Archive for ‘Gifts’ Category
Paper Doll’s Holiday Gift List: Education, Entertainment, and Adventure
A good gift should be so much more than “stuff” that you end up having to dust or dry-clean, store or maintain. Over the past weeks, we’ve looked at clutter-free gifts in a variety of categories.
Holiday Gift List: The Useful and the Beautiful looked at practical gifts to help your recipients achieve their goals, be more productive, and get (and stay) organized. We also talked about how beautiful gifts uplift, support, stir action, lower blood pressure, and drive delight.
Paper Doll’s Holiday Gift List: Warm Their Hearts and Fill Their Tummies focused on two particularly categories, those dealing with yesteryear (family genealogy and legacy) and those to enhance the here and now. (Be forewarned, we’re not done with gifts of food, glorious food!)
Today, we’ll close out the gift ideas with gifts of experiences. Many researchers, including Thomas Gilovich, the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology at Cornell University, have found that the enjoyment we get from experiential purchases far exceeds that of tangible items.
First, there’s the anticipatory aspect. When we think about what we will be experiencing, our imaginations fill in the details in a way that makes thinking about tangible items pale in comparison. While this has mainly been studied in terms of things we buy for ourselves, it stands to reason that things given as experiential gifts are endowed with that same anticipatory delight between when we get them and when we get to use them.
But there’s also a retrospective aspect. When we compare our “stuff” to someone else’s “stuff” (my iPad to your iPad, or even to your Surface; my sports car to your sports car) there’s little joy to be had. If what I have is inferior to what you have, it lessens how I feel about what I have, even if I loved mine before comparing it with yours. And if mine is better than yours, well, the excitement doesn’t last. It’s just a thing. And very few tangible things retain their charm after weeks or months or years.
However, it’s almost impossible to compare different experiences (yours vs. someone else’s) because there are so many relative differences. You can, at best, compare your memories of your trip to Italy with someone else’s memories of their own vacation, whether to the same places in Italy, or perhaps to other locale altogether, but you’re far less likely to compare and feel your own experience to be unfavorable. Experiences, like the one who does the experiencing, are unique.
So, what experiential gifts can you provide to those on your gift list?
EDUCATION
The alternatives for gifts of education are almost endless, and you can choose experiences that benefit either the body or the mind (or both).
For example, I love Jane Austen. I’ve read all of the novels many, many times, and I’ve read many books about the author, herself, and others offering up critical analyses of her writing. I can’t get enough. So, for my birthday this year, at the start of what I’ve been hearing called “the sophomore year of the pandemic,” my friend got me The Great Courses‘ set of lectures on The Life and Works of Jane Austen.
It was just what I needed to burrow in for those last few weeks until spring (and vaccinations) had finally sprung. Instead of feeling like someone seeking one more Netflix show to binge, I felt like a college student (and trust me, for Paper Doll, that is a very good thing).
Options from The Great Courses include: economics and finance, history, literature and language, philosophy and religion, music and fine arts, mathematics, and so much more. You can learn Spanish or how to draw, take a grand tour of England, Scotland, and Wales, or understand behavioral economics (and then please, try to explain it to me). From Dog Training 101 to Law Training for Everyone: Constitutional Law, you should be able to delight every adult on your gift list.
The Great Courses does offer their Programs for Young Learners courses, but these tend to be focused on high-school-aged learners; unless you’ve got a Young Sheldon on your list, get the young’uns the games and toys they’ve been craving. (Clutter-free gifts have less meaning to tiny humans!)
If you’d like a sample of the kinds of material you can find in The Great Courses, their Wondrium YouTube channel (formerly Great Choices Plus) offers free video tastes.
Courses are offered on DVD sets and online as “instant” audio or video, and are priced anywhere from $29.95 upward. (This week, all courses are on sale and there’s a 15%-off coupon code: K5H9.)
Another popular choice of course purveyor, one with a less academic bent, is Master Class. It’s hard to surf anywhere on social media or YouTube without seeing a promotion with Ron Howard, Alicia Keys, Neil deGrasse Tyson, or Neil Gaiman. However, in case you’re unfamiliar, MasterClass is a streaming platform where your recipients (or you!) can watch or listen to hundreds of video lessons taught by 100+ of the world’s best in their fields.
Categories of courses include business and leadership, filmmaking and screenwriting, acting, photography, cooking, music, sports, science and technology, government, and more. These classes are less like academic coursework and more like getting to sit in on a series of mentoring classes with recognized experts.
Because these are digital/video lessons, the material is available whenever your giftee has time to watch, and wherever it’s convenient for them: smartphone in the carpool lane, tablet while cooking, computer during a lunch break, or via Apple TV and FireTV streaming media players.
Master Class offers three annual plans: Standard, Plus, or Premium (at $30, $40, and $46/month, respectively, though right now they’re offering a 2-for-1 holiday special). The main difference is the number of devices you can be using simultaneously (1, 2, or 6, respectively), and if you’re using the Standard plan, you can’t download the courses for offline viewing.
