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Welcome, welcome to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
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I am Colleen Waterston, and I am the host of this show and also the owner of Space by Space Organizing, which is really the sponsor of this show.
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And we we dreamt up having this show as a way to be able to share what goes on inside of people's houses through professional organizing.
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So I am a professional organizer with Space by Space, a home organizing business here in the Twin Cities.
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I'm here today with Alicia, who is my right hand since almost day one of the business.
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And we have gone into dozens and dozens of homes across the Twin Cities.
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And also here today with Tiffany, who is so much more than a social media gal, marketing gal, business-minded gal, but she's on our team and helps us to take the stories about what we do in people's homes and share them.
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And when Alicia and I first started talking about having a podcast or this radio show opportunity presented itself, we really wanted to normalize what people feel when we're in their homes and to talk about, you know, so much more than just a pretty pantry or, you know, a perfectly organized home, but the trends that we see and kind of the psychology behind some of our stuff.
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And so today's episode, I really want us to be able to talk about having a more intentional relationship with stuff.
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And what I hope is that when our clients hire us, by the end of our time with them, they've had they have a more intentional relationship with their stuff.
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And that we have given them such a custom experience around sorting through their stuff that we're able to, you know, it provides enormous value.
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You know, we bring clients on and it feels like we've done, we do that for our clients.
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But for just anybody listening, I want to give some strategies and some support around how to deal with stuff and how to feel good about dealing with stuff and having a more intentional relationship with the stuff.
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So by the end of today, I hope that we we kind of talk about knowing what you own before buying more, building systems in your house and in your life that support the way you actually live and the person that you actually are, not just your aspirational self, uh, decluttering and how that does not have to mean sending everything to a landfill.
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So we'll talk about some of our donations and reselling habits so that we can help people feel better about getting rid of things and actually recover some of the costs in many situations.
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So we'll talk about thinking beyond keeping or throwing away.
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You know, there's so much more than just those two options.
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Should it stay or should it go?
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It could be should it stay and how?
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But then if it goes, like where and how should it go?
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And ultimately the goal is not an empty home.
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You know, we are not minimalists here at Space by Space.
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We love stuff that serves us.
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We love the stuff that serves our clients.
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And so we we want homes that have the right amount of useful, meaningful, and manageable belongings.
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So by the end of this, we hope that people not only feel in the company of many like-minded, like like-acting people, you know, we all live in the same world uh where we have a lot of consumption.
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Uh, but feel I hope people feel not alone.
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And then I hope that when people go to declutter, we've given them some more creative ideas for where to donate, especially in the Twin Cities, some great resources around, you know, where do you bring your stuff so that you can feel good about it, the things you no longer need.
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And hey, I've heard about Facebook Marketplace.
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I've heard about, you know, there's a lot of people think, well, I could sell that.
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That still has value.
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And sometimes things have good monetary value that make it worth your while to actually go into reselling.
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So we'll get there too.
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But I'm gonna turn it over to Tiffany to kind of guide us today along the topic so that we can have this conversation.
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Yeah, um, let's talk about consumer habits and easy access to stuff with um, you know, online shopping, fast shipping, all that, all that kind of stuff.
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Oh, well, how many times, Alicia, do we walk into a house and it's like so many boxes at the front door?
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Yep.
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Everybody has like 10 Amazon boxes sitting around.
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Yeah.
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You can also kind of tell what clients are influenced by what because sometimes you see kind of similar things that aren't being used in people's houses, and I'm like, okay, saw that you probably got that on Instagram.
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There are I don't know how to launch a product on Instagram successfully.
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I'm not in the product launch business, but there's definitely a way to do it.
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All of a sudden it seems like everybody owns that same thing.
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Like, I don't understand how Stanley became the you know premier mug to have, you know, but it's like I think that what what I what we talk about, the psychology of stuff, and I think, you know, when you think about how we're being influenced, it's it's not just to buy and that we need these things, but it's like we need these to be cool.
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We need these so that our our favorite color shines from, you know, we every time we look at our water bottle, it represents who we are.
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You know, there's so many things that we've been influenced that you see in people's houses.
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And, you know, I would say that becoming an organizer, I buy less and I buy secondhand more.
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Like I'm so much more intentional over the last few years of being in people's houses and being in people's purchases and being in people's frustration with themselves for the purchases that and and knowing the value attached to some of these purchases.
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Yep.
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Stanley's when they came out were just a ridiculous amount of money to keep your water cold.
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Yeah.
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But they survive a car fire or something.
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Is that it?
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Yeah, there's some some sort of marketing was involved in that.
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You know, like you said, we've been over influenced.
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I feel like if I if my car caught on fire, I think the last thing I would think is, did my water bottle make it?
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That was my thought too.
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But you know, like I think I'd be like, what important documents were in there?
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You know, like nobody's being marketed like a fire safe for your car.
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But yet our Stanley will survive.
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Yeah.
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I think that's another thing too, is like so many things are purposely marketed that, like, oh, you need this product for this specific reason.
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And it's like, oh, maybe I do when it's not really a realistic situation.
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There are so many uh drink powders and different drink things, you know, and you can just see protein and hydration are like two major.
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Like, wow, are we all just dehydrated and protein deficient?
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Makes you think you are.
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It's well, so that's what I think that you know, what we try to do.
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And I think when so we have this process where we, you know, sort and then we evaluate, and then we put it back together.
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And during that evaluation, when everything is pulled out and sorted and you're able to see the excessive amounts, that is the moment of intervention for our clients.
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Where it's like we're standing looking out over all that you own in that space in your house, you know, and so we'll take on the amount that we can sort within the space so that we can have that effective sort.
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And Alicia and I, I think we were good at this from day one, but we've gotten better and better at knowing what we have capacity for to start and finish in a day, but also what a client has capacity for from the exhaustion level of, you know, because it's a reckoning with yourself.
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You know, you are facing yourself when you face your stuff.
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Yeah.
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And so there's some people I call shovers.
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And these are people who the the surfaces look amazing.
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The house often looks beautiful.
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You know, I went to this one house, I'm like, does she think I'm a house photographer?
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Like, did she get this appointment wrong?
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Like, what does she need me for?
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It was gorgeous.
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And then you can't open a drawer, you know, you can't open a door, or if you open a door, see what falls out.
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Yep.
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And it's the point, like you could never put it all back in there the same because it's so shoved.
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And it's like once air reaches it, it becomes three times the size of what it was when it was shoved.
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Yep.
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But for that, it's like we've been shoving these things away and we've just been getting something new.
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And often because things are inexpensive or you know, relatively inexpensive, it's easier to just buy something than go through our whole closet to find the thing.
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Yep.
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And then I also find that going through the closet, it's you people might get mad at themselves.
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You know, there's a lot of um buying habits that come when you go through things one by one that you're like, ah, that was I can't believe I never wore that.
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Oh, that doesn't even fit, and it still has the tag on it.
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So it's like when you go through things that one by one, it can be really hard to to to get through.
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So when we come in and we pull it all out, but that's like there are many of households that have 50 water bottles.
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Yes.
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Half of them don't probably have matching lids.
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Right.
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So we come in and it's you know, if we're gonna belabor the water bottle point, you know, we will go and through that, you know, we put things with like with like so that we can really see what we have.
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And that's where a lot of times I see people like overbuying their favorites, you know, or overbuying the things that they know they're gonna use because it's like I don't know what I have, but I know I like that.
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And so of course, if I just buy one more, I will use it.
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But when a professional person that you hired to sort through your stuff pulls it all out and puts it together, it's like you've got 20 of those.
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And even though it's your favorite, it's gonna take you three years to get through that and it expires in a year.
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Yeah, so there's stuff like that that we're constantly what do you think are some of the things that we see the most of?
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Um I would say a lot of times with food, people tend to buy more than they actually need.
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And I think it kind of comes down to they'll go to the store, see things that are probably on sale, like buy two, get one free or something, and not taking into consideration the space that they actually have at their home to keep it when they could not take advantage of the sale and end up probably spending more money and just get what they actually need.
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Have you ever noticed also that sometimes things say like two for four dollars, but the unit cost is two dollars if you get one?
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Yes.
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And so it's also that, you know, and I think I wish that that we had, you know, really algorithm-driven influencers around demystifying some of these, you know, influence, these like I feel like there's such a science around marketing to us these days.
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Oh, absolutely.
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And then the algorithms make it that much easier.
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You know, all these companies, and I'm all for convenience and for life advancement and you know, getting to live in a more advanced world.
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But it feels like there's a lot of skepticism coming up, but you know, we're so influenced, we're so algorithmized, you know, if that's a word, like where everything that we we talk about gets put in front of us later from the the microphones that are listening, you know.
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So it's like we're up against such a hard thing to be up against, that's but it's like the brain science, you know, the dopamine hit that these companies know we get just from buying something.
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You know, there's there's so many different things at play.
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We should have a brain researcher on and talk about this consumerism.
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But I think that the professional organizing industry, yeah, some of it definitely glamorizes over consumption.
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A lot of the most popular accounts on Instagram connected to organizing have some very, very luxury market, very, very beautiful pantries, likely a house staff that helps manage that pantry, likely somebody who's helping make the food from it.
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But I think what we try to do and what we love, you know, a lot of the organizers' day-to-day that isn't glamorous is just going through someone's kitchen with them being like, do you need all this?
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Like, do you want, you know, what what would be the optimal amount?
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What's the right amount for your home for your cooking habits?
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You know, but but then you add in like the quick fix of DoorDash, which I'm a huge user of, which is problematic in my own life, you know.
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But so we might have everything that it takes to make something we love, but it's still easier to just DoorDash a meal.
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And so then the thing that we have goes to waste even more.
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Yeah.
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I think uh toiletries.
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Yeah.
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Mm-hmm.
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Especially skincare products.
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Like there's so many different trends that happen so quickly, skincare products, and half the time it's just one of those kind of instant gratifications because I feel like everything is marketed like, oh, this is going to make your life better, or this is gonna make your skin better.
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So you buy it with the hope that it's going to actually do that, get that instant gratification when it comes, and then you're like, oh, my life is gonna be great now.
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I thought that we could have an add-on offering to bring like a skin specialist.
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We actually have a client who does skin work as well that I've said, I should bring you in a bathroom, and after we've sorted, have you do a consultation with the client for what their skin actually needs because you're getting marketed things that you might not need that might be drying out your skin that's not actually serving you, but it's so marketed that it would.
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So we see all these same products over and over again.
