How to make returns easy

The best way to make returns easy is to not have them in the first place. Don't ever buy anything just because it's on sale (you probably won't be able to return it, anyway), without knowing where it will live in your home, or if you don't need it or love it.

However, sometimes returns are unavoidable, and a lot of the time people lose their money, their space and their mental energy on returns that never get made. Here's how to make them happen.

Keep your receipts in one central location.  Once you have decided to return an item, locate the receipt for it and place the receipt and the item in a (reusable) bag. Place the bag in the area of your home where you keep items that are leaving (library books, mail, etc.). The next time you will be in the vicinity of the store in question, grab the bag, place it your car (or take it with you if you use public transportation), and enter a reminder in your to-do list or calendar to make the return. (Using Apple's Reminders app on your iOS5 iPhone, you can even program the address in and when you arrive, you'll get pinged.) If the return is to a store you are rarely near, take note of the window you have for returns (usually found on the front or back of the receipt) and schedule a time to get there before the window is up. It's not a bad idea to mark in your calendar the last day to return the item anyway, as time can get away from us.

More tips:

• Take note of the payment method and make sure you have the card you used to make the purchase on you when you go to return, or you may have to take store credit.
• Try to pair the return with another errands at the same store or in the area so you don't have to make a special trip.
• Avoid making returns without a receipt. The process will take longer at the store, you may not get the full value of the return,and you will probably only get store credit.
• If you do accept store credit instead of cash or charge back on your card, try to use it right then so you don't have to make an extra trip to get your money's worth.

Do you have any other tips for making returns easy?

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by John Bell

What's so great about Evernote?

I just did a search of this blog and realized that I've never blogged about Evernote, except for this brief mention. That changes today.

I'm going to quote from their website in order to set the stage, then just outline why I think Evernote is an indespensible tool.

Our goal at Evernote is to give everyone the ability to easily capture any moment, idea, inspiration, or experience whenever they want using whichever device or platform they find most convenient, and then to make all of that information easy to find. 

I use Evernote on my desktop computer and my mobile tablet. I capture recipes, articles, craft ideas, photos, lists, gift ideas, maps, products, things I find funny and things I find inspiring. I capture anything I think I might want to remember or access when I'm out and about, like the name of that wine I got one time that I really liked or a list of the kinds of pears my husband likes and the kinds he doesn't like.

I now use it for all of my to-do lists and lists in general, instead of Stickies, because Evernote syncs seamlessly, instantly and without having to do anything between my desktop and mobile device. I keep it open all the time and use it daily and have never gone over my free monthly quota, but I'm thinking of upgrading to a Pro account just because I like it so much ($5/month).

I rarely use the tags feature because their search function works so well; it always finds what I am looking for even if I have the merest of keywords to go on. I can scan anything directly from my ScanSnap S1500 to Evernote without having to go through middleman software or save screens.

I will be honest--it took me a couple of years to really start using Evernote consistently. Before I'd use a combination of saving PDFS, scans, Delicious bookmarks, etc. But when I did, it was like a door opened to more productivity-and I was pretty productive before!

Anyway, that's enough gushing for now. Let me know if you have specific questions about how to make Evernote work for you!

Creative Commons photo of pears posted to Flickr by Emilian Robert Vicol

Want help setting up your Evernote account?

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New Year's To Do List

Over the last couple of years I've stopped making New Year's Resolutions and have focused more on creating a detailed to do list of things that I want to accomplish over the course of the year. My resolutions used to be pretty specific when I did make them, so it helps me to just call a spade a spade and list them as things to accomplish. Since I enjoy working from a to do list, this works for me. It also allows me to make a master list of everything in my head, from buying new mugs to taking a trip to San Francisco to doing yoga or pilates five times a week, without worrying about whether the item in question is resolution-worthy.

A bit of my board.

For more of a spiritual approach to the year ahead, I've also made a vision board. Last year I blogged about vision boards and how they can help attract new energy into our lives. This year's board is full of bright colors and is hanging on the wall just to the left behind my computer, where I can look at it every day.

How do you celebrate the clean slate the new year brings?

