110. What Ikea Did Right! (Also on YouTube)

In this episode, we're covering another "organizing" store: Ikea! I actually a mentioned a couple of Ikea products during the Container Store episode, and I have updates on at least one. I'll also show you a few things I picked up during my last visit to the Indianapolis Ikea - one of them is PERFECT for Summer. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Okay, you guys, welcome back. We are doing a YouTube video again. It's been a little while. Because of the content that I'm doing today, I did a similar episode with the container store. And so today I'm going to do it with IKEA. So I wanted you guys to see some of the products that I have. Um, there aren't that many. I brought some of the smaller ones, but still, I did it for the container store. I wanted to do it for IKEA. So, first and foremost, I just love IKEA. I haven't been in a really long time. We have one in Indianapolis. And so when we moved back right after COVID to Indianapolis, I was at IKEA quite frequently. Not all of my clients order from IKEA. And that's totally fine. I feel like there are IKEA families, if you will. They are the people who buy all of the IKEA furniture, all of the accessories, all of the stuffed animals, all of the appliances, all of the cabinets, this everything that you can get at IKEA. They just, it's a one-stop shop. Now it's a huge store. For those of you who don't go to IKEA often or who haven't been, I made the mistake of thinking that I could get through the entire store in an hour because I was going in on purpose to look at a few specific things and big mistake. Big mistake. It was two hours and we did it quickly. We didn't actually stop to look at every single thing like I have in the past. Um, if we had been putting together rooms or, you know, specifically looking to pair things together, we would have needed at least another hour. Um, and that's just if you're looking at a few things for one room. Now you can do the shortcuts, you can do the cut-throughs. Um, and we had to do that at the end because we got there at, let me think, we got there around, I don't know, 5.15 or 5.30, and they were closing at seven. I think it was Sunday. I think I think we went on a Sunday. And so I was like, certainly we're gonna have enough time to walk through the stuff that I wanted to look at. I wanted to look specifically at the organizing section, but then I also wanted to check out a couple of kitchen items. So I'm thinking to myself, okay, well, once we go through three different sections, then we're gonna be able to cut through. Well, it's tough because when you start at the beginning and you start walking through, you get sucked in by all of the different rooms that they have. And they have so many different rooms. So let me just say that is why this episode is titled Everything That IKEA Did Right. Because the episode I did on the container store talked about what the container store did wrong. And I'm confident, I'm still confident today in that episode because I rarely go to the container store anymore. It's not that I don't like them, it's not that I don't like their products. I just think that post-COVID, we are in a completely different organizing world. And that's okay. For those of you who still love going to the container store, it is a trip for sure. And if you need something super specific, especially if you need tiny things um organized, I still recommend going to the container store if you need like little cases for baseballs, um, any kind of collectible. They have some really good acrylic things for those. And then um just tiny, tiny, tiny things. They have tiny organizers. So the container store is still a really great store. Now, there's the argument that are they still overpriced? You know, I struggle with that because I'm definitely a high standards quality person. I like to have quality products and I will pay more if something is better quality or it fulfills a need that I didn't even know I had. Um also the container store for the most part is just a lovely experience if you are looking for closets. Um, they do a pretty good job of custom closets. I will say that IKEA just knocks it out of the park. They really do. So at the risk of jumping all over the place, let me go ahead and say this. IKEA really nails it when it comes to showing you what you can do with your items. They're really, really good with setting up apartments, setting up rooms, setting up offices. Um, as you walk through, you're actually seeing how you can take all of their stuff and use it in a 450 square foot apartment. Or if you want your kitchen to look a certain way, they sell it all and they do it all and they help you customize it all. And so it's not just a store, it's not just a warehouse, it is a display case, if you will. It is a model home. Um, every single room that you can think of, they've got it set up. And where they really get you is if you take your kids through there