your sofa with a hot chocolate (the marshmallow count is up to you) and let Sara share the real deal.

It’s available in paperback, on Kindle, and as of this year, as an audiobook.

Mind Body Kitchen: Transform You & Your Kitchen for a Healthier Lifestyle by Stacey Crew

N/A

First, if you’re thinking this is a diet book, let me slap that celery-and-cottage-cheese thought out of your head. 

Crew is both a professional organizer and Certified Health Coach (as well as the author of The Organized Mom: Simplify Life for You & Baby One Step at a Time). So, it’s understandable that she has integrated the cognitive and emotional, the physical, and the organizational to create a positive, supportive approach to improving your health and home.

Using her health coaching skills, Crew has (thankfully) jettisoned the obsolete (and often dangerous) cycle of dieting and embraced an approach that involves understanding (from an emotional, as well as intellectual, perspective) cravings, instincts, and the mind-body connection. She guides the reader to improve mindset, better understand the basics of nutrition, make healthier eating decisions, and develop a strategy for daily physical movement without making it all a drag. 

Because Crew is an organizer, she gives the reader a real-world method (and not an unattainable, glossy magazine set of buzzwords) for creating an organized kitchen that supports making simple, healthy meals. Her kitchen advice covers organizing the pantry and refrigerator, the kitchen gadgets and tools that are really worth owning, and “what to embrace & what to avoid when it comes to certain foods.”   

And because we don’t just live in our kitchens (a particular truth for Paper Doll, who mainly subsists on PB&J and takeout sushi), Crew uses her organizing skills to help readers detox and declutter to “create a truly healthy home.”

Mind, Body, Kitchen is so new that it’s not officially out yet — it’s being released next week on December 1st, but you can pre-order it now and by the time you’ve polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers (and given up on buttoning your jeans) you’ll be ready to dig in. You can even read the first two chapters now, online.

Most books that come out in hardcover aren’t available in paperback until months later, but you have your choice of formats: hardcover, paperback, or Kindle. It’ll be available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Target.

Filled Up and Overflowing: What to Do When Life Events, Chronic Disorganization, or Hoarding Go Overboard by Diane Quintana, CPO®, CPO-CD® and Jonda Beattie, M. Ed.

N/A

Quintana and Beattie are stellar in many respects. They were already known for their individual professional organizing practices and the books they’ve published independently, as well as their collaborative writing for children, Benji’s Messy Room and Suzie’s Messy Room. They are experts in our field.

But the word that I most often hear describing both of them is compassionate. This compassion is reflected throughout their newest collaboration, which explores and guides readers through the complex realm of hoarding disorders and related challenges.

Too often, the mass media approaches organizing through one of two lenses, a practical “let’s make this pretty” approach for situational disorganization and a frenzied, exposé-oriented hunger when looking at those who struggle with hoarding disorders and related (but very different) organizational challenges. Quintana and Beattie bridge the chasm between those two approaches and bring compassion to those who are often engulfed in derision from others and shame from within.

Filled Up and Overflowing uses case studies from the authors’ own client practices (protecting identities, of course) to help individuals and their loved ones better understand and support individuals for whom excess “stuff” (even when it is to the point of endangering them) is a comfort.

The book spells out the power of words and the dangers and insensitivity of “labeling” those challenged by hoarding tendencies; it also clarifies what hoarding is and is not and explains that both environments and behaviors that look like hoarding to laymen might be chronic disorganization, situational hoarding (triggered by a life event), passive age-related decline, and various neurological and cognitive conditions. In each case, the authors vividly illustrate clients who are three-dimensional humans and not merely labels or or a collection of behaviors to be judged. 

Throughout the book, the authors clarify not only why and how people’s situations come to be as they are, but what to say and how to help and support, rather than steamroll, those whose spaces have become chaotic and overwhelming. The book focuses on compassion (there’s that word again!), understanding, communicating, and assisting. The latter is illustrated through a collection of strategies for both those struggling with their possessions, as well as family, friends, social workers, mental health providers, first responders, and others to help create safer, more supportive environments.

The book also includes a variety of references and useful resources.

I should note, I have a personal interest in this book. A few years ago, the authors conducted a presentation for our NAPO chapter on several of the concepts at the heart of this book, including the differences between hoarding disorders and so many of the look-alike behaviors. I was transfixed, and fan-girled my way to the front of the room to gush, insisting that this was a book (!) in the making, and that LOTS of people (and especially our colleagues) needed this information. Yes, Paper Doll considers herself a muse!

