A Place for All the Baking Sheets

I do a lot of baking which means I have a lot of baking sheets, muffin tins, pizza trays, and other large, awkward pieces that are hard to store.  Up until recently I kept them in one of the bottom cupboards in the kitchen.  Every time I needed one of the cookie sheets (or something not even related to these cumbersome pieces, but stored nearby) I usually ended up with everything cascading out onto the floor or sliding sideways into other areas of the cupboard.  I'm sure you can relate.

If you wanted that third cookie sheet from the bottom?  Ouch.

Then, several months ago I bought one of Ina Garten's cookbooks.  You know Ina, right?  The Barefoot Contessa?  A wonderful cook, evoking elegance, grace, comfort, and friends and families.  I have five of her cookbooks now and have tried several recipes - all have been incredibly delicious.  From her "barefoot contessa how easy is that?" cookbook I found a great idea at the back of the book for keeping large kitchen pieces accessible - a large wicker basket kept near the kitchen prep area.

It seemed like such a good idea.  I tried it out by using a cardboard box - it worked like a charm.  Everything was accessible, nothing crashed.  It also meant that the space in the cupboards could be utilized much better.  A win-win.

Now that I knew it would solve our storage problems I needed to find a proper basket.  Sounded simple, but finding that perfect rectangular basket with enough height (but not too much) was more difficult than I originally thought.  There were a lot of baskets that were just too short, and others that were too tall and more like clothes hampers.  Finally, this week I found the perfect basket at my local London Drugs.  The Water Hyacinth Frameless Basket had a tag reading $9.99.  The price was right, but it was even better when I got to the checkout counter and found it was on sale for $5.99!

I moved everything from that temporary cardboard box to the new basket - everything fit perfectly.

There's still space to spare.

I'm really happy with this cheap, yet elegant solution.

Where do you keep your baking sheets?  Would you consider using a basket left out in the kitchen?

Selling on Craigslist

On my last post I ended with a few things that still needed selling.  These included:

• a bike trailer
• a bedrail guard
• a foldable stroller
• a digital baby scale
• a folding dolly

Now, I've had some experience buying and selling on Craigslist and I peruse it quite a bit (I keep a running list of items that I'm interested in ... if the price, quality, and location are good).  I see a lot of good and bad ads.  All this to say I've developed some steps that I take when creating my own Craigslist posts.

1. Put together as many facts about the items as is reasonable.  Who makes it, model #, year made/bought/age, original price, dimensions (not everything needs this, but if you'd want to know others will too - especially true with furniture that people will need to place in their homes), weight (if important), materials it is made from.  You might not need all these details, but it's good to have them on hand.
2. Do some searching on-line to see if it is still sold new - if so, what's the price like now?  Does it seem popular?  Amazon reviews will give you a good idea what people think about your product.  Key phrases might pop up that you can use when writing your ad.
3. Next, e-Bay.  If you don't have an account with them consider getting one because this gives you access to some information that the average person doesn't get to see - what things sold for (and what didn't sell).  This is known as Completed Listings.  These completed listings often give you a good idea for a price range.  It will also give you an idea of which ads work better - style, layout, descriptions used.
4. Now, Craigslist.  See if your product is being posted by others.  What are they asking?  Is it similar to e-Bay prices?  (Note:  You could also look at Kijiji - I use Craigslist so I'm more comfortable remarking on it.)
5. Take a few photos.  Yes, you need them.  Would you buy something without seeing it?  If there are multiple ads (and there usually are), do you go for the ones with photos first?  Me too.  So, take a few minutes to take some shots of what you want to sell - a few overview shots, some close-ups.  Try different angles.  The most important point I can make here is to get rid of as much personal background/detail as possible.  You don't want people thinking "Gross, that stuffed toy looks like it's been kept in the filthiest garage I've ever seen!" ... you want them to focus their attention on the item you are selling.  I've even used bed sheets to create a plain backdrop.  If all else fails try to find an image from the store you bought it from and copy that into your ad.

Once I have done all these steps I'm ready to create my ad. 

Let's try these steps out with the first item on my list - the bike trailer.

