Garage Sale!
May 26, 2009 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
It’s that time of year… You see the bright signs on every corner… It’s Garage Sale season!
To clear some of my own clutter in my garage, we had our own sale this past memorial day weekend. 
Wow, putting on a garage sale is a lot of work! I will not tell you otherwise. But the more organized your sale, the more money you will make. And the more money you make, well that makes the hard work worth it!
Here are the steps I went through to organize the garage sale:
1. I went room to room in the house, clearing out anything that I wanted sold, and I put all of the items in the garage.
2. I sorted the items by category. For example: Baby items, children’s clothes (Sorted by sex and size), household items, craft items, office supplies, furniture, etc.
3. I cleaned off all items that needed it. I was going to wash some of the clothes and other cloth items, however I ran out of time. We do what we can!
4. I started pricing items by looking at ebay and seeing what certain things were going for. You will most likely get less money selling at a garage sale, however it is a good starting point to check pricing off of ebay.
5. I figured out how I was going to display the items, we borrowed tables from neighbors, and made a hanging rack, out of two ladders and a long piece of wood. I wanted to try and hang as many as the clothes as I could. They tend to sell better.
6. I had the children’s clothes separated by sex and size. I made signs just off of the computer stating what was what. For Example: Boys-4T. I made a pricing list off of the computer that stated what I was selling the items at. For Example: Children’s Pants- $2.00. I did the same kind of sign for the adult clothes and hung it near those.
7. For larger items, I printed off signs with prices and taped to the item.
8. Each area of the driveway had it’s own category. It was very clear where all of the baby items were and where the household items were.
9. I went to the bank the day before to have extra change and one dollar bills. We also purchased Garage Sale signs.
10. My son sold Freeze Pops for .25, and boy was that a success! Certainly recommend this for anyone who has children. It taught him some great lessons on customer service, using manners etc. It was a lot of fun. And people loved it!
Overall it was a great success! We had a lot of fun, and made some money! The kids got money from the toys they sold and were very excited to get some new items for summer. The next day we started packing the items that did not sell and sent them off to be donated.
Now we are on to make over our garage… I am sure I will be sharing details on this summer project as we proceed!
Socks!
May 19, 2009 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
How much time do you think you spend looking for matching socks? Way too much is my guess! Do you happen to have a basket in your laundry room full of socks needing to be matched up or maybe you have a basket of socks who are missing their partners?
I see this as a common problem with many clients including me! I personally do not have the time or the desire to sort socks. So honestly, I don’t do it… I drop all socks into the drawer and call it a day… But how do they stay organized?
I buy all the same color and style of socks. No more guessing = no more matching! I have the same dress socks, the same athletic socks etc. etc. I do the same thing for my kids. Now I have a boy and a girl, and it’s pretty easy to recognize the pink socks go with the girl. However if you happen to have all the same sex children, then color code the socks for each child. For example; Greg = Socks with Green Stripes, Peter= Socks with Blue Stripes, Bobby= Socks with Red Stripes.
Organizing is about making things easier for you… It’s about saving time to do the things that matter, not running around trying to find your matching socks!!
Tips on How to Organize Your Car!
May 12, 2009 by Nikki · 1 Comment
Organized Car = Happy Car!
With children in tow or maybe you work out of your car, your car can sometimes be and is a dumping ground for many things! If I don’t make a conscious effort to keep my car clean, then in a matter of days it can become filled with baseballs, toys, books, garbage etc! I have come up with some tips and tricks on how to Organize your car and maintain it! It’s not magic, it does take time, but I find it is well worth it!
Car Organizing Tips:
1. Ask yourself, what needs to be in your car? This is especially important if you do a lot of work out of your car. What office supplies needs to be in there, if you have kids, what essentials need to be in your car.
2. Evaluate your current system in organizing your car. What do you struggle to find? Keep this in mind when figuring out where items are going to go.
3. Take everything out of your car and separate into piles. 1) Stuff you use all the time, 2) Things you use occasionally, 3) Things you need in an emergency. Anything left over gets placed outside of the car.
4. Clean your car inside and out. Start your organizing project with a clean slate.
5. Place like items together. Go through your piles and place them where they make the most sense in your car. For example; emergency kits can be placed in the back of the car, hand santizer and tissues should be in the front console.
6. How many CD’s do you need in your car? Start up a new rule with yourself, if you add 3 new CD’s, make sure to take 3 out.
7. Try to keep items off of the floor.
8. Look into Car Organizers- they have great solutions for over the seat and the trunk of cars. These are great storage solutions for keeping like items together and in one place.
9. Keep an extra tote bag to carry items from car to home.
10. Create a new rule – if you carry something into the car – you must carry it out.
11. Have a trash bag in the car and empty it regularly.
12. Make a monthly appointment to clean your car.
