Blog Posts by Gretchen Rubin

Eggsinacarton

Feeling overwhelmed? Nine tips for keeping your home feeling serene and organized.

Because of the subject of my next book, Happier at Home, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about-you guessed it!-how to be happier at home. Here are a few very simple suggestions. These aren't the most profound things you can do to make your home feel more serene and organized, but they're steps you can take fairly quickly.

1. Be wary of bargains, sales, hand-me-downs and give-away. Do you really need this thing? Or love it? Beware: because of the "endowment effect," we value things more once we own them. Once that thing enters your home, it will be tough to get it out again.

2. Never label anything "Miscellaneous."

3. Remember: most decisions don't require extensive research. Aim to be a satificer, not a maximizer.

4. Don't let yourself fall into "empty." Keep cash in the house. Keep gas in your tank. Keep an extra roll of toilet paper squirreled away. Keep your phone

2012 Happiness Challenge: For those of you following the 2012 Happiness Project Challenge, to make 2012 a happier year -- and even if you haven't officially signed up for the challenge -- welcome! Each week, I post a video about some Pigeon of Discontent raised by a reader. Because, as much as we try to find the Bluebird of Happiness, we're also plagued by the Pigeons of Discontent.

This week's Pigeon of Discontent, suggested by a reader, is: "I put off making difficult phone calls."

I Put Off Making Difficult Phone Calls.

If you want to read more about this resolution, check out…
Tips for making phone calls that you don't want to make.
Personal productivity: 9 helpful but realistic tips.
6 tips for getting yourself to do something you don't want to do.

Do you dread making phone calls as much as I sometimes do? What strategies have helped you to make those necessary calls?

You can post your own Pigeon of Discontent at any time; also, from time to time, I'll

Saturday, I got a box full of the galleys of Happier at Home. (For you non-publishing industry folk, a galley is a pre-publication, preview copy of a book.)

This should be a thrilling moment, and it was thrilling, but at the same time, for some reason, it sent me into a bit of a panic. I could hardly bring myself to open a book. I get the same feeling when I have a piece run in a newspaper or magazine. Most writers seem to love the moment when they see their work "in print," but not me. I'm not really sure why. Am I afraid of spotting a mistake? Or seeing something that, by this point, I'd do differently? Maybe.

Do you ever experience that? Something that seems to make other people wildly happy-that you think "should" make you happy-for some reason, doesn't?

Nevertheless, getting the galleys is an important marker on the road to publication, so it's exciting as a milestone. And it make me think grateful thoughts, as I do at least fifteen times a day, about how lucky I have

Woodenspoonsrow

I've cribbed some of my favorite resolutions from other people, and when a thoughtful reader posted that one of her resolutions is to "Clean while I cook," I immediately decided to adopt that for my own.

"Clean while I cook" isn't just about cooking, of course. It's about cleaning up after myself along the way, instead of letting clutter and chores build up around me. I've always tried to push myself to behave this way, but for some reason, this formulation has really stuck in my mind.

For instance, I'm trying to follow "Clean while I cook" by also following the resolution to "Hang up clothes while I change clothes." I tend to throw clothes all over the bedroom as I change from one outfit to another, and to leave them there for a few days, and it looks very messy. I'm trying to do a better job of putting clothes away as soon as I take them off. My husband sets a good example here: he always puts his clothes away. (Except his socks. He leaves his dirty socks on the floor,

John-tierney

Happiness interview: John Tierney.

I'm a big fan of John Tierney's science column, Findings, in the New York Times. And I'm even a bigger fan of his new book, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. This book, co-written with Roy Baumeister, who is one of the most prominent researchers of self-control, is fascinating. For anyone who wants to be happier, self-command and self-knowledge are crucial areas of study.

As a long-time reader of John's work, I knew that he and I are interested in many of the same subjects, so I was curious to hear what he had to say on the subject of happiness.

Gretchen: What's a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
John: Exercising, which I do by commuting by bike from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Crossing the East River is especially joyful, but just getting outside and moving is enough to raise my spirits.

What's something you know now about happiness that you didn't know when you were 18 years old?
How

2012 Happiness Challenge: For those of you following the 2012 Happiness Project Challenge, to make 2012 a happier year -- and even if you haven't officially signed up for the challenge -- welcome! Each week, I post a video about some Pigeon of Discontent raised by a reader. Because, as much as we try to find the Bluebird of Happiness, we're also plagued by the Pigeons of Discontent.

This week's Pigeon of Discontent, suggested by a reader, is: "I can't get rid of my stuff."

I Can't Get Rid Of My Stuff

If you want to read more about this resolution, check out…
9 common myths about clearing clutter.
Test yourself: Do you have clutter mentality?
Fighting clutter? Go shelf by shelf.

How about you? Do you ever have trouble moving clutter along its way out of your home? Have you found any good strategies?

You can post your own Pigeon of Discontent at any time; also, from time to time, I'll make a special call for suggestions.

If you're new, jump in right now,

Trashcan

Self-esteem is a topic that has generated a fair amount of controversy over the last few decades, but one thing seems clear: you don't get healthy self-esteem from constantly telling yourself how great you are, or even from other people telling you how great you are. You get healthy self-esteem from behaving in ways that you yourself find estimable.

For instance, you feel better about yourself when you keep a difficult resolution, meet a challenge, solve a problem, learn a skill, or cross something unpleasant off your to-do list. And one of the best ways to feel better about yourself is to help someone else. Do good, feel good.

I had a friend who went through a period of tremendous rejection: she was fired from her job, she didn't get into the graduate program to which she'd applied, and her boyfriend broke up with her. Everything worked out fine, and I asked her how she got through such a tough time. She said, "I was practically addicted to doing good deeds for other

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Happiness interview: Kyran Pittman.

I met Kyran at a conference last year, and after talking to her, I ran out to buy a copy of her book, Planting Dandelions: Field Notes From a Semi-Domesticated Life (which just came out in paperback). One of the things that interested me most about it is Kyran's emphasis on finding happiness in the small, ordinary details in life and appreciating the adventure of everyday existence. (For the millionth time in my life, I repeat to myself the quotation from Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway: "She always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day.")

Kyran has thought a lot about happiness, and finding happiness in "planting dandelions."

Gretchen: What's something you know now about happiness that you didn't know when you were 18 years old?
Kyran: Like most young adults, I was hugely self-conscious, and barely self-aware. I lived in a constant state of reaction. Feelings were like weather-something originating