Emotional RollerCoaster

These past couple of days have been mentally exhausting. Chancho and I have seen over 15 houses and have been able to narrow it down to 3. That was the rules put in place by our wonderful agent. I feel like we've met the agent from heaven. He's an elderly man who has sold a million homes. He really is on our side looking for what we want. We sent him one house that we liked and from there he was able to find about 5 other houses that matched what we wanted. Today, we braved the weather (sleet, freezing rain, snow and slush) to go (45 mins) view the house that we want to put a bid on. When Chancho and I got back in the car from looking at it again, we both said "I want it." Our agent had about 3 other houses to show us though just to get an idea of what other houses similar to that price range looked like. The first house, we liked. It had big bedrooms and a beautiful kitchen. However, it didn't have that feel to it. You know that feel that makes you feel home. The second home was a fixer upper. The third home was a winner. We put it on our list as 2nd best. So now we wait for our mortgage guy to tell us what our max loan can be. Once we get that amount we can place our first bid on the Wisner home. I'm going crazy. I can't sleep at night. I have a million and one thoughts racing around. If I'm not imagining what the house looks like and falling in love with it again, I'm thinking about the cost of it all or what furniture we need. We're at the point where not much can be done, but wait and well...I hate waiting. I hate not having something to focus on so I'm going a little nuts. All I've heard though is that there is a lot of waiting. A lot of emotions thrown around because you get close to something and then you're turned down. (good thing I can handle rejection) So I'm trying my best to keep busy with planning ahead. I've looked at furniture, what styles I like, the color, and the theme. It's hard though because we don't have the house yet so I'm planning for 2 houses, which is becoming a little frustrating. However, I love that we are doing this. I love that we are moving forward and I am beyond excited.

Some even more exciting news...For those of you who love The Biggest Loser...Chancho had Bob Harper (Yep, THE BOB HARPER!) visit his precinct today!!!! His CO started a competition within the precinct and has Bob Harper doing one on ones for 16 weeks. If you win the competition you get a free year at the gym around the corner from their precinct. 2nd place gets an ipod. Chancho wants the ipod. I am still stunned that he's going to have Bob Harper train him! BOB HARPER. I'm in love with Bob. He says he's short. I made Chancho promise to get me an autograph. My sister is a huge fan of Bob Harper and is just as ecstatic as I am. She wants Chancho to film their work out sessions.

Tomorrow, I begin my new role at The Container Store as the lead sign and prop lady. The most responsibility that I've been given. I won't have any supervision and I'll be on my own. It makes me a little nervous, but my supervisor prepped me today about what I have to do and how to do it all. I also know that I'll be able to ask for help if I need it. I'm excited that they're finally trusting me for something.

And I have begun the countdown for our cruise. Less than a month away and I'll be laying on a beach getting my tan on!

Quote of the Day: "I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But the reality is, until you make a decision, you have nothing at all." -Janet Finch

Tuesday Tips

Gift Wrap Wonderland is here!!! It will be officially in stores this Thursday. You can order online right now. They have an offer for free shipping if you spend over $100, which we all know is very easy when shopping at The Container Store. If you've been in the stores at all this week, you will notice that the construction is underway to turn the store into the wonderful wonderland. A reminder to get your items early. If you think it's too early because Halloween hasn't even happened, you're late. People are going crazy pre-ordering items just to make sure they get it. Because this stuff will sell out within the first 2 weeks. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, there won't be much of anything left.
The stocking stuffers this year are awesome! There's a link on the homepage which will show you the catalog which should be hitting homes soon. There are also recipes posted online, gift ideas and homemade ideas. You have to check it all out. I'm beyond excited for this. Christmas is my favorite holiday. Next week I'll do a tip on my favorite stocking stuffer or two.

Remember to stay organized this year with ornament organizers, gift wrap organizers and light boxes! We have all of those to help keep you sane during the holiday hussle and bussle!

Happy organizing!!

Tuesday Tips

The Container Store is having their annual Shelving Sale right now. 25% OFF! Elfa instillation is also 25% off. It's ending pretty soon, meaning the 17th! This is one of my favorite sales because there isn't much maintenance that needs to be done to the store and it's so easy for the customer to just come in and say "I want that." and then I go and grab it for them from the back. Quick and painless. Unless of course we're out of stock. But even then, they just order it. Anyway, my pick from the shelving sale this year is going to be the Connections Shelving. It's quite possibly one of the easiest solutions. It doesn't require any tools at all. There are two uprights that you place the shelves on and wah-la you have a shelving system. There is a bunch of different ways for you to put it together and it can fit in any room.