Get help creating or getting through your own to do list.

Call Lelah at 818.269.6671

or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

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Poll # 3: Where there's a will

I'm very interested in the subject of wills and estate planning. It's something that's imperative for adults to do, but something that most of us put off as long as possible. It can be stressful to think about end-of-life matters, but once you deal with them and have your affairs in order, you can relax.

My readers responded to the poll question "What is the state of your will?" with some interesting answers. Over half (55%) said that they had it on their to do list. This isn't suprising, nor is it bad. It's great that it's made it onto so many people's radars, but so often with to do lists, tasks percieved as unpleasant or difficult can get pushed to the bottom over and over again. I encourage those who have making a will on their to do list to prioritize it and get it done by the end of the year!

The next most common response (22%) was that their will is totally up to date. Fantastic! I have some really prepared blog readers.

Tied for third most responses (11% each) were the answers "I'm too young to need a will," and "I have one, but my circumstances have changed." To the first, I say if you are younger than 18, then yes, you are too young to have a will. But if you're over 18 and have any kind of assets at all, then put it on your to do list. To those whose circumstances have changed, it shouldn't be difficult to update your existing will with the new information. Get on it!

No one responded with the answer that they had a will, but were not sure about it's whereabouts. That's good. Having copies of wills floating around can be confusing. Though I'm not a lawyer, and if you have serious will questions, you should probably consult one, I'm pretty sure you should try to only have one will in existence at once, even if a recent one supersedes older copies.

However, you don't necessarily need a lawyer to make a valid will in most states. NOLO is a wonderful resource for do-it-yourself law, and if your circumstances are fairly straightforward, you can do your own will without a lawyer in very little time.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by iowa_spirit_walker

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.

Anthony Bourdain on lists

This weekend I was glancing through a friend's copy of the Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain. Anthony Bourdain has a really direct and entertaining writing style. I really enjoyed his memoir Kitchen Confidential. I also ate at Les Halles in New York City once. It was a delicious, memorable meal. In the cookbook, he was talking about how to start thinking like a chef, and I wanted to share his take on lists with you.

I'm a list fanatic. Write it down on a list, I believe, and there is far less chance that you will ever find yourself beginning a sentence with the pathetic excuse, "Sorry...I forgot to..."

The very process of writing a list clarifies and focuses the mind.

I love the phrasing...lists really do clarify and focus the mind on what's important. The power of the list cannot be overestimated, I feel.

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

Elegy for a sticky note

Over the weekend, I lost something very dear to me. I won't bore you with the chain of events that led to the demise of all of my Stickies, but on Saturday morning, I started my computer and they were all gone. Just gone, in an instant. When I realized this, I wasn't hit with a wave of panic or regret at not having backed them up (though I wish I had). It was more like a sense of emptiness, of loss. The information on my dozen or so notes wasn't entirely irreplaceable. Sure, I had a running list of usernames and passwords on one note that I'll miss, and a list of interesting names that I turn to when writing, but those can be rebuilt. Rather, I was struck by the loss of my to do list, and how odd it felt to be on my computer without that touchstone of orderly tasks and ideas waiting for me to visit, to delete and add, to bold and highlight.

I've already started rebuilding my stickies. They are a really useful tool. I mourn for my lost information, but I look to the future and know I'll be okay.

If you also use Stickies, don't forget to include them in your regular back up. From Wikipedia:
Backup data: Stickies keeps all information in a self-contained database. The database can be backed up by copying the file StickiesDatabase which is located in a user's Library directory (i.e. ~/Library/StickiesDatabase)

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

Visualizing the year

Normally around this time of year I like to grab a big piece of paper and a pen and make a rambling list of everything I'd like to accomplish or do in the coming year. I refer to it for at least the first three months of the year, but as more and more things get crossed off, I put it away and rely more on short term to do lists. I also try to distill a few of my major goals into resolutions that I can also keep in the forefront of my mind so they don't fall between the cracks of every day life.

A portion from my vision board.

