The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Top 10 tips for cleaning out your parents’ home

By Susan Devaney, CEO, Moving Mavins
Guest Blogger

Downsizing isn’t just about the stuff. It’s about the emotions and fears of becoming invisible as the trappings of a life are moved out into the larger world, or worse, into a dumpster or big black trash bag. So keep these tips in mind. 

1. Think Aretha: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” Regardless of how frustrating your parents’ lifestyle is to you, respect should be at the forefront of communication. It’s how you say what you say; you’re a team with a cooperative spirit.

2. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” isn’t just a cliché. Our stuff is personal, but it’s also generational. Each generation has its triggers: priorities that trigger fear. Many of our parents either lived through the Great Depression or grew up with vivid impressions of how it framed their parents’ lives. “Save, save, you may need it someday” was a mantra. Baby boomers are disposers. No wonder there’s conflict over how to sort the stuff.

3. From babies to centenarians, none of us functions well when hungry. So, if the attitude seems to be heading south, add a healthful snack or meal. A change in activity, and being fortified, will re-energize you.

4. Keep work sessions brief. Everyone should return to the sort with a sense of accomplishment.

5. Focus on what’s being used now, current interests, and what fits the next phase. There’s so much change with a move, now isn’t the time to review everything in the house. If it hasn’t been sorted in the last 40 years, it doesn’t have to be sorted right now.

6. Your home turns into a house as you peel back the personal elements. It helps to emotionally let go as you consider the house to be a shell of space to be marketed.

7. Sparkling clean and fresh is key. Let buyers add their style and equity to the house. Invest in professional window cleaning immediately prior to placing the home on the market. Toothbrush clean grout and around faucets. Pour on the elbow grease.

8. Purge the corners of clutter. Create curb appeal from the basement to the attic. Photograph the rooms. Then look at the pictures. This lets you see the space as an observer. Purging now means money in your pocket.

9. Stage the house. Keep colors serene. Your goal is to appeal to the largest pool of tastes, for buyers to immediately envision their belongings in your house.

10. Have fun in the process. Treasure the time together. Share stories, memories.

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 consumer books of the decade

Recently, I wrote about the best consumer books of 2009.

Below are my choices for the best consumer books of the decade. You can order them through my blog by clicking on the Amazon.com ad in the column to the right.

1. "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal" by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser describes how fast food has affected everything from ranching and farming to diets and health, from marketing and labor practices to larger economic trends.

2. "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth" by Margaret Atwood. Atwood examines debt, history, society, and literature to shed light on the current financial turmoil.

3. "The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" by Michael Pollan. A thorough examination of the industrialization of the modern American food system and what we eat.

4. "Simplify Your Life" by Elaine St. James. An easy-to-read book that offers tips to help consumers reduce possessions and processes in their lives.

5. "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robins. This book offers a systematic way to look at your money and what you really want in life so that you can develop a unique action plan to achieve your goals.

6. "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community" by David C. Korten. Korten believes a great, grassroots social movement can create the world we really want.

7. "The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way" by Wayne Dyer, Ph.D. Dyer believes intention is a force that allows the act of creation to take place.

8. "Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs" by Melody Petersen. The former New York Times reporter examines the pharmaceutical industry and its influence on America's medical system.

9. "The Prosperous Retirement – Guide to the New Reality" by Michael Stein. The new retirement, in which people are living longer and have a healthier and more vigorous in old age, has three stages – the go-go phase, the go-slow phase, and the no-go phase.

10. "Nickel and Dimed: How (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich lived for two years on the wages of the average unskilled American worker to find out how America's working poor live.

Add these consumer books to your library to help you improve your consumer choices and reach your goals.

Disclosure: When you order books through my blog on Amazon.com, I receive a small commission.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

100 ways baby boomers can improve their lives in 2009

It’s often difficult to remain cheerful in these turbulent economic times. News of more job layoffs. Banks and other financial institutions continuing to have problems. Businesses closing.

