Last week we spoke about decluttering all those f-r-e-e downloads (including mine!) and all the email. I always try to play along with you so I also decluttered some downloads (4 MP3 audios and 5 PDF e-books).

How did you do?

I must also apologise – I forgot to mention that as part of the Office Organising Bundle, you get Conquer your Email which will definitely help you if email’s your problem.

So how do you know if email’s a problem?

The quick answer is if you spend more than 30 minutes a day on email … but why don’t you take the assessment below this article.

90% of people waste an extra hour a day on email that they don’t have to. That hour translates to SIX WEEKS a year. You read that right – six weeks!

Now onto the rest of the computer decluttering.

Photos

Now that we’ve all gone digital, it’s so easy to snap, snap, snap and then snap some more.

Download pictures regularly, delete the bad ones there and then, and save the rest to CD or DVD regularly to fr.ee up some space on your computer.

I only print beautiful shots (because printing is so expensive here) so if I wouldn’t want to print it, I don’t keep it on my computer. If I want to use pics on the blog, I compress them immediately so that they take up 50KB as opposed to 1MB. And I name them meaningfully so I can find them afterwards with just a few clicks.

Blogs

How many blogs are you following in your Google Reader, Bloglines or other feed reader?

Do you know how long you take to read all of those blogs every day? Take some time to go through your feeds and declutter those you tend to skim over, especially if you do this 3 or more times every week.

Get to know your comfort number. Mine is around 42 – 45 and I know when I start adding more and more blogs without deleting any, I start feeling more and more overwhelmed at the sight of all those unread items!

My coaching challenge to you

1. Print out this post.
2. Tackle one of these sections every week until they’re all done.
3. Let me know when you do them.

Happy Organising.



Today we’re decluttering photos.

Now that we’ve all gone digital, it’s become very easy to take hundreds of pics and not have to deal with the e-clutter.

Download your pictures regularly, delete the bad ones there and then, and save the good ones to CD or DVD regularly.

I only print really gorgeous shots (because printing is so expensive here in South Africa – in fact, when we travel, I like to print some overseas because it’s soooo much cheaper) so if I wouldn’t want to print it, I don’t keep it on my computer.

If I want to use pictures on the blog, I compress them immediately so that they take up 50KB as opposed to 1MB.

Here’s how to compress photos

• Open the picture in Microsoft Picture Manager (Start, Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Tools, Microsoft Office Picture Manager).
• Click on Edit Pictures and then on compress.
• I usually compress to “web pages”
• Click OK

As easy as that, you’re done!

Knysna waterfront – May 2007

Organising your photos

Photos are one of those things that can quickly overwhelm you if you don’t have a system. Before you know it, you have thousands of photos on your computer and no idea where to start.

If this is you, make one folder titled Before _____ (today’s date) and start working backwards, just 15 minutes a day. Once you start, the momentum will easily carry you forward.

Then, from now onwards, do the following 6 steps and you’ll never be behind again.

1. Download after every major photo-taking session
It’s far easier to sort through 50 rather than 500 photos. However, if you take photos daily, you might want to do this once a week.

Read the other 5 steps here

Here are the schedule of challenges for the rest of March

13 – blogs and bookmarked links

20 - email

27 – documents & computer folders

Are you joining in with this week’s challenge?

I still haven’t got myself a planner and I am still in the process of organising my stuff (schedules, tasks etc) but since i can’t seem to find a decent planner I’m opting to go electronic. I can’t use my outlook cause it’s very slow and i use just my gmail for the emails.

Do you have any suggestions on how I can organise my schedules electronically other than outlook?

Thanks!

–
Ella Pelayo
Virtual Assistant
www.epvirtualassistant.wordpress.com

Here’s my answer:

Hi Ella

I am no good with electronic tools because I’m a paper gal but I do use Outlook for my time-based appointments.

I would say gmail because I’ve heard such a lot of good things about it.

For tasks, there are a number of things I’ve played around with like http://simplegtd.com http://tadalist.com and http://rememberthemilk.com

For scheduling I still recommend Outlook but sync it to your phone too so it reminds you of appointments and then, I like to also print out the page for very busy days so I don’t forget anything.

Please help Ella and share your favourite online calendar.

(I’m particularly interested in hearing from Janet, Suzanne and Beth.)

There’s nothing nicer than having an empty Inbox and a computer that is quick, organised and efficient. All it takes is a bit of work now and you’ll reap the benefits the entire year!

CELL PHONE
There are many areas that get cluttered very quickly in your cell phone.

1. Contacts
Delete all temporary numbers and those belonging to people you don’t know.

If I get a call from a potential client, I save the number immediately so the next time they phone I can say, “Hi Adam” and wow them with my organising skills so I end up with quite a few numbers.

2. Photos
If you don’t need the photos, delete them. Or send them to the person (s) you took them for.

3. Inbox
Delete all those old text messages from Christmas and New Year (and even before then). Create one standard thank-you text and send it to all those people, and then you’ll feel okay about deleting their lovely messages. Or send them an email.

4. Notes and reminders
Remove any old notes (so-and-so’s birthday, library books to be returned, etc.) from your calendar.

* If you have a Blackberry (crackberry ) or PDA, please follow the same steps above to get it all organised.

COMPUTER
5. Programmes
Go to Control Panel and click on Add or Remove Programs to remove all those trials you downloaded that you no longer need.

6. Photos
Burn your photos to disc (for back up) and delete the files from your hard drive.

Remember to label! I label each disc with a number and then I put that same number on a round piece of paper in the CD sleeve with a list of the events, like Christmas 2007, CT Nov 2007, PE Dec 2007, etc.

7. Files and folders
Delete any files you no longer use. If you need to keep any documents for reference, burn to disc and free up the space on your hard drive.

This year, resolve to apply the one in–one out principle. For every file you download, delete one. Drastic? Maybe, but it works. I go one step further and even delete the file once I’ve read the e-book.

8. Inbox
Delete and then archive your emails. Read Suzanne’s lovely post on archiving your old emails

Delete old folders. Go through your Sent Items and please make me happy and delete the items from your Deleted Items!

9. Contacts
Delete any contacts if you can’t even remember who they are or why you have their details Or take the take to reconnect!

10. Bookmarks
Oh my word! It’s so easy to press Ctrl + D and voila! Bookmarked! But when you have a gazillion bookmarks, it’s too much bother to even look at them. So go through and delete, and then make folders to organise your bookmarks

Bonus – Blogs in your feed reader
I started off the year with 48 and am now down to 43. How about you?

Please print this email and get cracking. I’m joining you this week because I’ve only done the computer part of this list myself.

Okay, let’s sweeten the deal and have a contest

If you take up the challenge, please post a comment telling me what you did and I will give a random commenter one of my Household Organising Files (R75 value) when the contest ends on 25 Jan. If you already have one, you may pick another product of similar value – yay!!!

Or you can write a post on your own blog and link up.

Either way – just link up. Remember you have TWO whole weeks so there are no excuses

Are you up for the challenge?