Uncategorized - Clear & Simple

Organize Your Digital Photos

Recently I read that “most people” take about 10,000 pictures a year. Say what?!

“Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor,

it’s anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living.”

– Peter Walsh

Adding to Peter’s excellent quote, I’ll include “and devices” after floor. Since the first iPhone was shared with the world in 2007, the number of photos we take has increased exponentially. One might think having photos in digital format would help us process them, edit them, and get to enjoy them more… Sadly, that’s far from reality. We simply do not have the time, so in our libraries they sit. Come along with me and we’ll organize your photos simply, clear out the stress, and make more space for the life you most want to be living.

SEE IT. MAP IT. DO IT.© is the 3-step organizing process that works for all the areas of your space and life, including digital. Time to use them for your photo library.

SEE IT – Take a look at where you are now. Answering the questions below will provide reflection and clarity about your current situation.

How do you feel about your digital photos?
Are you able to quickly find photos when you want to look at them?
What’s working? You can be specific or general.
What isn’t working? What don’t you like?

MAP IT – Make a plan for what you want. We’ve got ideas to help you make determinations.

How do you want to feel about photos?
What would it be like to enjoy photos of your favorite people, places, and events?
Would you enjoy seeing your favorite photos on your TV? In a digital photo frame? Or would you prefer to create and print books?
Think about photos with umbrella categories. See a sample outline in the Do It. Step.

DO IT – Take the steps to make it happen. Schedule 60 minutes on your calendar for organizing your 2023 photos.

Set the stage: Put your phone on Do Not Disturb/Focus. Silence is probably best for this.
Create folders/albums in your photo library. We suggest using years and then events or other relative subcategories within those years. Start with processing your 2023 photos and, over time, work your way backwards. Below is a sample outline.
- - 2023 Hawaii Trip
  - 2023 Trace Graduation
  - 2023 Taos Trip
  - 2023 Backyard Project
  - 2023 Concerts
  - 2023 Random Gems
  - 2023 Landscapes or Nature Faves
  - 2023 Screenshots or Misc. for Filing
Move your photos into the appropriate album.
Take time to celebrate a layer complete!

Schedule more Do It Sessions as needed to get your whole library processed. Take your time

Over the next few months use the system as life unfolds. Have an event coming up? Make an album with the event name and put photos in there that day or within a few days.

Your Guide, Kate Fehr. I am passionate about teaching people the skills of clutter clearing, organizing, and simplifying.

Organize Your Email

by Kate Fehr

Having email is a must these days, but do you really want to be spend your precious life drowning in it?

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

– Annie Dillard

Do you have hundreds of emails in your inbox? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Are you ready to close your account and start fresh?! I see the appeal, but please don’t. Email is here to stay, but we don’t have to spend SO much time in it. Take the following steps with me to clean up your inbox, feel empowered to manage it moving forward, and be free of the overwhelm!

SEE IT. MAP IT. DO IT.© is the 3-step organizing process that works for all the areas of your space and life, including digital. Let’s use it to clean up your inbox.

SEE IT – Take a look at where you are now. Taking the time to answer the questions below will help you consciously realize how email stress invades your life.

How do you feel when you look go to your inbox or even just thinking about it?
Do you “check” your email many times a day or do you manage it with intent?
What’s working? You can be specific or general.
What isn’t working? What don’t you like?
Are you able to find emails when you search?

MAP IT – Make a plan for what you want. I know you might seriously want to skip this step. Please stay with it to get the clarity you need.

How do you WANT to feel about email?
What would it be like to have less than 20 unread/unprocessed emails ongoing?
What would you do with 15 extra minutes per day you normally spend mindlessly checking your email?
Schedule 3 sessions of 15 minutes each weekday for managing your inbox and commit to “not checking it”.

DO IT – Take the steps to make it happen. Schedule time to get it done!

Set the stage: Put your phone on Do Not Disturb/Focus and turn on some happy tunes.
Create the following folders/labels in your email (simplified iRAFT for Digital):
- READ
- ACT
- FILE
  - 2023 Archives
  - 2022 Archives
  - 2021-Older Archives
Mark ALL emails as read then move urgent emails to ACT, things you want to read to READ, and move the rest to the corresponding year ARCHIVES. This might be scary, but I promise you the only difference is they are now categorized, and you will feel different. They are all still there and searchable.
Take a deep breath and feel the difference.
Use this simple system to revisit things that need attention like READ and ACT during your 3 scheduled times per weekday. Experiment with taking weekends away from email. It’s wonderful!