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And I think being in people's houses and seeing the same thing over and over again and the same things not getting used over and over again has made me my skincare is so much simpler than it ever has been.
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You know, my my habits are so much simpler because you know, I think we've added so much complexity to the day that isn't serving people.
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I mean, you ask a lot of elderly women who have beautiful skin what they use, it's like Olay.
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You know, like a$7 bottle.
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I was at Mary's uh, you know, senior living community, and there's this woman with this beautiful, what's the one that's you're worth it?
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L'Oreal?
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Um L'Oreal.
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I think L'Oreal.
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I don't know.
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Yeah.
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She was like, I use L'Oreal.
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I'm worth it.
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You know, and it was like so cute.
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She had the best skin.
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And it's like, uh, there were that that's$10.
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Drugstore her whole life, she looks amazing.
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So I think, you know, all of it, yes, there are, you know, you've been an aesthetician, so you know there are good things with some of these very fancy products.
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Yeah.
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But what I think we try to do for people, you know, is just allow a moment of, do I need this?
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Wow, I've I've really I've really got too much.
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And I think what we feel is that we get people who are really having a moment of feeling like I'm so overwhelmed by all of this stuff, and I don't need it all, and it's getting in my way, and it's making my my life more difficult, and we just I just want to simplify.
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That's what I think people hire professional organizers for.
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What do you what do you think are that Yeah, I agree with that.
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I'd also say too, I feel like some people need that like neutral party to come in and be like, hey, it's okay to not keep all this stuff that you don't need.
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100%.
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I think there's the the overwhelm, there's the neutral party to go through it to evaluate it.
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I think there's the expertise to know what to leave behind as far as product goes.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I'd say a lot of times when we go into houses, we'll see kind of a stack of organizing products that people will randomly buy, thinking it'll work for them, not taking into consideration one, their lifestyle, and also two, like the space that they actually have.
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And that to me gets into even the dopamine hit and exactly what we're talking about, whether it's you know, a water bottle, a skincare, you know, any item, the organizing products are just the same because it's like, if I just buy this, you know, the home edit.
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I worked at the home edit um at the container store the week that the home edit came out.
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So the home edit is these two gals out of Nashville, created a beautiful business.
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Um, one of their husbands is a professional photographer, so all of their photos are just amazing.
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They put everything in a rainbow, they're very good on Instagram, and they blew up, you know, just took off.
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Then they film a Netflix series that comes out like right during COVID.
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So now you got everybody at home looking around at their stuff.
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They go to Netflix and they see, oh my God, I can my life can look like that.
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Like, and it's on the home edit.
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Then mid-2020, so as soon as the world opens back up and you can go back to the container store and actually start organizing your house that you've been, you know, suffocated in, yeah, you're like, this is the fix.
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And I would see people come in like literally wanting to replicate the plan that they saw on TV without any idea of dimensions of their shelves, without any idea of like if that actually worked or not.
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It was just, I saw it on TV.
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This is what they used, I'm gonna buy that exact thing.
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Yep.
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Half the time that might work great, no problem.
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But half the time you need more of what you bought.
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You actually had four extra inches on every shelf, and you just completely, you know, lost that square inches, you know, just not you'd like to lost that space.
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Yeah.
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And so it's like having a professional organizer, we come in with our tape measure first.
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You know, my consultation pictures are not just like, oh, this is the room and this is the drawer.
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It's with a tape measure in the drawer, knowing this is a 14-inch depth drawer.
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It's, you know, eight inches high, so I can get the bins that can go that high instead of just smaller ones.
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You know, we're really coming in, being like, how can we design a solution that works for you and not just bringing one product or something that we use every time?
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It's there's all there's things that we love and we use over and over, but it's a very custom product solution in addition to the physical support.
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So I think that, you know, what I love about our industry is, and we've talked about it many times and we've brought many clients on to talk about it, but the actual end result of what we do for people, which is help them go through everything in their home, help them make sense of it, help them make sure that what gets left behind feels really good.
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And when we go back to people's houses a couple years later, a few years later, you know, a lot of times it's just sizes changed, kids grew, they aged out of what they were interested in.
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So it can, it's an obvious what goes, but it's not like the system we left behind didn't work and we're overhauling that.
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You know, it's the easiest days for us when we go back a couple years later because we're bringing minimal product, we're just putting things back together in what we already started.
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But you can see that the habits that led us to being hired have also changed because people were able to have that intervention moment and be like, we're not letting it get that way again.
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You know, we're not, we invested, we we overbought on the product, on the on the stuff before.
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We put this money, we put this investment of time and and kind of having to deal with it.
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:47.680
You know, it's we went through this process and then you can see on the other side of it, they are more conscious consumers.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:54.400
So that to me is like the biggest win when we can help people really not have that overwhelm move forward.
00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:59.440
We can acknowledge it, we were where we were, here we are, we're going in a new direction.
00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:04.960
When we come back, it will always feel like that's the biggest moment of pride for me is when we go back.
00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:06.640
And it's it's better.
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:16.640
Well, and you've created a space for every single item that they have so they can always see how much they have, so then they may save a lot of money in the long run by knowing what they have.
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:21.440
I think that the spending changes enormously when we when we're finished.
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:26.799
I think people feel excited to shop their own closets, and we talk like that too.
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.960
We say things while we're on the job of now you can shop your own closet.
00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:33.599
Now you can shop your own pantry.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:41.839
Now you know what toiletries you have, and you don't need to go back to the store, and you can actually have fun going to your own closet and feel that dopamine hit.
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:50.000
I mean, you told me about your feeling of going to a drawer and you didn't realize it stressed you out until after you went to it and it didn't stress you out.
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:51.519
Yeah.
00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:55.119
I mean, I would just open it and be like, ah, I can't find anything, just forget about it.
00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:00.960
And then once I got it more organized, and then I went, I'm like, oh, I don't have to have that stressed out feeling anymore.
00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:14.559
I think that's what we do for people, and so then but that's like I just put this effort into curating what's in my home and into making sure it's the right amount of stuff and that I want everything that I want.
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:25.440
It's very hard to go to a store afterward and like a week later, a month later, I think be like, I'm gonna get this thing that the organizer would have we I would have gotten rid of in front of the organizer.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:25.759
Yeah.
00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:34.160
It's like you have that confrontation with yourself and with your spending and with your fixes, and you're like, I don't want to live that way anymore.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:52.000
And so hopefully we've done enough work that was not just around the prettiness of it, but really the the story behind your stuff and your relationship to it, so that you know what we leave behind is a better relationship with your home, with the stuff, and then your family's flowing better.
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:59.440
And you know, so then every time you carry in those bags, you know if there's space for it or not, and you don't want to overstuff that bin, you know.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.559
Like, oh, we have too many snacks.
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:04.799
You know, this is this is our moment.
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:10.880
So I think that we can certainly stand behind what we do in people's houses and helping them get there.
00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:20.240
But something that we'll talk about, we'll take a quick break and we'll come back and talk about how we ethically redistribute stuff when we leave people's house.
00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:26.240
Because what we don't talk about much in the organizing industry, I think is what happens after.
00:22:26.480 --> 00:23:03.759
And from a standpoint of, you know, living in a world with overconsumption, living in a world with, you know, the pressure on the planet that we're putting from this overconsumption in so many different ways, I think it's an interesting time that this industry that we're in can actually help take the abundance from a home that no longer needs these things, the excess from over here, and help community members who could use the resource, you know, and could and making sure that what we what we do to is not just brought to one thrift store and then half of that is now trash and it's not just focused on trash.
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:12.720
Like we feel, we feel this, you know, connection to our clients to make sure that what we we leave in their home is a really well-done job.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:21.039
But then I think that we're very much driven by making sure that what we take away also has intention and how we take that away.
00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:23.279
So we'll let's talk about that when we get right back.
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:24.319
We'll take a quick break.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.359
This is Sorting Through Life on AM950.
00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:39.359
All right, welcome back to Sorting Through Life.
00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:43.599
This is Colleen Waterston, owner of Space by Space Organizing.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:56.880
And we today I'm here with Alicia, who goes into almost every home that I go into with our business, and then Tiffany, who gets the pictures and videos after and gets to put it all together so that we can share what we do with the world.
00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:08.880
So, Tiffany, you're kind of guiding this conversation a little bit, but uh we talked about what we do with the stuff that we leave in someone's house, you know, but there's a lot that gets taken out.
00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:24.000
And really they say like you can't organize a cluttered space, you know, and decluttering is the first step for sure, and just kind of having an inventory of what you own, but there's a lot of stuff that comes out of the house from the organizing process.
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:24.640
Yeah.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:27.839
So let's just talk about where where does the stuff go after it?
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.759
What's um the ethical responsibility of decluttering?
00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:34.079
The ethical responsibility.
00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:53.119
Uh I would say a lot of organizers, I think they do one drop-off to a place, you know, in um on the way home between the client and the house, their own home, and then they they just it's it's like everything's put into big bags, the bags get dropped off.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:25:02.640
And in my my perspective is that about half of that stuff that we would take out of someone's home if dropped off to one location becomes trash.
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:08.880
It's like a thrift store can only sell they get such a high volume, you know, of stuff dropped off.
00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:14.160
So it's like, you know, that might not have they don't have the shelf space for it or something.
00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:20.640
So for us with Space by Space, and you know, I haven't done an inventory of every single organizer and where they go.
00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:31.839
I just can tell you that from what we do is we do our best when things leave the house to try to get them to a place that will have a next use or a proper disposal.
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:37.680
So a lot of things, electronics will take hazardous waste and make sure that that goes to the right.
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.880
Um so recently I just speak to that.
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.880
You know, we take a there's a lot of cords.
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:43.440
Yes.
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:48.559
Everybody has a bin accords that they might need one day.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:59.519
And I do feel bad, like I'm sure there are some times that the week after you throw away your bin accords, somebody finds, you know, one thing that needed that one cord and and shoot.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:04.079
But I'd say more often than not, it's it's the bin accords that are not needed.
00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:04.960
Yeah.
00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:12.720
So with that, like you there's certain things you can throw away in the trash, and there's certain things that you can bring to a hazardous waste site.
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:14.640
We in the Twin Cities have one.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:17.119
It's called Ramsey County Environmental Center.
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:21.839
It's in Roseville, and it serves the seven counties in the area.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:29.039
And so, even as a for myself, Hennepin County, I went there the other day and was able to get rid of some sharps they have.