So, whether someone on your list wants to learn mindfulness from Jon Kabat-Zinn or philosophy from Cornel West, cooking from Gordon Ramsay or how to hit a high note from Christina Aguilera, there’s something to excite and charm.
But I get it. Not everyone wants to feel like they’re sitting in the front row of a college seminar. Some want the experience of learning by doing. That’s OK, because educational options run the gamut; if you can imagine learning it or doing it, there’s someone or some place that’s teaching it.
Cooking & Food
Google “cooking classes” and the name of your recipient’s city, and chances are good that there will be classes taught at local restaurants, culinary schools, community colleges, and cooking supply stores.
If your recipient is in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or Dallas, consider Eataly. They offer classes and special events ranging from straight-forward cooking classes for adults and children to market tours where you can learn where the experts go, from butcher to baker.
However, if your gift is for someone who lives far from these kinds of courses or is wisely, cautiously waiting out the next surge in the pandemic, private classes by Zoom or Skype may be an option, locally or at a distance.
While Sur La Table, maker of fine cookware, is better known for their in-store classes, they have a nice schedule of online course options starting at just $29/household. Would your culinarily-inclined friend like to learn how to make a Salted Caramel Lattice-Top Apple Pie? What about the Feast of the Seven Fishes (pictured below)?
Might they be interested in a 2-day croissant workshop or learning how to make traditional tamales? Each live 90-120 minute class is taught by experts via a password-protected Zoom session, so you (or your giftee) and the other attendees are free to ask questions as you follow along step by step.
League of Kitchens describes itself as is a “culinary dream-team of women from around the world who will welcome you into their homes, teach you their family recipes, and inspire you with their personal stories.” Their online cooking classes include an interactive cooking instruction session, a virtual dinner party, a packet with the instructor’s family recipes, and a video recording of the class.
International cuisines represented include Afghan, Argentinian, Bengali, Greek (nomnomnom), Indonesian, Japanese, Lebanese, Mexican, Nepali, Persian, Russian, and Uzbek. Classes are $60/device, and you can buy gift cards for recipients to use for the cooking course of their choice.
Goldbelly Live! Cook-Alongs offer a combination gift. You buy GB’s meal kits and the Goldbelly Live! cook-along classes are included. It’s live via Zoom, so you get to ask the chefs questions as you cook with the ingredients that arrive (the day before) in your meal kit. From pizza to dumplings to cookies, class-and-kit combos tend to range from $99 to $159.
Want to give a more intimate cooking class experience? The Chef & the Dish offers private classes with “white glove” service. Pick your course by mood, dietary preference, or craving — options include homemade pasta, Pad Thai, paella, ceviche, jambalaya, baklava, goulash, curry, and more. Once you book, a Kitchen Assistant makes contact to host a personal Kitchen Prep Session to check the camera settings, review the shopping list, and answer any pre-class questions.
For more online cooking class ideas, check out The Spruce Eats’ post, The 8 Best Online Cooking Class of 2021.
Maybe the loved ones on your list, like Paper Doll, love to eat but aren’t such fans of actually cooking? In addition to the gifts I covered in last week’s post, consider experiential gifts like food tours. To find tours to give as gifts, check Google for your recipients’ hometowns or wherever they tend to visit (like where their parents, in-laws, or adult children live).
There are also national food tour companies, with operations in multiple cities. One option is Secret Food Tours, with domestic and international tours that blend food and culture. Gift vouchers can be used for group or private tours.
Similarly, winery and brewery tours might be just the surprise your recipients might enjoy.
Lest you think Paper Doll only has food on the mind, there are still more educational classes and tutoring you can give as gifts of experience, including:
- Music lessons
- Singing lessons
- Self-defense courses
- Physical education classes — Forget old-school PhysEd; you can gift your loved ones gym memberships in-person or online on-demand classes like at Obé Fitness. From aerobics to yoga, there are in-person and virtual classes for everyone on your list. Or, instead of a specific class, perhaps private fitness coaching sessions might please.
- Dancing — From ballroom to ballet, tap to jazz, if you know someone who loves to dance but might not think to buy lessons for themselves, this might be a dream come true.
- Horseback riding
- Driver’s education — Local school districts have pared down their offerings; those that do offer Driver’s Ed often have four kids (and an instructor) to one car. For teens or adults, a package of driving lessons can help give the twin gifts of driving skills and confidence.
ENTERTAINMENT
As with last year, the COVID pandemic has made the choice of entertainment gifts somewhat problematic. Experiential gifts that entertain are still a great choice, but tickets to date-specific events can turn delight to dismay if there’s a cancelation. (This week alone, ten different Broadway shows and many musical performances around the country had to cancel. This weekend’s Saturday Night Live went on, but barely, with only two cast members, minimal crew, and no audience. Buyer beware.)
So, if you and your giftee are bold and willing to brave the possibility of cancelations and rescheduled events, consider experiential gifts like one-off or seasons tickets to:
- Sporting events — Hint: outdoor sports are somewhat less likely to be canceled
- Concerts — From your giftee’s favorite band to a night at the symphony, there’s a reason that the quote, “Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast” has stuck around since 1697!
