Saturday, March 5, 2016

ORGANIZING 400+ ITEMS

                                  Don't agonize. Organize. Florence Kennedy

The quote above is normally something that I might have said.... A few years ago. I've always tried to be organized. In fact my identity in the family was one of being "the organizer". I put together an organizer and even sold them many years ago. I also spoke at a seminar for women selling Tupperware on how to organize their time while in business. My grandkids even say I'm the "organizing grandma" because I always go over and help them organize their rooms.

Fast forward to now...All that organizing "business" was before Hob Nobbers...the occasional sales, I mean!  Since I started collecting and selling vintage treasures and antiques all my organizing has gone out the window! I mean, how do you organize 400+ items?



Here's what I mean...I have a garage ( heated ) full ( and I mean FULL ) of furniture that needs painting, wooden containers, metal containers, two dress forms, four porch posts, desks, one wheelbarrow ( extra large ), and a table that I paint on that's full of paint cans, brushes, sand paper, and other paraphernalia. And it's all in disarray! Piled up and all over the place and now we can't even get in there! And there's a lot more stuff in there than I've mentioned here but you get the idea. I'd show you a picture but it would be too embarrassing! OK Maybe I'll show it AFTER I get it organized and then give you the "before" and "after" shots.

Then there's the room off the garage that is "The Hob Nobber Room" ( a nice clean room with carpet and beautiful windows ) where the small stuff goes. The china and dishes,  linens, pictures, ephemera, books, collectibles, folk art, you name it, it's in there! Between the two rooms I usually have over 400 items I'm trying to get ready for our sales! And right now you can't even get into the Hob Nobber room! It's really kind of overwhelming!


Now I'm going to give part of the blame to my husband, who doesn't have an organized bone in his body! Bless his heart! ( said somewhat sarcastically ) After Hob Nobbers grew to where I needed help, he offered to pitch in. His job is to unload the car after I've shopped and put the items into the garage or Hob Nobber room. And I've given him clear directions on what goes where. At least I thought they were pretty clear.

 Let's just say that most of the time, things don't get to their "proper home". But at least he gets them inside the house! So now I'm ready to do something about getting things organized once and for all! I'm going to stop agonizing over the mess...and organize! 

I don't have that big of a problem organizing other stuff in my life. But the Hob Nobber stuff is definitely out of control! And I KNOW how to organize BUT... 400+ items is just so overwhelming! So I'm looking for new and creative ideas to handle the huge amounts of inventory! It's taking up too much room!

Does anyone else who has many items that they are going to sell have this problem? How do you organize all the items you are going to sell? Do you store them in bins? Do you have shelves of items? I have both at the moment in addition to three tables and a counter piled high with stuff! Any creative ideas on organizing everything? 

Many of you who sell vintage items probably have a booth in an antique shop and just keep putting stuff in there. Is there anyone else out there who has occasional sales and has to store large amounts of inventory? 

I know I should clean and tag each item as I buy it but I procrastinate. So that's something that has to change. But I don't want the tags to get all crinkly either so I hesitate wrapping them up and storing them in bins. So if anyone has new and creative ideas on how to easily get this done, please pass on your thoughts! I would be forever grateful!

PS I've passed the "organizing the grandkids rooms" onto the other grandma. Somehow, their rooms never stay organized, either!  

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