One of the easiest steps for detoxifying your inbox and getting a jump on inbox overload is to stop it before it comes in. It’s also a great tip for dealing with your paper inbox. So you can apply these tips there as well.

• Are there subscriptions that you never have time to read? Do you belong to a ton of listservs that don’t really provide any value? Unsubscribe or cancel them.

• If you don’t already have one, install a good spam filter and train it well. If you simply delete all of the true spam that comes into your inbox, the volume will remain the same. Training your spam filter by marking messages as spam and blocking senders or domains will decrease your volume of spam.

• Do you have well meaning friends and family that send you every chain letter, tax scam, prayer and pretty picture that comes their way? Ask them to remove you from their distribution list. “But how?”, you say? Your friends and family genuinely want to help you and you would be surprised what they will do if you simply ask for their assistance. If you are having a hard time asking, the next time you receive one of their junk emails, reply with the below response and customize as you wish:

Hi <name>,

I would like to request your assistance. I am making an effort to simplify and get organized and would like to spend less time in my inbox. Would you mind removing me from your distribution list for jokes and other forwards? I always love to hear from you personally and I thank you for helping me to simplify.

• If there is absolutely, positively someone who would die of heartbreak at your request or someone who make your life miserable with the big G (GUILT), then set up a rule and have emails from that person automatically sent to a separate junk mail folder and get them out of your inbox.

Do you have any other suggestions for getting off of that loved one’s distribution list? Love to hear what has worked for you.

photo credit: gruntzooki

We live in a society where we are bombarded with information from every angle and we are especially overloaded by incoming email. Try Googling “Email Overload“- you will get 299,000 results. Everyone seems to be suffering from it.

So, why are we so overloaded by email? Here are some points of pain that seem to be common among email users:

• One of the basic frustrations of disorganization in general, and email specifically, is not being able to find what you need when you need it.
• Your inbox fills up quicker than you can empty it. Therefore, if you don’t keep up you will be perpetually trying to catch up.
• You can’t get any REAL work done because you are too busy dealing with email.
• You feel pressured to reply to ALL of your emails quickly.

I’d love to hear your email pain points and why you may be frustrated and overwhelmed by email in the comments section. More on email overload next week…

The Annual National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) conference was a blast! I got to meet a great group of P.O. bloggers and it has motivated me to formulate my blog action plan. I have already made some changes behind the scenes (upgrades, etc.) and have a shopping list (with tasks broken down, duration and delivery dates, of course!) so check back often to see what’s new. In the meantime, you can check out fellow PO, Brandie Kajino’s post about the Organizing Business Meetup at the NAPO conference in Reno.

And who knew Professional Organizers were so talented?!? OK, some- not so much- but everyone who attended had a ball. Check out this pic of some of my Clear & SIMPLE cohorts singing about the SEE IT, MAP IT, DO IT™ Systems! You can also check out Ten Reasons Why The Next President Needs To Be An Organizer on John Trosko’s OrganizingLA blog.

And the NAPO conference went International…Here’s a pic of me (middle) with Linda Chu, the President of Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) and Wendy Davie, the President of the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers (AAPO).

Check back soon…I will be updating my blogroll with some great organizing blogs!

Hi! I am currently writing this from Reno, NV where I am attending the 20th Annual National Association of Professional Organizers Conference. The conference hasn’t even started yet but I am excited about all the friends to see (old & new), things to learn and products to share!

This year’s conference is at John Ascuaga’s Nugget and the rooms are great. I have even found a great product here in my room…it’s the shower curtain. Don’t you hate hanging your shower curtain? It’s a pain to change it out and if you change the liners frequently, you may have to deal with punching out the holes on the new liner while struggling not to drop the hooks.

Try the Hookless® It’s a snap!™ Shower Curtain from Arcs & Angles! To start, the shower curtain has a sheer panel at the top to allow light into the tub area. For those of us who don’t have lighting in the tub area, this is a lifesaver when you have a razor in your hand. Then, there are no shower hooks to struggle with. The large grommet style openings have a slit between every other opening so they slip right on to the shower curtain rod and the slits are hidden by the rod.

And finally, the liner is actually attached with plastic snaps that make it quick & simple to remove for washing. You can also check out Arcs & Angles other great bathroom innovations- the Arc Shower Bar™ or the Slide & Tilt Medicine Cabinet Organizer.

If you have any great bathroom products, I’d love to hear about them in the comments section!  And check back soon for more updates from my NAPO conference experience!

I often have clients that have updated their computer equipment (mouse, keyboard, cpu, monitor, etc.) with the latest and greatest and held onto the old one ‘just in case’.  Which is reasonable to do for a set amount of time (i.e. 3 months is being quite conservative), in case there is a problem, etc.  However, after 3 months I would recommend finding a friend or relative who could use the equipment that you no longer have a use for.  Otherwise, you may find yourself in the same situation as many of my clients who have cpu’s, keyboards, peripherals, etc. that were outdated the minute they were purchased, nevermind 4 years later after you have sucked the useful life out of them but they still ‘work’. 

Let me share with you a harsh reality, your old equipment is not worth the time you will spend trying to get good money for it.  Believe me, I have learned through my own experience and that of my clients, that the highest expectation you should have for your used computer equipment is to donate it to a friend, family member, post it on a free site like craigslist OR drop it off at a recycling center.  If you are looking for someplace to recycle a cpu or hard drive, even that is an risky situation unless you know how to wipe your data clean.  If you have a clean drive or other equipment, there are a handful of donation sites you can bring your equipment to.  They will charge you $10-20 per piece of large equipment to cover handling, recycling, etc. No charge for smaller computer peripherals like keyboards, mice, and speakers. 

Trust me…No, you are not going to sell it on ebay (you won’t get much more than what you will need to shell out for postage so it’s not worth your time).  If you don’t believe me, feel free to invest your already-scarce time researching what comparable products have sold for (and then taking pics, gathering specification information, researching postage, posting it, packing it and bringing it to your local shipping store).   And No, you are not likely to sell it at a garage sale either.

Please let us know of any resources you know for recycling used computer equipment by posting a comment.