Simple Life Together

An Introduction to the Simple Life Together Podcast Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! Welcome!  We’ve waited a long time to get started on this and we’re so excited to finally “get it out there.”  So, in the show we give you an introduction to us, a little bit about our background, what “simple” means to us, and then we talk about our format for the show. We shared the major “pillars” of our life plan, highlighting that our focus is on the following: – Faith – Family – Friends – Finances – Future Ok, so here’s how we envision the Format of the show: Every episode, we’ll each pick topics for discussion. Vanessa’s will likely focus on organizing, the household or her business and Dan’s will likely be centered around technology, business or DIY projects. Together, we’ll also focus on family issues/kids, our relationships, future plans, designing our lifestyle, etc.  These are just some areas, but we haven’t set any boundaries because life has endless topics. We’ll also have a segment where we each pick one thing per episode that we want to highlight…something that’s had a positive impact on us since the last show.  It could be an app, an experience we had, a conversation, a product, whatever. We tried to come up with a name for this thing, whatever it is, and in the end we just decided to call it ”The Thing.” Our commitment for the show: – Nearly complete candor…but some things you know you can’t just put “out there” – Little sugar coating because life isn’t always sweet and besides, we’re low carb eaters – Imperfection…because nobody’s perfect. Perfect is the enemy of really good.  Our goal is to produce a really good (but simple) show. – Open to feedback and new topics!  We want you to be part of the show because that’s how we all learn – Not too much structure…because we’ve both had jobs that pegged-out the “structure meter” and now we like our lives to be a little more “freeform.” A little bit about us… – We both have our own businesses, which really helps with designing our simply life together – Dan is retired from his first career and now does  Business Development Consulting helping niche business with their branding, media presence, and strategic planning. – Vanessa is a Professional Organizer and helps clients simplify and organize their lives, at home and at work so they have more time to focus on what’s truly important to them, too. So that’s what we do for a living and I’m sure we’ll share more about ourselves as we go along. What Simple Means to Us – Actually having time to enjoy life with those we love – Living within our means – Not being slaves to our possessions – Embracing the concept of “less is more” – Living more deliberately – Focusing on our endstate and how we want our lives to be in the long run – Less  distress (negative stress), more eustress (positive stress) The Thing Segment: Vanessa:  Not compare herself to others Dan:  Quote from Antoine de Saint Exupéry “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Closing Thoughts: We hope you join us on the journey If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you ! Be sure to leave comments below or send us a voicemail.  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome! Links we mentioned in the show: Tim Ferriss 4HWW Deferred Retirement Plan Michael Hyatt’s Life Plan  Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! 

Well, we got past our first episode and in Episode 2 we discuss how using routines can help simplify your life, and some simple ways to get the most out of search and research. Routines help make things predictable, let you better plan you time, and make things more efficient. So, we’ll be sharing some tips on how to tap into that power so routines can simplify your life, too! When something is new to you or you need more information, most people turn to Google to find answers. But are you using Google as effectively as you could? We’ll share some of our tricks to help you become a wizard at search and research! Read more… Main Topics:   Vanessa’s Topic: How Routines Can Simplify Your Life Two Common Reasons People are Disorganized: Lack of Defined Priorities or Life Goals:  Without purpose you’ll continue to run around aimlessly allowing others to dictate to you what’s important. Lack of Routines:  Overwhelming reason for disorganization but having set routines is one of the greatest tools to helping you get and stay organized. Key Components of Creating Routines w/Family, Co-Workers or Employees:  Establish EXPECTATIONS: Example: You want your kids to clean room, make the bed, get ready for bed, clean up time, play time, etc. SHOW exactly how to get the task done and WHY. PRACTICE with them! Repetition and recency (do task often and not too far apart…daily) are keys to learning a routine faster. Establish a system of REWARDS and CONSEQUENCES Morning /Nightly Routines: Morning and Nightly Routines: Your day really starts the night before! Pack lunches. Set out clothes and iron if necessary (I use a hanging shoe organizer to set out 2 weeks worth of clothes). Set yours and your kids’ alarms clocks. Have kids shower at night…it’s calming and one less thing to worry about! Prep your coffee and set out your vitamins and medications. Set the breakfast table. Check school backpacks and folders. Review your calendar and school schedules. Create a checklist and post it on the door or common area for all to see. Prep dinner: review your menu, take out freezer items to defrost. Paper and Mail Routines: Check mail daily and sort it right away…don’t let it pile. File…don’t pile. Use and Action File to organize your daily papers. Use a scanner to keep digital files instead of paper files. Save documents in Evernote or Dropbox. Sort through your kids folders daily and be scrupulous.  Don’t keep what’s not important.  Use a keepsakes bin to store your child’s favorite papers. For a more detailed list of routines and links to helpful tips, check out the notes Vanessa created for a special presentation she gave to a group of moms: http://getsimplifized.com/routines-briefing Dan’s Topic:  Simple Ways to Get the most out of Search and Research We all use the web to Search and do research, but many many of us were never really taught good search skills. When you’re doing research, know that many search engine results are skewed positive simply because of advertising and affiliate efforts. First few results on a page, the ones typically bolded or with a highlighted background at the top (and sometimes the bottom) of the page are paid advertisements. These may provide you lots of information, they’re also there to lead you to buy the product.  Many other top links are what’s called Affiliate Links. Affiliates get a small percentage of the sale of a product. So while not all affiliate links are bad, they too are there to lead you to a sale. Many websites that end in “review” or “reviews” are affiliate sites that compare different models or brands of whatever you’re searching for. The key is determining if the review is from someone you trust. If this search is the first time you’ve been to that site then you’re trust level may not be as high. We use affiliate links for products we use and would recommend anyway. Not all affiliates disclose their affiliation so take the advice of many of those site with a grain of salt. Crowd sourced reviews…like reviews on Amazon.  When we do buy things, we often buy from Amazon and we’re Amazon Prime members because you get free 2-day shipping, and access to free Amazon Instant videos (not that we watch much TV, but thought you might like to know they’re free). It makes things simple. Items typically rate between 1 and 5 stars The more ratings the better because then you have a broader view Click on the Star levels to see ratings from each You can learn as much from 1-2 star reviews as you do from 4-5 reviews For restaurants and service locally, check out Google Local and Yelp Both have crowd-sourced reviews So do services like Angie’s List but you pay for membership A technique I use for lots of things, including searching and researching: Think in the obverse (or opposite) You’ll find lots of info out there about how “good” things are, but as I mentioned, it’s skewed So when you’re searching for whether something is good, you’re also hoping to find out whether it’s not good so you don’t get taken! So, search for “xxx sucks” People have less motivation to take the time to post bad info (not making money from it) Highlights problems they’ve had with the product or company…you won’t find that on the product’s site! Obverse searching helped me decide on which online backup to go with. I chose DollyDrive, hands down.  The two other big names I searched where just riddled with results (over 2000 for one) and zero for Dolly Drive.  Unscientific? Yes. Simple technique? You bet! Some simple tips for using your Google Search Bar: Exact Phrase:  If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. [“simple life together”] will only find that exact phrase. However, if you type “simple life” together, you’ll find pages that contain the exact phrase “simple life” and also togther. Either/or: Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator Not: If you don’t want a term or phrase, use the minus “-” symbol. Using the sample example as before, if I search for “simple life” in quotations, I’m swamped with results for the TV shoe “The SimpleLife” with Paris Hilton.  So, I could also choose to use “simple life” in quotations and then “minus symbol” Paris -Paris Give music a test drive: Looking for the latest tunes or a song from your high school days?  just type the artist or song title in the search bar and you’ll probably get a few YouTube Options!  Speaking of YouTube:  You know it’s the world’s #2 search engine, behind it’s daddy, Google (who owns YouTube).  Need to know how to do something? Install a car stereo, make an Everything Bagel Mix, Delete a Facebook post from your iPhone…YouTube is the place for you! Current Weather Conditions: Type “weather” followed by the city and state, US zip code, or city and country. Conversions: Google Converts Units of Measure: Google’s conversion tool can convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, volume and many others. Simply enter your desired conversion into the search box and we’ll do the rest.  This tool is perfect in the kitchen when you need to convert for recipes.  So, to convert from cups to tablespoons I simply type in: X cups in tablespoons. But don’t stop there…you can use this tool to convert all sorts of things from currency, and distance, to measurements in time (although I have to admit I could easily convert years to days but still have no idea what 4 score and seven years equals…so sorry Abe). Simple Math: Yep, the Google search bar also has a built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box.  To add use the “+” sign, to subtract use the (you guessed it) “-“ sign, use “*” to multiply, and “/” to divide. Google Is a Dictionary: No more smelly old books if you wanted a definition, correct spelling, or a synonym!   To check your spelling, simply make a good guess, and Google’s spell checking software will automatically check whether your query uses the most common spelling of a given word. If it thinks you’re likely to generate better results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more common spelling)?” Definitions: To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word “define” colon, then the word(s) you want defined. To see a list of different definitions from various online sources, you can type “define:” followed by a word or phrase. Movie Info: Just type in “movies” and your “area code” (e.g. movies 90210) Area Codes: Just type the three-digit US area code, hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button and Google gives you the area code service area. Track Flight Status and Airport Conditions (awesome):  For arriving and departing U.S. flights, type in the name of the airline and the flight number into the search box. Check delays at a specific airport by typing in the name of the city or three-letter airport code followed by the word “airport”. Track Packages (way awesome!): Type in the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS package directly into the search box. Google returns results that include quick links to easily track the status of your shipment.  You can check out these and other Google Search Bar tips at: http://getsimplifized.com/search The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa:  Change is a process…even though we are on this journey to create a simple life together, we can backslide and fall into the trap of “wanting”more sometimes.  Just acknowledge that changing your lifestyle is a process and get back on track. Dan:  Dan gave thanks to Cliff Ravenscraft the PodcastAnswerman at PodcastAnswerman.com or GSPN.tv. This podcast wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for him. Cliff has been a huge inspiration and Dan’s “personal podcasting mentor.” He coaches some of the biggest names on the internet in podcasting, such as Dan Miller from 48 Days to the Work You Love, 2 time NY Times

Why We Can’t Let Go of Our Clutter, Backing Up Your Digital Information, & A Little About Dropbox Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! In Episode 3 we discuss reasons why some people can’t seem to let go of clutter and some tips that may help you decide what to keep and what to let go.  We also talk about some lessons learned from a catastrophic hard drive crash which sparked the “Your Backup Strategy’ strategy segment, and we wanted to sing a few praises for Dropbox. Dropbox is one way to save documents to the cloud and sync them across all your devices simply. Main Topics:   Vanessa’s Topic: Why We Can’t Let Go of Our Clutter We feel the need for abundance. We are a consumer-driven society and conditioned to think more is better…it’s all about quantity over quality. We’ve lived a life “without” and find security with having more. Living through the Depression, growing up in a modest or poor  household, or surviving a rough financial patch can play a huge role in why folk don’t ever want to “live without” again. Forget Justin Bieber…we’re more influenced by Justin Case.  You know, “I might need this someday…just in case.” Some folks want to be ultra-prepared for any scenario. It’s ok to be prepared, but try to be realistic…especially if all that stuff is getting in the way. We feel a sense of obligation. Many feel a sense of obligation to keep every gift. It’s ok to hold on to things but you do have the ability to say no. We fear losing the memory if we get rid of something. Many of us have had wonderful and meaningful experiences throughout our lifetime but we fear that if we get rid of a gift, we’ll forget that person, experience or important time in our life. We want to pay tribute to our past experiences.  Like from our childhood, past careers or travels.  It’s easy to go overboard on collections but try to be mindful of collecting too much. We’ve spent too much money and feel like it’s a waste if we give it away. Let’s face it. We’ve all probably spend a good fortune on things that we never used or never really liked. Boy does that sting! Chalk it up as a lesson learn, be more frugal and research before purchasing another product and find comfort in donating your goods to folks who are less fortunate. We’re holding on to the past. We tend to keep things that remind us of times when we were happy, the most confident, or the most successful. And sometimes we hold on for a deeper reason...like allowing our things to define our self-worth…or define our happiness.  Many folks believe that shopping and having more makes them happier but often times it’s just a temporary fix to “fill the void” of something else that’s missing in their lives.  Simple Steps to Help You Let Go:  Start with the space that’s causing you the most grief or anxiety. This could be the home office, the kitchen, the laundry room, the bedroom etc. Then start small. Pick a small area to work on like a drawer, a shelf, a cabinet, one spot on the kitchen counter, one filing drawer.  You wouldn’t eat an elephant in one sitting right?  You’d take small bites and eat a little at a time.  (Not sure I like that analogy…the thought of eating an elephant is stomach wrenching but you get the point right!) Then ask yourself these questions when deciding what to keep or not to keep: Do I love it? Do I need it? Do I use it? When was the last time I used it? When do I plan on using it? Can I borrow it? Can I rent it? What’s the worst that will happen if I got rid of it? If you answered “yes” to the first three questions then you should probably keep the item. If you answered “no” then considered letting it go.  If you’re still struggling then ask the other questions and you’ll more than likely find your answer. Dan’s Topic:  Backing Up Your Digital Information and an Intro to Dropbox Backing Up Your Digital Information:  As anyone who has experienced an unrecoverable hard drive crash knows, your first thoughts are “oh my gosh…what files did I just lose forever?” The reason I lost some files is boils down to one thing…I failed to make the process simple. Negative Lessons Learned I took too long to make my decision on which backup system to use for my huge video files Foolish rookie decision making mistake. George S. Patton: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” (when it’s too late) Positive Lessons Learned:  My routine of using Dropbox (and Google Drive) for all my important work docs proved a complete success. While all docs, pics, vids, etc, that were hosted in my iMac are gone, every single one I had on the Cloud (whether Dropbox or Drive) are intact and those workflows are seamless. I use Dropbox and Drive as much for convenience as I do as a part of my backup plan. I love to have my docs accessible wherever I am and it’s so convenient to be able to share docs with clients. By having everything in Dropbox intact reinforces a solid backup strategy: again, ensure you have your info backed up to an external drive, and be sure you also have an off site/cloud storage backup, as well. Ensure you test your strategy from time to time.  Your big takeaways! Follow the 3 S’s…Make your backup Simple, Seamless and Solid.   Simple…so you don’t have to think about it, it just happens in the background. If you do have to think about it, set reminders in your calendar. If you use Google calendars, send text message reminders to yourself. Seamless…if you have regular backups to an external drive, make sure that drive is also backed up off site.  Initial backup to the Cloud can take up to a couple weeks, depending on your connection speed and how much data you have, of course. Solid…evaluate that your system works. Try to download files from your backup system and see if there are bottlenecks or barriers to your system. How easy would it be to do a complete system restore if you lost your hard drive? As I reevaluated my backup strategy, I added immediate (and blazing fast Thunderbolt external backup) that can handle my huge video files, followed by nightly off site backup with DollyDrive. As I mentioned in Episode 002, I chose Dolly Drive because they’re Mac specific and I really couldn’t find any complaints about them anywhere! I can’t endorse DollyDrive yet because I just started using it, but I’ll be sure to give updates. Make sure your backup plan is simple but complete… On site backup to an external drive Cloud backup off site. A Little Bit About Dropbox Dropbox is probably not your total backup solution. Use Dropbox to supplement a good backup plan by storing docs there. Dropbox is FREE and they give you 2Gb to start out with.  You can sign up at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Dropbox. You can earn up to 18 Gb of additional storage through referrals, too. They have paid plans if you use LOTS of storage space (that’s what we use) How It Works: What dropbox does is simply add another folder on your computer that acts as a virtual drive. You can load Dropbox on your PC, Mac, smartphones, tablets, etc, and have everything synchronized on every device. If you change or edit a document in Dropbox while working on your laptop, it will automatically update everywhere else. Even if you’re on someone else’s device, you can log in to your Dropbox account on the web and access your information there. You can even share documents or folders with others so they can have access, too.  And it’s all done seamlessly…on the Cloud. You can use it for photos and videos, too. While Dropbox isn’t our backup plan, it supplements our plan since I host most of my everyday documents on it, making them always available on every device and always synced. The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa: ANALYSIS PARALYSIS: Too many choices can be overwhelming and frustrating…life is much easier and simpler when choices are few.  This strategy works great with kids too! Dan:  EVERNOTE!  We both use and LOVE Evernote!  It is what they say, an external brain.  If you’re into David Allen’s Getting Things Done system, or any other productivity system for that matter, then you know how every system touts “ubiquitous capture,” aka “getting everything out of your head or your environment and getting it recorded somewhere (notebook, 3″ x 5” cards…or Evernote). We plan on doing a future podcast(s) dedicated to how we use Evernote, but in the meantime, check out Evernote.com and see if it might just rock your world like it has ours. Closing Thoughts: If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you ! Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you! Links We Mentioned in the Show: Get Simplifized.com: Vanessa’s article on Letting Go of Your Clutter Dropbox: You can learn more and download Dropbox at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Dropbox Evernote: Your “external brain” Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!      

