Archive for ‘Holidays’ Category
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).
And, of course, if you or your recipient is new to using a tickler file, I’d be doing all of us a disservice if I didn’t mention my own little ebook, Tickle Yourself Organized. Yes, it explains how to use a tickler file, but it’s also an overall primer on keeping action-related paperwork straight.
(And if you have more than just action paperwork, if your piles of paper are making mountains and keeping the filing cabinet from closing, my Do I Have To Keep This Piece of Paper? is a nifty solution. The biggest reason people hold onto papers long after they’ve served their purpose is fear, primarily fear of not having a receipt or document when it’s needed. This ebook gives you the straight dope so that you can confidently maintain what you need and safely shred or discard the rest.)
TIME MANAGEMENT CAN BE BEAUTIFUL
Appreciating the passage of time can be difficult, but if you can actually see time moving, you can be so much more productive. Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know about Time Timer, which makes time (and the passage of it) visible.
On most versions, there’s a colored disk that diminishes in size as the set time is depleted. For adults and kids, both, it’s a superbly useful tool for getting a better sense of what time is and how it passes. Because of this, I really love all of the Time Timer products, but especially two items.
I’ve had a crush on the Time Timer Twist® since it came out. You turn the outer ring to set it for the desired time (up to 90 minutes), and then push “play.” The digital countdown is there, like with any modern timer on your phone or microwave, but what’s nice is how there’s a digital disk ticking down, with each moment “disappearing” as you get closer to your desired time.
It’s magnetic, so you can stick it to the fridge, microwave, or stove in the kitchen, the whiteboard or filing cabinet in the office, or any metal surface in your work or living space.
It’s bright red, so it will definitely catch your (or your giftee’s) attention. And there’s even a pause function in case you get interrupted.
The Time Timer Twist is $19.95 at the website and a few cents less at Amazon.
And while I can recommend all sizes and styles of the Time Timer, probably the others most suitable for holiday gifting are the colorful, beautiful Time Timer MOD Home Edition versions in Lake Day Blue, Dreamsicle Orange, Cotton Ball White, Pale Shale. (The soft silicone cases are sold separately, so you or your recipient can mix-and-match color schemes.)
GIFTS THAT ARE BEAUTIFUL FOR THEIR OWN SAKE
Things that are useful (for organizing, or for just achieving any goal or completing any task) can be beautiful. And while I can’t say that I excel at appreciating visual arts, I do believe that what is beautiful can also be useful.
When something makes us pause, reflect, feel an emotion, experience wonder — that visceral experience of beauty is useful to us as human beings. It can stir us to action, lower our blood pressure, or make us laugh.
Something that I’ve been finding beautiful lately is the whimsical art of Jami Wise at Moss Rose Art. My favorite of Jami’s designs is Leopold, a hedgehog who appears in her “Love and Hedgehugs” print.
Jami’s delightful designs are include a wide variety of themes, including holidays, graduations, weddings, and other special events. The subjects are often (but in a broad sense) from nature: flowers and trees and animals (oh, my!) — especially plump cats, dogs, cows, and chickens, often in unpredictable settings or with cute accessories (generally books or wine) — and they make me smile whenever I see them.
For example, there’s Martha (the Cat) Reading Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and during the height of the pandemic, I told my cat-loving pals about her Social Hisstance watercolor, because I knew it would make them giggle. And while I don’t drink, I still find this next card design both charming and practical for sending a message to someone who needs it.
Jami’s work is available as prints (including digital art prints), as well as on mugs, cards, magnets, and stickers.
Call me a philistine if you like, but I even like my art to be useful, and I get more joy out of a magnet on the fridge I see each day as I open the door for my orange juice, or a mug from which I drink that juice, than I do from something I hang on my wall and forget to notice. But that’s just me.
(If you do acquire any of Jami’s creations, please let her know that I sent you. I won’t get anything but the joy of knowing I’m sharing her work with more people, but I do like the idea of organizing some holiday traffic in the direction of her online door.)
Finally, whatever “beautiful” gifts you give, remember that beauty is subjective. To keep something beautiful (but not inherently useful from a practical sense) from becoming clutter, it’s important to know your recipients’ tastes (and whether they have any wall space available for displaying art). If you find something that is both useful and beautiful and gives someone options rather than obligations, you’ll definitely land on the nice, rather than the naughty, list.
I hope you’ve found some good ideas for how you can help your recipients achieve their goals —with presents that are useful and beautiful, practical and pretty. Next time, we’ll be looking at gifts of experience. Until then, please share in the comments your thoughts on these items and what you might like to give or receive.
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.
Paper Doll Post:
20+ Sites to Organize Your Holiday Dining, Shopping & More
Most of the time, when we talk about being organized and productive, we’re discussing reducing the non-essentials — whether those are duplicate or no-longer-necessary items, tasks that don’t fit our values or our goals, or habits that don’t get us where we want to end up.
But sometimes, and at the risk of seeming very much like that “You Won’t Believe How Much Time You’ll Save With These Organizing Secrets” clickbait, all we need is a little edge to make something a teeny bit easier. So, today’s post serves up a Thanksgiving smörgåsbord of web sites and apps to help you accomplish making your holiday life run more smoothly, whether you’re headed over the river and through the woods or staying put while everyone takes the I-90 or the red-eye to get to you.