Filled Up and Overflowing is available in paperback and for Kindle.

FICTION 

Emotional labor, fear, the challenges of healthier living, and hoarding and related situations. Although the books are written in uplifting and compelling styles, that is pretty heavy content. 

Perhaps you’d like something a little lighter, perhaps some fiction?

There aren’t many novels actually written about professional organizers by professional organizers (who know what they’re talking about). Until recently, only Valentina Sgro’s Patience Oaktree books (including Patience and the Porsche, Photographic Memories, A Mess of Fish and Other Tidbits, and Heart of a Hoarder) came to mind. And while I would love to see more Patience books, there is a newly published book with a professional organizer front-and-center.

Perfectly Arranged by Liana George 

N/A

In full disclosure, Liana and I were co-chairs of (take a deep breath to say this whole thing) the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals’ Authorship and Publishing Special Interest Group. (AKA: the NAPO A&P SIG.)

As buddies in support of professional organizers who are also writers, I got to read a very early beta version of Perfectly Arranged, the first in what’s already set to be (at least) a three-part Hopeful Hearts series, with more books coming in 2022 and 2023.

I warned Liana that I rarely read fiction anymore, and when I do, it’s mostly re-reads of Jane Austen or piles and piles of speculative fiction (think: time travel rather than space operas); and I’d definitely never read a novel in the Christian genre. Well, unless you count Christy, but that was a plucky Appalachian Anne of Green Gables/teacher kind of novel that became a series with Kellie Martin, Tyne Daly, Tess Harper, and two smokin’-hot guys (a minister and a doctor a with Scottish accent) between which Martin’s Christy was forced to choose.

That said, I was charmed by Liana’s turns of phrase and her deep research. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I’ll just give you a broad sense of the first-person narrative.

Nicki Mayfield, the protagonist is a plucky professional organizer facing a shortage of clients and funds, considering “hanging up her label maker” when she agrees to take on one (possibly final) job with a wealthy, eccentric, and prickly woman. However, the process of organizing turns up some clues to a client’s family mystery, which leads them on an adventure in China. Of course, there’s the requisite self-doubt and misunderstandings that populate contemporary fiction, especially “chick-lit.”

The early draft I read in early 2019 has been revised, of course. It’s been several years since I first got to know Nicki Mayfield and the characters who populate her life, but I remembered certain settings as though I were replaying (the surely eventual Lifetime TV) movie version in my head; I’m now reading along in the final (published) version, noting the differences but still getting to the same places.

For more about the background of George’s book, you may want to read the pieces in her Perfectly Arranged press tour. Having discussed our writing projects together, I’ve always been intrigued by the motivation for her book. When Liana George was living in China, her father called and requested she visit Shanghai and take a photo of what was at a particular address; the situation that prompted that request was the impetus for this story, and it’s fascinating to see how it all unfolds.

I was captivated by the original tale, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the book has grown and matured.

Speaking of matured, I still haven’t matured beyond sharing clips from TV shows, so here’s the opening “saga cell” from Christy. In case you were wondering about my stance in Christy’s love triange, I was TeamNeilMacNeil (the Scottish doctor). 

Happy reading!

 

 

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, and I may get a small remuneration (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking through to the resulting pages. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Seriously, who else would claim them?) For more information regarding how Best Results Organizing handles affiliate links, please see the affiliate section of the site’s Privacy Policy.

A Professional Organizer’s Take on National Library Card Sign-up Month

Posted on: September 27th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 18 Comments

September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, and I want to make the case that library cards are your passport to a better and more organized life.

WHY PAPER DOLL LOVES LIBRARIES

I love libraries. My first real job, from my sixteenth birthday until I left for college, was as a page at the Clearfield Branch of the Erie County (New York) Public Library. My job involved helping patrons find books (back when we had paper card catalogs and no computers) and checking books out (back when the system involved using an overhead camera to take a photo of someone’s paper library card and the “borrow” card for the book).

However, the bulk of my job involved shelving books and “reading” shelves. The latter involved starting at the beginning of a section (for example, non-fiction) and making sure each book belonged after the one before it and before the one after it, per the Library of Congress classification system. I often think that this was the ideal training to become a professional organizer.

Back then, local public libraries had relatively few types of holdings: books, maps, record albums, and a truly dinky collection of audio cassettes. Libraries have come a long way, baby!

I marvel at systems I learned then, which I now use professionally, like organizing toddler books in dishpans, with book covers facing outward (record store-style) so that little hands can flip each book forward or backward without destroying a bookshelf. Because toddlers can’t read, they have no use for the spines of books, but a series of dishpans (filled with vertically arrayed, face-out books) allows tiny humans to recognize and access their favorite titles.

