RetailMeNot.com – The Coupon/Discount Website

December 2nd, 2009

RetailMeNot logo

If you don’t already know about RetailMeNot.com, trust me, you’ll want to. RetailMeNot provides 400,000 online and printable discounts for 100,000 retailers and manufacturers; more than all the other top coupon sites combined. I have personally used them and been very pleased by the money that I’ve saved. Here’s a sampling of the companies they offer discounts for:

  • Barnes and Noble
  • Amazon
  • J. C. Penney
  • Papa John’s Pizza
  • Victoria’s Secret
  • L. L. Bean
  • Toys r Us
  • Babies R Us
  • Bloomingdale’s
  • The Limited
  • Drugstore.com
  • Kohl’s
  • Target
  • Gap
  • Urban Outfitters
  • 1-800-Flowers.com
  • Old Navy
  • Macy’s
  • Walmart
  • Pizza Hut
  • Sears
  • Bath and Body Works
  • Best Buy
  • Domino’s Pizza
  • Go Daddy
  • Turbo Tax
  • Walgreen’s
  • Zale’s
  • Saks Fifth Avenue
  • Home Depot
  • Blockbuster

Need I say more?


Posted in money savers, products/resources | 14 Comments »

The 21st Annual New York Cares Coat Drive

December 1st, 2009

NYCCD09banner

Did you know that 90% of homeless adults need a new, warm coat each winter because they have no place to keep one during the warmer months of the year? In addition, thousands of other New Yorkers are forced to choose between buying a winter coat and putting food on the table or meeting other basic survival needs. No one should have to make that kind of choice.

New York Cares helps those less fortunate by collecting nearly 70,000 gently used winter coats each December and distributing them to thousands of men, women and children who would otherwise be cold. Please donate a coat, host a coat collection or make a financial donation to this very worthy charity. Your support provides them with the resources to collect and distribute coats now and supports volunteer programs that will continue to impact the city all year long.

Posted in Uncategorized, clothes/shoes, donate/charities/thriftshops, seasonal | Comments Off

Clear Your Closets For Charity This Holiday Season

December 1st, 2009

handIf you’re looking for a more meaningful holiday season this year, consider donating your unused possessions to charity. It’s easy to lose sight of the true meaning of the holiday season when everywhere you look you – and your kids – are being bombarded by ads to buy, buy, buy! Donating to worthy charities or organizations of your choice allows you to do something good for others and rid yourself of clutter at the same time. If that isn’t the classic win/win situation, I don’t know what is.

Donating is a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about sharing with others less fortunate than they are. Involving them in the decision making about which charities to donate to will make them more invested and enthusiastic about it. Now is a good time to help them understand why less is more and no one can play with 10 race car sets or wear 50 tee shirts! Be sure you explain to very young children that you are not giving away all of their toys or clothes, just the ones they don’t use anymore or no longer need. You know your kids best. If you think they can handle it emotionally, let them help to decide what stays and what goes. Adolescents can turnover clothes they’ve outgrown and most teenagers will be more than happy to get rid of last year’s anything!

Mom and Dad, you need to do your part, too. Check your kitchens and pantries for unused canned goods and other non-perishables and donate them to local organizations in need. Purge your own closets and be ruthless about it! Almost every storage area in your home probably has items that could be donated and not even missed. Check for little used or unused blankets, sheets and towels in your linen closet, little used or unused kitchen utensils, etc.

A word of caution about donations is in order at this point. Volunteers spend hours sorting through donated items to determine what can be used and what can’t. Anything that isn’t usable – stained, torn, or otherwise damaged – ends up being discarded and that costs the organization time and money, turning a benevolent act on your part into a problem. Please do NOT donate items of no value. Here’s a good rule of thumb to guide you: only donate items that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to give to a friend or family member face to face.