And even if you’re planning to stay safely snuggled, avoiding the Thanksgiving hubbub again this year for safety, consider bookmarking these tips for future holiday seasons.
NIFTY SITES TO SAVE YOU FROM COOKING CONUNDRUMS
Still Tasty — Before you get started on holiday cooking, you’re going to need to take stock of your kitchen and check your pantry inventory against the recipes you plan to use. Sometimes you have an ingredient, but you’re just not quite sure whether it is up to snuff. Is it going to make your dessert dazzling or require a trip to the emergency room?
I don’t cook, but people who do always tell me that if an herb or spice has no scent anymore, it’s not going to deliver much to your meal. That makes sense. And obviously, anything that comes with an expiration date (as opposed to a more vague “best if used by” date) should be sent on its way. But what about everything else?
For example, I was recently on a web site where the community gives a lot of great advice, and someone posted, “I just realized I forgot to put the soy sauce back in the fridge last night. Do I have to throw it out.” Readers, I was gobsmacked. In all my <mumble mumble> years, I’ve never refrigerated soy sauce! So that sent me running to Still Tasty to find out if I’d been risking self-poisoning with every take-out sushi or Kung Pao dinner! (It turns out, I was okeydokey.)
To keep from wasting money by throwing out ingredients are still good (and maintaining the health of your family and friends), visit Still Tasty to figure out whether you should keep or toss an ingredient, ask questions about storage and expiration dates, and get the low-down on how to deal with food during or after a power outage. There are even tips on which foods you can bring through airport security (in case you’re sending folks home with leftovers) — and lots (and lots) of posts about turkey. Speaking of which…
Butterbull Turkey Talk Hotline — This year marks the 40th anniversary of the hotline at which more than fifty professionally trained turkey experts answer turkey-related questions (in English and Spanish) every holiday season, responding to 100,000+ questions for many thousands of North American households. Thaw, brine, stuff, roast, spatchcock, deep fry, grill, or carve, if you’ve got a Q, they’ve got a gobble-gobble A.
And it’s not just a phone hotline anymore. You can get answers to your turkey queries via multiple methods, including:
- Telephone — at 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372)
- Text — at 844-877-3456
- Email or online chat via their contact page
- Amazon Alexa (but sadly, not Siri) — visit this page and scroll down to learn how
- And if you don’t mind other people knowing what your question is, you can ask via Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok! (Now I want a mash-up of Butterball questions and sea shanties!)
And because you know Paper Doll is all about pop culture references, I dare you to watch this classic Butterball-related clip from The West Wing and not giggle.
All these years, and I’m still not sure this wasn’t a PSA to make sure none of NBC’s viewers got salmonella.
Punchfork — Maybe your family cooks all of the same favorites year after year after year and that’s fine by you. But perhaps this is your first holiday season on your own, cooking Friendsgiving. Or maybe you and your sweetie-pie want to create new traditions that don’t include pecan pie. Sure, you could troll all the cookbooks and cooking blogs.
Or you could visit Punchfork. They gather the newest recipes from top-rated food sites and blogs and display them Pinterest-style so you can look at the mouth-watering photos and browse, seeing the finished product, the blog/site name, the community rating (based on how often it has been shared on social media), and how recently the recipe was posted.
Sign up for free, and they start you off with a Favorites dashboard to which you can add recipes by clicking (again, Pinterest-style). Punchfork is available via your browser or as an iOS app.
The site is updated daily, and you can browse by ingredient name or use their natural-language search engine to find whatever you’re craving. I started researching this post late at night while craving chocolate, and was delighted to find twenty different recipes for Nanaimo bars!
If someone’s following a particular diet (vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, etc.), there’s a search option. You can even search by excluded ingredients, in case someone has an allergy, sensitivity, or ick factor. (For example, Paper Doll hates cauliflower and gravy.)
And once the holidays are over and you’ve hoovered up every remaining leftover, you can just randomly type the ingredients you do still have available, and it’ll find you a recipe that will work.
Next, we have a little controversy.
Just the Recipe — With Just the Recipe, you can copy and paste any URL from anywhere on the web and it’ll give you (you guessed it) just the recipe. Not the blogger’s tale of the recipe’s history, not a request to join an email list, no ads, and no pop-ups. Just the recipe (including ingredients). You don’t even have to go to the website; you can just right-click (or control-click on a Mac) to copy a link directly from Google. (Hence the controversy, as you’ll see.)
Let’s say I want the Love and Lemons blog’s “Best Stuffing Recipe.” Let’s also say I’m in a super rush and can’t be bothered to scroll down the page to read the text and look at the photos that come before the recipe. I can paste it into Just the Recipe and it will spit out a clean, organized, ready-to-print page with just the ingredient list, the instructions, a small photo of the finished result, and a link back to the original. (This last part is important.)
Just the Recipe is a free browser-based site, though they’d like you to consider a $2/month premium version (for which there’s a 14-day free trial).
So why is this controversial? Apparently, there are a lot of people are out there who feel strongly that they don’t want to read carefully crafted food writing. They don’t care about the blogger’s grandmother, who carried the secret family recipe for borscht, scribbled in her own mother’s writing and tucked into her bosom as she escaped the old country. They just want ingredients, measurements, and steps.
