source: John Beagle

I’ve written before about my love of going out to garage sales each week. Every Friday night my 12 year old son and I head out to see what “treasures” we can find. It’s a great bonding time for us as we drive around town chatting to one another without any interruptions. I really enjoy our date night.

However as we cruise from garage sale to garage sale there is something that drives me a little bit batty. I instantly know when I walk up someone’s driveway whether or not they are garage salers themselves and those particular garage sales are never particularly rewarding for us. I seem to always leave disappointed and empty handed for a variety of reasons. So today I thought I’d share some tips for how to think like a garage saler (even if you’ve never been to one yourself) and how to ensure your customers leave with empty pockets and full arms.

Have Stuff

Of course you need stuff at a garage sale but what I mean is you need more than one table worth of stuff. Garage salers don’t like to waste time hitting up a garage sale without a lot of stock. We are competitive folk for sure and want to get on to the next garage where there is perhaps more selection. Multi-family garage sales always get me excited because you know the selection will be good and the variety even better. If you don’t have enough stuff to hold a garage sale definitely think about teaming up with friends for greater success.

Timing is Important

This is one that really gets me crazy. If the majority of the garage sales in your town start at 8 in the morning, don’t start yours two or three hours later. If at all possible please try and start your garage sale with what is most popular for your area. Us garage salers get out there to do the circuit and then end up killing time waiting for yours to open or worse we just don’t bother going at all. The week or two before your garage sale check the ads to get an idea of what time everyone else starts their garage sales. There is almost always a common time. Go with the flow and you’ll have some happy customers on your hands.

Eliminate the Piles

Oh boy. Why do people holding garage sales think we want to dig through mountains of stuff. We don’t. I see clothes displayed this way all the time but I certainly can’t be bothered because in the back of my mind I’m thinking about the next sale and what I might be missing there. It’s a go go mentality, everyone looking for great stuff at bargain prices. We want to get in and get out quickly. Clothing should be hung up (or at least organized by size on a table or in a box) and anything not easily identified should be labeled so we don’t have to guess. Because we won’t. We’ve got to go.

source: Chiot's Run

Price It Right

The #1 problem with attending the garage sale of a non-garage saler is their prices are often way to high. Prices should be lower at garage sales than if you were to sell your wares any place else. Garage sales are exciting for one reason only….garage sale prices. No one cares if you just bought the item a week ago and barely used it. We want a deal. You want to make some cash. When that combination works, it works beautifully. So price your stuff lower earlier in the day rather than waiting until the end to reduce your prices. The last thing you want to do is have to haul it all off afterwards to the dump or thrift store. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just more work and you’ll be exhausted after all the work you’ve put in hosting the sale in the first place. I also prefer when everything IS priced at garage sales. It’s just faster for me to assess the situation and be on my way.  If you use stickers like in the picture above (check your local dollar store) it will be quick and easy for you to get the pricing job done.

Do Away With The Junk

Okay this one is tricky because junk to one person means something entirely different to someone else. However it’s probably safe to say that no one wants your stained and ripped shirts, cracked dishware or puzzles missing pieces. It will only turn your customers off and make them want to run for the hills. Ask yourself if this is something you would buy at a garage sale. If it’s not something you would consider buying then it’s probably a good indication that you shouldn’t try selling it either.

source: eastlaketimes

Advertise, Advertise, Advertise

Advertising is crucial for a successful sale. It’s hard to make money without attracting any customers. Pay attention to where all the other garage sales are advertised. Often that’s bulletin boards or street poles. If that’s where you’ll be advertising make sure it’s legible. Neon paper and big Sharpie letters are ideal. As well if you predict a hint of rain put your sign in a Ziploc bag to protect it. If the majority of garage sales in your town are advertised in the paper or on Craigslist/Kijiji then that’s what you’ll need to do as well. Also check Facebook because there may be a specific garage sale page for your location. It doesn’t hurt either, on garage sale day, to put a big sign at the end of your street with balloons directing people right to your door.

Overall I think the important thing to remember is you want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to get in and get out. You don’t have to be a garage saler yourself to host a successful garage sale and hopefully the tips I listed above will help you do just that.