Benefits of Organizing & Having Less, and Some Weird Sounding Simplicity Tools That Might Just Help You Out Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! In Episode 4, we discuss Benefits of Organizing & Having Less, and Some Weird Sounding Simplicity Tools That Might Just Help You Out. Main Topics:   Vanessa’s Topic: Benefits to Organizing and Having Less You’ll save money, have less debt and be better able to handle tough financial times. It’s pretty simple: less stuff  =  less money you’ll have to spend…especially on off-site storage rentals! You’ll cut down on buying duplicates when you’re organized and know what you have. You’ll save on late fees and interest rates if you have a good system of tracking and managing your bills. You’ll have more usable space. You’ll be able to properly utilize desktops, countertops and your dinner table. And maybe your garage too! Less stuff means you can use the spaces in your homes for their intended purposes and not just for storage. You’ll help avoid “analysis paralysis.” We talked about this in Episode 3. When you have too much stuff it’s difficult to make decisions. With less choices, there’s less time wasted. There’s less to clean and maintain! Average home 3 bedroom home has over 350,ooo items in it! Knick knacks and all those other things require lots of dusting, laundering, storage, cleaning and maintenance…and lots of money! You can invite guests over without hesitation. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have them over without feeling embarrassed or in a rush to clean it up? Having simple routines and “a place for everything and everything in its place” makes for easy clean up. You’ll be more productive. Start getting organized by having scheduled routines(mentioned in Episode 2): laundry, housecleaning, meal planning, etc. Helps ensure the “must-dos” get done…plus allows more  time to focus on other priorities or those…“want-to-dos.” You’ll  have better concentration. Piles of papers, heaps of laundry and sinks full of dishes are haunting reminders of stuff you still have to do. It’s hard to concentrate when your home and office are a mess. You’ll save time. The average person wastes about 55 minutes per day searching for things…keys, files, tools, clothes, etc. That’s a lot of time over the course of a year! Again, having “a place for everything and everything in its place” helps speed up the time it takes to clean up or find things. You’ll have a sense of control.  Control = Confidence = Nicer You! Knowing where things are and when important tasks will get done creates confidence. Most folks are ashamed of their clutter and therefore ashamed of themselves. You’ll have less guilt Don’t you feel guilty when you buy something when you know you really didn’t need it. It’s way more empowering when you can say “no” to those buying impulses and not bring in more stuff. You’ll have more Joy and be more content. Striving for more and waiting for the day that you’ll strike it rich will deplete the joy you could be experiencing every day. You’ll never be content if you’re always comparing, striving for more stuff, collecting, etc. You’ll have more time and better relationships. You’ll have a feeling of calm and peace of mind. Dan’s Topic: Backing Up Your Digital Information: Some Weird Sounding Simplicity Tools That Might Just Help You Out Occam’s Razor: “Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.” Benedictine monk…William lived in Ockham, England from 1285-1349. William wasn’t the person who came up with the idea behind the razor, but he was widely known for professing it’s benefits, so it soon came to be known for him. The first time the term Occam’s razor was used, was in 1852, over 500 years after Occam’s death. Occam’s Razor Take Away: Try to develop the simplest solutions to problems and challenges. Much like the KISS method, keeping processes, workflows, recipes, you name it, simple, helps you to be able to replicate successes. Next up is Parkinson’s Law which states: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. C. Northcote Parkinson (30 July 1909 – 9 March 1993) British naval historian, author of sixty books (most famous of which Parkinson’s Law), scholar within the field of public administration, satirist of government bureaucracy. Storage requirements will increase to meet storage capacity Data expands to fill the space available for storage. Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Expenditures rise to meet income The amount of time which one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete the task. The Stock-Sanford Corollary to Parkinson’s Law reads, “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.” I call that the “Homework Corollary.” Parkinson’s Law Take Away: Realize that the “status quo” can quickly turn into the status “whoa!”  What that big house because you enjoy the extra space? It’ll fill up.  Pareto Principle: Often called the 80/20 Rule. 80% of the results likely comes from 20% of the effort. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population Developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. This same 80/20 split kept revealing itself. Led ol’ Villy to determine that, generally, 80% of effects likely come from the 20% of causes. Another way to think about isOrganization: Do you keep the 20% of the things you use almost every day in logical places to maximize your efficiency? Are the other 80% of your belongings getting in the way when you don’t need them? Maybe it’s time to look at how much stuff you really need, identify your vital 20% and pare the other 80% down a bit? Productivity: When it comes to productivity you need to think “systems.” Look at the vital few tasks you do that have the biggest impact. Do you have a system in place for your “to do” list, paying bills, buying groceries, filing important documents, home and vehicle maintenance, etc. More about Pareto’s 80/20 Rule at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Pareto Take Aways from Pareto: Use Pareto’s Principle to determine key actions that have the most results in your life, your most important 20% of effort, habits, possessions, etc, to learn where you can pare down what you do, have and use. Use these tools individually and together to your advantage to simplify your life. The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa: Michael Hyatt Blog Post:  The Gift of Today-Lessons from a Monk.  This post featured a beautiful video that Michael Hyatt forwarded and wrote about .  It’s an absolutely beautiful video that’s narrated by a monk where he encourages us to be grateful.  Here’s one of his excerpts: “You think this is just another day in your life.  It’s not just another day  It’s the one day that is given to you today…It’s the only gift that you have right now.  And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.” Dan: The Decline of Fascination and the Rise in Ennui (on-wee). A blog post by Seth Godin…a fellow Buffalonian and some consider him a modern day philosopher.  Here’s a quick excerpt from his post: “The real opportunity, I think, is in trying to build longer arcs. Now that the cycle of new is eating itself in a race to ever-faster, there’s a bigger chance to make long term change by consistently focusing on what works (and what’s important), not what’s new and merely shiny. What’s important, what’s always important, is useful change.” Closing Thoughts: If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you ! Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you! Links we mentioned in the show: Get Simplifized.com: Vanessa’s article on Benefits to Organizing and Having Less. Very good article on Occam’s Razor over at You’re Making Me More about Pareto’s 80/20 Rule at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Pareto Michael Hyatt Blog Post:  The Gift of Today-Lessons from a Monk.You can find more of Seth Godin’s work at http://sethgodin.typepad.com Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!

The One Secret To Accomplishing Anything & the Laws of Simplicity Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! Feedback: We got some terrific voicemail feedback from John Bukenas from  LetsReverseObesity.com. John’s podcast Let’s Reverse Obesity is fantastic! John is doing great things chronicling his weight loss and is helping so many others along the way. Thanks, John, for listening, subscribing, and taking the time to send us some feedback. We also got a very, very nice comment here on Episode 004 from Marshall Ponzi. Thank you Marshall for your kind words and you’re so right…it IS amazing what we can do without. And, I think we’d agree that doing without all the extra allows us to truly appreciate what we do have all the more. Marshall also has a terrific podcast over at InboundInFocus.com that gives great inbound marketing tips for business owners. If you’re a business owner you’d be well served to check out Marshalls podcast, Inbound In Focus, as well. Main Topics:   Vanessa’s Topic: The One Secret To Accomplishing Anything  “I’m often asked what my secret is to being organized and how I get my clients to become more organized.” The single most important component to becoming organized is commitment. So why is commitment to change so difficult? 1. It’s not a priority….at least not yet. 2. Change is hard…even when you know it’s good for you. 3. It takes a lot of work…and that can be daunting and discouraging. 4. Unfortunately, often times people have to reach some sort of “breaking point.” Vanessa highlights some of her efforts to change: Finances $24K in debt Electricity and phone cut off Creditors hounding her for payments. Fitness 40 lbs heavier than her current weight Combined, the struggles led to: Low self esteem Depression Low energy Keys to her commitment to change: Stopped playing the victim Committed to a lifestyle change vs “quick fix” Results? Paid off debt in 2 years  Rebuilt credit score Kept the weight off Better level of fitness than in high school (20 years ago! Wow! She’s OLD!) Vanessa’s Truths: Truly believes “If I can do it, so can you!” One key is to be realistic about the change you want to make…and understand that it’s a process…not a quick fix. Be patient, systematic and strategic…otherwise you might do something you’ll regret or resent. One positive example is a blog she subscribes to, “Becoming Minimalist” by Joshua Becker.  I like the word…Becoming…because it implies that it’s a process. So, here are some points to ponder if you are thinking about making a change in your life: 1. Change your mindset…it’s a lifestyle change not a quick fix. Just like my progress with weight loss and fitness. 2. Change doesn’t happen overnight. 3. Realize that you may get discouraged at the task ahead.  But don’t sell yourself short.  You can do it! Again, think of it as a process and break it down into bite-sized chunks. (organize one space at a time…pay off one bill at a time…try one eating lifestyle or fitness plan at a time) 4. Realize that you may “fall of the wagon” and that maintaining your lifestyle may be difficult.  Pick yourself back up, and hop back on the wagon! 5. Once you get in the groove, you’re probably going to get addicted! Ask Dan…I can be a real grouch if I’ve missed a few workouts and if my house gets too cluttered.  That’s because I’ve gotten addicted to the results and love how they make me feel.  Feeling comfortable in my clothing and in my home are incredibly elating.  You’ll feel the same once you get in the groove. These are healthy addictions in my opinion. 6. You’ll start to build confidence!  And reduce stress.  You won’t have those negative thoughts lingering around in your mind.  Instead you’ll be thinking about taking the next step…decreasing your debt further….trying a new fitness routine…shedding some more clutter…etc. 7. You’ll love the results! And the freedom you’ll experience. Creating goals and setting out to achieve them is one thing…accomplishing them is nothing short of AWESOME!  Dan’s Topic: The Laws of Simplicity Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda John Maeda is the president of the Rhode Island School of Design, where his bio says he’s dedicated to linking design and technology. Entertaining TED talk on YouTube (link below) While the book covers more, Dan discussed just the ones below Actually “rules” more than “laws” There are some really terrific take aways Some of the “Laws” REDUCE – The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction ORGANIZE – Organization makes a system of many appear fewer. TIME – Savings in time feel like simplicity. LEARN – Knowledge makes everything simpler. DIFFERENCES – Simplicity and complexity need each other. You can only appreciate “highs” if you’ve experienced “lows.” CONTEXT – What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.  Think of this like “margin” … room in your schedule to breathe, margins on a sheet of paper that highlight what’s within the margin, etc… Simplicity is highlighted by margin. FAILURE – Some things can never be made simple. Yep! Unfortunately, this one is true and we just have to accept it. THE ONE – Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful. Much like Dan’s quotation in Episode 001 from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Dan’s Musing’s About More Simplicity “Laws”  Sometimes complicated leads to simple. (Example: Apps and computer programs are very complex in the programming/designing process; yet hopefully simple for the user). However, sometimes complicated leads to more complicated, as there is always a human element and relationships can easily be very complicated Positivity tends to lead to simplicity. Negativity tends to lead toward complication. Much like Sir Walter Scott’s line: “Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practise to deceive” Simple does not equate to easy. Over-planning for contingencies causes complexity. Considering Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”), but don’t let it stifle simplicity. The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa: Vanessa’s “THING”:  Vanessa discussed a client’s successes since implementing some strategies that Vanessa suggested during an organizing session. The client relayed how much more effective and easy organizing had become, how the Action File Vanessa recommended had drastically reduced their paper clutter, and how Evernote (after some “getting used to it” time) has become part of her workflow. Dan:  Being a “tech guy,” Dan talked about how much he loves RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and “pushes” out updates on blogs and podcasts so you don’t have to go searching for new episodes and “pull” them into your reader or audio device. Dan’s RSS uses: He uses Google Reader to collect content from his RSS feeds. He links his Google Reader account to apps like Flipboard on the iPad Going through his feeds is part of his morning routine…like reading the paper used to be back in the day Closing Thoughts: If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you ! Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you! Links we mentioned in the show: John Bukenas’ Let’s Reverse Obesity Blog and Podcast Marshal Ponzi’s Inbound in Focus Blog and Podcast Get Simplifized.com: Vanessa’s article, How to Create and Use an Action File. Vanessa’s article The One Secret To Achieving Anything Joshua Becker’s Becoming Minimalist BlogJohn Maeda’s Blog: lawsofsimplicity.com John Maeda’s TED Talk:  John Maeda on The Simple Life Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!

Going Paperless & Making the Most of a Small Living Space Main Topics:   Going Paperless: Guest Interview with Brooks Duncan from DocumentSnap Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! We had a fantastic interview with Brooks.  There’s no doubt he’s way out front as a lead expert in the field of going paperless.  Here is a list of questions we asked Brooks (you definitely should listen to the podcast because he gave some great answers and advice!): So, Brooks…who are you and how do you make people’s lives simpler? Is it really possible to go paperless? What about… Tax paperwork (Brooks sent IRS guidance, too.  Links below.) Receipts Contracts Other docs that people have been “married to” forever? How do you recommend people get started with going paperless? What does the workflow look like, or are there lots of different workflows? Your article “We Are Our Own Worst Enemy When Going Paperless” is fantastic! Can you describe some of the challenges people face when going paperless? What equipment do you recommend and why? Mac PC Scanners Mobile device/apps Etc… Your Paperless Document Organization Guide and it’s an amazing value…do you have other courses? How can people sign up for your newsletter? What is the best way for people to reach you? Website: documentsnap.com Twitter: @BrooksDuncan and @DocumentSnap Facebook: facebook.com/documentsnap Dan and Vanessa Discuss Tips for Small Home Living Planning Our “Dream Home”…five years of planning Taking Action…designing, saving, paying it off and then… Oooops! Rethinking Our “Dream Home”…reasons for our change of plans: affordable green living, time to travel and visit family, not wanting to be slaves to possessions Intro to Cece Reinhardt + Brenda Daugherty from the blog “On the Green Road” Downsized their lives Totally eco-refurb’d an Airstream remodel and lived full-time in their RV Now they’re transitioning to a 500 sf house and planning a complete eco-refurb of that, too! They blog about health, travel, self-sufficiency and as they say, “anything else that blows our skirts up.” Guest Post on On The Green Road from Katie White from the blog DIY Mother: “DIY Tricks to Make the Most of a Small Living Space” (Note: We added some tips, too! Our additions to this are Italicized) The main theme was: 
Reducing your footprint doesn’t have to be uncomfortable She also pointed out some of the advantages of living in a Small home. They are : Use less land and raw materials Cost less to heat and cool You’ll be less tempted to fill them with things you don’t need.  Ties right into the spin off of Parkinson’s Law we talked about back in Episode 004…“Storage requirements will increase to meet storage capacity” Kitchen Keypoints: Small kitchens can be noisy, crowded little pressure-cookers, breeding hot tempers and short fuses. Paint your kitchen in light, cool shades to help everyone relax, and if possible, coordinate the entire kitchen in two or three colors to avoid a busy, disorganized vibe. Another simple trick to increase the visual space in your kitchen is to try open shelving instead of cupboards. We have raised Euro-style cabinets off the floor so you can see under them…it adds visual depth. Also, a mix of solid frosted glass cabinet doors help, too. Tall upper cabinets really max out your vertical storage space. Pull-out lower drawers, versus standard cabinets are a lifesaver. Forego “uni-tasker” appliances and opt for multitasking appliances. Living Room Lessons: The easiest way to open up your living room is to get things off the floor. Instead of a clunky bookshelf, try wall-mounted shelves. Small house plants and lighting can also be placed on the walls or ceiling (Hanging plants are especially good for small living rooms). Just like in the kitchen and bedroom, light penetration is everything. Remove sofa skirts, try a translucent coffee table, and hang a nice mirror or two to really expand the visual range. If you need new furniture, steer clear of round, rolled arm and back pieces—they fill up a room like nothing else. Again, use multitasking furniture that doubles as storage like coffee tables and ottomans. Try wall-mounted televisions and hanging lamps instead of floor or table lamps that take up a lot of room. Bedroom Basics: The simplest visual trick to open up your bedroom is to make your baseboards visible. Stilted furniture, wall-mounted shelves and light fixtures, and a skirtless bed frame can all increase the visual range in your bedroom and make it feel larger. Colors such as a single accent wall painted in a bold, darker color can “stretch” your bedroom visually, especially if it’s the smaller wall. Paint the other three walls in light, airy colors that complement the accent wall. The room will feel more open, and it also adds a personal, expressive touch. Again, use hanging lamps or wall mounted end table lamps to free up space. We also have a platform bed that makes the room look larger. Bottom Line in the Bathroom: Plumbing makes bathroom renovation a tricky proposition, but you can swap out a bulky vanity for a pedestal sink without too much damage to the delicate habitat of your sink fixtures. Make up for the loss of your drawers with an extra set of wall shelves, or a deeper medicine cabinet. To increase the light-penetration in your bathroom, swap out your shower curtain for a clear glass door (or a frosted privacy screen) to create wall-to-wall visibility. We agree with the the light penetration, but we’re advocates of no shower doors or curtains.  The water is so hard here and creates lime deposits on glass…but if your water is ok, then glass works great! Textured wallpaper in a light color can also create illusory depth that makes a bathroom feel bigger; and finally, To avoid a sense of clutter, limit your bathroom décor to “singles”—one piece of art, one rug, one towel per person, etc.  Storage Suggestions: The key to using your storage space efficiently is to think in three dimensions Get rid of the junk drawer, use a shoe organizer Put a link to vanessa video on http://getsimplifized.com about shoe organizers. Use on your pantry door for odds and ends. It’ll keep your drawers and counters clear while leaving scissors, batteries, and pens accessible. We use an over the door shoe organizer in our hallway closet.  Vanessa even did a video on it! Consider a tankless gas water heater Much more energy efficient, saving you money and energy. Makes room for storages space for tools, home repair supplies—anything that you’d otherwise store in a shed or garage. Keys to storage: Only store things you really need. Look for ways to exploit unused areas and vertical space. We’ve found dozens of square feet of space by building cubbies in wall cavities. Consider this if you’re handy. Link to http://getsimplifized.com cubby post. Use containers to max out small areas. Link to http://getsimplifized.com container post. Thanks again to Cece + Brenda of On the Green Road for their inspiration…and to Katie White for her guest post at there, as well. Katie is a writer and handywoman from DIY Mother @ diymother.wordpress.com where she blogs with 4 other gals about DIY projects around the home.  I checked it out and it’s a great resource!  Each post is laid out in steps to follow…”easy…breezy, lemon squeezy,” as our little girl Jordan would say! The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa: discussed a section from Enough, by Will Davis. Basically…we have waaaaay more than enough!  Need to appreciate what we have. Dan:  Discussed his “Facebook Fast” and the new Google+ Communities Listener Feedback: Gilbert: He loves the show and gave us great feedback! He even gave us an idea for a future podcast.  Thanks! Augusto: He’s all about the idea of simplifying and having “enough.” He also sent us some free tips (link listed below) that are worth checking out. Closing Thoughts: If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you ! Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you! Links we mentioned in the show: Brooks Duncan from DocumentSnap IRS Bulletins from Brooks; Guidelines for Businesses and Guidelines for Individuals Cece Reinhardt + Brenda Daugherty from On The Green Road Katie White from DIY Mother Blog (BTW…love your tag line, “Not afraid to use power tools in a dress”) Free Tips From Augusto Pinaud Organizing  book by Peter Walsh “It’s All Too Much” Get Simplifized! Links: Shoe Organizers for Office Supplies Shoe Organizer in the Pantry Containers Extra storage in DIY wall cubbies Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!

