The Nesting Effect

2.28.2014

Get It Together: Monitor Your Monthly Service Subscriptions

Get It Together is a series of small tasks you can do to help get your home and life back in order. Each task is meant to only take 15 minutes or less to complete. Get ready, get set, get it together!

Monitor Your Monthly Service Subscriptions

These days many people subscribe to services that charge monthly. They could be entertainment services, business services, or some sort of club.
Review your credit card and bank statements from the last two months to see what you're currently paying for monthly.
Sometimes we subscribe to something and stop using the service, forgetting that we're still "conveniently" being charged on a monthly basis.
Cancel subscriptions that you no longer use.
Decide if it's worth keeping subscriptions to things that you maybe really don't have a use for or that didn't turn out to be as great as it sounded.

Bonus: Create a calendar reminder about these monthly charges so that you don't forget that they're being auto charged to your account.

2.26.2014

Get It Together: Evaluate Your Magazine Subscriptions

Evaluate Your Magazine Subscriptions

With information becoming more digital, even magazines have taken to the electronic format. Most subscriptions can be turned digital through a tablet.
Do you have the time to read magazines?
Do you read them in a timely manner (without letting months pile up)?
Most companies will send you a refund for the remaining balance of what you didn't receive if you cancel your subscriptions. (I'd certainly check first, before cancelling and just throwing your subscription away without getting anything back.)

Bonus: Do the same with newspaper subscriptions!

2.24.2014

Get It Together: Unsubscribe from Email Lists

Unsubscribe from Email Lists

As your email comes in this week, take the time to analyze what you receive in your inbox.
Do you really want to be subscribed to everything that comes in, or does it waste your time every day as you sort through and delete most of it?
I've noticed lately that I find clearing out my email to be a tedious task every day after work because most of it I never actually take the time to look at.
Hopefully this tasks serves as a way to save you time in the future - less time spent hitting the delete button!

1.27.2014

Get It Together: Declutter Product Manuals

Declutter Product Manuals

Go through your product manual stash and discard those that you no longer need.
If you don't have an organized system to keep the manuals stored, check out some of these ideas.

http://www.thenesteffect.com/2011/10/october-project-conquer-paper-clutter.html

1.24.2014

Get It Together: Discard Old Electronics & Cords

Discard Old Electronics & Cords

Do you have a stash of old electronics and/or cords? It's time to donate, sell, or trash them!
Gather old electronics you no longer use - think cell phones, tablets, laptops, keyboards, mice, cameras, MP3 players, etc. Also gather old cords that you no longer use - USB, power cords, etc.
If you're looking to donate and the items are still in good working order, you may want to check at a local school to see if they're interested in the donation. Primary grades use keyboards for kids to practice "typing", even if they're not hooked up to a computer. Cameras can be used in class. MP3 players can become listening centers for audiobooks.
If you're looking to get some cash for your gently used electronics, check out some of the following websites. I've used them all in the past.
Gazelle
Amazon Electronics Trade-In
uSell
NextWorth
Best Buy Online Trade In
Bonus: Clean out your VHS, DVD, BluRay, CD, book, and video game collections as well, if you have the time. Sell items on eBay, Half.com, Craigslist, or local classifieds. You could also donate these items if you don't care to sell them. :)