That's Neat! Blog

I’ve been trying to remember to put sunscreen on my daughter before she heads out each day. We’ve left the sunscreen on a shelf by the front door, and we often remember…but there are many hectic mornings when we forget.  With the weather getting hotter I wanted to have a reminder for myself.

So I did what I would tell my clients to do: label it! I made a reminder that hangs on a door knob in a fun sun shape. (A post-it note would work just as well.)  I made one for the front door and the back door, and now we never forget!

Garage sales, tag sales, yard sales - whatever you call them – they can be fun, profitable  and give you your garage back.

Summer is the perfect time to tackle this project. If you encourage your family to pitch in, by the end of the day you’ll not only have a few extra dollars in your pockets, you will have cleared some much-needed real estate.

Here are a few tips and tricks to organizing these weekend money-makers:

• Give yourself time to organize. A month before your sale, clear your house and garage of saleable items, go room by room clearing out closets and drawers and don’t forget to look under the beds! Box and price as you go.

• Choose a sale date that is NOT a holiday weekend. Families often leave town during these typical summer holidays. You’ll want as many people around as possible to attend your event.

• Purchase tags or stickers in different bright colors. Assign each family member their own color. When an item sells, keep the tag (stick or staple it to a sheet of paper so you don’t lose it.) At the end of the day, each family member will know just how much they sold.

• Make sure all electronics are in working order. Have an extension cord handy for potential buyers. Nobody wants to purchase something only to get it home and find it doesn’t work.

• Group items together. Set up tables for smaller items such as vases, knick-knacks, dishes and glassware. Group larger items as well, tools, garden items, furniture, kids toys, etc. Make sure everything is clean and in working order.

• Advertise your sale. Craig’s List is a great way to get the word out. Bright colored, large, neatly printed signs work well to grab a neighborhood passerby as well as a classified ad in the local newspaper.

• Have enough small bills and loose change on hand when the sale starts. Wear a carpenter’s apron to keep money handy and safe. Every few hours, stash the cash you’ve made in a secure place away from the sale site.

• Set up a free coffee table in the morning. Turn it into a .25 cent lemonade stand in the afternoon and get the kids to help. They make a little money – or – you could donate the proceeds to a worthy cause.

• After the sale. Immediately pack up and donate unsold items. Don’t put them back in the garage!

• Last but not least. Park your car in the garage – it’s a great feeling!

Recently I was sorting through things in in my attic and came across two boxes nicely labeled “knickknacks - attic.”  This ranks in my top 3 labels to NOT use for boxes, #1 and #2 being “miscellaneous” and “stuff.” 

I caution clients to avoid these labels, but when I last moved five years ago I had labeled two boxes “knickknacks” and shoved them in the attic. Good place for them, right?

I had no idea what I had packed in there, so I decided to take a look. I also “decided to decide.”* That is, I’d make a decision on this stuff, once and for all. No more knickknack boxes in the attic!

What was in there? I found my wooden animal and small box collections from when I used to travel often to Africa and Latin American. Also lots of drink coasters. Why did I have so many coasters and how had we possibly lived without them? (Just kidding). Also inside was my husband’s model (I mean die-cast replica) 42 Ford pick up truck from his days as a Product Manager at the Danbury Mint.

While I found a few treasures, like a favorite wooden elephant named Stampy, and a few nice framed photos, many of the items didn’t “fit my life now.”* 

Following my “decide to decide” strategy, I immediately sorted out the things I knew I wouldn’t use and put them in a pile to donate. I found a place for Stampy and returned to the 42 Ford pick up to my husband. I also set out a few new photographs.

Then I was left with the dreaded “maybe” pile. Clients: I know first-hand how hard it is to decide on the maybes. For me, the maybes represented my past life when I regularly travelled internationally as part of my non-profit career.

It was hard to part with this pile, but I decided if I couldn’t find a way to enjoy these things, I’d donate them. (I certainly wasn’t enjoying them packed away in the attic.) So now I am looking for a way to display some of the wooden animals, and have let a lot of the little boxes go into the donate pile. Whew!

Although it was hard to decide on some of these items, I feel better and lighter knowing that I unearthed these things from the attic. Now on to find any boxes I’ve marked “stuff to save!”

*From The Organizing Sourcebook: Nine strategies for simplifying your life by Kathy Waddill. For this organizing project I used Strategy #1 and #7.

Calming or chaotic? Which best describes your bedside table?

Now think for a moment, how would you like it to be?

I hope you answered calming! According to the principles of feng shui and the National Sleep Foundation, a bedroom should be a calming and relaxing space. Fewer distractions—and clutter is a distraction—promote better sleep and improve your energy.

Spend 30 minutes de-cluttering your bedside table as a first step towards creating a more peaceful bedroom. 

First, clear off everything that has accumulated on the surface of your bedside table. Throw out the trash and recycle the catalogs and magazines you aren’t reading any more…or haven’t had time to read. 

Be ruthless and realistic with your reading material! Make a rule for yourself: keep no more than 5 items to read…or use the one-in one-out rule: as soon as a new issue of a magazine or newspaper arrives, recycle the last one even if you haven’t read it.

Next, remove anything that has to do with work. Put work in your office, briefcase or create another area out of the bedroom for work-related papers and projects. (Also check out this blog entry, Don’t Take Your Work To Bed With You, on www.organize-office.com.)

Don’t forget to look in any drawers or shelves of your bedside table. What’s in there? Kleenex and cough drops? 15 bookmarks? Expired medicine? Old glasses? Only keep easily accessible what you use most often.

Now put back your reading material (see rules above).  Maybe add a small dish or basket to catch your jewelry or watch. You can also add something you’d enjoy looking at every morning like a photo, special piece of artwork, or other memento. Keep a pen and paper (or PDA) to jot down quick notes. 

In just 30 minutes, you’ve cleared a space and improved your bedroom. Enjoy your de-cluttered bedside table, and have a good night’s sleep!

This time of year can be really busy: as soon as school winds down…summer camp starts up. In the next few weeks I’ll be getting my daughter ready to go to camp for the first time.

Here are some reminders to help get your camper ready to go:

• Know the camp 411. Be sure you know the camp dates, where you have to drop off your child or they get picked up, and the hours. Write the basics on the family calendar (paper or electronic).

• Make a list, or two. Most camps send a list of what the kids need to bring. Use this list to check off what you have, and circle what you still need to purchase.

• Plan a time to shop for what you need to purchase.

• Label everything your child will bring or wear to camp. There are several online companies where you can purchase pre-printed labels with your child’s name. 

• Plan for the first day of camp. Talk with your child about what to expect, especially if this is the first time they are going. Have them pick out their clothes for the first day and have the backpack or bag packed the night before.

With a little bit of planning and organization, your child will be a happy camper!