Shoe & Ski Lover meets 500 sq ft space.

Katy is a friend of ours at Rubbermaid.  She was very stressed out about her small apartment (less than 500 square feet) and a lack of storage.  

To make matters worse, she had a very tiny clothing closet, which barely fit her clothes, much less her  shoes or her sporting equipment.  She had been trying to maintain a system in the living room which consisted of racks and just having the items laid on the fireplace.

 

However, as the shoes started to "grow" (Katy admits to a strong shopping addiction) and the equipment solution limited space and was unsafe, she realized a solution was imperative.

Here's what I like about Katy's thought process:
She defined the issue and what was important to her.  A priority to her was keeping all of her equipment which she enjoys.   She knew that there would be no room for future purchases. 

She selected Rubbermaid FastTrack.  This system is traditionally used in the garage, but we see that a number of people re-purpose it (including the guys in the office, blogger Shannon, and myself in my utility closets).

Below is the result:

Katy comments, "This isn’t a closet system, but I wouldn’t have a closet to put it in
anyway! This way I can grab what I need and go, without worrying I am going to trip over my skis and break my ankle.” - Katy

I love her attitude and the fact she embraced the notion, "It's your life.  Organize it your way."

Nice job, Katy!

My Garage Adventure – The Inspection

The day had arrived, Professional Organizer, Allison Carter, was coming to our home to assess the mess in our garage.  My girlfriends kept saying, “You are so lucky!”  My mom kept saying, “I’m the one in need of an organizer!” And even up until the last hour, my dear husband kept asking, “Really, you’re not going to clean it up first? Really!  Really?”

Having someone come into your home and assess your mess IS a little intimidating, I have to admit.  Allison, however, has a straightforward approach that put us quickly at ease as we began trying to account for why we had all this stuff and what we wanted to do with it.  The session went something like this:

• Make a list of all the types of things we need to accommodate: gardening, fishing, golf, sports, refrigerator, trash / recycling, storage of extra supplies, etc.
• Next Allison helped us think about what the best kind of container was for each need.  This is where I would have gone off track because I would have jumped to step three of placement.  By thinking about the container first, we really focused on how we use items and what the most convenient day in and day out storage solution would be.
• Finally, based on all the types of storage we would need, Allison helped us lay it out within the space of our garage.  We put things into zones and figured out how to utilize our vertical space better.  She even made mock ups on pictures to help us visualize.

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In the next few weeks we are going to be ordering the storage solutions we will need and editing.  This is the pro way of saying we have to throw some stuff out!  Fortunately, many of the things we no longer have a use for can be donated.  I will be working with a couple of our local organizations to schedule a donation pick up, order a rolling recycling bin and finally cleaning the garage.  All of this seems really appropriate in the spring, and I keep telling myself that once we are cleaned and organized it will be time to start planting!

Wish us luck!

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MY GARAGE ADVENTURE SERIES

• My Garage Adventure – The Before - Part 1
• My Garage Adventure – The Inspection - Part 2

My Garage Adventure

This post is written by Kamie. Kamie works for Calphalon, one of the brands owned by our parent company Newell-Rubbermaid. She heard Jim talking about his garage makeover and was inspired to organize her garage. Well, of course we were more than happy to help her out :)

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With the approach of spring I begin dreaming about one of my favorite activities of the year, picking out and planting annuals and perennials on my patio and around my yard.  I tell you this because my thoughts progress as follows:  what tools do I need to replace, what do I have, oh my gosh, our garage is a wreck!

So as I stand looking around our two car garage, I realize that this room probably reflects our lives and interests more accurately than any other room in our house.  Gardening tools and supplies, fishing equipment, golf clubs, sports equipment, extra supplies, extra refrigerator, various power tools, the 10 foot ladder for the Christmas tree and ride on toys for our two year old.  Whew, that is a lot of stuff in one space.

Here are the three goals I would like to accomplish:

1. My husband is out.  Actually his car is, and I would like to redesign the space now that we plan to only keep one car in the garage.  This will allow us to rethink how to best organize the placement of items based on need and frequency.
2. Hide things.  I would really like to NOT see every bottle, can, tool, and ball out in the open.  It is important to figure out how to utilize boxes, bins and cabinets to make it visually more appealing while keeping like things in close proximity.
3. Keep it up.  Making sure that getting to things doesn’t mean creating a new mess so we have a chance to keep it organized.