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:36.960
They they work in connection with Repowered, which is this really great organization that you can bring things to for electronics recycling.
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:45.359
But if you have electronics recycling and other things, you can go to this Ramsey County Environment Environmental Center.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:56.880
Um, you know, there's we go to sharing and carrying hands a lot for things that's a um a homeless community center, and so you know things are going direct.
00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:09.920
We we do our best if it's something of use uh that can go direct to a person to bring something to a an organization that serves those people and gives our items directly to them.
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.799
Bridging does great with household items.
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:15.599
And um, we've been going to prop shop recently.
00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:32.240
So there's a there's a lot of thrift stores that have that mission attached to it, where it's you know, not only is is it nice that people can shop for low value, you know, get a deal on an item, but also the profit that's made is going directly back into a really good mission.
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:32.559
Yeah.
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:34.960
And so I think that you can find those everywhere.
00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:42.000
We have ones that are closest to our warehouse, closest to our clients, closest to my house is kind of where I frequent.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.160
Uh, but but there's so many places.
00:27:44.240 --> 00:28:06.000
So reuse Minnesota, we had Emily Barker on here, and Emily and I did a presentation uh at a local community center about where things can go so that you can feel good because there's actually a lot of people who will take either the value of an item through reselling it or the valuable aspects of the technology.
00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:08.960
There's different ways that you can feel good about decluttering.
00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:17.839
Uh someone once said, you know, his wife didn't want to declutter because she was worried that everything would just end up in a landfill.
00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.000
And he said, Well, I tell her I'm worried our house is becoming the landfill.
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:29.039
So it's like I get that, where it's like there's this shoot, if we just get rid of everything, all we're doing is just throwing it away.
00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:30.160
I feel bad about that.
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:42.720
But I think that what we've done is, and there's just so many different resources out there in lists that are online, and and we direct people to them on our website and in our different social media, thanks to you, Tiffany.
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:50.160
But and we want to do that more and more where it's just celebrating this doesn't have to make you feel bad for getting it's not all trash.
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:51.200
Yeah.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:59.599
I think that's one of the things that I appreciated when I first started working for you is when we would take stuff away, you would mention, like, oh, I'm going to this place, this place, and this place.
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.359
So you're not just bringing it to a thrift store that sells things for profit.
00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.880
It's like getting things back into the community to help people.
00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:12.079
And sometimes that means we do like a post-sort or we've got to hang on to something.
00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:22.079
You know, I'll I'll kind of hang on to things until I get a critical mass to make it worth driving across town to do that donation drive, you know, the the drive for it.
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:28.160
Or my dad has been one of the biggest drivers of donations, especially the first couple years of doing this.
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:32.079
I mean, he was constantly coming and picking up what I had had in my garage.
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:33.839
Okay, this goes here, this goes here.
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:36.960
And not everybody has time for that or the resource for that.
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:46.799
But I think that, you know, when you hire space-by-space organizing, we make sure that we do our best to give something an extended life.
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:56.240
But I think that when you declutter, you can feel good about, you know, you can do a little bit of research to make sure that something goes to a next use.
00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:58.400
Well, yeah, and you talked about electronics.
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.920
So what are some other things um like maybe clothing or books?
00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:05.839
What are some other places that you end up taking things to from homes?
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:17.119
Something we did a big book uh, a book client recently where we just spent kind of days going through a very extensive decades and decades of books.
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:25.839
And I told him, I will do my best to make these books stay in circulation if if they should.
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:43.839
You know, there were some that were like health trends of 2005 and certain textbooks that certain textbooks still have value, but certain many textbooks have aged out, the information's not as relevant, and so some of that just was was waste or recycling.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:46.720
You know, we just that was just something we had to make the call for.
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:58.160
But we did find there's um there's a lot of resellers online, and there's a world of books is one of the biggest online resellers, and they have an app that you can just scan barcode by barcode.
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.160
And you know, we were able to recover some costs for him from the books.
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.000
Uh we we learned through that.
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:08.720
You know, I think that that was kind of a learning client for us because we'd never had that many books.
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:20.880
So usually the books just go to a thrift store or um, you know, or a place as a social services if they're books that are relevant, but I'm not gonna impose on sharing and carrying hands textbooks from the 80s.
00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.680
You know, there's there's that's one thing too.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:34.640
Like when you're donating, I mean, I have done probably more loads of laundry and dishes for clients before I donate something than most people would.
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:46.160
But I it's a value I have, I make the time for it, I kind of get a kick out of it, but I also know that in the condition something might be taken out of the house, it's not in an appropriate condition to donate.
00:31:46.640 --> 00:32:26.319
So when someone hires us, like we have a project management fee connected to our rate, and that's kind of like we don't charge you then for the shopping, we don't charge you for the, you know, for for dumping, for extra certain extra things, so that we can just based on the work that we've done in your house, it comes out to a pretty fair amount of all the work we're doing outside of your house to honor the work that we're doing in your house, whether that's the planning and the prepping and making sure that everybody when they walk in the door is ready to go and we're not wasting time in your house wrapping our heads around what we're doing, but also all the product that we bring, all of the envisioning and planning, and so like all the shopping that's done.
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:37.039
But then when we leave, it's the returning if it's the product, it's it's taking things to proper donation, it's to proper recycling and all that stuff on our client behalf.
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:45.279
And and so that uh feels feels good and fair, but uh I kind of lost my train if I'm honest.
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:48.000
But I I'm Well, I imagine there's a lot of clothing too.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.720
Like what's what's some good where do you like to bring that?
00:32:51.119 --> 00:33:00.319
Okay, so yeah, so we when I do people's dishes and when I watch people's clothes, I feel that that's my time off the clock is you know covered.
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:04.960
We've we've given them that we're gonna do our best for you and for your stuff.
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:08.720
There's a lot of people who have dogs with a ton of hair.
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:15.200
And so to me, it's not appropriate to bring all your dog hair to, you know, to donate your clothes with.
00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:17.200
Like it's just nice to donate the clothes.
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:21.759
So I will take that on and make sure that I wash their clothes before it goes.
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.720
But so with that, like we do love a sharing and carrying hands.
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:33.279
Our prop shop has, you know, all of the, I think it's men's and kids' clothes that go, they go direct to their social services programs, you know, so you can find outlets.
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:36.240
And, you know, Reuse Minnesota has a great directory.
00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:44.559
I know Hennepin County and the different counties have, you know, go on to your county website and look for these lists, and they've got these great lists.
00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:58.000
And because of AI and the ability to kind of gather data better, there's more and more lists coming together that are reliable and and relevant around where to donate your clothes, you can feel good.
00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:08.480
Also, there's consignment shops, like there's um, I think it's cats, cat cake plus in um is plus size clothes, and you can get some money back for it.
00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:18.880
Serves this really great um, great shop, great, you know, there's vintage shops, there's different reselling options too uh in the community that can feel really good.
00:34:19.039 --> 00:34:26.320
So I think, you know, kind of establishing those routines as part of your decluttering can be part of the fun, finding the people.
00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:30.000
And then when you go in, I mean, it's not that many people that run these stores.
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:36.639
You start to know who you're talking to and and seeing the same people every time you're going to, you know, bring another batch.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:38.480
So there's lots of different options.
00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:44.559
We're working on always making better, better resources ourselves to be able to show people where we like to go.
00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:56.880
But, you know, knowing that people might be listening to this out of Minnesota too, it's just Googling more efficiently, you know, asking like where can I bring my clothes that go direct to a person who needs them?
00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:04.320
Um, and and maybe it's like dress clothes or maybe it's you know baby clothes and you're going to a a women's shelter.
00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:13.440
You know, there's there's different places that you can take things and have that different feeling of of your own dopamine rush of that you did something good today.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:13.840
Yeah.
00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:16.559
I just think that a lot of people are like, oh, I feel so good.
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:18.000
I dropped this all off to donate.
00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:22.159
And it's like where you went, half of that is now trash.
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:24.480
You know, just because of the volume of stuff that they get.
00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:29.199
That's what it's hard to know, and especially like when you're trying to evaluate the condition of things, you know.
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:31.039
I don't know if you guys have a method for that.
00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:35.679
Do things have to be like new kind of to be accepted at a lot of those places?
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.719
Or I feel like it depends on where it's being donated.
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:44.320
Like obviously, nothing super damaged, no like rips, tears staining on clothes and stuff.
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:47.840
But yeah, it kind of depends on where it's being dropped off.
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:50.079
Yeah.
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:50.559
Yeah.
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:54.000
And if it's like a consignment, they're gonna tell you that we don't want these things.
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:56.159
Because they're really picky at those kind of places.
00:35:56.320 --> 00:36:05.119
So I didn't know if a lot of those um sharing and caring hands, like you mentioned and stuff, if they well, and that's where I think a lot of people dump a lot of trash on some of these nonprofits.
00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:16.159
And so, you know, my charge to people there would be there there were we were in a home recently and and her thought was would I serve this to a friend?
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:28.320
You know, for like for something to be kept, you know, and I think that also when you're thinking of and bridging says, we want your home goods items that you would give to a friend.
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:33.679
You know, we don't want the stuff that you think might have one more year in it, one more go in it.
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:43.679
You know, there is that idea of if you're if you're bringing something and you're imposing it on a social service provider, think about the person shopping.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:54.559
You know, so in bridging's case, they have where people can go and actually shop their warehouses and they get certain allotments for what they can have for the different home goods items.
00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:56.719
Think about that person's experience.
00:36:56.880 --> 00:36:59.519
You know, they're going in there and they get to shop with that dignity.
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:03.599
There's there's no cost attached, there's a long wait list because there's so many people who need these things.
00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:10.159
It's like, you know, do you want somebody to get something that looks so, so, so used?
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:13.840
Or is it nice to be able to say, look at these dishes that you're getting?
00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:18.000
You know, like you're also wanting um, you know, just think about that.
00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:21.599
Like it's kind of the golden rule, treat other people like you would want to be treated.
00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:23.119
You know, look at an item.
00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:24.559
Would I want to use this?
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:26.960
Like, does this actually have a next life?
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:33.920
And I think, you know, for us, that's where like we do have some access for waste that that not every organizer has.
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:38.000
So we're able to help people take their waste, but waste is expensive.
00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:55.920
And sometimes that's just the cost that you have to when you have a lot of waste, you might have to pay a dumping fee, you know, or the the junk king, the junk people's pickup fees, you know, and it just costs because the the cost of getting rid of stuff, you know.
