Organization Quest

A Breath of Fresh Air

After nearly three weeks in Turkey, I'm back home and back on the Quest, which is not the same thing as being back on the wagon,  but I'm working on it.  I was actually more "on the wagon"--organized, tidy, orderly, and together--on our trip, even though we packed and unpacked a total of 12 times in 17 days (six hotel rooms in 4 different cities).  The constant packing and unpacking could have been a recipe for disaster or at least frustration, but by and large it went smoothly, with a minimum of angst or drama.  In fact, each time I packed things up, it got easier instead of harder.  As the trip progressed, we established certain what-goes-where standards--dirty laundry in the front pockets, for instance--and were better able to arrange things with the benefit of trial-by-error knowledge: dark and long-sleeved clothing were relegated to the bottom of the luggage while their light-colored and light-weight counterparts got priority placement near the top, and the contents of purses, day-packs, and camera bags settled into a predictable short-list of essential items.  Routine is the word that comes to mind when thinking of the order that was quickly established and nearly effortlessly maintained.  And yet "routine" is exactly what often bogs me down on any number of projects, whether creative or organizational. 

How can a single concept--in this case, the idea of "routine"-- be a comfort and an aid in some circumstances, yet disagreeably restrictive in others?   Maybe the problem isn't with "routine" per se, but with the particular "routine" at hand. 

The helpful routines we developed on our trip shared a number of attributes; perhaps the most important is that they were simple and pertinent to our goals.  They helped streamline and focus the process.  They had a point.

In contrast, once back home, I saw how cumbersome many previously-established domestic routines now seemed, how pointless or needlessly elaborate.  I'd rather toss freshly-laundered clothes in a pile to be ironed, for instance, than just fold them and put them away, quite as if a gigantic pile of (progressively more) wrinkly clothes was better than minimally wrinkled clothes neatly folded, stacked, and put away. 

One of the unsettling things about vacations is that they disrupt routines, which, paradoxically, is what also makes them so refreshing and valuable.  There have been many years we haven't been able to go on a real trip, but it's possible to get some of the greatest benefits of a vacation without going anywhere.  The key is to switch things around a bit. Get up early if you usually sleep in on the weekends, or give yourself a little bit of peace by retiring later than usual. Re-think what and why you do the things you do and consider if there aren't options to streamline, to simplify,  to cut things down--or even out.  Ask for help. Try somebody else's way. Do things in a different order. Give yourself a break, even if it's only for a few minutes to collect your thoughts or scribble down some ideas.  Vacations are nice, but they are time-limited.  Trying something new or forging a positive change--however small--has the potential to produce results that long outlive the season at hand. 

*This weekend, I plan on establishing a Flickr account to post more pix of our vacation, for those who are interested.

Greetings from Cappadoccia!

 

For those of you who've never heard of Cappadoccia, it's a region in the middle of Turkey and happens to be the first leg of our vacation to celebrate our 20th anniversary.  My plan a few weeks ago was that if I could just write two posts a day on the weekends and another couple extra posts during the week, I'd have my posts all lined up to go for the entire 2+ weeks we'd be gone, and thus the Quest would not be interrupted by Vacation Catatonia, which is what happens when you eat too much baklava.  Of course, because I'm not yet Really Organized but still an Organization Wannabe, I did not write the  extra posts.  I then imagined I could write my posts, um, the day I left, nevermind that I had to work half the day and hadn't yet started packing all that much.  Or the airplane!  I could write on the airplane!  Or;  in the place we are staying in Cappadoccia!  Notice I did not say "the hotel we are staying at in Cappadoccia" because we are not staying in a hotel; we are staying in a cave.  I kid you not.  It is a very nice cave, but a cave nevertheless.  But surely caves carved out of volcanic rock in the middle of Turkey have wi-fi, right? 

 
Above:  home sweet cave.

So, folks, I miscalculate a little, and for that I apologize.  I do, however, have a ton of great topics for the Quest, some of which are new takes on old favorites and some that we've never before visited, so there should be a lot of great content this summer to look forward to when we return mid-July.  In the meantime, I'll try to log on when I can to share O-Quest insights or maybe a few vacation pix and stories, assuming, of course, that Vacation Catatonia doesn't set in.  But I don't know if I'll be able to avoid it; the baklava here is awfully good.