Organizing Tips From An Unlikely Source & A Few Life Lessons From The Playground. Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! Main Topics:   Vanessa’s Topic: Organizing Tips From A Toddler Vanessa realized the lessons that we have been teaching our daughter since she was a toddler are also great lessons that adults can apply to their lives when it comes to getting and staying organized.  Here are the lessons/tips that were discussed: Limit the number of toys (or projects) that you are playing with or working on.  Too many projects gets overwhelming and cause you to loose focus.  Multi-tasking isn’t all that great.  Having few toys or projects also makes for easier cleanup. Clean up after yourself. Make cleanup part of your project.  Whether you’re baking in the kitchen or working on a craft project, part of the project should include cleaning up after yourself.  Don’t let it all pile up to point where cleaning up your home is an all day affair! Designate a spot for everything. Try using the same concept that preschool or kindergarten classrooms use…create zones and homes for everything. By creating zones in your home and having “a place for everything and everything in its place,” cleanup and finding things will be a heck of a lot easier! Make cleanup easy. Using open containers to store things is a key ingredient to having kids clean up after themselves. Same thing applies to adults. It’s much easier to toss an item into a basket or bin than having to lift a lid.  Bins are great inside drawers, on shelves and in cabinets. Hooks are another great tool to use to hang up coats, backpacks, scarves, belts and purses. Create rules and routines. We’ve previously dedicated  1/2 a podcast to this very topic. Creating rules and routines helps establish expectations so that you and other family members know who, what, when and why certain tasks need to be done and how.  Knowing what is expected prevents you from wasting time, duplicating effort and trying to figure out who does what…which cuts down on bickering as well! Limit the amount of stuff you own. It’s pretty simple…the less stuff you have the less you have to clean and maintain. You can control the amount of things in your home by practicing the “one in, one out rule,” editing your possessions regularly, controlling impulsive buying habits and thinking long and hard about how making a purchase might affect the harmony in your home. Reward yourself. If our daughter wants a snack or to go outside and play, we make a deal with her.  She’ll get the treat if she cleans up first. Her motivation to clean up is all based off of that reward.  You can reward yourself too. Tackle your most important tasks…then treat yourself to a little reward like a movie, reading time or extra time running (yes…Vanessa loves to run). Dan’s Topic: Life Lessons Learned on the Playground Flashback to Episode 5 LEARNING: “Knowledge makes everything simpler.” Do you capitalize on things we’ve already learned? How do our kids learn life’s lessons in today’s fast-paced world? Life Lessons Learned on the Playground.  For each, ask yourself two things: Do I still use this lesson today? How are today’s kids learning these lessons? Lessons: SeeSaws or Teeter Totters: Teach us balance and leverage. Use Pareto’s 80/20 Rule for leverage. Swings: Teach us to take action, coordination, and how to harness & use momentum. Swings also teach us situational awareness, looking out for trouble, timing our actions. Monkey Bars: Let go in order to make progress. Sometimes you have to stretch. You can’t move forward without letting go of the past and the now and reaching for tomorrow. Jungle Gym: How to meet a challenge, overcome fear, and enjoy the view. Be careful of others’ fingers as they climb to the top with you.  Merry Go Round: It’s fun to go fast, but not sustainable.  Getting off a merry go round is a transition. Take time to get your bearings, to stabilize.  Bullies:  They’re obstacles. You learn to go over, around, under, or in some cases, right through a bully. Sometimes it’s easiest to avoid, but in most cases it’s best just to deal with challenges head-on… Sandbox: It’s fun to just get in, get dirty, dig and create. Mistakes in the sandbox are cheap, so practice there. Key take-aways: When you find things out of balance, leverage your skills by focusing on that 20% of effort that Pareto highlights.  Don’t forget to take action when action is necessary and learn to harness and capitalize on your momentum.  Become more situationally aware by paying attention to your environment, looking for dangers as well as opportunities.  Remember that sometimes you need to let go of the past and “the now” to reach where you’re meant to be. Set your goals and move forward to meet them.  Enjoy the climb to whatever you consider to be the top. Define your own top and be careful not to step on fingers and toes as you reach your goals.  Prepare yourself for transitions and know that sometimes Life’s merry go round can throw your bearings off a bit sometimes.  Know there will be obstacles in life. But most often challenges are just opportunities in disguise. Our playground life lessons served us well. Today’s kids need a good mix of “old fashioned” and “modern” Life Lessons, plus a good friend, parent, coach, teacher or mentor to tap into the teachable moments we face in life. Final thoughts: Life is a playground.  And the playground isn’t nearly as much fun when you’re by yourself. What makes it the most fun is enjoying the playground with others you care about and that care about you.  Sometimes it’s ok to have a little alone time out there…but for the most part, Life’s Playground is best when it’s shared. Just like your Simple Life Together. The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa: The One-In, One-Out Rule To Control Clutter Dan:  How much he enjoys his Big Green Egg! Listener Feedback: Laura: Saw a pin on pinterest and followed to “…your simple life together. Enjoyed the Organizing and Having Less …Your dialog was interesting and fun to listen to. I’ve been wanting to have a house of order for some time and keep looking for encouraging guidance to do so.” Derek C. Olsen from BeatnikBudget.com left us a voice message that he loves the podcast! He also shared his passion for juicing, as he heard us talking about juicing in Episode 5 (see links below for more info on juicing). Closing Thoughts: If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes. It takes less than 2 minutes to review the show in iTunes and that’s the best way for people to find us. In iTunes just search for Simple Life Together… Click on the green “Simple Life Together” picture… Scroll down to Customer Reviews where you’ll see “Write a Review” Click on”Write a Review” Write your review… Click “Submit”! It’s as easy as that and it really helps to get the word out about the the show.  Thanks for doing that.   If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you ! Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you! Links we mentioned in the show: Laws of Simplicity and the Pareto Principle in Episode 005 Dan Mentioned his Big Green Egg (BGE). He buys BGE accessories here. Our listener feedback talked about juicing…here are a couple of links to Dan’s posts: Juicing journey,  Juicing Day Six: A Personal Tragedy and if you’re interested in a juicing clinic that Dan participated in check out Your Chance to Learn About Juicing, Juicers, and the Benefits of Juice Fasting Get Simplifized! Links: Containers How to Organize your pantry (tips on creating zones and using containers) Lessons from a Three Year Old blog post Hooks One-In, One-Out Rule Routines Morning/Nightly Routines Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!

Things To Eliminate in the Coming Year and Tips for Successful Resolutions Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! Main Topics   Dan’s Topic: Some Things to Eliminate in the Coming Year I’m not a big “New Year’s Resolutions” guy, so in keeping with the Exupery quotation I’ve discussed in previous shows and use to guide me on our simplicity journey, I thought I’d give resolutions a little twist. If you recall, Exupery said, “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but nothing left to take away.” So let’s resolve to remove some things that add no positive value in our lives. Only you know what applies to you and what’s right for you, but here are some suggestions for consideration… Stop wasting opportunities: Opportunities to grow are all around us Grow by Learning…Education is a great way to invest in yourself Take a class (online or in the real world)…lots of places offer Adult Education classes Or teach yourself! Check your local library to see if they have how-to or self help books Other Great Resources: Also check http://www.khanacademy.org for classes I watch CreativeLIVE.com for free courses given live by experts. After the live class is over the classes are available for purchase. Screencastsonline.com has great tutorials for Mac and iOS-based platforms. Run by Don McAllister Lynda.com has all sorts of courses, from business, photography, videography…the gamut of software for Mac, PC and others (you can also get 7 days free unlimited access here) Izzyvideo.com for video tutorials If you’re a podcaster, Cliff Ravenscraft’s classes are great! Find them at PodcastAnswerman.com and use discount code SIMPLE for up to $500 savings on Podcasting A to Z! I have or had paid memberships in all of these and see them as an investment in me and our businesses Grow by Experiences such as Volunteering Getting active in your children’s school or after school activities Mentor someone in your chosen profession or a student studying for your profession If you belong to a church, see if your church needs help with something you’re skilled at  Stop letting what you already have go unused: The first thing that comes to mind is Experience and Expertise and that ties in with the opportunities to grow we just mentioned Look around and see if you are using technology to your advantage If you’re not sure how to use some of your tech, there are tons of free How-To tutorials on YouTube to help out. Stop “holding on”…some stuff is just not necessary any more: If you have unnecessary “stuff” you can donate it, sell it, give it away to a friend or post it on freecycle.org (complete listing for all countries where Freecycle operates at SimpleLifeTogether.com/freecycle But there’s probably more than “stuff” you need to get rid of… Bad habits Same old routines- If they’re not working for you it’s time to let them go Work situation: If you’re ready for a change than check out Dan Miller’s 48 Days Podcast Stop Letting Others Dictate How You Use Your Time: DVR your shows or “cut the cord” and watch online on sites like iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, in the US. Outside the US, just Google TV Steaming sites to find those available in your area, such as the BBC’s iPlayer. Don’t forget to check your local network sites to see what streams they offer, too. Another way to control your own time is to: Choose Podcasts over radio. Podcasts allow for time shifting your favorite content. You can listen to podcasts as your walk, run, work, commute, travel, do chores…whenever you want? Break free of the 10 to 20 minutes per hour devoted to advertising on commercial broadcasting stations. iTunes University has free college-level classes, tying into the education suggestion mention earlier. Podcasts are free and loaded with motivating, encouraging and informative content Remember, each and every one of us have 24 hours in our day, 168 hrs in our week. Every minute is precious…make a concerted effort to control more of your time. Stop Living in the Past Past failures..we’ve all had them Riding on the coattails of past successes…”resting on your laurels” Don’t keep focusing on “roads not taken”…respect your choices and if you made bad choices or mistakes, then work to rectify them, but you can’t undo your past Don’t let past inaction hold you back or wallow in regret for all the “coulda, woulda, shouldas”…we’ve all been guilty of that so just suck it up and press on! The next one is: Stop Undervaluing Yourself You have skills, experiences and a lot to offer…you just need to start Take action! Stop making excuses Produce rather than consume…that’s what my recent Facebook Fast was all about and it was during that fast that this podcast was produced. So, strive to be more of a producer and less of a consumer. And Finally…Stop Letting Drama Have a Stage in Your Life Rumors and gossip are like a cancer…cut them out of your life Bad relationships don’t get better by themselves Don’t be held back by opinions others have of you and… Don’t rush to judgement of other people So how do you cut drama out of your life? I came up with a acronym you can use… Just DEAL with it! DEAL stands for Don’t place blame, Elevate yourself above the situation, Allow for apologies, amends or Agree to disagree, Let it go! Vanessa’s Topic: Tips for Successful Resolutions Well, with the New Year quickly approaching, many of you (including me) are probably thinking about things that you would like to improve on…habits you’d like to quit…or good habits you’d like to start! So…of course I thought it would be fitting to share some tips on how to make your resolutions a success. Keep in mind you can use them any time of the year and for practically any type of goal or project you are working on. Pick only 1 – 2 resolutions. If you’re like me, you’ve probably got a few things you’d like to improve upon, but don’t tackle everything all at once! Pick the things that are nagging or affecting your life the most. Be realistic about your resolution or goal. For example…having more money may be a goal of yours.  Winning the lottery vs. saving a little money each month are two very different ways to have more money.  The later idea is probably a little bit more realistic.  Or take your fitness goals…running a marathon and  tackling a 5 or 10K are distinctly different goals.  If you’ve been running for years then a marathon may be reasonable and attainable.  But if you’re new to running or haven’t run in years…then a marathon is probably not a good idea…and maybe a little bit dangerous.  Or you want to lose 40 lbs in a month…probably not realistic…nor is it a good idea. So try to be realistic. Be specific about your goal.   Choose “I want to lose 20 lbs in 6 months”  vs. “I want to lose weight” or…“I want to organize one room per month” vs. “I want to organize my entire house”.  The more specific you are the better chance you have at accomplishing your goal. Tackle your goals in small chunks.   Break your goals down into small, manageable chunks.  Lets say for example you want to save enough money for a family vacation.  Maybe that’ll cost $2000.  Well, maybe you could divide that amount by the time you have before you go on the trip (lets say…9 months).  Which comes out to $222/month.  From there you can figure out ways to cut spending month by month rather than all in one shot.   Maybe you want to quit eating fast food.  Maybe you can start the first month with eating fast food only 3-5 times/week…then only 3-5 times per month…then only 1-2 times per month. Or maybe you’re working on an organizing project…let’s say the kitchen.  Try to just tackle one drawer or cabinet per day with the goal of getting it done in a month.  Then you can work on the next room in the house. It’s so much easier when you tackle a goal a little bit at a time. Tell folks about your goals.   There is something to be said about positive peer pressure. Tell those you trust and who you know will help you stay on track.  I’m amazed at how much that will motivate me.  I’ve posted things on Facebook about training for a marathon or starting a juice fast…and I’ve been amazed at how some people will track or ask me about my progress.  They’re actually interested in my success….or maybe they’re interested in my success so that they feel motivated to do the same thing?  Whatever the case, positive peer pressure can be a motivator. Get a buddy who can work with you who’s  trying to achieve the same goal.   Get a fitness buddy, organizing partner, or quitting buddy to help you with your goals.  It’s a lot easier to turn off your 4 am alarm to go to the gym when it’s just you.  But if you know you’re supposed to meet your workout buddy…it’s a little bit harder to not show up…you don’t want to face the disappointment. Funny thing is, the journey to achieving your goal is usually a lot more fun when you’re working on it together! Use your calendar to help you stay accountable.  I recommend this to my clients all the time.  If you want to work on a project or to develop a new habit first break it down into steps and then put it on your calendar.  For example: You want to run 3 times a week…well, plug it in on your calendar. Maybe you want to have more date nights…plug in the dates you would like to go out so you can start planning ahead. Use your calendar to track your progress and review your goals.  You could set up a recurring appointment for the 1st of each month to evaluate how much weight you’ve lost, money you’ve saved, how many drawers or cabinets you organized, how many times you were able to go out, how many miles you ran, etc. Write down your goals and keep a log.   Monitor your fitness, organizing, quitting, or financial goals by simply writing them down and then tracking them.  I do this for my fitness.  I have a separate workout calendar on my google calendar that list

