The Posh Blog

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about The Hope Alliance, and the Toiletries Drive going on between now and the end of the month (next Tusday, August 31st) that I encourage all of you to take part in.  It’s not too late to spend a few minutes and a few dollars and make a big difference in someone else’s life!

When women and children arrive at the Hope Alliance, a domestic violence prevention program for Williamson County, they often have only the clothes on thier backs.  The Hope Alliance provides each woman with a bag full of personal care items.  Because their stay can be several weeks long, it’s important that each woman has full-sized bottles of shampoo, toothpaste, etc.

The Hope Alliance is in severe need of these unused, full-sized toiletry items–especially shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant, razors, feminine hygene products, and hand sanitizer.  You can drop off these items in one of three locations in the area:

More Space Place located in north Austin at 2438 West Anderson Lane (next to Terra Toys), Austin, 78757.

Texas Family Eye Care located at 800 Crystal Falls Pkwy #4 in Leander, 78641.

The Hope Alliance offices located at 1011 Gattis School Rd #106 in Round Rock, 78664.

If you cannot make it to any of the donation sites, please consider making any monetary donation to the Hope Alliance via their web-site by clicking here.

Thanks so much for your help, and for supporting our community!  Together we can give hope to someone else.

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

Since I started my business as a professional organizer I have been a supporter of The Hope Alliance , which serves as a domestic violence and prevention program for Williamson County.  I have encouraged my clients to take the items they are donating there or to the Round Rock Serving Center which has partnered with the Hope Alliance to store donated items and sell what is not used in their Thrift Shop.  I have taken hundreds of pounds of clothing and household items from my clients to both locations, and have tried to support these non-profit groups by spreading the word while encouraging my clients to let go of items that can serve someone in need. 

The Hope Alliance is now in severe need of full size toiletry items–especially shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant, razors, feminine hygiene products, and hand sanitizer. 

When women and children arrive at the Hope Alliance they often only have the clothes on their backs.  They are given a bag full of the necessities or personal care items.  Because the stay can be several weeks long it’s important that each woman has a full size bottle of shampoo, toothpaste, etc. 

Although I do my best to help the center, I feel like I can do more.  So I have “organized” a Toiletries Drive for the Hope Alliance.  From now through August 31^st you can drop off new full size bottles of shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant, razors, feminine hygiene products, and hand sanitizer to one of three locations. 

More Space Place located in north Austin at 2438 West Anderson Lane (next to Terra Toys), Austin, 78757. 

Texas Family Eye Care located at 800 Crystal Falls Pkwy #4 in Leander, 78641. 

The Hope Alliance offices located at 1011 Gattis School Rd #106 in Round Rock, 78664. 

If you cannot make it to any of the donation sites, please consider making any monetary donation to the Hope Alliance via their web-site by clicking here.

Thanks so much for your help and supporting our community. 

Together we can give hope to someone else.

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

You may have heard that this past weekend was the opening of the new Toy Story 3 movie.  This movie focused on the fact that the owner of the main character toys, Andy, was off to college and had to make some decisions about what to do with his old toys.  As a Professional Organizer, I have to say I was really excited to see how they handled this.  Parent’s are constantly challenged with how to help their children let go of their old toys.  So I’m going to give you some negatives and positives about this movie and then my overall feeling about how it relates to you and helping your child to donate toys. 

Obviously, this is Toy Story, so the characters are personified, which doesn’t help you with trying to get your kids to let go of their toys.  The characters hear things like “these toys are just junk”, which makes them sad.  Many children attach feelings and emotions to their toys which can make it difficult for them to let go of their toys and this movie multiplies that.  The toys are also very emotional about getting tossed, donated, or placed in the attic.  They also accidentally take a trip to the dump and are inches away from the incinerator, which is quite dramatic (especially if you have very young children like my 3 and 5 year old girls), and again is not helping your case in trying to get your kids to let go of their toys.  At another point the toys are donated to a Daycare, which again, is played out to be a terrible place for toys to go, yikes! 

The positives: 
The overarching theme of the movie is that the toys just want to be played with.  They are very sad that they have fallen out of favor and are no longer played with.  Now this is something you can use!  If your child has not played with a toy in months or years you can let them know that there are children that don’t have toys who would love to play with these toys.  Like an orphanage or children’s shelter. 

The other positive was the very ending scenes.  In the end Andy decides to give the toys to a caring and creative little girl who lives down the street.  He introduces each of the toys and tells her about each toys’ positive characteristics.  He is very reluctant to give up his very favorite toy, Woody.  On a side note, I was absolutely crying at this point, it was so sad and brave at the same time.  I thought this was an excellent example of giving and generosity.  He knew his toys would be played with and loved by the little girl  so he made the ultimate sacrifice.  Now, I’m not at all saying your child needs to give up his or her favorite toy, that’s just what they did in this movie.

Overall, I thought this movie delivered a great message about how giving can be a great thing.  It also introduced the thought of mutually beneficial relationships.  The toys were sad when they were not being played with and to Andy they were just clutter.  When the toys found a new home they were happy, the little girl was happy with her new toys, and Andy was happy because someone was loving his old toys. 

I give Toy Story 3 an A – (minus), just because I wish they had not painted such a cruel picture of the toys donated to the daycare.

I’ll follow up next week with tips to help you to get your child to donate their old toys. 

Enjoy the show!
Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

Yogi’s rejoice!  If your old mat has become less than Zen you can feel at peace with letting it go.  Send your old mat to Recycle Your Mat  which recycles worn out mats, donates mats still in good condition, and upcycles mats.  Upcycling means giving the old mat a new life, typically turning something old into something new and completely different.  For example, I have seen old yoga mats turned into water resistant zipper pouches at my local Container Store click here to see them .

Just another way you can reduce your clutter and be environmentally friendly!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

If your budding musician has tested more instruments than you have room for you can donate the retired melody makers to Roots of Music (ROM).  This non-profit after school program is based out of New Orleans and teaches children ages 9-14 how to read and play music.  After hurricane Katrina many schools in New Orleans were unable to continue to offer music programs.  ROM currently serves nearly 100 students making up a full fledged marching band. 

Click here  to see what types of instruments and supplies Roots of Music is looking for.

Please be sure instruments are in working order.  If you don’t have a musical instrument but think this is a really cool organization like I do you can also make monetary donations or sponsor a child.  This is such a cool program once you read about everything they do in providing music education, hot meals, transportation, and community for these children you will be hooked.  If you can’t donate spread the word about this unique organization.

Making a difference by clearing your clutter, I love it!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

This Saturday, January 23rd we will find out what the strangest piece of junk is in Austin at the fourth annual Clear Your Clutter Day sponsored by the Austin Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers.  Clean out your closets, garage, or office to round up items to be donated, recycled, trashed, or shred.  

Donations will benefit the Round Rock Serving Center, Goodwill Industries, and the NAPO-Austin Chapter.   Any non-hazardous household items will be accepted as donations.  We will also be collecting cell phones, moving boxes, and you may bring one box of paper to be shred. 

Bring in your strangest item and you may win a gift card to The Container Store!
This event is FREE to the public.  Don’t be late the event starts at 10:00 a.m. and ends at 2:00 p.m. in Parking Lots G & H of Ikea in Round Rock.

I will be promoting the event and giving a few tips today on KEYE, Austin’s CBS affiliate.  My segment will be live and should air around 4:00 or later. 

See you all tomorrow!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.