Re-Gifting Rules for the Season

As a professional organizer, and rampant de-clutterer, I asked my followers on Twitter and facebook friends about re-gifting to see if people are all in agreement these days.
Our opinions are about the same - re-gifting is a great way to get things to the right person and declutter at the same time.

My Re-gifting Rules:
1. It's ok to re-gift if the recipient would really like it.
2. It's not ok to re-gift anything used
3. Mark your gifts you might re-gift with the name of the person who gave them to you so you don't mistakenly give them back or to friends or at same event.
4. Make fun of re-gifting by having a re-gifting party where you can only bring something you got and isn't right for you for whatever reason.
5. Never re-gift fruit cake
6. Never re-gift a partially used gift-card.
7. Repackage whenever possible (new wrapping) or you might leave an old card in by accident.

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Twitter replies about re-gifting
Love to regift BUT some have to go to a worthy cause especially from my dear sister in law

I so agree with ur views on regifting something that hasn't been used &was not right for U but is "just right" for ur friend

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Facebook replies:
So, regifting researcher . . . If someone gets, say a 2.5 lb can of gormet peanuts from a printer, but that someone doesn't eat nuts . . . is it in good taste to regift it to her client who is The Professional Organizer? :)

Depends on the gift - if it is something that you will never use and you give it to someone who can use the item, then I think it is a great idea.

Regifting.. there is nothing wrong with it as long as the person will like, enjoy or appreciate.
Agreed. In the spirit of recycling (and giving) - anything given to the right person for the right reason is OK. I think we should remove the stigma of used items completely, it was artificially drilled into us by retailers. I have a ton of Lincoln Logs and other such things that my kids have grown out of and can easily pass on to several ... Read Moregenerations.
I say - consider it the "green" thing to do. Maybe we can start a "Green Christmas Revolution." By the way - you're all getting socks with holes in them. :)

Depends on the motivation. If it's truly a matter of having a great gift around that you just aren't going to use but is perfect for somebody else, it can work. But if you're secretly trying to justify not spending money on somebody you don't like much by re-gifting, that's bad karma!

Hmmm, I haven't re-gifted, but I have donated several things I would never want or use to a charitiable thrift store nearby. (People, please don't give crap just to say you did something...know your friends and give them something appropriate.) But, if I did get something great but thought another friend could make better use of it, I think I would happily pass it on. (No passing on the dreaded fruitcake, and the like, though.) :)

Did I wear that last time??

Do you ever worry about wearing the same outfit to an event with the same people, but cannot remember what on earth you wore the last time you went?

I actually tried writing my outfit down on my calendar every day so I didn't wear the same thing to the same client over and over again.

Now the problem solvers over at Weekdate have designed a closet notepad to track your outfits so you're not seen in the same thing too often.

This has even bigger implications for organizing though. If you take the time to really write down what you wear every day, at the end of a year you'll be able to clearly see, without a doubt, if you don't wear certain clothes. And that can help tremendously when you have to make room in your closet and make tough choices about what to keep... and what's gotta go!

It comes with a hole for hanging.
If you don't have a hook in your closet, 3M Command hooks are super easy to put up and come in so many sizes you can find one for just about anything. And you don't have to put a hole in the wall because they stick right on. I like this size for my calendar - it hooks right on.

-- Allison

Either ON or OFF

Are you a creative person who operates in ON or OFF mode, but not much inbetween?
That's me in a nutshell... and I have been off for a few weeks.
I started a project around the training/mentoring in my organizing business (Organizer U.), and oooops, I have neglected my funky little blog.

But it led me to give some thought to the creative process and whether other Right Brainers have these same tendencies.
Well, today I had a meeting with a book graphic artist and whaddya know, she says she's the same way. No wonder I prefer a marathon of organizing rather than doing it a little at a time. When I'm focused I'm really really focused. And when I'm not, I'm not.

Something to think about. It doesn't make me a good or bad person, but it's useful to know so I don't set myself up for failure, expecting myself to work on something in bits when I'd rather be "All in".

How about you?

Organized Artist/Author SARK

During my Creativity Consult with author SARK, I took the opportunity to ask her about her own organizing habits.
When she was in Atlanta on book tour I found out she was not only organized, she confessed to being ultra-organized, something that is hard for a creative person to own, because creatives are supposed to be messy and embrace messiness, right?
Wrong!
SARK loves being organized.

• Her files are organized by topic and then alphabetically within the topic.
• She organizes her address book by first name, which computers and phones are not very cooperative about.
• She says she would rather do her winter clothing purge than go to a party!
• She is Virgo rising for all you astrology followers out there - which she says indicates she is obsessed with detail.