00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:58.719
Emily Barker says she's the executive director of Reu.
00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:20.400
She's like, if you're going to a place that doesn't charge for some of the electronics that that are attached to to fees, she's like, make sure that that's actually a legit place because they might not be disposing of something properly because there is work to, you know, get the things that shouldn't be going into our into our landfills or shouldn't be going into our environment in any way.
00:38:20.559 --> 00:38:31.199
And also like putting your electronics in the regular trash, that can cause a dumpster fire in the trash dumpster while a person is driving that car.
00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:33.519
And so you hear that happen too.
00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:38.400
So it's like kind of a laziness or a desire to save a few bucks.
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:41.519
You're just punting the problem down the line.
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:59.679
And I think that's where, you know, the ethical idea of it is like we're gonna do our best not only to capture value and distribute that value to a next person, but also if something is trash, we are not gonna sit there and make you feel good about it that you think it's not.
00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:04.480
But we might do a post-sort and some of that stuff becomes trash after it leaves your house.
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:10.480
But we're gonna do our best to make sure that what what does go into the community is is worthwhile.
00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:22.079
It's just a lot of stuff, but it does get into, you know, when we we are probably less big spenders and shoppers because we've thrown away so much on our our own halves and other behalves.
00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:22.480
Oh, yeah.
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:31.119
You know, and so you really after you see all that waste, you can't help but kind of see it, see your spending a little bit differently, see your intake a little bit differently.
00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:32.400
Let's take a quick break.
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:34.719
We'll come back and kind of wrap this up with a bow.
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:38.719
Maybe talk about a few other things and and call it a day.
00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:41.840
This is Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watston.
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:56.239
All right, welcome back to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950.
00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:00.639
And we are talking about all things space-by-space organizing.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:03.039
And we are professional organizers.
00:40:03.119 --> 00:40:10.159
I have Alicia here who comes into all the different houses with me, and Tiffany here who sees the pictures and videos from all the different houses.
00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:16.400
And we've talked a lot about what we left behind, what we leave behind in people's houses, and how we take things out.
00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:21.199
So, Tiffany, you've got another lineup of topics for us here.
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:23.119
Yeah, we talked a lot about donating.
00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:26.800
So let's talk about how reselling fits into your process.
00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:29.039
Okay, so reselling.
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:31.440
Reselling, we love.
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:39.760
And it's an interesting topic because I think that there we it's like the circular economy that things would have another life.
00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:42.559
And what's fun about reselling?
00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:46.559
So in the last segment, we kind of talked about some of the consignment options out there.
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:50.639
So consignment is when someone resells something on your own behalf.
00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:53.840
So it's you take it to a store and then you kind of profit share.
00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:59.280
Maybe they give you cash right on site, maybe they give you uh credit.
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:08.239
So we've had Christelle of uh Tyson Escobar here of EcoChico and Solaware, which is consignment in West St.
00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:11.519
Paul, two great shops, one's for kids and one's for adults.
00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:18.480
And they've got a great like credit option that works in their store, and it's super smart.
00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:21.679
It helps get people back in the store, but all of your items get valued.
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:24.559
So you get value for what you bring in.
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:29.199
And that's really fun for people, you know, because it's a different way to shop.
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.239
And it's a way to bring what you don't want anymore.
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:34.880
You've taken, you know, 10 pictures in the same top.
00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:36.880
Maybe you're ready for something else.
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:40.719
Okay, let me get let me put that back into the circular economy.
00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:46.800
Um but we have kind of played with a lot of resale and with clients.
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:54.159
We had Warren here who Alicia and I really learned like estate selling and in-person sales through.
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:59.599
And then, and we'd go, we'd host these estate sales, and people would kind of be like, oh, these are a lot of money.
00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:06.480
And I'm like, what I realized about hosting a sale is a about half the people, if not more, that come are resellers.
00:42:06.719 --> 00:42:11.519
And so they're coming and hoping you price things wrong so that they can go make more money.
00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:15.199
And I would say, um, I also have the internet.
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:30.400
And so we can make him more money item by item on certain items, but there's certain things where you would never spend the time to put online, and that's where a garage sale and an estate sale and an estate sale is kind of like an all-at-on has to go.
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:38.639
And different sales have different, you know, and people know different companies, like people would be like, oh, these companies, every record's five dollars.
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:41.280
These rec companies, it's all priced separate.
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:47.039
You know, people have their different selling strategies, but we've had a lot of luck on Facebook Marketplace.
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:47.360
Yeah.
00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:47.760
Yeah.
00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:50.079
How do you all pro how do you all price your items?
00:42:50.239 --> 00:43:04.960
Did you say you use an app or you use Google Lens or Um I would always usually reverse Google image search or kind of search on Facebook if there was something very similar, and then just kind of also take into consideration the condition of the item.
00:43:05.119 --> 00:43:08.079
Like if it's brand new, you want to price it a little bit higher.
00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:12.639
If it has some wear and tear, maybe not so much at a higher price.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:23.679
And you know, hosting yourself a sale uh is a great way to come to terms with the fact that not all your stuff does have value and that people don't want to buy it.
00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:31.440
Uh eBay is something that you have to be careful with because anytime you you so you Google Lens is everybody's friends.
00:43:31.519 --> 00:43:40.000
So for anybody that doesn't know this, you go to Google on your phone and there's the little photo, like the the camera in the corner.
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:47.280
You click on that and you can either upload a photo or take one right there, and it populates a Google search for that image.
00:43:47.679 --> 00:43:53.599
I don't know when this was invented, but I'm all for technological advancements thanks to that feature alone.
00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:58.000
I mean, it has made our lives so much easier to be able to look something up and see what it is.
00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:05.440
I have heard That Google gives a higher inflated idea of what the value is of something.
00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:13.440
Or you might see, you know, so on eBay, there's a a way to search for what's actually been purchased versus what is just listed.
00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:17.920
Because the resale value is what someone's willing to pay you for it.
00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:20.960
And so if you're That's where people get confused, I think.
00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:24.320
People will see something like, oh, they've got this online for a hundred dollars.
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:27.679
And it's like, well, let's go to search, and Alicia found this.
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:31.440
You know, where are the searches of what is it has been bought?
00:44:31.760 --> 00:44:32.000
Yep.
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:36.960
Yeah, you can, it's like a filter you can apply, sort by items that have previously been sold.
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:40.719
And the nice thing too is it gives you a date of when the item was sold.
00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:49.199
So you can reference that like, oh, this was sold a month ago at this price, or this was sold a year ago at this price, and just kind of go from there.
00:44:50.239 --> 00:45:04.719
And I would say that our clients, you know, some a lot of our clients don't really care what happens to the stuff that leave their house because they are so focused and excited about what stays in their house and the order that we brought to it.
00:45:04.960 --> 00:45:10.559
And when you think of like the cost benefit, like sometimes there might be like, oh, that's worth something, right?
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:19.599
And I'm like, okay, so by the time you pay us to put this online, it's not, you know, like we have to recover the cost for us, you know, taking the pictures.
00:45:19.679 --> 00:45:30.559
And we've learned a lot and we've kind of grappled with how to take advantage of some of these reselling sites and offer them to our clients when the situation makes sense for both of us.
00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:34.480
Because we're not a reselling business, we're a home organizing business.
00:45:34.639 --> 00:45:42.880
But through the home organizing process and decluttering, a lot of things of value do leave, a lot of things of not much value leave.
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:51.119
And also a lot of we kind of have to have that moment with people like you're not gonna make a hundred dollars off of this thing.
00:45:51.199 --> 00:45:51.920
You might make twenty.
00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:55.039
You know, and so we've we've gotten creative.
00:45:55.199 --> 00:46:07.679
Sometimes we'll do it for a client while they're in their house on their own account, and we'll take the photos, we'll make the listing, and it actually is worth the time that we're doing it to get those things out of their house, but now it's on them to manage.
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:26.880
But we've definitely incorporated and and for some things profit share when we do take it out of people's houses, but that's gotta be a pretty high value to make it worth us taking on, us, you know, us holding space for it, because sometimes things sell like in three minutes and sometimes things sell in three months.
00:46:27.039 --> 00:46:28.719
And so also kind of knowing that.
00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:32.320
But we've we've got a lot, we've done a lot of work, and we're gonna launch a course.
00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:38.079
If you're interested, message us, message me, Colleen at space by spaceorganizing.com.
00:46:38.159 --> 00:46:58.400
If you're interested in learning more about reselling, because that will motivate us to finish our class that we've been working on to help people resell because there's so much that goes into it, you know, the way to list things, the way to take pictures, how to measure things, how to communicate with buyers, which buyers to take seriously, which ones not to, you know, various language to use in the messaging.
00:46:58.480 --> 00:47:04.400
You know, I have 300 and I think 65 five-star reviews on Facebook Marketplace.
00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:06.639
It is a lot of work.
00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:10.320
This is not like there are some times I'm like, I worked very hard for$2.
00:47:11.039 --> 00:47:18.480
And then there are some times that I didn't work that hard for$200, you know, but that you have to kind of find your flow and find your boundaries within that.
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:20.960
But anyway, we are almost out of time here.
00:47:21.119 --> 00:47:30.400
So I hope that this has inspired you to think a little bit more about the things that are in your house, the life and the the way you would like your stuff to surround you.
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:37.280
And as you get rid of things that no longer serve you, could they serve someone else better?
00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:41.199
And how best can you bring those items into the world?
00:47:41.280 --> 00:47:43.039
And where can you drive them to?
00:47:43.199 --> 00:47:44.480
How can you resell them?
00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:47.840
We are here for a resource, face by spaceorganizing.com.
00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:51.519
This is Sorting Through Life with Colleen Waterston.
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:56.000
And we are on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:58.639
Thanks for listening, and thanks to you two gals for being here.
00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:09.199
Welcome, welcome to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:18.800
I am Colleen Waterston, and I am the host of this show and also the owner of Space by Space Organizing, which is really the sponsor of this show.
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And we we dreamt up having this show as a way to be able to share what goes on inside of people's houses through professional organizing.
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So I am a professional organizer with Space by Space, a home organizing business here in the Twin Cities.
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I'm here today with Alicia, who is my right hand since almost day one of the business.
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And we have gone into dozens and dozens of homes across the Twin Cities.
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And also here today with Tiffany, who is so much more than a social media gal, marketing gal, business-minded gal, but she's on our team and helps us to take the stories about what we do in people's homes and share them.