Our Edit & Forget It Challenge and The Power of Saying No Happy New Year! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! Special Announcement: Especially for listeners in and around San Antonio/Austin, TX Our friend and colleague Karen Meade of Let’s Get Organizing will be hosting her annual Organize and Energize workshop. It’s on Saturday, January 19th, 2013 from 9:30 Am to 12:30 PM at TriPoint on North St Mary’s, in San Antonio, Texas. There’s a great lineup of speakers talking about organization, meal planning, health and fitness and Dan will be there talking about tech. For more information check out LetsGetOrganizing.com or Facebook.com/LetsGetOrganizing. Hope to see you there! Main Topics   Dan’s Topic: Introducing the Edit & Forget It Challenge! 2013 Fewer Things in 2013  We’re kicking things up a notch right off the bat this year and really stretch our commitment to simplifying our lives. We’re challenging ourselves with what we call Edit & Forget It, 2013 Fewer Things in 2013. We’d love it if you’d consider joining us! We know this is a lofty goal and certainly won’t be for everyone Our true focus is eliminating many things we truly don’t need any longer and reach a point where we have what we need, appreciate it, and be able to enjoy some margin in our lives We don’t really have “clutter” in our home since Vanessa is a Professional Organizer, so eliminating 2013 things will be a real challenge! It’s good to have an accountability buddy when challenging yourself…and all of you that listen to the show will be our accountability buddies to keep us on track! We’d like to be your accountability buddies, too! If you’d like to join us for the challenge, just sign up on our Edit & Forget It List. Here’s a direct link to that list on SimpleLifeTogether.com. Those who sign up will will get emails from us from time to time as a little bit of encouragement along the way No, you won’t get a trophy at the end of the Challenge, but in the end you’ll probably have a place to put one if you did! Some Background: We were amazed when we heard it quoted in a presentation that the average American home has around 300K things in it! In raw numbers, 2013 things is just under 1% of that! That doesn’t sound like much of a challenge does it? Truth be told, we think that figure counts each and every item So if you had a 250 piece Lego set it counts as 250 pieces That doesn’t seem too realistic to us and kinda makes getting rid of 2013 things no challenge whatsoever So we established some simple guidelines for ourselves To eliminate 2013 things from our home in 2013 the numbers work out, rounded up, anyways, like this: About 6 things per day About 40 things per week About 170 per month We’re also including going paperless because that is a great way to eliminate paper clutter from your home. So, you may want to re-listen to Episode 6 and our interview with Brooks Duncan of DocumentSnap. We’ll put some links in the show notes for the scanner we use and the one Brooks recommends. Edit & Forget It Guidelines: Note: We may have to come up with some additional guidelines for ourselves along the way based on any new discoveries or unanswered questions we run into. But we’re starting with these: Things that normally go together or that you originally purchased together count as one, e.g. a pair of shoes counts as one (not 2), a deck of cards counts as one (not 52) a puzzle counts as one (not 150). Donated packaged food counts, thrown out food does not. Scanned documents count as one original if disposed of. A document is a document whether it is a single page by itself or a ten page document. Each scanned document counts as one item. Things that we don’t ordinarily keep in our home (like junk mail, catalogs, etc) don’t count for us as we recycle those immediately upon receipt. If you typically keep them in your home, then you should count them! We made some spreadsheets and we’re going to track our progress along the way. We’re tracking: What we sell (and logging the actual sale amount) What we donate (and logging the market value) What we give away What we discard And what we digitize! So, these are our guidelines. We’d love it if you’d join us! Feel free to use our guidelines “as is” or adapt them for your needs. That covers the Challenge itself, but besides the additional margin it brings us we also hope it helps us refine our process of simplifying so we can make it sustainable and repeatable and be able to pass it on to folks like you! So, we’re hoping it reveals some inspiration for future shows. So again, if you’d like to join us, just click on the Edit & Forget It box on the left side of website or follow this direct link: Edit & Forget It Signup I’ve made some no-frills Google Docs spreadsheets that you can use if you’d like to track your items and I’ll email you those links after you sign up. That’s it…Edit & Forget it! 2013 Fewer Things in 2013! Vanessa’s Topic: The Power of Saying No Our “Edit and Forget It. Challenge” is a perfect lead in to the Power of Saying No…we’re essentially going to be saying “no” to allowing things and clutter to dominate our lives. The Power of Saying No will be helpful with your New Year’s Resolutions. I talked last week about how to make your resolutions a success and I think this topic piggy-backs on that….it’s simply another tool to help you along the way in accomplishing your goals and sticking to your priorities. So….why is it so hard to say NO? It seems as we get older, we somehow adopt this notion that we have to say YES to everything and everyone. Why is that? Maybe we fear being politically incorrect or being labeled a non-team player. Maybe we don’t like to disappoint. Maybe we feel guilty or obligated to help others. Maybe we seek constant approval from co-workers, friends, family and even strangers. Maybe we’re afraid of “perceived” outcomes….getting fired, losing friends, upsetting someone, or missing out on a great opportunity. Or perhaps we feel that in order to attain the status of SUPERMAN, SUPERHUMAN or SUPERMOM we have to say YES to everything and everyone. Well, I challenge you to think a little differently about this. NO is a little, two-letter, one-syllable word that all by itself can be a complete sentence. It’s a pretty powerful word…and at times, even more powerful than the word YES. Saying NO can have a profound impact on your life. Here are some benefits of learning to say NO at the right times in your life: It allows you to be honest with yourself and with others. When you say YES to do something or merely agree with what someone said, even when its contradictory to how you feel, you are in a sense lying to that person and to yourself. It helps you keep your priorities in check. If your priority is spending time with family…don’t volunteer for something that takes time away from them. If your priority is saving money…don’t spend it needlessly on consumer products. If your priority is losing weight…don’t give in to that greasy burger and fries. It let’s people know you’re in charge of your time…and no one else. It can be very empowering. You’re doing what you want and not being controlled by other peoples’ agendas. If you let people interrupt or you take on tasks practically every time someone asks you to…then folks will think its ok do do that to you all the time! It prevents you from having feelings of resentment caused by doing things you’d rather not be doing. It keeps you from doing or saying things you’ll regret. Peer pressure comes to mind here… It helps you avoid needless stress and procrastination. When you say YES to do something you really don’t want to do, you end up pushing it off and avoiding it until you absolutely have to do it, causing you unnecessary stress and anxiety. It helps you earn self-respect and respect from others. By saying no, you’re respecting your time, your priorities and your life. Folks are drawn to confidence and when you are confident about saying no…people will inevitable respect that. Now, I know you can’t say NO to everything and everyone and I’m certainly not suggesting you be a jerk about it. There is the notion of “tact.” You still need to be tactful and respectful when saying no. I also suggest you start to change your mindset about saying NO and start to view it in a more positive light. So, here are a few tips and ideas to think about to help make saying NO a little bit easier: Stop worrying about other people’s feelings as your first priority. Sure, you should be aware and sensitive to feelings…but don’t allow their feelings to trump your priorities if your priorities are that important. A big area to start saying NO is in extended family and friend obligations (not your spouse and kids). Although acquaintances, family and friends are wonderful and you may love helping them, sometimes they can be the biggest culprit to taking advantage of your time. Another area can start saying no to is over-volunteering. You don’t have to be the homeroom mom, den mother, PTA member, HOA member all at once! Re-frame your words. Instead of saying, “I’ll get back to you” or “I can’t” say, “Let me think about it”, “That doesn’t fit into my schedule”, “I won’t” or “I’ve decided not to.” Be cognizant of your response and body language. Look the person in the eye, be brief in your response, use eye contact, have a calm yet firm voice, don’t use closed-off body language (hands on hips, crossed arms, rolling your eyes), don’t invade their personal space and don’t use inappropriate facial expressions (serious but not angry). There. Not too difficult, huh? Ok, it’s a lot easier said than done but with a little practice you’ll feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of saying NO. Again, you don’t have to say NO to everything, but I’d highly consider saying it a little more often, especially if you’re feeling overextended and stressed out. So, g

How Clutter Affects Your Life, & Secret (But Simple) Military Communication Techniques Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you! Special Announcement: Especially for listeners in and around San Antonio/Austin, TX Our friend and colleague Karen Meade of Let’s Get Organizing will be hosting her annual Organize and Energize workshop. It’s on Saturday, January 19th, 2013 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM at TriPoint on North St Mary’s, in San Antonio, Texas. There’s a great lineup of speakers talking about organization, meal planning, health and fitness and Dan will be there talking about tech. For more information check out LetsGetOrganizing.com or Facebook.com/LetsGetOrganizing. Hope to see you there! Main Topics   Vanessa’s Topic: How Clutter Affects Your Life So, what is clutter?  Here’s how some experts define it: Princeton University’s WordNet defines clutter as: “a confused, multitude of things” “to fill a space in a disorderly way” “a confused, disorderly, jumble of things” “filled or scattered with disorderly accumulation of objects or rubbish” Clutterers Anonymous defines clutter as: “anything we don’t need, want, or use that takes our time, energy or space, and destroys our serenity” Clutter is more than piles and piles of stuff. It’s a combination of new, old, unused, forgotten, misplaced, and emotionally (or coerced into being emotionally) “attached to” items. Clutter is more than just a physical item…clutter is also about how an item is or isn’t being used. For example, a magazine in-and-of itself isn’t clutter…it’s just a magazine.  But when that magazine hasn’t been read for two weeks, two months, or even a year and is just sitting on top of a stack of other magazines that are several years old, and that stack is on top of your desk preventing you from being able to use it…that’s when that magazine is now considered “clutter.” So for the rest of this topic, let’s just consider clutter as “anything we don’t need, want, or use that takes our time, energy, space and serenity” Examples of clutter: Things that are expired (food,  medicine and toiletries for example) Duplicate items (3 coffee makers, 4 vacuum cleaners, 3 punch bowls, 3 of the exact same North Face jackets…all the same color and style…you get the idea) Things that belong to someone else (stuff you’ve borrowed and never returned) Broken toys Broken dishes Broken appliances and tools Outgrown toys Clothes you’ve grown out of Knick knacks that don’t serve any purpose Gifts that…let’s face it…you never really liked  (“in a million years I wouldn’t be seen dead in this” kinds of gifts) Hand me downs or inherited items that you’ll never use Just in case items…for emergencies “Don’t know” (no idea why it’s there or how to use it…but darn it, I’m keeping it!) Stuff that causes safety concerns (pose a hazard such as fire or physical harm) Stuff that can cause health concerns…old food sitting around the house, trash lying around attracting bugs and rodents, etc. Obsolete / outdated papers Piles of papers and mail that have never been opened or are waiting to be opened and sorted Other not-so obvious clutter items aren’t necessarily physical items, but impact your lifestyle Overcommitment Meaningless activity / duplication of effort (activity that is unfulfilling or serves no real purpose) Old resentments and ill feelings / unresolved issues Unsatisfying relationships Unsatisfying work (paid work, work at home, volunteer work, etc). Digital clutter (emails, photos, online documents) So those are a few examples of what clutter is, but how do you know if clutter is affecting you?   You see…the truth about clutter and accumulating more, is that eventually you’ll be overwhelmed by the physical clutter which in turn will overwhelm you emotionally in terms of stress, indecision, guilt and so on. Clutter slowly but steadily creeps into your home and sucks the life out of you.  It can affect both your mental and physical health.  As Peter Walsh said in his book It’s All Too Much: “Clutter robs you of far more than the space it occupies–it steals your life!” So if you’re unsure if clutter is affecting your life, here are a few questions you can ask yourself: More often than not…are you embarrassed to have people over because of the state of your home? Do you have trouble finding things…your wallet, glasses, checkbook, keys, bills, etc? Have you missed paying your bills? Regardless of your economic states, one of the first questions I ask is if you’ve missed your payments.  Its usually not a matter of being able to pay the bill…it’s a matter of too much clutter and disorganization. Do you have rooms or items not being used for their intended purposes? (bed, table, desk, office…I’ve had clients that have used bathrooms or guest rooms/offices as storage closets). Do you like to bargain hunt and love getting a good deal on items at the store? Do you like to collect freebee items from conferences and workshops? Do you eat out a lot because it’s too difficult to use your kitchen at home to cook? Do you have more possessions than can reasonably fit in your home? Are others in your life affected by your clutter? Are your relationships strained because of the state of your home? If you find yourself saying yes to many of these questions then clutter may be negatively affecting your life. When clutter is controlling you instead of you controlling it…that’s probably a good sign to make a change. So where do you start if you or someone you love needs help? (NOTE…website links are listed at bottom of these show notes) Educate yourself via books, magazines, podcasts, websites, etc. Take classes: Adult continuing education, certification courses, check out the National Association of Professional Organizers or NAPO…and other Professional organizations such as the Institute for Challenging Disorganization, Clutterers Anonymous (all have good information and resources) Or, Seek help from a professional organizer! (Some specialize in home, business, productivity, chronic disorganization and hoarding) Now, of course I have an entire website: Get Simplifized.com, dedicated to getting organized and helping you control the clutter with TONS of written posts and videos…and I even offer virtual organizing and consultation, just click on the Virtual Organization tab at the top of the Get Simplifized website. So you can check that out, but the fact of the matter is, there are tons of resources out there…it’s just a matter of taking the time to tap into them. Dan’s Topic: Secret (But Simple) Military Communication Techniques Communication should be so simple and natural, but often it’s not.  But, I think universally, effective communication is a common goal. Everyone who is a party in that communication has  responsibilities in that communication. But that doesn’t always happen. When we say that there’s a “breakdown in communication” more often than not it’s a case of someone not meeting their responsibilities in the communication process. So, I thought I’d share a few techniques that can help simplify communication. You can use these at home, work, school…wherever.  If you think these help, let me know and I have a couple more that I be happy to share in another show! Now I’ll preface this right up front that these are techniques I learned long-long ago as part of my training and they served me well throughout my time in the military and when I was teaching at university. The Sender-Message-Receiver-Feedback Model There are 4 main actors in effective communication and if one of them is out of sync then there will likely be some breakdown, so you’ll have ineffective communication. The Sender is the one responsible for initiating the communication. Before the Sender attempts to communicate they should have a reasonable expectation that the message they send will be received. You know how sometimes kids will just start yelling “Mom!” from their room, with the door closed? Pretty frustrating, right? The Sender is also responsible for analyzing the receiving audience before they formulate their message to ensure the Message can be easily understood. The Message should be formed using the correct language, at the right education level, the right tone, culturally correct, situationally correct, ensure any jargon would be understood by the Receiver, etc. The Message should be clear and concise and in the proper form. Trying to reach someone in their car my mail makes no sense! The Receiver has responsibilities, too. They need to actively listen, not just hear, for effective communication to take place. If the Receiver is in a situation where communication is taking place, they’re expected to be an actively listening. Wearing earbuds in a classroom not only precludes the receiver’s ability to hear the message, it’s probably going to offend the sender and effective communication will be pretty unlikely. And the Receiver has one last and MAJOR responsibility. The last part of the sender-message-receiver-feedback equation is Feedback. Feedback tells the Sender that the message was received, and whether the Receiver understood it or not. How frustrating is it when you communicate with someone and all you get is a blank stare back? Or send a text or email that’s not responded to? Or leave a voicemail and never get a reply?  The receiver has the responsibility to provide feedback. If the receiver gives no feedback, the sender should assume that effective communicate didn’t take place, and the Sender should reformulate and resend the message or ask for feedback. Giving Tasks or Directions Properly: The next technique is a foolproof way to make sure you give out tasks properly that include guidelines and expectations. We’ve all been in situations where we’re given a task and sometimes the task itself is vague or most likely, the expectations are vague. A Poor (But Unfortunately, Typical) Example of Communicati

