Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organization

How to Sell Clothing at a Yardsale?

My husband and I combined forces with our friends for a yard sale this fall. We had tons of stuff and quite the variety: home decor, electronics, speakers, tv's, dvd players, purses, shoes and all sorts of other jazz. The first thing we had to do was go through our house to decide what was going to be in the sale. Purging is something that is tough for me because I'm always scared I'm going to get rid of something I will need "someday" (which of course never happens). This time around I did a pretty good job, with the help of my husband encouraging me and reminding me that no, I will never need that bag, or that shirt, or those shoes ever again. One room at a time, we went through the closets, checked under the beds, looked in all of our storage bins, and designated one of our guest rooms as the yard sale room. We started this process in August, so as we found more and more things to sell, we placed them in the yard sale room. One night as the sale got close, we sat down and priced everything. We used masking tape and a red marker, that way we knew what was ours (our friends marked theirs in black marker). Our friends made some signs (below was after the sale, but thought I would show you the signs!), and the day of the sale finally came.

Even though it rained (despite the sunny forecast), we were prepared with canopies to cover most of our selection. The photo below was after the rain let up a bit, and my husband was brave enough to put the speakers out from under the canopy.

 

One thing we had plenty of was clothing, and we weren't really sure the best way to display all of it. We had shirts, sweaters, jackets, jeans, shorts, skirts and even a couple suits and bridesmaids dresses. As you will see from the photo, we gave it our best effort. (This consisted of a rope tied from a tree in the front yard to a hook on the front porch held up in the middle by a ladder. We hung the shirts on the rope, and we had all of the pants and shorts in bins on the ground.) 

 

We put out plastic hangers with our clothes, which was tough to remember to get them back before people walked off with them. I should have looked at more research first. This site had a lot of good tips: http://www.yardsalequeen.com. (This site, for example, suggested using wire hangers or hangers that you don't want back.) I thought I would get some ideas for our next yard sale on our toughest challenge this time around...what is the best way to display clothing items? 

Lance Armstrong's Garage

Just saw a post on Lance Armstrong's garage that desperately needs a Rubbermaid makeover by Jim and I !  I would love to show Lance what FastTrack can do.  Who thinks Rubbermaid has what it takes to help Lance get his garage in order?

FastTrack all over the house

Sadly, I don't have a garage.  But, because they have an additional whole 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!

Rubbermaid FastTrack Garage Organization - Special Offer

With summer starting many of you are probably thinking about getting your garage organized. I have the perfect 'jump start' for the project.

Starting today there is a limited time special offer on the Rubbermaid FastTrack garage organization kits.  This offer is available only on the www.BuyFastTrack.com website.

At only $39.95 per kit you'll be able to quickly and easily get your garage organized.

For those of you who need a little inspiration, check out the five part blog series I did last July on my garage makeover. If I can get organized, so can you.

- Part #1: I've got a BIG problem. My garage is a total mess
- Part #2: Planning is half the battle (or at least some of the battle)
- Part #3: Tackling the installation - One step at a time
- Part #4: My garage is really starting to shape up
- Part #5: I love my garage! I never expected it to turn out this good

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
================================

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
================================

The Get Organized Contest Garage Makeover

Wow! Last Thursday and Friday were two very busy days.  If you remember, back in January we ran a promotion called the Get Organized contest. To enter you had to upload a photo from a room of your home that needed an organization makeover.  We picked a winner at the end of January and last Thursday and Friday we did the makeover.

On Thursday my co-worker Lauren and I, along with professional organizer Carson Tate, CPO®, traveled to Aimee's home (Aimee was the winner) to begin the project. 

Just some of the crew (left to right): Sandy the stylist, Lauren from Rubbermaid, Aimee the winner, Carson Tate the CPO® and Elliot the director.

The first order of business was for Carson and Aimee to talk so Carson could understand how the garage was used, what pain points currently existed along with what a successful project would look like.  This was where Carson and Aimee discussed the 'zones' of the garage and how everything would be put back once we were done sorting and purging. Thanks to Aimee this was fairly easy because she already had a good grasp of what needed to be done.

Carson and Aimee sort through the contents of her garage.

The next task to occur was the sorting and purging. To sort we put three large colored tarps on the driveway. Each tarp was marked for different types of items. One for items Aimee wanted to keep, one for trash and one for donations. Using these tarps made it very easy to do the high-level sorting / purging.

