Listbean Revealed and Decluttering – How To Get Started

Hello everyone! It’s Monday, we’re just coming off a great weekend and I am proud and super excited to introduce you to our newest online project. It’s been several months in the making and while it’ll be a continual labor of love, today is the day we release it into the wild. I hope it will help you all be just a little more awesome than you already are!

Listbean? What the heck is that?

Listbean is a site that is completely free and packed with value adding pre-populated checklists.

Now, before you roll your eyes and say “oh great another checklist site” let me share with you how Listbean is different and how it will be *the* checklist source online.

Benefits of Listbean:

• Checklists are great but it’s sometimes tough to know where to start. Well, we’ve done the hard part of pulling the lists together. You can use the lists as is or as inspiration to create your own personalized checklists.
• It’s annoying to have to rewrite checklists you use frequently. With Listbean you don’t have to do that. When you create an account,  you can customize any of the lists you see on the site, save them and come back time and time again. Awesome.
• Be more efficient, effective and deliberate in everything you do. With checklists addressing a lot of what you need right at your finger tips you can just get on with what needs to get done. A little work up front can save you several minutes several times a month or year.
• Don’t find what you’re looking for? Create your own. There are two ways to create your lists from scratch and have them appear on Listbean. 1) Submit a suggestion via the Feedback form using the Feedback tab at the top left of each page. 2) Add it yourself. Once you’ve customized a list on Listbean you are given the option to add your own list from scratch to save in your lists. Easy right?
• Listbean has a very simple design. It was custom designed to be simple, sleek and easy to use. Give it a try and if you have any suggestions or feedback please submit it using the feedback form via the feedback tab at the top left of each page.

That’s it really, it’s pretty simple and straight forward. I invite you all to check it out and I hope it becomes a valuable resource for you.

Decluttering – How To Get Started

There was one question I received last week that fits in perfectly with the launch of Listbean today. Julie asked:

“Any advice on decluttering? I really want to declutter and then I look at the all the stuff and become overwhelmed and frozen.”

First of all let me reassure you Julie that you are not alone! I’ve been there, I still get there from time to time. Here are some things that help to thaw me out and just get started.

1. Begin with the end in mind. Before you jump right in have a clear picture in your mind as to what you want the space to look like, what you will use it for and how it will make you feel. By doing this you’re already making a mental picture of what belongs in a room, closet, desk etc … and it makes starting a little bit easier.

2. Start small. My advice wouldn’t be to tackle the whole house at once, not even an entire room at once. I would suggest starting in one corner, a desk, or a shelf. Get it to a state that you are truly happy with and only then should you move onto another area. It’s been my experience that doing a little bit over a large area leaves me feeling dissatisfied and extremely overwhelmed. I don’t feel as though I’ve made much progress as there’s nothing finished, nothing to stare longingly at and think “aaaah that’s better”. So start small but the key is to start!

3. What goes out should stay out. Typically you create three piles when you embark on any decluttering mission.

• To keep
• To donate
• To toss

When you’ve decided on what to toss or what to donate put the items in a box or a bag and immediately move them out of your house. Store them in the garage, trunk of your car or anywhere else so you won’t be tempted to rummage through the boxes and save items. Once you’ve decided they are no longer welcome in your home, keep them out!

This is how we have approached decluttering at our place. There are a number of different strategies I’m sure so if you’ve found something else that works for you please share it in the comments to help Julie out. For some ideas on what can be purged room by room check out the declutter room by room checklist on Listbean. (Remember to sign in to customize it or add other ideas as they come to mind.)

I hope this helps, Julie.

If you like Listbean please share it on your favorite social networking sites, or email the link to a couple of your list loving friends so we can all be awesome.