Pet Records Part 1: For Pet Sitters

A few months ago, I broke down and got Levenger's special Circa for organizing home information.  While I'm glad I got it because it gave me a lot of good ideas, I've found that the actual fields it contains doesn't correspond all that much with those I need.  In the "Pet Information" section, for instance, I really don't need "Kennel Information," nor do I need a special calendar just to record vet visits.  Still, looking at Levenger's design got me off and running in terms of making my own pet info pages.  I especially liked of including a pet's photo--I think that's ingenious, especially for pet sitters who are caring for multiple pets for the first time in one house hold.  And while the Levenger page does have a place to note feeding instructions, type of food, and feeding schedule, I also think it's useful for sitters to know some of the little idiosyncratic things, like   nicknames, favorite toys, favorite treats, likes, dislikes, and yes, most common naughty behavior.  In our case, I think it's a good idea to put a person on notice that Lickity is likely to climb up their pant legs, or that Snapdragon will carry his rat-on-a-string around and plop it down on one's body, which is especially fun if his victim sleeping with their mouth is open.  I'm sure he thinks that's extra-fun because it always gets a reaction.

Here is a sample of my pages; I've also pdfed blank copies for you to download and use in your own 8 1/2" x 11" binder.

 

Blank pet page to download (PDF format)

Download Pdf of pet page for organizer

Filing Pet Papers

If you're thinking:  oh, come on, how much paperwork could a pet possibly generate, then all I can say is: obviously you've never had a pet.

Medical records. The receipt for rabies tags.  Prescription history.  Health care instructions.  Information about medical conditions.  The names and numbers of vets, kennels, sitters, day care services, walkers, groomers, emergency veterinary services, and poison control.  Microchip information.  Bloodwork and test records.  Adoption papers and agreements.  Pet insurance. Vaccination schedule. And so on:

 

Once upon a time, I used to agonize over what to do with such stuff.  Does the adoption contract go under my "Contracts" file?  What should I do with the rabies tag?  Since The Boys are indoor-only kitties, I don't bother with collars.  Should I store the tags . . . in the junk drawer?  In a box?  My jewelry box?  And what about all those pamphlets?  I guess I could copy down the information and put it all in my organizer/address book, but I hate to junk things up with items I rarely if ever use.

If there is a rule to filing, I think it should be: file like with like in a place where you would look for it.  So it really wouldn't make sense to file the pet insurance brochure under "Insurance"--because that's not where I would look for it.  What I needed was a single file for all pet-related stuff.  And so I made a file (simply labeled "The Boys") and tuck anything related to them inside for an easy, quick, organization solution.

 

Storing Not-in-Use Pet Toys and Supplies

Like any good auntie, my sister has sent first Mau-Mau and now The Boys toys Toys TOYS every year. There is the rat-on-the-stick; there is the laser-pointer; there is any number of stuffed mice and catnip pouches and fuzz balls and toys that bounce on an elasticized string.

After Mau-Mau Kitty passed last year, I thought maybe I should gather up the toys and retire them after many honorable years of service. Before I could make up my mind to do so, we adopted the kittens who loved those toys and set about chasing, hunting, and tearing them up with great joy and abandon.

But saving the old toys hasn't prevented buying new ones. Snapdragon likes Da Bird; Lickity likes sparkle balls.  They both like ostrich feathers.  And so in this way, the living room has come to resemble the type of toy-filled obstacle course usually associated with people who have quintuplet toddlers.

What's a fur-mom to do? 

A while back, I hit upon the idea of alternating cat toys, the way designers in fancy magazines advise you to alternate accessories to keep things fresh.  The problem, for us, is where to store the toys, as we have so very little storage space and so very many stuffed mice. 

When I took Lickity to the vet a few months ago, I put a blanket and one of his favorite toys in the carrier and realized:  THAT'S IT!!!  Since we so rarely use the carrier, it's a great place to store cat-related items. The carrier is easy to find, and by designating it as the official cat-stuff-storage box, it's easy to find the supplies, too.  No more digging under the bed!  No more rummaging through the closet! 

There are so few clear victories in life, but surely figuring out the perfect place to store crinkle balls and kitty nail clippers counts as one of them.

 
Above: the cat carrier as perfect cat-stuff  storage. Below: inside the box.