Personally I don’t like holding garage sales myself (so much work!) but I don’t think I’ll ever stop being a fan of attending them especially as long as I get to hang out with my son while I do it.

Are you a garage saler? Do you have a garage sale pet peeve?

Garage Sale Tips for the Non-Garage Saler is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

Updated:  I’m so sorry if you are still having problems getting onto my site.  This has been a very painful experience for me as I try to correct the problem.  If anyone has any suggestions for me or a hosting company to recommend (I’m currently with Bluehost) please let me know.  Thanks!

Hi everyone and Happy Belated Mother’s Day! I hope you all had a wonderfully relaxing day yesterday. We started the day off at church and then went for a long family walk in the woods. It was a beautiful sunny day and so nice to be out enjoying it. I then was treated to a yummy Chinese dinner that I didn’t have to cook. So sweet!

flower from church

Earlier in the week I was also treated to these simple Cinnamon Roll biscuits made by my daughter (15).  She simply uses a basic baking powder biscuit dough to make them.  So good!

Also last week’s recipe highlight goes to the Creamy Caesar Chicken Pasta Bake.  Delicious!!!  Did anyone else try it?

My Weekly Menu:

Monday: Oven Tacos (missed from last week)

Tuesday:  Tangy Grilled Pork Chops served with baked potatoes and broccoli

Wednesday:  Easy Garlic Chicken served with perogies and corn

Thursday:  Leftover buffet

Friday:  Pizza Spaghetti Bake

Saturday:  Smiley Face Pancakes

Sunday: YOYO (you’re on your own!)

WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?  JOIN US!

Menu Plan Guidelines, banner selections and recipe helpers are here.

More family favorite recipes here.

One of my favorite menu planning resources:

Menu Plan Monday ~ May 14/12 is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

We are back!  How are you all making out?  This weekend I was dragging my feet I tell you.  Of course it could have something to do with the HOURS I spent trying to teach my youngest how to ride a two wheeler, talk about painful!  When we got back to the house I was already exhausted and not really wanting to tackle the garage.  It just felt like it would take hours to make headway.  Oh the stories we tell ourselves.  I decided to spend an hour working on the garage and whatever I got done would be better than if I did nothing at all.  My husband had already done a pretty big purge so I spent some time moving things around to make more efficient use of the space.  It didn’t feel like I’d done too much until I started looking back at the before pictures.

I went from this two weeks ago:

To this:

So much stuff went to the dump or second hand store.  You’ll also notice my husband cut one of the shelves down to make room for a new workbench he’ll be putting in.  Also the keyboard will hopefully be going back to it’s owner soon.

And from this on the other side:

To this:

I’m most excited about being able to access my freezer now without having to climb over anything.  Woohoo!  So it’s coming along, yay.  And now I’m feeling a little more energized about it.  This is why I highly recommend taking those before pictures.  We forget sometimes how far we’ve come but rather focus on how far we still have to go.  I’ve still got a way to go but seeing the progress like that is such an encouraging boost that motivates me to want to continue.

So this week sees us working on step O and C of the PROCESS.  My two favorite steps at that.  First up ORGANIZE.  This very important step includes:

Organize into piles – donate/toss/sell/keep/relocate – sort like with like – purge excess – the more you purge the less you have to find a home. Ask yourself some declutter questions.  Your goal is to bring back into your space only what you love and use and can fit into the space you have available. Purge until it fits!

Then and only then can we move onto CONTAINING all that remains.

Containerize – find storage solutions – containers establish limits and boundaries – designate a space for items being kept – consolidate where possible.

Sharon from Momof 6 has been busy working on her garage as well.  I love how she walks through each of the above steps as she works to organize and contain her stuff.  She is doing such a fantastic job, I am so very impressed.  You’ve got to go check out her post from this week to see what she’s been up to and how far she’s come.  It’s very inspiring!!

Check out some of her purge piles:

Love it!  So Sharon’s question for me this week is:

Many people (ourselves included) keep items in the garage that relate to home maintenance- the mostly-empty paint cans from our house exterior and trim (in case we need to do a touch-up or as a color reference for when we want to re-paint), or left-over scraps of hardwood from when we installed the floors, etc. But do we need to save all of these things? What is really worthwhile to keep? (And how we do convince our husbands of this?)

