In our previous issue I talked about decluttering your office. Today I will talk about communication and media. For some of you these media are the tool for your livelihood (I am a perfect example) but the rules of simplifying can be applied – eliminate, group and organize. Rinse and repeat. The world is quite busy now and we fill our lives with email, RSS subscriptions, social media (like Facebook), cellphones, iPhones, text messaging, forums, Skype, land phones, video conferencing, chat…this list goes on and on. Each of these tools can simplify our lives, but also add a great deal of time to our schedule thus offsetting their value. The world was simple before these inventions and certainly quieter. These tools can be costly too, so if you can reduce a few gadgets you can save a lot of money. Choose which conveniences are important or that you deem necessary.

Phones - the first step here is determining how many phones and communication devices you really need. Take a look at how much you are paying and this may give you the little push to eliminate a device or two. I finally eliminated my landline and use a cellphone for messages (I try to rarely talk on it unless it is the weekend or after 7pm). Set a schedule for when you make your calls therefore keeping it simple. I use Skype Out for all phone calls and can reach 48 countries to landlines and computers for just $9.95 a month. All that’s needed is an internet connection, which I deem as mandatory for obvious reasons. My grand total for phones is $40 a month. Don’t text from your phone, use the computer for free. If you need a Blackberry or special device, see if you can improve your package and monitor the usage. Roll all of your devices into one and don’t go for all the extra packages. In the end you won’t use them all and someone else will get rich off of you.

Email - There are three simple ways to eliminate email frustration. Use an open source email management client like Zoho and forward all of your emails to one account. That way when you check your emails they are all in one place. Once set up it becomes an easy solution, is free and a huge timesaver. The next thing to do is determine the times of day that you will pick up your email, usually 2-3 times is appropriate. Delete all the junk files and quickly scan the ones that interest you. If you can reduce this to once a day, you will save hours every month. The final trick is to respond immediately to any emails that require action. This means you only touch the email once and have eliminated the time it takes to read it again. Try to eliminate or unsubscribe from all unecessary lists.

Snail Mail – Apply the same rules as email. Touch the mail once and deal with it. Respond or pay bills immediately if possible. The next trick for mail is to eliminate your junk mail.

Media - The true purpose of social media is to make connections. If it is an activity that is simply fun for you, consider using it during your personal or fun time and avoid it during work. If it is a work tool, treat it like email and schedule a time and time limit for use. This will maintain a routine that you can build productivity into.

Don’t forget to follow my twitter profile and follow my feed to get my postings in your reader or email.

Stop Receiving Junk Mail

If you want to free up some of your time and save a few trees along the way then it’s time to figure out how to stop receiving junk mail. Hey it could also free up a bit of your sanity.

Almost half of the junk mail delivered is thrown out and in the US alone, over 100 million trees are needed – each year! Here are a few reasons why you should stop your junk mail.

• save energy – not only the transportation costs but also sorting and other production costs
• tax dollars – the cost of mail for the government is staggering
• time – the average person spends 8 months of their life sorting mail
• landfill – while most municipalities recycle, not everyone chooses to so the landfill adds up

So what can you do then?

1. Get registered to remove yourself from the national mailing list. In Canada you can sign up at the Canadian Marketing Association Do Not Contact Registry to prevent future mailings. In the United States you can visit the Direct Marketing Association. These are the big guns and will reduce the initial bursts of mail dramatically. You must contact them every 5 years.
2. In the United States you can get yourself off of the Credit Card lists by visiting https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ or go to Equifax, TransUnion and Experien via post, telephone or on the web.
3. Stop giving your name and address to any retailers.
4. Call any mail order catalogs you are receiving and ask to be removed.  You can go to Catalog Choice to stop your magazine subscriptions and Newsletters & yes coupons. If you are still interested in the products – join online, all of them have a website.
5. On the topic of websites, each of the companies you frequent has a website – banks, utilities, telecom, etc. Most of them have an option to stop mailings. Calling or writing to them can take this one step further by asking to be removed from any lists – they sell the names for profit. They all have an option to pay online and in Canada you can get ePost Bills from Canada Post.
6. Contact any company directly that gives you junk continually.
7. Adjust your name to track the “culprits” that share your info and then report them.
8. Do not fill out your warranty cards, your receipt is all you need. If they insist, then add a note that says not to share contact info with anyone or not to be put on a mailing list.
9. Services in the US like 41 Pounds (the average junk mail for each citizen) and Tonic Mailstopper offer paid services for very reasonable fees & a free option too.
10. Call your Phone Company and ask to stop receiving that phone book…one of the largest culprits.

There you have it. That should be a pretty good starting point. If you go for the paid option it will save you time and energy but the whole process shouldn’t take more than a few hours of time. Time saved once you don’t have to open, organize and recycle all that mail (you do recycle, don’t you?).

Now here are two bonus tips to dramatically reduce your junk. If you move, only contact and provide new address details to the necessary companies. I’ve moved so much over the years that I’m on very few lists – except for the one my bank sells. Second tip – put a sign on the door/mailbox requesting no flyers and junk mail, almost everyone will honour this.

Awareness Programs also exist like  The Red Dot Campaign in Canada and Forest Ethics in the US. Don’t be afraid to take it a step further and talk to your governement officials. If they don’t see the concern, they won’t do anything to stop junk mail. So, take the time to review a few of the steps and you will be well on your way to stop receiving junk mail.