Bike Trailer Ad

I bought this trailer a few years ago thinking I would bike around with Walter in tow like all the other parents seemed to be doing in town.  Except ... it didn't really happen all that much.  Maybe three times?  I just felt really nervous with my precious little guy behind me and all these vehicles rushing past me.  At the time we lived in an area nearer to secondary businesses which meant lots of truck traffic - these made me even more nervous.  Suffice it to say the idea was a bust (although Walter loved it - he asked to go out every day!).  I kept the trailer thinking that when we moved I would use it.  Our new neighbourhood is very hilly, and there are no nearby bike paths.  I'd have to drive with the bike and trailer, park, hook up the trailer, get Walter and myself all geared up and then finally start biking.  Ah, nah.  Instead, I traded my bike - which I never really liked - for a DSi for Walter.

OK, so what did I pay for it new?  I bought it at Walmart for around $109 ... say with tax $120.  It now sells for $104 with a current pre-Christmas sell going on for $50.  Ouch!  Looking at e-Bay I see a price range of 54-200+ ... but the 200 plus ones are way swanker than mine.  The 54-74 range are closer to mine.  On Craigslist the swanky ones are going for 200+ also.  Not much under 100.  Despite the sale at Walmart I'm thinking $55.  This will give some wiggle room for potential buyers to negotiate (everyone likes to shave off a few dollars).  I did do a couple of photographs of the box.  I confess to not taking it out and setting it up.  So, I copied the photo from the Walmart website (something many people do).  If I have time on the weekend I'll set it up and take some more photos to make it more authentic.

So here would be my ad:

TITLE:  Triumph Bike Trailer Holds 2 Children - $55

PICTURE:  I usually take a few photos, including the box, manual, and an overall photo

DESCRIPTION:

When our son was younger he wanted to ride in this bike trailer every day!  Although it can hold two children, our son always had his stuffed toys, snacks, and water bottle taking up some of the space.  Still, we could likely have put a few bags of groceries in there too!

Now that our son is older we've outgrown the bike trailer ... time for our son to have his own bike.

Our loss is your gain.

Bike trailer has been kept in pristine condition, in a no-smoking, no-pet household.  We have the original box and owner's manual.

If you are interested call, text, or email Louise (cell ###.###.####)
 ... cash only

That's it.  I made the ad personal - which tends to draw people in.  I'm a person, not a crook.  The item being sold is mine, it wasn't stolen.  I included details that made it seem spacious (it is), and that my child liked it (which was true).  Having the original box and manual makes it sound like I looked after it (which I did).

I'm going to put it up now.  I'll let you know if my strategy works!

Getting Rid of Clutter

Back in June I had a goal of participating in a boot sale (sort of a group yard sale) to get rid of things we no longer had any use for or had outgrown.  It didn't happen.  The boot sale was organized for every other Saturday during the summer season.  Every time a boot Saturday was looming I either got sick (or someone else in the house did), or we were away, or some other event got in the way.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago (well into the fall season) I talked with the owner of Walter's out of school care program (OSC) to see if they would be interested in any of Walter's clothes, toys, books, and DVDs.  Turns out they were interested in most things.  The other day I managed to load everything into the back of the truck and drop by the OSC, and yes, they did take almost everything.

I went back home and looked at what remained.  Boxes of cups, dishes, knickknacks, curtains and curtain rods, lamp shades, clothes, and miscellaneous toys.  I loaded these into the back of the truck and headed out again.  There were a couple of thrift stores in our town - one for a hospice and one for teens.  As I drove along I thought about simply driving to the garbage dump and just getting rid of everything ... because what if neither thrift store was interested?  I finally talked myself into driving by the hospice thrift store.  I had already read their website and knew that they took drop-offs at the back of the shop.  I drove around back and a nice lady told me to back it up and drop it off.  In the end there were only three things that they wouldn't take - a Bob-the-Builder pillow, a stuffed dog backpack, and some old ski boots.  I put the pillow and stuffed dog in the back seat of the truck, figuring they could be left there for travel times.  That left me with just the ski boots which I'll see if my friends husband will take (he takes sporting equipment, cleans them up, and re-sales them).

Yes, I could likely have made a few dollars with the boot sale, but in the end I just couldn't organize myself.  The pressure of all that stuff sitting in piles in the basement was getting to me, and donating took that pressure away and gave me a feeling of giving back.  Since I'd already spent the money on these items long ago the money was already gone.  The potential for getting a few dollars wasn't enough incentive for me - my time was more important to use in other ways.  I'm sure if we didn't have jobs with good salaries I would have been more committed to accomplishing this goal, but it obviously wasn't the money I needed.

