The organization spree continues. We tackled the front hall and moved about 50 books from the table to bookshelves in another room. We went through a catch-all paper box and unearthed notebooks from grade school and a plastic recorder. (That’s where that went!) We tossed and tossed and tossed, and now I love the front hall.

We still need to do drawers, but we decided to focus on surfaces first. Once everything looks great, we’ll tackle spaces that can’t be seen.

Next stop: The living room.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

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But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Septembermögen” (Elaine ohne Kind)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Scientist on the Roof has a list of the 5 things she’s doing to bring sanity to her day. I think it’s so important to know what makes you feel good (or even just settled) and do those things without compromise. If you don’t have a list of five things that you do daily or weekly to make yourself feel good, use this post as a reminder (and inspiration?) to find your own.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ is writing about a book on navigating grief as she reads it. She touches on a point in the book: “Grief is probably the most common universal experience of all humans.” This truth is why we should pay attention when someone is talking about the experience. We can learn from one another and make each other’s paths easier to navigate.

The roundup to the Roundup: I love neat spaces. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between October 2 – 9) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

There’s an MIT Press article that I keep seeing pop up on people’s websites, and it has a feel-good message that our relationships are the key to happiness. It states: “The top five factors, ranked in order of impact, were romantic and familial relationships, financial situation, work, community and friends, and health.”

It makes complete sense that our relationships would be at the top. I’m kind of surprised that health came in fifth, but we also don’t think a lot about our health if we don’t have a health issue.

But the piece goes on to focus solely on relationships and why we shouldn’t neglect them, ignoring an interesting point in the center of the list. Finances come before finding happiness in  meaningful work or career status.

One argument I’ve seen against universal basic income is that it disincentivizes work. But wouldn’t this be an argument for people becoming happier overall if finances were settled? And happier people tend to engage more than disengage.

Just thinking.

I read a post that spoke to me, down to the proposed solution. Dan Sinker (know nothing about him beyond this post, so I can’t speak to what else he writes about) defines the brokenness of social media:

We’re in a cycle of constant outrage (which is not to downplay how actually outrageous the time we’re living in is), pushed by the insatiable need for engagement that has been stoked by algorithms and the misaligned incentive structures that have emerged in the last few years that need people to stay mad bro to keep the dollars flowing.

Yes.

Not a fan of yelling.

I’m interested in his suggestion to take things smaller—instead of everyone on every platform, make social media smaller and more intimate: “Maybe that means building things that are smaller and closer and less visible to everyone.”

Which is definitely calmer, though you would come into contact with fewer new-to-you people. Or differently-minded people. One of the things the internet gave us was relationships and conversations and insights into people who lived halfway around the world. That’s kind of cool, right? I met people who lived very different lives from my own. And that wouldn’t happen in small, closed groups.

So I think we need to take it a step beyond. How do we create spaces where we’re not yelling? Where we’re not selling? Where we’re there to talk and connect and not to influence or convince? That is open to everyone so we can mix together?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I am both obsessed with and saddened by the site Worse on Purpose. People are tracking which brands have changed over the years, either due to new ownership or materials/process. Hint: They usually change for the worse, hence the name.

They have four categories you can peruse as well: Approved (worth buying), Watchlist (things to know), Former Great (brands that have changed and there are now issues with products), and Avoid (the worst of the worst). You will be surprised when you look down the Avoid list. My mattress is on there, and my favourite shoes. And it actually did make us feel good to see Josh’s jeans on the Former Great list and realize it wasn’t just us who were having trouble with holes/seams ripping.

This is just one source as you research a purchase, but I’m grateful someone out there is tracking this.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

Last weekend, we did a massive kitchen declutter and reorganization. I love it so much now. I keep finding reasons to walk through the room because the shelves are organized and the surfaces are bare. It has become my dream kitchen.

I love it so much that I’m motivated to tackle other spaces. We’re doing the front hall and living room next. Seeing neat living spaces gives me the energy and desire to tackle the storage spaces. And after the storage spaces, I’ll help the twins pare back what they’re saving in their childhood bedrooms. I love when the house is neat, and I know where everything is because everything is in its space.

At the same time, I decided I wanted to lose some weight. I felt super motivated, out of nowhere. I’m doing what I did many years ago — decreasing portion size and writing down everything I’m eating so I feel so annoyed that I choose not to snack vs. write things down. It’s super effective for me. I hate recording what I’m eating that much.

I wish I could be motivated on command. I wish I felt motivated years ago to tackle the decluttering and the weight loss. I didn’t. I needed to wait for this impulse. I’m glad it’s here, even if it took its own sweet time and I’m not sure what brought it on.