because the kids can see the bedrooms, the playrooms. My son, who's 12, really gravitated towards the office stuff because they had a true gamer setup. And he, I could not pull him out of there because they had the monitors, they had the desk that, you know, raises up and down, they had the gaming chairs, they have cute accessories as far as holding your headphones, uh, the keyboards, the mouse pads. Um, you know, certainly a lot of those kids that really get into gaming can go to a Best Buy. And we did actually go to Best Buy on the same day. So, you know, there was that. Um, but as far as the setup, as far as getting the full picture, he literally walked down the aisle, went right over this desk, and sat down. He wanted me to take a picture. Like we took a picture, I took a picture of some of the different products, which helps me because he's at an age where if he wants something, he can go online, he can find the link to it, and he can create his birthday list, Christmas list. So there are times that he'll send his list out to me and his dad and his grandma, and they can just click on something and order it. And when you go through IKEA, everything has a tag. And so you're taking a picture of the tag because when you get to the warehouse, that's where you actually find the item. Some of the smaller items, some of the accessories you can actually get in the section that you're in. But like I said, when you're walking through and you see a little mini bathroom or a mini kitchen or a kid's room with bunk beds, and they've got all the accessories, it's almost like an in-person catalog. You know, I used to open up the Target catalog. I used to open up Abercrombie. Like I'm from the generation that actually opened up the Abercrombie catalog, and they had lots of models on the beach wearing the clothes, and a lot of it was like black and white photography. I mean, they really, really set the scene. So that's something I remember today, even though that was 25 years ago, that I would flip through the Abercrombie catalog, is when you can take products and actually set them up in the way that they're meant to be used, or you give people different ideas, that is where you can really sell a lot more products and the products sell themselves a lot of times. So I'm gonna get to that in just a second. Um, and I do want to say this for the people watching on YouTube, you can see what's behind me. But the people who are listening, I just want to make it clear that as I'm doing this episode, I'm actually in a conference room in my building. And so this alcohol right here is not mine. I'm pointing to the big wall behind me that actually goes down to the first level. I'm on the second level in my building. So I'm in a conference room, the pool's out that way. It's a rainy day, so I don't think anybody's gonna walk through there, but you can see. I promise you, I don't have a problem. Um, and you probably hear like the soft jazz and the door slamming. So I did want to make the comment right now that if you're listening to this, you're gonna be like, I don't understand where she's at. I am in a glassed-in room with a lot of stuff going around, going on around me. So I also want to say this since we're doing video, there will be no editing today, um, which is unfortunate for me because I'm used to sitting down after every episode and you know, cutting out every um, you know, hopefully I don't cough. I had a huge coughing fit before I started this episode. Um, but I think I got all of that out of my system. Anyway, so back to IKEA. When IKEA first opened in Indianapolis, and I know it was this way for every other location that opened, it is a madhouse. It's the first of all, the parking lot is huge. We had the entire parking lot filled down the road, down onto the interstate. It's like a lot of other places that you know open up and people are really excited. Like we finally got one of those. And like I mentioned in another episode, Nashville was supposed to get an IKEA and they backed out. And that was all happening during COVID. So I'm assuming a lot of that stuff happened because of COVID. If we ever get them back, I will 100% appreciate them. I think what's also awesome about IKEA and how they're set up is that when you are a professional organizer and even a decorator, for the people who are decorators, I think they will get this too. If you can actually meet your client there and walk around and see what they like, because it's one thing to look through social media or Pinterest or have them show you a picture. If you can walk around with them and they can touch the product, they can hold it, they can see what the color looks like in person, they can touch the fabric, they can sit on it, they can lift it up, they can use it. All of those things are really important. And in real time, they're sitting there and they're adding things up in their head. And you can certainly do that in a container store. It's just not really the