We got to talking about junk drawers, and the point at which I just toss the crumbs of stuff into the trash. She told me a short story about her packrat parents. She would organize the junk drawer and throw out the stray paperclips and pennies.

But her father would go through the trash and emerge asking, " Do you know what I just found? A string, a paper clip, a rubberband and a penny! Do you know where I found them?"
She would answer, "in the trash."
She laughed thinking about it now.

By the way, SARK says she is planning to add these individual creativity consults to her business coming in January 2009. She's going to call it Couching with SARK, (instead of coaching - It tooke me a few minutes to get the play)

So you too can get inspired by the juicy artist/writer/coach.
Keep watching her website for more details.
Oh - do sign up for her newsletter. It's colorful and so fun to get each month.

There are a few other freebies on the site and one really silly spot - ask Jupiter (her cat)
If the Magic 8 Ball was a cat, what would the answer be when you asked it a question.

Find it in the the Sark Studio

on a SARK high!

I drank from the SARK water tonight and I'm on a high!
I won a creativity consultation with the author in a blogging contest and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect prize. See I've been hesitating to promote my book "Color Me Organized" because my evil lizard self keeps sending me "not good enough" thoughts.
So tonight I got the chance to talk to my muse about my thoughts.
What an extraordinary woman. She was so easy to talk to, like talking to a friend I've known for years. She gave me some great pointers for using my "not good enough" thoughts to spark the answers for myself.
I give my SARK time two thumbs up with sparkly purple nail polish on my thumbs.
Now I do my exercises and baby steps and become the best organizing writer for artsy fartsies.
-- Allison

Alternate to Filing

Filing is a great way to store paper. But let's just face the fact that Righties often take issue with it.
1. if you don't do it regularly you get a pile.
so
2. why not just pile in the first place
and
3. I know where things are in my piles so why should I put things in a drawer or box because then I won't know where they are anymore.

There are some handy alternatives for those who don't want to file because it is more work or suffer from OOSOOM (out of sight, out of mind).

My favorite is using stacking trays because you can get lots of them and at least have categorized stacks. The same principles apply as in filing, but you will need broader categories so that you don't have 137 or more trays.
These fun colored trays are from See Jane Work

Begin with the action trays: To Do, To Go, To File, To Pay and Someday
That can be one stack.
2nd Stack will be home papers: House, Finances, Insurance, Health, Personal
This only works well if you're willing to cut the crap and just save the minimum amount of stuff.
If you are an info-holic, you gotta pick another route because you'll end up with too many trays to manage.

Other handy bins, buckets and trays:
coupons to use
receipts to keep/file/toss later
schedules

The people at Pendaflex did a bunch of research and found that there are a ton of people who actually prefer piling to filing and they created some great products to make your piling more workable.

My favorite is the Pilesmart files .
You can see into them and lay them across your desk with just the tab showing or the whole thing showing.
There are a variety of these with write-on tabs on the side or bottom.
The files also make it easy to take your action items on the go.

Lots of people will tell you all kinds of rules about managing paper, but there is only one rule
Find out what works for your style.
Do what works for you
And make it work!

Gadget Junkie Confesses

Part 1 - The Stuff
It's me. I admit it. I'm a gadget junkie. It started out as a kid. I wanted a calculator (can you guess my age?) They were expensive and were the Bar Mitzvah gift of choice. It grew as I collected walkman after walkman, cd players, tape recorders and cameras. Then came the computer era to usher in a new unfathomable pletorha of cool gadgets. It's not just the stuff that plugs in either. It's also the software and the online tools.
It can be an organizers nightmare.... or a dream.

I have dealt with this need to try new stuff by making a single rule. I can only keep the thing that is newest and the one that came before it. (keep the last generation in case something stops working suddenly) Anything older must go. It's about the only way I can stay sane and not become the collector of all things gadget.

Do I wish I still had my 512K macintosh from college to use as the coolest doorstop ever? Nah.
Once you begin living with a rule, it becomes the norm and a rationalization you can live by forever.

I recently found my college broadcast journalism tape recorder and microphone. I wish I could say they are collectors items, but alas, they are just new techno junkery.

PART II - The Passwords
Every time I want to try out new online gadgets I have to sign in with a user name and password. And sometimes they don't let me use the same one that I usually use.
And like a true Right Brainer - I don't want to take the time to open up my spreadsheet of passwords every time I make one.
So instead I write the PW on a post-it along with my user name and website.
I stick the PW on my every-day-spiral where I write everything I'm doing, thinking, messages, etc.
When the pile gets to be about 10 high - I go to my spreadsheet(s) and enter them all in, and alphabetize the list (by website)

How do you organize your passwords? And is it working?