To Do Lists

Shep and I are big fans of to-do lists.  We have apartment to-do lists, life to-do lists, vacation to-do lists, hurricane prep to-do lists, and even weekend to-do lists.  For some reason, it seems more fun to spend our free time doing things we don't necessarily want to be doing when we get to check them off a piece of paper as we go.  {Wait a minute, that doesn't sound very fun at all.  We've been duped!}

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Last weekend we accomplished a LOT.  We:

• Wrote a letter to Visa customer service
• Replaced chandelier bulbs
• Took photos of defective/damaged items bought online for Christmas
• Took down all our Christmas decorations and our tree  :(
• Purchased 2 large bins to store additional Christmas decorations received this year (on clearance at Walmart = score!)
• Visited our storage unit to put all decorations away and get humidifier out
• Replaced our HVAC filters
• Looked up some crock pot recipes
• Researched (aka stared at pinterest for hours) chaise & settee chairs for fireplace area
• Looked at some potential entertainment center units to replace our current one
• Bought tea lights
• Bought chalk
• Took our car for oil change/check-up
• Contacted our realtor to renew the lease for our old apartment
• Applied some wood polish on some scratches on our wood floors (don't ask!)
• Purchased a gift for an upcoming event
• Did 4 loads of laundry (gulp!)
• Returned some Christmas gift clothing + shoes that didn't fit
• Laid down new rug purchased for fireplace area
• Went on a dinner + movie date night!  :)

Phew!  What a busy weekend!  No wonder it flew by.  ;) 

Whatever we don't accomplish one weekend, gets moved to the list for the next weekend.  Hopefully one day our list will look like this:

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Until then, a girl can dream!  ;)

Now it's your turn.  What's on YOUR to-do list?

Yard Sale!

Last weekend, we had a yard sale at my mom's house.  We originally hoped to have the sale at the beginning or end of summer, but you know what they say about the best paid plans and all.  Having been through it though, it's probably better that we didn't have it sooner because even though it was the first week in October and temperatures were cool the sun was strong and we were hot!!!  I think I would have melted into a puddle sitting out there all day in July or August!

Shep and I have been designating things as "yard sale" for what feels like a year now.  Each time we came across something in our apartment or storage unit that we couldn't find a place for or no longer wanted, we'd yell "YARD SALE!" (similar to how a granny would yell "BINGO!" in a game hall).  It kind of turned into a joke, and we'd giggle every time we designated something to be sold.  We did such a great job of "de-cluttering" our living space that we created a huge pile of items in the extra bedroom of our apartment.  Talk about counterproductive.  ;)  Eventually, we de-cluttered the yard sale staging area by driving multiple car loads of crap yard sale goodies to my mom's house, including a cargo van full of furniture and other crap treasures (huge thanks to my brother who helped out with that task like a rock star!).

Curious what we had for sale?  Here's a sample....

It was scary to see how much STUFF Shep and I had accumulated to sell, especially since we've only been married for 3.5 years, and we live in a condo!  A lot of our overage was due to having too many lamps, for example, after merging homes years ago and never down-sizing properly at the time.  Other items (like all the blue boxes above) were a result of recent upgrades in our new apartment to lighting and bath fixtures.

All in all, it was a productive first yard sale, and we made $231.35!  Not bad for a couple of amateurs!  Because knowledge is power, we created a tip list for any brave souls out there in cyberspace who will one day master your own first yard sale!

Lessons learned:

• Advertise, advertise, advertise!!!  We actually took it a little light on the advertising since this was our first sale and we didn't want to be overwhelmed.  We also didn't have a need to sell everything at once though.  The Monday before the sale I put an ad on craisglist that included a description of the items I was selling, the time and date of the sale, the location of the sale (we included directions but not a street address for privacy reasons), and some photos of key items.  I also included a note instructing "cash only" and "no early birds".  Saturday morning, I refreshed my ad so it would appear toward the top of the listings and visible to those searching that day.

• Have change on hand: People will pay for a $5 item with a $50 bill, and will also pay in quarters so it's a necessity to have change and small bills on hand.  Before the yard sale, we stopped at the bank and got approximately thirty $1 bills, several dollars worth of quarters, and about eight to ten $5 bills.  We had some $10 and $20 bills on hand as well, which came in handy to break larger bills without needing to give all our small bills away.  After the sale I had $50 in one dollar bills, which solicited a very intriguing look from the bank teller when I deposited the money.  I just smiled politely and handed the wad of ones over.

• Price items reasonably:  This was probably the hardest part of the day for us.  Some of the items we were selling were either of great sentimental or monetary worth.  However, those shopping at yard sales are looking for bargains, not memories, so price accordingly if you truly want to sell your stuff!  I think we did fairly well in this category, but there is definitely room for improvement next time.  For example, I had about a dozen glass vases I was trying to sell for $5 each, which I think I'll mark down to $3 next time around.  One pair of grumpy old garage sale ladies actually uttered the phrase "YEESH!" while looking at some of our items.  I think at the time they were looking either at purses that I was trying to sell for $5 or a perfectly working and almost new cordless vacuum cleaner for $15, I can't remember.  But, both are pretty good prices if you ask me, so I'm not sure what they were "yeeshing" about!  I think they were professional pickers and generally grumpy, so I tried not to take it personally.  A gentleman proclaimed to Shep that we would "never sell anything at that price!" (that price being $3 for a hardcover book in excellent condition), so Shep invited the man to make an offer.  The man offered $2 and a sale was made.  Flexibility is key!