 

Those are just a few examples of what can be done. The Library, media center, and work station. The uprights are made out of tubular steel with a powder coated finish. Shelves are made with an ebony-finished Ash veneer and can hold up to 75 pounds each. My recommendation is that if you purchase the tall uprights, come with a large car. They will not fit into a sedan. I've tried and it did not work out. They had to come back with a minivan. Check out the sale, there are tons of other items that could fit your taste, style and needs.
Once the sale is over with we start Gift Wrap Wonderland!!! (GWW) We go in on the 18th and begin set up. It will officially begin on the 20th. Which means run to get your wrapping paper and stocking stuffers because we will sell out. We've been getting phone calls the past 2 weeks asking about them.

Okay with all of that said.... Happy Organizing!!


[Photos taken from here]

Real Quick

Boston was well....okay. We left New York and got to Mass. 5 hours later. There was traffic from the second we left. We were in NYC so of course we were expecting traffic til we got out of there but not butt to butt traffic the ENTIRE way. However, Mother Nature was on our side and was having a complete meltdown over Boston so the game was rained out. The hotel was beautiful, as it was Hilton and had a glass roof. We had a personal chauffeur to the train station. And then met a creepy guy who wouldn't stop asking us where we were going and following us around. I wanted to just ignore him, but Chancho kept talking to him as to not to be "rude". All I wanted to do was push the blue emergency button. Thankfully the creep was going in the opposite direction so he didn't get on our train. We were completely lost so every step of the way we were asking someone for help, mind you we were wearing our Yankee jerseys. We got starred at. Commented on, but never really had any nasty comments. We met up with our friend who moved to Boston a few months go and had dinner across the street from the stadium til they called it a Postponed game. It was obviously a Red Sox bar that we were eating at and while Chancho and our friend left to go the bathroom, I sat awkwardly in the booth hoping no one would say anything. The table across from us kept starring and smiling at me. I was waiting for them to say something so I was going over in my head all the comebacks I could shout at them in my defense, but they thankfully waited until Chancho came back before saying anything. From the bar we traveled to another bar somewhere else and sat quietly at the bar having drinks. Saturday we got lost trying to find the Quincy Market in the heart of Boston. Finally when we got there I enjoyed some great food and frozen yogurt. It was a good afternoon, absolutely beautiful out. We had to get home soon after that though because we both had work on Sunday. So we got back on the road for home. This time it only took us 4 hours. Really it should only take 3. We stopped at the scene of an accident to help out a woman who had just crashed her car. She was okay, visibly shaken and had something coming out of her arm, but she was able to communicate and walk. There was another older couple who had stopped as well and were taking care of her. The woman who had caused the accident showed up and then tried to leave so I chased her down to make sure she wouldn't just drive off before giving a report. Once the state trooper showed up he told us to leave because we weren't involved. So that's what we did.
It is officially playoff season in the baseball world. My life has been revolving around the bars that show the games and tonight, Chancho and I will be attending game 3. If they don't clinch it tonight, we'll be at the stadium again tomorrow night.
I can't believe that we are already in October. Next week we'll be setting up for Gift Wrap Wonderland (GWW) at work. I'm working all 3 overnights. Every store should be completely set up on the 20th. And a reminder for anyone who's shopping it, it sells out fast! Don't procrastinate.
By this time next week, my roommate from college should be all moved in!
Foxy has gotten fixed so she's been walking around with her head in a cone. The poor girl.
That seems to be all the catching up for now. Sorry nothing too exciting. Off to pick up some kitty litter and then off to the game! Gooooo Yankees Gooooo!

Quote of the Day: "We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it." - John Lennon 
Listening to: "Basket Case" by Green Day

Tuesday Tips

Yep, it's Tuesday again. I worked an overnight Sunday into Monday moving all of the Travel items back to their original homes and then setting up for the Happy Organized Home Sale which began yesterday. This sale goes on until Sept. 6th, which I feel is a really long time. There are a ton of things that I love that are on sale right now so I'm having trouble picking which to do first. This sale also goes along with the college kids. If you didn't know, I'm letting you in on a "secret" that The Container Store puts on a college night where the entire store is on sale. You can get whatever you want, but that night only. It's a really fun night where the store plays college age music, there are snacks and tons of people there to help you. Everyone that is employed is there to help out so that's about 60 employees. It's always a fun time. Anyways, my item today is the Countertop Organizer.

