For years I have been keeping an eye out for clever organizing ideas and clever products - simple concepts that can have a surprisingly positive impact on your life.

Following up on my earlier post about the bin - One of the greatest products I have found and use in recent months is the Simplehuman Cabinet Trash System.

Mounting simply in a cabinet, this bin stores all your plastic grocery bags in the bottom part, ready for use - the top has a special frame that allows you to fit a grocery bag as your bin bag, with the side parts of the frame securely holding the handles.

Although perhaps not so suitable for a large household generating lots of rubbish, for a smaller place it is ideal - simple, effective, environmentally-friendly and easy-to-use.

Genius.

I am not the first person to suggest this, but the single most important organizing tool in your home or workplace has to be the humble rubbish bin.

All sorts of clutter comes into your home and life - packaging from your shopping; letters and mail (junk or otherwise); random bits and bobs that you accrue from work, life, hobbies etc. Incoming clutter is almost never-ending, and the single best thing that you can do to start managing this clutter is to start using your bin more.

10 Tips to Make More of Your Bin 

1. “Think Shrink” - Every time you bin something, do your best to compact it as much as possible - break down cardboard boxes, cut up plastic bottles, tightly crumple paper and plastic bags… It all reduces rubbish volume, saving time on your rubbish processing and reducing impact on landfill sites.
2. Keep a bin near where you process your post/mail - envelopes, junk mail and unwanted letters (ones that don’t compromise your privacy), can be dumped instantly.
3. Have a dedicated bin in your office which is “To shred” - letters and documents that need to be shredded for privacy reasons can have a dedicated, simple end location.
4. Keep a bin near the food preparation area in your kitchen - Food scraps and rubbish can be binned as you go.
5. When you return home with your grocery shopping, take a little time to empty any loose or individually-wrapped products into a sensible storage container - You don’t need to keep the outer wrapper from a pack of chocolate bars! Any rubbish can go straight away.
6. Get a storage system for left-over plastic bags - don’t bin them! Some supermarkets will take them back, or keep hold of them for future use.
7. Strategically place bins around your home - never be too far from a place where you can junk the stuff you don’t need!
8. Recycle where possible - If you have space and inclination for several bins, you can do a lot for the environment by making sure you effectively recycle your rubbish.
9. Don’t flush it, Bin it - A lot of bathroom rubbish gets flushed, instead of binned… This is bad for the environment and can cause serious problems in sewers - get yourself a decent bin for your bathroom (with a flip lid or cover ideally), wrap any embarrassing items in toilet paper and make sure to empty regularly. Job done.
10. Embrace your Bin! - Used effectively, the bin is the swiftest and most convenient way to reduce clutter and simplify your life. Go bin something…

I’ve just read a great post on Wired, entitled Ten Reasons To Throw Away Your Cellphone (via Digg).

It’s fairly succinct, but does touch on a few interesting points:

1. Cellular Phones are a LOT more expensive than people realize.
2. Cell phone use can be a social hazard - Driving whilst using a mobile phone is stupid and dangerous and has already casued several tragic fatalities.
3. Being always available sounds nice in theory, but constant interruptions at all hours are actually very tiresome. Think about what else you could get done if you didn’t have to worry about your mobile all the time.

I’ve spent several brief periods of my life phone-less and dependent on landlines, and despite feeling a bit out of sorts at the time, I was probably better off. No crises went by without me knowing; I didn’t lose any money; my friends and family could still reach me if needed…

On the flip-side, I was less distracted and more productive; a little lighter on my feet and ultimately happier and more relaxed.

Makes you think.

Do you often come home from a long day at work, with your mind still buzzing from the days activities? Do you find that even though you are at home, some of the office stress has snuck in with you? Maybe a long daily commute home leaves you tired, wired and a bit frazzled?

After a recent career move, resulting in a greater responsibility, I found myself coming home every day still feeling stressed and under pressure - not good for me, not good for my girlfriend. I figured there had to be some simple ways to trigger a more relaxed state of mind when I came home.

5 simple steps to minimizing work-related stress when you arrive home:

1.  Stay organized at work - Track your priorities, manage your tasks, write down your To-dos… The topic of managing yourself at work is far too long to get into here, but by doing so, you are clearing your mind of all the distractions from work, making it easier to disconnect when you get home.
2. Enjoy your commute - Whether you are travelling by car, train or bike - use the time to relax a bit; get some fresh air, listen to some music, enjoy the scenery (if you can) and use your commute home to rid yourself of some of that stress.
3. Look forward to getting home - If you’re dreading getting home then you will just be exacerbating your stress levels; if you know that your home is going to be neat, tidy and organized; that your evening will be pleasant and relaxing and that you can forget about work for a while, you will be re-focussing your energy on a more positive experience, and reducing work-related stress.
4. Disconnect - A difficult thing to do in the days of BlackBerries, remote email and corporate mobile phones is to simply disconnect yourself from your work communications - switch them all off and enjoy a bit of peace. The likelihood of you being needed for something that can’t wait till tomorrow is realistically quite small, so give yourself and your family a break!
5. Use an Anti-stress Basket - The main tip I implemented was to put a simple basket on my shoe rack, just inside my front door. On this basket I put an “Anti-Stress Basket” label, and in it I keep a small tear-off pad and a pen. Every day when I come in, I see this basket (a strong visual reminder) and remember not to be stressed; If there is anything that is particularly bothering me, I’ll write it on a bit of paper and chuck it in the basket; lastly, I’ll take a few deep breaths and continue indoors. Bonus Tip: It’s very enjoyable to empty the basket into the bin once a week and throw out your stress for good!

In my latest job, working as Lead Developer for Mailock, I attend a lot of meetings. In spending more and more of my time in meetings I have come to realize 2 key things - One: Most (if not all) meetings could stand to be a bit shorter. Two: Business meetings seem to breed business cards.

I am currently writing a series of posts on how to simplify meetings, and below propose a simple solution to all those business cards you may have collected.

3 Steps to Business Card Nirvana

1. Organize your “Keepers” - Those business cards that you really want to keep (be ruthless) should be organized neatly - stick them in a business card book, or file them neatly in your organizer; make sure they are put somewhere you can reach easily.
2. Transfer the Card Details to a Computer - Go through each card and transfer all the details into a computer file somewhere - Use the Contacts section in your Email client, type them into a dedicated contact manager like Act! or put them in a central database. If possible, put them somewhere that can sync to your mobile phone, so you need only manage one address book. Do this for cards you will bin, and the cards you’ll keep.
3. Get rid of the unwanted Cards - Bin the, recycle them, shred them (if you need to protect privacy) or get creative with them (see below) - just make sure you only ever keep the cards you really need.

A Great Use for Unwanted Business Cards

I tend to recycle all of the cards that I get given (and now I actively try to refuse them if I can), but Dr. Jeannine Mosely of the Institute for Figuring has a great idea for those of us with too much time and far too many business cards…

Build a Business Card Menger Sponge!

Being a confirmed geek, technophile and all round lover of gadgets, I have a LOT of chargers - iPod, Phone, BlackBerry, Camera and laptop used daily, with a dozen others (including electric toothbrush, shaver) which are charged weekly. Consequently, I have a lot of cable clutter which is very frequently spread from place to place, as I spend several nights a week at my girlfriends and travel home regularly.

I wanted to come up with a simple solution to this problem, which had to fulfill several criteria:

• Simple, cheap and easy to use
• Avoid having multiple chargers plugged in at once, or leaving chargers plugged in
• Be portable, so I could take relevant chargers to work or my girlfriends flat
• Be organized, so that my charger use was simple and controlled
• Be understandable, so others could charge stuff easily using my kit

My charging solution

The solution I came up with is one I have been using for several years, and has worked perfectly for me - combining all the factors above, and probably costing me only a few pounds to set-up.

1. Store your Chargers - Get a shoe box, basket or other open container that you can keep all your chargers in - dig them all out of their various hiding places and stick them in the box.
2. Bag your Chargers - This is the clincher, and takes this solution from simple to sorted. Grab a bunch of Ziploc bags (or resealable sandwich bags) and put each charger into its own bag, with it’s own mess of cable. No more spaghetti junction.
3. Label your Chargers - Label each charger so you know what it goes with, either by sticking half and index card in the bag with the device details on, or by printing or writing a sticky label and affixing to the charger itself - It really does help to know what goes with what, and it helps others to use your charging kit.

This system is very easy to use, very easy to implement and can help you keep your charger chaos under control!

[Update 05/06/07: Those of you who found this article interesting, but who are looking for a more high-tech solution might like this post on Unclutterer, about finding the perfect charging station.]

I have been a keen user of google for many years, and have always tried to use it as effectively as I can - Smart Googlers know how to make calculations, translate websites, exclude things from their searches and track links to specific sites. Following up on my post on how to organize your life with Google, I found a brilliant post on Lifehack.org which explains some of the more obscure but interesting Google tricks.

Cool Things you can do using Google via Lifehack.org.

The web is loaded with hundreds of different tools to help you get the most out of your computer and the internet, and it can be difficult to know which ones are of use. This post is focussed upon helping you find and use the software that will help you be more organized and productive.

Despite a large number of Google detractors out there, Google has a huge range of very useful tools which are almost all available for free. I use several Google Tools on a daily basis, and find all of them give some measurable productivity boosts.