Here is a partial list of the kinds of organizations and charities that are frequently in needs of donations:

  • churches
  • women’s shelters
  • veterinary clinics
  • homeless shelters
  • soup kitchens
  • libraries
  • nursing homes
  • hospitals
  • humane societies
  • historical societies
  • schools
  • Big Brother/Big Sister organizations
  • scout troops
  • arts organizations

For more information, please visit Resources/Place to Donate .

Create a new tradition this year of charitable giving during the holidays and make them a time for sharing not only gifts, but your heart as well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Holiday Shopping Traps You Should Know About!

November 28th, 2009

spider web

Bricks & mortar and online stores are both hoping you’ll spend more than you meant to and they’re expert at making it easy for you to do just that. BEFORE YOU GO SHOPPING, make a list of what you need to buy and stick to it. Watch out for the following traps:

* Free gift with purchase. If you’re spending more than you had intended just to get a “free” gift, then it’s really not so free after all, is it? Think about it.

* Free shipping. Ditto.

* It’s on sale. If you didn’t plan to buy it in the first place, it doesn’t matter what the price is, it’s not a bargain! Stop clutter where it starts…at the store!

* Bigger is better. Not if you really don’t need it in the jumbo size! And not if it takes you two years to go through a package of twelve and you really can’t afford to spare the space for them for that long!

* If one is good, two is better. Don’t buy an item in every color unless you really will use them all!

Posted in clutter, money savers, seasonal | 1 Comment »

Clutter-Free Gift Giving Ideas

November 28th, 2009

red bowSince the major gift giving time of the year is upon us, here are two ideas to help stem the tide of gift clutter. My first suggestion is simply to go gift-free. For those of you who aren’t ready to do that, my second suggestion is to both request and give clutter-free gifts.

As someone who helps people deal with too much “stuff” and not enough space for it all (FYI: it doesn’t matter how much space you have, you never have enough!), I can tell you that giving gifts that don’t clutter up the receiver’s space or life yet are creative, thoughtful and useful are the best kind you can give .

Here are some clutter-free suggestions for everyone on your holiday list. These will allow you to participate in and enjoy gift giving while at the same time relieving the burden on the recipient. Be sure not to give a well-intended gift that might be misunderstood and that ends up offending the recipient. For instance, if your sister doesn’t like or wear make-up, don’t give her a gift certificate for a make-up consultation. Ditto for other self-improvement services.

Memberships to:

* museums
* zoos
* botanical gardens
* aquariums
* historical societies
* theatre clubs
* state parks, county parks, etc.
* health clubs/gyms
* humane society
* nature conservancy
* AAA (Automobile Club of America)
* Zipcar (Cars parked around a city for members to drive by the hour instead of owning their own vehicles)

Gift Certificates for:

* massage
* facial
* their favorite hair salon
* manicure/pedicure
* health club
* exercise class
* spa
* local greenhouse, nursery or garden center
* bulb or seed catalog
* fun workshop or mini-course
* iTunes music download
* home improvement store to help with the cost of home maintenance
* computer software
* Blockbuster or Netflix
* Starbucks
* car washes
* trip in a helicopter or hot air balloon

Gifts of Service – Create your own voucher good for:

* babysitting
* breakfast in bed
* house cleaning or yard work or snow plowing/shoveling provided by you or someone you hire
* automobile maintenance (oil change, etc.)
* dishwashing for a day, a week, etc.
* running errands for a day, a week, etc.
* helping them with their next spring cleaning
* painting or hiring someone to paint that room they’ve been meaning to get to
* getting something of theirs that is broken repaired
* helping them plant their garden next spring
* helping them organize their photos

* teaching them a skill you have

Consumable Gifts:

* theatre, ballet, concert or symphony tickets
* tickets to an art exhibition or sporting event
* home cooked frozen meals
* homemade cookies, brownies, etc.
* an invitation to their favorite restaurant where you also give them the gift of your love and attention
* their favorite chocolates, wines or cheeses, etc.
* a selection of their favorite, hard-to-find, childhood candies or cookies
* a fruit of the month basket
* a voucher good for homemade meals for a day, a week, etc.
* a selection of organic teas and fair trade coffees or dried fruits and nuts
* dinner cooked by a personal chef
* tickets to a wine tasting or vineyard tour
* their favorite flowers sent to them regularly
* movie passes
* prepaid phone cards
* postage stamps
* frequent flyer miles
* airline tickets to visit you
* a weekend getaway at a bed and breakfast
* a trip to someplace they have never been
* candles
* handmade soap
* already stamped and addressed cards for various occasions (birthday, anniversary, holiday) that can be sent out to friends and family by the elderly or disabled in your life who can’t get out to buy cards or whose handwriting might be too shaky to read
* a voucher good for a walk together, a picnic together, a back-rub/foot-rub, a day of skiing or anything else you know they would like
* a voucher good for some of the perennials in your garden that are getting crowded and need dividing

One nice thing about consumables is that, if you’ve done your homework properly, the recipients consume them – which means you get to buy the same gift next year or even year after year!

Financial, Charitable and Unusual Gifts:

* make a charitable donation in their name (Think about causes and organizations that would be meaningful to them — then you take the tax deduction!)
* donate a book(s) to a library in their name
* pay their phone or cable bill for a month (or more)
* give them a share(s) of stock
* stocks, bonds, CDs, or contributions to a child’s college education fund
* name a star in the cosmos after them

* have a tree planted in their name

Gifts of Classes in:

* music
* dance
* Yoga
* Pilates
* self-defense
* foreign language
* computer
* magic
* continuing education
* art
* pottery
* photography
* jewelry making
* flower arranging
* knitting
* quilting
* sewing
* acting
* cooking
* stand-up comedy
* horseback riding

Posted in clutter, environmentally friendly, gifts | Comments Off

Vitsoe Opens It’s First U. S. Location Right Here In NYC!

October 20th, 2009

There are a few classic designs that most people don’t know about which cause them to want to break their budget when they discover them. Every client I have introduced Vitsoe shelving to has wanted to use it, even after they realized how expensive it was. Most of them were able to jigger their budget to pull it off. The rest? Waiting.

Vitsoe opened their first ever US showroom in NYC last month, which makes it easier to find, price and buy. It is expensive, but you can buy pieces slowly to build your system and you can always take it with you, since it will mount on to any wall and can be rearranged in nearly any configuration. It can be shelves, file cabinets, drawers and/or desk; you choose. Oh, and they also say they’re working on bringing the price down.

Posted in products/resources | Comments Off

Properly Disposing Of Old Medications

October 15th, 2009
What is the proper way to dispose of unwanted or expired medications, either prescription or over the counter?

Although common wisdom has been to flush them down the toilet, it is now considered hazardous to our oceans and to ocean wildlife to do so.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is now advising that we dispose of them along with the rest of our household trash, but taking these precautions to prevent avoid accidental or intentional misuse:
•     Mix your unwanted medications — liquids and pills – in a sealable bag, box, or plastic tub.
•     Add water to further dilute or dissolve them.
•     Add an undesirable substance such as ashes, dirt, cat litter, or coffee grounds.

To learn more about the DEC’s recommendations, see http://www.dontflushyourdrugs.net.

Posted in environmentally friendly, responsibility, safety | Comments Off

We LOVE Brooklyn Based Movers Not Shakers, A Very Environmentally Friendly Moving Company!

October 13th, 2009
What I love about Movers Not Shakers, a moving company that serves New York City and the entire east coast, is that they’re green movers. Their trucks are fueled by biodiesel from Tri-StateBiodiesel, Inc. and they’ll rent you reusable plastic moving bins they call GothamBoxes™ (got them boxes? – get it!) for you to pack your belongings in. They drop the bins off in advance of your move and pick them up after you or they or somebody like me, a Professional Organizer, packs them for the move and unpacks them once you get to your new home. There’s no cardboard, no assembly, no tape, NO WASTE. After they’re picked up, the boxes are cleaned, stored and delivered again to other customers. It’s an easy way to move and, at the same time, reduce the materials used in your move and the impact on the environment created by your relocation.