Becoming Minimalist With Joshua Becker and “But Wait, There’s More!” Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Main Topics   Interview with Joshua Becker of BecomingMinimalist.com We had an amazing interview with, Joshua. He shared so much information with us!  He is truely an inspiration and has fantastic advice on how to simplify and get more out of your life by living with less.  Here is a list of questions we asked Joshua (believe us…you definitely want to listen to the podcast!): 1. So, Joshua…who are you and how do you make people’s lives simpler? 2. Could you tell us about the “catalyst” that helped you decide to become minimalist and if there were any other factors or events leading up to your decisions? 3. Tell us about how you approached your wife about your idea to pursue minimalism…her reaction…and your collective decision to move forward. Was there any “pushback?” 4. Can you describe how long it took you to get to a point where you called yourself a ‘minimalist’? Can you explain the process? 5. How do you define or explain minimalism?  What does it physically look like to you…how does it feel? 6. Does minimalism for you also include letting go of mental and digital clutter? Bad relationships, overcommitment? Do you have any recommendations for doing that? 7. In your book Inside-Out Simplicity you talk about healthy relationships. I know from personal and professional experience that it’s usually easier when couples are on the same sheet of music, but what advice would you give if couples have different ideas of what simplifying is? 8. In Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness (Simply for Students) you tell a story about your son and his birthday money. I think every parent has experienced that at some point. Could you describe that experience and give some advice to those of us with kids about how to deal with the constant consumer pitch of “more, more, more” and “bigger is better” from every aspect of the media? 9. In your book Simplify, you say that living simply is “the real secret to financial freedom.” How have you found that to be true in your journey and do you have any financial pointers for us? 10. If someone asked what the benefits are to a lifestyle like yours, what would you tell them? 11. How can people learn more about you? 12. Is there anything else you’d like to add? Dan’s Topic: “But Wait, There’s More!” The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show Alright, so this past week I was in Las Vegas for the 2013 New Media Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and I thought I’d  discuss some of my experiences there. So, I’ll let the irony of that sink in for a moment…a guy trying desperately to fight consumerism and simplify his life…at the CONSUMER electronics show…the LARGEST Consumer Electronics Show in history with over 100K people in attendance.  Yeah…trust me…the irony wasn’t lost on me either! I was actually there on business because I help my clients with tech for their businesses and even some individuals who just want tech coaching. So, first off, I walked the show with a couple of friends from morning until dinner time and let me just say that the show was pretty amazing!  It would be impossible to cover everything but I thought I would summarize my experience including the good, the ridiculous and some thoughts I had on the whole experience: – We walked 9 miles, and still didn’t see it all. If I had to guess, I’d say we saw maybe half, if that. Other folks tracked in over 15miles!  That’s a lot of consumer products! – Companies from every country on the globe were there selling their wares. All the new lines of gadgets and even super hi-tech robots. – Joshua eluded to the fact that we are bombarded with about 5000 advertisements a day.  Well…think of the CES as that on steroids…like full blast, no holds barred, in your face, just a crazy consumerism extravaganza….”But wait there’s more!” kind of  world! – I couldn’t help but evaluate it all as I was going through the show, and what struck me was the word lure. You know, like a fishing lure.  I came to the conclusion that the intent of most advertising is simply to lure us in with flashy attention getters, that lack any real substance. – Lures were everywhere!  From swag bags to” booth babes” and none of which had anything to do with the products. – And after all that walking around, not much at the show really impressed me as new, innovative or “must have”. – Products I did like were the new ScanSnap scanner and some very nice Harmon Kardon headphones (they fit perfectly, had amazing sound and can be used corded or cordless…and you know I can’t stand cords). – On the ridiculous end were $1000 ear buds…I mean really?…earbuds…$1000? And then the worst was they iPotty. Yes…taking one of Nature’s most basic functions (kids learning how to go to the bathroom) and adding the iPad to it. (You’ve got to listen to my rant on the podcast!  I had Vanessa vapor-locked!). – So, you know what I’ll remember most? Sitting down to dinner at Beni Hanna’s with friends Cliff Ravenscraft from GSPN.tv and Gordon Firemark from Firemark.com for Gordon’s birthday meal. I cherish the personal experiences I had with friends. – The same goes for my experience at New Media Expo. The NMX staff did a wonderful job…but as much value came from the natural interaction, mingling…some would call it “networking”… as it did from the speakers and sessions. – So, once again I think this is an example of paying for experiences and opportunities as opposed to paying for “stuff.” – I leave you with this:  Ask yourself “If I had twice as much stuff, would I be twice as happy?” What about three times more? What about half?”  I know what the answer is for me, and only you know what the right answer is for you. – And next time you feel yourself getting reeled in by advertising, try to figure out if they are using bait or just a lure. Choose wisely…watch out for the lures…and maybe help out a few of the other fish in the sea while you’re at it. Vanessa’s Topic: Edit & Forget Challenge Update We wanted to give you an update on our Edit and Forget It Challenge.  To date, we’ve gotten rid of 322 items…we actually got rid of 120 things on the first day!  Not bad for just starting, huh?!  We’ve also created a spreadsheet to track all the items and what we’ve done with them…DONATE, TOSS, RECYCLE, SELL, ETC.  Additionally I’ve been taking photos and keeping notes on my observations, discoveries and some funnies along the way.  Here are a few examples: – When editing my memorabilia box, I started going down memory lane and bored Dan with my stories of the past.  I even read a letter from a former boyfriend.  Who does that?  (Listen to the podcast to see how I redeem myself!) – I also got busted by our 5 year old daughter.  I tried to toss an old hair scrunchie and she busted me red-handed!  She obviously had use for it. – We also discovered that sometimes items can bring up bad feelings…like the universal remote Dan got years ago that apparently was the bane of his existence at one point in his life.  The only thing it “switched” on was his frustration! (But he hasn’t given up hope!) – And we also got rid of some rather odd things….like caution tape (huh?)…a feather duster (what the?)… and Christmas golf towels (we don’t golf)! For those of you who’ve signed up for the Edit & Forget It Challenge…thank you!  We’ll be emailing you very soon with updates. When we had 10 folks sign up we were impressed. Then we got 20 folks to sign up and we were like, “wow!” Now we’ve got even more!  If you haven’t signed up but are interested in the challenge, just click on the Edit and Forget It icon on the left hand side of this page.  Remember, it’s not just about letting go of your things…it’s about renewing your mindset and discovering that less is more! The “Thing” Segment: Vanessa: Live Different Vanessa’s “THING” was about an article titled “Live Different” by Pete Tegeler on a blog called The Unitive.  In the article he talks about living in a place of tension…and the struggle between Escapism (when you feel threatened) and Conformity (the need to be relevant). And he also talks about the struggles of pluralism and materialism. Vanessa relates to this article, especially with how we are intentionally living different lives by living with less. Dan:  An Invisible Thread…an interview on Huckabee While in Vegas he had the TV on and saw Governor Huckabee interviewing a lady named Laura Schroff and a man named Maurice Mazyck. They have an incredible story that she shares in her book, An Invisible Thread.  It is the story of the mysterious, unseen connections that exist between people who are destined to meet—and how, if only we open our eyes and our hearts to them, these connections can be the great blessings of our lives (Its a must see!  Link is below). Closing Thoughts: We’re blessed to be able to share some ideas and some of our experiences as we journey toward a simpler life in the modern world and we’d like to hear some of your experiences, too. It sure would help if you you took just 2 minutes to review the show in iTunes. The more positive reviews we get, the higher the show is in the listings and that’s how people find us. If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes. It takes less than 2 minutes to review the show in iTunes and that’s the best way for people to find us. In iTunes just search for Simple Life Together… Click on the green “Simple Life Together” picture… Scroll down to Customer Reviews where you’ll see “Write a Review” Click on”Write a Review” Write your review… Click “Submit”! It’s as easy as that and it really helps to get the word out about the the show.  Thanks for doing that.   If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com Connect with us on Twitter, Dan is @DanielHayes and Vanessa is @GetSimpli

The Art of Inbox Warfare, and How To Organize Any Space Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Main Topics   Dan’s Topic: Sun Tzu & the Art of Inbox Warfare We’ve had a few other listeners out there who have been struggling with their email inboxes lately, so I thought I’d take some time to give you some tips on how you can declare war on Inbox clutter and reclaim the calm to this part of your digital life. The key to email management is the same as it is to physical things in your simple life: limit what you allow into your life. If your inbox is full of messages that don’t add value to your life, eliminate them now and put systems into place to eliminate them permanently. Why do we get so much junk? Sometimes it’s just that your email was on a subscriber list that was sold to marketers. But it’s also affected by what type of things you sign up for. So, if you really want to cut down on junk email: Be a bit more careful who you give your email address to Signing up for every little contest or offering that comes along is like saying, “Please spam me!” Get over what’s called FOMO or the fear of missing out. There’s good info and junk info…bringing more junk info into your life doesn’t make your life better or more simple. It makes it cluttered and hectic. Trust me, you’re not missing out. So, here are some steps you can take to shape a more simple email experience: – Unsubscribe from newsletters, feeds, updates, lists and other streams that don’t enrich your life.  If there’s no link to unsubscribe, you shouldn’t be at all uncomfortable about marking the message as spam. Gmail has a built in function that marks the message as spam and automatically attempts to unsubscribe you from the sender’s list but you can also do it yourself by clicking the  little stop sign-shaped icon with an exclamation point inside in your Inbox panel. – Another way to deal with unwanted emails is by using filters. Most email programs allow you to set filters to weed out messages based on your inputs.  You can easily set filters in the settings area of your Gmail account, or if you have an email message open in Gmail, just click the “More” button and choose “Filter Messages Like These”.  Then just follow the prompts.  So that covers stopping the deluge of inbound emails. What about the “Occupy Inbox” movement that’s already camped on in your email? Here’s how to handle what you have right now in 3 Steps: 1-Pick the dozen or so emails in your inbox that must be handled now to avoid an emergency, overcharges, severe embarrassment, or a close relationship and deal with them now. That alone will leave you feeling better. 2- Make the rest of the not so urgent emails (and yes, for many people that numbers in the THOUSANDS) and put them in a temporary folder or Label (Gmail). You’ll deal with them later. This does 2 things… First, it gets what appears to be a major obstacle, stumbling block, and barrier to progress out of the way. Second, it allows you to set up new habits and systems. 3- Tackle that Temporary folder or Label full of old emails. If you have so many that you can’t tackle it in one sitting, pick a time, set a timer for 15 minutes, and go to battle. Make time in your schedule for the next session, and keep at it until you’ve dealt with all of them. BUT…big but here…NOT at the cost of your inbox. You’ve got to commit to staying on top of your inbox. So, now that you’ve kindly asked the spammy squatters to move on and you have your Inbox back...let’s move on to those habits and skills. Here are some things to master for a solid email routine: – Don’t Over-Do the Folders or Labels:  Keep it simple by trusting the search function in your email system. So, set up a few folders (called “Labels” in Gmail) that match the major areas of your life such as work, family, home, your passions, taxes, etc…and then just use the Archive function for the rest. – Trust the Search Function: Gmail is especially great at this. – Delete When You’re Done: if you’ve finished reading an email and have no reason to keep it, then delete it right away. – Limit your Access: This one takes a lot of getting used to. Especially if you have a reputation for always being available…digitally, of course. Set your own terms on checking email. Tim Ferriss recommends in his book The Four Hour Workweek, not to check your e-mail the first thing in the morning, and only check it periodically throughout the day. – Set Expectations for those you correspond with, especially if they’re used to your instant responses. Set an auto responder that you’re only checking emails twice a day and give options for emergencies such as “If this is an emergency, please call my cell.”  No need to give out your cell number as those close to you already likely have it. – Send fewer emails yourself and write your emails to elicit complete responses versus volleys of emails (like the effective communication mentioned in Episode 10). For instance, when setting up an appointment, instead of asking “When are you available?” State in your email, “I can meet Monday morning between 9:00 and 11:00 or Tuesday between 2:00 and 4:15.  If neither of those times work for you, please send me 3 options for Wednesday through Friday in the morning after 9:00, but before 4:15.” – Keep your messages simple. Short sentences and 3-4 sentences at most, if possible. If this is a “just catching up” email…consider whether a phone call, Skype call, or Facetime wouldn’t be more productive. -Your Inbox shouldn’t be your To-Do List . Process everything that comes in to your inbox with the goal of touching it once. If it’s a to do, use the Task List in Gmail along with Google Calendar, Evernote, the Reminders function on your Mac, or some other task management system. -Avoid sending e-mails if you can. If you’re having problems with too many e-mails, why continue to add to it?  Find ways to cut down on the e-mails you send and help others avoid the clutter in their inbox, too. Managing your inbox is a continuous battle. So, I’ll recap this in combat terms using the Principles of War compiled from the likes of Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and other smart dead guys. So, in no particular order, here we go! Objective – Objective is defined as: Directing every operation toward a clearly defined, decisive and attainable objective.  A simple military example is “Take that hill and hold it!”.  For your email, your objective isn’t really “Inbox Zero” as some systems claim. That’s just a likely result. Your Objective is effective communication and your Inbox is one tool for that. Don’t beat yourself up if you have a couple untouched emails in your Inbox until you’re ready to deal with them. Focus on the “effective communication” aspect. Offensive – Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative. “Attack!”  Just like in sports, defense is great, but you have to take action to win. Seize control of your Inbox, folders, and email system, and capitalize on your momentum to maintain the offensive. Mass – In military ops, commanders strive to Mass the effects of overwhelming combat power at the decisive place and time. Commanders have many different weapons systems at their disposal. They bring air, land, and sea assets together at decisive places and times to defeat the enemy. That’s Mass. For your email system, this means “batch your tasks.” We talk about batching tasks a lot because it works. Interruptions kill momentum gained in the offensive and waste your time. Economy of Force – Employ all combat power available in the most effective way possible; allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts. In war, like in life, assets are finite. You can’t use all the tools in your toolkit all at once or when a lesser tool can accomplish the task. Your personal effort is your combat power when dealing with your Inbox. Maximize the use of automated systems such as the filters we talked about to minimize your personal effort, while maximizing the effectiveness of your system. Maneuver – Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power. Essentially, lining up to “take the shot.” Again, filters can go a long way with maneuver, but think of your Folders or Labels in Gmail as a way to compartmentalize your info, and focus your attention where it needs to be. Unity of Command – For every objective, seek unity of command and unity of effort. We’ve all been in situations where we wonder “who’s in charge here?” Who do I listen to? Unity of Command and Effort are great concepts to use when you share email for tasks or have an assistant that helps you with your emails. For instance, in a family setting, whoever does the bills should get the emails regarding the bills. In a work setting, your secretary or assistant should have clear guidelines for acting on your behalf or highlighting messages for your personal attention. The Four Hour Work Week has great examples for this. Security – Never permit the enemy to acquire unexpected advantage. Of course there’s physical security, but one area that’s stressed in military circles is OPSEC or operational security. In sports, a boxer tries not to telegraph their punches, and poker players keep have a poker face to hide their intentions. At the same time, they try to read their opponents and look for their “tell”…a sign that gives away the opponent’s intentions. The enemy in our case is unnecessary information or digital clutter. Of course, be sure to apply all pertinent security methods for your email by using strong passwords, etc, but also think of this as securing your email address from those who might try to exploit it, and you, with spam, phishing attempts, and malware. Simplicity – The most effective military plans are simple. The goal with this principle is to prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and concise orders to ensure thorough understanding.  There’s an adage calle

Escaping My Shawshank Cubicle, and First Steps on the Road to Simplicity Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Main Topics   Dan’s Topic: Escaping My Shawshank Cubicle “Indoor” jobs have never been a good match for my personality. I did well at them…the tasks, anyways, but I felt like that “staff work” was slowly sucking the life out of me…stealing my soul. Plus, I’ve always been a pretty fast worker and some would say I’m a great time manager, and that’s how it may look. But the truth is, I just have an ability to get crazy focused and knock out some really quality stuff really really quickly. Some people think that’s a gift…but I always said it was a curse. So, the reason I say it’s a curse is because I vividly remember…so many times…sitting at my desk, looking at the clock, it’s 2:30 pm, I’m not only caught up on my work but I’m way ahead. Yet there is no way I can leave. That’s just not how it worked. I’m essentially a prisoner….to a cubicle cell, and my master is $7 clock. A really, really slow clock that I swear sometimes ticked backwards, just to spite me. It was in those times that the seed was planted that someday I would build a future for myself, us, and our family,where our lives were designed purposefully around what we love. And I’ll get to that in a bit. But I’m just guessing that as you simplify your life, shaping how you work is important to you, too. You probably dream about creating a simpler life that includes a lifestyle business…you know, not a business that you work at 24/7 for a few years hoping someone buys you out…I’m talking a situation where you do something that helps other people, that you love doing, and that affords you the chance to live life on your terms. So, I wanted to share a couple of adages that will give you something to ponder this week as you listen to podcasts in your car or cubicle. Maybe they’ll prod you just enough to take some action. The Frog in a Pot of Water: The adage goes that if you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will of course frantically try to jump right out. But if you place it gently in a pot of warm water and turn the heat on low, it will float there quite placidly. As the water gradually heats up, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, exactly like one of us in a hot bath, and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death. Crazy huh? Now don’t run out and try this. Be nice to frogs or they’ll keep you up all night when you’re camping. Seriously though, haven’t you felt like this at work some times?  I know I did. You get to the point where you’ll put up with anything because you’re comfortable with the “security”, “predictability”, whatever. But is that as good as it’s supposed to get? Crabs in a Bucket: So the story goes that if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, most of the crabs will just clamor around at the bottom of the bucket making a fuss. But what happens when one of the crabs tries to climb out of the bucket? Do all the other crabs join in to help him escape? Nope. They pull him back down into the bucket. Now, I’m not going to draw any direct conclusions to your life, but how many times have you wanted to do something new, different or adventurous and all those around you who supposedly “care” about you say “that’s crazy”, or “no” or try to talk you out of it, or tell you how bad things could get. Now it’s certainly not because the they don’t want you to succeed. I think it’s because they DO care and just don’t want to see you fail. But sometimes, just like the crabs, they don’t know that if they just give you a lift then you might actually make it! That’s the crab mentality. Sure, there are some who might think “Well if I can’t have it then no one can.” But, I tend to trust in humanity, and I’d bet most cases are just people who care about you but are too scared to take action themselves, so they think they’re giving you good advice. How I Wanted to Define My Work Life: I decided that when I left my first career and started my next life, it would be by my rules. And I defined what I wanted this way: Do work where I was paid for performance over presence When possible, work on a project basis versus a time basis (the only clock I want to work on is nature’s clock) Wear what I wanted, when I wanted Innovate without permission Gather my own toolset that best serves my craft Don’t limit myself to vacation days or how long I can work Choose who I want to work with and why How It All Played Out: Vanessa was doing the stay at home Mom thing at the time, but it was getting to that point that she was ready to go back to work. Well when it comes to a Simple Life Together, it sure is a lot better when you can have the together part! So we tweaked the plans a bit to plan out what Vanessa really wanted to do with her career, too. Vanessa decided that being a Professional Organizer was her calling Before she even started doing hands-on organizing we set up a website for her to start blogging about organization and simplicity. We focused on her making the transition to self employment first, with me supporting her efforts and then following along with my goals later. Starting Our First Website. Ugh!!!! I gotta tell you, setting up that first website was a bear! I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and everything I read got me more confused. But I kept plugging away at it and in the years since I can’t tell you how many sites I’ve set up for us and for clients. But I vividly remember feeling absolutely lost and almost helpless! It would take me hours to figure out some of the simplest tasks or collect the info to make an informed decision. And that website was so important to us. It was a proving ground for me to get it set up and learn about things like hosting, WordPress, plugins, and a tiny little bit of code. It was a proving ground for Vanessa to begin writing about her new found passion for organizing. It was like this huge opportunity and major stumbling block rolled all into one. But we did it! We were on our way to starting a lifestyle business, a “side gig” as many call it. I Got Some Great Advice! I’d certainly recommend that that’s how you start your lifestyle business, too. Some of the best advice I got was from Dan Miller, author of the best selling book 48 Days to the Work You Love. I listened to his podcasts and studied what he had to say. Often, he’d advise people to “start doing something on the side” and grow that side business…that “side gig”…until it can support you. Along with that goes another piece of advice, and that is to “bootstrap” your business, meaning start with your own money and start without going into loads of debt. I know that if this is one of your goals you’re probably so motivated to start that you want jump right in. But, just like consumerism…and we talk about this all the time here…sometimes patience helps you realize what you really need to get started versus what you want to get started. Some Caveats…Please Take These Seriously Just know before you start that it takes a LOT of work to work for yourself. And I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s really hard to make a business simple…but if it’s something you’ve absolutely decided to do then that’s great! Go for it! To be clear, it took us a long time working in “normal” careers to support us getting started on our own. If anyone or any website tries to sell you a lifestyle line and promises it to be easy…RUN! It’s not easy. You can be as passionate as you want about something but if you’re not making money at it then it’s just a hobby! That’s why it’s best to start out with a side gig to test the waters. The Light At the End of the Tunnel But if you’re ready to start on the path to shaping your life a bit more then there’s one thing I’d like to give you to help you get started. Something I wish I had…a guide to setting up your website. Like I said, for us getting that web presence going was one of the most intimidating things because we had no background in it whatsoever. Now we can do it pretty simply and I’ve copied all the background info down for you in Seven Modules, including what you need to know about… Module 1: Creating a Website for Your Lifestyle Business Module 2: Choosing a Domain Name Module 3: Choosing a Hosting Provider Module 4: Which Website Platform to Use Module 5: Giving Your Site More Functionality Module 6: Getting Creative with Your Brand (logos, headers, print materials, promotional merchandise, etc) Module 7: Tapping the Power of Social Media There are even links to videos to show you exactly how to get started on your site. So, What’s the Catch? No “catch”, it’s absolutely and completely free and it will be available next week or sooner. It’s over 30 pages long and is packed with great tips to help you get that lifestyle business going on the side. If you like the guide, and we think you will…especially for the low, low price of…FREE...we just ask that you consider using the affiliate links inside the guide to sign up for the web hosting you’ll need for your site. You’ll get a fantastic rate, a free domain with top-notch hosting that all told will cost you around a hundred bucks for the the whole year. Out of this, we get a small commission from the host that costs you nothing extra, and knowledge that we helped you get your lifestyle business started to support your Simple Life Together. Everybody wins!  If starting up a website is new to you, I’ll guarantee you that if you follow the tips in the guide it will save you countless hours of research trying to figure the process out. Geez, I wish I had this a few years ago! So that’s it…a bit about how we started on this path toward simplicity and how we’d like to help you too if you’re looking to start a lifestyle business of your own. You can sign up to download the guide here:  Yes…I want the Simple Life Guide to Building Your