So I guess there are two pieces to this question….whether or not to keep all the bits and pieces of home repair and whether or not we can decide for our husbands just to turf it all?  Ha!  Certainly turfing it all would be the easiest option because less stuff means less to organize and less to contain.  Quick, faster, easier.  BUT you know I can’t tell you to do that.  Husbands can be very particular about their stuff and until their ready to turf it themselves, we’ve got to respect that.  We can however offer some suggestions on how to organize and contain it all so that it takes up minimal space.  Hopefully you’ll be able to compromise on the amount to keep but you might also have to get creative with your storage solutions as well to make room.  For example here is a great post on how to store leftover paint in mason jars.  I love how much less space it takes up.  Smart!

For more ideas and inspiration check out my Garage Pinterest Board.  I spent quite a bit of time updating it today and there are many great ideas over there for helping you get your garage organized.

So now it’s YOUR turn to show us your garage progress in The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge.  Link up below!!

The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge ~ Week Two is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

Containers bring me inner peace.

If I had not been a toddler in the 80s, I would probably have sold Tupperware.  Things have a way of growing legs and spreading all over your house. From the shoes you kick off at the door, to the bag of groceries you bring in from the car, to (my personal unfavorite) the junk mail that multiplies no matter what you do.

Here are a few of the containers that I have bought or re-purposed that make my Type A self say, “Ahhh…” when I see them in action.

Since I have long, skinny drawers in my bathroom, these white baskets keep things corralled. I can’t fit a third organizer in the back so a few items are roaming free back there. Although it may not be a perfect fit for everything I need, I saved money by using containers I already had.

My new favorite way to organize bobby pins. This is an old first aid travel kit that is a little bigger than an altoids tin (which also makes good container for bobby pins).

I threw away several old spices during my 7 Days of 7 Throw Aways week and I re-purposed this one to hold toothpicks.

This basket was just sitting in a closet and I now use it to house bathroom essentials we keep on the counter.  I really don’t like clearing off the sink to clean it every week. So this basket is amazing because it holds a lot, is nice and sturdy, and I can just pick up the basket and move it when it’s time to clean.

An old container for sprinkles holds our headphones.

This red table in our entryway serves as a place to keep shoes, keys, papers, and mail until it is sorted and filed.

What containers in your house can be re-purposed to make your life easier?

Rebecca is a former educator turned stay-at-home mom (for now). She loves exercising, reading, and blogging about her adventures as a wife and new mom at D and R Tabb.

Container Organization is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

So I bought a new friend, a lovely new shoe tree friend.  She was only $20 in a discount store (Fields for those of you in Canada) so I just couldn’t pass her up.  These go for a lot more in specialty organizing shops for sure.  Besides she called my name when I walked by and I could tell she was lonely.

I originally thought I’d put her in my bedroom closet for my dress shoes because there wasn’t any room in my entryway closet.  However I’d really rather have all my most frequently worn shoes in the entryway closet as that’s where I need them as I’m walking out the door.  It just makes sense.

I forgot to take a before picture of the entry closet before I got started but here is an old picture.  However see those empty shelves on the tall white shelf?  Well just imagine them stuffed full of shoes instead because that’s what ended up happening.  With 5 people in the house and a daughter that now wears the same size shoe as I do, shoes were everywhere.

The shoes were piled up on top of one another and it wasn’t ideal because shoes would get pretty dirty that way.  So I removed the white storage unit (I haven’t quite figured out what to do with it next) and added my brand new shoe tree instead.

Better right?  We also did some shoe purging as well which definitely helped :)  I’m using the shoe tree to hold mostly mine and my daughter’s dressier shoes for now.  I love that it spins around for easy access!!

Unfortunately there’s a kicker though.  This shoe tree is supposed to hold six pairs of shoes per ring for a total of 18 shoes all together.  However I found I couldn’t fit all the shoes side by side without them bunching up and overlapping one another.  So I had to leave a space between each pair which meant I could only get four pairs of shoes per ring for a total of 12 pairs of shoes.  Still a decent amount in a small space though so I am happy with it so far.  If you were storing all small kid’s shoes on it you could definitely use all the spaces I’m sure and store more.