I’m not fussing about the people who don’t care and scroll past the lovely stories. I get it. We’re all in a hurry these days. I’m talking about the people who are ANGRY AND VOCAL that food bloggers are writing anything but the actual recipes. (How vocal? Type “I just want the recipe” into a search engine and you get lots of profanity-laden posts, articles, web sites and app,s filled with anger about having to be subjected to non-recipe paragraphs. I imagine these people snapping impatiently at Grandma when she tells a story, shouting, “Get to the point!”)
The thing is, bloggers take time and effort to craft their blogs. (I know I do.) Some of these bloggers (including food bloggers) want to recoup the cost of ingredients for testing recipes, hosting sites, and tech support, and so they run advertising on their sites. (I don’t, but I still respect bloggers who do.)
And this content, whether it’s an essay about the blogger’s family or the history of the recipe or explanations of different ethnicities’ approaches to similar types of food, all serve to improve what’s called search engine optimization. It’s the thing that makes Google tell you about that recipe on the first search page and not the 57th. It’s brings people to a page.
So, it’s understandably controversial that there are sites (like Just the Recipe, Copy Me That, and others) that take this lovingly created content and strip everything that is a) meaningful to the creator and b) gives them a chance to generate money and especially c) gives other sites a chance to make money off the originator’s content.
My opinion? Not cool, dude. And I’m not the only one.
If you’re annoyed by scrolling to get to the recipe on personal food blogs you can:
– use cookbooks
– use one of the many, many recipe websites that don’t preface their recipes with stories
– just deal with 3 seconds of annoyance for your free recipe and move on with your life— Helen Rosner (@hels) February 17, 2020
Last spring, I learned about the hubbub from an article in Eater called, This Is What Happens When Tech Bros Attempt to ‘Fix’ Online Recipes. (Short answer, the Recipeasly shut down within weeks of being announced because they also realized what they were doing wasn’t cool.)
So, I encourage you to at least respect food bloggers enough to actually go to their pages. If you don’t want to click on the ads, I feel you. If you don’t want to read the content — and are willing to risk missing cautionary tales about food prep pitfalls, as well as narrative flavor — you do you, boo! But respect the bloggers enough to go to their pages, give their sites the “hits” for their posts, and maybe don’t complain.
(Don’t worry, I know none of Paper Doll‘s loyal readers would ever be such meanies. This is for those future readers who land here from a search about only wanting recipes.)
I was hoping to find you a website that provided timers and assistance for getting all of your Thanksgiving (or other holiday meals) cooked and ready at the same time. I was certain I’d find a link that would help you figure out how to enter the prep and cooking time for each menu item and then get step-by-step instructions for what to do when.
If there is such an app, I didn’t find it. If there isn’t, and you know a good programmer, consider this idea my gift to you. I did find the following articles, though:
How to Cook Thanksgiving With (Gasp!) One Oven
When You Should Start Cooking Every Dish For Thanksgiving
Here’s Exactly When To Cook Every Dish For Thanksgiving Dinner
And remember, your cell phone will let you set oodles of timers. Set one for every single item you put in the oven and label each timer (it just takes a second) with which food and what you’re supposed to be doing, whether that’s taking it out of the oven or flipping it over, or adding a glaze.
Omnicalculator does have a bunch of online calculators to make your cooking experience easier and more organized, from a Thanksgiving calculator that tells you how much (in pounds or pieces or gallons) of holiday food/beverages you’ll need to a turkey defrosting time calculator and so much more.
SITES TO EASE YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
Obviously, as a professional organizer, I want to discourage you from shopping willynilly for things neither you nor your recipients need. I urge you to stay home on Black Friday (to stay safe — we are still in a pandemic, after all) and if you must shop, do it with a list and whenever possible, online.
There are several extensions you can add to your browsers to notify you if a retailer’s site you visit has a discount available.
My favorite is Rakuten, formerly Ebates (and formerly easier to pronounce). You can go directly to their site and then click through a retailer’s links. Doing so will give you a cookie (though not the kind with chocolate chips), and not only will you get a discount, but you’ll earn cash back. But even easier is to just add the little extension to your browser, and it’ll do all the work for you.
Similar sites include Capital One Shopping (formerly WikiBuy) and Honey.
Another site I use often is Retail Me Not. Let’s say you’re shopping at Kohl’s. (OK, let’s say I am, because it’s the only non-grocery, non-Amazon place I’ve shopped for the last 18 months.) Type the name of the retailer into the search box and you’ll see a wide variety of discount codes for different types of purchases at any given retailer. (I’ve found discounts for my web site’s domain registrar, restaurants, clothing stores, and sometimes even Amazon.)
CamelCamelCamel.com — Speaking of Amazon (and I know that between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many of you will be), this dromedary-themed site is a free Amazon price tracker. Type in keywords for a product you want, or paste the Amazon URL for something you’re thinking about buying. (There’s also a Camelizer browser extension.)
Last week, my friend bought an iRobot 240 Braava Rob Mop, a mopping cousin of a Roomba.
I copied the product link into CamelCamelCamel and it fed me a chart of the pricing history of the robot over the past five years.
It’s a bit like predicting the stock market, but by seeing past pricing trends for products, it’s easier to make a bet on when you should buy it. If you see that a particular product always increases in price in November but goes down in February, you may postpone your purchase to get the best price.
