It's the first Feng Shui Friday of November. My birthday is in two weeks and this is the time of year when I look back on what I've accomplished as well as my challenges. In anticipation of a New Year filled with new opportunities, de-cluttering is my focus for the next two months.

In the October 12 Feng Shui Friday I invited you to make a list of three projects you'd like to complete by December 31--one for October, one for November and one for December. And encouraged you to be realistic and focus on one project at a time. So I'm taking my own advice (unclear why it's comfortable for me to be of service to my clients and students and not myself -- Hmmmm). Follow me the next several weeks (and please join me!) as I whiddle down my list, clear the clutter, get organized, and make room for 2013--the feng shui way.

When I was working with a client last year on getting things off his very long to do list, we discovered that there were several items on his list that never moved and continued to be held over week after week after month. When asked why he wasn't getting them done, he said "they are hard." (e.g. calling someone he doesn't know to get information, tackling a project with limited skills in that area, writing reports that are complicated or time-consuming). After some discussion I encouraged him to do the hardest thing on his list first thing in the morning. Then he could celebrate all day that he had completed a difficult task. So that's what I'm doing. In November my focus is electronics and computer stuff--the hardest things on my list. To get ready for all that electronic fire energy, I've placed selected earth elements around my desk area to help balance and ground me and keep me from bursting into flames of angst.

1. Desktop Computer. I have very little patience or understanding of how all this tech stuff works. I have to take it in small doses, learning just enough to get the job done. So anything new or involved around my computer or smartphone gives me a stomach ache and goes undone far too long. Right now my desktop PC is very old and slow, but it has all my stuff on it including tons of photos. So I finally called Philip Halls to digitize my photos and help me get them on an external drive (which I also have to learn how to use) and off my computer hard drive so it might operate a little faster and longer. He's coming today!  You have no idea what a big deal this is for me. Keep reading.

7 NEW, red swivel, adjustable height chairs $25 each Interested?

 2. Camera and CraigsList. Another big deal for me is learning how to get the photos out of my camera and onto my laptop. It is so out of my comfort zone that I continue to put off going into CraigsList and putting in the things I want to sell, because they need photos. So I am taking this project off the back burner and getting photos taken and ads written in CraigsList and promising myself to check the status daily. Here's my first photo in my laptop. WooHoo!

3. Laptop computer. Another challenge for November electronics is the laptop I bought a couple years ago; but I don't use it much because Outlook is on my desktop and Windows 7 is just different enough from XP that it's more time consuming. Also, there's something wrong with the CD drive. I can see all your eyes rolling and your incredulity at how complicated I am making my life. It's CLUTTER! So I am purchasing new Outlook and taking my laptop in for repair.  I can do this!

What's stopping you from clearing your clutter and getting things off your to do list? I'll see how many of these I can get done before next Friday, and you can too.  Choose three things you've been putting off for one reason or another--fear, frustration, limited skill set, time--and get at least one of them accomplished. If you get nothing else done, you will know that you have completed a task that was especially difficult for you. Make the list. Make the call. Schedule the pick-up. Schedule the repair. Let me know what you've taken off your list and how you rewarded yourself.

Until next week

Wishing you Simplified Interiors

Kathie Seedroff