type of environment where showing them around is helpful. It's actually better to show them a picture of either something you've done or something someone else has done of like a pantry, a closet, um, a playroom when you're going to the container store, or if you're going to Target, or you know, if you're ordering off Amazon. Those are the types of projects where you kind of have to show them an example in a catalog, like I said, because they can't often envision it. And so this is where IKEA totally shines. And like I said, I've been there plenty of times before. I don't know all of the names. First of all, it's really hard to get to know the names of the IKEA products anyway. So when I talked about IKEA products in the container store episode when I was making the comparison, I didn't know the names of the IKEA products. Now I do a little bit better and I have a few of them with me. But at other stores, I can say, okay, you know, go get this from the home edit or go get this from the Marie Kondo collection or back with the travel stuff. With IKEA, it's like, okay, if you get halfway through the store and you don't stop to eat, once you get into the next section, you know, you can look at this, this, and this. And um, but like I said, walking through with a client, I think would actually be beneficial, especially if they don't know much about IKEA products. IKEA has this reputation for super cheap products, at least they used to. And I noticed that some of their like really, really simple, flimsy, cheap items that they used to have, I did not see this time. So I do think that IKEA has done a really good job of keeping a lot of their prices lower, but they have improved quality on a few things. And I'm actually gonna show you this first because I have to move my video. I actually have this up on the, I think it's the Samla. It's Samla, Samla, I'm not really sure. But I'm just gonna hold this for a second and show you. So, see this little container? It's got a lid, it's clear. I think it's samla. Anyway, so I'm gonna show you this really quick and then I'm gonna use it as my stand again. Um, I have put a bunch of sewing stuff in here. Um, I'm not sewing as much as I used to. Um, let me actually show you this lid really quick. See how like the little divots are in the top? That makes it stackable. Now, of course, there are other containers that are stackable, but I love how specific this is because they don't slide around as much. It's a very, very specific pattern, and so it's not gonna slide around as much, and I love that. But get this. When I did the episode on the container store, I talked about this specific tote. I specifically said there is something similar at IKEA, but the lid doesn't snap on as well. I don't know if you guys remember this, and if you don't remember this, go back and listen to that entire container store episode, or you can watch it on YouTube. This lid now snaps, and it snaps pretty well. It used to be, and gosh, I don't even know when they fixed this because it's probably been a couple of years since I've physically been in IKEA. This lid now snaps shut. It used to just kind of lay softly on top, and I think I even made the comment in the container store episode that these little totes are really, really great for toys, um, especially for little kids, because they can just lift the top off and grab what they need. However, what was bad about them is that little kids can just take the top off really easily and, you know, not just grab what they need, but like dump them over. And then if you're trying to like store them and you're trying to lift them up, sometimes the lid would come off. These are great. These have been updated slash upgraded. They're wonderful. They actually click into place now. Um, so what I have done just for right now is I've put some of this sewing stuff in here because I brought my sewing machine back from storage. I'm closing my storage unit, and I've got a little bitty tote inside that's just keeping all of my smaller items from unraveling, like my sewing thread. I've got my little, you know, needles in there and things that I don't want to poke when I reach in to grab the pedal. Um, because that's also what's in here. If if you're not watching on YouTube, in this little bitty Somla container, I've got the foot pedal for my sewing machine, and then I also have a smaller container that has my sewing items, like my thread puller. I've got a pair of my um Fisker's scissors in here. I don't know if this is going to be a permanent solution, but that's okay. This is what I love about these kinds of totes, and these are very similar to the accessory boxes and the shoe boxes at the container store. I love organizers that are completely clear, including the lid. Okay. I did go to Target today, and we will have an episode like this on Target, so no worries. Oh, sorry, I just sent my microphone. Sorry about that, you guys. Um, I'm used to just holding the microphone now with