You’ll notice that we also store shoes in different ways on either side of the shoe tree.  We have the shelves on the left which hold quite a few and then my shoe organizer that hangs from the bar on the right.  Whew, 5 people generate a lot of shoes!

Do you use a shoe tree in your house?  What do you think of it?

Shoe Tree Organization is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

I’m very excited about this week’s product in my shop.  It’s a set of 4 Piece Pouches on sale right now for $21.00 (plus right now you can get sitewide free shipping…bonus!).  If you’ve never heard of the Piece Pouch it’s a fantastic line of organizing bags that can be used for all sorts of organizational fun.

These bags feature a clear, see-through front in a 12 gauge poly-vinyl that is sturdy yet flexible and easily wiped clean.  The back is made with 100% woven polyester with a polyurethane covering that resists dirt, wear and tear.  The hook and eye closure keeps items secure.  They are available in two sizes, small and large and the uses for this product are limitless.  Anywhere you have a “collection” of things in your home that you would like to contain to keep them organized in one place, these bags would be perfect for.  Also fantastic for traveling.

I use the small size to hold my son’s books in our vehicle so they don’t get wrecked and stepped on.  They can be used for snacks, games, toys, crafts and the list just goes on and on and on.  In addition, the expanding sides means you can fit in even more!  Having everything in one place not only keeps items protected but it also means you won’t waste time searching for what you need.  For instance these bags are ideal for keeping “projects in progress” organized and how nice would it be to have everything you need to complete the project all in one place.  Grab and go!

In fact you could even use one of the large ones to create a babysitter bag for your teenager like I did.  You will not be disappointed with the durability and versatility of this product.

For more information and to buy now click here.

Happy organizing!

PS:  Unfortunately Opensky only ships to US addresses at this time :(

What’s in Store? The Piece Pouch on sale now! is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

Hi everyone!  First I want to apologize if you experience difficulties trying to access my site on Mondays.  Due to the higher traffic Bluehost puts me on the naughty list for awhile.  I need to move to a dedicated server or something like it but the idea of all the technology knowledge that task might entail totally freaks me out and I’m having trouble getting the help I need.  Hopefully it’ll all get figured out soon and in the meantime I thank you for your patience.

So last week my husband loved the Slow Cooker Honey Ribs.  This was a real treat for him because I don’t cook ribs up very often.  Talk about easy to make though.  Throw them in to the slow cooker and cover them with the sauce.  Walk away for 4-5 hours.

and dinner is served:

I also made some yummy muffins this weekend.  I got the recipe from my friend Angie over at Echoes of Laughter.  They are 6 Week Bran Muffins with Chia Seeds.  You can keep the batter in the fridge for up to six weeks if you want but I just cooked them up all at once (makes 4 dozen) and then freeze them already made.  I just find that to be easier.  Also I used coconut oil in place of the shortening which could be why mine look so different from Angie’s.  Or it could be because I really messed something up…TOTALLY possible!  :) Thankfully they still tasted delicious!

Last week I asked you “what is one thing you do to ensure menu planning success week after week?” and I loved all the answers.  Here are some of them below and some I’ll save to post next week to hopefully continue to inspire you! :)

The only way I’m successful planning is if I look at the family calendar before I start planning. Then I know which nights someones not home, when we need a quick dinner, etc…. @ Jeri

I try to think about our schedules, the types of food that we like to eat during the season it is (very little heavy meals in the summer, etc) and have a bunch of go-to’s for when whatever reason I need something really fast & easy instead of the planned meals or we eat out way too much.  @ Divas Cuisine

We ensure menu planning success by having a rythym to our meals. I have a lot of simple, frugal, healthy staples our family really enjoys, and I make only 1-2 new meals each week to keep things fresh. @ The Cheapskate Cook

I make sure it’s meals that I have most of the staples for and I also make sure to take the time to plan it before my shopping day. I also consider that by the end of the week I’m more tired so I need easy meals and plan my complex meals early in the week. @ The Life of Us