Take time over a few weeks or month to stay committed to this system. Change things up as needed to be a best fit for you personally.

Here are a few strong suggestions for Keeping It Up:

Say no thank you to discounts that require giving your email address.
Say no thank you to signing up for everyone’s blogs.
Say no thank you to Notifications.

Your Guide, Kate Fehr. I am passionate about teaching people the skills of clutter clearing, organizing, and simplifying.

Organize Your Digital Apps

by Kate Fehr

There’s an app for… everything! And we don’t need them all.

Simplicity involves unburdening your life,

and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life,

as defined uniquely by each individual..

– Linda Breen Pierce, 1947

Our phones and tablets are useful tools for communicating, staying up on current affairs, capturing memories, and more. Because of their innovative and strategic design, they keep us “connected” and engaged with them on a regular basis. They also distract us constantly. How often do you go to your phone with a specific intent only to be pulled in a different direction by a notification, email, or text?

SEE IT. MAP IT. DO IT.© is the 3-step organizing process that works for all the areas of your space and life, including digital. Let’s use it to clean up apps (on phones and tablets).

SEE IT – Take a look at where you are now. Taking the time to answer the questions below will help you consciously realize how your phone affects you daily.

What’s working? You can be specific or general.
How do you feel when you look at your phone? Or when it demands attention?
What isn’t working? What don’t you like?
How many apps do you have, a little or a lot?
How long does it take you to find an app?

MAP IT – Make a plan for what you want. For how much time and energy our devices take from us, it’s important to go through this step.

What’s not working?
How do you WANT to feel with your phone or tablet?
Do you prefer your apps to be in categorized folders? Would you like them all in one and do a shortcut search for what you need?
What kind of wallpaper makes you happy, a solid color or a picture?
Determine 5 labels that all the apps fit under (i.e., Social, Financial, Smart Home)

DO IT – Take the steps to make it happen. Schedule time to get it done!

Set the stage: Put your phone on Do Not Disturb/Focus.
Turn on some happy tunes.
Create 5 folders for the labels you decided on.
Move all your apps to the appropriate folder and move all the folders off the first screen so you can enjoy your wallpaper.
You determine how and when you engage with your devices, not the other way around. Consider turning off most notifications outside of phone calls and texts. Whether we realize it or not, incoming emails chimes and lighting up screens with every social media happening, distract and fragment us. It is liberating to have as few disturbances as possible. Don’t worry, all the interactions will still be accessible to you in the apps.

This is a practicing ground. You can try things out and change them up as works best for you.

Your Guide, Kate Fehr. I am passionate about teaching people the skills of clutter clearing, organizing, and simplifying.

Favorite Summer Blogs

by Marla Dee

I want you to have a memorable summer!

Enjoy some of my favorite blogs for a fabulous summer. Whether you are playing hard, slowing down or just wanting to simplify, please take in the wise words of the guides below…

Marla Dee

Find Your Joy this Summer, by Jinny Ditzler

– Sit in my favorite garden chair and read every day, even if only for a bit.
– Take a whole day to go for a hike in the mountains.
– Once a week make a big cup of coffee, go to the park, and gaze at the sky.
– Invite more people to enjoy simple meals by our pool

A Simple Summer, by Kate Fehr

When our minimalist journey began over 4 years ago, I had no idea just how powerfully it would support my deep desire of keeping our summers about play and connection. During those 2 years, and 25 layers, of releasing of stuff (we moved through lots of emotion too), I had no idea how this would set us free to really experience life!

Slow Down for Summer, by Renee Trudeau

“I realized summer is an especially sacred time for me. It’s a time when I crave–and need–to slow way down. To embrace expanses of unscheduled time, to enjoy spontaneity, adventure, more time in nature and less time online. As delicious to me as homemade peach ice cream–I lap up spaciousness and big open creative windows where I get to sit with ideas, meditate on my life purpose and personal hopes and visions, integrate all I’ve learned from the past six months, explore new ways of being and reconnect with soulful friends for long hikes and late night swims in spring-fed waters. Summer is when I re-calibrate and am reminded of who I am and what I love.”

Your Guide Marla Dee. I love teaching the Clear & Simple Way to live free of clutter and get organized at last.