Why do I love this? There are 7 different holders for numerous items to fit into it. It's acrylic so it's easy to see everything. Plop it down onto your counter and you're set to go. You can put more than just make-up brushes, pens, pencils, paintbrushes, colored pencils, anything you can fit into it. The best feature is that the bottom pops out for easy cleaning. I hate that the bottom to all of my holders get gunky and are hard to clean, this just pops out and can rinse it off quickly. It's on sale for $8.99, originally $12.99. This one is found in the bath section. There are two other sizes, one that's larger, which is found in the kitchen section for holding spatulas, mixers, more larger items found in the kitchen. Then there is another medium sized one that can hold wider items, such as a hairdryer, curler, things like that. Those sizes aren't on sale right now.

Happy organizing!

Tuesday Tips

A day late, but still good in my book. Today's tip is shipping on Travel items are FREE!!!! Yep, if you spend over $100 that is. But that can easily be done and so well worth it. Especially if you don't have a TCS near you, so head over to their website and shop away. When you're ready to purchase all of your fabulous items punch in the promo code TRAVEL and you'll get your free shipping! YAY! Sunday is the last day of the sale so you have to get to it sooner rather than later. Fear not though, we have another sale starting this Monday! The Happy Organized Home Sale or the HOHS sale.
I guess I'll focus on luggage itself today since this is the last tip of the Travel sale and you need luggage to travel. The majority of the luggage that we have is from Eagle Creek. I ordered a whole bunch of it this season because the color this year was blue. We always carry it in black on black, but this season it came in blue on black. I love it. I bought the 25 inch hovercraft. My mother owns one as well and is currently using it on her cruise. It's perfect for a weeks worth of traveling. The best part about Eagle Creek is that they have a lifetime warranty no matter what. So no matter what happens to it they'll replace it no questions asked. It weighs a little over 8 lbs. More weight can be put into more clothes! There are just enough pockets to tuck away what you need and the handle is super easy to hang on to. There's always a kick board on the bottom so when you're dragging it up over a curb or stairs it doesn't get scratched. It's regularly priced at $275.00, but on sale now for $219.00.

I also bought the bag that slides over the handle, travel tote, which can be used as an everyday bag, for the weekend or a carry-on. I love that bag too! I use it at least once a week now that it's summer. I bought it in the matching blue on black color so I match! It is originally $75.00, but on sale for $54.00.

If you go onto the Container Store website they have a luggage selector tool now that can help you figure out which luggage is best for your needs and it will also show you what will fit into your luggage for the best packing strategies.


Happy Traveling!

In a Nutshell

Yeah, I guess I'll post something. I haven't really been in the mood to post, whether it's because I'm sleeping, seeing Chancho or I just don't feel like I have something worthy to say, but I'm ending that now. Lately, it's been all about work. Since I've gotten back from Toronto I've been busy with The Container Store. We had an all store meeting, last Sunday, which they asked me to come in 5 hours earlier than I was supposed to. It was nice because I was able to leave 5 hours earlier. Then Monday I was babysitting Buster all day. I'm working on getting him to walk. He's very stubborn. He won't do it. He knows that if he cries long enough someone will a. give whatever he wants to him or b. he'll get picked up and carried. After a day of babysitting I headed in to work for an overnight. It was a huge night. We switched every single aisle around in the office and collections section. Which is about 6 aisles. I was beat. I was also up for 24 hours by the time I got home. Which lead me to sleep for all of Tuesday. Then I was up again this morning for more work. But good news! I am now a leader on mornings that there are trucks. This means that I am in charge of at least 13 people. I'm directly in charge of 3. It's a little odd, but I think I'll adjust okay as I do it more. I'm finally off for the next 2 days.
Then we start up with more happenings. Starting Saturday, I have work and then straight from work I'm driving the parents to their cruise. They'll be gone for a week in the Bahamas. I'll also be attending a cousin's birthday party that night. Chancho lovingly was able to switch around his schedule so that he would be able to attend it with me. I switched my schedule so that we could go to the NYPD BBQ on Sunday. Oh lord that is coming up quickly. I am nervous as usual to meet everyone. All the guys will be out paintballing while I'm left with the wives at the house. I'm not one to get along with women all that well. So we'll see how it goes. It always takes me a while to befriend women. I just seem to get along better with guys, that's always how it's been. This will definitely be a big step outside of my comfort zone.

