If you love to go to garage/yard sales (junking) like I do, you might call a sale with only clothing a “drive-by”. Usually the clothing is thrown on a blanket in the yard and they are charging too much, and with nothing else to look at it’s not worth stopping the car.
But this summer, I held 2 yard sales that were clothing-only and both were successful so I thought I’d blog how it’s done. All of the clothes were donated for a good cause. The initial bags that were brought to my house took up a large chunk of my living room and spilled over into the front room…
Bags of clothing before sorting….
I knew that the clothing would sell better if it was sorted by size. Even someone like me would stop if I could only go through the sizes that I wanted. With this in mind, I borrowed several tubs from a neighbor and went to work. I love showing “during” photos of my organizing, because I want people to have a realistic idea of what happens while you are working ( everything expands). There was no way for me to do it all myself, but lucky for me, I have a friend who sorts clothes as part of her job. She came over and helped. Then later that night, another friend came over. (yay!!)
Bags of clothing during the sort
All told, we estimated that we sorted 90 bags of clothing (some of those were big yard-size bags). We sorted the kids clothing into sizes 6-8, 8-10, 10-12, 12-14. And put the tubs in long lines. IMPORTANT: leave room in between your totes b/c if you put them too close together, your customers will just mix the sizes up. With room in between, they’ll put the ones they’ve looked at out of the tote, and then put back in the ones they don’t want.
Bags of clothes after sorting.
We also made sure all of the shoes had pairs and semi-sorted the adult clothing into types/styles of clothing instead of sizes. The last few tips are:
1. Price all the kids clothing at a quarter a piece, the adult clothing at 50 cents a piece, and shoes at a dollar a pair….and you will sell tons! The point of a yard sale is to make some money off of things that you are willing to give away, so don’t price so high that you have to make several trips to the second-hand store afterwards.
2. A new tip I picked up from a friend is to make your yard sale signs using black paint and a foam brush. It’s less stinky (fumes) than a big permanent marker, and will show up really well from far away.
I got so busy as soon as I had the clothing out on the driveway, that I never got time to take pictures of the actual yard sale, so I made a diagram of where we put stuff on my driveway. We had a few drive-bys, but mostly people stopped. I had quite a few people tell me how organized it was, and that it was the first time they even considered buying clothing at a yard sale.
closet, containers, craft supplies, organization, overwhelmed, purging, sorting, stay at hom mom
Adventures in Organizing
Usually I remember some little tidbit of advice or learn some new technique to share with each space I organize.
This time I was helping an old friend who I had organized for a long time (about 5 years) ago. She & I work well together & got the room done in about 4.5 to 5 hours.
It was a lot of fun because she has a home decor business & had tons of fun stuff to sort through. Plus she let me keep a few treasures from her discard pile.
I found these cute labels and cute baskets while sorting. How lucky am I that they were exactly the labels that I needed for this room?
So for this blog post, I thought I'd share some of our adventures we had that day, and shed some light on why stay-at-home Moms have a lot of hindrances (ie: kids) that slow progress.
Story #1:
My friend had bought a very large (64+ oz) Dr. Pepper. This was her little treat/motivation for the work of the day. She left her drink on the bathroom counter, and we set to work. Her 2 youngest kids were home & fighting each other on the stairs. Then we heard a very large CRASH!!!
Her kids had gotten her drink & spilled it all down the staircase (which had just had its carpet cleaned).....on the 1st floor's wood flooring....even some splatters in the kitchen. So not only did she not get her treat, but she also had to clean up the huge mess. She warned me that with her son, the day was just getting started....
Left side before
Left side After
Story #2:
About 1/2 hour to an hour later, her son starts whining in the hall. She goes out to see what's going on & I hear the following conversation:
Son: "I fell in the toilet!!"
Mom: "You fell in the toilet?"
Son: "I got water from the toilet on me, and then I fell in the toilet!!"
We decided that he must have been trying to go potty, and then somehow managed to fall in. And she had yet another mess to clean up.
Straight Ahead Before
Straight ahead close up Before
Straight ahead After
Story #3:
I had to leave to pick up my kindergartner, and came back to help finish. My daughter kinda played with my friend's son and daughter, but mostly Spongebob entertained them while we tried to finish what we had started. With about an hour's worth of work left, we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves and the progress we had made. Then my friend went to see if her daughter had woken up from her nap.
I heard, "NOOOooooo!!! Don't color on the wall with markers!!"
Apparently her youngest had found a marker, and after marking up her own arms and legs, decided to continue her artwork on the walls. My friend came back to the room we were organizing and showed me her daughter's arms.
I said, "Were the markers washable?"
She said, "That's what they say....I guess we'll find out."
By this time though, we were nearing the finish line, so I suggested rubbing alcohol, and we moved ahead.