Although the news can be discouraging, it’s important to think through what’s positive in your life and how to get more joy and satisfaction.

Here are 50 ways to improve your life this year:

 

Health

• Read novels to reduce stress.

• Walk, walk, walk.

• Use less toxic products, especially for cleaning your home and on your body.

• Eat more vegetarian meals.

• Plant fruit trees.

• Buy organic food.

• Talk honestly to your doctor about your health needs.

• Try yoga.

Community

• Talk to your neighbors.

• Find a rewarding volunteer activity.

• Move to a walkable neighborhood.

• Contribute to your city or county government.

• Take a walk in a park once a week.

Finances

• Compare prices before you buy.

• Pay off your credit cards.

• Complain when something you buy or a service isn’t right.

• Figure out ways to simplify your life.

• Read Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound.”

 

Joy

• Read “Finding Joy: 101 Ways to Free Your Spirit and Dance With Life” by Charlotte Davis Kasl.

• Sign up for the lessons you’ve always wanted to take.

• Say “I love you” to someone you love every day.

• Have coffee or lunch with a friend you haven’t seen in a while.

• Relax by soaking in the bathtub.

• Laugh out loud.

• Sleep in once a week.

• Hold a baby.

• Remember to get as much joy as you can from the present, rather than worrying about the past or future.

• Visit a farm.

• Watch movies that are fun.

• Stop being a perfectionist.

• Visualize daily what you’d like your life to be like.

• Surround yourself with people who are positive.

• Spend a realistic amount of time using the computer.

• Don’t think about work when you leave for the day.

• Pursue your dreams.

• Enjoy the wonders of nature.

• Give up nagging.

• Figure out ways to enjoy your children more.

• Reduce the amount of television you watch.

• Take care of yourself.

• Don’t dwell on your mistakes.

• Pace yourself.

• Be open to new ideas and activities.

• Let go of disappointments and negative people from the past.

Home

• Turn on your favorite music when you clean house.

• Organize one spot or cupboard in your house weekly.

• Use lights and plants to make your home more enjoyable.

• Remodel a room.

• Buy a pretty new bedspread.

• Organize your photos.

• Recycle.

Here are additional suggestions from the article “50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2009” in U.S. News and Reports:

Money

• Recycle old gadgets for cash.

• Choose “Obama” stocks.

• Advance your career online.

• Put your cash in safe accounts.

• Start your own nonprofit.

• Drink screw-topped wines.

• Lose the ‘microwave’ mentality.

• Make friends at work.

• Watch television free online.

• Try that home before buying.

Health

• Bike to work.

• Use glass to store food.

• Take an afternoon nap.

• Get paid for good health.

• Walk the cravings away.

• Get a new toothbrush.

• Move to Vermont.

• Get your eyes checked.

• Add obstacles to your jog.

• Get fit as you get older.

The brain

• Read Edgar Allan Poe

• Publish your book yourself.
  

• Go back to school for new skills.

• Study philosophy.

• Save that November 5 newspaper.

• Silence noise pollution.

• Finish a crossword puzzle.

• Start using Twitter.

• Learn Russian

• Keep a “clothes hanger” journal.

The world around you

• Learn about Abraham Lincoln.

• Plant a square-foot garden.

• Hypermile when you drive.

• Help those hit by the recession.

• Switch to a push mower.

• Air dry your laundry.

• Practice spreading tolerance.

• Ditch the phone while driving.

• Get your news online.

• Buy laptops for kids.

 

Play

• Learn to play bridge.

•  Visit Alaska.

• Celebrate the life of Miles Davis.

• Take a “staycation.”

• “Geotag” your digital photos.

• Watch the Beatles “Let It Be.”

• Teach your kids to cook.

• Play a fake musical instrument.

• Read the book before you see the movie.

• Try your hand at pottery.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Are you Felix Unger, June Cleaver, Roseanne Barr, Fred Sanford, or Oscar Madison? Take this clutter test and find out

What’s your clutter quotient?