STREAMLINE YOUR HOLIDAY TRAVEL
Obviously, Paper Doll isn’t a travel blog, but there are a few sites that should help make your holiday travel run a bit more smoothly.
Are you road tripping, either alone or with your family? If you’re at all a germaphobe like Paper Doll, the idea of using a public restroom was never high on your list of appealing activities; a global pandemic makes it all the more ick-filled. But if you’re traveling more than a few hours by car, it’s something you’ll have to consider.
According to the National Association for Continence, there are three apps suitable for helping you find the best (cleanest, safest) bathrooms while traveling:
- Bathroom Scout
- Flush
- Sit Or Squat
All three have iOS and Android versions, and the association’s site has details and links.
When you’re driving at home, you tend to know which gas stations have the lowest prices, but when you’re on the road, you can be faced with a mystery.
Gas Buddy is a public-facing database and resource that has been around for a long time, since before the days of apps. You can use it to search for gas stations by city, state, or brand, but it’s best known for it’s price maps. Type in a zip code or area, and overlaid on the map, you will see the gas prices wherever you are.
For example, I can see that prices within a few miles from my house are varying from $2.95 to $3.25. That’s huge, especially when you’re filling up a tank in multiple locations over the course of a road trip!
Check out the site and the Gas Buddy app (for once you’re on the road) for various features to save money on fuel costs.
Are you traveling by air? Are you worried about how much time to leave to get through security? You can download the My TSA app; fellow travelers post airport delays (reported in real time). However, if you’d rather limit the app clutter on your phone, there are simple web sites you can use, including TSA Wait Times and iFly (under the Getting Around tab).
iFly is a particularly useful site for travelers, with links for information on:
- parking
- ground transportation
- navigating airports, including:
- gate walk times (so you’ll know how far and fast you’ll need to schlep)
- how to get on the airport WiFi
- how to find airline lounges
- how to locate Lost & Found
- airport maps
If you’re headed between Canada or Mexico and the US, the TSA does operate an easy-peasy Border Wait Time site, no app required.
Speaking of the TSA, they’ve got a page, Turkey Trot On Your Way Through the Airport, focused on which of your leftovers you can carry on and which you must put in checked luggage. (There’s even a dancing turkey!) FYI; cranberry sauce is categorized as a liquid.
BONUS LINKS TO KEEP YOUR HOLIDAYS ORGANIZED
Do you have to get up early to catch a flight, get on the road, or spatchcock the turkey?
Setting your alarm is easy enough, but did you know there are optimal amounts of time to sleep to avoid waking up mid-sleep cycle to keep from being foggy-minded? Like, we do better sleeping in 90-minute cycles, so sometimes getting 7 1/2 hours of sleep might be better than 8.
Sleepy Time is a sleep cycle simulator that will calculate what time you should go to bed to make sure you’re alert for the drive or that you don’t doze off while stuffing the bird.
Once Thanksgiving (or the whole holiday season) is behind you, how will you plan for next year? you could write down everything you did this year that worked out and everything that made the holiday a little more problematic. But where would you put that note to yourself? In Evernote? In a “holiday planning” notebook? Tucked in one of your cookbooks?
To best prepare for next year, send yourself an email timed to arrive in early-to-mid November!
FutureMe lets you write and send a letter to your future self to be delivered one, three, or five years from now, or on any date of your choosing.
For more tips on being organized for the holidays, check out my classic ebook, Simplify the Season and Save Your Sanity.
Paper Doll Post:
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!
Paper Doll Post:
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?
AmazonBasics 12-Sheet Cross-Cut Paper and Credit Card Home Office Shredder
Fireproof safes and bank safe deposit boxes allow you to safeguard your VIPs (very important papers, like birth certificates and passports) so they are protected and available when you need them.
SentrySafe 1170 Fireproof Box with Key Lock
Label makers prompt you to decide how you will categorize your papers, and then give you clear, bold labels to encourage you to put papers where they belong.
And tickler files? They ensure that your action paperwork, the tiny pieces of paper that reflect tasks you have to perform, actually awaits you until the day you need to access it.
Smead Desk File/Sorter Daily (1-31) and Monthly (Jan-Dec)
For some patented Paper Doll advice on selecting these gifts for yourself (or others), start here:
Shredding the Documents: Finding Your Shredding Solution – This classic post tells you everything you need to know about safely turning personal information into confetti.
Safeguard Your Very Important Papers: Safe Deposit Box Basics – Another post from the vault, this walks you through the basics of keeping your personal documents as safe as Fort Knox.
Wirecutter: The Best Fireproof Document Safe – The Wirecutter, an arm of The New York Times, reviews all sorts of home and office products, from toasters to luggage to, yes, safes.
How To Avoid Paper Management Mistakes–Part 3: Libel of Labels – It should be no surprise that Paper Doll has a lot to say about labeling your files to keep everything organized.
Tickle Yourself Organized – This is my best-selling ebook. It tells you how to use a tickler file, but it’s really a primer on keeping your action-related paperwork straight.
Do I Have To Keep This Piece of Paper? – The biggest reason people hold onto papers long after they’ve served their purpose is fear, primarily fear of not having a receipt or document when it’s needed. This ebook gives you the straight dope so that you can confidently maintain what you need and safely shred or discard the rest.
