First off, it took me awhile to think through of how to share this with you.

I have been, recently, been learning more about HOOT. What is HOOT you ask? It is Handling Only One Time. A better description is when you get all that junk mail. (I'm sure you all know what I mean.) Instead of sitting it aside for later viewing, take a few moments to look it over and toss what you don't want into a recycle bin, and put your important pieces in a specified place.

I have a drawer especially for coupons, one for tax info, a wall organizer for other pieces, such as bills that need to be paid, a file, in my filing cabinet, for those paid and a bin for catalogs. Now, whenever I want a specific paper or bill, I know exactly where to go for it. Before, I could be searching for hours for that one piece of mail. What a waste of time.

I have a large garbage can that is sitting in my kitchen, by our table, where my husband sets our mail. It sure has kept me from having numerous pieces of junk mail sitting on my table for days at a time like it used to be.

Not only is my kitchen table cleaner, but I am no longer embarrassed when company or customers come here. (Our kitchen is the first thing seen when walking in our front door.)

Twice a year, and especially now, which is Spring cleaning, I set up three or four boxes, marked, that I use for donations, selling, keeping and trash. These I use for all the whatnots, clothing, kitchen items and whatever else I don't want or do want.

Not only do I make more space for things I really want to keep, but I get to give to those who want what I have and sell things, on the internet, for more income to help Don. This way, I get rid of clutter. With all this clutter gone, my thinking is more clear. So I realize my CMI easier.

If you haven't ever done this, I highly recommend it. You will feel much better without all that extra stuff around that just takes up space that you really don't need or want any way.

What a great way to start Spring practicing HOOT. It's great for your home and for your mind too.

Have any of you practiced HOOT? If so, what benefits have you experienced from it?

Hi Penwright

thanks for the tip, I am in the process of clearing lots of papers, mails, magazines etc and lots of miscellaneous items that were just lying around cluttering my room. And I will now keep only those I have made a decision to use now, not some time later..solves a lot of the clutter issues... and I feel so much better!

Blessings

Well...maybe if I start saying 'What a HOOT' when I look at my stacks of paper I'll start chucking them!

I have a paper problem - moving a lot has helped tremendously with that, but I still cling to a bag of business cards. Contacts are soooo important! You never know when they'll come in handy!

None the less, I think I'm going to tap on releasing my attachment to paper. I think "I might want that information..." or "Oh those pictures will be useful for teaching English.." or "I can practise my Spanish and Catalan by reading that..."

You get the picture.

"Even though I have this bizarre attachment to pieces of paper, I fully love and accept myself, and I choose to release this attachment and live a lighter life."
Tap tap tap

Your right Penwright, clearing the clutter makes a big difference in our energy and the energy around us. Funny, my kids raz me about saying "what a Hoot" all the time. And ME,thanks for the tapping session, I love Brad Yates tapping, speaking of a hoot.

Kevsky, it does make a huge difference to get that clutter out of your life, doesn't it? I'm happy I could help you benefit in some way. You have given so much to so many.

Me, I checked out that web site for the tapping exercise but didn't see it. I'll check it later again. Right now, I'm working on my ten statements for forty days-it's really made a huge difference in my life.

Missie, thanks for your input.

Ok. Now it's time to start working on my office, if you want to call it that. I have a lot of paper work, items and what nots to go through to get rid of. I got my kitchen straightened out, but this is my next priority. Then I'll move onto the bedroom.

The tip is to go one room at a time. I learned this from HGTV and BBC's Clean House.

Well,I have no such a problem. I just throw out these kind of things 1 or 2 days later max. And those which I really must keep,file them in a big folder (in which it belongs) and that's it!

I love to throw out things, which I dont need really much:-))

Love,Light,Abundance and Laughter,

Gabriella

I don't have a problem with the mail - I get the mail and immediately bring it to my office where I sort, throw out, and/or shred. I never put anything with my name and address in the garbage. My bills go into a little cubby slot in my computer center and once paid they are transferred to another cubby area with a door. The door can be locked when I'm traveling. Other things like income tax records go into folders in my file cabinet. Gosh, didn't know I had such a good habit and ritual. Thanks.

