Category: Ecorganizing

  • EcoATM Kiosk Helps You Sell Your Old Electronics

    Sprinkles Cupcake ATM Beverly Hills

    Sprinkles in Beverly Hills eases your late-night cravings with the world's first cupcake ATM. But cupcakes aren't the only things ATMs are dispensing.

     

    Southern California is full of modern-day kiosk conveniences; like the world's first cupcake ATM at Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, CA. Coinstar is another innovative kiosk to turn your coins into a gift card or paper bills, Redbox helps you rent movie and video games and Amazon's Locker organizes online purchase package retrieval. So what else is out there?

    The EcoATM

    Developed by Outerwall in San Diego, EcoATM is an automated device-recycling kiosk that collects unwanted or used cell phones, tablets and MP3 players for instant cash (also known as a cellphone buy-back or trade-in program).

    The machines determine the amount by looking at three things:

    1. Model
    2. Condition
    3. Current market value

    Did you know by the end of 2015, there will still be an estimated 422 million idle or inactive mobile devices, and out of those, only 99 million will be recycled. They're hoping to help increase the recycled amount. Here's a cool video on how it works.

    EcoATM video: 

    If you are the kind of person who has amassed a truckload of electronics, and you want to responsibly turn them in (and make some cash), EcoATM sounds like a convenient, easy and safe way to declutter your office.

    Your Turn to Comment

    What do you think of the new EcoATM kiosks? Would you ever use them? Do they provide enough value for you? Will Apple's iPhone Buy-Back program crush EcoATM? Let us know here in the comment section or you can tweet us @johntrosko on Twitter. You can also check me out on Instagram (@johntrosko).

     

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  • American Pickers Celebrates Hoarders With NO Judgement

     

    American Pickers TV billboard

    This "American Gothic"-themed 'American Pickers' billboard sprouted up Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard in 2010.


    We're impressed and obsessed with American Pickers, the History Channel-television show chronicling Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz not for their professional organizing skills, decluttering dilemmas, predatory storage wars or extreme hoarding clean-ups, but rather for the search of "picker heaven" — highly unusual, re-saleable collectibles they can buy wholesale, fix up, and resell for profit in their stores.


     

    American pickers laurel and hardy

    Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz of 'American Pickers' discover Laurel and Hardy Hollywood memorabilia somewhere in a dusty midwestern barn.

     

     

    Mike and Frank scour through mid-west and southern state homes, barns, basements, outhouses and warehouses– wherever there are old bikes, road signage, soda fountains, Laurel and Hardy memorabilia, film posters, old toys and abandoned White Castle buildings. They're not  interested in opening a museum, this is inventory for Antique Archaeology, their two stores located in LeClaire, Iowa and Nashville, Tennesee.


    What is surprising about the show is how they treat the collection's owners– with celebration, heart, respect and intelligent deal-making. We don't think we've ever seen a judgemental look or conversation that would be considered negative. It's refreshing! That's why so many people open up their homes and collections to the show.

     

     

    Danielle Colby-Cushman American Pickers

    Danielle Colby-Cushman of American Pickers runs the company headquarters and sets up leads back at the office.

     

    What is your favorite part of American Pickers?


    Laurel and Hardy image courtesy of Cool and Collected. Billboard image courtesy Daily Billboard.


    Like this Topic?


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    to learn smart and practical organizing tips for your home,
    office and life? Save time by signing up for free topic
    updates and receive them as soon as they're published. Plus, as a
    gift receive our exclusive Martha Stewart Living Radio
    recorded radio interview and transcript, chock full of
    strategies, tips and resources direct from John.

    Enter your Email Address

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  • How to Easily Avoid “Attack of the Killer Spiders” by Reducing Clutter


    Clutter and spiders

    Hollywood has a long history of monster movies featuring giant bugs and insects.

    Starship Troopers, Them, and The Wasp Woman are just a few of those Tinseltown jewels. 1977's Kingdom of the Spiders features William Shatner battling carnivorous spiders. But as we all know, Hollywood bases their fiction on real events… as in this story from this week's Sacramento Press.

    "Spiders, long a favored subject of sci-fi movies and horror novels, seem to provoke an especially strong yuck factor in humans. Although we know on an intellectual level that they have many beneficial purposes in the eco-system, including eating other insect pests, most of us don’t want them in our kids’ bedrooms.

    Now that warm weather has arrived, spiders are proliferating outdoors and often making their way into our homes."

    The story points out that various spiders usually hang out in different California regions. A deadly spider, brown recluse, resides in the Southern United States but not generally in California. There's some comment in the piece about spiders being transported via moving vans into Los Angeles. A cousin of the brown recluse, the South American native Loxosceles laeta, has been spotted in Los Angeles County.

    What can you do about spiders?

    It is important to keep areas around your home (and office) free of clutter and debris. Get rid of the clutter and you'll gain control over a spider population because they reside in the mess. Remove the items, boxes, papers, clothing on floor. Seal up cracks and crevices and clean the corners where spiders may get in. Periodically move materials and furniture and vacuum garages, basements and living spaces. Keep debris, firewood, construction materials and stones outside your home. By following these suggestions and turning to the appropriate pest control experts when necessary will not only keep you organized, but will create a healthy home for you and your family.

    There is more help on the internet, just Google "spider control" and you'll find additional resources.

    Do you have any spider control regime tips or stories to share with our readers? Let us know.

    "We are Moving!" image above courtesy Worth 1000

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  • Organize Your Home with Luxury Good Logo Boxes and Bags

    Louis Vuitton Residence


    Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Tory Burch, Christian Louboutin and Tiffany.

    These names bring up thoughts of luxury, success, quality, beauty and prestige, for the organized home?

    Louis Vuitton Lamps We were checking out The Peak of Chic this weekend and got inspired by Jennifer Bole's view of decorating with luxury good logos. She points out that decorating with luxury goods divides people (some hate, some love). You can purchase a tray painted with the Hermès logo, a pair of Louis Vuitton lamps (pictured left), an LV Kleenex tissue box holder (a friend of ours has one), a dressing screen, a Fendi couch… well, you get the point.

    No matter what people think about the use of luxury goods logos, what seems appropriate is the use of logo boxes. This got us thinking, could you organize your entire home (or at least bits and pieces) with these boxes, bags, covers, protectors and pouches you seem to acquire but never really know what to do with?  They're too nice to toss. Besides, some people feel half the retail cost of luxury goods is for the packaging. So why not try and re-use them as organizing accessories around your home or office?

    Tiffany_boxes

    So where could you use your boxes?  Try these, to start:

    • Gucci tie box to hide your pens
    • Tiffany glass bowl box to store your winter hats and gloves
    • Harrod's shirt box to store stationary
    • Hermès box for the Tivo remote
    • Godiva chocolate box to protect your cummerbund
    • Dom Perignon champagne box for magic markers
    • Coach box to store CDs on your desk
    • Luxury soap box to hold paper clips
    • Michael Kors jewelry pouch for men's collar stays

    Christian Louboutin So when you're yearning to get organized, reuse and recycle, why not make it fun and think outside the box?

    Image of Louis Vuitton residence in Mexicali, Mexico courtesy Guanabee.com. LV wrapped lamps courtesy John Vaccari Antiques.

    Read More:

    The Peak of Chic

    Related Posts:

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  • Luxury Storage Boxes for Your Precious Pumps

    Clearly Glam

    Sometimes we discover an organizing product so great we drop everything to tell you about it…

    If you're looking for a higher-end shoe storage system with advanced "shoe-vue technology", drop what you're doing and get on over Brazilian designer's Gracienne website for her Clearly Glam shoe storage boxes.

    Hollywood Variety's Stylephile profiled them today, which means the boxes are flying off the virtual shelves. It doesn't hurt that the designer's clients include Fergie, Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton and Demi Moore.  A quick inquiry to the Blast boutique in Beverly Hills was welcomed with a big question mark.  But they're sure calling Gracienne to inquire about the boxes.

    Not a bad idea to have shoe stores carry storage systems for their customers. What do you think about it?  Stylephile says the boxes are made out recycled PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) and they're priced affordably at $9.95/each in packages of 12.  Lids are midnight black with a classic designer logo.

    Is advanced "show-vue technology" something you're in the market for to store your Marc Jacobs?

    Source:  Stylephile and Gracienne

    Related Posts:

    Hollywood Costumer needs storage bin labeling help

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  • CNET News Green Tech Quotes John Trosko

    Key_art_cnet_news

    Thanks to a reader, we discovered some press from our Alliance for Universal Power Supply Conference speech at PG & E headquarters in San Francisco this past summer.

    From CNET News, a popular website for news and commentary on energy innovation and environmental technologies:

    "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when plugging in and powering personal electronics whose chargers are so varied that they typically end up balled up in rat's nests beneath our desks."

    "Help, albeit slow, is on the way, according to members of consumer electronics companies, green-tech start-ups, and venture capital firms at the Alliance for Universal Power Supplies conference Friday."

    "Attendees charging ahead to create power supplies that cause fewer headaches and wasted energy found hope when Westinghouse announced that it will support standards from start-up Green Plug, whose Greentalk protocol enables devices and power sources to "talk" to each other."

    "John Trosko, a professional personal organization consultant in Los Angeles, said his clients stash useless cables in drawers indefinitely because they feel guilty about the potentially toxic trash and aren't sure how to recycle it."

    Tech companies aim to untangle power supplies - CNET News

    AUPS San Francisco Conference – Press Release May '08

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