Although Paper Doll loves organizing paper, I know you need other resources to keep your “stuff” in place. Here’s a sampling of other gifts (for yourself or loved ones) to make life more organized.
ORGANIZING YOUR STUFF
Every holiday season, every birthday, every shopping trip brings more stuff (especially the expensive stuff) into your home. As much as you may work to develop systems to keep everything in order, sometimes little things wander away. (Sometimes, little people and little creatures help them wander away!) A little over a year ago, I wrote about bluetooth tracker solutions for keeping track of all your goodies.
Paper Doll Finds Your Lost Keys, Wallets, and Phones: Bluetooth Trackers 2019
Paper Doll Finds Your Lost Eyeglasses: Technology Beyond Checking the Top of Your Head (This has been my most popular blog cover, ever!)
Avoid the Lost & Found: Keep Track of Your New Goodies with Tile
The most popular of all of the Bluetooth trackers I’ve covered has been Tile, and the company is offering 20% off all Limited Edition Tile products (Pros, Mates, Slims, and combo packs) through December 22, 2020. (Reading this later in the week? Check back next week for a discount link that will carry into the New Year.) My favorite of the Limited Edition items is the Holiday Luxe, below.
You’re probably not traveling on planes, heading to campus, or dragging your backpack to the local coffee shop to get work done. Sigh. It’s been that kind of year. But, with hope, 2021 will be a year when we’ll all get back to going places and schlepping our stuff with us. When that happens, my favorite tool for keeping cables, chargers, pens, ear pods, and other fiddly items in check is Cocoon’s Grid-It!
As much as I’ve always been a fan of the Grid-It in various sizes, and as often as I’d used it for work and conferences, I wasn’t prepared for how much it could simplify my traveling life until I used it in Italy in 2018 and the UK in 2019. I never had to search for a pen, a charger, or the right cable, and I never left anything behind in the hotel.
From little 7″ x 5″ Grid-Its to medium and large sizes, some with pockets designed to also accommodate tablets or laptops, to the extra-large 11″ x 15″ luggage accessory versions to the Grid-Its built into backpacks, you should be able to find something to lock down your essentials.
Expert tip: Pretend-pack for an imaginary “trip,” either a for a day on campus or a week on the road, and lay out your resources on a flat surface with just a little space around each item. Measure the real estate to help you figure out the size(s) of the Grid-It(s) you might want.
ORGANIZE YOUR TIME
You need a place to keep track of your appointments, tasks, and goals. Those of us who prefer paper planners to map out our lives need to consider the features we need. I was recently a guest on Penny Zenker’s Take Back Time podcast. You can listen to Boosting Productivity with Paper Planners (Part 1) now, and I’ll be back here to put up the link to the second part once it goes live. [Editor’s note: Part 2 went live in February 2021.]
While these interviews won’t tell you which planner to pick, it will give you some ideas to guide you toward the elements that will help you overcome your time-planning challenges. Part 2 will help you narrow down which specific planners are more your style.
Speaking of planning your time, I can’t talk enough about Time Timer. (But you’ve probably noticed that!) Last month, in Organize Your Health: Parental Wisdom, Innovation, and the New Time Timer® Wash, we talked about their nifty new device, perfect for guiding any tiny humans (or adults who have trouble perceiving the passage of time) with healthy hand-washing habits.
At this point, Time Timer has so many new products, it can be hard to keep them straight. But if you’d like to brighten up your winter while visualizing the passage of time, the colorful, new Time Timer MOD – Home Edition collection might be up your alley. (Oh, and 1% of the proceeds from this product go toward supporting inclusive education initiatives.)
The MODs are the first of the non-electronic versions to stray from the original “red disk” concept, but it’s not merely a stylistic decision. Research shows that color can have a big impact on our moods; you can select more calming or energizing color schemes, depending on your needs. (This can be especially beneficial for those with attention differences or anxiety.) Available colors include Lake Day Blue, Dreamsicle Orange, Cotton Ball White, Pale Shale, and you can mix and match the removable silicone cases (sold separately in neutral or color value packs).
ORGANIZE YOUR COMPUTER
Are you a Mac or a PC? (Yes, I’m sure there’s even one Linux user among you.) Do you use your computer to Zoom with friends and colleagues or to keep your business running? Maybe you (or your kids) are focused on homework, or perhaps you’re an author trying to write a masterpiece. Your computer may be for bookkeeping, or photos, emailing, or gaming. There are thousands of apps and software to help you organize your information, your tasks, and your thoughts, and experts to guide you.
But no matter why you use your computer, there are two resources that you should consider for keeping everything safe and secure: a password manager and a back-up program. I’m product-agnostic, for the most part, but for both, I have a belt-and-suspenders approach, using at least two methods to protect my tech.
For generating strong passwords and keeping them organized, I use both Mac’s built-in Keychain system and LastPass. Other popular alternatives are 1-Password, Dashlane, and RoboForm. Wikipedia has a great chart comparing the features of about twenty password managers.
Whatever you pick should allow you to maintain all the passwords from all of your devices with minimal strain and maximum confidence. The kinds of features you want include strong data encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA), the ability to sync across multiple devices, secure sharing of passwords, and auto-filing of your passwords.
The key to backing up is automation; if you have to remember to back up, someday you’ll forget.