My number one tip about successful meal planning is to be realistic. Plan for busy days, and don’t try to fit in all new recipes, or a bunch of fancy meals. Know what is going to work for your family’s tastes and time constraints. Because more than likely if it’s too much, then you’ll give up. @ Serving Joyfully

One thing that I always have to remember when menu planning is to be flexible. Just because we say “Pizza Night” is Friday, the world is not going to crash down if something comes up. @ Behind the [Kate] Ball

I plan each week with what I already have in the house- that’s the key to keeping the food budget down and reducing waste. So each week I’m shopping for staples and the sales that will be fore the following week. @ An Oregon Cottage

Have a great week everyone!!

My Weekly Menu:

Monday:  Ham and Cheese Quiche

Tuesday:  Pizza Grilled Cheese

Wednesday:  Coca Cola BBQ Roast Beef (in slow cooker) served with rice and broccoli

Thursday:  Leftover buffet

Friday:  Creamy Caesar Chicken Pasta Bake (so excited to try this one!)

Saturday:  Oven Tacos

Sunday:  YOYO (you’re on your own!)

WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?  JOIN US!

Menu Plan Guidelines, banner selections and recipe helpers are here.

More family favorite recipes here.

One of my favorite menu planning resources:

Menu Plan Monday ~ May 7/12 is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

So who’s ready to organize their garage???  In case you might have missed it, check out what The Great Garage Challenge is all about here and then come on back to join us.  At the end of today’s post you’ll find a linky so you can link up to your post showing us the before pictures of your garage space or even your shed if you don’t have a garage.  Then for the next two Fridays you can come on back to link up your progress with the final link up taking place on June 1st.

So I’m going to start this post by admitting that the idea of organizing the garage really doesn’t get me fire up at all.  Ugh…it’s so painful don’t you think?  I guess it’s because it’s usually heavy dirty work and I have to manhandle things I know nothing about it…like tools and bits and parts and bolts.  Blah, blah, blah.  I don’t really care what it does, I just want it put away.  I also can’t go great guns on the garage like I would like to because well it’s not my space.  It’s my husband’s space with my husband’s stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.  Out of respect for him though, I can’t just throw it all away and call it a day.  Oh no, I have to go slowly bit by bit so as not to stress him out which eventually stresses me out.  How many of you can relate to any of this?  Thankfully my hubby isn’t totally resisting the idea and even took a whole truck load of stuff to the dump earlier today, woot woot!  We’ll take another load tomorrow and that in itself will make a huge difference.

So we are going to go through the great garage clean out following my handy dandy PROCESS steps.  Today’s steps involve Plan & Remove.

Planning:

This step involves taking a moment to evaluate our present system to decide what it is that is currently working and what isn’t.  This is valuable information so we don’t end up wasting time doing busy work trying to fix what doesn’t need fixing.  We need to review the challenges of the project, including budget, and how we might work around each of them.  We need to think about how we use the space and plan it out accordingly.  Don’t skip this step.  Sit back and take a look around.  What do you see?  What do you want to change?  How are you going to make it happen?

Here are some more specific planning questions to use:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
3. What can I remove from the room?
4. What problems do I see with the room?
5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
9. What is my plan of action?
10. Who can I ask to help me with this?

Think, think, think.

Try not to fall asleep.

Or get too comfortable.

Try and stay focused people!

Remove:

This one is an often ignored step.  I always highly recommend removing everything from a space in order to start from a clean slate and to make the sort process easier.  It’s much more effective than shuffling everything around.  However sometimes when we are tackling large spaces with limited time this isn’t always practical.  As you know I am working with Sharon from Mom of 6 to help her with this challenge and this is the question she had for me today:

It will literally take us an entire month of finding a couple of hours here and a couple of hours there to get this project completed.  Any advice for me on this? Does it work just as well if I divide my garage into sections and empty a corner at a time and work on just one area first? Or should I start by trying to just get items out of my entire space that I know we won’t be keeping and call for some donation pick ups first?  The one thing that we did do was to move all of the bikes out of the garage and a few other things too….but it has already rained on them for several days in a row now-which is not ideal!

