Hi all!  It's been a while since I've been on here, but I've made a realization just recently that has helped SO much in the area of clutter!  Clutter just isn't in our physical surroundings, it can be in all of the stuff we let steal our attention!  Read on to find out how I've learned this and what specifically I'm doing differently now!

It all started when I joined in for a free 30 day challenge to get more organized.  This was developed by Chalene Johnson.  You may know her as the trainer in the Beachbody workouts advertised on TV (Turbo Jam, ChaLEAN Extreme, and Turbo Fire).  She is also a motivational speaker, and is always talking about "to do" lists.

I noticed on Facebook that she was looking for people who wanted to do this 30 day challenge for free.  Sign me up!  :-)

I can't tell you how fantastic it's been!  I actually didn't expect much from it.  I've kept "to do" lists before, but most of the time I'd lose the list or make it in the morning and then forget about it.  I've also been known to make a shopping list and leave it at home.  I can't tell you how many times I've called my husband to read me the items I was supposed to get at the store!

One significant change I've made is to keep a "to do" list on my blackberry.  I'm that rare person who bought a smart phone, and then used it...as a phone!  Guess what?  It can do a LOT more!  LOL!

I spent some time looking for just the right list app to download onto my phone.  I found it in PocketDay Lists.  This thing has been SUCH a blessing!  I create 3 lists for "to do" items: Today (MUST get done today), This Week, and Soon.  

ANYTHING that enters my brain about something I need to do goes on to one of those lists!  Guess what that does?  It eliminates clutter from my head!  Have you ever thought about that?  All of that stuff about "Oh!  I need to get a birthday card for Michael" or "I need to call the phone company during the hours they are open"...It all goes on the list!  Not only does it help you to remember, it helps you relax...because you've made a step to insure that it will be taken care of.

Now I'm going list crazy!  I've created shopping lists like "Pantry items" (the stuff I never want to run out of, and can check the levels before my weekly shopping trip), "Near the mall" (for things I need to pick up when I'm in the area), and even "Ingredients for favorite recipes".  I can copy items from list to list, so I can move the ingredients or pantry items to my "weekly grocery" list.

If you'd like to take part in Chalene's free 30 day challenge, you can do it at any time.  Just go to www.chalenejohnson.com/30daychallenge, and enter your email address.   Believe me, it's about a LOT more than lists, but that is one HUGE thing I've gotten out of it!

Here's another area of clutter I started taking care of yesterday:  EMAILS!  I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but my inbox had over 18,000 items in it.  When I saw that, I immediately started deleting things, but it was a long process!  I found a better way, and it will prevent the problem from happening again in the future!

I look at every new email that comes in and decide "Do I want to be on that list"?  If not, I scroll down and hit the "unsubscribe" button.  Then I do a search of the "from" (using the advanced search).  For example, if I was getting emails from "Jane Doe", I would unsubscribe, then search on the "from" of "Jane Doe".  All of Jane Doe's emails to me would be displayed.  I then click on the first one and hit CNTL A to highlight all of the emails.  I then scroll through the list to make sure that there's no emails that I actually want to keep in that list.  If I find one, I deselect it by hitting CNTL and left mouse over it.  Then I just press the DELETE button on my keyboard, and POOF!  They are all gone!

For the emails that I do want to continue to get, I'm creating some "rules" for them.  Some of them, like coupons for my daughter's favorite clothing store, will go directly into a folder under Coupons - Clothing.  I really only want to see the current coupons WHEN we are going shopping, so now I'll know where to find them.  I'll periodically go in there and delete all but the current coupons.  One word of warning here, for the emails you move directly into a folder, those won't be displayed on your phone!

I'm also playing around with organizing with colors.  For example, emails from my friend Rebecca will now show in my inbox in the color fushia.  I don't want to miss her emails, so this will make them stand out.

WHEW!!!  That's a LOT of change for just one month!  But I'm SOOOOO excited to see how this changes my life in 2011!!!

I hope someone learned something from this post!  I just HAD to share!!!  If you have any questions, please let me know!  I haven't unsubscribed from emails from the Diva Cafe!!!  LOL!

Judy