We moved everything out of the garage onto tarps.

Once the 'keep' items had been identified the next steps was to dive into each and every box and complete a sort/purge at a micro-level.  Carson mentioned time and time again that Aimee was great at this step. She was able to quickly identify the items that needed to stay and didn't have a hard time getting rid of clutter she didn't need to keep anymore.

During the sorting and purging process Lauren and I, along with Elliot from Limerick Studios, dove into the installation of the Rubbermaid FastTrack garage organization system. As usual the installation was very simple. Measure and mark the walls for the rail, level & mark the rails, install a few screws and you're done. We installed all of the rails, which were numerous, in just a few hours. Oh... did I mention Elliot and his crew had to film a video during this time too.  In addition to the FastTrack rails, hooks and cabinets Aimee also got a couple steel-reinforced resin shelves, a corner tool caddy, a million totes and an outdoor shed.

Carson divided the garage into 'zones'. This was the kid zone.

After the installation was complete, all the sorting and purging was done, and we ate lunch (tortilla wraps and iced tea) we began the process of putting everything back into the garage.  Under the direction of Carson the entire crew helped place all the 'keep' items back into their appropriate 'zone'. This was a very quick process as Aimee and Carson had previously identified the 'zones' and what went into these areas.

This was the tools & hardware zone

When all was said and done Aimee and family were super happy. The project was a great success and we are all very proud.  (NOTE: I'll post the final video once we have the edit back)

Aimee and family were very happy with the final project. We were all a little tired.

View all the photos & videos on Flickr

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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
================================

Planning for the Get Organized contest garage makeover

Now that we've selected the winner of the Rubbermaid Get Organized contest we've begun the process of planning the makeover.

We started by having Aimee take photos of her garage and make a list of the items that are currently stored there. Below are a few photos along with the list she generated.

Aimee's List

• Yard equipment including a lawn mower, rakes, shovels, weed wacker, leaf blower, pole trimmer, electric shears, extension cords.
• Sports equipment such as balls, tennis rackets, cleats and bike helmets.
• Stuff that would be great for a cabinet such as paint, weed killer, motor oil.
• Back packs, and coats and gloves that could use hooks to hang on.
• A huge Sears hard top car carrier.
• Beach chairs, chairs in bags, boogie board. 
• A Rubbermaid container of pool/beach toys.
• An adult bike, 2 kids bikes, a small bike with training wheels, a tricycle and 3 scooters. 
• Some tools such as drills.
• A double jogging stroller that we use every day.
• A total gym and a stationary bike (that we’d like unearthed so they are useful).
• A large artificial tree in a bag.
• 2 ladders, a power washer, a small shop vac.
• A cooler and a beverage cooler. 
• A small space heater. 
• Oh, and a stereo my husband refuses to get rid of.
• I’ve started buying in bulk to save money and if I could make space in the garage for food that would be great.
• In our back yard we have a Rubbermaid chest that we use for kids toys

Once we received this information from Aimee we setup a call between her and Carson Tate, the Certified Professional Organizer®.  The call was about 30 minutes and was lead by Carson. We discussed Aimee's frustrations, how she uses her garage, and most importantly, what success look likes when we're done.

Anyway, the call went really well. We are all really excited to see the finished project. We're aiming to work on the project on February 27th. I'll keep you posted.

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

My Garage Makeover - Six Months Later

How many times have you taken the time to organize your garage, closet, kitchen or other problem area to find that just a few weeks later it's back to it's originally messy state?

I had the same problem too. But I don't have that problem anymore. I've begun to understand the basics of getting organized, and more importantly, staying organized.

Last June I undertook a fairly large project. I decided to makeover my garage. The project took a few weekends with some help from my son but when it was complete I was very excited with the results.  The garage looked great and I felt great about the accomplishment. However, I feel even better about it today than I did then.

It's been six months and the garage is STILL ORGANIZED!

The trick to keeping it organized was planning on the front end about how the space was going to be utilized and by whom, clearing the clutter that didn't belong, and most importantly, taking 5 minutes every once in a while to pick up a few items the kids leave laying around.  I would list those three things as the most important aspects of getting and staying organized.

I hope these photos give you a little inspiration going into 2009. Remember, you can get and stay organized too.

- View the complete photo set on Flickr