Fear is weight

I was listening to The Story the other night and the host was interviewing a woman who did speed hiking. She hiked the Appalachian Trail at a rate of 38 miles a day for 57 days. That in itself is incredible, but this woman also said something that really resonated with me. She said that people on the trail say that fear is weight. If you're afraid you're going to be cold, you pack extra clothes. If you're afraid of going hungry, you pack too much food. The emotion of fear translates into a more difficult and strenuous experience on the trail because you carry more stuff than you need. The stuff assuages our fear but it makes life less enjoyable.

How do your fears translate into stuff that weighs you down?

Here's another way to look at it. If you believe that you will be fine regardless of what the world throws your way, if you believe in the universe's ability to provide what you need, then you don't need stuff. Without stuff, you're physically lighter, and without fear you're emotionally and mentally lighter. Belief in having your needs met is lightness. It's freedom. How much more enjoyable is it to travel down that amazing beautiful and interesting trail of life without fear and stuff weighing you down?

Creative Commons photo posted to flickr by Krug6
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

A year ago: Aprons, dining halls and a book review

My blog posts from the last half of May 2010 covered a lot of ground. I posted my first video blog about the simple genius of using a Command hook to hang up my apron. I recapped a bunch of 2009 blog posts in two separate posts. I shared my techniques for preparing for my college reunion and after returning, shared some memories of the now-destroyed dining hall. Lastly, I reviewed Linda Samuels' book The Other Side of Organized. I still really recommend this book for people who want gentle organizing guidance through a life change. Organizing is a powerful way to regain control over the physical stuff in our lives, and it can empower us to reshape our lives in other areas as well.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Your paperless business

Today I'm honored to be a guest blogger at Janet Barclay's excellent Your Organizing Business, a blog primarily directed at professional organizers. My post is on the reasons for moving one's business paperless. Click over to read how it can help propel a business forward!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Organized for the movies

I love seeing movies at movie theaters. In my youth, I could see two movies a day back to back and not think twice, but now I average about two movies a month. This past week, I managed to fit in one movie a day for four days in a row, and it got me thinking about some tips for making movie theater trips a little more efficient and organized.

You might think that going to the movies isn't that difficult to arrange, but in Los Angeles before you do anything you have to choose which theater to go to. That decision might be based on a number of factors such as traffic, parking, size of group and even type of screen. In addition, there are theaters that have assigned seating and rewards programs and those that do not. It can get a little complicated.

One of the movies I saw this past week (though not in 3D).

So here are my top tips for making the process of selecting and going to the movies seamless:

1. Always opt for an assigned-seat theater if you have a choice. Assigned seating makes the entire process easier and more efficient, because you can guarantee you'll like your seat and you don't have to build in extra time before the movie to claim a spot. You can walk in just in time for previews and your seat will be waiting for you. The time savings alone makes whatever ticket premium the theater might charge worth it.
2. Always double check what format the movie is going to be in. IMAX and 3D movies cost more than regular movies, and some people can't handle 3D (it gives me a headache).
3. Check if your theater has a rewards program and what the terms are. Often you can get points for buying tickets and concessions that you can redeem for those items after accumulating a certain amount.
4. Familiarize yourself with the theater's outside food policy. You don't want to have a huge Jamba Juice in one hand and a coffee in the other while strolling in two minutes before your movie begins if the ushers are going to ask you to throw them away. Abide by the rules, or at least plan ahead and bring something you can fit in a purse.
5.  Buy tickets online and print the tickets at home if you have the option. That way you can skip all the lines at the theater and be guaranteed a seat at the show of your choice. 
6. Don't forget to bring your parking ticket to be validated. Most movie theaters in shopping complexes have the best validation policy, so even if you are doing dinner and a movie, wait to validate at the theater for the best deal.

My favorite LA theaters? I like the leather seats at the Landmark at the Westside Pavillion and parking is always free, however it isn't at all near my house, so my next favorite would be any of the Arclights - Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Pasadena - depending on where I am beforehand. 

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Everything must go

The bookstore Borders is going through bankruptcy and is closing many of its Los Angeles locations. Saturday I stopped by the Hollywood location at Sunset and Vine. It was the second-to-last day of operation and the store was stripped, with a few books left on the shelves and everything, including the fixtures, for sale at a huge markdown. There were also a lot of customers, people with an eye for a bargain stocking up on books by the armful. I bought three paperback romances for five dollars, a better price even than buying used, but it made me a little sad to see a bookstore I used to browse now nearly empty and ravaged.