 

I have seen many beautiful libraries in cities all over the world, but my favorite is the A.D. White Library at my alma mater, Cornell University.

For most of history, libraries were closely guarded bastions of knowledge, and access was limited to those whose religious, academic, or financial positions allowed them to be considered worthy, but few libraries of significance were truly open to the public. In general, most libraries were subscription-based, where one paid for access, similar to how we use Netflix and Audible these days.

And even though public libraries had to close their doors to the public for much of the first year of the COVID pandemic, they did not turn their backs on their patrons. Most libraries offered curbside pickup; you could reserve your books online and then call (or, if your library was really fancy, use an app) to alert the staff of which pick-up parking space you were using, and diligent, masked librarians would verify your card, check you out over the phone, and deliver your “borrows” to your car’s trunk or hatchback. Most libraries also continued to offer programming for students, seniors, and other constituencies virtually.

To my mind, one of the greatest benefits of modern society is access to tax-supported public library systems. I consider my library card, my voter registration card, and my driver’s license as three keys to my sense of freedom (of intellect, of democracy, and the ability to work, play, and have an empowered life).

I consider my library card, my voter registration card, and my driver's license as three keys to my sense of freedom (of intellect, of democracy, and the ability to work, play, and have an empowered life). Share on X

But that’s me. You’re probably wondering why you should care about libraries, and more importantly, what this has to do with organzing.

WHAT CAN A LIBRARY CARD OFFER YOU?

So, what magical powers does your library card bestow? Your library card, what bibliophiles and library peeps like to call “the smartest card in your wallet,” grants access to a vast array of offerings.

Items to borrow

Although some special collections and reference materials can only be read in-house, the majority of tangible items at libraries circulate. This means they can be borrowed and taken home for at least a week, and sometimes up to a month, including:

  • Printed materials (and no, it’s not just books and magazines anymore, though libraries still have huge collections of those):
    • print books (including large-print books for the visually impaired)
    • audio books
    • books on CD
    • books in Braille
    • magazines
    • trade journals
    • graphic novels/comic books
    • sheet music

You can reserve materials that are currently out (or at another branch). In most cases, if your library is able to send you a digital notification of a reserved item’s availability, there will be no charge; for older libraries still using postcard systems, your reservation may be about the cost of a postage stamp.

Also, your library is likely to be a member of one or more systems through which you can request an interlibrary loan. That means that even if your library system doesn’t have a resource you want or need, you should be able to have them request it from a different system, possibly even across the country! (See? Libraries are cool!)

  • Electronic entertainment and educational materials
    • vinyl phonograph/record albums (though these are often in library system archives, the hipster appeal of vinyl has librarians bringing these out for display)
    • CDs (whether music, language CDs, or books on CD)
    • DVDs (including movies, courses, exercise, and how-to videos
  • Digital materials — Your library likely gives you access to a variety of digital downloadable services through the web or a free app. So, whether you want to satisfy your insatiable desire for mystery audiobooks while you’re getting your 10,000 steps a day or suddenly need to borrow a stress-reduction video while you’re stuck in the airport when your flight is delayed, all you need is your library card number, digital device, and some decent WiFi. Not all libraries have the same services, though these seem to be the most widespread:
    • OverDrive offers an absolutely massive collection of premium audiobooks, ebooks, and music that can be downloaded to your smartphone, Kindle, tablet, or computer via your browser or the Libby app. 
    • Hoopla has collections of thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, graphic novels/comic books, movies, television shows, and music. You can download content to your device or stream it, and it works with computers, tablets, and phones. (Personal note: I downloaded Frommer’s and Fodor’s guidebooks to Italy and the UK to use when traveling, and it was amazing to have thousand-page guidebooks at the ready with no extra schlepping.)
    • Kanopy-affiliated library patrons can download or stream a wide variety of movies, including modern flicks, documentaries, foreign films, classic cinema, independent films, and educational videos.
    • Less common library offerings include AcornTV (classic and modern UK television shows and movies), IndieFlix (part of the library-friendly RB Media offerings) for independent films, and other services.

As with print resources, you can usually put ebooks and audiobooks on hold if there isn’t an immediate availability. You might be wondering why, if it’s digital, there’s not endless access. That’s because libraries purchase licenses to electronic media, much the same way you purchase an individual ebook or audiobook. Buying a license for each copy of a digital work ensures (or at least tries to ensure) that authors and creators get their fair share.

