OrganizingLA Blog

Be Super Sexy & Pick Your Donation Charity for 2012

Out of the Closet Thrift Stores may be the most famous thrift "chain" store in the World. Not only are their ads pushing items donations super sexy, they even have a Hall of Fame page on their website (celebrities who have donated their unused wares to their cause).

 

Locations:

 

The chain includes dozens of well-run locations around its headquarters here in Southern California (Los Angeles), Northern California (San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley) and the State of Florida (Miami, South Beach and Ft. Lauderdale).

 

Who benefits?

 

Many of their locations offer confidential, free HIV testing and proceeds benefit AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest specialized provider of cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay. That attracts a lot of passionate givers.

 

Celebs who donate:

 

Renowned for donations made by today's most popular celebrities and major television and film studio production houses, droppers off of gently used items include Elizabeth Taylor, Ron Howard, Bruce Willis, Ellen Degeneres, Carol Burnett, Richard Gere, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and Elvira (Mistress of the Dark).

 

Out of the Closet is one of our favorite charties and we've mentioned them on this blog through case studies and a story about Kate Olsen donating her clothes to the West Hollywood location. They've even been nominated for several Los Angeles Organizing Awards in the "Most Supportive Organizer-Friendly" category.

 

How to pick a donation charity:

 

We encourage our organizing clients to pick a thrift store charity for the year, and use that relationship to feel good about their giving. So why not develop an sense of organiziation with heart?

 

There are a lot of choices for your donations, pick the charity that you identify with for religious, social, or political reasons. Items should be in clean and saleable condition. Depending on individual policies, some items are subject to refusal. If you drop off junk, they may have to throw it away, and your "good deed" becomes an unnecessary expense to the charity management.

 

Share your charity:

 

What is your thrift store charity for 2012? Share your charity with your friends. And, why not post a link to their website, below. What tips do you have for thrift store donations?

 

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West Hollywood Electronic Recycling & Paper Shredding On November 4

If you're like me, you probably have a constant flow of new gadgets and gizmo's coming into the house... and in turn, the desire to properly dispose of the ones needing to go, go, go.

So while Fall is here in Los Angeles, local city governments are now helping residents clear the clutter by sponsoring electronic recycling and shredding events. These events make it easy to stop and drop off items such as:

• televisions
• laptops
• DVD players
• fax machines
• telephones
• radios
• monitors
• cell phones
• stereos
• keyboards
• microwaves
• printers
• computers
• VCR players
• scanners
• mouse devices

Here's a quick picture we snapped of the various phones we've collected from our client's homes and offices. How could these babies get tossed into the trash unwanted and unloved? There is valuable copper in those cables and cords. So the drop off events are easy breezy and you'll feel good because you will not be contributing hazards to our enviornment.

Event Location & Times:

The City of West Hollywood
Free Document Shredding and E-Waste Collection

Saturday, November 5, 2011
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

City Hall Parking Lot
8300 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA  90069

Residents and businesses are encouraged to participate. Document shredding is “secure” which means that the shredding is done at the collection site. Participants can even watch their documents get shredded!

Phone and Web:

For more information: (323) 848-6404.

Visit www.californiarecycles.com for a complete list of acceptable items (do your homework).

City Hall image courtesy Ivy Bottini. Image of electronics recycling courtesy of OrganizingLA

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Our Food Safety Post - The Conversation Continues

Our food safety post from August 15th got some interesting comments from Facebook.

We'd like to share one of them with you:

Hold a Professional Clothes Drive

Fall is here. Now may be the perfect time to take a good hard look at your wardrobe.

Why not ditch the pieces that no longer fit, are out of style or just plain not you anymore. Perhaps you have clothes that are new, in perfect condition and you have no intention on wearing them? To make yourself feel good and help others in need, gather some friends, (or better yet) some office colleagues and start a professional clothes drive.

A simple email, collection center, and designated charity will do the trick. We suggest you chose Dress for Success, where women in transition benefit from donated business outfits. if you want to check into some local Los Angeles resources, dive into our 2007 post written for a reader who wanted to lose her 1990's business suits and didn't know how to.

Here are some tips we put together recently for a Professional Clothes Drive for one of the world's largest professional services firms in Downtown Los Angeles:

Clear Out Your Closet:

Let's face it, everyone knows it's hard to let go of clothes that you really like even though you have not worn. Below are three closet-clearing tips from fellow CLARE Foundation volunteer and organization expert, John Trosko of OrganizingLA.  John has a few tips up his sleeve to help you clear out the old, to make way for the new, and in the meantime, help make a difference in someone's life:

The 15-Minute Rule:

If you want to make a difference in your closet and don’t have a lot of time, set a time limit and “go shopping” for things that are ready to be donated.  But keep your focus on this specific task and don’t allow yourself to be distracted.  It helps if you can carefully choose a friend to help you clean out your clothes closet.  You’ll want a person who will constructively criticize your taste, but with a sense of humor to make it fun.

Suits That Are No Longer Suit-able:

Nostalgia’s tug is strong— but use this opportunity to clear out the larger key pieces such as men’s suits, ties, dark belts and dress shoes.  For women, perhaps you have a dress-for-success ensemble that isn’t suitable for your current work environment—why not donate it along with some sensible low-pumps and simple jewelry?  Never donate another person’s clothes, always check with them.

Stop Tripping Down Memory Lane:

3.)  Remember, avoid keeping items in your closet as a benchmark of your achievements.  Professional Clothes Drive for the Clare Foundation honors needy individuals with basic essentials and you’ll want to donate good, clean, gently-used or new clothing.  You’ll feel better knowing your unwanted clothes will benefit others!

If you're putting together a professional clothes drive, feel free to use the tips above, just give us credit. O rcontact us if you'd like to explore something more.

What ideas have you implemented for your clothes donations?  Please share them below.

Image above courtesy J Crew and Uncrate.

Related Posts:

Reinvent yourself with Closet Therapy's Barbra Horowitz (9/05)

What do I do with 1990's business suits? (2/07)

Build a connection with a charity (3/06)

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Organize Your Home with Luxury Good Logo Boxes and Bags

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?

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?

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

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:

• Quality vs. Quantity - Our LV Abbesses Messenger Bag (2/07)
• The $10,000 Magic Marker (2/07)

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CNET News Green Tech Quotes John Trosko

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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