However, I have a good friend that does the same thing you used to do with your mail and your kitchen table. Her's is always full of mail, check books, what-nots. I wanted to tell her your idea about the garbage can, etc., but I was afraid I'd insult her so I had her promise me she wouldn't be insulted before I told her. Anyway, she loved your idea and appreciated me telling her.

I could do a better job with my closets though. Hate to get rid of clothes because they're so good and I might want to wear whatever someday. Which really I might as I just haven't gone out much since I moved to Vancouver. hmmm...have to think more on this.

Thanks for your post.
SharonSS

Gabriella, good for you!

sharss, One thing you said I would like to implement is to shred things right away. That is something to consider rather than sitting for hours shredding paper items. What an udder waste of my time. I'm glad I could help your friend. That was the whole point of this post.

From this, other ideas will develop of how to de-clutter our lives. I'm open to many of them.

I also need to let go of some of my clothes. I am pretty sure I will never wear them. Some are really nice, but I am like you, I never go anywhere I could use them. And since I don't work out of home, since they are mainly career clothes, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to sell some of them-just keep the ones I'm especially fond of. Thanks for sharing this. It got me to thinking of what I need to let go. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The weather has turned super nice so now is the time to do things outside. This is what I am into big time. We had such a terribly cold, long winter. I'm so enjoying the warm sunshine. We attained an animal enclosure we are using for our cats, especially Satin, who takes off for days. This gives me the opportunity to work on getting our yard straightened out and building my rock garden.

Some more de-cluttering is to clean the files and emails off of our computers. I, some times, set Sunday as my time to do this.

I would love any tips you may use for regaining speed and space on yours.

Hi penwright,

Again, I don't have a problem with space and speed on my computer, but most aren't as selfish as I am as far as downloading programs. I had my computer custom built 09/2003. My HD is 111GB, Used Space: 8.33GB; Free Space: 103GB. That tells you something.

However, even with all that disk space, I do other things to keep computer in tip-top shape. I do Disk Clean-up every night. After that I go into Temporary Internet Files and delete all Cookies. If I've downloaded updates to my trading programs or deleted a lot of files, I do a Defrag. Once in awhile my charting software will freeze which then sometimes messes up my computer and I can't close down. In those cases if I have to manually close down, I will do an Error Checking Scan which takes a good hour. I would do that at the end of the day. Doesn't hurt to plan to do that once a month anyway. (Always do a Defrag before Error Checking Scan.)

For you, you might just start with doing a disk-cleanup and a defrag. after you have gotten rid of any files.

If you need more info in doing those things, let me know.

Oh, another idea is if you don't have much disk space left, save some files to a CD and get them off your main hard drive.

(edited to add this: Defrag (files organized) + HD Space = Speed)


SharonSS

Sharon, I also had my computer custom built and it is doing really great considering how old it is. I still have plenty of hard drive space.

It runs relatively fast yet, but it could use some more speed. As far as saving onto a CD RW, mine stopped working.

I have a software program, System Mechanic, that cleans out my files, automatically gives back memory, defrags memory and my hard drive, not to mention many other tasks it does.

I don't take all the cookies off each day nor do I use a disk cleaner.

I do have one question. What disk clean-up do you use? I have Windows 2000 Pro so if you are using a program with another version of Windows, I don't have it.

Thanks for giving your input.

Hi penwright,

Wow, that's a great program (System Mechanic) that you have!

You don't need to do a disk clean-up because that program apparently does it for you.

I have Windows XP. You can go to: Documents and Settings -> Owner -> Local Settings -> Temporary Internet Files. Your program should have all the Internet files gone and just Cookies are left. However, maybe your
program gets rid of Cookies too. You can look to see what you have checked in that program.

I don't have a clue what other things you can do especially since you have plenty of disk space. Sorry.

I have Comcast Cable Internet and don't have a speed problem at all. Speed is important since I trade Futures and speed is imperative. (practice trading presently).

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. YW for my input even if it wasn't helpful.

SharonSS

Well, folks, this is taking me much longer than I expected. I'm still in the process of getting rid of clutter. (Many years of accumulation has taken it's toll-a lesson learned.)

I will be so glad when our shed is finished so we can move a lot of stuff out into it instead of cramming them into every cranny, crook and corner. This is suppose to be done this weekend but will only happen if it stops raining.