For years, Fortune 500 companies, pharmacies and supermarkets have rented reusable plastic bins to move from one office to another or ship merchandise. Now the residential moving market has picked up on this idea due to consumer desire for options that are convenient, environmentally friendly and because of the cost of cardboard boxes. Prices for short-term plastic bin rental are comparable to purchase prices for cardboard boxes. A large bin of about 4 cubic feet rents for $3 a week from Movers Not Shakers. U-Haul charges $3 for a 4.5-cubic-foot cardboard box.

Paper or Plastic? Plastic!

“Isn’t paper the better choice for the environment? Not always. Before we disregard oil and its byproducts altogether, let’s remember that certain products made from plastic are actually good for the environment – if they’re reused. Our line of GothamBoxes™ is made from recycled plastic. Over their life span each one will replace hundreds of corrugated cardboard boxes. And since they have interlocking lids, no packing tape is required to put them together or seal them once they are full. That not only produces less waste it is also a big timesaver.

GothamBoxes™ come in two sizes, small and large. They are strong too! They do not crush like cardboard will, keeping your belongings safe and sound. The small bins are 2.3 cu ft. and are great for books, CD’s/DVD’s, small plates and dishes, glasses, wine glasses, toiletries, jewelry cases, and other fragile items. The large bins are 4.1 cu ft. and are used for clothing, linens, towels, larger kitchenware, pots, pans… and anything else that won’t fit in the small one. Even though moving can be an incredibly complicated task, with all of the planning, packing, utility switching, real estate closing, address changing, board approval, school switching, whatever your situation might be, these bins are meant to simplify the whole process.”

Other benefits of using these plastic bins are:

  • Environmentalists generally agree that it’s better to reuse a product rather than manufacture a new one.
  • They have wheels, which make them easier to move and maneuver through the tight spaces of many NYC apartments.
  • You don’t have to deal with disposing of dozens of cardboard boxes, a task that in New York City usually requires collapsing and bundling them.
One other HUGE benefit, from a getting organized perspective, is that there’s no procrastinating about unpacking and items don’t get left in boxes for months – or years! – since the bins need to be returned within a certain period of time. Thank you, Movers Not Shakers; that’s definitely music to this organizer’s ears!

Posted in environmentally friendly, moving, procrastination, reduce/reuse/recycle | 6 Comments »

NYC Keeps On Truckin’ & Tracking Trash, Too!

October 12th, 2009

NYC wants to be cleaner and greener and, in an effort to accomplish that mission – at least where trash is concerned – it’s testing hybrid sanitation trucks in residential areas of Queens. The Big Apple’s current garbage trucks are incredible gas guzzlers, getting only about three miles per gallon. The hybrid trucks should get 25% to 30% better mileage – which isn’t saying much -  but it is a step in the right direction and every little bit helps.

And, speaking of trash, the researchers at MIT’s SENSEable City Lab have come up with a new project called Trash Track whose goals are to raise awareness of how trash impacts the environment and get people thinking about all the stuff they toss out. TrashTrack uses hundreds of small electronic, smart, location aware tags. These tags are attached to different types of trash and those items are tracked through NYC’s waste management system, revealing the final journey of everyday objects in a series of real time visualizations. So, if you knew exactly where your trash was going and how much energy it took to make it all disappear, would it make you think twice about buying bottled water or “disposable” anything else?

Speaking of trash, if you’re working on separating out your trash from your treasures and need to get rid of what you don’t want, these local companies will remove almost anything – from old furniture and appliances to yard waste and renovation debris – including many things that your local garbage company won’t typically accept. Plus, they do all the loading and clean-up.

