Steve Arnett Photography

Here are a couple words that define my goals this year: clutter-free, de-stress, contentment

-Goal: Be more renewable and reusable. I hate the disposable mindset that seems to be common now. I’m investing in items that help me limit my waste output and have some staying power. I’ve got a stainless steel water bottle and insulated coffee mug that go everywhere with me. The days of the paper coffee cups ruling the land of the round can have ended. I’m running everything I can off rechargeable batteries too. Spending an extra few bucks on an item that will last me a good number of years is totally worth it compared to buying multiples of one item and sending the broken ones to the dump. Example: I had been praising these ~$30 Dorcy LED flashlights, but I’ve already bought two of them due to failures and I’m ready for my third. That’s $90 worth of flashlights. A SureFire flash light is a bit more than $30, but they are indestructible. I got one for Christmas.

-Goal: Keep my workspace clean. I’ve been working on going fully wireless. Cords and cables are a bother, and the technology is there to cut yourself free. I view this as an investment in my sanity because a clean workspace lowers my stress level. I’ve got myself down to one computer (a laptop) with an extra monitor and couldn’t be happier.

-Goal: Be content. Contentment is a huge theme in a comfortable and sane lifestyle. I may not have a fancy car, the nicest clothes, but I get paid to do something I enjoy. Not too many people get to say that. I am content in my line of work. I am content in adopting a clutter-free lifestyle.

-Goal: Be clutter free. Clutter has ruled my life in the past. It has kept me from moving, from having people over, and from being sane and productive. Here is an awesome article on the minimalist, clutter-free lifestyle. Proof of my clutter problem…..
2005:

2010:

Things I’ve learned on getting and staying clutter free:

• Spend some time and think about what really matters to you. Do you need a bunch of crap? Do you even want to be that person that owns a bunch of crap? I know I don’t. I’d rather be comfortable and have space to work on projects. I’ve always believed in function before form, but a clean home can be both.
• Consolidate
  -Sign up for online banking and statements. Limit the number of accounts you have. I have one credit card, one checking account, and two savings accounts. It really helps me figure out how much money I have and where it goes every month.
  -For email, use the archive, delete and spam buttons generously.
• I use my calendar a lot. Part of me being stress free is knowing when I’m over committing myself and blocking off time for relaxation.
  -I make calendar entries for clean up and other tasks. This gives me a time period blocked off, and a friendly reminder. I used to love to-do lists, but that meant post-it notes everywhere! Now I just add them as an event on my calendar, and I get a reminder on my phone when it’s time to tackle the task. If I can’t complete it right then, I move it. No post-its, just digital reminders. Love it.
• Utilize the free services that are out there. My phone can sync with my Google email, contacts, and schedule so I always have current and relevant data in front of me. All my email addresses arrive and get sorted in gmail. My phone pops up reminders for calendar events, and I never forget a phone number at home. Simplified. Love it.
• Backup your data. I had a stressful and catastrophic hard drive failure at the end of 2003. After that I integrated a zip drive for backup and then soon moved to a tape backup system. Now days I run one copy of my data on my working drive, a backup on an external copied nightly via SyncToy and a third getting pushed to BackBlaze.com. I’m confident that I’ll always be able to access a file now. That is a major relief.