Chancho made an arrest in plain clothes the other day. Very out of the ordinary. He was heading to go home when a couple came in and complained about being conned out of money and an apartment. Turns out that they met a woman to put a down payment on an apartment from Craigslist. Then they researched the apartment and it was a senior citizens home. No apartment. The woman was wiring the money to a man in Florida. So Chancho had them set up an appointment with the lady again at a Dunkin Donuts. He was there inside the Dunkin Donuts with them sitting across at another table and arrested her when they were handing over the money.

That seems to be my life in a nutshell. As you can see not much going on. Waiting for the weather to get a little bit nicer so we can go to the beach. I'm dying for the sand between my toes!

Quote of the Day: "I miss you, and I want things back to how they used to be. I need your friendship more then ever. I need you in my life again. Tell me what it is that went wrong, and I'll do what it takes to fix it in a second if it means having you by my side again."
Listening to: "Stellar" by Incubus

Tuesday Tips

The Love Your Luggage Travel Sale is still happening. So here's another sale item that I've fallen in love with. It is the Expandable Shopper Bag. It comes in two sizes, small and large. The awesome thing about this bag is that it expands and when I say expand, it really does! The small size goes from 11" to 14". That's 3 more inches that you didn't have before. The large size goes from 14" to 20", 6 extra inches! Holy moly! The way that it expands is easy. The middle section of the bag has a zipper and all you have to do is unzip it and re-zip it to close it back up. It has handles for easy carrying and it also has a padded shoulder strap if you need hands to carry something else. It's made out of nylon and there is an inside zippered pocket.
Here's why I love it. It's a great everyday bag. You can shove your things in there and then if you make a sudden stop to pick something up you have room for it. Or say that you start out your day early in the morning when it's cool out so you have a sweater on. Then by mid day the sun is blazing and you have to get rid of the sweater. Well your handy bag has that extra room for you to tuck it away. If you're traveling, you know you always come home with more than you left with. This bag can help with that souvenir baggage. The print on the bag isn't too bad either.
The price of the small one is $14.99, originally $19.99. The large one is priced at $21.99, originally $29.99. Right now both of them are backordered, but they can still be found in stores. If you buy them now, you can still get the sale price. I'd say the average backordered time is 3 months. However, it could be more or less time depending.

Happy Traveling!

Tuesday Tips

The Organized Traveler Sale is still going on at The Container Store. Which means that you must being going somewhere at some point, even if you're only going for an overnight, I have something that you may want to consider looking at. Today's tip is about our Microban® products. We have a few items that are made with plastic, which has Microban in it to prevent the growth of bacteria.
The first one is our toothbrush cover. 

You can see that it's small and compact enough to just cover the important part of the toothbrush. It has ventilation holes on the top to all the brush to dry out when not in use. It comes in clear, blue, green and purple. They are on sale for $1.49, originally, $1.99

 

The second item is the standing toothbrush holder. This one covers the entire toothbrush. It stands on the counter by itself and it is in two pieces. It may look like the bottom part folds down into itself, but it doesn't. This one also has ventilation holes to air out the toothbrush. The same four colors are available for these as well. They are on sale for $2.19, originally $2.99. I believe they are backordered, but you might be able to find them in the store and if you can't you can always order them and get the sale price now.

 The third item is the soap dish. It comes in the clear, blue, green and purple colors just like the toothbrush holders. If I can remember correctly it is two separate pieces, instead of it being hinged. The bottom has ridges to lift the soap up and away from the excess water to allow it to dry out. They are on sale for $2.19, originally $2.99.

The fourth item is the collapsible cup. I love it and own one. This also has all four colors. It collapses up into itself for storing and transporting and when you're ready to use it just pull it out and drink away. In the lid there is a pill capsule holder. It is on sale for $1.99, originally priced at $2.99.


 There are a few more items that are made out of Microban, but these are my favorite ones and the ones that find to be the most useful. We have these same items made out of regular plastic without the Microban and those can be found here. They are not on sale, but they really are cheap enough that you don't need a sale.