Please give me your ideas for making over my garage into a useful and neat space.

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MY GARAGE ADVENTURE SERIES

• My Garage Adventure – The Before - Part 1
• My Garage Adventure – The Inspection - Part 2

FastTrack – Not Just for the Garage

So, here it is – our previously disorganized laundry room (a.k.a. utility closet, first floor storage facility, and dog room.)

One of the main issues with this room was that we couldn't use this really cool laundry chute.  If we used it, the clothes would drop onto this shelf and then drop into the middle of the floor.  The shelves are great, but the laundry chute was not usable with the shelves there.

Problem two – we had a ton of different things stored in here and there was no rhyme or reason as to what was stored where.  Dog food/treats/toys, cleaning supplies, laundry soaps, extra napkins and plastic utensils, citronella candles…you get the point.  The plan was to keep all of this in this room, but just get it organized.

Third issue – dish rags, dog towels, etc. always piled up on the dryer, waiting to be cleaned.  I wanted to have a place for these items to go before they went into the washing machine.

In order to get our laundry room organized, I thought that the FastTrack system could be a great option.  It was designed to work in the garage, but it seemed like such a versatile system, so why not try it in the laundry room?  I heard it was easy to use, quick to install, and that it actually worked.  So, I looked through the FastTrack product catalog, made a few measurements, received my products, and got started.  I also used a few Rubbermaid clear containers to help organize the shelves. 

So here it is – my newly organized laundry room.

We’ve organized the shelves with some clear Rubbermaid containers.

 We’ve made the laundry chute usable and eliminated the pile of clothes on the dryer.  I absolutely LOVE my hanging laundry basket!

 

We’ve also used FastTrack to organize all of our dog stuff and all of our extra paper plates, spoons, cups, etc.

 

The best part of this project was my husband’s comments and excitement throughout the installation process:  “I’m impressed. I’m a fan of products that work well."

This project went better than expected.  I'm looking forward to the next organization project!

Road to Reorganize the Garage (Part 1)

This summer my parents relocated from a small town in southwest Michigan to Charlotte, NC. Their property up north included a 4-car garage.....which was full. Today my parents are living in much smaller house with a 1-car garage. (Eventually they will be moving again, but we are not sure when...) Downsizing from a 4-car to a 1-car garage has been somewhat of a disaster to be honest. The picture describes it better than I ever could...

 

I asked my dad to tell me how he feels about the garage, and this is what he wrote:

………a place for everything and everything in its place!
 
That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of this mess we are currently calling a garage. It’s like trying to put 10 pounds of stuff in a 5-pound bag. I’m sure there is a rule in the universe somewhere that says that’s not possible, but maybe they never met Rubbermaid? Maybe there is hope for this poor little one car garage with the help of the FastTrack garage organization system created by Rubbermaid. Maybe this system can put 10 pounds in a 5-pound bag after all. Time will tell.
 
Coming from a mult-stall garage to an extremely small one car garage certainly has its challenges. Even with the minimum amount of what I feel are necessary garage items, this small little area will desperately need the help of an organizational miracle to not cause its owner to go crazy. Items have been piled, pushed and squeezed into this small garage from the whirlwind move down here from Michigan. Since nothing is organized, nothing is easy to find and even the physical act of moving around in the garage is a hazard to one's health.
 
For someone that needs to make sure that the piles of paper on my desk are square and at 90 degree’s to the edge, this garage gives me heartburn every time I look in it...so I try not too!
 
With a little luck and some elbow grease my wife and I hope to transform this area of disaster to one that Rubbermaid would be proud to be a part of.

I know my parents are frustrated with the lack of organization, and I feared that because they know they will be moving again, they would not want to spend the time and energy to revamp their garage. Much to my delight (and surprise) they are very excited to tackle the garage disaster! I know it will be a process, but having an organized and functional garage space will make my parents' life a little bit happier.