Any ideas what to do with old shoes other than throw them in the trash? I've tried selling some. That didn't go over. Strange how people will buy from a thrift store, but when it comes to yard sales, they just don't want them. Anyway, I still have way too much stuff so am still working on it.

quote:

Originally posted by penwright1029:

Any ideas what to do with old shoes other than throw them in the trash? it.

Burn them.

I have a song called 'Recover the Dance' and at the end I sing: "Throw away your old shoes, burn them, in the ash you'll find a new pair of shoes, shoes that sparkle, shoes that glitter, shoes that dance, dance, dance, then you can dance, dance, dance the night away, dance your way thru life..." etc or words to that effect.

Try it and let me know what happens :-)

Sorry ME, but NO Way. I've got some really nice ones that someone can get some use out of so I'm going to give those to women who wouldn't have them otherwise. The tennis shoes we cannot burn here. It's against the clean act.

So that's what is going to happen. There are many charities I can give them to or I'm just going to post them on line.

quote:

Originally posted by sharss:
I don't have a problem with the mail - I get the mail and immediately bring it to my office where I sort, throw out, and/or shred. I never put anything with my name and address in the garbage.

One warning to those with shredders and animals or children. Tiny fingers, paws and tails can and will fit into the shredder slot easily, unless you have one of those more expensive shredders that shut off when something other than paper is detected please keep the shredder unplugged when not in use.

quote:

Originally posted by penwright1029:
Any ideas what to do with old shoes other than throw them in the trash? I've tried selling some. That didn't go over. Strange how people will buy from a thrift store, but when it comes to yard sales, they just don't want them.

I have just dropped shoes that I have barely worn and therefore NOT broken in at the Goodwill but others I just toss in the garbage, since the recycle doesn't extend to shoes and such, unfortunately.

I don't buy used shoes, I value my feet and feel that shoes are too important to maintaining my healthy posture and physical wellbeing. Since my job requires me to be on my feet all day brand new shoes broken in to my feet specifically helps to eliminate potential back and leg problems.

quote:

Originally posted by BEing NOW!:
One warning to those with shredders and animals or children. Tiny fingers, paws and tails can and will fit into the shredder slot easily, unless you have one of those more expensive shredders that shut off when something other than paper is detected please keep the shredder unplugged when not in use.

Hi BeingNow,

That is great to know! Although I don't have little fingers around and my shredder is located safely from my cat, I will certainly pass this warning on to my family members.

Just something I never thought of.

I appreciate your input.

SharonSS

A new tip I have for de-cluttering is to separate items by using these words.

Friend
Acquaintance
Stranger

The hostess explained, when something seems to be a friend, you keep it.

If it is more like an acquaintance, then you either sell or give it away.

If it is a stranger, wherein you haven't used or even looked at it for a months, then give it away to a charity, sell it or toss it.

Since we are doing what we can to keep things out of our landfills, may I recommend you give as much away or sell it, as possible. Even if something doesn't seem like much to you, someone else may want it or can make it into something else.

People are becoming more creative to enhance this cause. They don't want items sitting in trash dumps for years. Craftsman can use glass, especially colored, for art. Refinishers will take a table, chair or other piece of furniture and replenish it like new. They may, then, sell or keep or give it to someone else. A good example of this is a TV show I used to watch.

One of my favorite innovative shows, which has been taken off of HGTV was, Junk Brothers. I loved seeing them take items off the street that was meant for the garbage man. It could be a chair that the rungs were broken or a bench that was scratched up. For instance, I saw where one of the brothers came up with the idea of making two chairs into a very unusual, but functional bench. They would renovate the items, they chose. Then they would take a picture of the items, then drop them back to where they first found them. When the previous owners would come out, they would be able to see how the item, they had tossed, was integrated into something new that could be used. The Junk Brothers always added their brass symbol to each piece so when the people saw it, they would know who had made it. When the brothers saw the people find it, they would take off. They always had their dog with them too so it was with him included, which made it even more interesting, especially for dog lovers.

Hi penwright,

This is in regards to your comment about the speed of your computer.

I came across this information and didn't know this myself. Not sure if you have Real Player or not, but even if you don't, it's good info to know.

http://www.stopbadware.org/home/reports

Scroll down to Real Player in right column.
Blessings,
SharonSS