I Moved - AGAIN

Yes, it is true. I moved again into an apartment with a lease for a year AND I'M STAYING - at least for a while. For those of you who do not know, this was my third move in a year - yes ONE year - and yes it was STRESSFUL!

This move was bigger than the ones before. I was bring furniture from Texas to North Carolina in a U-Haul. So here are some things that I learned about creating an organized move.

1. Do NOT leave your mother in the attic adding things to a take pile that you "might, one day" need. Moving is a perfect time to really take stock of what you own. Do you REALLY want to bring that old table with you and carry it up three flights of stairs? Do you REALLY need all those clothes? Do you REALLY need those picture frames that have been in a box since the 80's? Do not be afraid to get rid of some clutter. It takes effort to pack things, bins and boxes (aka money) to pack them into, AND effort to find a place for them in your new home. So do not do this with things you are not going to need.

2. Start packing early. I was so stressed the week before the move because I had of course waited til the last minute to pack up everything. There are lots of things in your house that you do not need to use everyday. PACK THOSE THINGS. Pictures, books, out of season clothing, etc. are all things you can pack early.

3. Pack like things together and pack to where you are moving. Packing like things together just makes it easier to find things. Also, pack for your new space. Somethings that are in your bedroom might be better to put in your living room in your new space. Think about this as you pack and pack items that belong in certain rooms with other items that belong in the same room. That way you can avoid the picture below which is a big pile where you have no idea where things go.

 

4. Label! Label not only what is in the box but also what room the box needs to go into.

Labeling my Rubbermaid Roughneck Bin

5. Protect your belonging. I moved my grandmother's china from Texas to North Carolina in Rubbermaid bins and not boxes. Why (other than the fact I work for the company)? Because they are sturdy and will not break.

 
What my China was in and the Rubbermaid container that let it survive the drive!

6. Save some money and use what you already have to pack. Wrap pictures in towels or out of season clothing instead of buying packing supplies. This also motivates you to unpack everything so you can make sure you have all your towels and clothes!

7. Finally, appreciate the funny moments. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with my dad on the drive and showing him the area I was going to live in. Plus I laughed at myself when I used a coffee maker to hold open my door to allow some breeze into my new apartment.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Ultimate Man Closet

Before the holidays, I wrote a post about my friend Ryan's closet.  He recently moved and I told him I would help him get set-up in his new house.  It is the second year I have done this, with my first being my friend  Randi's closet which was done last December

Thanks to everyone who provided tips for the makeover.  There were two in particular that I modeled the closet after:  

The first came from Taulpaul who said...I typically hang everything but sweaters and t-shirts. If I were to redo my closet, I would find a way to bring the shoes to a middle tier in the closet. They are hard to get to through the heavy coats and pants when they are on the floor.

The tonya said...I think especially for men it's beneficial to have the most you can hanging so it's easy to flip through without creating a mess and easily encourages them to hang stuff back up. I prefer a pants on the bottom and shirts on top 2 rows of hanging space to maximize space.

Set-up was a breeze.  As much as I like re-organizing things, it is nice to start from scratch!  Also, Ryan had used a dresser for most of his tee shirts and jeans, so we really only had to organize the work attire.

We used a Homefree Closet System as the base for the project.    This system is flexible, so we were able to modify and change things around as we were installing to be able to set the closet up exactly how we wanted it.  We used a Deluxe, because it includes 2 extender brackets that allow you to go down further in the closet to hang more shelving which we knew was important with the shoes.

In the end, this was the final design:
 

 

Although I am hesitant to admit this (Betty and our closet product engineer might tease me), the biggest lesson I learned was to follow the installation directions.   The instructions indicate how high to start the top horizontal rail (which is the basis for the system), but we hung it a little bit lower to make more room at the top of the closet.   I have done this before and it worked out fine.  However, I am 5 ' 2", and my clothes are a just a wee bit shorter than Ryan's who is probably over 6' tall.  Luckily, it ended up working out just perfectly, but if I were to do it again, I would start at the exact point the directions told us to avoid a little bit of the stress. 

Thanks all for your help and I can't wait to see what next year's New Years Eve makeover will be!

2nd Annual New Years Day Closet Makeover

You may remember that last year, I did a series on helping my friend Randi get her crazy closet under control.  I am happy to report that it still continues to be organized and tidy thanks to help from all of you in setting it up for continued organization!

Randi's Closet Makeover Series  - Part 1: The problem Part 2: The makeover process Part 3: The end

So, in continuing the tradition of helping a friend get organized every New Years Day, this year, my annual project goes to my friend Ryan's house.  

Unlike most makeovers I have helped with in the past of improving organization, this one is a bit different.... there is nothing there to start with!!!  A blank canvas, if you will....

You see, Ryan is in the processing of moving into a new home.  I told him I would help him tackle the master closet and set it up to be the ultimate man closet.

 

Details About the Closet - 80 3/4 inches wide x 25 inches deep (about 8 feet tall).   There is a secondary closet in the master that can be used for linens and miscellaneous items so this closet we are tackling will serve as the primary in-season clothing closet.