I did keep a few things.

These were bigger things that I figure I can put on Craigslist (except for the car seat - I'm not sure what I'll do with that).

What do you do with things you no longer need or use?  Do you think it's important to make money on them or is donating a valid option?

Quick Tweak - Hidden In Plain Sight

I'm still getting up my nerve to re-cover my first dining room chair.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share a quick tweak I did that makes life easier while remaining stylish.

Please note that this tweak is really meant for the women reading this blog ... having said that, you gentlemen might find another use for this tweak ;)

When it's that time of the month I always find it a hassle to make sure I have things on-hand.  Then I came up with a great (dare I say, genius?!) idea.  While shopping at Ikea I came across these cute woven containers - three in a set with lids included (Fryken - $14.99 CAD).

 

I thought they were adorable, but at first wasn't sure what I could use them for.  Then it came to me - a decorative storage container to sit on the back of the toilet.

With the lid on you have no idea about what hides beneath ...

Handy, but discreet.

What have you got hiding in plain sight?

Filing Cabinets Be Gone

I like things organized.  Even Lego - a bin for the blue Lego, a bin for the yellow Lego, a bin for the red, black, and white Lego.  You get the picture.  So, of course, it only seems natural that I like to file papers away - bills, receipts, whatever.  Actually ... I hate filing.  I especially hate the look of filing cabinets.  For an organized person they should carry a certain aesthetic, but to me they have a hard, ugly edge about them and there is definitely nothing fun about them.  They are all business.  Yes, yes.  Some crafty folks have painted them pretty colours.  Nonetheless, it does nothing to hide the fact that they are just plain awful.

Being an organized individual I've felt obliged to have filing cabinets in my home.  We all have paperwork, and therefore, we need filing cabinets, right?  Wrong.  I am here to set you straight today.  You don't have to have a filing cabinet in your home to be organized.  Let me explain.

As I was reading through various blogs the other day I found Simple Productivity Blog.  And this is where I learned that you don't have to use a filing system to be organized.  A simple box to hold your receipts, bills, and what have you, for the year is enough.  I had actually been doing this since we moved as I was avoiding the filing cabinets.  I was dreading going through this box ... but the box itself?  I had been finding it quite useful.  Anytime I needed to reference a bill I would go to my box and within a few seconds I would have it.  I needed a receipt?  Bam - I had it.  Could I have found it in some complicated, multi-coloured file system?  Probably.  But we're not some big corporate office.  We're just a family, with simple needs.

I think I'm going to continue with my box.  I am going to expand my box system ... I'll have a separate one for manuals, and one for Walter, Manuel and myself.  And ... I just might have to make them pretty looking ;)

Goals for June

I promised myself I would set out some goals each month.  Here are my goals for June ...

1.  Back in April I got a free lamp at a yard sale.  I knew it needed work - it had a taped up cord (possible fire hazard?  Electrocution?!) and bent lampshade hardware - but I thought it had a good base and for $0.00 I thought I would try to do something with it.  I've bought the lamp kit (Atron Lamp Kit at Home Depot - $17.98); Walter thought I should spray paint the base white which I think is a perfect idea; and I just need to figure out what to do with the brownish shade - keep it, update it, or change it out.

2.  We just got our blinds for the front upstairs windows installed.  Now, I desperately want to change out the rose-coloured shears that are in the master bedroom.  I've never liked the dusty rose shears, but they work ... so I thought I should wait.  The waiting is wearing me down, so I'm thinking of sewing some curtains.  Of course, I'll need a new rod with brackets to replace the existing hardware, but I do have several fabrics at hand that could work.

3.  I've been putting all the objects we no longer want into a pile in the basement with the thought of having a garage sale once there is enough items to justify the effort.  However, I recently read in our local paper that a twice monthly boot sale happens.  For $10 I can join in the fun, selling my stuff from the back of my car (hence the "boot" reference ... so very British).  The first boot sale of the year is June 8th.  I won't be ready for that one, but I'm hoping I can have things organized enough to join in on June 22nd.

4.  I was reading local gal Ashli's blog, Mini Manor Blog, which happened to point me to Jen's Simcoe Street blog ... which led me to Carmel's Our Fifth House.  Phew!  At that point I had to stop because a possible project caught my eye.