How Typical is Your Home? And…A Gateway Gadget Intervention Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Website guide update: The way, the Simple Life Guide to building your “Side Gig” is ready and we’ve had a bunch of people sign up. So if you’re ready to start on the path to shaping your life a bit more by starting a lifestyle business on the side and you don’t have any experience starting a website, well this guide and the video links will lead you through how to set up your site, step by step, and it even includes some fantastic branding information, too!  It’s completely free and you can sign up at SimpleLifeTogether.com/websiteguide. Vanessa’s Topic: How Typical Is Your Home? Dan and I were interviewed a couple of times last week and during one of the interviews we were talking about how much stuff we have in our homes. Dan started talking about a study conducted by UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families. They sent a team of professional archaeologists, anthropologists and other social scientists to conduct a systematic study of home life in 32 middle-class, dual-income families in Los Angeles. Based off of this study they created a book: Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors. UCLA also created 3 short video ethnographies for their university television station which are now on YouTube. The book and the videos highlight their major findings which I thought were absolutely fascinating! The pictures and videos may not be as mouth-dropping as what you might see on the show Hoarders…but I think it does hit a little closer to home because it’s not highlighting those extreme cases of hoarding….it’s highlighting what is becoming…or rather…actually already has become the “norm” in the middle class America. So I reviewed some of the major findings and then discussed my thoughts. Findings in relation to stuff: With Family #27, they found 2,260 visible possessions in the first three rooms recorded (two bedrooms and the living room),” and that didn’t include “untold numbers of items tucked into dresser drawers, boxes and cabinets or items positioned behind other items.” In another home, Family #1 they looked at a display shelf in a girl’s bedroom and found: 165 Beanie Babies, 36 Human/Animal Figurines, 22 Barbie dolls, 20 other types of dolls, 3 Porcelain dolls, 1 Troll, 1 miniature castle America has 3.1% of the world’s kids…yet it owns 40% of the world’s toys.  As a matter of fact, toys were found everywhere in the home.  It’s as if the home had become primarily child-centered. The average refrigerator front panel in the homes studied holds 52 objects. The most crowded refrigerator was covered with 166 different objects. In most cases there was a direct corollary to the amount of stuff on a fridge and the amount of stuff in the home (ie: a more cluttered fridge = a more cluttered home) Only 25 percent of garages could be used to store cars because they were so packed with stuff. One article called this, “The New Junk Drawer” and rightfully so because that’s exactly what it’s become. They found mountains of clutter in many of the homes. One family even had to resort to using a bathroom shower stall as a laundry hamper. They also observed a huge trend in shopping at “big box” stores (like Sam’s Club, Costco, BJ’s) and how the items bought at these stores actually created more clutter and required a second refrigerator or freezer. Findings in relation to the effects the stuff had on these families: Managing the volume of possessions was such a crushing problem in many homes that it actually elevated levels of stress hormones for mothers. Ironically, it rarely affected the men because they didn’t have to clean it up! There are several ways in which items come into a home but few processes on how to get it out. So many of the parents sought a “refuge” to escape it all. The addition of costly “master suites” for parents proved the most common renovation in the homes that were studied, yet the spaces were hardly used. The average master suite “upgrade” at the time cost $80K…almost twice the average household income. The families rarely devoted renovation dollars to remedying obvious problems such as consistent and troublesome bottlenecks in the homes. Even in a region with clement year-round weather, the families hardly used their yards, and this was the case even among those who had invested in outdoor improvements and furnishings…¾ of parents and ½ of the kids spent no time outside.  The number 1 leisure activity was watching television…even for parents who had limited interaction time available. Most of the families relied heavily on convenience foods like frozen meals and par-baked bread, yet they saved an average of only 10 to 12 minutes per meal in doing so. And the dinners were fragmented dinners — those in which family members eat sequentially or in different rooms — which threaten to undermine what some would call the sacrosanct tradition of the family dinner. My Thoughts: I found this study fascinating, frustrating, sad and alarming.  It really made me think about how hyper-consumerism has affected us as individuals and as a society. And what does it say about our society?  How superficial we are?  How we’ve outsourced nurturing by replacing it with television, toys and fast food? How we’ve allowed the time we spend with family and loved ones to be dictated by our stuff?  I don’t think any of us planned on this.  Certainly parents aren’t purposefully raising their kids to be hyper-consumers….it’s just what’s been ingrained in us. At least we are starting to build awareness and opening our eyes to the negative effects that this superficial lifestyle has and how it can negatively affect us mentally and physically and how it can rob us of the more important things in life like building relationships and experiences with friends and family. The good news…people are seeing the benefits of living a life with less.  I know we are.  And we hope you are too! What are your thoughts? After listening to our summary of this study and after watching the videos, think about how they make you feel.  Are you angry, shocked, sad…what? Why do you think you feel that way?  Is it because you can relate? Can you identify with these families too?  That’s ok…because I know Dan and I do! Don’t beat yourself up though! Knowledge is the power to help you make change in your life.  If after studying living a life with less and armed with the belief that stuff isn’t what makes you happy…what are you going to do about it? We’re very interested in hearing your thoughts.  Check out the links to the articles and videos below, and let us know your take on all of this. Dan’s Topic: A Gateway Gadget Intervention OK, so today I want to talk about  what I call “gateway” gadgets.  Well, remember back in high school health class when they taught us about “gateway drugs”. Well if you haven’t heard of gateway drugs or the gateway theory, essentially it’s that by doing something at a lower or “entry level”, it may make you more likely to do things at a more advanced level. So for drugs, the theory is that using (and I say this in quotations because they can be just as bad) but lesser drugs such as tobacco, alcohol or marijuana, it may make you more likely to use much more dangerous or hard drugs. The same goes for crime…if you allow yourself to be deceitful or engage in shoplifting or petty theft, it may lead to more serious and dangerous crimes later on.  It’s the act of initially opening yourself up or compromising yourself just a little bit at first, that may lead to additional and higher levels of compromise. OK, so you get the idea…small things can lead to big things. I’m not here to talk about drugs, I’m here to talk about “stuff.” And I’m going to kind of “unwrap” how we…and especially, I, fell victim to this when it comes to our stuff. As I go through this, you might see a little of yourself in this situation too…because I think we all fall victim to this from time to time. Alright, so here we go… when Vanessa was expecting our little girl, we decided (like a lot of parents do) to get a camcorder. We figured that since our son was getting bigger and the baby was about to be born, maybe it’s time we “invest” (yeah…how many times have you said that to yourself…invest) in a good camcorder. So we spent probably way more than we should have on this camera…HD was kinda new, it recorded right to an internal hard drive…you know…why skimp, right? We deserve the best of the best right. Sure we do. Well, little did we know how little we would use this thing. After the initial glow of it faded, we realized that this thing was kind of a bear to use! I won’t mention the brand but they are notorious for using proprietary software and managing the files was just a pain the fourth point of contact. So anyway, yeah, the video format wasn’t compatible, the files were huge and maxed out my crummy laptop which was all we had at the time…essentially, this thing just ended up sitting in it’s top-of-the-line camera bag (because a good camera deserves a good bag, “we’ll be carrying it around all the time, right?”) The other thing was that we bought this thing right at the cusp of a technology boom where smart phones were coming out with decent video, too. So almost a total waste of money, right. “But wait, there’s more!” So when Vanessa started up her Professional Organizer blog, Get Simplifized!, we finally wiped the dust off the camera to make a few videos, cuz what’s a blog that doesn’t have videos, right? In the interim, we had changed over to Apple Macs, so the once just clunky software was not unusable because they didn’t have Mac compatible software available. So it turned into “Work Around Fest 2009” and buying these conversion programs, backup drives that were large enough to hold the files, etc… Then, and aga

Wouldn’t you love to simplify your morning routine? What? You don’t have one? Well, in this episode Vanessa shares some tips to help you create your morning routine so you can start of each morning on the right path. But even if you start out on the right path, sometimes little things can become big irritants, can’t they? One thing that can be really frustrating is printer problems. Do you think you could digitize your life to the point where you don’t even need a printer? Well, Dan shares his thoughts on that very subject! Read more…  Vanessa’s Topic: Creating Your Morning Routine Are you feeling a little rushed in the mornings? Are you stressed out? Do you find yourself getting distracted from completing your important tasks? Well, you’re not alone. One of the most popular posts on my GetSimplifized.com website is about how to create a morning routine. I talked about routines in general way back in Episode 2, but I thought I’d get a little bit more specific here and share some tips specific to a morning routine. When you establish a routine for you or your family, you are creating an environment of consistency. With consistency comes known expectations of roles and responsibilities, known outcomes and a happier, calmer family.  Think about it like this…we are drawn to certain businesses, products, bosses and friends because they provide consistently good food, products, leadership and friendship, right?  Well, if we expect and value consistency in those things…why not value it in our own lives?  A morning routine is just the thing to give you order and calm. Now, before you jump into creating a daily routine, remember to keep the following in mind: Specific tasks: You’ll need to identify your specific morning tasks and how long it takes to do them.  I suggest writing everything down and be specific about the exact times it takes to complete a task.  Sometimes tasks take longer than we think! Specific order: Figure out the most logical sequence of events for you and schedule each event in a time slot.  I highly recommend writing this schedule down on paper or on your calendar.  Electronic calendars are especially wonderful because you can rearrange your tasks without wasting time rewriting and erasing events. Consistency: This is key!  Once you’ve figured out your tasks and order, now you’ve got to stick to it.  There’s no point in going through all the effort of creating a routine if you’re not going to follow it.   Here are a few suggestions and typical tasks to think about incorporating into your morning routine: Wake up. Take 15-30 minutes to wake up, enjoy your coffee, check out the news or read.  Check out my morning coffee routine post on prepping your coffee the night before.  Having a fresh cup of joe already made first thing in the morning makes all the difference! Review your daily tasks. Refresh your memory of the tasks and important “to-do” items you need to get done that day.You might also consider preparing this list the night before as part of a  nightly de-clutter routine. Make your bed. Simply taking 5 minutes or less to make your bed will instantly make your room look cleaner plus you’ll feel much more relaxed when you come home to a tidy room. If you don’t like the process of making the bed, consider cutting down on the amount of pillows you have and use a duvet cover over your comforter that doubles as a top sheet too! Prepare for dinner. Make sure all of your food items are defrosted and that you have all the necessary ingredients for the evening’s dinner.  That way you can pick up any missing items later on in the day. I actually like to refer to my weekly dinner menu and look at the next day’s meal too so I know to take out things from the freezer to give them time to defrost. Empty the dishwasher or dish rack.  Put your dishes away first thing in the morning so that you and your family can fill it up after breakfast and throughout the day instead of waiting to do all of it after dinner. After you shower and get dressed, clean up after yourself. Be sure to put dirty clothes in the laundry hamper, put away your toiletries and makeup, wipe down the sinks and hang up your towel. Prep kids for school.  Allot time to make lunches (or better yet, make them the night before), eat breakfast, dress, brush teeth and get school bags ready.  Of course, if your kids are old enough be sure to get them in a routine too and have them take on some, if not most of the responsibilities. Make breakfast and cleanup afterwards. Like your bed, the kitchen has a lot of counter space and when one counter is cluttered the whole kitchen looks messy.  Take just a couple of minutes everyday to wipe down those counters and appliances…you’ll be amazed at how refreshing it is to come home to a clean kitchen after a busy day at work. Ok…so there are some suggestions for you.  Although you may have these tasks written or typed in on your calendars, you might try writing them down on paper and creating a checklist that you can actually check off as you go so. Post it where you’ll see it (bathroom, next to the coffee maker, or somewhere else in the kitchen perhaps).   Sometimes that can help you pick up a new habit/routine faster. Dan’s Topic: We’re keeping a running list of our top top problems, issues, or situations that cause us frustration. You know, things that are just a hassle. We’re keeping the list so we can do a good 80/20 analysis and take action to eliminate or at least mitigate the problems. On the top of the list for tech items is our computer printer. We used to have 2 printers, one in the house and one in the office. We really seldom use them and I’d be willing to bet that the one inside the house wasn’t used for over a year before we got rid of it. As for the work printer in the World Shedquarters, we seldom use it at all and when we do, we usually have an issue connecting. It’s a wifi only unit with no option for a direct connection to our computers or our router. And even with software updates we haven’t had the best of luck with it staying connected. Well, the other day Farnoosh Brock, from ProlificLiving.com, who is a member of our Edit & Forget It Challenge posted this on the Edit & Forget It Challenge Facebook page: Hi everyone, so I’ve made a firm decision NOT to buy a printer for our business. Until a month ago, we’d be using my hubby’s work printer and side note: I HATE Printers with a passion like you wouldn’t believe …. soooo can I survive without a printer? I am willing to bet yes. That post really got me thinking. I spent a lot of time comparing and contrasting our options when I bought this all-in-one printer but I never once considered NOT buying a printer! After all of the efforts we’ve made over the last 3-4 years at going paperless, I just never even considered it. Well, that got me thinking about the real feasibility of doing away with a printer completely. So, knowing that we don’t use a printer much, we had to take a look at what we DO use it for. Here’s what we boiled it down to and potential work arounds: Vanessa prints out service agreements for her clients. She typical sends an email version of it but for some clients she needs to have only a dozen or so paper copies on hand… “justin case”. One option is having some pre-printed out at OfficeMax, etc, and keeping just a few on hand. Printing out an online coupon…which we maybe do twice a year max! So is it really worth it? Maybe we could try a screenshot of the online coupon with an iPhone and see it they’ll take that. Our son’s schoolwork. He may need to print something 2-3 times per school year. He always has the option of printing them out at his mom’s house or at school. Tickets to hockey games, movies, etc...just 3-5 times per year. A good option is to just use the Will Call option at the ticket booth. Still pay ahead, but pick up at Will Call. Here are some other ways to print out what you need: Email to Print Services: OfficeMax, OfficeDepot and Fedex/Kinkos all have email “email to print” services. Save stuff into Evernote. I’m an Evernote fiend and it’s our repository for all things info! Print to PDF. Most operating systems let you print to PDF as an option. Apple’s OS X also lets you save to an “online receipts” folder in the print menu.  Again, I prefer to save into Evernote, either as text or as a PDF right in the note. Print what you need. There’s always the good old thumb drive option. If there’s something that absolutely needs to be in printed “hard copy” form, save it to your thumb drive. Try to batch print jobs if possible and go print them all out at once. Options for Your All-In-One’s Other Functions: Digital Signatures: I use apps like iAnnotate in my mobile devices. I’m not sure about on a PC, but on a Mac you can sign docs using the trackpad with apps such as Autograph and Signature, or use the built in signature optioning the Preview menu. Here’s some tips from Lifehacker: Signing digital documents has gotten a bit easier over the last few years, especially on the Mac, with great apps like Autograph and the built-in signing option in Preview, but both have their pros and cons. Autograph, while quite good, can’t store signatures and has been a little unstable in recent releases. Preview, on the other hand, requires a webcam and an image of your signature. The quality of the final product doesn’t look so great, either, but you can store signatures so you don’t have to scan them in all the time. Signature, however, combines the best of both: you can sign with your finger on the trackpad and store signatures for later use. Another option is Hello Fax. It lets you keep a digital image of your signature on file, which you can then position, resize and reuse on other docs. Use an online Fax service: It’s wasteful to print a page just to be able to fax it. Instead, sign up for an online fax service, like FaxZero, that will let you send and receive pa