Details About Ryan - Ryan works a professional job, so has a mixture of business casual work clothes (no suits) and casual clothes.   He wants to make sure there is plenty of room for shoes and hanging pants as well.

So, with this "blank canvas" for tons of organizational creativity, what suggestions do you have for me to help create the ultimate closet for Ryan?  

A few thought starters:
Have you seen any nice details that have been done in a that are helpful in organizing things for men?
How do you typically lay out clothing - pants on the bottom / shirts on top ? pants on racks?
How do you typically store shoes?

I would appreciate any help or insight you have!

Please Help My Mom Get Her Basement Organized!

The last time I went home to Virginia, my mom invited me to join her in the basement.

  She led me to a corner that had a ton of decorative flowerpots, home decor items, and party serving dishes.  Then she said to me,"Take a look if you want anything...I don't need all this stuff. I don't have any more room in the house for it."

Let's back up. In many ways, I am very similar to my mother.  My mom is really organized - see an example of her closet on the right that she and my stepfather designed and built.  They combed through magazines to find the perfect combination, then he built it from scratch in his workshop.  She selected neat organizers that matched from Tuesday morning.  Overall, it is quite impressive.

The Basement Problem

However, while I am a "purger" and like to get rid of anything in my home I don't actively use (except all my art supplies!!), my mom is more of a "keeper".  Her basement has become a collection place for so many items from their combined households when they got married.  The issue is that they don't have room in the house to put the decorations, extra chairs, etc. anymore - see below:

The decor area:

The graveyard of rocking chairs and dining room chairs from combined households:

The overflow area for household supplies that she does not use everyday (this needs to stay in the basement but I want to organize it better for them):

My mom is feeling a bit stressed from the clutter in the basement.  She feels guilty that she bought some things for use in the house, but ran out of room.  Many of the decorative items are not returnable.

I am thinking a yard sale might be best to sell a lot of the things they don't need, and then they could do something fun and spontaneous with the money.  That could allow her to feel like the purchases were not a waste.

Progress Thus Far:

I mailed her some tags that I bought at Target to start tagging things that she knows she doesn't need, things she wants to keep, and things she is not sure about. When I go home over Thanksgiving, we are going to go through it all together.   I will likely return in the Spring to help them have the yard sale.

Help me!

I would love your help.  Do you think the process is right so far?   Any tips or pointers for the process, or do you have any advice on having a yard sale?  This is my first time, so welcome your expert input!  I look forward to keeping you updated on the progress!

Moving Advice

I HATE moving. And I have had to do it a lot lately with almost no end in sight. Plus, it is not just me moving in and out of apartments, but my parents moving to different states. Needless to say I am amazed that I am able to find any of my things any more.

So this weekend was another glorious moving weekend. I had to officially move out of my college apartment in Athens. Thankfully, I have been living in Charlotte for the past two months and have been slowly moving things from Athens to Charlotte. It's a lot easier when you have two months to decide what you want to keep and more than one weekend to transfer all your stuff! But I finally had to move everything out and clean.

So, here are a few tips I have learned about moving.

1.    Rubbermaid containers are great. If you are moving yourself, it is even better if you can have a bunch of smaller ones. Easier to carry and if you have limited trunk space like me (buying a coup when moving was not the smartest thing I have ever done) it's easy to slip them into extra space in your car.

 

2.    If you have room, organize in piles. My roommate with the bedroom accross the hall from me had already moved out. His room and the hall became a staging ground with a pile for trash, things going in my car, and things I was storing in a friend's basement.

This is my trash pile.

 

This is my take with me pile.

3.    Label, label, label. You might think you will remember where you put your flashlight or towels but if you do not unpack everything in a few days you might not remember. Try to pack like things together and label boxes/totes clearly.

For me, I bought a couple of large Rubbermaid containers to try to put all my little things that I would store into. That way I knew all my things would stay together in one place in my friend's basement. However, that meant everything was just being piled together. So I labled each tote that it was my stuff and kept a running list of what was going in the box on a piece of notebook paper. I taped the list to the inside of top of the lid. So when I need something and am searching in the basement for it, I can quickly check to see which tote it is in.

4.    Do not be afraid to throw things away. If you have not used it recently (except for seasonal items then ask if you used it the last season), get rid of it. Most of the stuff that is clutter are inexpensive things that if you do decide in a month or two you need, it will not be too bad to go buy another one. You can justify the cost to yourself by thinking of the energy you saved packing, carrying, and unpacking it.

Here are some more moving tips that I have found:

• Great Packing advice including what to ship and a moving check list! http://www.upack.com/moving-resources/moving-advice.asp

• Here is information on anything and everything related to moving - http://www.movingmaster.com/

• A quick read from Rubbermaid Tips and Solutions - http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/tips/tipsSolutionsDetail.jhtml?id=HPFMA187&cat=product&subcat=totesbins

• Some interesting and quick suggestions - http://www.moving.com/articles/move-tips.asp