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And when Alicia and I first started talking about having a podcast or this radio show opportunity presented itself, we really wanted to normalize what people feel when we're in their homes and to talk about, you know, so much more than just a pretty pantry or, you know, a perfectly organized home, but the trends that we see and kind of the psychology behind some of our stuff.
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And so today's episode, I really want us to be able to talk about having a more intentional relationship with stuff.
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And what I hope is that when our clients hire us, by the end of our time with them, they've had they have a more intentional relationship with their stuff.
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And that we have given them such a custom experience around sorting through their stuff that we're able to, you know, it provides enormous value.
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You know, we bring clients on and it feels like we've done, we do that for our clients.
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But for just anybody listening, I want to give some strategies and some support around how to deal with stuff and how to feel good about dealing with stuff and having a more intentional relationship with the stuff.
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So by the end of today, I hope that we we kind of talk about knowing what you own before buying more, building systems in your house and in your life that support the way you actually live and the person that you actually are, not just your aspirational self, uh, decluttering and how that does not have to mean sending everything to a landfill.
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So we'll talk about some of our donations and reselling habits so that we can help people feel better about getting rid of things and actually recover some of the costs in many situations.
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So we'll talk about thinking beyond keeping or throwing away.
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You know, there's so much more than just those two options.
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Should it stay or should it go?
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It could be should it stay and how?
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But then if it goes, like where and how should it go?
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And ultimately the goal is not an empty home.
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You know, we are not minimalists here at Space by Space.
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We love stuff that serves us.
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We love the stuff that serves our clients.
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And so we we want homes that have the right amount of useful, meaningful, and manageable belongings.
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So by the end of this, we hope that people not only feel in the company of many like-minded, like like-acting people, you know, we all live in the same world uh where we have a lot of consumption.
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Uh, but feel I hope people feel not alone.
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And then I hope that when people go to declutter, we've given them some more creative ideas for where to donate, especially in the Twin Cities, some great resources around, you know, where do you bring your stuff so that you can feel good about it, the things you no longer need.
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And hey, I've heard about Facebook Marketplace.
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I've heard about, you know, there's a lot of people think, well, I could sell that.
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That still has value.
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And sometimes things have good monetary value that make it worth your while to actually go into reselling.
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So we'll get there too.
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But I'm gonna turn it over to Tiffany to kind of guide us today along the topic so that we can have this conversation.
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Yeah, um, let's talk about consumer habits and easy access to stuff with um, you know, online shopping, fast shipping, all that, all that kind of stuff.
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Oh, well, how many times, Alicia, do we walk into a house and it's like so many boxes at the front door?
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Yep.
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Everybody has like 10 Amazon boxes sitting around.
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Yeah.
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You can also kind of tell what clients are influenced by what because sometimes you see kind of similar things that aren't being used in people's houses, and I'm like, okay, saw that you probably got that on Instagram.
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There are I don't know how to launch a product on Instagram successfully.
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I'm not in the product launch business, but there's definitely a way to do it.
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All of a sudden it seems like everybody owns that same thing.
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Like, I don't understand how Stanley became the you know premier mug to have, you know, but it's like I think that what what I what we talk about, the psychology of stuff, and I think, you know, when you think about how we're being influenced, it's it's not just to buy and that we need these things, but it's like we need these to be cool.
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We need these so that our our favorite color shines from, you know, we every time we look at our water bottle, it represents who we are.
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You know, there's so many things that we've been influenced that you see in people's houses.
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And, you know, I would say that becoming an organizer, I buy less and I buy secondhand more.
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Like I'm so much more intentional over the last few years of being in people's houses and being in people's purchases and being in people's frustration with themselves for the purchases that and and knowing the value attached to some of these purchases.
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Yep.
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Stanley's when they came out were just a ridiculous amount of money to keep your water cold.
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Yeah.
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But they survive a car fire or something.
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Is that it?
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Yeah, there's some some sort of marketing was involved in that.
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You know, like you said, we've been over influenced.
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I feel like if I if my car caught on fire, I think the last thing I would think is, did my water bottle make it?
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That was my thought too.
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But you know, like I think I'd be like, what important documents were in there?
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You know, like nobody's being marketed like a fire safe for your car.
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But yet our Stanley will survive.
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Yeah.
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I think that's another thing too, is like so many things are purposely marketed that, like, oh, you need this product for this specific reason.
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And it's like, oh, maybe I do when it's not really a realistic situation.
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There are so many uh drink powders and different drink things, you know, and you can just see protein and hydration are like two major.
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Like, wow, are we all just dehydrated and protein deficient?
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Makes you think you are.
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It's well, so that's what I think that you know, what we try to do.
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And I think when so we have this process where we, you know, sort and then we evaluate, and then we put it back together.
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And during that evaluation, when everything is pulled out and sorted and you're able to see the excessive amounts, that is the moment of intervention for our clients.
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Where it's like we're standing looking out over all that you own in that space in your house, you know, and so we'll take on the amount that we can sort within the space so that we can have that effective sort.
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And Alicia and I, I think we were good at this from day one, but we've gotten better and better at knowing what we have capacity for to start and finish in a day, but also what a client has capacity for from the exhaustion level of, you know, because it's a reckoning with yourself.
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You know, you are facing yourself when you face your stuff.
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Yeah.
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And so there's some people I call shovers.
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And these are people who the the surfaces look amazing.
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The house often looks beautiful.
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You know, I went to this one house, I'm like, does she think I'm a house photographer?
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Like, did she get this appointment wrong?
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Like, what does she need me for?
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It was gorgeous.
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And then you can't open a drawer, you know, you can't open a door, or if you open a door, see what falls out.
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Yep.
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And it's the point, like you could never put it all back in there the same because it's so shoved.
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And it's like once air reaches it, it becomes three times the size of what it was when it was shoved.
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Yep.
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But for that, it's like we've been shoving these things away and we've just been getting something new.
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And often because things are inexpensive or you know, relatively inexpensive, it's easier to just buy something than go through our whole closet to find the thing.
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Yep.
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And then I also find that going through the closet, it's you people might get mad at themselves.
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You know, there's a lot of um buying habits that come when you go through things one by one that you're like, ah, that was I can't believe I never wore that.
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Oh, that doesn't even fit, and it still has the tag on it.
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So it's like when you go through things that one by one, it can be really hard to to to get through.
00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:14.879
So when we come in and we pull it all out, but that's like there are many of households that have 50 water bottles.
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Yes.
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Half of them don't probably have matching lids.
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Right.
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So we come in and it's you know, if we're gonna belabor the water bottle point, you know, we will go and through that, you know, we put things with like with like so that we can really see what we have.
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And that's where a lot of times I see people like overbuying their favorites, you know, or overbuying the things that they know they're gonna use because it's like I don't know what I have, but I know I like that.
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And so of course, if I just buy one more, I will use it.
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But when a professional person that you hired to sort through your stuff pulls it all out and puts it together, it's like you've got 20 of those.
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And even though it's your favorite, it's gonna take you three years to get through that and it expires in a year.
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Yeah, so there's stuff like that that we're constantly what do you think are some of the things that we see the most of?
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Um I would say a lot of times with food, people tend to buy more than they actually need.
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And I think it kind of comes down to they'll go to the store, see things that are probably on sale, like buy two, get one free or something, and not taking into consideration the space that they actually have at their home to keep it when they could not take advantage of the sale and end up probably spending more money and just get what they actually need.
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Have you ever noticed also that sometimes things say like two for four dollars, but the unit cost is two dollars if you get one?
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Yes.
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And so it's also that, you know, and I think I wish that that we had, you know, really algorithm-driven influencers around demystifying some of these, you know, influence, these like I feel like there's such a science around marketing to us these days.
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Oh, absolutely.
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And then the algorithms make it that much easier.
00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:14.879
You know, all these companies, and I'm all for convenience and for life advancement and you know, getting to live in a more advanced world.
00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:33.919
But it feels like there's a lot of skepticism coming up, but you know, we're so influenced, we're so algorithmized, you know, if that's a word, like where everything that we we talk about gets put in front of us later from the the microphones that are listening, you know.
00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:44.720
So it's like we're up against such a hard thing to be up against, that's but it's like the brain science, you know, the dopamine hit that these companies know we get just from buying something.
00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.440
You know, there's there's so many different things at play.
00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:51.200
We should have a brain researcher on and talk about this consumerism.
00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:58.000
But I think that the professional organizing industry, yeah, some of it definitely glamorizes over consumption.
00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:17.279
A lot of the most popular accounts on Instagram connected to organizing have some very, very luxury market, very, very beautiful pantries, likely a house staff that helps manage that pantry, likely somebody who's helping make the food from it.
00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:28.320
But I think what we try to do and what we love, you know, a lot of the organizers' day-to-day that isn't glamorous is just going through someone's kitchen with them being like, do you need all this?
00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.679
Like, do you want, you know, what what would be the optimal amount?
00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:35.440
What's the right amount for your home for your cooking habits?
00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:43.679
You know, but but then you add in like the quick fix of DoorDash, which I'm a huge user of, which is problematic in my own life, you know.
00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:50.399
But so we might have everything that it takes to make something we love, but it's still easier to just DoorDash a meal.
00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:54.559
And so then the thing that we have goes to waste even more.
00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:55.120
Yeah.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:57.279
I think uh toiletries.
00:12:57.600 --> 00:12:57.840
Yeah.
00:12:58.000 --> 00:12:58.399
Mm-hmm.
00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:00.080
Especially skincare products.
00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:13.360
Like there's so many different trends that happen so quickly, skincare products, and half the time it's just one of those kind of instant gratifications because I feel like everything is marketed like, oh, this is going to make your life better, or this is gonna make your skin better.
00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:21.679
So you buy it with the hope that it's going to actually do that, get that instant gratification when it comes, and then you're like, oh, my life is gonna be great now.
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.720
I thought that we could have an add-on offering to bring like a skin specialist.
00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:47.039
We actually have a client who does skin work as well that I've said, I should bring you in a bathroom, and after we've sorted, have you do a consultation with the client for what their skin actually needs because you're getting marketed things that you might not need that might be drying out your skin that's not actually serving you, but it's so marketed that it would.
00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.399
So we see all these same products over and over again.
00:13:50.639 --> 00:14:03.200
And I think being in people's houses and seeing the same thing over and over again and the same things not getting used over and over again has made me my skincare is so much simpler than it ever has been.
00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:12.080
You know, my my habits are so much simpler because you know, I think we've added so much complexity to the day that isn't serving people.