The key to backing up is automation; if you have to remember to back up, someday you'll forget. Share on XTo back up my hard drive, I use Mac’s Time Machine (backed up to a local hard drive) and Backblaze (to back up all my data in the cloud).
A few years ago, I wrote 9 Ways To Keep Your Writing Safe for Alexa Bigwarfe’s Write Publish Sell website. Although it’s focused on helping authors develop a digital back-up plan, it’ll get you thinking about what kind of back-up solutions you need.
ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS
After a year like 2020, it seems like we’ve all spent a little too much time at home with our thoughts. However, some of you may be surrounded by children and/or life partners who may act like children – and for you, it might be hard to get a moment alone with your thoughts. Going into a new year, we could all use a place to write down our ideas and dreams so we can organize them into an action plan.
Whether you open up a blank note in Evernote, Google Docs, or Word, or send emails to yourself, or keep a diary like the one you had in sixth grade (though perhaps without the lock and the “Keep Out: This Means You!” on the cover), give yourself a place to write.
Next, schedule writing and planning time in your calendar, like artist Julia Cameron’s famed morning pages, or block off time as a day-closing ritual, but make sure to honor your need for a “brain dump.” Add tasks to your To Do list, map out when and how you’re going to accomplish various goals, and log “big ideas,” whether in a blog post draft screen or in a journal. Speaking of which…
You may remember friend-of-the-blog Kara Cutruzzella, a kindred productivity spirit and an expert on creativity. (She interviewed me last year for Now Is the Right Time to Declare Bankruptcy on Your Projects.)
Well, this year, Kara published Do It For Yourself: A Motivational Journal with Abrams Books. It’s filled with 75 thought-provoking prompts; as Kara tells it – choose any goal and work through the five stages of the journal—getting going, building momentum, overcoming setbacks, following through, and seeking closure—or just open it to the phase you’re in now. Each exercise is designed to help reorient your outlook, overcome roadblocks, and encourage mindfulness, with powerful typographic quotes to inspire you along the way.
(Oh, and hey, if you enjoy a little free prompting to be both creative and productive, and especially if you like Broadway, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or The Gilmore Girls, or you’ll love Kara’s newsletter, the Brass Ring Daily.)
PEOPLE TO HELP YOU ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE
Finally, I can attest that one clutter-free category – support from an organizing or productivity professional professional – can be the best gift you give yourself (or those seeking to make improvements in those areas). When you work with a professional organizer or productivity specialist who is a member of one or more of the following associations, you are putting yourself in the hands of a non-judgmental, trained, ethical expert ready to teach you how to achieve your goals.
To find a professional organizer near you (or your recipient), use the free referral services of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO); for those with chronic or challenging disorganization or anyone working to overcome hoarding disorders, the Institute for Challenging Disorganization is a wonderful resource. If you’re reading from Canada, call on the Professional Organizers In Canada; in the UK, it’s the Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers (APDO). We also have colleagues in Japan, The Netherlands, various locales in South America, and around the world. Help is available in person and virtually.
There are specialists in dozens of categories of organizing and productivity, for spaces (e.g., kitchens, garages, closets), client types (e.g., students, office workers, attorneys), and needs (like help with senior move management). If you’ve spent the past few months wishing you could get your photos in order, The Photo Managers (previously the Association of Personal Photo Organizers) can help. There are even professionals who can help you organize your genealogy, and yes, I’ve got a blog post coming up soon to tell you all about them!
Not sure what a professional organizer can do for you? I encourage you to read:
What Professional Organizers Really Do and How They Can Help – It’s an older post from Lifehacker for which I was interviewed, but I think it explains a lot.
In Checkbooks And Underwear Drawers: What Certified Professional Organizers Offer Our Clients
A HOLIDAY MESSAGE
As I write this, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah have already passed; Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve are still on the horizon. I hope you are enjoying, and will continue to enjoy a healthy, safe, joyous, and organized holiday season. Whatever you give or receive, whether they are cluttery delights or clutter-free, please know that your readership is always a gift to me. Thank you!
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Paper Doll Post:
Clutter-Free Holiday Gifts for the Weird Year of 2020 (Part 2): Giving Well, Giving Back
Last time, we talked about finding 2020-friendly ways to give gifts of experiences that still keep everyone safe in this perplexing year. With the exception of yummy consumables, we mainly discussed intangibles. That’s because, as Cornell professor Thomas Gilovich’s 20-year study showed, we know that experiences are valued more deeply. They’re fleeting, so we don’t become inured to their charms. They’re personal – your trip to Disney World is not my trip to Disney World. And, to Paper Doll‘s mind, experiential gifts never weigh you down with obligation. You don’t have to store, vacuum, or dry-clean a visit to the theater or a day of mini-golf.
That said, please don’t think that tangible gifts automatically mean clutter. If someone wants and loves something, it won’t become clutter. But it’s possible to make a gift more than just not-clutter. What if your gift could not only please your recipients, but also make the world a better place?
2020 has been a hard year for everyone. Wouldn’t it be magnificent if we could soothe the plights of those whose 2020 was particularly difficult? Today, we’ll look at two ways to give well and give back: giving gifts that support those in need, and direct donation on someone’s behalf.
BUY ONE, GIVE ONE & GIVE BACK
Got a friend who is always on the phone? A tiny human with a lot of stuff to carry? Know anyone with cold heads or feet? (I mean, it is winter!) Know some readers? If you want to give well and give back, read on.