Right Side Before
Right side After
Last story: Since most of the mishaps were caused by the children, I know you're thinking that this one is another....but this one was all me.
I was loading up my treasures from the pile that she was taking to the local charity, I liked some glass bottles, and she gave me some ideas of how to decorate with them. I put them in a box, then started to head out to the hall.
My friend had gotten rid of a lot that day, and I was so proud of her. Since her truck was currently loaded up with things to be taken to charity, she had made a (very large) pile in her room so that she could load up again later after taking the first load. As I was walking out to the hall, dodging this and that, I looked down at a cute plate. With my eyes so averted, I didn't see the corner of the wall and hit it with my shoulder. If there had been a camera on me, what happened next would definitely be on YouTube by now. I teetered a little, shifted my weight, and had my self settled. Then I made a miscalculation in the distribution of my weight, and started swaying again. It must have taken a full minute for me to finally fall with a very loud CRASH onto the pile of stuff in her room.
She rounds the corner, and asks, "Do you want me to take a picture of this for your blog?"
Nope.
Let's just say that I was really lucky not to be the punchline from a Seinfeld episode ("Million to one chance, Doc")
*side note: as I was typing this blog post, my daughter cut her hand open with the broken ceramic handle of a toy spoon. She had to get 5 stitches. Isn't it great to be a Mom?
Most large projects take 6 to 8 hours and that is why I have my "make the time" rule. This however was a HUGE project.
It seems that sorting my friend's things goes rather quickly when that friend actually purchased, and 'put away' those things. But going through her stuff, a retired teacher's stuff, and a no-longer-working-there-teacher's stuff takes a really long time.
The trick seemed to be to go through everything and work in zones. It was very important that we took the time to do this now at the end of the school year, so that my friend can enjoy her short summer (we do year-round school), and focus on next year's plans. I knew that if we left it as it was, she would fret the entire 3 weeks before the next school year, and be too overwhelmed to complete it. That would probably work out okay, but her stuff would just go on top of what was there and eventually we'd have an even bigger mess. (not to mention how hard it would be to concentrate in such an unorganized room).
It turns out that I didn't take good before pictures, and I really must start taking more. The problem is that I never know which area of the room will actually show the most progress. And after I get started, it's too late for snapping pictures of what it looked like before. But just to give you an idea--the room has many cabinets, cupboards, and drawers. Every one was very random. Sometimes there was an idea behind the contents, and sometimes there were duplicates.
BEFORE
This was the only picture I took of a long wall (North Side) of cabinet/counter space. It was completely filled.
AFTER
The same counter space after. The cabinets are open to show that the insides are sorted and neat.
The easiest thing seemed to be to start with the biggest cabinets, take everything out of them, and assign them a purpose. The cabinet on the right now houses the craft supplies, and the one on the left houses games and teaching tools. Once we had them working for us, we could go through other cabinets and find a new place for them.
The long cabinets (left side of the picture) after our big sort. It turned out to be a big help to organize these first, so that we had room to move other things as we came to them.
We had spent 3 or 4 hours previously, and this day we spent 9 hours. It was a little tough because my children were misbehaving, and we had to be quiet because testing was going on in the adjacent room. We got a lot accomplished though, and here is another after pic. This is the East Side of the Room.
AFTER
East Side of the room was another row of cabinets and drawers, with a sink. These mostly housed painting supplies as the laminate floor and sink were good for clean up.
I took home all of the crayon bins (from the right side of the above pic)and spent the next day cleaning them all out. My advice for these are--Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (love it!)
Left bins = AFTER Right bins= BEFORE
Then I went back on the third day because I had seen a cabinet with books in it. They were crammed every which way. My friend needed some of these books as references, but had no way of telling what books were there. Since bookshelves are one of my favorite things to organize, I just had to get my hands on this cabinet. Also on this day, I did a few small cabinets. My friend's teenage daughter was amazing!! She helped us on the first day, and on the third, she went through all the lower drawers/cabinets and cleaned the dirt and dust, and pulled out all the toys in the bins and steamed them to disinfect them. I spent only 2 hours at the school on this day.
Book cabinet AFTER. I put the books into categories by subject (Reading, Math, Art)
I hated not being able to help finish, so I left a note for my friend letting her know that I would love to help her sort all of the papers. Since papers are my least favorite thing to sort, I usually leave them for last. So the room was coming together with maybe a few more cabinets and drawers to be gone through, but on the opposite side was a ton of boxes with papers. The retiring teacher had left her copies for my friend to use. The problem was that the retiring teacher sorted her papers by weeks, and my friend was going to use a different curriculum and so couldn't use the papers in the same way. Since printing copies is a major expense for teachers, she wanted to use as many of the copies as she could, but she needed to be able to find them. She brought them to me and I spent a good chunk of the weekend going through them.