- Comedy clubs — because we could all use a reason to laugh these days
- Academic lecture series at local universities
- Theater — Don’t limit yourself to big-city theater performances. Consider local community theaters, universities, and even high school schedules for their musical and entertainment offerings. From a booklet of movie tickets to a big theatrical show, your recipient’s memories will live on after the big holiday night or Christmas morning.
Thanks to technology, and specifically streaming services, you can give experiential entertainment gifts that last the whole year.
Start with the big platforms for TV. Get someone a gift of three months ($39) or a year ($119) of Amazon Prime, which along with all the other great benefits (including fast shipping), they’ll get a variety of original and beloved entertainment on Amazon Prime Video.
If they already have Prime, look to the other obvious options. Buy them a gift card for Netflix, or a monthly or yearly subscription to Hulu.
Instead of one of the big platforms, you could get them AppleTV+ for classics and original shows (including the absolutely hilarious and life-affirming Ted Lasso), Disney+ (for friends with kids or fans of Marvel movies), ParamountPlus (previously CBS All-Access, for those who love all of the Star Trek shows, and for fans of CBS programming, including NFL on CBS).
Some niche networks (like Acorn or BritBox for fans of shows from the UK) can be purchased directly or as sub-subscriptions through Amazon Prime Video. Because almost any streaming service offers a gift option, whatever kinds of viewing your giftees like can be delivered directly to them, wherever they are.
If the folks on your gift list are music fans, a Spotify Premium gift card for three months or a year is the obvious first choice.
For giftees who spend a lot of time in a (compatible and fairly modern) car, a pre-paid SiriusXM gift card is a fun choice for a ridiculously wide variety of streaming music, news, sports, and talk. (I’m a fan of their Radio Classics channel, which plays old radio shows from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, everything from noir to comedy, westerns to music.) And did you know that if you have a SiriusXM account, you can also play the stations in your computer browser? That’s a fun option even for those who don’t have cars!
Do you have movie fans on your list? If they’ve already seen everything on the TV streaming services, consider some of these more niche options.
Metrograph bills itself as, “the ultimate place for movie enthusiasts to experience prestigious film and content. Metrograph represents a special, curated world of cinema, harkening back to the great New York movie theaters of the 1920s and the Commissaries of Hollywood Studio back lots, a world inhabited by movie professionals screening their work, taking meetings, watching films, and collaborating together.”
A $50 gift membership includes Metrograph At Home, with live streaming events, special premieres, exclusive films, conversations with favorite filmmakers, and more. Members in (or visiting) New York City also get discounted tickets at the Metrograph Theater there. (Stream Metrograph via any Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Google TV and Chromecast.)
If someone on your list is a super-serious cinephile, The Criterion Channel might be your best bet, with gift subscriptions at $10.99/monthly or $99.99 for a full year. Criterion brings your movie buff one thousand “important” classic and contemporary films, plus a constantly updated selection of Hollywood, international, art-house, and independent films from major studios and independent distributors.
And if the folks on your gift list prefer the stage to the screen? To keep them entertained all day and night, whether they prefer Shakespeare or ballet, absurdist theater or Sondheim, consider a monthly or annual gift subscription to BroadwayHD, ranging from $11.99/month to $129.99/year.
ADVENTURE
Adventure is in the eye of the beholder. For Paper Doll, Paper Mommy, and our ilk, adventure should be climate-controlled and have clean restrooms nearby. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we went to a Knight’s Quest-themed escape room.
For us, it was the perfect kind of “adventure,” as we didn’t need to buy a special wardrobe, and neither our hairdos or our bodies were ever at risk. As a private group (to better assure pandemic-era safety) we solved puzzles and laughed a lot!
We went to Project Escape in Marietta, Georgia, but almost every community has a few escape rooms these days, so you shouldn’t have to look beyond your nearest search engine.
Want a physical adventure that gets your heart pumping without having to set out into the woods? A recently exploration of my own city found that axe throwing is a thing! (Who knew?) In fact, we have three different axe throwing venues within 15 minutes of my house!
I’m not sure I could lift one of these, but apparently you get one hour in a lane with a target at the end…and an axe! It certainly does seem like a great way to get out frustration, so if you know someone who is feeling more “grrrrrrr” than “fa la la la la,” this might be their style. (Google “Best Axe Throwing Near Me” for your options.)
As always, adventure gifts depend on your recipient and your budget. For real thrill-lovers, zip lines and hot-air balloon rides might be just the thing. Your more athletic friends might prefer sporty adventures; for a reasonable gift, time in the batting cages or pre-paid rounds of golf might work, but for a big-ticket present, you might opt for a week at fantasy baseball camp.
For car fans, a ride-along at the NASCAR Racing Experience program or Daytona Speedway course would be a gift to remember. But if they might prefer a less adventurous car adventure? DriveShare lets you rent a fun-to-drive classic car. Type in your zip code, search the auto options, and book! (You might want to make a gift certificate for your recipient and let them pick their own dream car.)
