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This is the half-way point of my 30 day trial, and overall things are going well. My thoughts to this point:

Naps and Core Sleep

I now set my timer for 25 minutes, and it seems to work well. Sometimes I am not aware of sleeping, but I wake up rested. I have had 1 lucid dream (last week) and only a few dreams that I can remember. Waking up between 20 and 30 minutes after I lay down is easy to do.

At first, if I missed a nap I automatically increased my core sleep. Doing so always left me tired in the morning, and not wanting to get up. I tried leaving my core sleep at 3 hours, I was ready to wake up but I was tired again within a few hours.

The new plan if I miss a nap or am over-tired is to take 3 hours of core sleep, then add 1 or 2 naps as needed.

Tiredness

From 6:30 am to 8 am is a struggle if I am sitting down (which I am since I’m trying to write). From midnight to 1 am is almost impossible if I am sitting. I am moving my morning nap to 8 am or even 7:30 am, since tiredness is not an issue during the day. In the evening I am trying a later nap time (9 or 10 pm) and I need to keep moving, I have plenty of house projects to do! Daytime, afternoons and evenings I rarely feel tired.

Over-all effect

Since I mainly work from home, and my husband works nights, the adaptation has been fairly painless on my commitments. My evening nap gets shifted back often, but taking it later seems to work better anyway. Major workouts are something I will have to figure out, I will probably try adding more naps.

The Next 15 Days

So for the second half of the trial I’m going to move my naps around (8am, ~2pm, 9:30pm) to combat tiredness. I’m going to take extra naps if needed, and keep my core sleep the same. I am really looking forward to experimenting a bit. Being a night owl and a morning person at the same time is great.

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Some recent posts with ideas to simplify life, save money, increase productivity and record reality.

• Spring Organizing. Unclutterer has a list of five spring organizing activites. Time needed: 5 minutes to a few hours.
• Make Room. Zen Habits has 18 5-minute decluttering tips. Time needed: 5 minutes for one thing, 90 minutes to try them all!
• Start a Personal Journal or Blog. Remember we forget: Half Of Me urges everyone to record their defeats and triumphs, because we forget what we were really like, always thinking we were better in the past. A journal is immune to the “shadings of time” and records things as they were. Time needed: 10 minutes a few times a week will get you started.
• Clean Up and Organize Your Email. Follow Darren Rowse, who tells how he went From 10,000 Emails to 0 in 24 hours. Time needed: Varies, depending on how complicated your email setup is and how much mail you get. It took me about 5 hours with 5 active email addresses but easily sortable email.
• Save Money and Energy. Reduce your computers power consumption with The Simple Dollar. Time needed: 10 minutes to an hour, more if you need to purchase some of the tools used. Four of the ideas are easy to do, and will only take a few minutes.

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I overslept on my core sleep on day 5, probably due to my youngest getting up at 2am. I messed up my wakeup time on 2 naps on day 6, so I have been tweaking my phone alarms to make it easier to set the correct wakeup time (I haven’t been able to find my timer). Falling asleep for naps has gotten easier. Being awake late at night is slightly easier, but being awake in the early morning is tough. Today I had to stay up and moving, but that means that the house looks a lot better, I even decluttered my desk. The day has gone well and I’m enjoying the schedule - the sleep times are semi-important, but the length of each sleep period is the most important.

Week 1 Notes

• Core sleep needs to start on time (within 5 minutes).
• The time I take naps seems to be semi-flexible, but the length needs to be adhered to. Oversleeping a nap makes it difficult to fall asleep on the next nap.
• Actually waking up (core and naps) is rather easy. I’m not groggy unless I oversleep.
• My short term memory has suffered this week.
• Being a night owl and a morning bird has been great.
• Very late night and early morning are the most difficult times (the time you would normally be asleep). Daytime and evenings are normal, other than occasional tiredness.

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Day 3

Yesterday I was dragging in the early morning. I overslept (communication error about my wakeup time) for my morning nap. In the mid-morning and afternoon I felt great. I had a difficult time sleeping for my afternoon and evening naps.

I was productive: I organized / simplified my email. So now everything goes to one gmail account and I will be setting up filters as I receive mail to properly tag items, and to automatically archive my “routine” emails (so they do not appear in the Inbox at all, just under their labels). I am not done tweaking but I got the entire base system set up.

Mentally I even managed to explain the backend process of a database driven web page to a client in a way she understood, but most of my activities today were physical. It was a pretty good day though.

Day 4

Today it was a little harder to get up, but still nothing like when I was sleeping normal hours and attempted to get up early (or I failed to get up early). This morning I actually was able to work at my computer, filing in sample data on a client website for the purpose of showing them how the web site works. (We are going from a mostly static website to using Drupal). Not a lot of mental processing, but a very promising start - getting up at 4 am to do dishes won’t motivate me for long.

I slightly overslept on my morning (about 1 hour) and afternoon nap (35 - 40 minutes) - apparently adding 30 minutes to the current time is difficult right now. I was unable to sleep at all for my evening nap but I did set the alarm properly.