00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:17.679
I mean, you ask a lot of elderly women who have beautiful skin what they use, it's like Olay.
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.120
You know, like a$7 bottle.
00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:28.240
I was at Mary's uh, you know, senior living community, and there's this woman with this beautiful, what's the one that's you're worth it?
00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:29.360
L'Oreal?
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:30.399
Um L'Oreal.
00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:31.600
I think L'Oreal.
00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:32.000
I don't know.
00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:32.240
Yeah.
00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:33.919
She was like, I use L'Oreal.
00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:34.879
I'm worth it.
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:36.799
You know, and it was like so cute.
00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:38.320
She had the best skin.
00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:42.480
And it's like, uh, there were that that's$10.
00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.759
Drugstore her whole life, she looks amazing.
00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:54.480
So I think, you know, all of it, yes, there are, you know, you've been an aesthetician, so you know there are good things with some of these very fancy products.
00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:54.879
Yeah.
00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:03.360
But what I think we try to do for people, you know, is just allow a moment of, do I need this?
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.200
Wow, I've I've really I've really got too much.
00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:26.080
And I think what we feel is that we get people who are really having a moment of feeling like I'm so overwhelmed by all of this stuff, and I don't need it all, and it's getting in my way, and it's making my my life more difficult, and we just I just want to simplify.
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:29.360
That's what I think people hire professional organizers for.
00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.320
What do you what do you think are that Yeah, I agree with that.
00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:40.799
I'd also say too, I feel like some people need that like neutral party to come in and be like, hey, it's okay to not keep all this stuff that you don't need.
00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:43.039
100%.
00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:51.360
I think there's the the overwhelm, there's the neutral party to go through it to evaluate it.
00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:56.559
I think there's the expertise to know what to leave behind as far as product goes.
00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:57.759
Yeah.
00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:58.240
Yeah.
00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:13.279
I'd say a lot of times when we go into houses, we'll see kind of a stack of organizing products that people will randomly buy, thinking it'll work for them, not taking into consideration one, their lifestyle, and also two, like the space that they actually have.
00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:29.919
And that to me gets into even the dopamine hit and exactly what we're talking about, whether it's you know, a water bottle, a skincare, you know, any item, the organizing products are just the same because it's like, if I just buy this, you know, the home edit.
00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:34.240
I worked at the home edit um at the container store the week that the home edit came out.
00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:39.360
So the home edit is these two gals out of Nashville, created a beautiful business.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:44.799
Um, one of their husbands is a professional photographer, so all of their photos are just amazing.
00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:50.320
They put everything in a rainbow, they're very good on Instagram, and they blew up, you know, just took off.
00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:56.159
Then they film a Netflix series that comes out like right during COVID.
00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.759
So now you got everybody at home looking around at their stuff.
00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:04.880
They go to Netflix and they see, oh my God, I can my life can look like that.
00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:06.319
Like, and it's on the home edit.
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:19.359
Then mid-2020, so as soon as the world opens back up and you can go back to the container store and actually start organizing your house that you've been, you know, suffocated in, yeah, you're like, this is the fix.
00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:30.799
And I would see people come in like literally wanting to replicate the plan that they saw on TV without any idea of dimensions of their shelves, without any idea of like if that actually worked or not.
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.720
It was just, I saw it on TV.
00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.599
This is what they used, I'm gonna buy that exact thing.
00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:36.400
Yep.
00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:39.440
Half the time that might work great, no problem.
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.480
But half the time you need more of what you bought.
00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:51.440
You actually had four extra inches on every shelf, and you just completely, you know, lost that square inches, you know, just not you'd like to lost that space.
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:52.000
Yeah.
00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.839
And so it's like having a professional organizer, we come in with our tape measure first.
00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:01.599
You know, my consultation pictures are not just like, oh, this is the room and this is the drawer.
00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:06.319
It's with a tape measure in the drawer, knowing this is a 14-inch depth drawer.
00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:11.759
It's, you know, eight inches high, so I can get the bins that can go that high instead of just smaller ones.
00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:20.559
You know, we're really coming in, being like, how can we design a solution that works for you and not just bringing one product or something that we use every time?
00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:29.519
It's there's all there's things that we love and we use over and over, but it's a very custom product solution in addition to the physical support.
00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:49.359
So I think that, you know, what I love about our industry is, and we've talked about it many times and we've brought many clients on to talk about it, but the actual end result of what we do for people, which is help them go through everything in their home, help them make sense of it, help them make sure that what gets left behind feels really good.
00:18:49.519 --> 00:19:00.000
And when we go back to people's houses a couple years later, a few years later, you know, a lot of times it's just sizes changed, kids grew, they aged out of what they were interested in.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:06.319
So it can, it's an obvious what goes, but it's not like the system we left behind didn't work and we're overhauling that.
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:16.400
You know, it's the easiest days for us when we go back a couple years later because we're bringing minimal product, we're just putting things back together in what we already started.
00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:28.480
But you can see that the habits that led us to being hired have also changed because people were able to have that intervention moment and be like, we're not letting it get that way again.
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:34.640
You know, we're not, we invested, we we overbought on the product, on the on the stuff before.
00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:40.799
We put this money, we put this investment of time and and kind of having to deal with it.
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:47.680
You know, it's we went through this process and then you can see on the other side of it, they are more conscious consumers.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:54.400
So that to me is like the biggest win when we can help people really not have that overwhelm move forward.
00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:59.440
We can acknowledge it, we were where we were, here we are, we're going in a new direction.
00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:04.960
When we come back, it will always feel like that's the biggest moment of pride for me is when we go back.
00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:06.640
And it's it's better.
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:16.640
Well, and you've created a space for every single item that they have so they can always see how much they have, so then they may save a lot of money in the long run by knowing what they have.
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:21.440
I think that the spending changes enormously when we when we're finished.
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:26.799
I think people feel excited to shop their own closets, and we talk like that too.
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.960
We say things while we're on the job of now you can shop your own closet.
00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:33.599
Now you can shop your own pantry.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:41.839
Now you know what toiletries you have, and you don't need to go back to the store, and you can actually have fun going to your own closet and feel that dopamine hit.
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:50.000
I mean, you told me about your feeling of going to a drawer and you didn't realize it stressed you out until after you went to it and it didn't stress you out.
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:51.519
Yeah.
00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:55.119
I mean, I would just open it and be like, ah, I can't find anything, just forget about it.
00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:00.960
And then once I got it more organized, and then I went, I'm like, oh, I don't have to have that stressed out feeling anymore.
00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:14.559
I think that's what we do for people, and so then but that's like I just put this effort into curating what's in my home and into making sure it's the right amount of stuff and that I want everything that I want.
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:25.440
It's very hard to go to a store afterward and like a week later, a month later, I think be like, I'm gonna get this thing that the organizer would have we I would have gotten rid of in front of the organizer.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:25.759
Yeah.
00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:34.160
It's like you have that confrontation with yourself and with your spending and with your fixes, and you're like, I don't want to live that way anymore.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:52.000
And so hopefully we've done enough work that was not just around the prettiness of it, but really the the story behind your stuff and your relationship to it, so that you know what we leave behind is a better relationship with your home, with the stuff, and then your family's flowing better.
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:59.440
And you know, so then every time you carry in those bags, you know if there's space for it or not, and you don't want to overstuff that bin, you know.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.559
Like, oh, we have too many snacks.
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:04.799
You know, this is this is our moment.
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:10.880
So I think that we can certainly stand behind what we do in people's houses and helping them get there.
00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:20.240
But something that we'll talk about, we'll take a quick break and we'll come back and talk about how we ethically redistribute stuff when we leave people's house.
00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:26.240
Because what we don't talk about much in the organizing industry, I think is what happens after.
00:22:26.480 --> 00:23:03.759
And from a standpoint of, you know, living in a world with overconsumption, living in a world with, you know, the pressure on the planet that we're putting from this overconsumption in so many different ways, I think it's an interesting time that this industry that we're in can actually help take the abundance from a home that no longer needs these things, the excess from over here, and help community members who could use the resource, you know, and could and making sure that what we what we do to is not just brought to one thrift store and then half of that is now trash and it's not just focused on trash.
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:12.720
Like we feel, we feel this, you know, connection to our clients to make sure that what we we leave in their home is a really well-done job.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:21.039
But then I think that we're very much driven by making sure that what we take away also has intention and how we take that away.
00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:23.279
So we'll let's talk about that when we get right back.
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:24.319
We'll take a quick break.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.359
This is Sorting Through Life on AM950.
00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:39.359
All right, welcome back to Sorting Through Life.
00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:43.599
This is Colleen Waterston, owner of Space by Space Organizing.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:56.880
And we today I'm here with Alicia, who goes into almost every home that I go into with our business, and then Tiffany, who gets the pictures and videos after and gets to put it all together so that we can share what we do with the world.
00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:08.880
So, Tiffany, you're kind of guiding this conversation a little bit, but uh we talked about what we do with the stuff that we leave in someone's house, you know, but there's a lot that gets taken out.
00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:24.000
And really they say like you can't organize a cluttered space, you know, and decluttering is the first step for sure, and just kind of having an inventory of what you own, but there's a lot of stuff that comes out of the house from the organizing process.
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:24.640
Yeah.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:27.839
So let's just talk about where where does the stuff go after it?
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.759
What's um the ethical responsibility of decluttering?
00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:34.079
The ethical responsibility.
00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:53.119
Uh I would say a lot of organizers, I think they do one drop-off to a place, you know, in um on the way home between the client and the house, their own home, and then they they just it's it's like everything's put into big bags, the bags get dropped off.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:25:02.640
And in my my perspective is that about half of that stuff that we would take out of someone's home if dropped off to one location becomes trash.
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:08.880
It's like a thrift store can only sell they get such a high volume, you know, of stuff dropped off.
00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:14.160
So it's like, you know, that might not have they don't have the shelf space for it or something.
00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:20.640
So for us with Space by Space, and you know, I haven't done an inventory of every single organizer and where they go.
00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:31.839
I just can tell you that from what we do is we do our best when things leave the house to try to get them to a place that will have a next use or a proper disposal.
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:37.680
So a lot of things, electronics will take hazardous waste and make sure that that goes to the right.
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.880
Um so recently I just speak to that.
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.880
You know, we take a there's a lot of cords.
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:43.440
Yes.