The authors of “Put Your House on a Diet: Declutter Your Home and Reclaim Your Life,” by Ed Morrow, Sheree Bykofsky, and Rita Rosenkranz, offer this quiz.

Click on the headline so that only this post is selected. Print out the quiz, record a score for each section, add your scores, and compare your clutteriness to television icons.

Illustration by Ed Morrow

Your general housekeeping principles

__There is a place for everything, everything is in its place, and everything is dusted. (4 points)
__There is a place for most things, and most things are in their place. Most are dusted. (3 points)
__There is a place for most things but hardly anything is in its place, and many more things are in something else’s place. All places and all things are dusty. (2 points)
__There isn’t a place for anything, but you’ve never noticed because everything is hidden under an inch of dust. (1 point)

Your toothpaste habits

__You always put the cap back on the toothpaste and put the tube back in the medicine cabinet.  You never squeeze from the middle. (4 points)
__You put the cap back and leave the tube on the bathroom counter. You sometimes squeeze from the middle but immediately regret it and contritely squeeze the tube back into shape. (3 points)
__You often squeeze from the middle, forget the cap, and leave the tube on your bedroom dresser. Toothpaste gets on your socks. You wear them anyway. (2 points)
__You always squeeze from the middle, lost the cap a month ago, and left the tube on the kitchen counter beside the toaster, where the toaster’s heat melted it, gluing the tube to the counter. Rather than pry it up, you now brush your teeth in the kitchen. (1 point)

Your laundry

__Your hamper is clean and nearly empty. Thanks to a sachet of dried apples and spices hanging inside it, it smells like Mom’s warm apple pie. (4 points)
__Your hamper is nearly clean and nearly full and smells of apple pie-scented disinfectant spray. (3 points)
__Your hamper is full and smells like spoiled apple pie. (2 points)
__Your hamper is full and you’ve pile more dirty laundry on top of it. The thing smells like Johnny Appleseed’s feet after a 20-mile stretch of his frontier wanderings. (1 point)

Your refrigerator
__There is plenty of room in your refrigerator, its shelves are clean, and nothing in it is spoiled. You have a fresh box of baking soda on each shelf. (4 points)
__Your refrigerator is full, and a few items need to be tossed out. You have leftovers from last night. There’s one box of backing soda. (3 points)
__Your refrigerator is full, the shelves are crusty, and there are items inside that are spoiled. You have three-day-old leftovers. The baking soda has turned green. (2 points)
__Your refrigerator is crammed full, things are cemented to the shelves by sticky goo, and there is a pool of brown glop at the bottom. Many items are soft with decay or blue-green with mold. There are leftovers from meals you can’t remember. (1 point)

Your work space

__There are no loose papers on your desk. Your pens are functioning, the pencils are sharpened, and they all are neatly collected in a china penholder. (4 points)
__There are a few papers scattered on your desk. Some of your pens are dry, and one or two pencils are dull. Your penholder is a souvenir mug. (3 points)
__There is a mix of papers, books, and junk mail on your desk. Your penholder is an old, chipped coffee mug. It contains many pens and pencils, but only one pen works and only one pencil has a point. (2 points)
__You can’t see your desktop for the papers, books, and candy wrappers piled on top of it. There are broken pens, a fistful of pointless (and, hence, pointless to possess) pencils, and a spatula in the unwashed beer mug that serves as your penholder. A torn sneaker rests on top of your computer. (1 point)

Your acquiring habits

__You buy things only when necessary, and then only after waiting a day or two to be sure you need them. (4 points)
__You buy things when they’re needed but also pick up items when they’re on sale or you have a coupon. (3 points)
__You buy things on impulse and save things because they may be useful someday. If you have a coupon, you buy two. (2 points)
__You see something shiny. You buy it. Then you buy another for a spare, in case the first shiny thing gets dull. You cram both into your home, where you have hundreds of other once-shiny things, all of which are now dull, but you promise yourself to polish them one day. You buy polish. (1 point)