Popsockets makes decorative, round Pop-Grips you can stick on the back of your phone to make it easier to hold onto. (They also make mounts and digital wallets.) They flatten against your phone for a lean look, then “pop” out to let you grip them or to prop your phone on the desk.
Purchase one of their many designs, ranging from pop culture themes to sports to luminous colors, or design your own for your (or a friend’s) personal tastes. Even upload your business logo. PopGrips are interchangeable, so you can use whichever strikes your fancy that day.
From an organizer’s perspective, Popsockets make a nifty gift to keep from dropping your phone. That’s organized! But they go step beyond with what they call Poptivism! When you purchase a Popsocket design or one you’ve created yourself, 50% of the cost is donated to a charity you select in any of nine categories, ranging from arts and culture and civic participation, to health and education, to human services and more.
Read more about Popsockets’ corporate responsibility mission.
Bixbee makes backpacks (and lunch boxes, duffels, luggage, and sleeping bags) with an eye to the special ergonomic needs of tiny humans so they can carry and organize all of their “stuff” without getting weighed down.
The bright and hardy backpacks are designed for the little tykes’ unique measurements and aesthetic tastes. The medium/large backpacks weigh only two pounds and use contoured, air-mesh, adjustable shoulder straps with a sliding sternum strap to distribute the horizontal load. Each backpack has an interior padded pocket to carry and protect a laptop or tablet from drops or bumps.
So, Bixbee makes fun gifts for kids, but they don’t stop there. Bixbee’s “One Here. One There.” social mission finds them collaborating with US and international non-profits serving children in need of access to education.
Save 30% on the entire Bixbee store for their Back-to-School “Winter Edition” sale. Use the code: BTSWINTER.
Bombas – You’ve probably heard of Bombas, especially if you listen to podcasts or satellite radio. The commercials are unavoidable! If you know nothing else, when you hear “Bombas,” you probably think “socks.”
Socks may not seem like an exciting holiday gift. When I was little, I’d pester my (more than a decade older) sister to tell me what she was getting me for Hanukkah, and eventually, exasperated with inventing fake clues, she’d tell me she was getting me socks. I was equal parts dubious and disappointed.
But you know what? Socks are great gifts! (I got pair of menorah-themed Hanukkah socks last week!) They don’t merely keep your feet warm and cozy, but they allow you to express your personality in small, fun ways. My personal favorites (whether for kids or adults) are in the Bombas Sesame Street line.
But the cool thing about Bombas is that for every pair of socks purchased, they donate a pair of socks to someone affected by homelessness. They have donated more than 40 million items to more than 2,500 community organizations to date. It’s the ultimate in “get one, give one.”
We all need socks, so they’re never clutter. If you pick well, they’re comfy, cozy, and cute…and you can give back to those who really need help.
Learn more about how the Bombas partnership with Sesame Street is bringing awareness to the issue of family homelessness and its impact on families.
When I told my best friend I was writing about gifts that give back, she told me that I had to write about Love Your Melon, one of her daughter’s favorite companies. (Yes, her daughter is the medical student I wrote about recently.)
They make hats. (Pardon me, “beanies.”) Also, headbands, T-shirts, and blankets. Cute name. Cute stuff.
To be honest, I’d never heard of Love Your Melon, but I should have! Their brand is dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer and supporting the fight against pediatric cancer. They give 50% of net (post-tax) profit from the sale of all Love Your Melon products to domestic and international organizations creating therapeutic experiences and funding charitable programming initiatives for children and families battling cancer. They’ve already disbursed more than $7 million and distributed 213,516 beanies.
(Because immunocompromised tiny humans can’t have visitors during the pandemic, Love Your Melon is also sending “Smiles Inside” boxes to hospitals. These people are good eggs.)
As you may have been able to tell from my three-part series on organizing your life to have more reading time, I’m a fan of books. So, I was delighted to learn that one of my favorite book-related apparel companies also gives back!
Out of Print has a mission to transform literary classics into apparel and accessories for bookish peeps. You and your recipients probably need (and want) T-shirts, sweatshirts, boxers, masks, scarves, and totes. Why not show off your literary style by buying from a company that donates books and supports literary programs around the world?
You probably have a Jane Austen fan on your list, someone who is always reading Maya Angelou, a Harry Potter aficionado, or someone who can’t get enough of Stephen King. From science fiction to British lit, from The Little Prince to 1984‘s Big Brother, Out of Print covers a lot of ground. Me? I’m having trouble deciding between T-shirts honoring Corduroy and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.
So, yes, as long as you’ll wear or use literary accessories, they won’t be clutter. But what about the philanthropic side of Out of Print? They’ve donated more than 3 million books to communities in need, and support a variety of literacy initiatives, including Words Alive and Liberation Library. Additionally, to support independent bookstores impacted by COVID, Out of Print donates a portion of their mask sales to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc).
Atoms makes sneakers – by all accounts, comfy and stylish ones – but that wasn’t enough to put them on my radar. Right around the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Atoms founders, Sidra Qasim and Waqas Ali, realized they could make masks. They reallocated Atoms’ production capabilities to produce masks that carried the same qualities as their sneakers. They designed them with an antimicrobial copper thread lining, and made them to be comfortable, breathable, and durable. Qasim and Ali pledged to donate one mask for each one sold, and to sell the masks at an affordable price.