Hopefully this helps in your traveling :)

Tuesday Tips

After talking to numerous customers already throughout this Travel Sale, a lot of people are concerned about weight limits. Airlines are now charging a crapload of money for bags that go over their set weight limit, which sucks. A few people have said that they've had to sort through their stuff in the airport and try and squeeze items into another bag so that they wouldn't have to pay the fee. Another person said they had to buy another bag to even out the weight. So of course, we have a solution to this problem. It's the Digital Luggage Scale. It's a very simple scale, just clip it on to your bag and it will give you a reading of how much your bag weighs. It can weigh bags up to 88 lbs. You can take it with you for your return trip. The scale itself weighs only 8lbs.
Today at work a coworker and myself had a little bet going about which was the best way to pack clothing. I personally have been turned on to the Pack-It system that we sell, but we were discussing which weighed more, rolling your clothes or keeping them folded flat. She was convinced that rolling your clothes made them heavier. I said that it would weigh the same because they're clothes, you aren't adding anything to them if you roll them. So we folded them flat and added them to a backpack and weighted them with the scale. It came out to 6.3 lbs. Then we rolled them and added them to the backpack and it came to 3.6 lbs. The only reason folding them weighed more was because she left them in the pack-it folder. She was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that rolling the clothes was the same. She just couldn't wrap her head around it.
Anyways, the scale is on sale right now for $14.99 originally for $19.99.

Happy Traveling!!

Tuesday Tips

The Container Store has their Love Your Luggage Organized Traveler Sale going on right now. I just spent the past two mornings setting everything up, which now looks colorful and beautiful! I'm so happy that it's all set up and we can now just focus on the selling aspect.

Anyways, today's tip of course deals with the sale. I'll be going camping at the end of this month and one of my most needed items that I own is the Eagle Creek® Pack-It® Wallaby Trip Kit. It's a cosmetic/toiletry holder. My favorite part about it is that it folds up so it's easy to pack. When you need to use it, it unfolds and has a hanger hook so that you can hang it up on a doorknob, tree branch, closet rod, hook, or shower rod. It has a removable mirror, which I love especially while camping, can't really find too many mirrors amongst trees. There is a zippered pouch that is also removable so you don't have to carry the entire pack, you can take just what you need. There are plenty of slots for little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, and soap. It is big enough to hold a hair brush and a comb. It really makes my life so much easier and of course organized. Everything I need fits in it nicely and it's all combined in one location so I just grab it and go. Since I only use it for when I'm traveling, I keep the travel bottles inside of it while it's stored so I don't have to worry about where they are. It's currently on sale for $24.99, regular price it's $34.99. 
The sale is going on til June 27th. Plenty of time to stock up on travel items at great prices! 

Happy Organizing!

Tuesday Tips

Now a days people have so many DVDs and if you don't have DVDs you probably have CDs and you probably have a few VHSs laying around too. I was working down the aisle of Collections today in The Container Store and I got asked numerous times about how to store DVDs. Of course depending on the customers needs and wants we have plenty of solutions to offer, but my favorite one for those who don't want to take up a lot of space on their floor for DVDs, I suggest the Elfa Overdoor Media Rack. It's of course part of our best selling product Elfa, which makes it even better. How it works is that you put a hook over your door and hang a "standard", as we call it, and then place the racks or shelves where ever you need them. You can put as many or as little as you need. It comes in two colors, platinum and white. There are 3 different racks, DVD, CD and VHS. If you purchase the kit, it can hold 96 CDs, 48 DVDs, & 13 VHSs.
It's nice to have it on the back of a door, hidden, but easily accessed.

Once again, happy organizing!

Tuesday Tips

 *** Won't be here to post tomorrow so I'm doing it a day early***

This is the last Tuesday at the Container Store while the Spring Organization Sale is going on. So if you need anything shop now!

 

 Today's little gem is the Axis Overcabinet Grocery Bag Holder. Ever wondered what to do with those overflowing plastic bags? Here's a solution! Instead of having them take up the entire cabinet and attack you as you open the doors, shove them into this handy little holder. It holds up to 50 bags! It also has a hole in the middle so you can get at them whenever you need one. It rests nicely on the cabinet door and has padding to help keep it in place. The usual price is $14.99 and it's on sale for $9.99. Right now it's on backorder and that means we won't be able to know when it will arrive, but if you order it now you can still get the sale price and they'll let you know when it finally comes in. However, if you find it in the store, you're a lucky one! I know that they have been flying out of the store from day one.

If you aren't a fan of this style we do have a few other options as well, they just aren't on sale.