Your disposal habits

__You dispose of possessions as soon as you no longer need them. You also generously dispose of other people’s possessions when you think they no longer need them. You get lots of healthful aerobic exercise running away from these people when they learn you’ve disposed of their possessions. (4 points)
__You dispose of unneeded possessions regularly, keeping your home tidy. (3 points)
__You dispose of possessions when they fall from the piles in which you’ve stacked them, and they hit you on the head. (2 points)
__You dispose of things when they’re pulled from your cold, dead fingers. (1 point)

Your results

28-24: Felix Unger
23-20: June Cleaver
19-16: Roseanne Barr
15-12: Fred Sanford
11-7: Oscar Madison

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Is your household too fat and bursting at the seams with clutter? These clutter tips help put your house on a diet

When I attended the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference recently, I met Rita Rosenkranz, one of the authors of the book “Put Your House on a Diet: Declutter Your Home and Reclaim Your Life.” The co-authors of the book are Ed Morrow and Sheree Bykofsky.

Ed Morrow agreed to do an e-mail interview about the book. My questions and his answers follow:

Rita: How did you and your co-authors get the idea to write a clutter book called ‘Put Your House on a Diet?’

Ed: Rita Rosenkranz was moving and wasn’t sure she wanted to keep everything she’d acquired over the years. While having lunch with Sheree, they joked about how Rita should put her household on a diet. Both women are successful literary agents, and they realized that there was a book in the concept of ‘clutter dieting.’ They approached me with their idea. Sitting in my office, surrounded by books stacked to the ceiling, I was intrigued.

Rita: Your book is filled with helpful tips for reducing clutter. What techniques are especially helpful to baby boomers?

Ed: Like many of your readers, I had parents who grew up during the Great Depression. They wanted to pass on what they had learned about thrift. Mom said, ‘Clean your plate; there are kids in (insert name of an impoverished nation) who would love to have that (liver, Brussels sprouts, or some other unpleasant food).’ I would offer to stick a stamp on my leftovers and mail them overseas, but Mom never relented. Depression-influenced parents insisted their kids ‘waste not, want not.’

Boomers learned to feel guilty if they threw out something that was ‘still good.’ While thrift is virtuous, it can fill your home with clutter if you confuse discarding excess possessions with being wasteful.

You can avoid guilt by donating possessions that aren’t used up. Unlike the food that I, with youthful callousness, offered to mail to the needy, your extra raincoat or spare china can be given to someone in need.

Rita: You say in ‘Put Your House on a Diet’ that a house with too much stuff is physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining. Why is that?

Ed: Clutter can blight your life by simply getting in the way. Cooking, for example, can be difficult and frustrating when you can’t find an implement you need because it’s lost in a drawer it shares with old pizza coupons. A well-ordered home lets you work efficiently which is calming to the mind and soothing to the soul.

Rita: What is the best way for people to decide what to keep when they begin decluttering? I've seen an organizer on television whip a family into shape by giving them 20 minutes to clean up each room. That seems harsh. What do you recommend?

Ed: ‘Tough love’ approaches encourage hard choices. You don’t, however, have to use a timer; you can use your imagination. One of the decluttering gambits we suggest in ‘Put Your Home on a Diet’ is that you imagine you’re moving to an outpost in the Yukon. All your stuff will have to go by dog sled. Do you really want some poor huskies sweating themselves silly hauling your Elvis plate collection across the frozen wastes? Think of the imploring eyes of the puppies as you choose what to keep.

Any device that encourages you to declutter is useful, but we need to develop good habits to provide lasting results.

Rita: What are the three best storage items people can buy to help them be organized?

Ed: Good shelves invite you to store your stuff well. Plastic shelves, available for about $50 at your hardware store, are sturdy, simple to assemble, and don’t rust.  Rickety steel shelves or haphazardly banged together wooden shelves may be dangerous when piled high with clutter.

