Clutter Cubed

Organize Your Gmail Inbox

Caitlin — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:31:32 +0000

Here’s a handy tip for keeping your Gmail folder more organized!

When you give out your email address, say to a certain decluttering blog to create an account, or after clicking the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” checkbox, you can include a plus sign and a tag at the end of your email address.

Example:
regular email: yourname@gmail.com
tagged email: yourname+blogs@gmail.com

It will still be sent to you!
Then go into your Gmail account, and set up a To: filter for yourname+blogs@gmail.com, and it will nicely sort out your blog responses for you!

Rather than having to set up a new filter rule for each and every blog where you set up an account or follow comments (eg, one for Clutter Cubed, one for Zen Habits, one for Declutter it!, etc.), you can just set up this filter once!
Of course, you could use this to organize anything, not just blogs. Banking emails, forum registrations, anything you can think of that you plan on receiving more than one.

Found via GeekSugar.

Organize Your Gmail Inbox

Techno Clutter

Caitlin — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:52:45 +0000

These days, it’s easy to get bogged down with multiple pieces of technology.

Photo by Gaetan Lee

Right now, I carry around my cell phone, my work Blackberry, and my iPod almost everywhere I go. Three different devices to perform three slightly different tasks in my life. Three things that fill up my bag or pockets all the time. Sometimes I add a camera to the mix. That’s a lot of single-purpose things to carry around!

My iPod is about 4 years old now (20GB 4th Generation) and the battery is losing it’s ability to hold a charge. I used to be able to charge it once a week and listen to my music on my walks to and from work each day. Now I have to charge it every day or every other day for the same usage.
I want to replace it. I love the new style iPod Nano (so adorable!) and would really like to get the red one, but while I was pricing them I realized that instead of simply replacing my mp3 player, I could condense the number of devices I carry around while I’m at it. It would also greatly reduce my need to get a proper charging station.
If I get a “smartphone” type cell phone plan, then one single device could act as my cell phone, my work-email link, and my music player! I could go from carrying three separate devices to carrying only one and still retain all of the functionality! Sweet!

Of course, this plan is slightly flawed by virtue of the fact that I live in Canada. Not only are our phone and data packages outrageously expensive compared to similar American plans, we don’t even have access to some of the major players in the smartphone game, such as the iPhone. Though Rogers has recently announced a deal with Apple that will allow the iPhone to come to Canada “later this year”, that doesn’t really help me now unless they give a more concrete time frame. Last time they said this, it never happened.

My husband has a Blackberry Curve 8300 for his job and he uses it for email, phone, and music. It also acts as a decent 2MP backup camera when I don’t have my good
Canon PowerShot SD800 IS with me. I think that would work nicely for me, since I will have to do email for work on it, and I need the full QWERTY keyboard for that. I hate typing on a numeric keypad!

I will have to talk to my boss and see if she would be willing to cover some of the cost of a personal Blackberry, as the company currently covers the full cost of my (ancient) business Blackberry 7520, if I put my work email on it. Hopefully she’ll go for it!

It would be so nice to reduce the number of electronic devices I carry around!

How many do you carry on a daily basis? Do you have a cell phone? A PDA? Do you carry your laptop everywhere? Let us know!

Techno Clutter

And The Winner Is…

Caitlin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:48:21 +0000

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Bloggy Giveaway! There were 301 entries (WOW!) and I wish I had more than one prize to give out!

I used random.org as my Random Number Generator, and it selected:
Post number 89!
That’s Jenna from The World of Jenna N.!
Jenna has won a $25 gift certificate to The Container Store (usable online or in person).
I hope you write in and tell us what you do with your gift certificate! I’d love to know if it’s helping you declutter!

I have sent you an email to the address you left with your comment. You have 3 days to respond or I will have to choose a new winner.

This was fun! Thanks everyone!

And The Winner Is…

Find Your Organizational Muse

Caitlin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:42:02 +0000

It’s so much easier to start - and finish - a job if you are inspired to do so!

Photo by Mike Barwood

Sometimes, it’s not enough to want something, or even want to do something. I mean, I want a tidy, well organized home, but have you seen the photos? Yikes, scary stuff right there. If that could all go away just because I wanted it to, it would have been done long ago.
Other things just seem to get in the way. Apparently, I want to hang out at a friend’s place rather than clean my own; I want to pick up a good book more than I want to pick up the crap in the living room.

You have to find out what really inspires you. Find out what you really, really want, deep down inside. Find it, and hold on to it. Having a strong motivation for doing something will help even the most organization-challenged of us battle our way through the tedious, boring, and hard work.

For me, right now it’s fairly simple: my new house.
My new house means a lot to me, beyond simply the dream of not paying rent any more. It represents a completely fresh start.
I want to be able to invite friends over without worrying that the entertainment room is a disaster, and I want them to feel as if they can drop by unannounced (Well, most of the time, anyway! ;)). I want to be able to see the results of my cleaning efforts, and not have them be buried under the caked-on, can’t-get-it-off-with-a-jackhammer grime of previous renters. I want to be able to bake cookies on a whim without having to hunt around for the recipe before I can even check if I have all the necessary ingredients. My current clutter situation leads to not having people over and not baking cookies, more often than not. Sigh.

Speaking of my personal inspiration, it currently looks like this:
Front

Side

Back

Yep, it has a roof, and actually looks like a house now!
We drive by it every week to snap a photo of the progress, and every time we do I get so excited and happy. It’s very motivating. Every time I try have to work my way through a boring, dirty, or frustrating decluttering task, I try to think of that house - my house! - and the task becomes more manageable.
I want to do right by this house; it doesn’t deserve to have a slobby packrat living in it!
This is my reason. This is my Organizational Muse!

What is your Organizational Muse?

Find Your Organizational Muse

Bloggy Giveaway

Caitlin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:31:18 +0000

With spring in full swing now (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least!) I figure everyone could use a gentle little nudge to get started with their spring cleaning and decluttering! Would a gift certificate from The Container Store help you get going?
I stumbled upon a fun Blog Carnival today. It was all about free giveaways in various blogs!
Well, I like free stuff, and I’m sure you do too, so I decided to enter a few giveaways on other blogs, and also to host a giveaway myself!

What you can win
A $25 gift certificate for The Container Store

How to enter
Just leave a comment on this post using a valid email address by Saturday April 26th at 11:59pm EDT.
The winner will be chosen at random by a random number generator.

Apologies to my International readers - The Container Store only ships to Canada and the USA, so this contest is only open to residents of those countries. Sorry!

Check out all the other cool giveaways over at the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival! There are currently over ~~680~~ 865 different giveaways that you can enter, even a few other organizational themed prizes!

[To all new readers: Hi! Clutter Cubed is an organizing blog where I write about my experiences trying to go from a cluttered, messy house to a tidy, welcoming home. If you want an easy way to follow the posts here, you can subscribe to my RSS Feed or subscribe by email!]

Bloggy Giveaway