And while things are still all pandemicky, consider gifts that allow for adventures with a social distancing component, like an annual National Parks Pass ($80) to explore the country’s great natural beauty and experience some elbow room. (Note: annual passes for senior citizens are only $20, and a lifetime pass for seniors is $80.)
A pass is your ticket to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites. Each pass covers entrance fees at national parks and national wildlife refuges, as well as standard amenity fees and day use fees for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle at per-vehicle fee areas (or up to four adults at sites that charge per person). Kids age 15 or under are admitted free.
ONE LAST THOUGHT—ON PRACTICALITY
Over the past three posts, we’ve looked at gifts that are exciting and special in different ways. But bear in mind that some of the people on your holiday gift list might actually appreciate practical gifts. No, not a vacuum cleaner or a toaster (unless they’ve really, really requested one for the holidays). But sometimes, a gift of something to make life easier really is a special present.
Drivers on your “nice” list would benefit from gift certificates for oil changes, car washes or detailing, and even annual memberships in AAA or their favorite auto club. Unlike the streaming entertainment services mentioned above, you generally can’t purchase a gift certificate for multiple months of internet, cable, satellite, or cellular service but you could gift your recipient cash earmarked for pre-paying those services. (If your recipient is in college or just out of school, this might be especially appreciated.) And if you really want to be a hero, you can definitely give the gift of computer backup services. (I’m a fan of Backblaze.)
Just because something is practical doesn’t mean it won’t be loved. As always, you have to really know your recipient.
Whatever you give (and get) this holiday season, I hope you have healthy, happy times with the people who mean the most to you! Happy holidays from Paper Doll!
Paper Doll’s Holiday Gift List: Warm Their Hearts and Fill Their Tummies
Happy almost-holidays. Maybe you forgot to get someone a gift for Hanukkah. (It’s been over for a week.) Perhaps you’re still trying to figure out what to get that special someone for Christmas. Either way, it’s the middle of December, and while some things are easily delivered by Santa’s elves at UPS, other orders seem to be flummoxed by the global supply chain troubles. (FYI, though, that cream cheese shortage that filled the news last week? Turns out cyberattacks and not worker shortages or cargo ship kerfuffles played the major role.)
Last week, we looked at Paper Doll’s Holiday Gift List: The Useful and the Beautiful. Those were tangible but clutter-free (or clutter-reducing) options. Maybe it warmed you up to look beyond tangible gifts that have to be wrapped, dusted or dry-cleaned, and carefully stored.
Are you ready to think bigger (no, not in terms of gift box sizes) and brighter? How about gifts that make people’s lives better and bolder without fear of generating clutter?
Today, we’re looking at holiday gifts your loved ones can enjoy all year. These gifts can help warm their hearts (and the hearts of their family members) and fill their stomachs.
GIFTS OF FAMILY LEGACY
How much do you know about your family history? Do you think your friends and family members are curious (or might become curious) about theirs? After interviewing my colleagues for Paper Doll Interviews the Genealogy Organizers earlier this year, I found many readers and clients were intrigued about how they could learn more about who they “are” — genealogically as well as genetically.
If family history appeals to your gift recipients, you can definitely hire the services of a professional genealogist. If your loved ones like doing the DIY thing but are drowning in research and need to make sense of it, be sure to follow the links in the post above, to get to know some genealogical organizers (like Jennifer Lava, Janine Adams, and Hazel Thornton, whom I interviewed for the above post).
For other holiday gifts for those into the whole family legacy experience, consider these options:
Paper Doll’s Holiday Gift List: The Useful and the Beautiful
As a professional organizer, my role in writing holiday gift posts is to encourage gifts that minimize clutter and maximize enjoyment. In general, that means focusing on intangible gifts, consumables, or gifts of experiences. And I’ll get to those (with classic advice and new surprises) next week.
But today, we’re going to look at how to give (and request) gifts that abide by a long-cherished mantra in the organizing community. “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
Not everything in your life is going to “spark joy.” Not a tax return, not a well-thumbed thesaurus, and in Paper Doll‘s case, not a lemon zester or a casserole dish. Utility, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Only you know what you will find useful, but as a professional organizer, I can advise regarding what my clients find useful for reaching their organizing and productivity goals.
So, today we’re going to look at a sampling of gifts that are either useful or beautiful, or, when we’re lucky, both.
GIFTS OF GAMES TO REACH YOUR GOALS
Getting organized is obviously useful, but to people who aren’t professional organizers, it doesn’t always sound like fun. (Like, socks keep your feet warm, but unless you’re giving super-fun socks, like Bombas, the presents won’t always be received in a spirit of delight and joy.) But turning organizing into a game can make all the difference.
Duolingo and Language Learning Apps
On many Paper Doll posts, I’ve written about how I embrace Duolingo to learn Italian, and there’s research about the efficacy of the platform.
But it’s not the cute cartoons or the funny voices (or at least not only the cute cartoons and the funny voices) that help challenge me to meet my learning goals. Completing a lesson earns points. Completing practice earns points. Reaching the “legendary” level earns oodles of points.