• Staging is important:  Think of your yard sale as a department store -- group similar items together, arrange items in an attractive way, and ensure all items can be easily seen.  One thing we're going to do next time is rent or borrow a rack, to more easily display the many pieces of clothing we want to sell.  I managed to sell a couple shirts and a few hats this time around, which were folded nicely and placed in bins, but I think a clothing rack is going to make a huge difference next time.

• Be ready for early birds:  We woke up super early and made it to my mom's house in record time; however, the items took a bit longer to pull out, set up and price that we predicted (rookie mistake) and one or two shoppers arrived before the official start time of the yard sale.  Even though I specified "no early birds!" in my craigslist ad, some folks arrived early so be prepared!

• Have a plan for after the sale:  In this case, ours was to shove everything back into my mom's garage at the end of the day, where it will sit until our next yard sale in the spring!  It's hard to predict what will sell, so be sure you're not stuck with a bunch of stuff you have no room for when the day is done.  If you absolutely must get rid of all items by the end of the sale, start marking prices down in the afternoon and have transportation or help (or both!) on standby to help haul the items away to a local charity or drop-off location.  Many charities will accept used clothing, furniture, housewares, but some have strict rules so make sure you research ahead of time!

• Buddy up:  It's good to pair up with at least one other adult.  At times, there were nearly a dozen people simultaneously perusing the items, asking questions, asking to pay, etc.  At other times, there were no guests, so we took turns going inside to cool off or grab a bite to eat.  I wouldn't advise holding a sale on your own -- it's a lot easier, and more fun, to share the responsibilities!

So there you have it, folks... Yard Sale 101 as told by Nicole & Shep.  :)  Any readers out there have any great advice to share?  We'd love to hear it!

Don't Put It Down, Put It Away!

I recently came across a tip that I'd like to share...

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Seemingly obvious, right?  Except that when life gets busy a straightforward slogan like this may seem next-to-impossible to adhere to.  The ironic thing is that the busier things are, the less time we have to dedicate to organization and housekeeping, which makes it even more important to put things in their rightful place to start with -- yet those harried moments are exactly the times we're tempted to just toss something down as we're running in/out of the door to/from home/work/school/gym/volunteering/events (you get the point)!  In those minutes, the choice to "take care of that later" seems sooooo appealing, and then we later realize that by putting something down instead of away we've spawned a dreaded pile to form and multiply, which typically ends up taking even more time to resolve in the end! Facepalm.

Well, I for one, am tired of piles.  I am going to challenge myself (& Shep!) to adopt this mantra and see how it goes.  Let us know whether you're a believer in this slogan, whether you're going to take the "put it away" challenge with us, or whether you have any other housekeeping advice to share!  We'll take all the help we can get.  ;)

Splurge AND Save?!

Things in life don't always fit solely into one category -- black or white, on or off, positive or negative, pro or con, or even splurge or save!  Many things can fall into multiple categories: splurge AND save.  Like the newest addition to our household...

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our Dyson!  We've been debating whether or not to bite the bullet and get one of these bad boys for years.  Literally.  In early January, I sent Shep an email about Dysons being on sale at Macy's, and he responded with the following:

We've been debating to get a Dyson since 2009.   I have the emails to prove it!  Can't we please just get one?  Please?

After a quick search of my emails, I realized he was right.  After literally 3 years of researching, flip-flopping, and buying 2 smaller vacuums that we were less than thrilled with, we decided to bite the bullet and buy a Dyson.  But which one???  There are so many models, all with stellar reviews -- but which one was THE  BEST?  This simple question is what derailed our plans so many times before.  But this time I was serious, and I wasn't going to let my indecision win out yet again.  I spent a couple (more) hours reading reviews on Dyson's website, Amazon, and individual retailer's websites, and decided that an "animal" model would be a great match for the ridiculous amount of hair I shed on a daily basis.  ;)

Now on to the save...

Once I decided which model to purchase, I quickly did a search to see which retailer/website was offering the most competitive deal.  In typical anti-competitive style, the listed sale price was the same everywhere I looked.  (Probably mandated by Dyson, no doubt.)  But I didn't give up there.  Earlier in the week, I'd gone to Kohl's, where I saw a sign advertising 20% off everything in the store in exchange for applying for a Kohl's card.  Sure that "everything" would exclude super-fancy-pants Dysons, I checked with a cashier and was shocked (in a good way!) to learn that the additional 20% did in fact apply to everything in the store - including the vacuums!  In addition, they were offering $10 Kohl's cash for every $50 spent!   Never underestimate the power of coupons and other special offers!  In this case, they helped us save over $100 and scored us over $100 in free Kohl's merchandise!

That combination did the trick - we figured there wouldn't be a better opportunity to save on this purchase, so the time seemed right to take the plunge.  And boy are we glad we did!  Vacuuming (once a former favorite hobby) is now fun again!  But more than fun, it actually accomplishes something!  It gets rid of dirt and dust instead of just blowing it around the apartment.  Go figure!  ;)  Seriously though, to see the amount of dirt this thing gets up is incredible.  Our living room area rug looks good as new again after one no-nonsense vacuum from our new favorite purple friend.  And my long web-like (as Shep lovingly refers to it) hair is no challenge at all for this thing.  We are both 100% satisfied with our long-awaited purchase (and we crossed something off our to-do list that's been 3+ years in the making!) which is the best news of all.  ;)

The many uses of... Baking Soda!

Baking Soda is a standard household item that serves many purposes.  You can use it to deodorize your refrigerator, freshen carpets, clean stainless steel, loosen grease from pans, remove marks from walls, exfoliate your skin, stop sneakers from smelling, and more!  All that for under $1?  That's what I call a bargain!  Affordable and chemical-free to boot.  Download your own handy guide here!

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