Meanwhile, sometime in the spring, when people were saying, “You think maybe I should look into getting a mask?” Morning Brew, a daily business newsletter, recommended Atoms’ masks in its usual cheeky (no pun intended) style, and I took notice. At the time, they only had four colors, all on back order, and I had no idea what went into a good reusable mask, or even what a good mask price was. (I mean, did any of us know?)
So, I bought a mask. Actually, due to some fumble-fingered clicking, I accidentally bought a too-small mask for my huge head and realized it right away. I emailed, but expected my inquiry would get lost in the mid-pandemic, out-of-office email onslaught. Instead, I got an reply from the delightful Ray, who switched my “small” to a size more befitting my noggin, and had a charming customer service experience. My masks are comfy, don’t bother my ears, and never wrinkle.
Anyway, remember Qasim and Ali’s promise to donate masks? They did it, at cost, and for every Atoms mask purchased, Atoms donates one to a non-profit organization in need. They’ve already donated over 300,000 masks to organizations around the country, including the New York City Housing Authority, the Milwaukee Center for Community Action, Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, the King County Office of Emergency Management, the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, the United Sherpa Association, the RESIST COVID TAKE 6! campaign, and For Freedoms.
In any other year, masks would be a weird gift, but in 2020, they make sense.
(Oh, and if you do decide to buy a pair of their sneakers, you can use my referral code link to get $20 off.)
GIFTS OF CHARITY
Most of us like unwrapping something shiny and new, but there are special opportunities at the holidays to provide gifts to someone that can have even more meaning. Consider these impeccable, time-tested options:
Heifer International lets you give the gift of self-reliance. Your donation purchases livestock (a flock of chicks or ducks, a hive of honeybees, a share of a water buffalo, or any of a myriad of life-sustaining options), resources, and training to bring promise to hungry families and the opportunity for a better life, both internationally and here at home.
Giving a gift through Heifer International takes the stress out of shopping while putting the meaning back into giving. You can pick an animal or flock from the full gift catalog or take the quiz to find your perfect donation match. (I got Chelsea Chick, but I may retake it to get this cutie, Al Paca!)
There are also gifts for entire villages (like water irrigation pumps and community stoves, which, while not as adorable as animals, are every bit as vital.
This year, you can also give a tangible gift so the person in whose name you are giving chicks, or goats, or ducks gets to unwrap something. Heifer is selling a variety of items, including:
Confetti Farm Animal Ornaments
Alpaca Blend Hand-Knitted Ornaments
Heifer Plush Animals
Heifer Guatamalan Animal Clutches
La Promesa Guatemalan Coffee
Eco Leather Passport Wallet
Feeding America, formerly called America’s Second Harvest, is the nation’s largest charitable hunger-relief foundation, serving children, senior citizens, the working poor, victims of disasters, and others experiencing food insecurity.
Feeding America supports more than 60,000 local programs, including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, and Kids Cafes.
Habitat for Humanity is a worldwide, non-profit, non-denominational housing organization that builds simple, decent, affordable houses in partnership with those who lack adequate shelter. Houses are sold at no profit, with no interest charged on the mortgage, while homeowners and volunteers build the houses under trained supervision.
As a holiday or other gift, you might promise a loved one that you will work a certain number of hours in service to the cause (once the pandemic is over and it is safe to do so), and you could make a monetary donation in someone’s name and Habitat will send a gift acknowledgement.
Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger has a variety of advocacy initiatives, including fighting hunger among veterans and military families, eliminating barriers keeping senior citizens from nutrition programs, improving food security in Native American communities, and more. You can support their efforts with one-time or ongoing donations, or help fund-raise for events.
RIP Medical Debt – Did you know that 66% of bankruptcy filings are due to medical debt? Donations to this cause help wipe out medical debt and help improve the financial stability of vulnerable members of the community, including the elderly, veterans, and those near or at poverty level.
Modest Needs provides short-term emergency assistance. Modest Needs vets the applications, presents the stories of the applicants to prospective donors, and pays donations directly to the vendors or creditors (for medical bills, auto repairs, utility companies, etc.)
CHARITY GUIDANCE
Not sure where to donate? It’s impossible to evaluate every non-profit yourself to verify their operations for financial health, transparency, and accountability. Get some guidance:
Charity Navigator is the gold standard for researching the financial health and accountability of any charity you may be considering.
GiveWell – Instead of focusing solely on financials, assessing administrative or fundraising costs, GiveWell’s research aims to determine how much good a given program accomplishes per dollar spent. Rather than breadth, they focus on the few charities that stand out most (by their criteria) to “find and recommend high-impact giving opportunities.”
CharityWatch – Among other efforts, this charity watchdog evaluates social welfare organizations that are not eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions and religious charities that are exempt from filing tax forms.
GiveBlck is an easy-to-use, comprehensive database to advance racial equity in charitable giving. It showcases the diversity of causes among Black-founded non-profits. It does not evaluate, but provides a compendium of which charities serve the needs that echo what matters most to you or your recipients.
They say it’s better to give than to receive. How much better, then, it must be to give and to give back?
They say it's better to give than to receive. How much better, then, it must be to give and to give back? Share on X
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