This year I will probably still make a large 2011 to-do list (I really can't help myself where lists are concerned), but in lieu of resolutions I sat down and made a vision board. Vision boards have been around for a long time; they are basically visual representations of our goals and dreams. Mine took the form of a colorful collage covered in pictures and words. I had no definite agenda when I was putting it together, I just selected items that I felt were right to have on there. I have heard over and over again from others who have made vision boards in the past that they didn't always know why they put a certain image or idea onto their board, but it would always come into their lives in some way or another afterward.

I like the idea of visualizing a year that is abundant with things that will make us healthy and happy, but I also like the fact that things will happen that we cannot foresee and yet will enrich out lives even more than the things we plan out to the letter.

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

A year ago: color-coded to-do lists and photos!

Last year on helping you organize, I debated the merits of using color in organizing systems, waxed eloquently about my love for to-do lists and shared some pictures posted to Flickr by a few organized souls.

Speaking of to-do lists, L.A. pro-organizer Beth Zeigler, whose business is called Bneato, has a new weekly series called to-do list tuesdays. This week she shares a list from local networking scenester and accountability coach Dyana Valentine. Very cool, in this list-junky's opinion.

If you, too, like lists and order, check out the outstanding blog Penelope Loves Lists. There are more "Penelopes" than you'd think out there.

Creative Commons to do list photo posted to flickr by tracitodd

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

Organizing and resolutions

I’ve been writing a lot about why January is such an appealing time to take stock of one’s life and feel the freedom to make some changes for the better. Many people’s resolutions involve organization in some form, such wanting to manage their time better, deciding to clear out a closet, wanting to finally finish a long-delayed project, or having a garage sale. 

I highly encourage people to add organizing to their list of resolutions (or their to do list), but to do it in a highly specific way. Don’t put “get more organized” on your list. Put something like “go through file cabinet and shred anything that isn’t needed anymore” (or maybe a few things like that). That is a tangible task that you’ll know if you’ve completed. I strongly advise you to put an action verb into each resolution. By taking action, we make change. If our resolutions are intangible, we can’t have the satisfaction of pointing to something and saying, “I accomplished that.”

When it comes to change and making our lives better, fear is something that holds a lot of people back. I implore you to not let that happen to you. In my profession, I meet a lot of people who are paralyzed with fear. Calling a professional organizer is a huge step for them because they’ve done the very serious emotional work of preparing to make a major change.

People can be scared to hire a professional organizer even when they know they need to because if they have a professional come in and make changes, they worry that even then they won't be able to change themselves, or they won't be able to maintain it. Once they have the professional help, if they can't keep the organization up, they feel they've failed. So they avoid that step entirely.

I hate the word failure, because to me it implies the end of something. I think every time we don’t succeed entirely at something, it creates another opportunity, not the end of the road. Not maintaining organization is a problem, but attacking the problem head on is the first step to change. You can’t be afraid of something that might or might happen in the future.

So take action. Put action verbs in your resolutions for the new year. Declare that you will go through your closet and get rid of all the clothes you don’t wear, you will recycle all the plastic containers in your pantry that don’t have matching lids so they won’t be spilling out every time you open the cupboard, you will hire a professional organizer to come in and help you with your filing system because you just won’t/can’t/don’t have time to do it on your own. Good luck!

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by sflovestory

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

My resolutions

The two biggest keys to making and accomplishing one's resolutions are specificity and accountability. The more specific you are about what you want to do, the easier it will be to name the steps needed to fulfill the resolution and the easier it will be to see if you've succeeded. Accountability speaks for itself. If you tell other people your resolution (such as writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days), you'll have a support system encouraging you to keep on the path to your goal, and you'll have the satisfaction of being able to show those people that you did it! So, in the interest of accountability, here is a recap of my 2009 resolutions and how I did with them, and a partial list of 2010 ones.

My 2009 resolutions were:

• Go camping
• Seek alternate headache treatments
• Sell a piece of writing
• Visit Griffith Park, Griffith Observatory and the LA Zoo

How did I do?

