Organizing Passwords

With most people's entire life on the Internet, we find ourselves accessing all our information with a brainful of passwords that tend to fall through the cracks. Not to mention that you really should update your passwords every three months. How do you remember them all, or keep them organized?

I've set up a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is password protected. You should be able to find the Protection option under Excel's Tools menu. The spreadsheet holds the login and passwords for all my financial, online auction logins, etc. All you have to do is remember one password.

A few other ideas have been posted on the Simple Living Network.

Three Questions for any Item

There are three questions to ask yourself when you are not sure whether or not to throw out or give away an item:

1. Have I used this item recently? (last 3 to 6 months).

2. Does this item serve a purpose in my life?

3. Will my life suffer if this item is gone?

If you answer to to ANY of these questions, the item should go.

Travel to Declutter

Traveling is a great way to find out how much you really need. I usually travel with just a carry-on and a small messenger bag. This is for several weeks in any country! I realize exactly what I need to be comfortable, healthy and prepared for anything. It also keeps me from purchasing too much stuff that may catch my eye. Once you realize that you can live very well out of a small bag, you will need less at home.

Decluttering the Shed

My mom has a shed that is a catchall for everything she does not want in her immediate vicinity. Usually items are thrown into the shed haphazardly with no organization. Trying to find anything later on is impossible. I took about four hours one Saturday to clean out and organize the entire thing. You can now walk into it and see everything at first glance.

I put like items together in see-through bins with labels. All the magazines are stacked according to title and larger heavier items are on the floor while softer, lighter items are up high. Quite a lot of items that had not been used for years went to the thrift store.

BEFORE:




AFTER:

Just Picture It

If you have an out-of-control collection, or items you just can't stand to part with and yet don't have any room for, just picture it!

Line up your items in a pleasing display, or put on the costumes you just have to get rid of and take a picture of them. Your computer can have a special folder for much loved, yet donated items that you have given away. You can also create a photo album full of photos of your cherished pieces.

I did this a few years ago with a t-shirt that I bought and had signed by the musician Chris Isaak. I love him, but the shirt never fit me and I dragged it around for years. Not to mention I couldn't wash it! I took a picture of it and to the thrift store it went.

I saw an episode of neat with Hellen Buttigieg where she took pictures of a teen's collection of a hundred well-loved stuffed animals that had to go. She put the animals in cute positions in the yard (two bears with their paws around each other) and in the bedroom and then shot them with a digital camera. She then created a small photo album just for those toys.

My Saturday Garage Job

Here is my garage before I tackled it last Saturday afternoon. It really doesn't look that bad since I wrestled with it about two years ago to get all the junk out in order for my husband and I to park our cars.

However, for my Spring cleaning jag, I decided to get rid of all the last bits of junk and get everything organized that had become disorganized over the winter. I was tired of having to step over everything just to grab a rake or a tool. I even cleaned out the toolbox!

First I moved everything out of the garage and into the driveway, throwing away trash or anything I knew for sure I was not going to keep. Any hazardous materials (oils, garden chemicals, etc) I put into a milk crate to be taken to a disposal place. I then only put back exactly what I was going to use and each item has it's designated zone.

Here's what it looked like after about 3 hours:



Not too much of a difference, but you can see that everything has it's own place now, and the floor is clutter free. All the chemicals are in their respective zone. There is a place for paint, a place for car products, a place for garden products and a box for garden games. The tools are all hung up and the sports gear are in their special corner.

A garage is a great place to tackle a decluttering job since it does not need to be perfect. It is a garage after all. I would love to have one of those custom garages with white walls and built in cabinets, but for now it just needs to be an organized place that stores motor oil and kayaks.

The Junk Drawer

I am not really a hard ass when it comes to clutter. I believe that every home should have what is the equivalent of a junk drawer. One of those places where the things that have no place to go are thrown.

This, however should not mean that the junk drawer evolves into a junk closet or even a junk room. I have seen homes where one room is designated the catch-all area. It won't be long before the clutter in that room begins to invade the rest of the house.

My junk drawer at home has those little, loose objects like extra keys, half-tubes of SuperGlue, extra stamps, nail files, etc. Understandably these items should go into their respective places, but I see no problem in having ONE drawer where these wayward items live.