I am trying to be honest in my experience and strike the right balance between detail and brevity. The next four days will be easier (my husband will not be on graveyard, so he can watch the kids and I can be more strict on nap times) - I hope to be physically adapted by then.

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I got up at 4 am, again without procrastinating. I couldn’t really focus and started nodding off while sitting and reading. I solved that by getting up and doing housework.

I was very tired around 6 am again. I couldn’t sit down without nodding off, so I stood in the kitchen and organized a plan to keep the house cleaner and hopefully get my boys to help out. (Haha!) I broke it down into tasks I need to complete as well as what I need the whole family to work on. That is probably what I’ll work on in the early morning for a few days.

My morning nap was great, it felt like I had slept for hours. The rest of the morning went well.

I ended up sleeping through my alarm during my afternoon nap, I probably slept 45 minutes to an hour. It took about 5 minutes for me to get up. I will set my cellphone alarm for naps in the future.

I did another home project this evening, and then tried to take my evening nap. I got to a very relaxed state, but I didn’t fall asleep. Right now I am tired, while trying to review my German lesson I couldn’t concentrate or formulate answers.

I guess I would describe my physical state as great but my mental state as about 50%. Luckily I have several physical projects to do over the weekend - I hope to be fairly adapted by Monday so I can get a productive week of work in.

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Well Day 1 went fairly well. I was able to get up at 4 am without any problems. This surprises me, since I have a very hard time getting up normally - especially if I had under 6 hours of sleep. I have the BioBrite sunrise alarm clock, and I hang my cell phone on the bathroom door with the alarm set. I felt (relatively) alert and got moving.

I had intended to use the early morning time to write, but I’m going to have to stay away from the computer in the morning until I get used to this schedule - it was very difficult to stay awake - especially starting around 6 am. My husband was nice enough to help me stay awake from 8 to 9 am, when I took a nap. I had some trouble falling asleep, but I did doze off. I felt refreshed upon waking up. I really think a shorter nap is the way to go.

I started feeling tired for the afternoon nap, and I believe I slept for a little while. Again I woke up refreshed. My evening was pretty chaotic, between 3:45 and 8:50 we have 3 people in 3 different Taekwondo classes, plus we need to eat dinner. After I got home I was so wound up I couldn’t relax and fall asleep. I stayed laying down the whole time.

I have actually been very productive tonight - working on a client’s website. I am getting tired but at least I am getting some work done. I don’t think it will take long to fall asleep tonight.

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After reading about Steve Pavlina’s Polyphasic Sleep Trial last year, I have considered the idea of trying it myself. Instead of 6 to 9 hours of sleep at night, in polyphasic sleep (also called Uberman sleep) you take a 20-30 minute nap every 4 hours, for a total of 2-3 hours of sleep in a day. Read the original article for more information. Steve Pavlina writes:

Polyphasic sleep completely rewrote my whole concept of time, and I was totally unprepared for that. I no longer think of time in terms of individual days — now it’s a continuous and never-ending flow.

I did research (there is very little information) and always concluded that I couldn’t control my schedule that closely, especially with very young children. While it would be nice to have more quiet time to work, the schedule wasn’t realistic.

Something Has to Change

I decided earlier this week I had to do something to increase my energy. I am sick and tired of being tired and sick everyday. My sinuses are causing trouble and I have a constant cough. I looked at my life and decided the top things to change would be my sleep patterns or my diet. I have already begun changing my diet, and I feel that a little more time is needed to make those changes habits. My current sleep patterns are horrible: due to remodeling last month I have been sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress, plus my bedtime and wakeup time vary by several hours. I haven’t felt rested in a month, and my productivity is non-existent.

Biphasic Sleep

I attempted to switch to biphasic sleep a few times last year, but was unsuccessful. Biphasic sleep consists of a nightly core sleep (usually 3 or 4.5 hours) and a daily nap (usually 90 minutes). I just could not fit a 90 minute nap into my schedule, even when I tried to nap I seemed more tired afterwords. Plus I really hated missing out on what the family was doing.

In case you are wondering, the sleep times are in 90 minute increments because of studies showing that is a full sleep cycle. Waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle will leave you feeling groggy, whereas waking up at the end leaves you rested and alert. At least its supposed to.

The Everyman Polyphasic Sleep Schedule

While browsing information about polyphasic and biphasic sleep I came across references to a different kind of polyphasic sleep: the Everyman Schedule. Instead of eliminating the core sleep you shorten it and supplement with multiple 20-30 minute naps. Typical schedules include a 3 hour core with 3-4 naps and a 4.5 hour core with 2-3 naps. The adaptation period is much shorter than the Uberman schedule, and the schedule is more flexible. I tried a short nap yesterday and it was very restorative.

30 Day Trial

So today (April 10) I began my 30 day trial. The plan is to sleep from 1 am to 4 am, and then to take a 30 minute nap at 9 am, 2 pm and 8 pm. I will post updates of my progress and thoughts throughout the trial.

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So now you have at least 2 containers of stuff you don’t want/need. Here are nine great ways to get the clutter out of your life.