my eyes closed. That's how I like to do a lot of my episodes because I can just like close my eyes and think. So I'm not used to actually like having it on a stand and being able to move my hands around. So I apologize for that. Anyway, back to the Samla collection. What's great about Samla is that they have this nice little size that is probably too small for a pair of shoes, unless it's a pair of kids' shoes. I think if you have like a seven or eight-year-old, their size shoe would probably fit in there okay. But I love these for accessories. Um, I'm probably gonna use the other one that I have for the little bit of fabric that I have because I am going to start sourcing fabric again, but and I don't want to get too far off track. I normally like to sew in the wintertime. That to me is like very calming. It's like I'm inside while it's snowing. I'm sewing and I'm, you know, sourcing fabric, and I get really excited for that season. So I think I'm gonna use this other small one that I have, put my fabric in there, and then they can stack on top of each other, and they're gonna be in the same little haul closet that my sewing machine is in. So that's my plan for that. But they do come in larger sizes. I got the next size up that's more, it would be similar to like the sweater box at the container store. It's a little bit bigger, it's a little bit more of a rectangle. This is a rectangle, but it's tall. It's like a tall rectangle. This is a little bit shorter, and then I also got the insert that goes in. It's like a little handled insert, and then there's two sides. There's like a divider. So that would be really great for maybe some kitchen utensils that I'm not going to use. Anything you can think of that's long, like a hammer, would go really well in those. And then I kick myself because I should have picked up at least one of their really large tote because I have some bigger things like baskets that I'm selling on eBay right now. And what I love about these, including the clear lid, is that you can really see inside the entire box. And if I sell something on eBay and I just open the closet and take a look in, with the clear lid, you can actually see from up above. Okay. I know it's not a big deal. I know some of you are like, oh my gosh, who cares? Like you can see in the bottom. When you have stuff stacked, and especially if you have like fabrics stacked, and I say fabrics is in it can be clothes, it can be blankets, it can be sheets. Let's say you've got a few pairs of white sheets on the bottom, you have a pair of like blue sheets, and then you have pattern sheets, and you know, they're all stacked together in a tote. If the lid is not clear, then you may open a closet door and look in and notice, oh, there's only white sheets and blue sheets in here, and then you close the door. If you can actually see through the lid, you can see whatever's on top. And in my scenario, my example, it would be the pattern sheets. And so I just think it's helpful because things can get stacked on top of each other, they can get moved around. I think if you're clear in a 360 view, it's just gonna be easier to find stuff that you're looking for, especially if you're pulling like inventory, if you do have an online store, if you are just trying to get things to where you're pulling instead of having things out all the time, I suggest getting the clear boxes with the clear lids. Now, if you have a container store, which now there are more container stores than IKEA stores. If you're like, yeah, I can get to my container store in 15, 20 minutes. I may have to pay for parking, I may have to fight for parking. But as far as the clear lid idea, you can definitely do that there. There is nothing at Target that has. A clear lid. Now, there are some things that have clear lids, but they're part of a bigger system. Like maybe they have inserts that are white. That's fine. I don't have a problem with that. It's just that the whole thing isn't clear. It's not like a big tote that has a clear lid. It's normally something that's like clear and then it has like a white lid, or it's something that you can't actually see through. Um, but again, we're gonna talk about Target down the road. I've already talked about the Target dollar section in an episode. I can't remember if that's in the regular pot or in the bonus, but if it's a bonus episode, I'm just telling you, if you haven't subscribed yet, it's only $3 a month. That's the minimum contribution. Okay. Now, let's get to the main event, shall we? I'm so excited about this. I have never seen this basket before, this basket that's on the bottom. And it's not this. This is something different. This name is just something different. This is the, what is this? Um, this is the Ronin R-A-N-E-N basket.

unknown 23:04

Boop boop.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Um, I think this was marketed as a shower basket, and it certainly can. The only problem is it doesn't have dividers on the inside. And so if you're actually looking at carrying multiple bottles to the shower, like if you're in a dorm room, I think they're gonna topple over and I think they're gonna get obnoxious. What would be okay is if maybe you have a few bottles and then you got like a big fluffy puff, right? To kind of like keep them from falling over. You certainly could get inserts. This is also a good size as a shower basket. If you've got flip-flops, because trust me, you want shower shoes. For those of you who are college students, if your parents didn't tell you you have to have shower shoes, you don't want to go down that road of being barefoot in a community shower. So that's just a side note. Anyway, so this is the Ronin. I purchased it, which it worked out really well today because I was able to carry the other stuff I was going to talk about. But the reason I purchased it is because I often carry things from room to room, not necessarily cleaning supplies, because I have cleaning supplies like double in each room that I need. So if I need a glass cleaner in the bathroom, I also have one in the kitchen. Not everybody wants to do that, especially if you have more than one bathroom, especially if you have more than, you know, a few bathrooms. You may want to actually carry from two bathrooms that are on the same level. And then maybe you have a backup on another level. But anyway, I love this basket. It's got this cute little handle, very sturdy. And see how they go up and down. Um, very sturdy little basket. But it caught my eye as soon as I got there. And I think it was only, I don't know, $3.99. I know it was really inexpensive. It was like either $3.99 or $4.99 because I was like, oh, that's a great little basket. And there's nothing wrong with keeping something like this under the sink just for storage, even if you don't plan on actually using the handles. Because when you go to move one day, anything that is already stored in a basket that has handles is gonna be beneficial. Anything you can lift and carry to the next place is gonna help. Um, you could also use this in a kid's room for sure. You could put little stuffed animals in it, you could put toys in it. That's totally fine. Okay. Now, the things I'm gonna show you today aren't necessarily all organizational stuff. I just had really strong opinions on them. Um, so the first thing that we see, this is what this is. It's the clip coctus. Clip coctus. If you're watching on YouTube, I'm just gonna show you the name. So we're gonna start off by talking about what disappointed me. Okay, and this really, really disappointed me because I was really excited about this. This little organizer is for your soda cans. Let me, that one's still cold. That's a cold one. Anyway, that's fine. Okay. See this right here. This actually has a little spring load. Okay. So when I saw this sitting on the shelf, I was like, that's gonna be perfect. Not just because of the spring loading function, and you can see this right here. I get these little bitty mini cherry cokes. And every time I get a can holder or a can divider, it's for the bigger cans. So when I saw this, I got super excited because I was like, this is the first thing that I've really seen where you can actually put this in here. And I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you how well this fits in here. Okay, so first I'm gonna show you the pro. The pro is that it actually fits in pretty well, like it's easy to put in, and then even pulling it off of the shelf, it's really easy. Like if it's on the shelf of the refrigerator. But look at that. Look how well that fits. It's perfect. Here's what's not perfect. See this little piece right here. When you start loading these cans and it slides all the way back, guess what happens? You lose about that much space. And that's what happened, and that's why I got really upset. I was like, you've gotta be kidding me, because this is the perfect, perfect size for this. I mean, look at this. I'm gonna keep this. I may even get a second one because it upsets me. Uh, I feel like this at the front is more important. But here's the thing I think these come in boxes of 10 cans. So technically you should be able to fit five in each one. So if I have two rows of these, that would cover the entire, the entire thing. I could unload everything into two of these. But what happens is when you start loading them from this side, you only get four. And then this much space is left. This thing right here. I don't know why that who didn't test this. You gotta test stuff like this because you get us excited with something that actually fits it fits a product perfectly. I mean, look at this, right? Look how well it holds it. It's perfect for it. But when you start loading this, this thing is go. So, IKEA, here's what you gotta do. You gotta make these longer. You gotta make them, you actually have to test this. Now, what may have happened is maybe, maybe, when they went to test this, they tested the the regular size can, like the large size can, and maybe they got four of those, three of those. I'm trying to think how many of the big one would fit. Four. They would probably fit four perfectly for the bigger cans. Because when this thing goes back here, there's still some room, and that's what upsets me because there's enough room where I could fit half of a can, but then you also have this little piece right here. So that's the clip cocktaus, and I'm upset about that. Anyway, but I love my little mini cherry cokes, and I can put them in the door of my refrigerator, but like I said, this is one of these impulse purchases. I didn't need this, I didn't need it, but when I saw it, I was like, no one else makes one like this. Now, what I think I saw at Target the other day, I didn't have time to look, like really look. I think Target now makes something that has like a spring loading function. So when I go to do the Target episode, I'm specifically gonna get one of these from the Bright Room collection and I will let you know what I think about that. But I want you guys to know this ahead of time before you go to IKEA, because some of you are just passing through. Like for me, if I figured this out once I got home, I probably would have returned it. But that would mean driving almost six hours, actually, it probably about five and a half, back to Indiana. So once I got back to Tennessee, I put this in my refrigerator, I started loading, and I realized, oh crap, it only fits four. Like that's upsetting. That's disappointing. Anyway, okay. Talking about things that you really, really need, I have needed a little bitty cutting board for a while, like tiny, because I'm usually just cutting like a single peach or a few strawberries. And I found a little cutting board at the at-home store a couple weeks ago, and I thought, you know, it's not exactly what I want. It's small and it was only like $10. But again, even those smaller purchases, if you're not excited about them, just don't do it if you can wait. So I've been cutting stuff on a little paper plate just because that's what worked. But look what I found. Look at this. Look how little this is, and it's it's perfect. It's such a good quality, it's such a good quality cutting board. It's the legitim L-E-G-I-T-I-M, and it comes in a pack of two. And it is, let's see, the bigger one is a nine by six, and the smaller one is a six by four. So cute. Anyway, it's nothing special. It's not like it's a special cutting board, it's not like it's, you know, wood or bamboo or I mean it's just one of these little, I don't even know what you call this. Is this that's not acrylic? What is it? Um, yeah. It contains some kind of prop or something. I'm sure a lot of people will have a problem with this, but it's okay. Um, for me, this is exactly what I was looking for. So this was a good buy. These were really inexpensive. I think this set of two was less than five dollars. Don't quote me on that, but I was really excited about that. And then this last thing, the main reason I wanted to talk about IKEA today, there's two reasons. One, the Samla collection. When I saw that the lid had improved, I was so excited. I was like, this is a game changer because now this stuff can snap shut and you can actually carry it around and not worry about losing the lid. The other thing is how they show. It's a showroom. That's what I meant to say earlier. It's a showroom. It's very, they're showing you everything that you can do with all of their products. It's genius. The one thing I will say is I do wish they had more products on the floor, like furniture. Like I wish they at least had, like, if you see a piece of furniture that has to be assembled, I kind of wish they had a spot where they could keep maybe two or three boxes, just because once you get out to the warehouse, you're trying to remember everything that you wanted. And even if you take a picture, if you're in a hurry, it's like, well, now I gotta go figure where it's even at in the warehouse. But it's such a small, small complaint. Okay. This last thing that we got is an upfold. It's an upfeld. I don't know if you guys can see this. This is the little, the little band that came around it. So these are the little, um, these are the little popsicle makers, but how cute are these? How cute is the storage on that? I mean, seriously. And the reason that I really wanted these and my son went crazy. He's like, we have to get once he realized he saw the little demo of it, and he's like, we gotta get those. My son doesn't like a lot of just like, first of all, he doesn't like anything chocolate. He likes citrus. So he likes popsicles, but he's very picky. And his favorite popsicle was a strawberry Johnny Pop, just the strawberry, not strawberry covered in chocolate, not strawberry combined with anything else. And they quit selling it. And I don't know if I can find it at another store, but I've already looked at, you know, Target Whole Foods. I think I even checked at Kroger. So what he really likes, if he doesn't get like a snow cone, he likes lemonade and strawberry lemonade. And so what I was thinking with these is actually just pouring these little molds with regular lemonade and strawberry lemonade. And then that way he's got a nice little popsicle. And when it's a nice day, this pool that's behind me, what we can do, we probably can't carry them out. You know what? We probably could carry them out like this. Look at this. See right here the little holes and the way that the tr the lid comes over the tray. I think you can. I think you can. I can't wait to try this. I think what I'm gonna do is they've all got little handles in them. So obviously, I'm gonna wash the molds and then I'm gonna put the different flavors in here. I can even put a mommy one in here. Um, not that I spike my drinks. I actually don't drink that often. However, um I could put something in here for me, even if it's a I don't know if I I bet I could freeze an olipop. Do you guys think I could do an olipop popsicle? That would be how cool would that be? Because my new favorite flavor of Olipop is blackberry vanilla. Black, wait a minute, blackberry, blackberry vanilla. So I I've got four molds here. I could do the lemonade for him, and I could do olipop. And then I think you can just actually put them in the freezer like this. I think you can put I think you can put the little holders right here and freeze it, and then when you go out to the pool, you can just carry it like this. That's what I'm gonna try. So I'm excited about this. That's the upfilled. So let me see what it says on here. What does it say? It doesn't say anything, it just tells you what it's made out of. And I don't even understand. It's a it's some kind of silicone something. Anyway, some of you don't like IKEA because of how things are made, and that's totally fine. I totally respect that. Um, I kind of have a blend of things. Some people like wood organizers, some people like bamboo, they like natural. Um, I just kind of have a mix of stuff. And again, if you're trying to get stuff on a budget, IKEA is you just can't be IKEA. Um, when it comes to their desks, there was a little desk that I'm thinking about getting the next time I go up, because it's so tiny, it would be the perfect little podcast desk if I want to put that in my closet. Because sometimes I do like audiobooks. And so um if Audible calls, I need something different than my current setup. Um, because right now I'm set up in my living room, and if I come down here and rent this space, then you know, this is more like fun. We've got a waterfall out there, we've got the pool there, you know, we've got music and, you know, I can't like soundproof this space, but I wanted to do this today here because I felt like I would have more room to grab stuff and I wouldn't be as, except for that slamming door, as distracted than I would if I were in my my space right now. So um I hope this episode was helpful, you guys. There's so much more that I can talk about when it comes to some of these stores. So, what I'm doing on purpose is I'm trying to keep these episodes a little bit smaller because it can be overwhelming. I mean, if you have two hours to listen to a podcast on organizing products, you could probably just walk through IKEA yourself. So I wanted to make sure that I I featured a few things and I gave you my opinion. Like I said, this little can holder, it definitely has potential. I'm definitely going to use it. It just really bugs me when something isn't, you know, it's it could have been so perfect. It really could have been. And I'm I'm trying to figure out, you know, I'm looking at it, trying to think like an engineer. Other than making it longer, I really don't know how you would fix that. And I don't think you can take this little piece out. I don't think so because it's on a track. I'm looking at it here. Okay, so it's on a track. Does it expand? What is this down here? I don't think it expands. Gosh, it looks like it ex- doesn't it look like it expands right there? I'm sorry, I just hit the microphone again. What is this? Let me see. Does this come out? Oh, I don't think it comes out. No, it's attached. Oh, wait a minute, just kidding. Okay, this comes off. Oh, stop it. Am I am I figuring this out like right here? Does this thing expand? Oh, stop it. Does this come off? Oh my gosh. Oh, you guys, stop it. Stop it right now. Does this expand? If so, I'm gonna be so happy and you guys just witnessed it in real time. Does it this has to expand? It does it really not expand? Doesn't it look like it expands? Look at that little thing right there. Does it not? I feel like this has to do something. Does this come out? Shoot. Oh! Okay, well that's not supposed to happen, I don't think. Okay, don't do that, you guys. Okay, this pops off. See how the track comes down like this? I don't think I was supposed to do that. Okay, well now I'm also advising you what not to do so you don't break it. But I don't understand. Maybe this all comes apart. Do you think I don't think you can attach two of them together? That wouldn't make sense. I just think these are the end pieces. But but what I'm wondering is if somehow I can slide this thing off and not have the spring loader is what I'm thinking. I'm I may try this. Because if I take off the spring loader, you know what? I'm just gonna do it right now. I'm just gonna do it right now, so you guys don't have to wonder. Oh, wait a minute. Okay. Look at this. So if I take off the if I if I slide this back, the little spring loader mechanism, it's attached up here. I think if you take off this piece and you sacrifice one in terms of seeing, I'm I don't know. See now I'm curious. I kind of want to see, but not right now. Not right now, because I I do want to use this. Okay. I'm gonna put these back on if I can figure it out. How did these go on here? Now I'm just talking to myself. Um, yeah, here we go. So these little clear pieces snap into place. I love learning how things work. I really do. Oh, I was really hope. Didn't you guys think by the looks of that, you could just pull on the end and it would expand? Oh, that would have been so great. That would have been awesome. But you know what? It's okay. It is what it is, it is what it is. Um, I just need to talk to IKEA and tell them to make this thing longer. Anyway, maybe they'll see this. Ikea, if you see this and you want to sponsor me and you want to make this longer, I'll buy like a thousand of them. I'm just kidding. Um, okay. Well, there we go. So, Samla, all of the clear totes with lids, I recommend those. This little guy, what do we what it what was he called again? This is the clip cockptus. Clip coctus? That's what this is. I recommend it, but again, design flaw. And then the basket was the Ronin R-A-N-E-N. I love the basket, and then I'm really excited about these little upfold, upfold, oop, oop fold um little molds. I think those are gonna be awesome. So I hope this episode was helpful, you guys. This is fun. I need to do this more often. Like I said, I'm definitely gonna do it with Target. Um, and don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like the container store. I just think, and I've said this before, I said this in the container store episode. I think the container store just didn't evolve with the times. I think that now they're scrambling, they're trying to do more sales, and they're trying to compete with Amazon, to be honest. Um, Target is just exploding when it comes to organization. I, what Target is doing right now, I wish they would have done about five or six years ago because when they started making some of these acrylic products and products for the kitchen, I'm like, if they can just elevate and do a little bit more of what the container store is doing and make them a decent quality, like the Brightroom collection, I was like, they are just gonna absolutely just destroy the market. And that's what's happening. So between IKEA and Target, I would say those two are my favorites right now. Amazon and the container store, I would kind of put side by side. I would say Amazon comes out on top because of the availability, um, because of the fact that you can get free shipping with Prime. I mean, you can't beat that. And the speed in which you can get items shipped. Um, the container store takes forever compared to compared to Amazon. So um yeah, I would say Target is probably my number one right now. Ikea is number two, and obviously I can't get there whenever I want. Um, I'm probably gonna go back up there next month. So we may have a part two of this episode in a month from now. And then let's see. So Target number one, IKEA number two, Amazon number three, and container store number four is what I would do. I would not have said this 10 years ago, by the way. Um, nothing, nothing would have compared to the container store before COVID. I just want to make that clear. So I think the container store can come back around. I think that they still have some really good stuff that no one else has. I just don't know if people are willing to pay what they charge for some of those items. I think that's the key as well. So I hope this episode was helpful. Please make sure to subscribe and follow our podcast so that you never miss a new episode being uploaded. Please make sure to subscribe to the bonus content. Like I said, it's only $3 a month. You have access to all prior bonus episodes, and we've got more series coming up. We're gonna have series on travel again, on going back to school. We're gonna have organizing for single moms, organizing for the elderly. We're gonna have a lot of series coming up where only the first episode will be in this main podcast, and then episodes two through whatever will be in the bonus content. So thank you guys for listening and thank you for watching, and I will see you in the next episode.