Good boxes are also important. Clear plastic storage boxes allow you to see what they contain but are expensive. An ordinary cardboard box, labeled well, can be nearly as useful.

Another useful storage item, which you create rather than buy, is a ‘treasure map.’ This is a drawing of your storage area describing what is stored where. It can be extremely useful in finding items when they are needed.

Rita: What else do boomers need to know for their home “diet’ to be successful?

Ed: We need to understand that decluttering is an ongoing activity, a bit like the war on crime. The police may bust up a racket or jail the head of a crime family but other rackets and other mob bosses replace them. You can tidy up your sock drawer or clean out a closet but clutter returns. Don’t confuse this recurrence with failure. Like the police, we will never eradicate our foe but we can keep clutter in check. Just don’t quit trying.

Rita: Thanks, Ed. My readers and I appreciate your clutter tips.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Taking a look at clutter control for each room in your home

For one family, it was a messy mudroom. For another, their kitchen was a dumping ground. For a third family, their home office wasn’t working.

Other problems included a laundry room that wasn’t providing a space for exercising, a dining room that had to double as an office, and a daughter’s bedroom that was a disaster.
 
These six clutter problems from throughout the United States were tackled by a team led by Chip Cordelli, interior design consultant, for an article in Real Simple magazine.
 
See “America Gets Organized: Six Families Conquer Their Biggest Clutter Challenges,” which appeared in the October 2007 issue of the magazine.
 
When you get ready to deal with your clutter, having the tools you need will help you get the job done. The link above shows the storage containers, organizers, furniture, shelving, and other items that helped to organize these six problem rooms.

Check your local library for Real Simple's October 2007 magazine.

 Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

A historical look at cutting clutter

“In (Desperately) Seeking a Clutter Cure,” which appeared in the February 2008 issue of Domino magazine, Cynthia Kling, a self-professed thing-aholic, took a humorous look at clutter books.  

The prime motivator of clutter books is guilt, Kling said, who reviewed more than 30 books on the topic for the article. Some of the books she took a look at include:

• “Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management” by Isabella Beeton, 1861, which set the standard of housekeeping with its Victorian, keep-everything-in-place moralistic lectures.

• “The I Hate to Housekeep Book” by Peg Bracken and “Nobody Said You Had to Eat Off the Floor” by Carol Eisen, 1960s, two books that offered a total change of attitude with the arrival of the feminist movement.

• “Clutter’s Last Stand” by Don Aslett, 1984, that was the first book to use the term clutter. Aslett advised people to get rid of their rubbish, which he called stuff they couldn’t make decisions about.

• Martha Steward's books and magazines, 1980s, that told people they need to do all household tasks wonderfully and store things beautifully, despite space limitations.

• “Best Organizing Tips” by Stephanie Winston and “Clutter Control” by Jeff Campbell, 1990s, which ushered in an era of more sophisticated clutter books.

• “Organizing from the Inside Out” by Julie Morgenstern, 2004, that offered advice Kling liked – get pretty storage boxes you like to solve your clutter problems.

Kling closes her article with a list of Clutter-Control Wisdom of the Ages:

• Open mail over the trash or recycling bin, and conduct all of your bill-paying online.

• Do a daily 5-minute cleanup of hot spots throughout the house where things tend to gather, and make a quick sweep.

• File newspapers and magazines once a week, and throw away those you haven't read.

• Purge wire hangers monthly.

• Clear closets yearly.

• Arrange wardrobe by type.

• Fold sheet sets inside one of the pillow cases, and store in the linen closet as a unit.

• Don’t overstuff drawers or they'll become a jammed mess.

• Eliminate unused items in the kitchen.

• Make a list before you shop for storage items and be sure to measure to get the right size.

If you’re unable to get your clutter under control, you can hire an organizer to help you from the National Association of Professional Organizers.

Another article in this issue of Domino, "The 5-Step Clutter Cure," shows how one storage piece plus four accessories equals "organized bliss." The article offer some great suggestions for entry ways, mail centers, bedrooms, and bathrooms. However, the Cape Lodge chest for the bedroom from Ralph Lauren priced at $9,885 would be too expensive for most homes.