• I did not go camping, mainly because I don’t have a tent. But I realize that’s not a great reason, as I could have bought or borrowed one. I think I’m going to have to go with Gretchen Rubin and take this one off of my list, since this is the second consecutive year on there. As soon as I take it off, perhaps a way to do it will appear.
• I suffer from biweekly migraines. They have lessened in intensity this year because of some alternate treatments, mainly strong doses of black tea. The caffeine seems to help, but they haven’t gone away completely. I think that counts, though.
•  I did not sell a piece of writing. At the beginning of the year I thought I might start making my living from writing. Instead, I started my professional organizing business and have been writing as a creative project. Both choices have been great for my life. So I’m content with not having achieved this one as my priorites shifted and I accomplished so much more.
• I did go to Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory and while I didn’t go into the zoo, I parked in the parking lot there to do the LADWP Festival of Lights, so that counts, sort of.

My 2010 resolutions are:

• Refresh my apartment by de-cluttering and rearranging the space (even professionals have to make a point to do this once in while)
• Learn about and use more of the features of my digital camera and look into editing the images in some kind of effects program
• Revise a piece of writing to a point where I'd let other people besides my sister read it
• Buy more produce from the farmer's market and less from Ralphs

Of course, I've got a ton of other little and big things on my 2010 to do list, at this point mostly things I want to do to promote and expand my business and things involving my upcoming wedding. The beauty of ushering out an old year and beginning a new one is that it truly feels like anything is possible. Even if we plan out the year and what we want to get done in it, there are still surprises along the way, and we may end up in a place in December that we couldn't have imagined in January. What are some of your resolutions?

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

About New Year's Resolutions

I’m spending the holidays out of town and won’t be posting to my blog at the end of December, but  I’ve been thinking about the massive year that’s almost over and the fresh new one peeking around the corner a lot lately, so I want to write a few posts about the transition, and why it’s such a good time for those things we call New Year’s Resolutions.

The year that was 2009

This was the most eventful year of my life, both in terms of actions I took and things that happened to me and the people around me. It's been a fabulous year, but in some ways an overwhelming one, and I’ve been thinking a lot about priorities, about how I’m going to bring with me all of the positive energy generated in 2009, while leaving behind the uncertainty, exhaustion and limited free time.

The year to come

When I was in school, I always looked forward to the two weeks we had off in the wintertime. We got out of school the Friday before Christmas and went back the Monday after New Year's Day. I loved the fact that I got presents and then had time to enjoy them before the hustle and bustle of the regular year returned. I also felt like every time I went back to school in the new year, it was like being given a gift of a fresh start. Even though my classmates and teachers hadn’t changed, I felt like I could change. 

I remember one year I received as a Christmas gift a very soft, pure white sweater. I felt so fine walking around in it, as if the snowy white sweater cleansed me, gave me a chance to be a different person in a new year. I wasn't unhappy about who I was already, it just felt liberating to leave the old behind and welcome in the new, both figuratively with a new attitude and new goals (resolutions) and literally with new clothes, shoes and playthings. I felt like I could remake myself and that gave me a sense of power over my own destiny. 

I like that feeling, and I think many people do, which is why making resolutions is such a popular pastime. Making the resolution is naming the problem, taking its power away and making us feel in control. The fact that many of us forget, ignore, or give up on our resolutions doesn’t mean that making them is a useless activity. But think about how good the act of making a resolution makes you feel, and then think about how good you’d feel if you kept that resolution.

About resolutions

As a child, I remember my mother asking us what our resolution for the new year was. We only had to pick one, and it was a fun game to play on New Year’s Eve as we ate our traditional split pea soup and played Monopoly. For some reason at some point during college, I decided not to limit myself to one resolution and instead made a whole list of things I wanted to accomplish in the new year. It has taken me some time to realize that there is a difference between a list of resolutions and a to do list. 

Resolutions, at least in my view, are a way of exploring who we want to be as people, and aspiring to a different, better way of life through things we can control, like our actions, our bodies and our minds, while a to do list of stuff you want to get done is a helpful document to keep going year round.

Approaches to resolutions

There are at least four approaches to making resolutions.

1. One resolution. This is when you make one grand statement, such as “I resolve to lose weight,” or one smaller, less ambitious but still just as important statement, such as “I resolve to finish that Abraham Lincoln biography that’s been sitting on my nightstand for six months so I can talk about it with my grandfather.” If you are new to the resolution game, or don't want the pressure of a large list, this is a great way to go. Plus, if you finish your book by March, there's nothing stopping you from making another resolution at that time.
2. To do list. This is when, under the guise of making resolutions, you actually make a to do list of all the stuff you want to accomplish in the year, most of which was probably stuff you wanted to accomplish last year but never got around to, such as “Clean out the garage, go on a trip to Mexico, repaint the bathroom, get my colors done, look into starting a 401K, have necklace fixed, etc, etc, etc.” I think this is a great to have, in addition to at least one more personal resolution.
3. List of goals. This is somewhere between a to do list and list of resolutions. You have a list of things you want to have accomplished by the end of the year with no clear path set out to get there, such as “Learn a new language, save for retirement, expand my client base, improve my relationship with my sister.”
4. List of resolutions. Resolutions are about concrete things that you want to do, and they are also aspirations for a better way to live. So one resolution might be “Cook dinner for my spouse more often,” and another might be, “Don’t let small inconveniences annoy me as much.” 

The point is there's no wrong way to set about trying to have a better year than the one that's just fallen away.

Gretchen Rubin at The Happiness Project blog posits that resolutions, made right, can increase your happiness. I definitely agree with her and her guidelines for making effective resolutions are well worth a read.

Creative Commons Happy New Year photo posted to Flickr by Photo Denbow

Creative Commons resolution photo posted to Flickr by jonolist

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

Organizing myth: Organize once and never do it again

Organizing Myth #002: If you take the time to get your space and your life organized, that's it. You're set. You'll stay organized forever.

Organizing Reality: Doing a massive organizing push to get your home, your office and your life in order is satisfying; you get to see dramatic results pretty quickly and it feels really good. However, it's not like a vaccine you get once to be clutter-proof forever. It's not even like a flu vaccine you get once a year. Getting organized is the imperative first step, but staying organized is like taking allergy meds--they work best if you take them every day. Staying organized is simple--it just requires maintenance. Even if you hire a professional organizer to help you start your life down an organized path, it will be up to you to do the work it takes to keep your space and schedule organized. The good news is that once you have the organizational systems in place that work for you, it's much easier to do the little work it takes to stay organized than it is to let your life slide back into old patterns and have to deal with the clutter all over again.

There is no clutter vaccine.

Quick tips for maintaining an organized life:

• Return things to their homes immediately after you are done using them.
• Open and organize your mail every day.
• Leave the kitchen counters clean and dishes done every night before you go to bed.
• Keep a running to do list in your favorite format and set each day's list the night before.
• Stay in the moment and do things as they come up, if they can be done quickly. Otherwise, add them to your to do list so you don't forget them for later.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by alvi2047

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

Tips and Tools: To do list

The to do list is one of the most elementary organizing tools. My family and friends will tell you that I’ve been making them practically since I learned how to write! My brain loves that if I can write something down that I need or want to do or think about later, then that means I don’t have to use up valuable brain power remembering it.

The content of my to do lists has evolved over the years, but I still use the same system: take a piece of scrap paper, get a pen, write stuff down, cross it off when I’m done.

I now also use the Stickies program on my iMac. Stickies are great because they automatically save, so you can’t lose your work if the power goes out, and you don’t have to take the time to press command-s every five minutes or after something changes. I also like the program because you can keep it open all the time and visually see the notes you have on your desktop. You can choose different colors and minimize them or expand them at will.

I keep a revolving list of medium- to long-term things at the top of my Stickies note, then a daily list below. Often I’ll have two or three days on there, so I can plan ahead to do smaller tasks. The electronic to do list makes it easy for me to add repetitive tasks with a simple copy and paste, it also makes it easy to add more information, such as a link to a map I might need to get to an appointment, that I can simply delete later.

When I’m not at my computer, though, I stick to the old standby, a piece of scratch paper or an index card that I can slip in my purse and take with me. 

The to do list is free, simple and works. 

Creative Commons to do list photo posted to flickr by tracitodd