Falling off the declutter wagon

Even though you may have made excellent strides to declutter your life, is it okay to fall off the declutter wagon? That's the way my life has been for the past few months, rather than getting simpler, my life has gotten a bit more complicated: visiting family members, work and home projects and new hobbies have gotten in the way of me trying to obtain a decluttered home and a clear head.

What's the best way to get back on the wagon bound for a simpler life? I've come to these conclusions:

Reevaluate

Take a look at what might be blocking your process. Have you decided to do something on a whim and it's causing you anxiety and distress? It's okay to let it go. For example, I have several family members coming to visit for a month this summer and they are not used to the heat. I was practically killing myself to make them comfortable and was even thinking of getting an expensive above-ground pool. After much thought and a push from my husband, I dropped the idea and I feel a lot better. My relatives are great, but they can go to the lake.

Life happens, even when you try to make it simple

Things happen that are entirely out of your control. You might just make yourself crazy trying to constantly stay in control. It's okay to let go of some things that don't jive with your uncluttered life.

Let things get messy for a while

It's okay if your life gets hectic and wild for a few months. Don't pout or overreact. Things will get back to normal soon.

Find just a few minutes of peace each day

If your life has gotten a little too wild for your taste, plan for just a few minutes (during your lunch hour, at 5 a.m., in the garden or during a walk) to take a few breaths and clear your head.

Photo by taomancer/Flickr

Simple Apps

The appeal of apps is mesmerizing. There are so many apps that say FREE next to them that it's difficult not to click and download them to your device of choice. Before you know it, your iPod, iPhone or iPad is filled up with the tiny boxes with the rounded corners – and most of them you don't even use or need.

It took a crash on my device and the loss of all my apps to realize that I don't need to download every app that I come across. These are the five apps that I have found to be the most useful and that I use nearly every day.

1. iXpensit: $4.99

I use this app all the time to track my daily expenses. It's a lifesaver when it comes to doing my monthly spending and income reports. It's totally worth it at $4.99.

2. Kindle: Free

With the Kindle app on my iPod Touch, I can load up both free and purchased books from the Amazon store directly to my device.
 
3. Relax Melodies: Free for the lite version

This app allows me to create my own nature or white noise sounds to use while I'm meditating, napping or trying to drown out outside noise. I love the Rain + Zen music mix.
 
4. Google Translate: Free

Google Translate has become very handy for traveling. It can translate up to 60 languages.
 
5. Star Walk: $2.99

This is my fun app. It's fascinating to be able to look up a the night sky,  wonder what some bright object is and be able to identify it with more information than you ever needed. It's a blast for those who love to gaze at the sky when not looking at their iPad.

The Simple Suitcase

I will be taking several trips this year: Hawaii, New Orleans, Chile and Easter Island. None of these places really have anything in common, except that I will be traveling with one small carry-on bag to each of them.

In the past 15 years of traveling, I have yet to check a bag. I have used only one carry-on bag for each of my trips, and I've used the same style of packing whether I am traveling for a few days or for a month. I even went "no baggage" for a trip to Texas last year. Most of the time I carry a Patagonia MLC wheel/backpack hybrid, but for my recent trip to Hawaii I only carried a school day pack.

The idea of traveling with one bag seems to be a subject that a lot of people are interested in, and blog posts written by people like Colin Wright and Craig and Linda of Indie Travel Podcast all tout the positive aspects of carrying your immediate world on your back (and having it fit nicely in an airline overhead bin).

So, why travel with just one carry-on bag?

1. There is less to worry about

You will not have to stress that the airline will lose your luggage, someone will rifle through your underwear or your bag will end up in Batanbang while you are waiting for it in Boston.

2. No waiting at the baggage carousel

Waiting with hundreds of other people at the baggage carousel while you are half-asleep is not fun. Bypass the carousel and get the first taxi out of the airport.

3. It's easier to run for that train you are late for or to make a quick getaway

While it's never great to be late for a train or bus, it's even less fun to have to run through a strange city while carrying a 40 pound bag plus your two carry-on bags. In addition, with the state of the world these days (and those pesky natural disasters) it's nice to know that if something happens, you can grab your small bag and make a quick getaway.

My next post will be how I pack a small, minimalist travel wardrobe.

Declutter your brain with one word

One word.

At the beginning of my yoga class, the instructor asks each of us to think of one word to keep in our mind, repeat and listen to throughout each practice. Several of my past words have been:

Balance.

Accept.

Inhabit.

Chocolate.

The idea of focusing on one word for a period of time has been profound for me. In daily life, so many other words run rampant through my brain: email check drive keys door lock credit keyboard ATM iPod headphones phone check meeting deadline call mistake...

Being able to focus, if just for an hour, on one simple word has allowed me to declutter my mind and re-balance in order to face another onslaught of daily words.

Photo by Per Ola Wiberg

MinimalistBeth

 Recently I have been watching the YouTube channel created by minimalistbeth, a woman who is in the process of slowly getting rid of the majority of her possessions in order to pay down debt, live simply and move back to her home in New York. Her basic and to the point videos are inspirational and reflect what a lot of Americans I'm sure are feeling: a desire to live with a lot less and to hopefully become happier and healthier in the process. Beth is now living in one room of her Phoenix apartment, has no car or TV and will soon be quitting her job and packing her minimalist wardrobe to fly off to a better life. Good luck Beth!

Simplify Your Signature

Over the years, my signature has gone from my full name (all 23 letters!) to just my first name and the initial of my last name and now it is just one large capital "C" to represent my first name. One woman at one store had the nerve to say that my single letter signature wasn't a signature. I boldly looked her right in the eye and told it it WAS a signature and it was mine.

How many things a day to you have to sign? Credit card receipts, purchase orders, FedEx or UPS packages, work items or paperwork? How much time could be saved by simplifying your signature. Before I reduced the size of my signature, I dreaded having to write out my name, now I actually enjoy writing that big, bold "C".

Photo by Hammer51012/Flickr

Phasing Out of Facebook

Facebook is on the brink of one of the largest IPO's in history. No one really knows what this will do for the millions of Facebook users and businesses, but we do know that it will make a few people very, very wealthy. Even with all the IPO hubbub, what if you decide you are tired of being part of the largest social media network in the world? How about dumping Facebook for good?

Many users of Facebook have shown their displeasure about the social media network's privacy issues, and according to a PCMag.com poll over 50 percent of Facebook users have considered moving over to Google+ instead.

If you are having a difficult time removing yourself from the most popular social network ever created, then do it in phases. Each phase will help any Facebook addict to slowly quit the pull of status posts, Farmville and the Timeline.

Phase #1

Cut down Facebook time to once or twice a week instead of daily. In addition to this, don't stay logged into Facebook all day. It makes it too tempting to just stop what you're doing and get lost in Facebook-land.

Stop putting your entire life on Facebook. Only post your status once or twice a week and don't let everyone know everything you are doing or every place you are going. 

Stop liking things on Facebook. Don't use your finger or your mouse to vote on what you "Like"; not even for that free pack of gum or entry into a movie ticket contest.


Phase #2

Lurk instead of Like. You can still lurk around Facebook and view other friends' comments, photos, videos, etc., but don't post any status updates or click on any "Like" buttons.

Tell them you are outta here. Contact your closest friends on FB and tell them you are slowly phasing out and give them your Google+ information, Twitter account or email address.

Move your photos over to Google+. The blog, nicomachus.net, has a nice guide on how to move your accumulation of photos from Facebook to Google+.

Phase #3

Delete your account. If this makes you nervous, you can reactivate your Facebook account after 14 days of deleting it. If after 14 days, you are having withdrawals, you can always go back.