Gmail
Gmail is one of the best email clients I have ever used, especially those that are online-only. With loads of storage; clever tools for finding, tagging and filtering email; and a great standard user interface. I moved my personal email traffic to Gmail back in the days when invites were being fought over, and not regretted it once. If you’re not already using it, I’d recommend giving it a try.

Google Calendar
I spent 2 years waiting for this to arrive, and instantly set-it up with all my recurring events. It’s the nicest calendar I’ve used online (and there have been a few) and it has the benefit of being tightly integrated with Gmail. It has everything you could wish for from an online calendar including slick integration with invitations, automatic event reminders and the same powerful search tool that underpins Google Search and Gmail.

Google Reader
I have recently migrated to using Google Reader (online edition) as my de facto Feed Reader. It has a neat, intuitive interface and integrates very well with Firefox. A few simple clicks are all it takes to add new Feeds, and I can update and track them from multiple computers (Important for me as I regularly use several different machines).

Google Notebook
Google Notebook is a great tool for anyone who spends a lot of time online - I like to organize my online experience so that I have access to all the information that I need, and Google Notebook allows me to clip useful information from websites, organize notes and information and get to it all from wherever I am. Notebook is a tool I am using more and more as time goes on.

Google Webmaster Tools
Not one for all our readers, but Google does offer a huge range of Webmaster Tools to help you out with analyzing, planning and managing a website. I use AdSense, Sitemaps and Analytics daily to monitor this very site you’re reading. I recommend them as worth a look if you run a website.

I came across this article earlier on Unclutterer.com, about having totally organized socks (and hence an organized sock drawer). It advocates having all your socks in exactly the same size and style to simplify laundry time. By having 12 pairs of identical socks, it is considerably easier to manage laundry day and having to pair up your socks every time. I agree with the recommendation that they made but don’t believe you have to take it to those extremes (unless you really want to).

Here is my take on this idea, with some extra sock organizing tips:

1. Stick to the same style, for the same type of socks - I myself have standard black wool socks which I wear90% of the time, and yes they are all the same style. I also have trainer and workout socks, and separate running socks; again also in the same style. It helps if even one of you in a couple does this, as you simplify laundry that bit extra. I always know that any brightly coloured socks, especially those related to shopping, chocolate or being sleepy belong to my girlfriend :).
2. Keep different types of socks in different places - I keep all my main socks in the usual places (as well as having a pair stashed at work, in the car and at my girlfriends), but keep my exercise and running socks separately. It may sound silly, but avoids me ever having to wear white socks to a meeting (yes this happened once) or wearing smart dress socks whilst out running (yes, this happened once as well).
3. Keep sock laundry separate - This is a handy one, especially if your keen on nicely optimized laundry… Keep a mesh bag, or possibly a pillowcase handy near your washbasket, and whenever there are socks to be washed put them in there instead of in the main laundry. This may sound sound super-anal, especially coming from a boy, but really does save time when you’re organizing your laundry. It also helps solve “wandering sock syndrome” whereby socks end up in all sorts of random places whilst going through the laundry cycle.
4. Keep Emergency Socks - Keep emergency socks around, in various locations, for whenever they might be appropriate. Very handy for when you get caught in the rain, have an emergency meeting (or date) or just need a change.
5. Have a Sock Pick-me-up - This is a tip I learned from a professional butler, a man used to spending a lot of time on his feet. If you’re stuck at work, out and about or have otherwise been spending a lot of time on your feet, take a little time for a sock break… Sit down and relax, and take off your shoes and socks to let the air circulate. Wash your feet and dry them well, then put on a pair of emergency socks (see above)… I guarantee you’ll feel like a new person.

Please post a comment, or contact us and let us know how you get on sorting out your socks.

An important step in getting organized is understanding your surroundings and possessions, and beginning to delineate what is useful and what is clutter.

Wikipedia defines clutter as “A confusing or disorderly state or collection; or the creation thereof.” I think this is a good starting point, but can be difficult to put into useful practice. To help identify clutter, look around you and start asking these questions of your surroundings and belongings:

• Does it have a useful purpose?
• Do I use it for that purpose?
• Does it do its job well?
• Do I need to keep it?
• Is it the right size/shape?
• Is it too poor to use?
• Is it too good to use?
• Is it too fragile to use?
• Have I outgrown the use of it?
• Is it obsolete?
• Do I like it?
• Is it sentimental?

Busting clutter is usually the first step in getting organized, and becomes a lot easier when you begin to understand what clutter is. When you start to identify the things around you that are useful and valued, and that which is definitely clutter, you can start to gain control of your environment and will probably feel better for it. Of course, identifying your clutter achieves nothing if you don’t do something about it!