New Home for my Necklaces

Up until a short time ago, I kept all of my necklaces in my travel jewelry case. I didn't have a good place to keep them, and for the last five years I traveled enough where it made sense to just keep them in my travel case so I didn't have to unpack/repack them each weekend. A while ago I started to hang them on our medicine cabinet in our bathroom. 

Even though it looks like kind of a mess, I could easily see my necklaces and choose each day which one I wanted to wear. Because we don't get into our medicine cabinet very often, it was not that big of a deal to have them hanging on the door. Although once in a while either I would knock them off, or I would hear them crash if my husband knocked them off....and they would fall to the counter or the floor. After I made sure nothing broke, I would put them right back up there. 

Last weekend I finally got sick of having this mess of necklaces displayed in our bathroom...and as you can see, it really looked like a tangled mess of jewelry. I'm not sure why it didn't bother me until now, but I was ready to change it...

 

We had some 3M Command hooks in our junk drawer, and I think they have been there since we moved in to our house a year ago. That was the best thing I could think of at the time, so I got them out and cracked them open. On the label it says each hook holds up to a 1/2 pound, so I figured my necklaces would be ok on the hooks. There are hooks that hold up to 5 pounds and more, so if you needed these for another, more heavy-duty job, I'm sure there is a hook out there! The hooks are easy to put up, and they don't leave any surface damage. 

I wanted to get the necklaces out of sight, but they still needed to be easy to access and easy to see each one. I decided to put these hooks on the inside of our linen closet door in our master bathroom. 

 

I tried to space them out evenly (and didn't really succeed, but no biggie, right?). We had two 3-packs of hooks, so I figured I would use all 6 hooks so I could spread out my necklaces.

 

Once my hooks were up, I was ready to get my necklaces moved from the medicine cabinet to their new home. I even organized my necklaces by color: one hook for gold, one hook for silver, one hook for black and so on. It was a simple solution, and it took me 15 minutes to do. I will say there are a lot of good (and inexpensive) organizing tips online for jewelry. I found some great ones at thriftyfun.com that I just might put into action. Here is my final outcome of my organized necklaces. Utensil hooks aren't just for utensils!

 

Accessories on the go in a TakeAlong

This is one of those 'oh duh' solutions that has alleviated a small but daily frustration. Like many cubical warriors I have a laptop bag that is my ever present travel companion. It has three zipper compartments, one for the laptop, one for loose papers, and a cavernous pit to consume all those accessories.

A 4-cup TakeAlong container was perfect to bundle the two things I reach for most often, my mouse and Ethernet cable. Now whenever I need them I don't even have to look, I reach in and pull out the container. No more tangles, no more digging. The TakeAlong is the perfect size so there's no empty unused space in the container, but it also fits well in my bag. What are some of the unusual (but wonderfully perfect) things you've used food storage containers for?

Garage Sale Results

We had a beautiful day for our garage sale and we have a little beautiful cash in our pockets. 

 
 
Helpful hints:

• Serious garage and yard salers get up with the roosters. Be set up by 6:30 AM.
• Ask a couple neighbors to join in and split the cost of a newspaper advertisement.
• Create bright visible signs.
• Have cash to make change.
• Display items in categories like sports, toys and electronics.
• Have a power source so electronics can be running so customers can have better confidence to buy.

 
 
Overall we’re happy with our results. We have a couple hundred dollars to spend on shelving to customize our closets. Rubbermaid (link) will help us make that an easy task, especially now that we’ve cleaned them out.

Importantly, we had a plan for what to do with the items that didn’t sell:

• Consignment stores are growing in popularity (link). The prom dresses and suits will go there.
• The comforter sets and file cabinet went to Goodwill. Our local store as an easy drive-thru with nice people to unload the car and give you a receipt for tax purposes. So easy!
• The men’s clothes went to our neighbors church ministry to help needy families and we got another tax receipt.

We have clean closets, a tidier garage and we helped our community. We feel pretty good about that.

The Bottom Shelf Salad Bar

I have learned, the hard way, that veggies never last as long as I would like them to.  I also found that if I don't have them ready-to-eat they go untouched.  Actually, they go untouched until I clean my fridge and I end up having to throw away my hard-earned dollar disguised as limp, lifeless celery.

As a way to keep my budget on track, my refrigerator a little cleaner, and my life a little easier, I designated my bottom shelf as my salad bar.  When I buy my veggies, I prepare my salad in my salad-spinner and add the salad basics like celery and carrots.

I usually find that an entire bag of carrots and celery is too much to put into one salad, so I chop enough for the salad and store the "left overs" to have on-hand as a healthy snack.  I keep the carrots in a Produce Saver to help keep them from getting slimy, and the celery I cut into smaller stalks for dipping. (Note: Produce Savers are ideal for uncut vegetables. Use a TakeAlong or Easy Find Lids container to store any cut vegetables.)

I like to chop up tomatoes and keep them separate so I don't end up with a bunch of juice and seeds making my salad soggy.  Also, I buy a chunk of lean turkey ham to dice on top or boil a few eggs to store on my Salad Bar Shelf when I get tired of the ham.

My Salad Bar is a huge time saver, convenient, and healthy. This has helped me keep my refrigerator more organized, lessen the likelihood of spoiled food, and fatten up my wallet.  Believe it or not, I don't feel the urge to hit the drive-thru after a late night of work or school because I have a healthy, ready-to-eat alternative waiting on me at home.

Some links for healthy eating and keeping a cleaner refrigerator:

http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/fridgetips.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_4497252_keep-refrigerator-clean-foods-safe.html

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 :)

Organizing Doesn't Have to Be Beautiful - Lessons from the Office

Every year, we make a calendar for Rubbermaid.com.  We try to put some thought behind the times of year when people will most like to know about which products and tips, as it relates to seasons / holidays where they make the most sense.

The project sat on my desk in folders for at least 3 weeks, as I wasn't able to really get "inspired" to work on it since I knew it would make a huge mess of my desk and I would need to complete it from start to finish.  I kept putting it off since I never had more than an hour at a time and I didn't want to get started, only to have to pack it up.

However, with pressure of an imminent deadline, I got an idea to work on it continually by pinning the different themes to different areas of my cubicle.  Below is a photo of the process.

Only Erin could understand my logic, and I got a lot of strange looks, but the result was an organized system where we could then re-arrange and brainstorm ideas in half hour increments.  I was able to finish everything in a few days.

Through this I learned that organizing doesn't necessarily always need to be beautiful.  Sometimes, just setting up a functional system can help you get your thoughts organized.  Additionally, sometimes you have to get a little messy to get things finally in order.  I am proud to report that we got our calendar figured out, and since, the "crazy wall" has come down and the content is now categorized in a binder. However, without this exercise it wouldn't have happened.  So my advice is: don't be afraid to make a mess!