Simple Living Tip #1 -  Clear your desk

Find everything that is unnecessary and put it away. If you don’t use it on a daily basis, then you don’t need it on your desk. So many people have their desk filled with pencils, staplers and various items. Put them in the drawer. When you need them, go get them. This frees your mind of distraction and creates a workable space that will make you more productive. It’s also a lot easier to clean up spills and keep it from getting dusty.

Simple Living Tip #2 – Only touch an item once

Sounds easy, doesn’t it. Wrong! It’s tough, but a great habit. Picture a piece of mail. We bring it in, look at who it’s from. Read it quickly and assign it to a pile. Try this for a change – grab the mail, open it. Oh my, it’s a bill. Log on to the Internet, pay the bill for a pre-determined date and mark note on the invoice. Then put the envelope in the recycle bin and file the document with the reference number directly in the cabinet. If you are dealing with hundreds of pieces of mail every month, you can save dozens of hours with this method.

Simple Living Tip #3 – Do One Thing at a Time

On a similar note to item number 2, try to stop multi-tasking. Pick a task and finish it. When it is complete, move on to the next one. Instead of juggling a dozen items, you would be amazed at how quickly you get things done this way. It has the advantage of never having to return to the task because it’s done!

Simple Living Tip #1 – Eliminate

Sounds simple right. Wrong. This is usually the hardest part. Letting go. The first part of this is to take an inventory of what you have. Break it down into rooms. Start with large items first (if it is overwhelming only do a few items per room). Set a schedule and do it in little chunks. There are several ways to eliminate things. Put them up for sale, try Craigslist or Ebay. Donate them to your favourite charity or give them to your friends and family. Archive items you don’t need. Get rid of old papers. Recycle and remove.

Simple Living Tip #2 – Classify

Time to categorize. As you are eliminating you might find items that just don’t belong. Think of your house as a department store and break it into units. Classify those units and put the items in the room that they belong. That way you can get  ready to organize them for later.

Simple Living Tip #3 – Organize

Now that you have your items all broken down into smaller groups you can start to organize them. Find a home for everything. Start thinking about the logical place to put things. Start to see if you have items you don’t need and go back to step one. You will find duplicate items or multi-purpose items that might overlap. This is the time to start making more space and putting things in the right place.

If you get to stage 3 and you still have too much stuff in your room, garage, car etc. guess what? It’s time to go back to stage 1 and eliminate again. Do this until you have a manageable quantity of stuff. Each time you do your spring cleaning you can eliminate a bit more. You will find it more and more simple each time you start your simplifying. Our next issue we will talk about a clutter free office.

Simple Living Tips #1 – Do things Immediately

I’ll give you an example of how this helps. If you wash your dishes right after you’ve eaten, life is more simple. The dishes don’t have crusted food that is hard to remove, saving time and water. It also means they don’t pile up in the sink. If you practice the habit of doing things immediately it makes your environment a little bit cleaner and more simple. Think it doesn’t work, put your shoes away when you come it, hang up your coat, put your clothes in the laundry etc. Then when it’s time to tidy up, there is nothing left to do. If you get in this habit it can help with so many things and shave hours off the time you spend doing them – and doing them only once!

Simple Living Tips #2 – Everything Has A Home

Think of your things as people. People like having a place to lay their heads. They like a home, it makes them feel safe and secure. So your things like being safe and secure, they like having a home. When you arrive at home, start to get in the habit of putting things in the same place every time. If you have keys, put them on a key rack or a spot on your dresser. And do it every time! That way when you spend time looking for them, you simply go to the home and voila – there they are.

Simple Living Tips #3 – Quit Getting New Things

Sometimes the habit of purchasing new things has become just that – a habit. People are seeking fulfilment by getting new stuff or they are so disorganized that they have to pick up and item, again, because they can’t find where the one they had is kept. Don’t just pick things up, thinking “this is neat” or “I might just use this someday” because in the words of CCR “someday, never comes”. So before you buy something or someone pawns something off on yourself, ask the question – “Do I need this?” and then stop yourself.

In our next issue we will talk about the 3 power tips to simplify.

Simple Living Tip #1 – Break it Down into Little Steps

Instead of getting overwhelmed, try breaking your task into little steps. Doing it bit by bit will keep your target in mind and make the task easier to achieve. Each step will hardly feel like a task and the speed with which you achieve will increase over time, especially when you make it a habit.

Simple Living Tip #2 -The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is as the Crow Flies

Most of us have heard this expression but let’s put it into context. In any work process there may be multiple steps to finish a task. Several of those steps may not be necessary, they have been added over time by the “powers that be” to look official. When I worked for GE Capital, they had a process called workout, whose sole purpose was to find out what steps could be eliminated to reach optimum productivity. That is the shortest route to getting things done. Once you have that route picked out, you can follow it to save time and money – fly like a crow.

Simple Living Tip #3 – Work Yourself Backwards

If you work yourself backwards from where you want to be you will discover the route you want to take. This is the art of mastering focus. It teaches you to learn the steps you need to take to reach your final target or goal. The army uses this technique, backwards planning for organizing events and even battles – very effective.

That’s it. Try it, you might like it. Not as hard as it seems and that’s the whole idea. Doing these simple things is an action that is meant to be painless and simple by design. The more try them, the easier they become. Our next issue will talk about the basics to maintain declutter with regular habits.