These articles aren't available online. The link above is one that mentions the first article. Check your local library for a copy of the February 2008 issue of Domino. Or, if you're interested, you can contact Domino to find out how to order a reprint.

Tomorrow's post will offer more clutter tips, Taking a look at clutter control for each room in your home.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

A solution for clutter problems? Keep working on it

Taking a video class is having a surprising side effect. I’m working on my clutter reduction projects.

I want to use video clips on my blog and to send clips to YouTube. So, when I thought about what to use as a background for my three test clips, I wanted to do a spot in front of my bookcase.

A problem. My bookcase wasn’t neat. I had packages of photos stuck here and there, and some books turned with the spines up so that I could put books on the same topic together. My magazine section was overflowing.

It actually was fun to get my bookcase sorted out. Magazines older than five years, old files, and out-of-date books were recycled. The photos went into the photo room. And I found four notebooks of photos in a box that I’d stuck on top of the bookcase. I hadn’t been able to find the photos for years! Now they’re no longer missing.

Here's a photo of my bookcase looking great.

I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m making progress. I’m looking forward to working on my photos this weekend.

For clutter tips, see How do you get rid of all that stuff? It’s my post from Feb. 6, 2008.

Also, I recently ran across the Web site for the TV program "Clean Sweep." The site has some good tips on reducing clutter. I’m going to check to see if my cable service offers the program.

Oprah and Peter Walsh team up to fight clutter

Since I wrote about clutter yesterday, I was intrigued to see how Oprah would spin the topic.

Now that I’ve quit my day job to work on my writing full time AND I have cable television, I was able to tune in to see Oprah's show today on “Declutter Your Home and Your Diet.” A friend, who is interesting in getting rid of clutter, alerted me to the program.

It featured a family of four in need of getting rid of clutter and losing weight. Peter Walsh, author of “Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat” and other books on clutter, used amazing techniques in working with the family. He had them sort rooms in 30 minutes and in that time they were able to get rid of half of the stuff in the rooms. In 48 hours, they had made amazing changes to their home.

Family members said they felt better and lighter with less clutter.

Walsh’s philosophy is that clutter and weight can be symptoms of an unresolved, underlying issue in people’s lives. "Eating more and buying more is an attempt to fill the need for something more," he said on Oprah’s Web site. "Until you get those underlying issues dealt with, all the rest is a waste of time."

My opinion? Many methods are available to help you get the clutter out of your home. You need to do research and decide which method you want to use. Then develop a plan and carry it out. Changing habits will be part of the work.

My friend’s opinion? He didn’t think Oprah’s program was effective. In additional to all the help from a team of experts that the family received -- including stylists and a fitness specialist, Lowe’s transformed the family’s home with a remake.

How do you get rid of all that stuff?

Over the years, I’ve written about clutter a number of times. Although I’m making progress, I still have work to do.

My best five tips include:

• Using a daily planner to keep track of activities.

• Sorting the mail when it comes in rather than letting it stack up.

• Nixing garage sale purchases.

• Putting my photos as I get them in archival sleeves that go in notebooks organized by year.

• Cleaning the kitchen throughout the day.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the information coming into a home. With the arrival of copy machines, computers, and junk mail, people’s homes are overflowing.

If clutter is a problem for you, try visualizing what you’d like your home to look like.

Check local bookstores, libraries, or the Internet for books to help you. Some examples include:

• “Clutter’s Last Stand: It’s Time to De-junk Your Life” by Don Aslett.

• “Organizing From the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life” by Julie Morgenstern.

• “1001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control: Knowing What to Keep, When to Toss, and How to Store Your Stuff” by Frank W. Cawood.

You can also hire a professional organizer to come to your home and assist you. See the Web site of the National Association of Professional Organizers for a listing of organizers in your area. Or check the yellow pages of your phone book under Organizing.