Toss It

• 1 - Throw it away! Ok, that one is obvious.



• 2 - Recycle! Call your local recycling center for an up-to-date list of what materials are accepted.
• 3 - Strip the usable parts out then throw away (or recycle) the rest. Now put the usable parts where you can find them.

Give It Away

• 4 - Give everything to a general charity such as the Salvation Army. In my area you can even call and they will pick up your stuff.
• 5 - Give certain items to special charities or non-profits. Choose a specific organization to help. You can donate maternity clothes, baby items and baby furniture to an organization that helps new mothers. Your local animal shelter will appreciate pet food or toys.
• 6 - Post items on a group like Freecycle, and give the item to a local member of your community. You can also ask the recipient to pick up the item, which is helpful if you are unable to move the item yourself.

Sell It

• 7 - Have a yard sale! If the weather is good and you are organized, have a yard sale. You may be able to join a neighborhood or community sale for better results. Have a plan to get rid of any unsold items after the sale, do not bring them back into the house!
• 8 - Sell to / through a dealer. Easier than selling the clutter yourself, but you will get some income from the deal. Many locations have at least one eBay reseller, and you can check around for collectors, recyclers or people who make a living by flipping (reselling) items.
• 9 - Sell it yourself through eBay, Craigslist, your local classifieds or to someone you know.

Just remember, no matter what strategy you chose, be sure the clutter doesn’t come back to your house!

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How do you find time to declutter? Decluttering doesn’t have to be an all day chore, short decluttering sessions really add up. Organizing guru FlyLady recommends spending 15 minutes a day decluttering. You don’t need to do the 15 minutes all at once, and over a month, that 15 minutes equals 7 hours spent simplifying your space and your life. The clutter will be gone, never to bother you again.

Three quick ways to work decluttering (and organizing) into your life.

• Choose a number of items to remove from your home / office: FlyLady has subscribers get rid of 27 items at a time. If you have boxes (from a move or in storage) go through one box a day.
• Choose a room. Spend 5 minutes (or even less) in one room. You could declutter your bathroom sink for a few minutes when you brush your teeth.
• Choose a problem. Clothes, toys, books and paper are common clutter in our home. For example: do the kids have to many toys? Toys they don’t like or play with? Instead of just picking up toys, take a few minutes and fill a box with toys to donate to others.

Gather supplies: a basket, a box and a bag.

It will be best to have at least 3 containers for sorting clutter, trash and keepers that need put away.

1. A laundry basket / tub or a box for items to put away later. Personally, if my basket fills up, I will put the items away rather than let the basket overfill (which usually means I procrastinate and don’t put the items away).
2. A large box for items you don’t need, but are good enough to give away.
3. A trash bag.
4. Optional: Another box for items to sell. Remember that selling takes time, make sure the hassle and time spent selling is worth the amount you will make. Unless it is a high dollar item, I recommend donations.
5. Optional: An additional bag for recycling.

How to identifying if an item is clutter.

As you sort through your stuff, some items will probably fall into a gray area: is it clutter or is it important to you life? If you aren’t sure ask these questions:

• Does it work? If it doesn’t work, get rid of it or send it out to be fixed. If you “can fix it yourself” be very honest - will you? If its been sitting, broken for over a month, realize you probably don’t have the time, money or desire to fix it.
• Does it fit? If it doesn’t fit your body or your life right now, give it away (or sell it) to someone whom it does fit.
• Do you use it?
• Does it make you money?
• Do you have to many of this item? Do you need 15 sweaters? Do your kids have more toys than they can play with?
• Do you love it? Does it bring enjoyment? Somethings, like knick knacks, may fail the above questions. Only you can decide if these items are keepers or clutter.

If you really can’t decide, put the questionable items in a box and date it. After a year, take anything still in the box to charity.

The more items and less space you have, the more careful you need to be about what to keep. If you have a small office or home, it is even more important to choose to keep ONLY what you love.

In the next article, I will list several great things you can do with your clutter.

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So WHY should you take the time and declutter your stuff? Because having less stuff gets you more space, more time (saved from cleaning and organizing), more money and more peace.

More Space

• Breathing room - more space to relax.
• More room for things you want and use.

Easier to Clean

• Fewer items to clean.
• Less time spent cleaning.

Organizing is Easier

• Fewer items to organize, especially “Misc.” items.
• Finding what you want is easier and faster.
• Your storage has seasonal items, not boxes of things you don’t want/need/use.

More Money

• Less stuff to protect (mold/mildew, theft, moisture).
• Save money on storage and storage containers.
• Save money on maintenance.
• Make money by selling unwanted items.
• Tax deductions for items donated to charity.
• Cheaper (and easier) if you move.

Peace and Happiness

• Giving unused items directly to someone who wants/needs it.
• Donating items to charity.
• Looking around and seeing items you use and love.
• Getting rid of items that cause guilt.

I think most of the benefits of decluttering are the joy of giving unused items to others who need them and the peace from looking around your home or office and seeing things that you use and want.

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