Spring Cleaning, True Confessions

Bathroom Hoarder

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My bathroom has a unit built over the toilet with 1 open shelf and a cupboard with doors.  After accidentally knocking a few things into the toilet, I decided I needed a better storage solution.  I also felt nervous when guests came over that they might accidentally bump something off the shelf into you-know-where…It was easy to do.

I needed something that was closed or contained, like a drawer or a box, to store my items.  Something that could be accessed and cleaned easily.  I bought a few acrylic boxes from Muji to start.  I liked them so much I bought 5 more.

Once everything was all neat and organized in their respective boxes, I immediately gained some benefits.  I also made some rather interesting insights about myself.

Daily use items are in the box on the left for quick access. Drawers on the right contain lip products, hair products, items for nail care, and dental care.

Daily use items are in the box on the left for quick access. Drawers on the right contain lip products, hair products, items for nail care, and dental care.

Turns out, I was a bathroom hoarder!  With my former “organization” method, I could never really see what I had.  I didn’t realize that I kept buying the same products because I thought I was running out only to discover I actually had multiple quantities of that particular item. Bathroom stuff gets expensive!

One of the worst parts was that some items were wasted because I didn’t use them before the expiration date, either because I didn’t see the item or had already bought a replacement.

Overall, I gained a number of benefits from the new system.

  1. Inventory was easy.  I quickly noticed a few things missing that I always like to have around, like band-aids and ibuprofen. Now that each item has a specific box, I can assess what needs to be replaced or replenished.
  2. Cleaning up is quick and easy because I know exactly where to put things.
  3. It’s fast to locate things.  This is definitely a perk when dealing with injuries or getting ready. I want my time focused on getting ready, not hunting around for things.
  4. No more products tumbling into the toilet or onto the floor.
  5. It’s space efficient.
  6. I made people happy when I passed along the nice bathroom products that I wasn’t going to use.  I felt good because I knew the products would get used up and enjoyed before expiring.

Key Organizing Tip: Everything needs a home.  Read more about it here.

Digital Dilemma

See and Be Seen

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I remember going to events as a teenager with my friends.  Although we enjoyed each other’s company, we also enjoyed checking out our peers and interacting with them.  Going to an event was as much about seeing the show as it was about socializing.  We didn’t have email, social media, or smartphones to communicate with one another.  We just kind of knew what was going on and who we were going with, or who might be there.

For the last month I have been taking a shortcut through a local college campus when walking downtown.  One path takes me directly through the courtyard.  It’s always full of students this time of the year.  However, instead of watching them interact with each other, I watch them interact with their phones.  Who knows, maybe they’re interacting with each other through their phones by posting about being in the courtyard to everyone else who was already in the courtyard…. yeah, feels confusing for me too.

Has the goal changed from going out to socialize, to instead, posting about being out?  Will the socializing now primarily happen in the digital world?  And what are the rules in this new sort of environment?  Regarding events (and socializing in general), is it more important to see each other in person, or to be seen on social media about what you did, said, or thought?

It seems that most of the real socializing now happens in the digital world.  While this may connect one person with a huge quantity of other people, that doesn’t mean the connections are good quality.  As I’ve written about in other posts, digital socializing (and communication) disguises many of the non-verbal cues we pick up on as part of face-to-face interactions such as body language, tone, facial expressions, and inflections.  Without any of these cues, we’re reduced to using emoji and internet slang (e.g. IRL*, NSFW*) to express complicated things.  Or posting pictures where we always look like we’re having the time of our lives.

And when we post things about our various activities, instead of truly experiencing them IRL, are we posting as ourselves, or as our digital persona?  Is the persona becoming more important than the person?

(*In Real Life, Not Suitable for Work)

Deletion, Spring Cleaning

Getting Rid of ROT

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Due to the large volume of “stuff” we manage to accumulate electronically, getting rid of ROT is key to managing your information effectively.  ROT is an acronym we use in my profession when referring to information, or documents, that are redundant, outdated, or trivial.  Basically, the stuff that has so little value you probably wouldn’t even notice if it was deleted, except to remark on how much extra space you have.

Let’s break down the ROT so you can get started on Digital Decluttering.  Last week’s posting, Strategic Saving, offered some guidelines and tips on how to determine what to keep.  ROT focuses on what to delete.

Redundant – this refers to copies and duplicates.  It never ceases to amaze me how much duplication we accumulate digitally (or physically).  Sometimes this happens because we might forget where we put something, or what we named it.  This will often result in us saving the same thing again, maybe in a different place or with an altered name.  These duplicates do not need to be kept.  Delete them!

Tip: Technology can be super useful with deduping (i.e. getting rid of the duplicates), especially with digital photos.  Try searching for an app that works with your computer.

Outdated – this refers to information or documents that have expired, meaning their content is no longer timely or relevant.  Some examples of this may include document drafts (once the final is ready), obsolete versions (e.g. resumes), household budgets 2+ years old, anything time specific that has passed (e.g. season brochures, invites, or catalogs), daily news postings, etc.

Tip: Establish some guidelines for yourself about how long information retains its value (e.g. notices, catalogs/magazines, document drafts/versions, etc.).  Go through your backlog routinely (e.g. quarterly, annually) to weed out anything outdated. 

Trivial – this refers to information or documents that has little to no retaining value, but that we may have kept at one time because it seemed important.  Deleting this information should have no impact on your life.  Examples of this include product information (e.g. if you were thinking about, or bought something at one time), directories, reference materials, blank forms, and newsletters (especially if they are also outdated).

Tip: Be mindful about how and where you accumulate trivial items.  Create a temporary area for the trivial information to see if becomes important enough to save somewhere permanently.  If not, delete routinely (e.g. monthly, quarterly, annually).