The people who walked out with many bags of books were lured by the steep discounts. 80% off a book's cover price is a tempting deal, but I'd argue it's worth it only if you wanted to own the book in the first place. How many of the books being bought that day were high on the new owner's to-read list? Did they buy out of desire for the book or the desire to "save" a lot of money on the book? Stuff that's on sale, just like stuff that's free, isn't always a great deal for the person buying. You still have to take home, store, use and then dispose of the thing you just spent actual money on.

I'm not saying sales aren't good things, or aren't fun. I didn't technically need two new Nora Roberts books, but I did buy them knowing I had a place to put them on my bookshelf, and can trade them in at my local used bookstore when I'm finished with them.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by scazon

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Reviewed: Pouchee

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I tend to use things as long as humanly possible, and I don't have a lot of the same kind of thing in different styles. I have just one purse (a Butler Bag) and one wallet. My wallet, a red leather number that cost me fifteen dollars at the Ventura County Fair, was about seven years old and on its last legs when I went to San Diego for the NAPO conference in April. While there, I checked out so many neat products and got to see in person for the first time a product called the Pouchee. I'd heard about it from other professional organizers, and when I saw it I knew it would be my wallet replacement.

The Pouchee is basically a well-designed wallet with the feature of handles meant to make it easy to transfer from one bag to another. It also expands so you can put all your other pertinent stuff in it to make transitioning from bag to bag super easy. I don't use that feature often, but I do love the pockets, which are the perfect size to hold my cell phone and my iPod Nano. The zippered inner pocket holds my cash and coins securely and out of sight.

They come in lots of colors and in leather and cloth. I debated a good while over the red leather or the red cloth, but the cloth one was washable and seemed more what I needed. I've been using it ever since conference and couldn't be happier with it.

I recommend Pouchee wholeheartedly!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

A year ago: Happiness, freedom and empty space

Last year on Helping You Organize, I reviewed the book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The Happiness Project Blog is still one of my favorites and I've thought repeatedly about many of Rubin's tenants of happiness in the year since reading the book. The book is now out in paperback.

One of my all-time favorite posts was from May of last year about how the best things in life aren't free. I'm talking about stuff you get for free from friends, relatives, businesses and the like. Most often these free items come with the steep price of figuring out where to put them, how to take care of them and how to dispose of them and you are better off not accepting the thing in the first place!

Another great post (if I do say so myself) was on the virtues of an empty box or shelf. Just because there is an empty space in your space doesn't mean you have to fill it up with stuff!

Creative Commons free junk photo posted to Flickr by cogdogblog

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Busy is a four letter word

Being busy is a constant. The word means little due to overuse. We use busy to connote a full life, one that we can explain to other people with a shorthand term that everyone can understand. In today's world, over-saturated as it is with information, experiences, options, busy is practically not optional. And for many of us, busy is a good thing. Busy means jobs, school, family, life. It means we have something to show for ourselves. We might say to a friend, "Oh, I'm so busy," with a hint of regret, as if we wish things were different, but what we're really saying is that our lives are full and therefore not failures.

What would it mean to be not busy? Would we be not productive? Would we be failing at life? A part of me thinks that if you said you haven't actually been that busy lately, other people might judge you, as though you aren't making the most of your time or you aren't working hard enough. But that isn't true. Being busy doesn't automatically mean being successful, happy or fulfilled. And having free time doesn't mean you're lazy, apathetic or lack goals.

Though I too use the word busy as a shorthand to communicate to others that my life is full, I don't shy away from free time. I think free time is imperative to living a complete life, and I should probably be more vocal about its validity in my schedule. What are all our time-saving productivity tools about anyway, if not to create a chunk of real time that can be spent in idleness, or at least reading a trashy romance novel, instead of returning emails, getting the car washed or looking for your favorite lipstick.

I'm not going to strive to be busy. I'd rather strive to be complete.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

It's 8 a.m. Do you know where your keys are?

If you identify with this card from Mina Lee Studio, then you might need a professional organizer.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.