There’s not a lot you can buy with the points (aside from a few lessons on idioms and flirting), but there are leagues and you can compete each week with other language learners to see who has earned the most points over the course of a week. (In theory, the points you earn represent diligence and knowledge gained.) While I don’t like to think of myself as competitive, per se, and don’t care if I land in the prize-winning top three of my weekly assigned league, I do like to see myself in the top half of the 25 people in my league by Sunday nights, right around when I’m writing to you readers.
You can study with Duolingo in your browser or on an mobile device in the app. Duolingo is free, but there’s an advertising-free Plus version you could buy as a gift for someone wanting a fun, gamified way to support their language learning.
(Other language-learning apps include Mango, Babbel, and Memrise. The Intrepid Guide also has a fun post, 26 Cool Gifts for Language Learners They Will Actually Use, and every item is either useful or beautiful, and many are both!)
Fitbit and Activity Trackers
I also use gamification to organize my fitness goals. Years ago, a friend gifted me with a Fitbit, which tracked my steps walked and stairs climbed. After the little device fell off in a parking lot without my realizing it, another friend gifted me an upgrade, wearable as a watch, and I can track my steps, exercise, quality of sleep (oy, vey), weight, calories, hydration, blood glucose, mindfulness, heart rate, and more.
Most Fitbit (and similar brands of) trackers and watches are pretty techie-looking, but there are some (like in Fitbit’s Luxe line) that are both useful and beautiful.
But what I like best? Each Monday, I start a “Workweek Hustle” with my best friend and her Gen-Z son. We can cheer (or lightheartedly taunt) one another, and write supportive messages. It’s social, but unlike social media, there are no photos or videos. We’re just gently encouraging one another to get moving.
You don’t have to take my word for it. My colleague Janine Adams and her podcasting partner Shannon Wilkinson, recently did an episode of their Getting to Good Enough podcast on the benefits and power of gamification. In fact, I was all set to mention a new organizing “game” when I saw that Janine and Shannon had already covered it!
DeclutterGo!™
Declutter Go!™ is a just-released cube-based organizing game from our colleague Lynne Poulton. Her new goodie uses concepts from brain science and gamification to encourage people to achieve their organizing goals together. Each set comes with six colorful, two-inch, foam cubes representing stages in the game.
You’ve seen me say it before: action precedes motivation. You have to conquer some kind of obstacle to kick activation energy into gear. (You can’t just wait until you’re motivated, but some strategies of gamification can motivate you to get started!) Declutter Go!™ breaks down larger projects into smaller tasks and gives you that dopamine hit when you accomplish something.
The goal is to conquer clutter and reward yourself for getting organized. You roll the pink die to prep yourself for the activity, then either the green or purple dice (depending on whether you’re going to take action on residential or paper organizing). Rolling the yellow, peach, or turquoise dice help you determine how many tasks, the area in which you’re going to work, and what your reward will be. You can “divide and conquer” tasks separately, or work as a team.
Read more about how it works and take a look:
Declutter Go!™ is $24.95 (with free shipping in the Continental US).
Of course, this is isn’t the only “useful” organizing game in town. You may recall another game from my post, Paper Doll Models the Spring 2021 Organizing Products.
Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards
Diane Quintana and Jonda Beattie‘s collaborative company, Release * Repurpose * Reorganize, developed the Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards. It’s a 52-card deck to guide you through organizing your home step-by-step, one 10-minute task at a time. (Again, gamification works best when it breaks down big projects into small tasks to give you that extra push.)
The deck includes two instruction cards to help you get started, plus 50 categorized task cards for coping with typical areas of a home, including kitchens, closets, bedrooms, bathrooms, family rooms, and similar spaces. The top of each card color-codes to the spaces covered, and tells you the space and task to be handled. The body of each card provides instructions for completing the task.
The Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards is available on their website or on Amazon for $19.95.
(Also, you should check out Jonda’s post, The 10 Most Useful Holiday Gifts for Disorganized People.)
Both of these organizing games are useful; I don’t know that you’d call Declutter Go!™ beautiful, but it sure is cute. And both it and Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time Deck of Cards will help you make your space more beautiful.
ORGANIZING CLASSICS: KEEP YOUR BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL THINGS FROM GETTING LOST
Over the years, I’ve written many posts about Bluetooth trackers and how you can keep your stuff from getting left behind (or walking away on its own in the guise of jam-handled toddlers or fetch-playing puppies), and the most popular brand always seems to come down to Tile.
Tile
Tile has lots of different styles, but there are some bargains to be had if you want your trackers to stand out and look as beautiful as the items they’re guarding. The Rich Ruby Red Slim and classic Azurite Blue are 30% off right now!
If you or someone on your gift list is a little less into primary colors and a little more into the Elle Woods look, the Rose Pink Tile Slims are 40% off currently.
The above designs are from last year, but if your recipient feel strongly about being au courant, the suuuuper-thin 2022 Tile Slim is designed to work with passports and notebooks as well, and the black ones are 20% off.
Of course, Tile isn’t the only game in town, and if you refer back to one of my posts from last year, Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 3): Organizing Yourself & Others, you’ll see links to many of the other Bluetooth trackers I’ve reviewed…not counting Apple’s AirTags.