  • Digital educational platforms — While every library has different offerings, there are some particularly common and popular ones, including:
    • LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) normally requires a paid LinkedIn membership, but if you’ve got a library card at a system associated with LinkedIn Learning, you won’t have to pony up any money for the technology and creative courses offered for current and aspiring professionals. Learn a language, gain computer skills, or study project management or leadership development, all from your digital device.
    • Infobase has collections of how-to and documentary programming, newsreels and archival films, speciality educational films in business and economics, social sciences, arts and humanities, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and health and wellness. Infobase also has career skill resources for creating resumes, interviewing, and finding jobs.
    • Language education  — While my library system uses Transparent Language, your public library may offer Mango, Rosetta Stone, or any of a variety of other platforms to help you separate your Ciao from your Shalom.
    • Academic and career preparation resources — My library system uses the Peterson’s prep materials for standardized tests and college and career searches. You may have access to other resources for the high schoolers and job searchers in your life.
    • Database Access — Public libraries subscribe to an amazing array of financial, medical, legal, and other databases (including LexisNexis, PsychInfo, EBSCO — even the Chilton Auto Repair Database!) which are made available to patrons. 
    • Genealogical support — I don’t know much about genealogical research. (That’s why I wrote Paper Doll Interviews the Genealogy Organizers.) But libraries have everything from maps and directories to digital access to resources like Ancestry.com’s Library Edition and state archives.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Just a sampling of some of the other things you may be able to borrow from your public library system, either for circulation or in-library use, include:

  • Museum passes — Call ahead to see what museum passes your library maintains and ascertain whether you’ll need to make reservations to borrow them.
  • Eclipse glasses — During the last solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, I was surprised to find that my library had arranged for loans of eclipses glasses. The next solar eclipse visible in North America will be April 8, 2024, so check with your library well before then to make sure you put a hold on yours!
  • Board games
  • Classic games, like chess, checkers and backgammon
  • Computer and video games
  • Video game controllers
  • Headphones — Because it’s easy to forget your ear buds before an impromptu library trip and nobody wants to wear borrowed ear buds (ew), so go old-school with the over-the-ear kind.
  • Tools — Over the last few decades, more and more public library systems have started a lending library of tools, ranging from socket wrench sets to power sanders, saws to stud finders, cordless drills to hedge trimmers. Take a peek at the visual tool catalog of what I can borrow from the downtown branch of my library. 

Free (and almost free) library services

Computer Access — Almost all public libraries offer computer access for free; you’ll only pay for pages you choose to print.

Wi-Fi and Wired Internet Access — Not everyone has high speed internet access. In addition to there being a huge economic divide between those who can and cannot afford internet access, there are also infrastructure issues. Many rural areas of North America lack dependable internet and even cell service.

Because of these issues, during the pandemic students were often attending their remote classes in the parking lots of schools and libraries (which remained shuttered, but there were employees inside, keeping the WiFi going). Remote workers also had a tough time accessing essential tools. Libraries are an inexpensive alternative to setting up your workspace at the coffee house.

Tech Support — Many libraries offer free courses in basic computer and web skills. Also, some librarians are able to provide guidance on common computer issues.

Homework Help — Librarians won’t do your children’s homework, but they’re fonts of information regarding selection of the appropriate resources. Many public libraries also have homework assistance hot-lines and online homework help.

Tax Prep Assistance — Libraries don’t supply tax advice directly, but AARP and other community organizations provide volunteer, pro-bono tax preparation assistance at most branches. And even though many people file digitally now, tax forms are usually made available to patrons who want to noodle the math with paper and pencil.

Delivery — Not everyone is able to get to the library. Elderly, housebound or disabled patrons can often request to have library materials delivered to them. Contact your local library for available resources and review the offerings of the National Library Service for the Blind and Handicapped.

Children’s Entertainment — Public libraries have story hours, magic shows, movies, puppet shows, arts and craft activities, and other events to keep children engaged while giving parents some breathing space.

Quiet Spaces — OK, this isn’t a service, per se. But sometimes, you need a place to go to center yourself, read, or just disconnect. Libraries are safe, temperature-controlled, and, unless you’re sitting right next to the children’s area, fairly serene. Obviously, this is more difficult when we’re in pandemic mode, but libraries were known for their shhhh-iness long before quiet cars on rail transportation existed.