Posted in environmentally friendly, products/resources | Comments Off

When Autumn Leaves Start To Fall…

October 9th, 2009

“The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold”

“Since you went away, the days grow long
And soon I’ll hear ol’ winter’s song.
But I miss you most of all my darling,
When autumn leaves start to fall.”

– from “Autumn Leaves“

Did you know that “Autumn Leaves” was originally a French song until Johnny Mercer wrote some English lyrics for it, the likes of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole recorded it and the rest, as they say, is history? Leave it to the French.

Autumn in New York City does indeed mean that leaves are beginning to turn color, starting to fall and the temperature is fluctuating up and down. On the days when it still gets into the 70’s, I’m in my glory. Then comes a day in the 40’s or 50’s and I get a serious reality check/wake-up call that autumn is here, summer has come to an end and it’s time to get organized for the long, inevitable winter months ahead. Don’t get left out in the cold; prepare for winter now while the mood is right and the days are still relatively long. On Sunday, November 2, daylight-saving time will end and the shorter days that are one of the hallmarks of winter will be upon us.

SAY GOODBYE FOR NOW
Before you pack away yours/your family’s summer wardrobes, look it/them over and identify items that didn’t get worn and are no longer wanted. Add them to – or start – a giveaway/*donation pile. If anything is stained, remove the stains now – it’s usually more difficult to get them out later on – and stow them away until next year.

RE-ACQUAINT YOURSELF WITH OLD FRIENDS
Get re-acquainted with your favorite winter clothes and cast a critical eye at all the rest. Are they worthy of the drawer/closet space they take up or are you ready to let ‘em go and make room for some new, cold weather favorites? If your coats didn’t get cleaned at the end of last winter, freshen them up now. Before you wash or dry clean them, be sure to make any necessary repairs, like sewing on buttons, fixing zippers, replacing torn linings or pockets. If you’ve got kids, now is the time to make sure that their coats still fit. Pass down anything they’ve outgrown to their younger sibling(s) or bag ‘em up for give away/*donation and take advantage of the Columbus Day sales all over town this weekend to get anyone in need new outer wear. Also, make sure that everyone has hats, gloves and scarves and they’re in good condition. If not take advantage of this weekend’s sales to fill in any gaps. Discard anything that is too far past its prime to be of use any longer and freshen up everything by washing or dry cleaning.

Instead of scrambling to get organized when that first cold snap hits or that first morning you wake up and discover the snow cover outside, be prepared and go out and have fun instead!

*A quick word about what is acceptable to donate to thrift or charity shops. Please be kind and do not donate soiled or damaged items. Most charities don’t have the resources to clean or fix them and it will cost them money to dispose of those items.

If – like a lot of New Yorkers – you’ve got more “stuff” than you have space to hold it all, here are some companies that might be able to help you solve that problem:

WARDROBE STORAGE FACILITY WITH VALET SERVICE:
Based in New York City, Garde Robe is a full-service wardrobe storage facility providing first-class storage, cyber-inventory, secure online closets and an array of services for New Yorkers, travelers and fashion industry professionals. Garde Robe will pick up your off-season or infrequently worn items, arrange for professional cleaning, photograph, catalogue and store the items in their climate-controlled, air-purified loft. Your Cyber Closet is accessible day or night and, with a few mouse clicks, you can arrange to have Garde Robe deliver desired items at your convenience.
GENERAL STORAGE FACILITY WITH VALET SERVICE:
The process is simple, quick and entirely managed through their website or you can call in your requests on their toll free line. After you place an order, they will deliver your empty containers, locks and welcome kit which includes an inventory form and other helpful information. You pack your boxes, or have a Box Butler professional assist you pack for a modest fee. The completed inventory can be entered online onto their web based system for easy access or stored in hard copy at your home. Then order a pick up and they will retrieve your locked containers. All or specific containers can be returned in the future at your request. This service was designed with 100% convenience in mind.

Posted in donate/charities/thriftshops, products/resources, storage | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »