One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple

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I really love this book because it's compact, and it's written in very short texts in big prints. The book itself is very organized, simple and uncluttered of texts. It has 500 tips and strategies that help you get your home, your work, your family and ultimately your life more organized. The book's simple and plain to-do lists and schedules will help you reclaim your space, your time and your life minutes at a time... until your life is well in order. All the strategies are very practical, simple and so easy to execute that I feel motivated to get organized, and I don't feel overwhelmed and start to procrastinate again. I love the strategies because they make the otherwise daunting organizing tasks a breeze. This tiny book is one that we all should keep as a home reference.

Inspired by the advice of this book, I had spent my weekend clearing clutters, recliaming my space in my apartment, and giving up my storage unit. I have been paying $146 for each of the last 8 months for a storage unit just to keep my old books and magazines that I haven't opened for a long long time. Many of them were books and magazines I already read. Many more were the ones I bought on impulse and I never had the time to even open. One of such books is "Cooking Around The Clock - Racheal Ray's 30-Minute Meals". I couldn't believe I had spent a total of $1,168 just to store them. The reason I hold on to all these books and magazines is because I always feel I may one day go back to read it. The reality is, as much as I want to, I just don't have time to.

Thanks to the advice from this book that tells me " If you are saving something because you might need it someday, ask yourself, 'Could I get another one pretty easily and inexpensively if I needed it someday?' If the answer is yes, let it go." I figure out that I can buy any of those books or magazines back issues relatively easy and sometimes cheaper on the internet...if in case I want to read them.

I also checked my apartment for clothings and other stuff that I had not used for years, bagged them up and dropped them off at Goodwill. Surprisingly, after I gave away the old clothes, shoes, beddings, holiday decorations, wrapping papers, etc, etc... I was able to find space in my cabinets to put all the books and magazines that I had taken out of my storage unit. I'm a bookworm and it's still very hard for me to give up my old books that look all like brand new to me... Since I find it easier to part with old clothings and other home decor junks I got from gifts or from my own silly purchase in the past... I let these go to make space for my beloved books and magazines. Now, I am able to see all my books and magazines in one place inside my apartment, instead of off site. My next action of putting more money back to my wallet is to unsubscribe my TV cable, so I can read these books.

I have to agree with the book that, I feel relieved that I don't have a storage unit anymore. The unit is in an upscale neighbourhood but the building is so huge, so quiet and has so many turns and floors that it is scary for me to go alone, so I never did. It's amazing how much money I can save by letting go of stuff, plus the stress of having to deal with them. Not only that, the less stuff I have will give me less a chance of being a victim of theft and robbery. Just yesterday, I had 4 of my big plastic storage containers stolen right at the lobby of the storage building. I am still in shock that had happened. My friend and I just wanted to gather all the containers of books to the lobby so we could load them up to his truck right from there.... But when we carried out other boxes down to the lobby, we realize that my 4 big plastic containers we stacked on the corner of the lobby were gone. Someone had the guts to take out my books from the containers, put them in old and torn Wal-mart boxes and took my plastic containers away. I paid $19.00 for each of them 8 months ago... but that's not the issue, I had no way to load the books onto my friend's truck the fast and easy way, cause the Wal-mart boxes were torn and ripped... My friend and I had to carry them in stacks and stack them up in the truck many times, intead of 4 times if they didn't steal my plastic containers.

Anyway, I had learnt from yesterday that the more stuff I have , the more aggravation I will have taking care of them and the more anger I will have when I become a vicitm of stupid theft. One will be shocked by how people will steal seemingling worthless things, I have to say only in America.... My family in Hong Kong had never experienced thefts of this kind.... No thief in Hong Kong is interested in anything other than money, fine jewelry, new electronics...It's not the value of the lost items that angered me so much, it's about all the inconvenience that such theft had costed me.

I will stick with one of this book's tips to never get another book or magazine into my apartment again, not until I get rid of the ones that are sitting on my shelves. So far, I am doing quite well in refraining myself from acquiring new stuff. So watch out for this blog, I am going to give my books away one by one and I will post it for you to claim. Good for you, good for the enviornment, a relief for me.