Making Decisions Like a Fighter Pilot & Frugal vs. Cheap Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Dan’s Topic: The OODA Loop Our Decisions, Our Future You’ll recall that the 5 pillars we focus on for OUR simple life together are Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness and Future Well, our Future is determined every single day by decisions that we make We make decisions all the time…daily in fact…most of them without any effort whatsoever But isn’t it funny how simple these “automatic” decisions are when other decisions lead us to hours, days, and sometimes months or years of contemplation and struggle and hemming and hawing? Introducing the OODA Loop Today I want to talk about decision-making and a very simple framework that you can use to help with your decision-making This process is called the OODA Loop, as in O-O-D-A OODA stands for Observe-Orient-Decide and Act. The OODA Loop is a recurring decision-making process…a cycle, if necessary…developed by Col John Boyd, who was a fighter pilot and later a Pentagon consultant after he retired. Col Boyd is also credited with being the key planner for Operation DESERT STORM While Boyd’s OODA loop concept began in fighter pilot circles, its also pretty popular in other combat ops units, too. It’s become so popular, in fact, that it has since spread to the civilian word…becoming popular in business, sports, and becoming quite popular with attorneys in the litigation process So, if you’ve never heard of the OODA loop before and are wondering how this little tool can help simplify your life…well, I’m here to share that with you. What’s the Scoop on the OODA Loop? The premise of the OODA Loop is that through a recurring cycle of OBSERVE-ORIENT-DECIDE-ACT you can  “get inside” an opponent’s decision making cycle and gain the advantage. But it’s not solely for use against what would traditionally be called “opponents”. In business, competitors would be a more appropriate term than “opponent’ or “enemy” and even more generically, in life, “situations” can be our opponent when we’re trying to achieve our goals. And, well, we all know that clutter and complexity are our enemy, so I cover how the OODA loop can help you out there, too! So, with the OODA Loop, if you can get through the observe-orient-decide-act cycle quicker than your opponent or faster than the situation unfolds, you’ll come out on top! So, let’s break it down… OODA Loop Phases First, let’s talk about the phases of the OODA Loop The first step is OBSERVE. Essentially, this is when you notice a situation that is a potential problem. It’s simple, you see something, you observe it. No judgements are made in this phase. The next step is ORIENT. This phase is the biggie…this is where your entire past comes into play. We have to put what we’re seeing into a context so we can later make a decision. In the ORIENT phase, we use our hard-wired instincts, intuition, our history, our knowledge, our experience, new information, split-second analysis…even our mental predictions of what the outcome or impact of potential decisions could be…all to orient ourselves as to what we’re observing Once we’ve OBSERVED and ORIENTED, we can then DECIDE. We make decisions every day, and when we do, our decisions aren’t just based on the current situation, as I just mentioned in the ORIENT phase, they’re based on everything we’ve soaked in over our lifetime. But our decisions are often limited to a reasonable, limited set of choices. We’ll get to that in a moment. So…now it comes time to ACT. Acting is just following through with your decision. Simple as that. But the OODA loop process doesn’t stop there. Remember, it’s a loop so it can be repeated over and over again until there’s a final outcome. Of course, in Colonel Boyd’s model, this would likely take place at altitude with two pilots dogfighting until one of them is the victor. In my former world it takes place on the ground as you and you enemy fire and maneuver until one no longer returns fire. Each step in these battle scenarios requires another cycle through the OODA Loop. OK…So Here’s an Example In your world, the OODA loop may help you as you battle your clutter or as you fight your consumeristic tendencies. Let’s say you’re doing the Edit & Forget It Challenge and you’re going through a storage area. With each item, you can use the OODA loop to help your tackle the whole job. With each item you’ll go throughout the phases… Observe: OK, here’s a widget Orient: Do I need this, have I used this, do I love this, can I see myself needing this soon, what will I do if I don’t have it, can I borrow it…etc Decide: Keep it or not. If not, what am I going to do with it? KEEP-TOSS-RECYCLE-DONATE-TRASH (each one of these may require it’s own OODA loop Act: Follow through! Don’t make the mistake of waiting! oo-oo-oo you know what that is? How Can I Use the OODA Loop? Remember…this is a decision making framework. You can use this for decision making of almost any kind, not just in battle or in editing…in almost anything! Use OODA Loop on your Inbox, when shopping, buying a new car We have a good friend John over at LetsReverseObesity.com whose goal is to control the forces that allow him to overeat…anyone trying to change behavior or start a new habit will meet challenges and obstacles along the way Each one of those is a decision point…and having a decision-making framework can help you make decisions that are aligned with your goals The OODA loop can easily become a nearly instantaneous cycle or you can use it to make more detailed deliberate decisions Don’t Forget the End State! So, armed with your news OODA loop, let’s get back to where I started when I said “our Future is determined every day by decisions we make” If you’re a regular listener, and we hope you are, then like us you’re on a journey to simplify your life And hopefully you’ve taken some time to really reflect on your life plan…what you want your life to look like down the road We always talk about the “desired end state” or what you want things to look like in the end as the best place to start out. Imagine starting out on a long road trip without a destination in mind. It’s kind of hard to plan things out, isn’t it? Why take that chance with your life? The reason I bring all this back up is that if “our Future is determined every day by decisions we make” then we need to keep that desired future in mind when we go through our decision making process. So, in the OODA loop, our desired end state should certainly be a consideration when during the ORIENT and DECIDE phases. Just like your personal values and morals shape your decisions, so too should plans for your future as they’ll be directly effected by those decisions Final Thoughts So, give the OODA loop a shot and see if it works for you Maybe having your goals well thought out, and a solid framework in place will lead you further down the path on your journey with a few less stumbling points along the way So, give the OODA loop a shot and let us know how it works out for you! Vanessa’s Topic: Being Frugal vs. Being Cheap A couple of weeks ago I was with a group of women and the subject of makeup and the best facial skin care products came up. One of the gals said the best lipstick was made by Chanel. When I asked her how much it cost she said $38…with other lipsticks up to $50! I was like….that’s nearly half my electric bill for this month! I can get 3-5 decent lipsticks for the price of one! I was shocked at the price because I just can’t justify (personally) spending that kind of money for lipstick.  Probably because I came from humble beginnings and was never really exposed to high-end/designer labels and such. Let me just say…just because I don’t shop high-end designer labels, doesn’t mean I don’t care about how I look or about quality.  I do!  But just on a budget. The whole situation got me to thinking…do I sound like I’m being cheap?  Do my friends and colleagues think I’m cheap because I don’t have designer sunglasses, handbags, or shoes?  Do my clients judge me?  Well I decided to jump on the internet to see if I could answer the question: “Am I being frugal…or am I being cheap?” As I sifted through the various articles I found a few that for me, clearly explained the difference, so I thought I would highlight some of the better explanations and examples of what I found….because I think it’s bound to be a question or topic that comes up with this type of lifestyle that we are living or striving to live. Definitions of Being Frugal and Being Cheap.  Here are a couple of definitions I found on a couple of different sites: “Frugality is in the center of the money spectrum, between cheapness and extravagance.  Like most good things, frugality taken to either extreme is not a good thing. It is the wise and intentional use of money whether saving or spending.” (from Life Renewed) “Being cheap is a reluctance to spend money, even on things that are necessary and needed. Cheapness is selfishness and often results from fear; fear of running out of money and not being able to take care of yourself and your family. Cheapness is only concerned about spending the least amount of money possible” (from Life Renewed) “Cheap people care about the cost of something; frugal people care about the value of something.” (from AskMen.com) Examples of Being Cheap vs Being Frugal (From Life Renewed): “Cheap is buying stuff on sale just because it’s probably the best or only time to get this item at such a cheap price….Frugal is buying only what is needed, wanted and by researching the best deal.”  “Cheap is buying the cheapest food (restaurants or grocery stores) without any care for quality or nutrition…Frugal considers cost of food but with regard to quality and health benefits.”  “Cheap is not tipping at restaurants or not paying your share of the tip on a group ticket…Frugal budge

Today’s show is about focus…from two very different perspectives. First, we’re going to focus on how to use Evernote, and then shift the focus to fitness. Dan’s Topic: Evernote Simplified (Part 1) OK so unless this is your first time listening to the podcast, you might know that I’m an Evernote fan. And one of the most requested things I’m asked to talk about is Evernote. So, by popular demand, my topic for this show and next week’s will be Evernote!  Read more… Today I want to cover the basics and next week I want to hit some more advanced tips and some use cases. Like most things, it takes a little playing around with Evernote to get the full hang of it, so after this show you can dive right into Evernote if you haven’t already, and then you can send in some questions that I can cover on next week’s show. Here’s what I’m going to cover today: What is Evernote, Why I like Evernote, some  Evernote Basics, Searching in Evernote, and finally Sharing in Evernote. So let’s get started. So what is Evernote? Well, you’ve heard the saying “an elephant never forgets” right? Evernote is that little square green app you see almost everywhere with the elephant in the middle. Most often you hear of Evernote being described as your “external brain.” Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web. With Evernote, you can take in info in tons of ways and it synchronizes it across all your devices so it’s there when you need. So..think of Evernote as a synchronized database of all your important information that’s there for you when you need it and how you need it. The Evernote app is free for your desktop and all your devices, and so is the Evernote program on the web itself. You can also upgrade to an Evernote Premium premium account for $5 per month or $45 per year. We’ve been Premium users for about 4 years now and it is worth every penny. There really is very little difference between the free and paid versions, but we wanted to support the company, and I’ll get back to that in a minute. So some of the benefits of a Premium account are increased ability to share, bigger file sizes, some other faster functions that I’ll cover later. If you’re just a casual user, you’ll be fine on a free basic account. But if you’re a power user or just want to support the company, you’ll want to upgrade to Premium. Why I Like Evernote Ubiquitous Capture… One of the tenets of Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Very simply, ubiquitous capture means capturing all your important thoughts or “things to remember” thoughts in a way that you can recall them when needed. Don’t let them float around in your head, where they will likely be forgotten. Capture it now, before it’s gone. I’m not a user of GTD…but ubiquitous capture is a fantastic habit to cultivate…if you’re into that sort of thing, like me. Get info into Evernote by… Typing text Recording your voice Dragging in files Email it to your account (even video) Taking pictures Scanning things in Using the web clipper Even use automated ways to get things in. We’ll talk about that next week. Evernote strives to be a 100 year company Tech companies and their products come and go Many like to bring a product to market, then sell for the big bucks Evernote plans to be a 100 year company and make a difference in the world. I heard this directly from their CEO, Phil Libin when I was at Evernote in San Francisco at their first ETC…and I believe him. It was a pleasure talking with him and everyone I met at Evernote. There’s a great community around the Evernote product line (links in the show notes) The Evernote Life Google+ community The Evernote blog The Evernote Community They even have a podcast in iTunes which I think is hilarious! Security concerns? I love their article Three Laws of Data Protection Your Data is Yours: “We do not own your data. Putting notes and other content into Evernote does not change its ownership or copyright status. If the data was yours to begin with, it remains yours after you put it in Evernote.” Your Data is Protected: Private by default. “We never look at it, analyze it, share it, use it to target ads, data mine it, etc.” “Our business model does not depend on “monetizing” your data in any way. Rather, it depends on building trust and providing a great service that more and more people choose to pay for.” Multiple redundant servers Physical and virtual safeguards in place Your Data is Portable There is no data-lock in Evernote. “We are committed to making it easy for you to get all of your data into, and out of, Evernote at any time.” Basics Notes: Everything in Evernote centers around notes which we get into Evernote as I mentioned, by: Typing text Recording your voice Dragging in files Email it to your account (even video) Taking pictures Scanning things in Using the web clipper Notebooks: Just like when you were in school, when you take notes you typically had a different notebook for each class or subject…same with Evernote You can have up to 250 Notebooks…I don’t know why anyone would want that many but… Tags:  Some people get confused by Tags. Tags are simply addition descriptors that you can use to give you incredible flexibility. In the physical world, we grew up using file trees. Think of physical notes or documents organized in a filing cabinet The note or document is kept in a folder and the folders are labeled, either by subject or relationship, etc So if I have a note or document that deals with my car insurance, do I file that under Car or do I file that under Insurance? And when I want to retrieve that, how do I remember which one I used. Or do I make two copies of the document and file one under Car and the other under Insurance? You see the dilemma With tags, which are digital, you can “tag” the note car, insurance, bill, policy, whatever! And it all remains with one note, not copies of the note. When we “evolved” from physical filing to digital filing, most people stayed with the “file trees” method. When they filed a doc and they needed another copy in another file, they simply made another digital copy…causing digital clutter, redundant files, the opportunity for conflicting files, duplication of effort for updating, etc… Tagging eliminates all of that. That’s the superpower of tagging and we’ll talk about how to use that superpower in a minute. A Recap of the Basics with another analogy (adapted form Brandon Collins’ book The Evernote Bible, link in show notes) Picture a town as being like your Evernote database Towns have lots of houses, each house has people that are grouped, typically by family So Houses are like Notebooks Well, houses are for people, usually related, but each unique So People are like Notes Each person in that house has different relationships…people they go to school with, friends they hang out with…you know Relationships So while it’s just one person, they have lots of relationships. The same goes for Notes. It’s just one Note, but it can have lots of different relationships. So Relationships are like Tags And you can have up to 100K different relationships, or Tags, in Evernote! Searching So let’s start off with Searching in Evernote For a basic search in Evernote you just type what you’re searching for into the search bar Not too tough, huh? But just like we talked about way back in Episode 2 when I talked about getting the most out of search in Google, you can do some things to refine your search in Evernote, too! This way, it will narrow down your search results significantly Just like in Google, if you put your search in parenthesis then Evernote will do search to match that exact phrase Again, just like we talked about in Google search in Episode 2, you can also use what are called “operators” to narrow your search even further if you have thousands and thousands of notes. I have thousands of notes, but honestly, I haven’t felt the need to search by these operators. But, I’ll link to an Evernote cheat sheet that has them all listed in case you want to incorporate them in your search habits Earlier I mentioned taking pictures with Evernote’s mobile app or dragging pics into your notes. Evernote uses optical character recognition (OCR) so it makes text in your photos searchable! OCR works with handwritten notes, too! How cool is that? So, say you take a picture with Evernote of a great wine you had with dinner and your favorite restaurant Once you snap your picture into Evernote, your note will sync with Evernote’s servers, be processed for OCR, and the text will become searchable! So later, depending on how you named and tagged your note, you can search by; Name of wine Date Wine in the Tag Wine in the Subject Any text you remember on the label (company, type of wine, etc) You can even view your note by the location in the Atlas view on the desktop version or the Places view on mobile Let me sum up search this way…the basic search functions in Evernote are terrific. But, if you add a little bit of information during the “capture” phase, search will be a whole lot easier. And that’s really why you’re using Evernote, right…so you can recall information, not just hoard it? So, let’s move on to our final area of the topic today, and that’s Sharing. Sharing Sometimes, information is just too good to hold on to…you need to share it! With Evernote, you have lots of sharing options. You can share by: Individual note or by entire notebooks Probably the most popular is sharing by note Just shares that note, one time via a link, email, or on social networks Right at the top/right of your Note there’s an arrow that lets you share your note and which method you want to use to share it Couldn’t be easier! You can also share entire Notebooks Share with one person, many, or make it public Everyone it is shared with will have access to all the notes in there now and those you ad

