Life, the Universe and Everything
13 x 7 = 91
13 x 7 = 91. That’s the other side of the coin of my 13 x 7 = 28 post. I didn’t fail. I made the best decisions I could in the time I had with the resources available to me. I conducted triage. I frequently remind my clients that triage is a critical skill.…
Read More13 x 7 = 28
I admit defeat. I admit abject, miserable, wretched failure. A failure to practice what I preach. And ghastly consequences. Starting a business is always perilous. In my early Casual Uncluttering LLC days, I constantly juggled coinage, allocating every leaden penny as carefully as possible to those operations for which I couldn’t tread water if I…
Read MoreSurprising
One of my greatest joys is learning something surprising about a colleague or friend. My colleague Maria Mafi of 123 Declutter offered me something unique. Maria’s given me the first chance to say “I’ve met the founder of an international non-profit.” Maria’s husband Cyrus is Chairman of Impact A Life, a Christian community-services agency providing…
Read MoreLucky Dog
I almost didn’t go out on the Casual Uncluttering LLC donation run this morning. I was unequivocally unambitious. I’d spent the morning bored, finally ending a project I started in March – blog posts cataloging the RealChangeNews Emerald City Resource Guide non-profits which take gifts-in-kind. It’s the holidays and I wanted to goof off a…
Read MoreThis agnostic’s wish for tolerance
Christmas is my family’s most-revered holiday. We NEVER celebrate it as Christ’s Day, because we are an avowedly secular family. But we honor it as a day for building firmament-solid traditions, to join us with memories to pass down for many generations. In that light, in a month which holds sacred events for many of…
Read MoreI knocked on the door and no one answered
It was late enough, dark enough to be difficult to drive. It was in Edmonds, out of my way. But I went, finding a large church, old and unexpectedly intimidating in the murk. I knocked on the door and no one answered. I couldn’t find the Women’s-only AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting. I went home saddened…
Read MoreWhat a Christmas Tree Skirt Taught Me About Questioning Tradition
What a Christmas Tree Skirt Taught Me About Questioning Tradition is a cheery Dec 10, 2019 post by my colleague Kathy Vines of Clever Girl Organizing. Kathy and I first met when she organized a panel for Professional Organizers about marketing: she honored me by asking me, owner of Casual Uncluttering, to be one of…
Read MoreRing Around the Binder
Once upon a simpler time, in days of yore so long long ago, I could count the number of passwords I had on one hand. And none of them was for Casual Uncluttering LLC. And most of them were probably my social security number. Because who knew? And ‘sides which, there were no computer hackers.…
Read MoreJumped off the QuickBooks cliff
I jumped off the QuickBooks cliff, like a Barnacle Goose gosling tumbling over Greenland crags to get some breakfast. And, like most of them, I survived, banged up but triumphant. I solved a problem that’s bungled my reconciliations for months. How did I manage? Old-fashioned persistence, or, in my case, a persnickety refusal to quit…
Read MoreStacy London – my newest mindfulness hero
Yes, Stacy London of What Not to Wear. For those very very very few of you who may not know – and you are forgiven if you don’t – What Not to Wear was a NYC-based TV show which ran from 2003 – 2013 in which Ms. London and her co-host Clinton Kelly led chic-challenged…
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