Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organization

Pre-Garage Sale

We've been really busy with college visits and out-of-town guests, but we’re finally getting organized for our Garage Sale.

My husband and I decided to divide and conquer. He took the garage and miscellaneous shelves/storage areas in the house while I weeded through closets, one by one.

My husband did a good job cleaning up some dusty furniture, file cabinets and sports equipment no longer in use. My daughter definitely had an overstock of baby tees and blouses she could part with. I found a ½ dozen prom and bridesmaid dresses and a full dozen of nice dress slacks my husband hasn’t worn since we got married.

     
 

Combine that with 3 sets of old dishes, 4 sets of matching bedding, a small library of paperback books, a TV, boombox and stereo and I think our driveway is full.

We now have an almost empty closet we can now use for seasonal clothing. 
And remember the teenagers room? Messy room   Look at it now!

 

This is exciting!  We bought in-expensive dot stickers at the office supply store to price everything and bright neon cardboard for signs. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Your Table Gourmet Runs on Rubbermaid

THIS GUEST POST WAS WRITTEN BY Andrea at Your Table Gourmet

I admit it. I am a food storage snob. Had you told me a year ago I would have this attitude, I wouldn't have even believed you. Before you judge me too harshly, though, please consider that I put food storage containers through a lot, and I have tried just about every type of container out there. I own and operate a small personal chef business called Your Table Gourmet in Spokane, Washington, and after over a thousand meals made, packed up, and delivered, I can confidently say that my business runs on Rubbermaid.

Rubbermaid Premier & TakeAlong Containers

Being a personal chef is like being half a caterer and half a family cook. My customers order anywhere from two days to two month's worth of food at a time, and I do all the shopping, the prep, the cooking, and the clean up. All my customers see is a stack of ready-to-eat, custom-made meals filling their fridge and freezer. After growing up in my mother's catering business in Southeastern Idaho, I started Your Table Gourmet in January of 2009, almost by accident. One of my best friends is both vegetarian and gluten-intolerant, and her daughter is lactose intolerant. Add on to that that she doesn't often have the time to cook, and that I had just been laid off from my full-time job, and it just made sense for me to lend a hand. The business has grown from there, and the majority of my clients do have some kind of food sensitivity, preference, or allergy - although some are just busy families that want one less thing on their to-do list.

TakeAlongs Divided Rectangle

I started my business and run it with a dedication to environmental responsibility - which means rather than the disposable take-out Styrofoam and flimsy plastic most delivered food comes in that gets thrown away, I need containers that can be put through their paces and re-used week after week. The only containers I've found that can put up with this kind of use for more than a few weeks are Rubbermaid - so that is what fills my storeroom (and my customer's fridges!) I work out of a small, shared commercial kitchen, and I have to admit I really like the fact I can stack all my containers and their lids together - it really helps save time and space when I've only got a few hours to put together dozens of meals.

Cranberry Stuffing from Your Table Gourmet

I have always loved cooking, and I have always adored a challenge. Cooking custom gourmet meals for my customers has proven quite the adventure.

Sure, I may be a food storage snob, but because my customers depend on the highest quality, I depend on Rubbermaid.

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THIS GUEST POST WAS WRITTEN BY Andrea at Your Table Gourmet: www.yourtablegourmet.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/yourtable

Organizing for a Scrapbook Retreat

I love to scrapbook. I have not done much of it since moving to Charlotte and have A LOT of pages to complete.

Thankfully, my mom and I and a few of our friends (picture Mother, Daughter trip) decided to go to a scrapbooking retreat. It was a WHOLE weekend of scrapbooking all weekend and late into the night (it's sad when your mom stays up longer than you do but my mom totally did).

Getting ready for a retreat is hard work. Passionate scrapbookers have A LOT of stuff: paper, tools, embellishments, stickers, etc. It was interesting to see how everyone organized there stuff to bring what they need but not bring EVERYTHING (which it seemed like some people did...). Here are the pointers I found most helpful:

• Decide the week before what album/albums you will work on. Layout each page with the pictures, paper, embellishments, letters, etc. that you will need. This way you know what tools you will need also to limit bringing too many.

• Have a scraping partner (this is what my mom and I did). Get with one other person and between the two of you divide up your tools. One bring half of the tools and the other bring the other half. Share when you get there. This cuts what you are bringing by half.