My parents have not started to clean or go through the purging process yet, but I told Dad that we have to use the FastTrack system if he wanted help from me! I (we) am looking for any advice, ideas or tips for tackling this sort of downsizing situation. Because my parents will not be in the his house for very long, they are looking to do something quick/inexpensive or (if it more costly) something that can relocate with them to their new house in the future. Please let me know if YOU have any tips from your own garage makeover or any experiences you may have heard about from family or friends. My parents need all the help they can get!
Currently there are old cabinets, golf clubs, motorcycles, lawn mowers, shelves, various car fluids...

 

 
This site had some interesting ideas and inspiring photos of garage organization. Here is what my parents' garage looks like if you open up the back door from the kitchen looking into the garage...HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

FastTrack all over the house

Sadly, I don't have a garage.  But, because they have an additional hole for direct mount into studs in interior walls, I have still found ways to use Rubbermaid FastTrack hooks throughout my house.

Here are a few places the hooks have come in handy for me:

1-Holding mops / stick tools in my laundry room (3 handle S hook)

2- Propping up canvases in my art closet (ladder hooks)

Holding camping chairs in my really little coat closet (hose hook)

Keeping sporting goods off the floor (Multipurpose hook) - this poor tennis racket hasn't seen any court time for quite awhile, so it needs a good resting place!

How Rubbermaid Organizes Around the Office

Jim had done a post awhile back on how the graphic design guys in our office use FastTrack to organize their desk spaces.   I thought it might be neat to share a few other photos from our office and how we use both our own products and other great products to keep our spaces neat & tidy around here:

Engineers use Totes and Shelving for keeping their samples organized

 

The Industrial Designers use little food storage containers to hold up the glass table in their area...I wouldn't expect anything less out of this creative bunch :)

The research & development guys are very tidy, keeping their items neatly tucked away in FastTrack garage cabinets and organizing magazines on a clever rack.

The Commercial Marketing team keeps their samples on shelving as well since their large restaurant-type items won't fit in a small cube!

 

The Consumer Queen needs help in her garage

 If you don't know Melissa (Consumer Queen) you should. She writes a great blog about saving money and she reviews products too.  She also has a fun Blog Talk Radio show on Thursday nights.

Anyway, a while back Lauren and I told her we'd try to help get her garage organized (now seeing the video I'm a little scared). On Tuesday she sent us a video of her garage so we could get a feel for the situation.

Below is our challenge/her garage. I thought you'd be interested in seeing. Does anyone feel like helping out? She's in Oklahoma.

Get Organized Garage Makeover

If you remember, back in January we held the Get Organized contest.  There have been multiple posts (see links below) and many people have commented on the great results.

While we were doing the garage makeover we brought in a film crew to document the process (I guess my Flip video camera wasn't considered high enough quality).  Just this morning I received the final video file.  I hope you enjoy.



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Here are links to the previous posts
- The winning entry
- Planning for the makeover
- The garage makeover project
- One Week after
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The ripple effects of the Get Organized Garage Makeover

Just today I received an email from Aimee, the Rubbermaid Get Organized Contest Winner. Here's what she had to say.

Jim,

The Rubbermaid garage make over has made a big difference all over my house. I've sent some pictures to demonstrate. The first is me standing in my walk in closet.  Before there were two totes of gifts I've been collecting for birthday parties, baby showers, etc that took up precious space in our master bedroom closet.  Now with the amazing garage makeover there was room for the gifts in the garage.

 

The second picture is of my craft closet.  I went crazy with the label maker you gave me.  And the little Rubbermaid stool fits perfectly inside the closet to help me reach the kids crafts that are up high.  All my friends agree that a label maker is the perfect gift for me.



As you can see from the third picture my laundry room is free and clear of shoes.  I can open my front loading washer without an avalanche of shoes falling off our old shoe rack.  Now our shoes (and the dirt that comes with them) stay in the great Rubbermaid cubbies in my "mudroom" section of the garage. 



The final picture is of my van which fits with room to spare in the garage.  In fact earlier this week when it snowed my husband fit his car in the garage too.  That hasn't happened for about 3 years and 2 kids ago. 



We can't thank you all enough.

Aimee

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Here are links to the previous posts
- The winning entry
- Planning for the makeover
- The garage makeover project
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