This week we continue with Evernote Simplified, Part 2, and Vanessa shares some awesome time saving productivity tips! So many people tell me that they love Evernote, but sometimes don’t “get” exactly how to use it. Sure, there’s lots of “technical” references out there about Evernote, but what their really looking for is Evernote simplified! So let’s get started! Read more… Dan’s Topic: Evernote Simplified (Part 2) Yep but before I start I just wanted to remind you that although we don’t try to push you to buy more stuff, if you do use Amazon.com like we do, you can helps support a charity that we support, Charitywater.org, simply by using our link. Anything the show earns through that link or from our resources page goes to support CharityWater. You can learn more about them at CharityWater.org Alright so in Episode 017 I covered all the basics of how to get information into Evernote and how to retrieve and use it. So…the the “ins and outs” if you will. Well today I want to take you on a little audio windshield  tour of the Evernote interface for the desktop version of Evernote. I’m on a Mac so if you’re on a PC the appearance may vary a bit, but the functionalities are generally the same. Now, as much as I LOVE Evernote, the interface isn’t gonna win any beauty contests…but it does have a great personality!  And that’s what counts, right? But the recent update of Evernote does let you adjust Evernote to fit YOU! So in Evernote 5 you can design the layout that works for you. A Dashboard Tour: The desktop interface of Evernote beginning in the top Menu Bar. In the menu bar from left to right you have the Forward/Back buttons, a menu with your account information, the circular arrows are the manual sync and sync indicator, then we have the little satellite dish looking thing thats for notifications and recent changes. In about the center of the top menu we have the New Note selection drop down for adding new notes, then finally, the ever powerful search bar. Left Panel. Moving on the left side we have what Evernote calls the left panel. Top to bottom in the left panel we have Shortcuts, Recent Notes, the Notes view option, the Notebooks view option, the Tags view option, the Atlas view option and the Trunk option. Shortcuts. Lets you store shortcuts that you can set yourself. This is great for notes you access on a regular basis. Recent Notes area. This area holds links to your 5 most recent notes for easy, but temporary access. Notes area. The area you’ll probably work in the most. You have some options on how you view your notes. You can choose between 4 different views: Card Expanded card Snippet and List view My personal favorites are the Card view and the the Snippet View. In all views you have additional sorting options in the center panel called the Notebooks area. Lists your Notebooks and Notebook stacks. You can stack Notebooks by similar subjects to make your Notebooks easier to find, and just plain old more simple visually on your desktop and in mobile versions. To stack, just click and drag Notebooks over other Notebooks. To make life easier, you may need to retitle your Parent Notebook to make sense Child Notebooks stacked under them. You have 4 view options for Notebooks. you can sort by: Owner Name of the Notebook Count (number of notes within the notebook) Last Updated Tags view. Tags can be sorted by: Name and… Note count Atlas view. You can see where your notes were made. You see click and zoom on these cards and view exactly where your notes were made. Evernote Trunk. In the Evernote Trunk you can find: Lots of other Evernote products Compatible apps and hardware T Evernote Blog How-tos Lots of other stuff! So, now you have a quick layout of the desktop and know that you can change HOW you see your info just by clicking different viewing options. Be sure to play around with your mobile device to learn your way around version of Evernote, too! Evernote Advanced Tips: In Part 1 of Evernote Simplified in Episode 17, I covered the basic tips, such as: What is Evernote, Why I like Evernote, some  Evernote Basics, Searching in Evernote, and finally Sharing in Evernote. Well, here are some more Advanced Tips: Web Clipper: The web clipper is great for clipping things from website you visit. Just like back in the day when you took out a pair of scissors and clipped things out of newspapers and magazines and put them in a notebook or box, with Evernote you can do the same thing…only digitally! And it doesn’t take up and more physical space in your life! With the web clipper you can decide to save just a portion of the page, the whole page, just the portion in the screen, or just the URL. To download the Web Clipper, simply go to the Menu Bar navigate to Evernote > preference > Clipping > Download the Evernote Web Clipper PDFs in Notes: Over on the Edit & Forget It Challenge Facebook Page, Robin was asking about PDFs in Evernote I like PDFs because they are a universal file type, readable on all modern devices You can view PDFs in notes either in-line or as a file. In-line means, for instance, you drag a PDF such as a manual into a note. If you view it in-line, you actually see all the pages of the manual as you scroll down. However, you can choose to simply view that PDF as a file. So, when you open your note, you just see it as an attachment, like on an email. To switch between these, just right click on the PDF in your note, and choose “View as Attachment” or “View Inline” Emailing into Evernote: You can forward emails directly into Evernote and it will automatically create a new note based on the subject of the email. You can send to the right Notebook and Tag it automatically, too! @Notebook #Tag (tell where to find your Evernote email address, save in your contacts as Evernote) To designate the Notebook: in the e-mail subject line after the subject, type “@” followed by the name of an existing notebook. To designate the Tag: Again, in the e-mail subject line after the subject and after the “@Notebook,” use the Hash symbol, aka the pound sign” followed by the name of an Tag. If sending emails to a recently created notebook or tagging with a recently created tag, remember to sync your account first. If adding both notebook and tag information, be sure to include the notebook name first. If you’re not sure what your Evernote email address is, just go to the Account Info area of Evernote for Windows and Mac (Evernote > Account Info), or to Settings on Evernote Web and the Sync tab on Evernote for iPhone and iPad — your Evernote email will be listed there. On your Android device, go to Settings then Account Info to find your Evernote email.  Don’t forget about all the ways to get info into Notes. Experiment with: Photos Voice notes And develop habits to review and organize your notes Don’t go Notebook crazy. The fewer Notebooks you have, the better in my opinion. That said, what works for you, works! I go heavier on tags and really heavy on keywords in note titles. Stacking! As I mentioned, stacking your Notebooks works great so don’t forget about that. Super Tagging Skills: Pick a way, singular or plural. I use plural Make a Notebook for each person in the family, then add things that are Tag/keyword rich I love using my “Ideas” tag. I use it as a tag versus a notebook because ideas can apply to any subject As I mentioned, Notebooks are arranged alphabetically in the sidebar. If you want a Notebook to appear at the top of the list, use punctuation before it. Taxes Notebook for receipts, one for each by year I keep a “Wishlist” Notebook I keep a “Dream Home” notebook for planning our home Scanning. Now in Part 1 in Episode 17, I talked about scanning your notes into Evernote or taking a picture of your notes with your smartphone and email them into your Evernote account. Either way, Evernote will OCR your picture, Premium Account hiders first, followed by free users. Just a quick note here, with a Premium account, Evernote will also let you search the text inside PDF files. Awesome, huh? I’ll put a link in the show notes for a ‘how to’ on how to set up your scanner to scan directly into Evernote (it’s for detailed for the ScanSnap since it’s what I use and recommend to clients) but you can find general instructions for other scanners, too) go to Evernote scanners. We are faithful ScanSnap users. We’ve talked about our little ScanSnap scanner lots of times before and you heard Brooks Duncan talk about it back in the Going Paperless, Episode 6. The reason we love ScanSnap scanners is that they were made with Evernote in mind. They’re such an efficient scanner, and you can scan directly into Evernote from the scanner. Ours scans both sides of the paper at once, deletes the blank pages in the file, and corrects the orientation of the back page in the file if it’s printed out head-to-foot. What a serious time saver! Of course it can handle full size sheets of paper and little receipts, too. ScanSnap scanners rock and you can find a huge selection at SimpleLifeTogether.com/scansnap If you don’t have a ScanSnap yet, just Google “scan from (printer model) to Evernote” and you’ll likely come up with a solution specific to you. Save time by using Templates! For recurring notes, make a “Templates” folder.  Make notes templated however you’d like. When it comes time to use one of the templates, just go to your Templates Notebook, right click on the desired templates note, and select “copy note to Notebook”. Choose the notebook you’d like and you’re all set. The template notes can even include tags! Keyword Stuff…Again! I said this in the last episode but I want to really highlight it here. Use Keyword Rich titles. Remember my note that included our son’s shot records? Remember, I titled that Shot Records, Immunizations, Inoculations, along our son’s name. I also tagged it with his name, and Medical, as well.

Juicing Simplified w/Farnoosh Brock & We’re Taking You On Vacation! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Dan and Vanessa Topic: Just a Few Travel Tips From The Road….Literally! Well, if the show sounds a bit different it’s because we’re on the road. That’s right, we’re taking you on vacation! It’s actually a “working trip” for us. We’ve never recorded on the road (we literally recorded our segment in the car).  The sound quality is just a bit off from our normal audio but not bad considering the circumstances! The interview however is excellent!  Just sayin…. Anyhoos…typically when we have a guest interview we do a combined topic.  Since we want you to enjoy the entire interview, we decided to do a shorter segment for our topic. Additionally, when we know we are going to be out of town for a week, we try to record an episode in advance.  Well, we ended up having  such a busy week with clients leading up to our trip, that we simply ran short of time to prepare two episodes in only 3 days! It may not seem like a lot of work but each episode takes at least 16 hours to prep, record, edit in post-productions, post show notes, post in iTunes, etc.  We are still on our journey to simplify this process…believe us we are! Thankfully it is a labor of love…truly!!!! So, speaking of simplifying and in keeping with our philosophy on most things in life…we decided to keep our segment…well, you know…simple.  And since we’re on a road trip we decided to share a few travel tips with you.  Here are the things we discussed: How we were able to pack 9 days of clothes for 3 people in just one piece of luggage. How we make sure we never run out of outlets to charge our ever so precious gadgets by using a Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger. How to easily travel with electronics using the Grid-It system by Cocoon. How to ensure you’ll actually get to listen to your podcasts even when the 4G network gets ‘patchy.’ How bringing our little Apple TV replaced old school slide projectors to enjoy family slideshows and videos! Interview with Farnoosh Brock of Prolific Living and her newly released book, The Healthy Juicer’s Bible. We’ve mentioned on the show before that we like to juice. We started juicing a little over a year ago in December of 2011 after Dan was completely and totally inspired by Joe Cross’s film, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (this is an Amazon affiliate link but the movie is available for free on Netflix if you’re a member) which he saw on Netflix over 20 times since. Dan decided to try juicing and Vanessa decided to jump on board too and we’ve been hooked ever since. So, we thought it would be great to invite Farnoosh Brock (a friend we met at the World Domination Summit in 2011) who just published and released her new book, The Healthy Juicer’s Bible. It was released by Skyhorse Publishing and is selling out everywhere! Farnoosh is amazing, talented and a such a delight to talk with.  We think you’ll really love the interview!  Here are some of the questions we asked! 1. So Farnoosh, who are you and how do you make people’s lives simpler? 2. Do you remember your first fresh juice? If you can, tell us where and when that was, and what went through your mind before you drank it? 3. When we talk about juicing, one of the first questions we’re asked is what’s the difference between juices and smoothies, or juicing and blending. How would you answer that? 4. So Farnoosh, what would you list as some of the benefits of juicing? 5. How do you recommend people get started with juicing? 6. Dan’s been a member of your Green Juicing Clinic for almost a year now…since the start…and I love it! Tell us how you came up with that concept and a bit about the clinic. 7. That leads us to your brand new and beautiful book “The Healthy Juicer’s Bible.” We love this little book! It is jam packed with great info, terrific tips, and the pictures are absolutely beautiful, too! Tell us how the book came about. 8. You know we’re all about simplifying and for new juicers the whole process can seem a bit intensive. Can you share some tips on how you’ve simplified your juicing? 9. Alright…we gotta ask…you’re stranded on a tropical island…thankfully there’s a solar powered juicer there and and this tropical island just happen to grow all the ingredients to your favorite juice. What juice would that be? 10. Do you have any tips for juicing on the go or when you travel? The Thing Segment Dan’s Thing:  His love of podcasts and audiobooks and being able to take advantage of our road trip to catch up on many of them. Vanessa’s Thing:  Being able to help her in-laws organize their paper files by consolidating numerous boxes and folders into one, consolidated filing system that’s easy for everyone to access. Feedback You have been great about leaving iTunes ratings and reviews and we hope you keep it up. We’ve had reviews from: Magpie left a comment on Episode 15 and also wrote a review for us on iTunes. Tania left a comment on Episode 17. Tania has a very nice blog at mauishopgirl.com Links The Healthy Juicer’s Bible Green Juicing Clinic  All of Farnoosh’s books on Amazon Get Simplifized: How To Travel With Electronics Get Simplifized: Belkin Travel Surge Protector    

Organizing Your Clothes Closet & Mentoring Our Younger Selves Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show!  Thanks! Vanessa Topic: Organizing Your Clothes Closet Since we started the Edit and Forget Challenge, there are a couple of things that I’ve noticed: A lot of folks love the idea of editing, but they’re having a tough time convincing their significant others to jump on board. So the biggest piece of advice we give them is to listen to Episode 11 With Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist, where he shares some tips on how to work with your loved ones.  Basically he recommends to start with your own stuff first. I also noticed most folks start with editing their clothes. I guess it just seems like a natural place to start because most of us have our own clothes that we don’t share with anyone else.  I also think folks start in their closets because you can make a significant impact visually…letting go of 20 pieces of clothing frees up a lot more space than 20 pieces of paper or 20 paper clips. Well one of the side effects to all this editing that we’ve encouraged, is that I’ve gotten a few questions about what to with the clothes that are left behind and how to organize these newly freed-up closets! I’ve already talked about how to organize any space back in Episode 12 As a quick recap, I use a four step process: N…A…P…O  – Determine your Needs – Assess your space – Edit your space – Organize your space For the folks out there who have already edited…I recommend going back to the previous two steps:  Decide if your NEEDS have changed….and Re-ASSESS your space to decide how you’ll now utilize it. If you haven’t edited yet, then you may want to listen to Episode 12  to learn about my 4 step process before you start organizing your closet. Or go simplelifetogether.com/organizeanything to get access to my Organizing Series of blog posts. Ech closet is different and each person has different needs for utilizing their closet.  Here are some TIPS on how to organize your clothes closet: Sort your clothes: – By FUNCTION: work clothes, dress clothes, casual, seasonal – By TYPE: t-shirts, polos, long sleeve, sweaters, pants, skirts, dresses, jackets – By COLOR  use the colors of the rainbow as a guide when sorting your colors ROYGBIV…red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (with white in front and black at the end) – Or a COMBINATION.  For example, I sort by type and color within each type (sleeveless shirts from white to black)  Dedicate space for each person.  After you edit and have a better idea of how many clothes you have left, you can better establish the space required for each person.  Don’t get too hung up on hangers!  I prefer to use the same type of hanger to keep a streamlined look in the closet.  For example…I don’t like plastic tubular hangers with my non-slip felt ones.  But my felt hangers aren’t the easiest to use especially on cotton crew neck tee-shirt.  So here are some tips with hangers:  – If you want a streamlined look but need to use different hangers…try using the felt hangers along with the clear plastic hangers like you get from a department store.  Both usually have a silver metal hook, which is mostly what you see as you look across the clothing rod. – For heavy jackets and coats…use wood or thick, wide plastic hangers specifically made for sport coats, and blazers etc. – To save space and/or prevent your clothes from sliding around, use the slimline/felt/flocked hangers.  I like these but because they are so thin they tend to break easily…not recommended for heavy coats and pants.  They work great however for spaghetti strap shirts and keeping light pants from sliding. – For slacks and skirts….I find the clear plastic hangers with the metal hook and clips work best.  The same as you see at department stores.  – For easy slip on and slip off hangers….your basic tubular hangers work best.  The downside to these is that they are slippery so sometimes shirts (especially womens shirts / spaghetti straps) fall off and pants that are folded over and hung on them tend to slide and scrunch up and wrinkle your pants.  Another tip is to face all of your clothes in one direction. Have all of your clothes facing one way so that you can easily sift through or file through them.  Most sweaters should be folded and stored on a shelf or in a drawer.  The reason is because they are usually pretty heavy and bulky and tend to get shoulder nipples if left on a hanger too long.  If you stack them on a shelf, try not to stack them more than 3-4 high (max 5) so they don’t unravel or topple over when you grab one from the middle of the stack.  You can also use sweater bins or slide on shelf dividers to keep them in place.  Use containers.  There are a ton so let me just throw out some ideas to help you think about what might work for you:  – Open bins and baskets are great for storing baseball caps, gloves, scarves, bulky belts, or winter caps.  – Boxes are great for shoes.  I prefer clear stackable shoe boxes.  I also prefer them either at eye level or high on a shelf because they’re easier to see.  – Canvas lidded boxes are nice to spruce up the look of your closet and keep it more streamlined.  – Wide open tubs (wicker, metal or even plastic) are nice for tossing thin shoes like sandals and flip flops. Use containers to take advantage of vertical space:  – Stackable shoe boxes – Stackable drawers (shoes, or other clothes) – Stackable sweater bins – Stackable cubbies (for shoes or purses that can either sit on the floor or on a shelf) – Hanging shoes cubbies (shoes, rolled t-shirts, rolled swim trunks) – Hanging shelf cubbies (great for bulky sweatshirts, sweaters, scarves, etc.) – Hooks on the wall for scarves, robes, belts and purses – Over the door shoe organizers (shoes, belts, gloves, clutches, bangle bracelets, panty hose, socks, swim suits) – Over the door hooks – Belt and tie hangers or hooks – Hook on hanging rod to had more hanging space  Storing boots: either put them in stackable boot boxes or stand them on a shelf using a wine bottle or rolled up magazine to keep them upright or a foam pool noodle cut to size. Of course you could also invest in a custom closet system…designed to fit your needs and take advantage of as much space as possible. Most have the following features: – Adjustable shelves – Adjustable clothing rods – Slide out drawers – Valet hooks – Thin pull out drawers for jewelry Seasonal clothing:  If you don’t have enough space to store current and out of season clothing,  then you’ll need to have a system of switching them out.  Here are just a couple of tips:  – Before storing them away, dry clean natural fibers and delicates, wash all other clothing, don’t starch because critters like it, fix and mend clothing beforehand, and get a few humidity control packets or sachets and cedar balls to store in garment bags or boxes.  – You can use a variety of containers and garment bags. Space bags are nice if you’re concerned about space and not so concerned about wrinkling your clothes.  Garment bags (not dry cleaners bags which should be removed right away) are nice for keeping out the dust and hanging either in the far corners of your closet or in another room. – You can store your boxed up or bagged seasonal clothing under the bed or in your less frequently used areas of the closet like tucked down low in a corner or up high on the shelf.  You don’t want it taking up prime real estate.  Plastic bins in the attic should be fine. Just make sure the lid is tightly sealed with your sachets and humidity control packets.  – For old, valuable or sentimental items you may want to consider getting archival boxes that will better protect them and store them inside or in a climate controlled area.  My last tip is to Maintain your organized closet:  – Label your bins, boxes, shelves, drawers and even your clothing rods. – Don’t get the case of the ‘dropsies.’ Put your laundry in the hamper, put your shoes back on the shelf or in the box, and hang up your clothes. – Use clear bins when possible. – Have a good laundry routine…which should include folding and putting your clothes away right away.  Don’t let them pile up or get mixed in with the dirty clothes. – Edit frequently…seasonally is nice…annual at the very least! Dan’s Topic: Mentoring Our Younger Selves How cool it would be and what you would say if you could go back in time to talk to your younger self. Geez…I’d give myself an earful! We have an entire generation right now that, unlike many previous generations, has graduated college and a couple years later is still working in entry-level jobs, many still living at home with Mom and Dad, and they’re just dying to begin their lives. Unfortunately, for most of them, their frustration is probably compounded because they have this consumeristic vision of what life is supposed to be like: Graduate college, get offered amazing jobs immediately Start at a good salary and reaching 6 figures in a couple years Buy the big house, get all the toys…maybe get married or just move in with their significant other… This has essentially become the contorted consumeristic model of what people where we live call the “American Dream”  Trouble is, we can’t go back and mentor our younger self Maybe we can mentor others instead...our surrogate younger selves? While we can’t impose our beliefs on them, we can help them see that they don’t have to get to the point of having too much stuff and then trying to simplify. Imagine how much more beneficial it would be if they didn’t have to get to the point of having too much. What would it be like if they could embrace simplicity NOW, proactively, instead of reactively LATER in their lives? So maybe if we could take the time to mentor just one young person it could make a difference. Maybe it’s a family member, maybe one o