Pet Week on the Quest!

I love Alpay, but he's no Quester.  When I told him that it was going to be Pet Week on the Quest, he said:  Pets? How do you organize pets? Which is a little like saying: Kids?  How do you organize kids? 

He just doesn't get it.

So this week on the Quest we'll clue him in. Some of the topics are those I promised to get to in the past, like tips for traveling with pets or leaving them behind when you go on vacation.  Other topics include keeping track of vet and vaccination records and creating a handy pet page to store on your computer or in an organizer.  I've taken pix of my  favorite toy- and supply storage trick, and we'll take a look at some great on-line resources as well as cleaning products specifically designed for pet-owners. 

 
Snapdragon and Lickity Split Now that's love:  when they aren't a giant ball of kinetic kitty wrestling, they snuggle and groom each other until they fall asleep. 

In Memoriam: Mau-Mau Kitty

Tonight marks one year since our beloved Mau-Mau Kitty passed.

At the time, I didn't know how I'd get through the following 24 hours, not to mention week or month, much less a whole year.  And yet here we are. 

I'm still sad and I still miss him.  Perhaps more than anything, however, is how profoundly grateful I am for the experience--yes, all of it, every single moment--that we shared, from the time we first touched noses between the bars of his cage in the Portland Humane Society to that last evening when he lay between Alpay and I, resting against us as the three of us watched the light fade from the summer sky. 

Afterwards I wrote an obituary which I sent family and friends, and was overcome with the outpouring of love and support we received.  My boss, one of the first to respond, wrote me from her vacation to express her condolences.  My brother, too, emailed me immediately.  My wonderful sister sent flowers.  I talked a long time with my Dad, who knew exactly the right things to say.   When I got back to work, I found a card from my co-workers who shared words of love and encouragement.  The sister-in-law I love sent a card that still makes me smile. People from all over the world emailed to offer their sympathy and share their own memories of Mau-Mau. And in that way, I realized yet again what a gift love is.  If Mau-Mau's life bought a richness and joy to our lives, the depth of which I did not anticipate that day in the Human Society, his death made me keenly aware of--and grateful for--the kind, wonderful, caring  people in our lives. 

The 1/3 Rule: Cut Calories and Save Money, Too

I don't recall exactly how or when I came across the one-third rule, but I've been using it for years:  basically, almost anything with a liquid base (and even some things, like re-fried beans, which aren't liquid) can be diluted with plain old tap water by 1/3 without affecting taste or quality all that much.  Examples:  orange juice--in fact, I can barely drink the stuff straight from the carton anymore.  Soup.   Ketchup.  Salad dressing.  Balsamic vinegar.  By adding 33% more volume, you automatically reduce the calories/carbs by one third as well, for a save calories-save money, win-win proposition.

The 1/3 rule works for non-edibles as well:  Dishwasher liquid, laundry detergent, bleach, window cleaner, ammonia, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner--the 1/3 rule works with any number of common household, cleaning, and grooming products, and is a great way to painlessly reduce spending.

Re-Thinking Conventional Food Storage for Diet-Friendly Results

My best friend once told me that my refrigerator kind of freaked her out.  It wasn't a cleanliness issue; rather it was my disregard for conventional rules about what-goes-where. Case in point:  I've never understood the whole "crisper" thing for storing fruits and vegetables.  Haven't refrigerator designers ever heard of the old adage "out of sight, out of mind"? Or maybe refrigerator manufacturers are in cahoots with the convenience-food industry; I wouldn't be surprised if Dateline or 60 Minutes  end up doing an expose showing the CEO of a major appliance maker dressing down product engineers for making the designated vegetable storage area too accessible.  "If someone wants an apple, make 'em work for it," is what the appliance magnate will be caught saying on the grainy undercover video tape.

If you're on a diet, the last thing  you want is to be on your knees, struggling to open a cheap plastic drawer so you can to dig through a cluttered, uninviting mess only to find a poor, bruised-and-battered plum crushed at the bottom of an 8"-deep heap of fruits and vegetables. If you're going to eat healthy, then you gotta make it easy, folks.  I may walk a mile in a thunder storm (or more likely: whine and plead until Alpay walks a mile in a thunder storm) to get my favorite double-chocolate muffin, but if I'm going to be good and have a few lousy celery sticks, I better be able to grab them without a lot of drama.