Apple AirTags
I haven’t had the opportunity to review these personally, but I can share the basics. As with other Bluetooth trackers, you attach your AirTag to your possessions; it sends out a secure Bluetooth signal detectible by any nearby devices in the Apple Find My network. (Find My iPhone. Find My iPad. Etc.)
The devices (off of which the signal pings) will send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see your AirTag-attached item on a map, and get a warmer/colder set of instructions as you head toward finding it. The entire process is both anonymous and encrypted, so your privacy is protected. Here’s a funny little video about how it works.
Apple’s AirTags are are $29.99 each, or $99 for a package of four. Obviously useful, the Air Tags themselves are kind of monochromatic — and thus, to most folks, not that beautiful.
However, even AirTags, which are accessories for your devices and essentials, have their own accessories to make them more beautiful! There are even Hermes AirTag accessories! (And, not surprisingly, these accessories are even more expensive than the AirTags themselves!) For what it’s worth, I’m partial to the Wisteria leather key ring.
So, we’ve looked at what keeps you organized for your bulky stuff. But what about paper?
Tickler Files and Tickle Yourself Organized
Sure, there are all sorts of pretty ways to organize your paper, and that’s something Paper Doll covers all throughout the year. But longtime readers know that there’s nothing I recommend more often than tickler files, which I consider the most useful of paper organizing resources.
A tickler file is the best way to guarantee that all the pieces of paper that reflect tasks you have to perform, ideas you want to put into action, and information you want to convey…eventually…will await you until the day you need to access them. My favorite version is the Smead Desk File/Sorter Daily (1-31) and Monthly (Jan-Dec).
Paper Doll Wraps Up, Declutters, and Updates 2020
It’s been quite the year. “Unprecedented,” you might say. (Or, better yet, let’s not say. How about we purge that word from our vocabulary?) Before we turn the calendar page to 2021, there are a few additions and updates for the posts you read (or might have missed) over the past year.
PANDEMIC PRODUCTIVITY
The Now Normal: When the New Normal Changes Quickly
Back in March, none of us knew what the next nine months would bring. I’d acknowledged the difficulty of being at home, whether that meant working from home, home-schooling, or dealing with family and their foibles 24/7, and noted that at least, to some extent, we’d get used to it, or at least we’d have to get used to the “Now Normal” of things constantly changing and us not getting used to things. Little did we know how long (how very, very long) we’d be getting used to things constantly changing. I gave you all permission (as much as anyone needs permission from random internet bloggers) to be OK with not being OK.
Now, on the cusp of 2021, there’s light (in the form of a vaccine) at the end of this tunnel. But I suspect things will never go back to exactly where they were. Remote work had already been increasing (by 173% between 2005 and 2018); 2020 gave companies the impetus to make this a more permanent option. Companies that had believed workers could never be as productive when working remotely found that the opposite was true. According to research collated by Apollo Technical:
- Performance can improve up to 13% when working remotely (in a quieter, more convenient workspaces)
- Remote work yielded greater worker satisfaction
- Remote workers spend 15% less time avoiding work tasks
- Anecdotally, once supervisors trust the work-from-home approach and stop micromanaging, productivity increases.
This doesn’t mean we can extrapolate only good things to come out of more people working from home. Even once children and life partners are no longer in the home/work space, the distractions of household tasks (especially for women) will likely adversely impact productivity, and research indicates that productivity may take a hit due to prolonged lack of social interaction (especially for extroverts, like moi).
Some workplaces will stay 100% remote; others will return to traditional venues; and I suspect many employees will demand greater flexibility, and companies will want to consider the reduced overhead associated with smaller (or no) dedicated offices. The only thing we know for sure is that things will continue to change, and we’ll have to be nimble, accepting that the sand will keep shifting under our feet. As L.P. Hartley once wrote, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
The only thing we know for sure is that things will continue to change...As L.P. Hartley wrote, 'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.' Share on XPaper Doll’s Ultimate Guide to Organizing a Virtual Field Trip
This post proved to be one of the most popular during the early pandemic. Organizing our days to include breaks, including virtual day trips to escape monotony, became a necessity this year, and rarely a week went by when a reader did not email or tweet or post to tell me about other cool virtual field trips.
Friend of the blog Janet Barclay knows that Paper Doll is a consummate Jane Austen fan, and forwarded Celebrate Jane Austen’s Birthday With a 360-Degree, Interactive Tour of Her House, and from there it was a quick hop, skip, and virtual jump to the Emma Thompson-narrated Twelve Days of Christmas special. There are also paid live virtual tours of Jane Austen’s House from Home, trails, and exhibitions. (Two live tours in January each go for £5, or about $6.78).
Discovery Education has developed a variety of live and on-demand, family-friendly interactive field trips. Each is free and includes a companion guide with hands-on learning activities! Take your kids to “visit” the Johnson Space Museum in Houston, see the cars of the future, hobnob with polar bears in the Tundra, and so much more. Whether you need a virtual field trip to break up winter vacation, quell home-schooling doldrums, or reverse just too little play time, Discover Education is a delightful addition to the options in my post.