Low-cost Services

In addition to free services, libraries provide a number of services are supplied at at limited cost. These include:

  • Printing
  • Photocopying
  • Faxing — Stop laughing. It’s shocking how often something like this crosses my Twitter feed:

  • Scanning
  • Notary Services — Call your library branch in advance to find out if and when the services of a notary public will be available. If a member of the library staff is a notary, you may not even be charged.
  • Passport Services — New and renewal applications for passports can be confusing. Many libraries provide assistance with applications and photo services by appointment.
  • Meeting rooms — Libraries maintain private rooms for not-for-profit endeavors, and the cost is usually limited to making sure the room bookings are serious. Rooms may be booked for:
    • Book Clubs
    • Game Groups for children and adults. (Pokémon card trading clubs having been going strong for decades!)
    • Community Meetings
    • Guest Lectures and Classes — Years ago, Paper Doll took courses in origami and in how to use the library’s electronic book borrowing systems to transfer books to Kindle and Nook. (I remain more proficient at the latter than the former. Folding cranes is hard!) I’ve also taught classes and workshops on organizing at public libraries, and chances are good that you can find one of my colleagues teaching similar workshops wherever you are.

Libraries around the country lend Santa suits and prom dresses, cake pans and artwork, knitting needles and selfie sticks:

18 Weird Things You Can Borrow from Your Public Library

200 Things You Can Check Out of a Library Besides Books

The downtown branch of my own public library has an entire floor set aside as a “maker space” with 3D printers, laser cutters, an HTC Vive virtual reality booth, a sewing lab, a soldering bench, Agile co-working spaces with white boards and projectors, a photography studio — and a state of the art recording studio!!!

This is not Marian the Librarian’s public library, and Chattanooga is not even a big city. It’s just one that values libraries. Check out (pun intended) what your own library system has to offer.

SO HOW DOES GETTING A LIBRARY CARD HELP YOU GET AND STAY ORGANIZED?

Maybe I have convinced you that libraries are the bees’ knees, but you still don’t get what it has to do with organizing?

Self-decluttering

From a professional organizer’s perspective, the best thing about libraries is the opportunity to allow yourself to trust that you need not maintain the entire world at your house.

Those four hundred issues of National Geographic making your guest room floor buckle, but which you never approach except to dust? The library has them, too, for whenever you want to learn about the mating habits of the elephants of the Serengeti, but you’ll never have to dust them. (The Nat Geos, I mean, not the elephants. Well, those too.)

Of course, I’m not saying to give up purchasing books and magazines, but understand that there’s an alternative to becoming an accidental collector of books you’ll never read (or never read again).

If you are overwhelmed by clutter in your space, but have a voracious hunger to read (or listen to music, or watch movies), check your public library’s collections first before running off to Amazon or your local indie bookseller. (But do support your local indie booksellers when you find things you want to own. This has been a hard time for them, OK? OK!)

Having a library means you can have access to any printed book, ebook, or audiobook, or tangible item (DVD, CD, graphic novel, magazine) without it permanently taking up residence in your home. Clutter often develops because we have too much stuff and no place to permanently store it, and we keep it forever because we don’t have the time or inclination to deal with it.

Library resources come with a built-in decluttering mechanism: due dates! Sure, you can renew things online, but in general, things need to be returned to the library. You don’t have to make the difficult decision as to whether it should stay or go because it’s not yours! It belongs to the library.

Or, if you prefer, think of it as yours, but stored (and dusted, repaired, and maintained) by the nice folks at the free (with your tax dollars) self-storage location called The Public Library!

And you don’t have to worry about digital items you borrow. Ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and music all “return themselves” automagically.

Just make sure you develop a system for keeping track of the tangible items you borrow. I recommend having one bookshelf or counter in your house where you keep all library items. If you have kids, help them get in the habit of returning items to that shelf or space when they’re not using them. (Oh, and let your kids help you get in the same habit. Kids love “catching” parents neglect an organizing task, and it helps reinforce the standards you’re trying to teach them.)

Money-saving

Rather than spending lots of money for books you’ll only read once, or perhaps not even finish, or for accessing any of a huge variety of tangible and digital resources, you can take advantage of the benefits of the public library.

Adore a book or piece of music beyond measure? Consider the library experience to be your free ice cream taste test; then purchase it with the knowledge that it’s something you love and will keep forever and share with others. But you don’t have to shell out money for entertainment and educational experiences you’re not sure are the right fit. And you don’t have to feel guilty, because you know the authors and creators will still be getting paid through the system of library licenses.

Still not sure about the benefits? How about saving and organizing those little green pieces of paper in your wallet? This simple form will automatically calculate the financial value of your library card in terms of annual savings. (Of course, the cognitive, emotional, and societal values are priceless.)