Happily, making good-for-you food inviting and accessible is easy; it just takes re-thinking where things go and how things are stored in the fridge.  We use a variety of bowl for this purpose--small ones for quick snacks like cherries, figs, cut vegetables, and cucumbers, which we eat Turkish-style (peeled and sprinkled with salt and fresh lemon juice, sliced length-wise almost to the end,then wrapped in a napkin so you can holdand eat it like an ice-cream cone).  For vegetables that are more often used as ingredients--onions and peppers, eggplants and tomatoes--we use a large, shallow bowl (see photo at the beginning of this post).  And what about the awful crispers?  Actually, we've found them to be very useful for storing fresh, loose-leaf spinach, which has a tendency to wilt and get yucky if stored in plastic bags.  We just wash the crisper drawer and lay a paper towel on the bottom, and fill with a quantity of spinach that would do Popeye proud.

 

Organizing and Weight Loss: The Feng Shui Connection

I first heard of Feng Shui shortly after graduating from college, when I worked in an office that had been meticulously designed according to Feng Shui principles, on order of the owner of the company.  There were mirrors in unexpected places; there were mobiles, there were fountains, there were bells.  There were very strict rules about what colors went where and which way your desk faced. The American Heritage dictionary defines Feng Shut as "the Chinese art or practice of positioning objects . . . based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects." At the time I worked in the Feng Shui designed office, folks, I was not a believer.

This changed when I met Regina Leeds, author of the wonderful One Year to an Organized Life series, as well as her original Zen of Organizing book.  Back in the day, Regina was hired by ivillage to lead the Get Organized group, and she is nothing if not a born leader--which is to say, she inspires and motivates others to be their best.  For Regina, organizing is not about a perfectly arranged sock drawer; it's about how the order you create for yourself makes you feel.   One's physical surroundings both reflect and impact one's life experiences--those "positive and negative effects" referred to above.  Chief among the life experiences impacted by one's surroundings is health, and that includes body weight. On the ivillage board, Regina would say: stalled on a diet?  Let go of the physical clutter.

This I desperately wanted to believe, if only because I imagined it would be a lot easier to organize my house then stay on a diet.  I've since decided the opposite is true, but never mind.  The truth is, the more I work on organizing, the less work it is to maintain other healthy habits.

Why is this, exactly?  I've often puzzled over this.  Here are some ideas about what's behind the Weight Loss-Organization Connection:

When certain chores and systems are in place, it makes sticking to your diet a lot easier.

This is especially true of meal planning, which includes grocery runs and cooking meals, as there seems to be a direct correlation between cooking your own meals and successfully staying on a diet.  However:

Diet- and fitness-specific errands and chores are not isolated activities.

For instance, your ability to successfully prepare and cook a healthy meal is impacted by any number of things.  If your kitchen is a mess--if you can't open the cabinets without dishes or cans of food falling down, if your counters are piled high, if you can't find appropriate containers or knives, if your fridge smells or is so over-stuffed that you can't fit new supplies, it's not going to be easy to whip up a nice, quick, healthy meal.  This leads to:

Control begets control

I don't know about you, but when things are out of control, a pint of Chubby Hubby ice-cream looks awfully good.  We're talking comfort food here. But when your place is clean, when you know where things are, when the order in your home lifts your energy and you feel happy and calm when you open a closet or drawer or cabinet rather than feeling stressed or burdened or overwhelmed by disorder,  that is the very definition of "comfort."  Which brings us to:

Being organized makes healthy rewards easier--and more rewarding

In my book, a bubble bath is much more rewarding than a late-night snack--but only if I don't have to scrub out the tub first. 

When you're organized, you're more efficient with your resources, the surplus of which can be re-invested toward your goal.

When you're organized, you tend to have more time and energy, because you aren't wasting them on trying to track things down, whether it's a number or your favorite sweater.  And we've seen time a-plenty here on the Quest how being organized saves money, if only by not duplicating purchases of things you can't find. Any time or energy you save can be put to use--by exercising, by keeping a diet notebook, by cooking healthy meals instead of grabbing things out.  Likewise, any money you save can be re-invested in exercise gear, gym memberships or yoga classes.