Perhaps you binged too much of The Crown and need a reality check? Take a virtual tour of Buckingham Palace. Prefer a different venue? How about the Taj Mahal, the White House, or the Vatican?
Virtual Museums started an interactive map of the world’s museums available to virtual visitors. (Create an account to track and rate your visits.) From the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to South Korea’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to the mysterious fossils of the Graz Natural History Museum in Austria, new field trips for grownups are appearing all the time.
And if you need the the kind of field trip that takes you away from the hubbub, Escapista may be to your liking. Escapista has developed a manifesto to explain its approach to selecting opportunities for immersive meditative experiences, from pausing by a snowy river to Norway’s “Slow TV” experience of ten hours on a train. (Click the speaker icon to turn on the audio.)
Be sure to organize time in your life to relax and to learn for fun.
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 5 Strategies to Cope With Pandemic Time Dilation
There’s an irony of mentioning time dilation between two long weekends marked by Christmas and the new year. I’ve lost count of how many people have told me they checked for the mail on Friday or took the trash to the curb on the wrong day.
In the original post, I explained why our body clocks became so borked during our quarantine and recommended five strategies, with LOTS of tactical suggestions, for keeping everyone from becoming unstuck in time:
- Put structure in your life.
- Enhance novelty.
- Create vivid sensory clues for the passing of time!
- Get what you know you need! (Daylight, sleep, exercise, and for those of you who’ve had the same pair of sweats in rotation since St. Patrick’s Day, get dressed!)
- Take a technology break.
As a professional organizer and productivity coach, my job is to help people get more out of their time. But efficiency isn’t everything. In a year like we’ve had, and going forward, some daydreaming and navel-gazing preserves sanity. If you find yourself losing track of time too often, add in a bit of structure to your day and use technology to get a quick “beep-boop.” But do give yourself permission to enjoy the one small benefit of this year, living by your natural body clock.
Organize Your Health: Parental Wisdom, Innovation, and the New Time Timer® Wash
Don’t touch your face. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. It’s good advice, so listen to your mom. Listen to mine.
READING RENEWAL
12 Ways to Organize Your Life to Read More — Part 1 (When, Where, What, With Whom)
I’m not the only embracing tips for reading more. Oprah, the ultimate book club leader, may have ended her print magazine, but the December issue offered up 20 Simple Ways to Read More and Enjoy More Books in 2021. (Personally, though, I preferred my take on developing a reading nook. What do you think, readers?)
12 Ways to Organize Your Life to Read More — Part 2 (Reading Lists, Challenges & Ice Cream Samples)
Want to read more in 2021? You’ve got a bounty of options for finding recommended reading lists. One of my favorites is the NPR Book Concierge. (Find annual suggestions going back to 2013.)
If, instead of looking for a specific title, you want to find a 2021 reading challenge that, well, challenges you, opportunities abound, including:
The Uncorked Librarian (Most intriguing suggestion: read a book set on a train.)
Modern Mrs. Darcy (This year, it’s not just reading prompts, but an entire interactive kit for creating your personalized reading life!)
GirlXOXO Master List of Reading Challenges (While I’ll skip the challenge to read mysteries with cats as main characters, there are certainly lists galore for every taste!)
Meanwhile, who would be up for a Paper Doll reading challenge to embrace books on organizing and productivity?
How To Make Your Reading Time More Productive With Book Summaries
My coverage of book summaries focused on non-fiction. Unless you’re in 11th grade English class (sorry, kids), you probably don’t want summaries of novels. However, you can get ice cream tastes of fiction, to see if you like an author’s style.
- Most people are familiar with Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature, which allows you to click a link above the book cover and read a handful of pages. But did you know that many Kindle books have “Send a free sample” link so you can preview chapters? Check in the browser version, not the app, below the “purchase with one click” section and above the “add to list” button.
- You can also get a free audio sample. Check for a link under the book cover.
- Literary Hub has daily offerings of novel excerpts. Click on the book cover you want to try, and the resulting page provides short author bio and a selection from the novel. Titles range from new releases, like Mrs. Murakami’s Garden, to reprints of classics, like Betty Smith’s Tomorrow Will Be Better. (Literary Hub also has short stories excerpted from short story collections.)
PAPERWORK DECLUTTERED
Organize for an Accident: Don’t Crash Your Car Insurance Paperwork
In April and May, due to much of the country quarantining and people driving far fewer miles, many insurance companies offered 15%-25% premium rebates to customers.
While rebates largely disappeared by June, that doesn’t mean you should be paying full price if you’re still staying close to home. For example, if your workplace has decided to go “permanently remote,” and you no longer have a commute, it’s worth contacting your insurance agent about potentially lowing your premiums now that you are regularly driving less each week. One option insurance companies are exploring is vehicle telematics, little “black boxes” that keep track of your speed, mileage, and precision at accelerating and decelerating, and report back to the insurance company. Safer drivers get better rates.
Similarly, if your college-age student is not currently on campus and is attending school remotely (from your home), that means your car is in the driveway most of the time, not states or time zones away. Review your situation with your agent for the greatest number of discounts.