See those boards with the clothes pins holding artwork?  That would be perfect to hold/display artwork that Walter does.  Also great for artwork that needs some drying time.  I could also envision using something like this for holding important paperwork that needs to be kept handy.  I've already got all the materials necessary to make this happen, including the clothes pins.  Hmmm  :)

Goal Setting

Katy, over at The Non-Consumer Advocate blog, had an entry recently discussing her weekly goal setting.  Springing from her son's obsession with soccer she decided to set a "Goal.Of.The.Week."  Her idea was not to choose something that was incredibly difficult or unattainable within the allotted seven days, but something practical, perhaps even rewarding.

Her post made me think about my own goal setting - both for this blog and for the things I want to get done.  Both intertwine ... I write about the things I accomplish (or struggle with), and I try to accomplish things so that I can write about them.  For me, it's a positive way of getting my rear-in-gear, so to speak.

Of course, picking one thing each week is not my method ... I prefer to pick 2-3 things and give myself a month to do them.  Since I work fulltime and have a soon-to-be six year old, I need enough leeway to succeed.  Having 2-3 things on my goal list lets me move back and forth between them and chances are better that I'll at least get 1/2 - 2/3 of them done.  That's a passing grade in goal setting ;)

Do you set goals for yourself?  Do you use Katy's version, my version, or your own version?  And, of course, how successful are you with meeting your goals?

Two Down ... One To Go

Last time I mentioned three projects I was hoping to tackle by the end of May - drapes, utility closet, and record storage.  Well, I managed to get two of those projects done.  Yeah!

First.  The utility closet in the kitchen.  Eventually Manuel would like to build a shelving system for this space, but right now he's got a lot more important things to do on his list.  So, in the interim I wanted something that would make the space more functional.  Some shelving for storage, and a place for the recycling were my main goals.  I wanted to use items that I could re-purpose later since I didn't want to spend money on temporary things that wouldn't have much longevity.  I found two perfect solutions at Ikea.

For the storage portion I was looking for something that could fit into a 41cm square area - the deeper portion of the closet.  I found the Limhamn stainless steel shelving unit (product # 801.777.16).

It was one of the few units I could find that wasn't too small nor too big.  It fit just right.

For the recycling portion I was looking for something that I could stack.  I had considered the more traditional blue-style boxes that you can find at Home Depot, but that meant using the deeper portion of the closet, thereby losing out on more storage options since the shallower part of the closet is only 30 cm and I couldn't find any real useful storage options that shallow.  Enter the Retur recycling bins (product # 001.657.03).

At only 20 cm deep they fit perfectly in the shallow part of the utility closet.  Plus they are stackable ... and I can attach them to the walls.

I went from a fairly unusable space ...

... to something that works really well.

I'm happy with the results - it's definitely made things neater around here which was a big goal.

The other project I managed to complete was the drapes for the living room.  I thought about sewing curtains for this rather large slider.  Window coverings are fairly straight forward, but I just couldn't find the right fabric (or more appropriately, there were too many that I liked ... I couldn't make up my mind).  After doing a fair bit of reading on-line I realized that I was probably better off getting a second set of Merete curtains from Ikea (product # 801.119.85).  First, I sewed two panels together and ironed the seam flat.  I then measured from the curtain rod to the floor (just shy of 90").  Reading the curtain package, shrinkage for the fabric was 4%, which meant a measurement of 93.6" would be appropriate.  I laid the curtain down on our living room floor and marked out 94" across the fabric with a pencil.  I made a 1/2" inch fold in from the hem and ironed, followed by folding to the pencil mark and ironing this fold.  I pinned as I went to hold it all in place.  I then sewed this new hem length ... and repeated the same process with the other two panels.  Once I had finished with both sides I hung them, and finished everything off with some simple finials (also Ikea - Blast - product # 402.172.48).

The end result is a billowy curtain.  When the curtains are closed you really don't notice the panels that are sewn together as the seams are camouflaged within the folds of material.

I'm happy with the results - the colour is neutral enough to not stand out.  It doesn't call attention to itself.  It just does its job.

I didn't get the final project - the record storage - completed.  I'm still thinking through some ideas.  In the interim ... I've moved the boxes into the guest room closet.  Out of sight out of mind?  At least I don't have to stare at them constantly.  Plus, we now have room for my little ninja to practice his karate moves.  Bonus :)