You can click HERE for the SimpleHuman stainless steel version. Or you can click HERE for the Hold-A-Bag version. SimpleHuman also has one that doesn't hang and you can click HERE for that one.

Start thinking about what you need for your traveling. That sale is next! Happy Organizing :)

Tuesday Tips

It is Tuesday right??
I've been so busy that who knows what day it is, besides the fact that my body just decided to sleep for 16 hours straight, I think I may have needed some rest, but who knows....

I have picked out an item for today, it is the 6-Section Modular Shoe Organizer, which is obviously used to store your shoes. Of course, if you can find something else to put in the cubbies than by all means use it for that! It is a modular system that you have to put together yourself, but here is a warning it is difficult to put together. If you feel as though you're handy and can usually put things together without a problem, than it shouldn't be an issue for you, but if you don't have patience and aren't so handy, I would stay clear of this product. The positive aspect to it being a modular system is that you can add on to it if need be. It also stands vertical or horizontal.

It's sturdy once you put it together and the polypropylene is durable and easy to clean. This is one of the less expensive solutions for shoe storage with it being priced at $14.99, but is on sale for the Spring Organization Sale for $9.99. It's always a hit or miss with people. I've had to put these together for the display and haven't really had much difficulties with them, but I also tend to find putting things together easy. It holds 6 pairs of women's shoes and 3 pairs of men's shoes. It could also work for cubbies for the family. If you have stuff that needs to be divided for the individuals, make each cubby a section for mom, dad, and child. You could put hats, gloves, scarfs, and anything else that could fit. I love to say "Use your imagination". I find that a lot of times customers see that it says shoe organization and they can't imagine putting anything else in it. They get turned off when I show them a dog food container what will fit 20lbs of rice easily. They always turn me down. Just take the sticker of the dog off and it's a regular plastic container that you'll find anywhere else.

Anyways, the news of the Container Store is that the Spring Organization Sale is quickly coming to an end on May 9th! But then fear not, we have the Travel Sale right after. A new store in Raleigh, North Carolina is opening up in October of this year!! There is also talk of another store opening in CA somewhere within the year of 2011. There are tons of new programs being initiated for 2011, that I learned about in the store wide meeting, some I was sworn to secrecy about, but super exciting! 

Time for work all! Happy organizing :)

Tuesday Tips

Recently I got fed up with my pile of belts that have been tangled in the bottom of my armoire. So of course while I was at work, I took a stroll down our belt accessory aisle to try and find something to fix my mess. This is what I bought: Walnut 12-Belt Hardwood Hanger . It works great because it gets them up off of the floor and it hangs with the rest of my clothes, easy to hang up and take off. It holds 12 belts nicely and probably more depending on the size of them. It's originally priced at $9.99, but is on sale for $6.99.
It comes in the walnut color and a  natural color as well. For those of you who have ties, there is the same concept, but with different hooks for ties. They are also on sale for $6.99. Check em out!

No new updates of anything coming up quite yet. Enjoy the Spring Organization sale!

Tuesday Tips

Spring is here! Which means that our Spring Organization Sale is going on! Today I'm thinking along the lines of recycling. Now that NY accepts water bottles, aka poland spring, for 5 cents, there's more to take to the bottle returns.

Here are the options that the store has for recycling RECYCLE! But I'll tell you all about my favorite one.

This is a Simplehuman 13 gallon trash/recycle bin. It's slim and can really fit into most spaces and looks great! It has two bins. The black side is a 8 gallon section and the blue side is a gallon section. This allows you to switch it up any way you want. Use one side for bottles, the other for cans. Use one side for trash and the other for recyclables. Use one side for food trash, the other for paper. It has a lid lock so when you're pulling the bags out the lid doesn't keep falling down and slamming your hand. I love that feature. I absolutely hate when I'm yanking on the bag and the damn lid keeps closing on me. It also is a soft closing lid, which means when you step off of the pedal, it slowly closes without making an awful loud bang. Another feature, it has a bag clip inside to hide the excess bag. It's a stainless steel can, and it has the fingerprint proof design. It doesn't keep all of the fingerprints off, but it is a lot better than most stainless steel cans. Lastly, it's on sale for $129.00 regularly priced at $179.00.

A few other things to mention...right now there is a promotion going on that if you leave comments (good or bad) on any products that you have used/own you'll be entered to win a $500 gift card! So say a few things and bam you're entered. Quick, easy and helpful.