Paper Doll On Narwhals, Fake News, and How To Get A REAL ID
Everything in the post is still accurate except for the enforcement deadline. Due to COVID, the federal government delayed enforcing REAL ID by one year, to October 1, 2021. Remember, as of next October, if you don’t have Real ID-compliant identfication, you won’t be able to board a domestic flight or enter federal courthouses or restricted federal facilities, like military bases, nuclear power plants, or the White House.
Paper Doll Says The Tax Man Cometh: Organize Your Tax Forms
The forms are the same, but a few the rules have changed. Kiplinger’s Magazine covers a few dozen of the Tax Changes and Key Amounts for the 2020 Tax Year.
ORGANIZING ADVICE, PLAIN AND SIMPLE
The Truth About Celebrity Organizers, Magic Wands, and the Reality of Professional Organizing
As you head into 2021 armed with resolutions to get more organized, please review my counsel in this post. I stand by my word that there are no magic wands!
And in a future post, I’ll have more to say about advice from celebrity organizers with regard to organizing by color. Here’s a preview:
(Readers, if you like curry in your pumpkin pie, feel free to tell Jacki directly!)
Organize Away Frustration: Practice The Only Good Kind of “Intolerance”
This is the perfect week for you to take note of whatever frustrated you during the holiday season: a light system with too many broken bulbs, an artificial tree that has seen better days, a sense of obligation to send holiday cards to people who haven’t so much as liked one of your Facebook posts in a decade. Stop tolerating what doesn’t work for you, and if you don’t know the solution, seek help to find one.
Paper Doll Peeks Behind the Curtain with Superstar Coach, Author & Speaker Leslie Josel
Our talk about 1980s sweaters may have been dated, but discussion of student procrastination is not. This fall was the first semester that was 100% in COVID times; even stellar students struggled, and “taking an incomplete” has become a common refrain. If you have (or are) a student, Leslie’s How To Do It Now, Because It’s Not Going Away should be on your bookshelf.
Organizing in Retrospect: A Confessional Look Back at 2020
Writing this post, I realized I accomplished more than I realized. (Which would have been easy; when people asked what I’d been doing this year, I was often at a loss for words. “Missing my mom, my friends, and my travel plans, eating too much cheese, and craving Chinese food” seemed like an ineffective response.
This quiet lull before the new year is the perfect time to pull out your calendar and scan your To Do lists. Take notice of your achievements; in a year like this, it’s easy to forget small (and even not-so-small) victories. Ask your friends and loved ones to report back on the successes they recall from your year. Tally them up. Whether you use this in your next performance evaluation at work or just to buck up your self-esteem, remember that surviving this year intact is an accomplishment!
CLUTTER-FREE HOLIDAY GIFTS
In a Downton Abbey-themed post a few years ago, I told you about Give Back Box, a program whereby you could gather up the items your new holiday presents made redundant and easily ship them off to charity. This year, especially, when a touch-free donation option is especially useful, I encourage you to explore Give Back Box.
Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 1): New Twists on Old Favorites
For those of you looking for gifts of cooking classes, two highly praised options came in after deadline: King Arthur Baking‘s impressive calendar of interactive, online cooking and baking classes, and Milk Street‘s live-streamed and recorded, self-paced virtual classes. (If you give a cooking class gift to someone with whom you live, you get to eat the homework!)
Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 2): Giving Well, Giving Back
In addition to tangible gifts that give back to others, I wrote about charitable giving in your recipient’s name. Due to COVID, new tax laws let most taxpayers deduct cash donations of up to $300 made by December 31, 2020 when filing taxes in 2021 – even if you don’t itemize. (Note, this is a “per return” deduction, meaning married couples get the same $300 deduction as singletons. Consult your tax advisor.)
Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 3): Organizing Yourself & Others
Finally, I hope one of the gifts you give yourself is the time and opportunity to keep reading organizing and productivity advice here at Paper Doll.
Thank you, my dear readers, and have a happy, healthy 2021!
Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 3): Organizing Yourself & Others
What? Another post on clutter-free gifts? Yes!
First, Paper Doll gave you Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 1): New Twists on Old Favorites so you could give more memorable gifts of experiences. Then, I shared Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 2): Giving Well, Giving Back, to help you give gifts that give back to those less fortunate while still showing love to your friends and family (and acknowledging that they made it through this wackadoodle year).
Today’s post is different. While you can give these gifts, both tangible items and services, to the people on your list, they are (or can be) primarily for you, to help you make your life more organized.
Maybe Grandma sent you a check? Perhaps you got gift cards to order things online and avoid the stores? It’s possible one advantage of quarantining was that you didn’t have to lay in a supply of small, impersonal gifts to give acquaintances at the office in case they popped by your desk with small, impersonal gifts for you! If you have a little money left over, or if you’re good about budgeting for things that make your life better, then here’s a gift list to make your 2021 more productive and less stressed.
ORGANIZE YOUR PAPER
“Stuff” doesn’t automatically mean clutter. For example, paper shredders help you eliminate unnecessary paper while protecting your identity. How overflowing are your file folders? When was the last time you purged your files?
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