A Sweet Summer

by Marla Dee

My entire adult life I have fantasized about having a summer off. I have dreamed of open time to play, to be in nature, to be a kid again. This year my dream is coming true. At the age of 58, I have lots of open space on my calendar. And I know how fast the summer will fly by. So I am taking today to go through the See It and Map It steps for my summer. I invite you to do the same.
Marla Dee

I recently read the blog The single most important thing you can do to simplify your summer and I was deeply inspired to get clear on what I wanted most. Here is a short excerpt:

What did you long for most from your childhood summers?

For me, it was freedom. Delicious freedom from predictable schooldays. Freedom to lay in the sun, devour ice cream, and float for hours in a turquoise pool.

My summer longings have not changed much. A sun-drenched break from the routine sounds too good to be true, honestly. As a working mom, however, I know poolside paradise will elude me. Instead, the season will welcome busyness.

From where I sit, summer’s two major opponents are sky-high expectations and the pressure to “do it all.” Corporate socials and family get-togethers. Planning a picture-perfect getaway or entertaining kids from dawn ‘til dusk (and then some). Then there’s laundry and groceries and shouts of “who left the screen door open again?!”

The tension is palpable. Often times, our knee-jerk reaction is to purely survive. Sanity, money, rest—these are common sacrifices on the altar called Summer.

But believe it or not, a simpler more satisfying summer is within reach, regardless of our individual situations. The pursuit is straightforward and anyone can start today.

It boils down to pausing before the chaos and tuning into your desires.

Time for the SEE IT. MAP IT. & DO IT. Steps!

SEE IT:

If you could choose a word or theme for this summer, what would it be? My summer theme is Summer Sabbatical.

MAP IT:

Sit down with your loved ones and ask what do you most want to do for –

fun & play
travel & exploration
project time
relaxation & healing

My choice for fun is 2 motorcycle trips with my man Bob, for travel I am taking a road trip to my home town of Bozeman Montana for my 40 year high school reunion, for projects I am creating a family picture wall in our new home, and for relaxation I am sitting on our deck in the evenings to wind down and breathe in the sweet country air.

DO IT:

Now take your map it list and put those things on the calendar. Make them happen by putting them first.

Get more on the Clear & SIMPLE Systems here
Get our Top 10 Tips for Summer here

Your Guide Marla Dee. I love teaching the Clear & Simple Way to live free of clutter and get organized at last.

Top Ten Tips for Summer

by Marla Dee

SEE IT – get in touch with what is most important to you

MAP IT – make it happen by writing it down on your calendar

DO IT – then enjoy each event to its fullest!

Put FUN First – Choose the most important fun activity and fill up on the juicy energy it offers.
Before you leave on vacation – make two copies of each document in your wallet. Keep one in a safe place at home and take one with you to put in the hotel safe. Then you are prepared if anything should happen.
Connect with the Earth – Choose one morning or evening each week to be your time to connect with the earth – a long walk, sitting outside under a tree, a bike ride, or soaking up the sun. Let this be a time that fills you!
Garden – If you want to garden but just never have the time, plant a container with a favorite flower or vegetable. You will still enjoy gardening but on a more manageable scale.
Family Passes – Buy a family pass to your favorite summer place, then as a family review the schedule of events and mark your calendar with those you don’t want to miss!
Three Most Important Things – Every morning, when you are planning your day, write down the three things that truly matter most that day. The sense of accomplishment that you will feel when you complete these three things will free you to do other things.
Organize Last Years School Papers – Make a date with your child to spend an afternoon to go through all of the papers you saved from the last school year.Lay them all out on the dining room table or the floor. Enjoy reliving the last year. Then choose the keepers and treasures. Next simply three hole punch them and put in a fun binder so your child can look at it whenever he/she wants too.
Birthdays, Graduations, Weddings – Take one hour and make a master list of all the birthdays, graduations, and weddings, which are coming up this summer. Keep a copy with you so you can jot down gift ideas and have it handy when you are shopping
Weekend Project – Take one weekend, pick one project, (i.e. a closet, pantry or storage) and using the Clear & Simple Systems (see download below) organize the space. Then mentally let go of the rest and enjoy your summer.
Keep it simple, take a deep breath. Our favorite app for simple breathing and meditation is headspace.com

Marla Dee & Team