Deletion, Spring Cleaning

Strategic Saving

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The Deletist is about focusing on strategic saving and getting rid of the rest.  It can sometimes be challenging to figure out what should be kept and what can be tossed, especially when it comes to documents and information.  The volume of documents and information produced by each of us (e.g. emails, etc.) combined with cheap storage options, competing priorities, and a lack of awareness makes it easy to adopt a “Let’s Just Save Everything, Just In Case” mindset.

Although saving everything is tempting, it will eventually lead to challenges.  Saving everything slows down searches and makes the results less successful because there is more volume to search through to find one thing.  Strategic saving means you’re only saving documents that retain value thereby decreasing the volume and increasing the quality.  It means you are more likely to find what you need, when you need it.  Additionally, saving strategically means you have less volume to manage over time and are more likely to be able to keep track of it.

If your computer got corrupted or your email was hacked, would you know what had been compromised?  Would you know what to restore first?  Chances are, probably not.

People often ask me how to identify which documents and emails should be saved.  The answer is not always straight forward, but with a little practice and education, it becomes easier.  Here are a couple of tips based on my experiences to help you make that determination.

  1.  Pay attention to documents you create and use in your personal life.  Although this won’t be all the documents that need to be kept, it will give you a good starting point.  Focus on these documents first.
  2. Identify and protect your personal vital documents.  “Vital” is a designation that records and information professionals sometimes assign to certain documents without which you could not function.  Examples of this include, but are not limited to, forms of identification (i.e. passport, drivers license, birth certificate, SIN/SSN cards), active agreements/contracts/policies, a will and/or power of attorney, and ownership documents (e.g. car or property).
  3. Decide how long information retains its value for you.  For example, do you need your resumes from 10 years ago?  This will likely change depending on the type of information, but will help you to establish some guidelines.

Before purging, it’s always good to establish criteria or rules to keep you consistent, focused, and moving forward.

 

 

Deletion, Spring Cleaning

Digital Decluttering

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With so many places for digital “clutter” to accumulate unseen without any noticeable physical signs (e.g. running out of space), it’s easy to dismiss it.  I recently ran out of space on my Dropbox account reminding me that it was time for deletion.

I had just returned from vacation and we decided to share photos on Dropbox.  Before upgrading the storage, I decided to try and make space.  I found lots of folders full of ROT* (i.e. code for redundant, outdated, and trivial) to delete.  I moved some things onto my computer.  And lastly I removed myself from any folders that I no longer needed to share.  The combined efforts freed up enough space to avoid the upgrade.

This small exercise in DropBox reminded me of how many other digital areas in my life are full of ROT.   I started wondering why is it so hard for us to declutter digitally?

Here’s what I came up with:

  1. There’s a LOT of content to declutter, manage, and maintain.  It seems like there’s always new content to consider (e.g. bookmarks, contacts, social media contacts/content, cloud storage, etc.).  I often feel overwhelmed by the volume and the variety.
  2. It never feels urgent.  It’s never a problem until it’s a problem.
  3. It’s largely out of sight, making it easy to forget about.

These factors, among others, make it hard to find a starting point, or to feel motivated to start.

Here are some of my tips:

  • Start with a problem area (e.g. my overfull Dropbox or a crowded desktop).  If it’s a general desire to declutter, identify areas to declutter, e.g. bookmarks, photos, documents, emails, contacts, etc.  Prioritize them.
  • Space things out.  Don’t feel like you have to do everything at once.
  • Define your criteria for keeping items.  I call this the “Strategic Save”.*
  • Declutter in small quantities.  Pick a single folder, project, or group of photos to work on at a time and apply your criteria.
  • See if you can accomplish things on your mobile device.  I often find waiting for appointments or taking public transit is an opportunity to clean out an old Dropbox folder or some contacts.

*If you already know what you need to do, but struggle with the how, check back for the next two posts, Strategic Saving and Getting Rid of ROT.

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Digital Dilemma

Discrimination vs. Customization

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Last week at an office event a colleague and I were discussing internet marketing and advertising. My colleague expressed dissatisfaction at some ads he had recently seen on his browser for cars and vans.  He felt that in 2016 e-marketers should know enough about him, his habits, and his buying preferences that advertisements should be tailored to his tastes.  Not only did he not currently own a car, but he also wasn’t interested in purchasing or renting one making the vehicle ads seem random.

I felt a bit shocked hearing this.  I always consider it a secret accomplishment when I can derail e-marketers from learning about my buying habits and tastes.  In the last few years, I’m careful about how often and when I search online for things I wish to purchase.  Although I’ve never personally substantiated it, I’ve often heard stories about prices changing from one search to the next based on any number of factors.

Over the summer one of my techie friends told me that online travel companies will typically charge Apple users more because Apples are expensive products.  I guess the thought behind that is people who are willing and able to spend more on their technology may also be willing to pay more for travel.

Price discrimination has always existed, but in the pre-digital world vendors were somewhat limited about what they could find out about you.  Most likely it would have been based on physical attributes (i.e. brand/type of accessories, clothing, amount of make up worn, mode of transportation, etc.) and maybe anything else readily available through asking questions (i.e. district of residence, education level, salary range, etc.).  Buying was done in person.

However, online companies access and collect all kinds of new data (e.g. type of device used, location, buying history, membership, etc.) that can be used either for our benefit, or detriment, with pricing.  It seems the biggest challenge is not that companies are doing it, but rather in how they are doing it and how little we understand about the process.  It’s not obvious anymore.

So is “customization” really a benefit?  Perhaps some of the time when you receive coupons or offers for all the products/services you enjoy best.  But how would you know the price wasn’t raised substantially before you received that coupon? Or what else the vendor can use your buying history and preferences for in the future?