SO GET YOUR LIBRARY CARD

I always ask new clients a variety of questions to make sure they have life essentials: “Do you have a calendar? A file system? A will? A fire extinguisher?” On the advice of my friend, internet-famous librarian extraordinaire Jessamyn West, I also ask, “Do you have a library card?”

I’ve even been known to drag friends to sign up for a library card when I visit them in their new cities. (Shoutout: Hey, Chris, I’m looking at you!)

National Library Card Sign-Up Month is the perfect time to get a card for yourself or your kids. 

1) Locate your public library.

2) Fill out an application, available at your branch or on most library web sites.

3) Show valid ID with your current address. If you’re new to town and don’t yet have a photo ID bearing your address, most libraries will accept two items showing your name and street address (but not PO box), such as current utility bills (e.g., telephone, gas, electric or cable), voter registration cards, or other mail with postmarks from the past 30 days.

4) Use your new library card often. Plan a weekly visit with your family and explore your library’s offerings. Develop a ritual for going to the library and your children will grow up appreciating all that libraries have to offer. Let your kids help you mark down due-dates for returning tangible items.

5) Set up a library shelf in your house where all the items you borrow from the public library “live” when they’re not being read or used. Having a set location where library items belong when not in use prevents them from going missing and assures you’ll be able to return them on time. 

Happy National Library Card Sign-Up Month!

Paper Doll To the Rescue: How To Save Wet Books & Documents

Posted on: August 2nd, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 19 Comments

For something that’s supposed to be so good for us, water can cause quite a bit of trouble.

If you drop your cell phone in water, people will rush to tell you to stick it in rice, as though your Samsung or iPhone was a nice piece of baked salmon. It seems everyone has heard and shared that little hack for rescuing wet electronics.

For what it’s worth, you actually shouldn’t put your soaked phone in rice. Phone experts say airflow, not rice, is the key. Apple agrees. Desiccants and air-tight pouches can also help.

So, save the San Francisco Treat for your dinner table, OK?

There’s a common expression when people are talking about all their drawers and piles of papers and books. They say, “I’m drowning in paper.” But what happens when your paper drowns?

Have you ever dropped your book in the tub? Failed to zip your backpack up all the way and had a book land in a puddle? Had someone overzealously splash you while you’re reading poolside?

Ever have your garbage disposal eat a fork, spring leaks, and send all the water running down your drain through a cracked pipe and into your cabinets, soaking books on the other side of the wall? (Yes, that is TOO a thing that happens. Stop looking at me like that.)

What happens when a book gets wet? Well, the first thing that happens is cockling. That’s the official term for when paper (especially bound paper) gets wet and bulges out in certain places, presenting a warped, wrinkled, puckered, or creased surface.  

The worst part isn’t the cockling though. (C’mon, people, stop laughing at the word “cockling!”) The biggest concern should be mold. Mold can begin growing within 2-to-3 days, and because mold spores can flourish wherever conditions are warm and wet, you want to jump on solving your wet-paper problem right away!

I should note, Paper Doll is an expert on organizing paper, not restoring it. But I’ve sure had some interesting requests over the years. One client, whose entire library was along a leaking outside wall, wanted to “save” mold-covered books by taking nail scissors and cutting along the edges of the pages to rid them of mold. (No, this wasn’t possible. Not all mold is visible, and mold can be damaging to one’s neurological and respiratory systems. Don’t play around with mold!)

And clients have often asked how to restore important (though not necessarily financially valuable) books, like family Bibles, which have seen better days. For a book with serious financial or sentimental value, please seek the expertise of a professional book restoration service. Check out the website of the The American Institute for Conservation and do a zip code radius search on their Find a Conservator page.

RESTORING WATER-DAMAGED BOOKS

How you deal with a water-damaged book depends on whether the water left your book damp (as if it had been in a sauna), wet (as if you were caught in the rain between your parking space and your building) or soaked all the way through (like the most miserable camping trip, ever)!

If your book is damp, experts advise that you:

  • Hold the book gently by the spine and shake the book side-to-side to rid it of any excess water.
  • Gently remove any debris. (This works better if you’re trying to get stray leaves out of the book dropped in a shallow puddle; if you spilled your milkshake on the book, you’re not going to get bits of chocolate off of the pages so easily.)
  • Cover the surface of wherever you’re going to dry the books with either absorbent paper (like unprinted newsprint — no, NOT actual newspaper!), absorbent towels, or plastic sheeting. This way, as the book dries, the surface you’re using won’t get damaged. The more books you have to restore, the more space you’ll need, as this is often a multi-day process. 
  • Stand your book up and fan it out so no part is open more than 60°. Official advice will say to stand the book on its “head” or “tail” which just means that you’re not resting the book on its spine or on the part where it opens. Fanning it out means just that — if viewed from above, it’ll almost look like a fan.