• Have a snack/drink queen. Us scrapbookers need energy which means we bring snacks and caffeine to retreats (or at least I do). Four or five of you get together and chose one person to bring a cooler filled with drinks and snacks. Divide up the cost and pay the queen. This is great if one person has a larger car than everyone else. As someone with a two door, it was nice not to have to try to fit in my own cooler and food!

  

(a snack queen carrying out a cooler with some help!)

• To make transporting easier, fill up a couple of Rubbermaid totes with all your tools. Many people had one smaller storage container that had all their paper in it divided with special folders based on colors or paper packs. As someone who was not smart enough to do this and carried a lot of smaller things individually - this is a smart idea. Even limit yourself to two or three totes; this will help you bring only what you need.

• Find out what supplies the retreat is providing. Our retreat had a few Cricket machines and TONS of punches. My mom and I did not bring these but saved this room for more paper. We had to wait a few times to use these tools but most times it was a much needed break and an opportunity to see what other people were working on.

• This picture just amused me. Someone was mixing Crystal Light or Kool Aide in one of our jugs as an alternative to all the soft drinks that were there! Way to be healthy!!! (and please ignore the horrible picture of me - part of me can't believe I am putting this on the web!!!)

Hopefully, a little organizing can make scrapbooking retreats easier and more fun!

I'm Midnight Plum; You're Very Berry Kiss

I don't know about you, but I have a stack of keys that would make the maintenance man at the Empire State Building blush. Professional Organizer Beth Ziegler posted an awesome tip on how to keep keys organized on her blog Bneato last month that was picked up by Lifehacker.

 

[Image from Lifehacker]

Give your keys a nice shiny coat of nail polish to tell which belongs to which door, lock, or mystery trunk. If you have a particularly old key, you might try cleaning it with nail polish first. It'll take off any oil or grime that's on it and help the polish stick better.

Sidenote... Beth Ziegler = awesome. She writes for the equally awesome Apartment Therapy and I've added her RSS feed to my list (though I had a hard time deciding if I should file her under organization or cool design...hmmm).

Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day!!!

Sunday, November 15th is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. It's perfect timing to clean out  the fridge before holiday food and leftovers start piling up!

Here at Rubbermaid, we are encouraging all bloggers to clean out their fridge but I was a little curious to see what was in there to begin with. Let's just say some of the photos below are gross and offer good encouragement to clean out those refrigerators and others offer some good advice for how to keep your fridge clean!

Betty's says: Here is my fridge. It’s driving me nuts because it’s usually very clean. Shelves are usually dedicated to certain categories of food. I have just the right Rubbermaid food containers to house my family of 3’s leftovers, but…

This week-end I had my parents visiting, had a chili party and then another dinner party and I’m over run with left-overs, specialty food and snacks that I typically don’t eat and nothing is where it belongs. I’m literally digging thru stuff to find things.

AAUUGGGHHH!

Brian says: I’m not sure what this is. Despite our armada of Rubbermaid Food Storage containers my wife sometimes reverts to old ways and wraps something in a combination of tin foil and plastic wrap. It’s as if she’s preserving a mummy for the afterlife. Needless to say I have no clue what it is……could be anything from meatloaf to ginger loaf.

Rob says: Baking soda helps to control smells in the fridge, but these pics are of my girl friend's fridge and she is strict about what stays in there…   she had nothing in there that was even close to being bad. Me on the other hand ….

Bo says: A normal person would put ice cubes in this container. Not me... Try year old bananas and some cut up apples that are so wrinkly they look like leather. Yummy

Megan says: As I was taking several pictures of the inside, I realized that the outside of my fridge is quite the mess with all of the stuff I have posted up on the fridge with magnets.

Ashleigh says: I have a bottom load freezer that drives me insane.  I can’t for the life of me find a way to organize it aside from just throwing things in and mashing them around till I can shut the drawer. 

Shannon says: This is a picture of chicken with potatoes and carrots in the crockpot.  It didn’t turn out that great to begin with, and then after sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks – blah.

So how is your fridge looking? Take some time Sunday to clean out your fridge. Take before and after pictures and post them on your blog...leave a link in the comments or link back to this post so we can commiserate with your mess and celebrate your clean out achievement!!!! Don't have a blog? Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr it :)