00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:48.559
Everybody has a bin accords that they might need one day.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:59.519
And I do feel bad, like I'm sure there are some times that the week after you throw away your bin accords, somebody finds, you know, one thing that needed that one cord and and shoot.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:04.079
But I'd say more often than not, it's it's the bin accords that are not needed.
00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:04.960
Yeah.
00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:12.720
So with that, like you there's certain things you can throw away in the trash, and there's certain things that you can bring to a hazardous waste site.
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:14.640
We in the Twin Cities have one.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:17.119
It's called Ramsey County Environmental Center.
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:21.839
It's in Roseville, and it serves the seven counties in the area.
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:29.039
And so, even as a for myself, Hennepin County, I went there the other day and was able to get rid of some sharps they have.
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:36.960
They they work in connection with Repowered, which is this really great organization that you can bring things to for electronics recycling.
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:45.359
But if you have electronics recycling and other things, you can go to this Ramsey County Environment Environmental Center.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:56.880
Um, you know, there's we go to sharing and carrying hands a lot for things that's a um a homeless community center, and so you know things are going direct.
00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:09.920
We we do our best if it's something of use uh that can go direct to a person to bring something to a an organization that serves those people and gives our items directly to them.
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.799
Bridging does great with household items.
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:15.599
And um, we've been going to prop shop recently.
00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:32.240
So there's a there's a lot of thrift stores that have that mission attached to it, where it's you know, not only is is it nice that people can shop for low value, you know, get a deal on an item, but also the profit that's made is going directly back into a really good mission.
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:32.559
Yeah.
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:34.960
And so I think that you can find those everywhere.
00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:42.000
We have ones that are closest to our warehouse, closest to our clients, closest to my house is kind of where I frequent.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.160
Uh, but but there's so many places.
00:27:44.240 --> 00:28:06.000
So reuse Minnesota, we had Emily Barker on here, and Emily and I did a presentation uh at a local community center about where things can go so that you can feel good because there's actually a lot of people who will take either the value of an item through reselling it or the valuable aspects of the technology.
00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:08.960
There's different ways that you can feel good about decluttering.
00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:17.839
Uh someone once said, you know, his wife didn't want to declutter because she was worried that everything would just end up in a landfill.
00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.000
And he said, Well, I tell her I'm worried our house is becoming the landfill.
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:29.039
So it's like I get that, where it's like there's this shoot, if we just get rid of everything, all we're doing is just throwing it away.
00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:30.160
I feel bad about that.
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:42.720
But I think that what we've done is, and there's just so many different resources out there in lists that are online, and and we direct people to them on our website and in our different social media, thanks to you, Tiffany.
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:50.160
But and we want to do that more and more where it's just celebrating this doesn't have to make you feel bad for getting it's not all trash.
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:51.200
Yeah.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:59.599
I think that's one of the things that I appreciated when I first started working for you is when we would take stuff away, you would mention, like, oh, I'm going to this place, this place, and this place.
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.359
So you're not just bringing it to a thrift store that sells things for profit.
00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.880
It's like getting things back into the community to help people.
00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:12.079
And sometimes that means we do like a post-sort or we've got to hang on to something.
00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:22.079
You know, I'll I'll kind of hang on to things until I get a critical mass to make it worth driving across town to do that donation drive, you know, the the drive for it.
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:28.160
Or my dad has been one of the biggest drivers of donations, especially the first couple years of doing this.
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:32.079
I mean, he was constantly coming and picking up what I had had in my garage.
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:33.839
Okay, this goes here, this goes here.
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:36.960
And not everybody has time for that or the resource for that.
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:46.799
But I think that, you know, when you hire space-by-space organizing, we make sure that we do our best to give something an extended life.
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:56.240
But I think that when you declutter, you can feel good about, you know, you can do a little bit of research to make sure that something goes to a next use.
00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:58.400
Well, yeah, and you talked about electronics.
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.920
So what are some other things um like maybe clothing or books?
00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:05.839
What are some other places that you end up taking things to from homes?
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:17.119
Something we did a big book uh, a book client recently where we just spent kind of days going through a very extensive decades and decades of books.
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:25.839
And I told him, I will do my best to make these books stay in circulation if if they should.
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:43.839
You know, there were some that were like health trends of 2005 and certain textbooks that certain textbooks still have value, but certain many textbooks have aged out, the information's not as relevant, and so some of that just was was waste or recycling.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:46.720
You know, we just that was just something we had to make the call for.
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:58.160
But we did find there's um there's a lot of resellers online, and there's a world of books is one of the biggest online resellers, and they have an app that you can just scan barcode by barcode.
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.160
And you know, we were able to recover some costs for him from the books.
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.000
Uh we we learned through that.
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:08.720
You know, I think that that was kind of a learning client for us because we'd never had that many books.
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:20.880
So usually the books just go to a thrift store or um, you know, or a place as a social services if they're books that are relevant, but I'm not gonna impose on sharing and carrying hands textbooks from the 80s.
00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.680
You know, there's there's that's one thing too.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:34.640
Like when you're donating, I mean, I have done probably more loads of laundry and dishes for clients before I donate something than most people would.
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:46.160
But I it's a value I have, I make the time for it, I kind of get a kick out of it, but I also know that in the condition something might be taken out of the house, it's not in an appropriate condition to donate.
00:31:46.640 --> 00:32:26.319
So when someone hires us, like we have a project management fee connected to our rate, and that's kind of like we don't charge you then for the shopping, we don't charge you for the, you know, for for dumping, for extra certain extra things, so that we can just based on the work that we've done in your house, it comes out to a pretty fair amount of all the work we're doing outside of your house to honor the work that we're doing in your house, whether that's the planning and the prepping and making sure that everybody when they walk in the door is ready to go and we're not wasting time in your house wrapping our heads around what we're doing, but also all the product that we bring, all of the envisioning and planning, and so like all the shopping that's done.
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:37.039
But then when we leave, it's the returning if it's the product, it's it's taking things to proper donation, it's to proper recycling and all that stuff on our client behalf.
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:45.279
And and so that uh feels feels good and fair, but uh I kind of lost my train if I'm honest.
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:48.000
But I I'm Well, I imagine there's a lot of clothing too.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.720
Like what's what's some good where do you like to bring that?
00:32:51.119 --> 00:33:00.319
Okay, so yeah, so we when I do people's dishes and when I watch people's clothes, I feel that that's my time off the clock is you know covered.
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:04.960
We've we've given them that we're gonna do our best for you and for your stuff.
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:08.720
There's a lot of people who have dogs with a ton of hair.
00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:15.200
And so to me, it's not appropriate to bring all your dog hair to, you know, to donate your clothes with.
00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:17.200
Like it's just nice to donate the clothes.
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:21.759
So I will take that on and make sure that I wash their clothes before it goes.
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.720
But so with that, like we do love a sharing and carrying hands.
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:33.279
Our prop shop has, you know, all of the, I think it's men's and kids' clothes that go, they go direct to their social services programs, you know, so you can find outlets.
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:36.240
And, you know, Reuse Minnesota has a great directory.
00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:44.559
I know Hennepin County and the different counties have, you know, go on to your county website and look for these lists, and they've got these great lists.
00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:58.000
And because of AI and the ability to kind of gather data better, there's more and more lists coming together that are reliable and and relevant around where to donate your clothes, you can feel good.
00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:08.480
Also, there's consignment shops, like there's um, I think it's cats, cat cake plus in um is plus size clothes, and you can get some money back for it.
00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:18.880
Serves this really great um, great shop, great, you know, there's vintage shops, there's different reselling options too uh in the community that can feel really good.
00:34:19.039 --> 00:34:26.320
So I think, you know, kind of establishing those routines as part of your decluttering can be part of the fun, finding the people.
00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:30.000
And then when you go in, I mean, it's not that many people that run these stores.
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:36.639
You start to know who you're talking to and and seeing the same people every time you're going to, you know, bring another batch.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:38.480
So there's lots of different options.
00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:44.559
We're working on always making better, better resources ourselves to be able to show people where we like to go.
00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:56.880
But, you know, knowing that people might be listening to this out of Minnesota too, it's just Googling more efficiently, you know, asking like where can I bring my clothes that go direct to a person who needs them?
00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:04.320
Um, and and maybe it's like dress clothes or maybe it's you know baby clothes and you're going to a a women's shelter.
00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:13.440
You know, there's there's different places that you can take things and have that different feeling of of your own dopamine rush of that you did something good today.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:13.840
Yeah.
00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:16.559
I just think that a lot of people are like, oh, I feel so good.
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:18.000
I dropped this all off to donate.
00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:22.159
And it's like where you went, half of that is now trash.
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:24.480
You know, just because of the volume of stuff that they get.
00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:29.199
That's what it's hard to know, and especially like when you're trying to evaluate the condition of things, you know.
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:31.039
I don't know if you guys have a method for that.
00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:35.679
Do things have to be like new kind of to be accepted at a lot of those places?
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.719
Or I feel like it depends on where it's being donated.
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:44.320
Like obviously, nothing super damaged, no like rips, tears staining on clothes and stuff.
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:47.840
But yeah, it kind of depends on where it's being dropped off.
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:50.079
Yeah.
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:50.559
Yeah.
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:54.000
And if it's like a consignment, they're gonna tell you that we don't want these things.
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:56.159
Because they're really picky at those kind of places.
00:35:56.320 --> 00:36:05.119
So I didn't know if a lot of those um sharing and caring hands, like you mentioned and stuff, if they well, and that's where I think a lot of people dump a lot of trash on some of these nonprofits.
00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:16.159
And so, you know, my charge to people there would be there there were we were in a home recently and and her thought was would I serve this to a friend?
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:28.320
You know, for like for something to be kept, you know, and I think that also when you're thinking of and bridging says, we want your home goods items that you would give to a friend.
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:33.679
You know, we don't want the stuff that you think might have one more year in it, one more go in it.
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:43.679
You know, there is that idea of if you're if you're bringing something and you're imposing it on a social service provider, think about the person shopping.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:54.559
You know, so in bridging's case, they have where people can go and actually shop their warehouses and they get certain allotments for what they can have for the different home goods items.
00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:56.719
Think about that person's experience.
00:36:56.880 --> 00:36:59.519
You know, they're going in there and they get to shop with that dignity.
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:03.599
There's there's no cost attached, there's a long wait list because there's so many people who need these things.
00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:10.159
It's like, you know, do you want somebody to get something that looks so, so, so used?
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:13.840
Or is it nice to be able to say, look at these dishes that you're getting?