  • If it’s mostly the book cover (of a hardcover book) that’s damp, but not the actual text of the book, put some absorbent paper towels between the “boards” of the cover and the pages. Change as necessary (when the paper has absorbed all it can).
  • Use fans in the room to circulate air so the book will dry, but don’t point the fans directly at the book.  
  • If you have a dehumidifier, this is the time to pull it out! Air conditioning is good, too. But none of the air blowing on the book should be so strong as to make the pages flutter.
  • Once the book is completely dry, lay it on its back cover, sandwiched between two wooden boards, and place something heavy (like a few bricks or an old-fashioned, massive hardcover dictionary) on top of it, making sure the spine (of the previously damp book) isn’t smushed by the weight. Or, you can use a book press, if you happen to have one of these babies hanging around.

RestorationMaster suggests that for paperbacks (which are usually more slender than hard cover books), you can hang the book on a bit of fishing line or string to help it air dry. (But only do this if the book isn’t soaking wet, or the its own weight could cause the book or its binding to tear.)

If the book is wet, think about the value of your time vs. the value of the book. If it’s a $300 textbook, your willingness to carry on may be different from what it would be if it’s a paperback novel.

  • Cover your work surface, as described above.
  • Lay the book flat and open it carefully (so as not to rip any of the wet pages) and start interspersing (interleaving, in book restoration talk) paper towels about every 20 pages, working from the front to the middle of the book. Once you get to the middle, flip the book over, and repeat the process from the back to the middle.
  • Leave the book flat for about an hour so the paper towels can absorb some of the water. (If your book got that wet, chances are good some of your other stuff got wet. Go check on them.)
  • Hour is up? Stand the book up, fanned, on the “head” or “tail” as described in the “damp” section, above.
  • Switch out the surface covering and paper towels as they soak up the water, and periodically repeat the process until the book is “only” damp.
  • Now follow the directions for damp books, above.

It’s hard to envision some of these steps, so I was delighted to find this video from Syracuse University, where I attended graduate school many, many years ago. Their Department of Preservation and Conservation illustrates how to save damp and wet books from becoming wrinkly, moldy goop.

(For more information, you may also want to peruse the Disaster Recovery Manual for the Syracuse University Libraries.) 

If your book is soaked through, meaning it fell into a pool or your house flooded to the point that your book was submerged, this is really a job for professionals. The instructions below describe what they’ll do, not what you should do. Unless you are a restoration specialist, you are likely to be out of your depth. That said, there are two possible measures:

1) Air-Dry (For those of us for whom humidity makes us resemble Art Garfunkel, “air-dry” already has some unfortunate connotations!) 

This is basically an advanced version of the solution for “wet” books above, with a few changes:

  • DON’T OPEN THE BOOK (to the interior). Don’t fan the pages.
  • Put paper towels between the front and rear covers and the interior of the book.
  • Use those fans! Turn on the A/C. Get out the dehumidifier. And be patient.

2) Freeze!

WAIT! Stop pulling the Eggos and last night’s leftovers out of the freezer to make room. Freezing books keeps mold and mildew from growing and gives professional restorers some extra time to plot out their attack. 
But to save soaked books, restorers use rapid freezing methods at temperatures down to -20°F (-28.9°C) so ice crystals won’t form on the books. Unless you’ve got a seriously fancy-pants freezer, your Frididaire probably isn’t going to cut it.

Once the wet books get frozen, restorers use vacuum freeze-drying to remove moisture, similar to how food is freeze-dried.

The water in the damaged book goes from being a solid (picture microscopic ice cubes) to a gas (think: water vapor) without ever turning into liquid.  

This is called sublimation. (Is this starting to remind you of high school chemistry class? Or maybe you soaked your high school chemistry textbook and never read anything the rest of the semester?)

By skipping the liquid stage, there’s less of a chance of the paper cockling, the cover (boards) warping, or the ink running. This is good. But again, this is really the work of a professional.

