The Modern Materialist

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• Quick Tip of the Day: Reuse Your Plastic Bags

  [Photo via]  I know it's the thing now to go shopping with giant burlap sacks and stuff, and I do own several not-plastic bags and giant totes, but when I go to the supermarket to pick up a larger amount of items, I still ask for plastic. Because I reutilize those bags every morning when I clean out the litter boxes. Yes, I fill the bags with poop and take them out to the dumpster. Is that TMI? Aaaanyways. I used to maintain a bag of bags, but things became so much easier and neat-looking once I picked up one of these:   Read More... Posted Oct 01 2008, 08:27 AM by Steph Auteri with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Quick tip, storage, Organization

• Weirdest Bit of Decor Ever Cooked Up

  I do so love cooking with garlic and onions. The delicious scent they expel can be used to trick people into thinking I actually know what I'm doing. And the scallion is my absolute favorite type of onion. Thing is, I had no idea it was so...versatile... Read More... Posted Sep 04 2008, 10:36 AM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: storage, Organization

• Quick Tip of the Day: When Labels Are Important

  Between the desk lamp, the scanner, the monitor, the speakers, and the five trillion other electrical products whose power cords are mingling behind my desk, things can get a little hairy when I need to unplug a specific something. Read More... Posted Aug 12 2008, 08:26 AM by Steph Auteri with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Organization

• Shrinkage

  Things that are better when they're small: 1. kittens 2. credit card debt 3. packages If you agree that good things do indeed come in small packages, well have I got a small package for you...   Read More... Posted Jul 29 2008, 04:43 PM by Diana Vilibert with | with no comments Filed under: Business cards, office, Organization

• Hold Up!

  I think I've found the perfect bookends for me! (And they're not the ones pictured above; feet gross me out. Don't ask.)   Read More... Posted Jul 22 2008, 03:32 PM by Steph Auteri with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: storage, Organization

• Simplifying Your Workspace with Herman Miller

  10 Random Things You Can Find On My Desktop: jar of Nutella cupcake-shaped thank you cards vibrating bullet, from Playgirl party gift bag massive headphones Paul Mitchell Instant Moisture Daily Treatment old cell phone Vaseline coffee mug You're Wearing That? Getting Off The desk that could perhaps inspire me to embrace hyper-organized minimalism: Read More... Posted May 26 2008, 09:00 AM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: furniture, office, Organization, desk

• Worth The Splurge? Pottery Barn's Daily System

  [$129, Pottery Barn]  Main Reasons I Need One Of These: I would like to personalize my work space with postcards, photographs, and snarky buttons. My desktop is an absolute disaster. It would hide nicely the scuff marks on the wall from the cats knocking over the room divider. Main Reasons I Question Its Practicality: Read More... Posted May 21 2008, 03:00 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: Organization

• Let Me Give You My Card

  As you all know, I suck at networking unless I have a few drinks in me. You may call it alcoholism. My shrink calls it social lubrication. I have to admit, I prefer her term.  Anyways, if I'm going to take over the world, I'm going to have to try my best to network the hell out of the media networking scene. Which is why I love my business cards, and the purple sparkly card case I carry them around in. After the jump, a round-up of nifty business card cases for your cards: Read More... Posted May 15 2008, 12:30 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: storage, Organization

• Batteries Are As Important As Duct Tape

  [Photo Via]  I have a thing of 16 AA batteries in the drawer beneath my bed. This may seem ridiculous, but here are five reasons why I SO need them: my flashlight my digital voice recorder that remote control helicopter I plan on buying my spare, compact digital camera Read More... Posted May 02 2008, 02:00 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: storage, Organization

• Thinking Inside the Box

  I've always thought it was a shame throwing away the slide-top tins tins my watermelon-flavored lip gloss came in when I was little: I mean, once the lip gloss was gone, a perfectly good container was left behind, and it smelled damn good to boot. (Was I meant to love the Container Store or what?) I know I'm not the only one who feels the same.  Now — finally —  we have a slide-top tin for...   Read More... Posted Apr 22 2008, 09:00 AM by Steph Auteri with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: gadgets, Organization

• Quick Tip of the Day: The ezSpace UFO

  My desk is probably the most horrifically messy area of my entire place, the the area where my feet kick around is probably the most dicey. Some of the things you'll find under there: my charging iPod my extra-large headphones multiple iPod cases a can of compressed air printer paper a three-hole puncher litter that has traveled over from the litter box a multitude of wires reference materials tumbleweeds of cat hair What I wish I had under there: Read More... Posted Apr 17 2008, 08:30 AM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: gadgets, tech, Organization

• Alt-CD Storage

  [£411.28-£1066.13, Made In Design] Way back when, MM-reader Erik momentarily mistook this mirror for artsy CD storage, and was then disappointed when he realized that it was a mere mirror. Read More... Posted Apr 14 2008, 02:30 PM by Steph Auteri with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: gadgets, Organization

• Oh My Holy God No.

  I apologize for the melodrama, but I just realized that one of the cats (most probably Gizmo) sprayed my $100 MoMA purse. I have my fingers crossed that it's machine-washable, because I could do without the scent of cat urine wafting in my wake. As I've given up trying to make them stop, I suppose the only thing left to do is keep my belongings safe. Read More... Posted Apr 09 2008, 02:00 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: storage, Organization, closets

• Cheap Trick: Picture Book

  I carry around this strip of photos in my business card case, folded in half, because obviously I'm too cool to do the wallet photo thing and, well, these pictures make me laugh.  There's something just so retro-nostalgic about getting your pic taken in a photobooth these days, that makes me think of growing up and going on family vacations to Wildwood Crest. We got these pictures taken at Seaside (Sleazeside) Heights, on Mardi Gras Day (hence, the beads). We had just enjoyed the massive slices at Three Brothers Pizza and a by-god, hardy Italian sausage & pepper sandwich, and I just knew that cotton candy was in my future. I also wanted to hit up the arcade, and maybe play some basketball, and definitely waltz around in the surf until I was completely soaked. The look on my face in the bottom photo is slightly frightened confusion and exasperation. I was probably wondering how it was that I found myself married to such a weirdo.  Oh Happy Day was just blogging about her photobooth photo album, and I began to idly wonder if I could find an album made specially for photobooth pics.   Read More... Posted Apr 09 2008, 09:00 AM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: storage, Organization

• Reader Tip: Hands-On Birth Control

  [$30.15 USD, Prophopot]  Lovely MM reader Melissa sent us a tip about the Prophopot, a bedside earthenware canister for one's condom stash, which is apparently "lubricated with a non-spermicidal glaze." Read More... Posted Mar 11 2008, 01:00 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: Organization, sex, container

• Cheap Trick: No. 2 Task Clips

  [$6.50, See Jane Work]  I have an weird — somewhat snooty even — obsession with office supplies. Back when I worked in cubicle-land full-time, I used to bring my own office supplies in, because the supplies in the back copy room were just. not. good. enough. And so, on the first day, I'd lug in a backpack with my high-quality pencil cup (can a pencil cup even be high-quality?) and three-hole punch and binder and Kate Spade pencils and feel comforted by the superiority of my post-its to everyone else's (they're shaped like "S," for Stephanie!). Read More... Posted Feb 28 2008, 06:00 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: office, Organization

• Quick Tip of the Day: Internet Notebook

  If you're like me, you spend an embarrassing amount of time online, surfing around for cool stuff, checking various bank accounts to see if they've magically quadrupled overnight, paying bills, and logging on to social networking sites to challenge friends to movie quizzes and to find out whose romantic status has changed from "In a Relationship" to "Single." And chances are you waste at least 20 minutes everyday trying to remember your million different User IDs and passwords. So let's make things easier on ourselves and get one of these handy Internet notebooks. You can keep track of all your passwords and what not, plus group your favorite urls together by subject. Think of all the extra time you'll have leftover now to, well, procrastinate some more! [$8, See Jane Work]  Posted Feb 25 2008, 08:30 AM by Wendy Atterberry with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Quick tip, Organization