00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:18.000
You know, like you're also wanting um, you know, just think about that.
00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:21.599
Like it's kind of the golden rule, treat other people like you would want to be treated.
00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:23.119
You know, look at an item.
00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:24.559
Would I want to use this?
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:26.960
Like, does this actually have a next life?
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:33.920
And I think, you know, for us, that's where like we do have some access for waste that that not every organizer has.
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:38.000
So we're able to help people take their waste, but waste is expensive.
00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:55.920
And sometimes that's just the cost that you have to when you have a lot of waste, you might have to pay a dumping fee, you know, or the the junk king, the junk people's pickup fees, you know, and it just costs because the the cost of getting rid of stuff, you know.
00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:58.719
Emily Barker says she's the executive director of Reu.
00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:20.400
She's like, if you're going to a place that doesn't charge for some of the electronics that that are attached to to fees, she's like, make sure that that's actually a legit place because they might not be disposing of something properly because there is work to, you know, get the things that shouldn't be going into our into our landfills or shouldn't be going into our environment in any way.
00:38:20.559 --> 00:38:31.199
And also like putting your electronics in the regular trash, that can cause a dumpster fire in the trash dumpster while a person is driving that car.
00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:33.519
And so you hear that happen too.
00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:38.400
So it's like kind of a laziness or a desire to save a few bucks.
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:41.519
You're just punting the problem down the line.
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:59.679
And I think that's where, you know, the ethical idea of it is like we're gonna do our best not only to capture value and distribute that value to a next person, but also if something is trash, we are not gonna sit there and make you feel good about it that you think it's not.
00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:04.480
But we might do a post-sort and some of that stuff becomes trash after it leaves your house.
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:10.480
But we're gonna do our best to make sure that what what does go into the community is is worthwhile.
00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:22.079
It's just a lot of stuff, but it does get into, you know, when we we are probably less big spenders and shoppers because we've thrown away so much on our our own halves and other behalves.
00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:22.480
Oh, yeah.
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:31.119
You know, and so you really after you see all that waste, you can't help but kind of see it, see your spending a little bit differently, see your intake a little bit differently.
00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:32.400
Let's take a quick break.
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:34.719
We'll come back and kind of wrap this up with a bow.
00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:38.719
Maybe talk about a few other things and and call it a day.
00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:41.840
This is Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watston.
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:56.239
All right, welcome back to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950.
00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:00.639
And we are talking about all things space-by-space organizing.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:03.039
And we are professional organizers.
00:40:03.119 --> 00:40:10.159
I have Alicia here who comes into all the different houses with me, and Tiffany here who sees the pictures and videos from all the different houses.
00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:16.400
And we've talked a lot about what we left behind, what we leave behind in people's houses, and how we take things out.
00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:21.199
So, Tiffany, you've got another lineup of topics for us here.
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:23.119
Yeah, we talked a lot about donating.
00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:26.800
So let's talk about how reselling fits into your process.
00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:29.039
Okay, so reselling.
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:31.440
Reselling, we love.
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:39.760
And it's an interesting topic because I think that there we it's like the circular economy that things would have another life.
00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:42.559
And what's fun about reselling?
00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:46.559
So in the last segment, we kind of talked about some of the consignment options out there.
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:50.639
So consignment is when someone resells something on your own behalf.
00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:53.840
So it's you take it to a store and then you kind of profit share.
00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:59.280
Maybe they give you cash right on site, maybe they give you uh credit.
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:08.239
So we've had Christelle of uh Tyson Escobar here of EcoChico and Solaware, which is consignment in West St.
00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:11.519
Paul, two great shops, one's for kids and one's for adults.
00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:18.480
And they've got a great like credit option that works in their store, and it's super smart.
00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:21.679
It helps get people back in the store, but all of your items get valued.
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:24.559
So you get value for what you bring in.
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:29.199
And that's really fun for people, you know, because it's a different way to shop.
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.239
And it's a way to bring what you don't want anymore.
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:34.880
You've taken, you know, 10 pictures in the same top.
00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:36.880
Maybe you're ready for something else.
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:40.719
Okay, let me get let me put that back into the circular economy.
00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:46.800
Um but we have kind of played with a lot of resale and with clients.
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:54.159
We had Warren here who Alicia and I really learned like estate selling and in-person sales through.
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:59.599
And then, and we'd go, we'd host these estate sales, and people would kind of be like, oh, these are a lot of money.
00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:06.480
And I'm like, what I realized about hosting a sale is a about half the people, if not more, that come are resellers.
00:42:06.719 --> 00:42:11.519
And so they're coming and hoping you price things wrong so that they can go make more money.
00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:15.199
And I would say, um, I also have the internet.
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:30.400
And so we can make him more money item by item on certain items, but there's certain things where you would never spend the time to put online, and that's where a garage sale and an estate sale and an estate sale is kind of like an all-at-on has to go.
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:38.639
And different sales have different, you know, and people know different companies, like people would be like, oh, these companies, every record's five dollars.
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:41.280
These rec companies, it's all priced separate.
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:47.039
You know, people have their different selling strategies, but we've had a lot of luck on Facebook Marketplace.
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:47.360
Yeah.
00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:47.760
Yeah.
00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:50.079
How do you all pro how do you all price your items?
00:42:50.239 --> 00:43:04.960
Did you say you use an app or you use Google Lens or Um I would always usually reverse Google image search or kind of search on Facebook if there was something very similar, and then just kind of also take into consideration the condition of the item.
00:43:05.119 --> 00:43:08.079
Like if it's brand new, you want to price it a little bit higher.
00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:12.639
If it has some wear and tear, maybe not so much at a higher price.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:23.679
And you know, hosting yourself a sale uh is a great way to come to terms with the fact that not all your stuff does have value and that people don't want to buy it.
00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:31.440
Uh eBay is something that you have to be careful with because anytime you you so you Google Lens is everybody's friends.
00:43:31.519 --> 00:43:40.000
So for anybody that doesn't know this, you go to Google on your phone and there's the little photo, like the the camera in the corner.
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:47.280
You click on that and you can either upload a photo or take one right there, and it populates a Google search for that image.
00:43:47.679 --> 00:43:53.599
I don't know when this was invented, but I'm all for technological advancements thanks to that feature alone.
00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:58.000
I mean, it has made our lives so much easier to be able to look something up and see what it is.
00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:05.440
I have heard That Google gives a higher inflated idea of what the value is of something.
00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:13.440
Or you might see, you know, so on eBay, there's a a way to search for what's actually been purchased versus what is just listed.
00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:17.920
Because the resale value is what someone's willing to pay you for it.
00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:20.960
And so if you're That's where people get confused, I think.
00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:24.320
People will see something like, oh, they've got this online for a hundred dollars.
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:27.679
And it's like, well, let's go to search, and Alicia found this.
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:31.440
You know, where are the searches of what is it has been bought?
00:44:31.760 --> 00:44:32.000
Yep.
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:36.960
Yeah, you can, it's like a filter you can apply, sort by items that have previously been sold.
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:40.719
And the nice thing too is it gives you a date of when the item was sold.
00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:49.199
So you can reference that like, oh, this was sold a month ago at this price, or this was sold a year ago at this price, and just kind of go from there.
00:44:50.239 --> 00:45:04.719
And I would say that our clients, you know, some a lot of our clients don't really care what happens to the stuff that leave their house because they are so focused and excited about what stays in their house and the order that we brought to it.
00:45:04.960 --> 00:45:10.559
And when you think of like the cost benefit, like sometimes there might be like, oh, that's worth something, right?
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:19.599
And I'm like, okay, so by the time you pay us to put this online, it's not, you know, like we have to recover the cost for us, you know, taking the pictures.
00:45:19.679 --> 00:45:30.559
And we've learned a lot and we've kind of grappled with how to take advantage of some of these reselling sites and offer them to our clients when the situation makes sense for both of us.
00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:34.480
Because we're not a reselling business, we're a home organizing business.
00:45:34.639 --> 00:45:42.880
But through the home organizing process and decluttering, a lot of things of value do leave, a lot of things of not much value leave.
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:51.119
And also a lot of we kind of have to have that moment with people like you're not gonna make a hundred dollars off of this thing.
00:45:51.199 --> 00:45:51.920
You might make twenty.
00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:55.039
You know, and so we've we've gotten creative.
00:45:55.199 --> 00:46:07.679
Sometimes we'll do it for a client while they're in their house on their own account, and we'll take the photos, we'll make the listing, and it actually is worth the time that we're doing it to get those things out of their house, but now it's on them to manage.
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:26.880
But we've definitely incorporated and and for some things profit share when we do take it out of people's houses, but that's gotta be a pretty high value to make it worth us taking on, us, you know, us holding space for it, because sometimes things sell like in three minutes and sometimes things sell in three months.
00:46:27.039 --> 00:46:28.719
And so also kind of knowing that.
00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:32.320
But we've we've got a lot, we've done a lot of work, and we're gonna launch a course.
00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:38.079
If you're interested, message us, message me, Colleen at space by spaceorganizing.com.
00:46:38.159 --> 00:46:58.400
If you're interested in learning more about reselling, because that will motivate us to finish our class that we've been working on to help people resell because there's so much that goes into it, you know, the way to list things, the way to take pictures, how to measure things, how to communicate with buyers, which buyers to take seriously, which ones not to, you know, various language to use in the messaging.
00:46:58.480 --> 00:47:04.400
You know, I have 300 and I think 65 five-star reviews on Facebook Marketplace.
00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:06.639
It is a lot of work.
00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:10.320
This is not like there are some times I'm like, I worked very hard for$2.
00:47:11.039 --> 00:47:18.480
And then there are some times that I didn't work that hard for$200, you know, but that you have to kind of find your flow and find your boundaries within that.
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:20.960
But anyway, we are almost out of time here.
00:47:21.119 --> 00:47:30.400
So I hope that this has inspired you to think a little bit more about the things that are in your house, the life and the the way you would like your stuff to surround you.
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:37.280
And as you get rid of things that no longer serve you, could they serve someone else better?
00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:41.199
And how best can you bring those items into the world?
00:47:41.280 --> 00:47:43.039
And where can you drive them to?
00:47:43.199 --> 00:47:44.480
How can you resell them?
00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:47.840
We are here for a resource, face by spaceorganizing.com.
00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:51.519
This is Sorting Through Life with Colleen Waterston.
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:56.000
And we are on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:58.639
Thanks for listening, and thanks to you two gals for being here.