That said, a number of resources, including WikiHow, advise that you can repair a wet book by freezing it in a regular household freezer. (Scroll down on the linked page to see their Method #2.) They advise removing excess water by interleaving small sets of pages with white paper towels, as described above, and then putting the damaged book into a zipper-lock plastic bag, and sealing it. (They warn, “Do not perform a vacuum seal, however; you want some air to be able to reach the book’s pages, and some space to be between the texture of the bag and the book itself.” OK, then!)  

WikiHow says to keep the book in the freezer 1-2 weeks, depending on how long the book is. (So, go the full fortnight if it’s all 963 pages of Anna Karenina, which, coincidentally, Paper Doll just finished reading. I wish I could have frozen the chapters on wheat threshing, let me tell you!)

Then, when you pull the book out, you’ll go back to the methods for “damp” and “wet” books above, because you, my friends, do not have a vacuum freeze-drying machine for books. You got a lot of the water out, but as the book defrosts, there will still be moisture!

Anna Gooding-Call of Book Riot notes that the ice crystal problem (obviated by the fancy vacuum freeze-drying used by professionals) is a bigger deal. She notes, “To a certain extent, you might not be able to avoid this because you are a normal human being and you have a normal human being’s freezer. Ice can wreck your book for the same reason as it can wreck your fleshy body: freezing water expands and ruptures things. Set your freezer to its lowest setting—as in, the warmest temperature relative to how freezy it can possibly get—and check frequently. If you have a no-frost function, use it!”

The Houston Chronicle has similar advice about freezing, but notes that if there are any coated pages in a doused book, such as in a section of illustrations or photos, take extra precautions. Because coated pages may fuse together if not separated, their article advises putting a sheet of wax paper between every coated page to isolate each one.

Interleaving, fanning, freezing. This is a lot of work!

For what it’s worth, WikiHow also has instructions for rescuing your damp books using a hair dryer. After removing excess water, they recommend laying the book down on an absorbent towel and aiming the dryer at the pages, top-to-bottom, a few at a time, and not moving onward until the pages you’ve worked on are dry.

I once tried this dryer method, but it still yielded a LOT of cockling, and in the end, I had to reimburse the public library for a new copy anyway. Reader, beware.

Beyond that, my undergraduate alma mater, Cornell University, specifically says NOT to use heat to dry books! Cornell’s exact (final) words on the subject are:

CAUTION
Do not use artificial heat to try to speed the drying, as this will lead to dimensional distortion.

Undergrowth Doctor Who (MaxPixel)

“Dimensional distortion” sounds like something that’s better handled in Doctor Who than the Paper Doll blog, so we’ll just leave that right there.

RESTORING WET DOCUMENTS

Let’s say you haven’t soaked a book, but perhaps you were working on your family filing and a tiny human or furry friend got over-excited and upturned your glass of water. Most of the solutions for books will work just as well for individual papers.

The Library of Congress has a page of advice for emergency preservation of museum collections of paper, and this guidance is easily applied to your important documents at home:

  • Create your safe workspace (away from the tiny humans, furry friends and, your beverages).
  • Lay your wet papers flat on clean absorbent towels or unprinted (newsprint) paper. Periodically change the towels as they absorb water, and until your documents are merely damp.
  • DON’T try to separate soaking wet sheets of paper. Wet paper is heavy and sticks together; if you try to separate the pages, they are likely to tear. Instead, just leave them in quarter-inch high stacks until most of the water has been absorbed by the towels or has evaporated.
  • Once the pages are only damp, you can try gently prying them apart. Then interleave clean, white paper towels between the documents.
  • Lightly weigh the documents down to flatten them and discourage cockling.
  • Keep the air flowing in the room, but do not blow fans directly onto your papers. Not only would they cockle or ruffle, but they might blow away into the hands of those tiny humans or paws of the furry friends, and then you’ll have bigger problems than soaked papers.

The Library of Congress also advises against air-drying coated (glossy) paper. Instead, freeze the documents immediately using the same (home-based) methods as described for books.

MORE PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE AND GUIDANCE

This post should cover your casual book and document restoration needs. If you represent an association, government agency, museum, or other “collection” and need guidance with regard to restoration and conservatorship, try these resources:

American Institute of Conservation (AIC) and Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC) (including their downloadable documents on caring for books, photographs, and paper)

Canadian Association of Professional Conservators’ Find a Conservator

Canadian Conservation Institute (offers a free emergency telephone line for damage to paper collections)

Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts: Technical Bulletin for Disaster Recovery | Salvaging Books

Northeast Document Conservation Centre (NEDCC)

The National Archives of the United Kingdom, “How To Deal With Wet Documents”

 

Stay safe! Stay dry! And keep your phone out of the Rice-a-Roni!

 

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