No, having your stuff sit around outside for long periods of time isn’t a great idea.

Absolutely if you know there are things you definitely don’t want or need any longer do get rid of those things first.  This will help you free up some space to work.  That’s why I “suggested” to my husband that he do a dump run first thing.  This removed some bigger pieces that were taking up space making it easier to get around and easier to access the things that are important to keep.

When time is an issue or indoor space with which to spread out is limited than yes certainly working in small sections is better than nothing for sure.  Try to clear yourself a sorting space if you can as that will give you somewhere to work.

Be sure to go over and check out Sharon’s post this week to see the plans she has for her space.

If you have a garage that could use a bit of an overhaul, considering linking up with us below.  We’d love to have you join us, let’s do this thing!  What are the challenges you are facing?

The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge ~ Week One! is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

source: shutterstock

Ever since I started on my own journey towards simplicity 6 years ago, I have enjoyed reading the success stories of others on a similar journey.  That was the case when I recently read the e-book by Lorilee Lipincott, titled 3-2-1 Stop ~ Stop Running and Start Living.  As you know this is a topic near and dear to my heart and Lorilee’s journey is very similar to mine except of course for the parts where she downsized her family of four into a small apartment and is working on traveling the world :)

I was so impressed with Lorilee’s book that I couldn’t wait to tell you about it.  Whether you are just starting to think about simplifying your life or well on your travels with it, this book is for you.  I love reading her passion come through loud and clear in the pages as she shares what made her want to get off the fast track and consider a way of life that is far from society’s standards.  It is possible and can be done.  I am proof of that and so is Lorilee.  I don’t have any doubt that you’ll be inspired and challenged all at the same time and ready to delve into making some lasting changes for you and your family that don’t involve chaos and clutter.  Doesn’t that sound awesome?

Lorilee’s book is 96 pages of sage advice, without preaching or judgement, centered around the topic of simplifying your stuff, space and self.  It is written from a Christian perspective but is still relevant and practical for those that aren’t Christians.

3-2-1 Stop is a how-to memoir of learning to love simple living. Lorilee uses personal stories, as well as tips learned along the way, showing how to create a life that makes space for what is most important. Embracing minimalism, she tackles and teaches how to make the hard decisions of simplify the home as well as the schedule. She understands that a full life, really doesn’t need to be that ‘full’ at all. Beyond that, Lorilee addresses the hidden emotional hoarding that keeps our souls running.

I love how Lorilee shares how her journey is not over yet.  Here is an excerpt from her book:

“Minimalizing stuff is a continual process. This surprised me. Last spring, we went through all our stuff in painful detail so we could move to our apartment. I thought that after we went through it once most of the work would be done. But I discovered, more and more stuff that I originally thought was necessary, I now wanted to get rid of. Several more times in the last few months, I’ve gone through our stuff and found more that we could trash, donate, and sell.”

You see, it doesn’t have to happen all at once.  It’s baby steps, one day at a time, one pile at a time!

Today Lorilee has kindly offered to giveaway THREE pdf copies of her e-book, 3-2-1 Stop.  To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post, prior to Tuesday, May 8th at 4:00 pm PST telling me what area of your life you’d like to simplify the most.  Open to everyone and winners will be selected at random from the comments left.

Good luck everyone!

*this post contain affiliate links.

3-2-1 Stop: Stop Running and Start Living + Giveaway! is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

It’s time for my monthly linky where I share my very favorite organizing posts with you from around blogland over the past month.  I really love doing this one and having these fabulous links all in one place although it’s always so hard to narrow them down that is for sure.  This week I have chosen 18 to feature!

I also want to invite you to link up your favorite organizing links as well so we can all share in the organizing LOVE.  This exchange of organizing awesomeoness is so FUN!  I love when my readers fuel my habit with a hit of organizing bliss.  Woohoo!

So like last time please feel free to add awesome posts related to the following subjects:

• organizing and simplifying
• productivity and time management
• free printables related to the above

I reserve the right to delete irrelevant links.

Now let’s have some fun!  My chosen favorites are the first 18 links!!

Favorite Organizing Links ~ Organizing Photos, Files, Drawers and Clothes is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie