Testimonials: Columns
“Angela Hoxsey is an organizational Maven. She is fast, efficient and a pleasure to work with. Angela makes getting and staying organized easy with her helpful tips, tricks and knowledge of organizational products. I hired Angela to help me prior to and after a large home remodel. She helped me to declutter, purge and organize multiple rooms in my home. I loved working with Angela, she helped me streamline my home and I enjoy the organizational benefits everyday! ”
Susanne Hudson, Napa, CA
“I’m thrilled with what you helped create. It totally blows my mind how quickly you work and I love your thought process. Fantastic!!”
Dona Bonick, Kopol Bonick Photography, Napa CA
“Angela is always thinking about my organizing issues and often sends suggestions and helpful advice and ideas, even when she is not physically on the job with me. She comes up with unique solutions completely customized to my business, home and personal style—things that I never would have thought of on my own...”
“I can totally trust Angela’s taste and rely on her honesty about what’s working and what’s not with regards to my wardrobe. That said, she is always respectful—if I say I want to keep something, she respects my wishes...”
“I have a lot of “stuff”, and Angela has always been non-judgmental about my collections, while helping me to make smart decisions about how to lose things that I do not need. I value her wisdom, her experience and her perspective. She is a joy to work with, I look forward to our time together and dread to think what my home, closet, garage, life would look like without her expert guidance!”
T. Beller, Verve Napa Valley
“Angela is my dream girl! I was referred to her to help me prepare to move after living in one house for 27 years. She was fantastic in helping me get organized and declutter years of gathering too much of everything...!”
“Angela took me from panic, and an overwhelming moving experience, to an organized new home. She is a pleasure to work with, has lots of energy, while always maintaining a positive attitude. I think she is "THE BEST"!!!”
Sheila Sosnow, Piedmont, CA
“Have you ever accidentally run across someone who just COMPLETELY changed your every day life for the better? And you couldn't imagine your life without them? That's how I feel about Angela. Angela came into my fairly organized but slightly hectic life completely by chance. I wasn't looking for anyone to help me organize or streamline my life because I didn't really think I NEEDED it. And just in the same way that she seemed to just quietly float into my life, she helped me with such kindess, grace and ease.”
Lindsey Wiseman, St. Helena, CA
“Angela has a real gift for seeing what needs to be done and pulling it all together. I have worked with many organizers in the past, but none as efficient and focused as she. From my office to the garage, Angela has helped create a system that works
for the long term!”Karen Schuppert, Napa, CA
“Angela Hoxsey was the best referral that I have ever gotten. Needing to get my house ready to sell and declutter the 20 years worth of accumulation was no easy task. She was fast, efficient and a joy to work with. The best part of working with her was her cheerful yet no nonsense way of getting you to decide 'keep, trash or donate'. . . Love it!”
Cherie Melka, St. Helena, CA
“We spent four hours organizing an enormous amount of paperwork and I feel like I just got a massage!”Joanne Maher, St. Helena, CA
“Whether you are prone to chaos, pretty organized yourself, or a combination of both, Angela Hoxsey can help you bring order to your home. Yes, you could do it yourself, but most of us have so many competing demands on our time that organizing tasks easily fall by the wayside. Angela has brought her professional touch to my home, demonstrating every time
the lasting value of an expert.”Karen Saeger, Ph.D., Berkeley
“You can smell the sanity. Angela is worth her weight in diamonds.”
Masako Takahashi, artist;
San Miguel de Allende/San Francisco
Columns
Great Yard Sales
Whether you call it a yard sale, garage sale or tag sale, late summer is an excellent time to pull out all of the boxes and bags of unwanted stuff you’ve been accumulating and make some cash. A successful yard sale, like most successful projects, is 90 percent preparation. If you’re thinking of hosting a sale, keep the following tips in mind.
Signs
Readable, good-looking signs with the date and the address of a sale will bring in potential customers, but they are mostly illegal. Instead of posting signs on utility poles and road signs (illegal) ask neighbors and friends in strategic areas if they would put a sign on their property for a few days before the sale. As a trade, offer to sell some of their junk for them.
Advertising
If you live in a low-traffic area, you’ll need to announce your sale in a local paper. There are lots of folks who scan the want ads for garage sales, so a brief ad can make the difference between a great sale and a fruitless day spent sitting in your driveway surrounded by stuff you don’t want.
Change
Having to make a run to the grocery store mid-sale for a roll of quarters is no fun for anybody. Have a lot of quarters, dollars and fives ready; about $100 in change should suffice.
Boxes and bags
Start saving all kinds of bags and boxes the weeks before your sale so that customers can easily cart away their booty.
Picking a date
Saturdays are the best for tag sales, but don’t choose a holiday weekend. Although it may seem like a good idea, you will be bummed to learn how few spend their holidays in town at tag sales. Also, a note on the two-day sale: you really don’t make enough extra money to warrant hauling everything in on Saturday night and putting it all back out on Sunday morning. Give it your best shot one day and donate whatever doesn’t sell.
Tables
As much as possible, try to keep your items off the ground and display them attractively on tables. Keeping clothes on hangers and hanging them on rolling racks also looks terrific and makes for a much more pleasant shopping experience. Someone you know has plastic fold down tables or rolling racks you can borrow; again, in trade you could invite them to add their clutter to your sale.
Tarps
If you do have to spread some things on the lawn, put down a clean tarp or sheet first to delineate the space and keep the items clean and dry.
Pricing
I hate having to ask the price of an item. My favorite sales have been those with price tags on everything, but if that is too much work, then at least designate sections for one dollar items, five dollar items and so on. You could make general signs such as, “All books 25 cents.” Any items of particular value should have individual price tags.
Pets and children
Make sure your pets are corralled and your small children have a babysitter during sale hours.
Food and drink
It’s always more enjoyable to hang out some place if there are tasty treats involved, and a garage sale is no different. Offer hot coffee during the foggy morning hours and switch to lemonade when the sun comes out. A bowl of candy or a plate of cookies will be popular with the kids and keep their parents shopping a bit longer.
A variety of items
Nobody wants to go to a garage sale that is all clothing or all books or all dishes. Variety makes it a lot more fun for everyone. The best time for a yard sale is after a complete household purge. If you are already clear of clutter, you might have to save up items for six months to host a decent sale. This is where hosting a sale with friends comes into play.
The more the merrier
The best yard sales I’ve been involved in have been those hosted by three or four people. The combination of items for sale and the number of people to spread the labor around make it more like a party than work.
People are strange
Try to imagine the freakiest thing that might happen at your sale and prepare for it. Could somebody trip over the crack in your driveway? Mark it with red duct tape. Will someone want their money back a week later? Put up an “All Sales Final” sign. Will someone insist on keeping the good wooden hanger the 25 cent blouse they bought was hung on? Use only wire hangers you will be happy to part with.
Early birds and thieves
Early birds are a particular pet peeve of mine. A lot of the time they are retailers who will be selling your 1960s lamp at their vintage store for triple the price the Monday after your sale. They are cherry pickers who also want to bargain. You can state “No Early Birds” in your ads, but it won’t deter the hard-core trollers.
Unfortunately, thieves are also a yard sale staple. Keep your cash box close to you or wear a money belt with separated change compartments. Your more valuable items should also be close to your purchase station. Anything truly valuable should be sold at a consignment shop or on e-Bay or craigslist, not at a yard sale.