Another promotion is that you can enter to win a $1,000 dorm room make over, so if you have anyone going to college, it's a great opportunity. And speaking of college, you can sign up to get an exclusive invite to college night sale. It's only open to those that get an invite and the whole store is practically 30% off. It's a crazy night, but one of my favorite events. The best part is that you don't have to be in college to go. A lot of parents take advantage of it. We usually have them in July and August, right before college starts.

Seems to be all for today!

Tuesday Tips

Another Tuesday has crept up on me. The Container Store is coming up on the last week of the Work Smart Office Sale. So this will be my last office sale item that I'll be tipping about. I've picked out bulletin boards. After speaking with my mother about why our dining room table is always and I mean always cluttered, she explained that if she doesn't see the items out in front of her she won't remember them. My solution to her problem is getting a bulletin board. It is up off of the table and using the wall space. She has a corner of the room that is hers so she can put it up there. All of her important papers can be pinned up for her to see. Then there won't be any of that "Have you seen that small purple post-it note? It had green pen writing on it?" or "I can't find that white piece of paper anywhere!" I'm telling you if you have a spot for everything, you are less likely to misplace it. Unless of course you have a bad habit of not putting things back after you're done using them. But if you don't have a place for it in the first place, that is just asking for trouble. 

So here are the bulletin boards of choice:

There are three different styles, Square, Rectangle, and Strip. All three come in either Steel or Bronze. However, only the Steel is on sale. The Square is 14.99. The Rectangle is 27.99 and the Strip one is 11.99. The awesome thing about this product is that they are both a bulletin board and magnetic. So say you have something that you don't want to pierce with a push pin, just use the magnetic to hold it up. The Rectangle one comes with 12 magnets and 12 push pins. The Square comes with 6 of each. The three different sizes give you the flexibility to put them in any area that fits you best.

There are other bulletin boards available as well. Some are on sale, others are just cool. Remember March 28th, is the LAST day of the sale. But fear not, the next day we start the Summer Organization Sale! I'm not sure if that's the official name for it yet, but random items around the store will be on sale.

Happy Organizing!

Tuesday Tips

Here's another tip. I was working on Monday at the register when a woman came up with a shopping cart full of these clear storage cases. The nosey person that I am, started asking her what she was going to be using them for. She started to share slowly. She said that she had a lot of clutter with being a mom of 3 and these helped her organize her piles. I continued to push her for some more info and she finally told me that her exact use of these cases were for her daughters American Girl doll clothes. I thought to myself that is a great idea! I have all of my unused American Girl doll clothes packed away in a cardboard box. If I were to move them into this container, they would be safe from any bugs and moisture, plus, I would be able to see right away where they were.
 (image from containerstore.com)

She continued to share with me that she uses the different sizes (there are 3, small, medium and large) for accessories, shoes, and clothes. The perfect thing about them is that they stack! She says that they fit nicely inside the playroom closet and her daughter can see which outfits are where.

So there you have it. Use these cases to store away anything that you can jam into them! They're the perfect size for magazines, sweaters, coloring books, crayons, markers, stuffed animals, or anything else.

Tuesday Tips

Right now at the always cheerful, Container Store, there is the Work Smart Office Sale going on. Catchy name huh? I always stumble when I say it. Anyways, I've picked out an item that I thought would benefit most of my readers. I know that the majority of you have kids in school. So here is something to help organize school work. If your family has a desk, tiny table, a place that is wide enough for it, it would work out great. Let me share....

(Images from containerstore.com)

Now here is the idea. Place these Silver Mesh Letter Trays, as they stack as high as you want on your desk or what have you and then label them each for Mom, Dad, Kid #1, Kid #2 and so on. You can label them with the handy dandy Magnetic Labels. They're erasable so you can write whatever you need to write on them. But they just cling to the letter tray since they're magnetic. Awesome!

The cool part about this is now you have a spot for when your kids have papers that you need to see from their teachers, such as permission slips, notes, report cards, tests, etc. They can place it in the designated slot and once you've looked it over you can put it back into theirs. No confusion. It helps make things a little bit more easier.

For those of you without kids or kids not yet at the school age, use it to organize your desk. Get those papers up off of your desk to give yourself room to write. Remove the clutter! It is part of the Mesh line, so there are many different items that are also in the silver mesh to make it coordinate! I love when things match. It makes me smile.