7 Bins of Papers BEFORE
6 Bins of Papers AFTER (may not look like much, but I went through every single paper and sorted and collated them. It was a lot of work!!
So lessons:
1.Take the time to sort beforehand, so that you don't end up with this big of a job.
2.When tackling this big of a job, allow yourself several days...but don't put it off. You've got to keep your momentum. (I estimate that I spent 35 hours on this project, and I'm sure my friend and her daughter spent just as much time)
3. Work in stages, and give yourself a cleared-out space to sort into.
4. Take some of the things home with you (if you're sorting for work). Things like craft supplies, papers, and even cleaning crayon bins can be done while watching TV or a movie.
5. Don't get discouraged. You can do it, and you deserve a great big pat on the back when you're done.
basement, craft room, craft supplies, motivation, organization, overwhelmed, sorting, stay at hom mom, storage room, time, zones
Space/Time Continuum
Last week I made an exception to my "take the time" rule.
A friend of mine has four small children including a baby which means she has maybe 20 minutes at most in which to work by herself. She asked for my help in organizing a basement room that had been set up as a storage room. Because we had less than 2 hours, we decided to work in zones.
Like most other homeowners, the objects stored in this room could be sorted into 3 or 4 categories. The trick is to go through the piles and identify the categories. Then if the room is designated for storage, you can create zones. In this particular instance, we classified 3 areas: crafting, holiday decor, and short term storage. Since eventually my friend wanted to use this room as a craft room, we decided to tackle the crafting supplies first.
We were able to go through the bins and coordinate her supplies, clearly mark the bins, and stack them in one corner in a way that allowed easy access.
Because we assigned the other side of the room to be for holiday decor and the closet for short term storage (such as winter clothes), we were able to give the homeowner room to work in. We also created one space that is organized which gives her a bright spot to look at and motivation to finish. Now, when she finds a little time, she has a game plan for how to sort the rest of the room.
This week I was reminded that sometimes we need a fresh pair of eyes when deciding on the best layout for our rooms. When we move we often put items in the same space as they occupied in our old homes without consideration for the new set up. When you get overwhelmed, ask a trusted friend to have a look and give you some ideas. You can also map out your room on paper. Then work in small predesignated zones to keep you motivated.
I love going to garage sales and have been "junking" most summer Saturdays since I was 12. I had held a few garage sales with other people, but never had much luck. Last year, I decided to work backwards--to hold a garage sale the way I as a junker would love to find. The result was success!
So this summer I shared my tips with a neighbor who had mostly clothes to sell. I was a little doubtful since I usually pass on garage sales with mostly clothes, but she got a lot of traffic & sold a ton of clothes.
THE TIPS:
1. Signs-- Use the same color (preferably neon) for all your signs.
Don't put an address or a time. Nobody is going to slow down & try to read it. Put "Yard Sale" and a nice big, visible arrow. "huge", "multi-family" and other adjectives are mostly ignored b/c they're rarely true.
Place the sign up high on the same side of the road as you want people to turn. Nothing is more infuriating that going all the way into a right lane because you spotted a neon sign, only to see the arrow pointing left.
2. Set up-- Nobody wants to dig through your boxes. Take the time to do some sorting & put your best items on tables.
High visibility/high appeal items should be placed out front or facing the curb to attract customers.
Clothes are best put into sizes. We got the most sales after we had sorted the clothes so that customers could go right to the bin they wanted instead of having to dig. One thing I would've done differently in hind sight is to put the bins at a distance from each other. A few customers took clothes from one bin & just threw them into the next one.
If you don't have many items to sell, ask neighbors to join you or wait til the next year. If these are not possible, place your items on the front 1/2 of your driveway to make them appear to fill the space.
3. Pricing--This is the area where I used to trip up. I used to pay whatever the asking price was, and expected others to do the same if I set the price low enough. Not so.
Nobody expects to pay listed price at a garage sale. You've hauled these items out, and as a customer I know that you don't want to haul them back in. Decide what your lowest price will be & then mark it higher. Don't go too high or people will think your expectations are to high & will not even try to bargain.
Example: If you want $20 out of an item mark it $35. If your willing to take a dollar, mark it $2 or even $5. Just remember that people usually come to garage sales with $20 or maybe $40 and they are not prepared to spend much more. For high ticket items, try the classifieds.
By 12:00, some junkers are tired or hungry and aware that most of the best deals are gone. The hard core junkers know that by this time the home owner is ready to deal. If you're serious about letting go--mark most items for $1 or half-price and put a sign out. And be prepared to be offered very little.
Have fun! (& remember to invite me to come & shop)
I love to scrapbook and have been known to get over-enthusiastic and scrapbook for friends and family. Often the hindrance to scrapbooking is that your photos are jumbled and out of order.
Having organized my fair share of photos, I will share my techniques for sorting (use only the ones you need).
1. Use the envelopes you pick them up from from the store in. Even though sometimes we might take months (or years) to develop our photos, this will give you a starting point for chronological order. In a corner of the envelope make a note of possible dates (and events) inside.
2. For the ones not in envelopes, sort first by size. Recent photos will be 4x6. Older ones will be 3x5. You might find polaroids, smaller pics with rounded corners, ones with a white border, or black and white. This will be the most basic sort to help you put them in some order.
3. TURN THEM OVER.
Don't confuse yourself by looking for faces and events just yet. -Sort by batch numbers and then by print order (which puts them in chronological order). If they are not numbered, sort them into piles based on the paper they were printed on (fuji, kodak etc). Put your sorted photos in envelopes like step one.
5. For unnumbered prints or to date a photo: look for context clues. Check for same clothes on the same person, what's going on in the background, what's the setting? (inside or out)
6. Figure approximate dates by considering things like-who is the baby in the photo? How many candles are on the cake? Has someone changed their appearance since then?
My mother-in-law gave me a pic of my husband dated Christmas 1972. My husband was born in the summer of 73. By factoring in that what was on the mantle behind him was Easter baskets and not stockings....we relabled the picture-Easter 1974.
Hope this helps you get organized...email me for scrapbooking tips
Usually to prove my point that anyone can organize, I'll ask for the self-proclaimed least organized person to sort a bin of select items.
Never have I encountered someone who couldn't sort this bin into piles of the same types.
We were all trained to see patterns as we learned our colors, shapes, and letters.
Now, if I've convinced you that you are capable - I have to give you the "rules". Most people who set out to get organized and fail do so because they didn't have these points in mind beforehand.
THE RULES
1. Set aside the time.
Sorting will take more time than you think, and will make the mess larger and more spread out. If you don't take the time, you'll give up mid-way and stash. Then you'll be left with a big mess, no sense of accomplishment, and no progress. I have a few friends who subscribe to the "only clean fifteen minutes a day" philosophy. But as another old friend said, "That's only enough time to shred the junk mail."
It can take anywhere from six to eight hours to complete a basement, garage, or large room.
So start small, and take the time.
2. Bring with you: storage bags, pen and paper, a donation box, and a trash can.
You will need the bags for small items, pen & paper for notes or labels, the box for things that will obviously be donated, and there will be trash.
3. NO SIDE TRIPS
If it belongs in another room-make a pile of things that belong in other rooms.
4. Disconnect from the objects you are sorting - no reminiscing.
When we start to reminisce, we stop sorting, and start planning. There will be plenty of time for reminiscing during the purge phase. So for now, no thinking, just make piles.
5. Don't skip anything.
Chances are that box in the corner is filled with as many disjointed items as the rest of the room. And knowing what you have is half the battle.
6. Contain it.
If the task becomes too overwhelming, don't lose your progress - put your piles into containers .
Happy sorting!
So why should you get organized
1. It makes cleaning easier.
In my exploits, I have seen many people do the "ping-pong walk". When they encounter an object without a home, they'll wander awhile and then set it down on a randomly selected surface. When we get around to that surface, the same object will find another temporary home.
If everything has a designated home, then putting stuff away takes less time and effort
2. When we organize and sort it helps us clear our heads.
Everything that is in your house is in your head. Suppose your neighbor knocks on your door and asks if you have a purple paint pen or some other random thing. You have to think of whether or not you do, and what pile to search in. So when your house is cluttered, your brain is too.
3. It helps us see patterns and avoid over buying.
Within the first hour of helping someone sort, I have an idea of the sorts of things they buy, their hobbies and habits etc. Often I find multiples of something that has been pushed so far in a corner or in such an unfathomable place, that the home owner just bought more instead of hunting for it.
I've always loved to organize. When I was younger, my favorite toy was the 64 box of crayons.
I would open it up and take out the four boxes. Then I would systematically sort them into a rainbow order. And if one of my (eight) siblings "borrowed" them, I would have to resort them into the right order.
As I got older, I started collecting small treasures. I would put these into shoe boxes that lived under my bed. Every box was sectioned off into different sections ie: money, breakables, lost-and-found.
In school, I would take class time to put all my papers in order, tear out any extra paper in the spirals and average my grades.
Now, I never considered these talents. Obsessions, yes. Talents, no.
I thought everyone could organize--some just didn't choose to.
Then as an adult, I was organizing a basement closet in a friends house, making my happy little piles, when my friend asked, "How do you do that?"
Since then, I have tried to teach others this skill. I am convinced that anyone can do it. I have taught my small circle, and am hoping that I can pass my knowledge on through this blog and any email correspondence.
Email Me
- Jaz
- I'm a stay-at-home mom of 3 who likes to organize, craft, & read (among other things)
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