If you feel you have the skills, but need the discipline, can you get a "work-out buddy"? Do you have a friend, maybe not even a close one, who has something SHE needs to do in her life? (paint the bathroom, remember to pay her bills on time, do her mending) Maybe you can swap Saturdays, or swap one of her Saturdays for two weeknights of help/company. But actually, I think a pro might be a REALLY good idea for you in your current situation, because of this: we are in the middle of major remodeling (on the cheap, i.e. very slow) so I don't want to bring any new furniture in. How to handle getting organized within some severe limits of storage and/or how to set up temporary storage is one major problem. I envision you using a professiona lorganizer to help you strategize about what your FINAL storage solution should be, and what interim steps are most effective. If "shelves under the stairs" or "a short stretch of wall between two doors with a shallow dry-wall-enclosed bookcase" will make a difference in your storage, wouldn't you want to know it NOW? and though you might believe you have the skills, you also might not--you may have amateur-level skills, which are considerable, but you may not have pro-level skills. As Shrimpie says, I am always amazed by how smart other folks are in coming up w/ clever solutions I would never have thought of. Much more rapidly, too--that, to me, is the difference between a pro and an amateur. Pros can leap to the workable solutions much more rapidly. i think it's worth trying ot find someone, and interviewing them to see what they would do, what suggestions THEY have for how best you could use their skills (and your $$)

instead of buying clear boxes (which I would never do) - I just take a thick marker (red, black, something that is easy to read from 4 ft away), find a clear spot on the box or put a white label and write on the face front of each box a brief description of each shoe - "red AK sandals", "blue suede", etc. I always know each shoe's name - they are your best friends, right? That way I still use the box they came in with, and when I clean/rotate out of season shoes, I make sure they go into their own box. The ones that are out of season or dress shoes that I rarely use, all get stacked on highest shelf in the closet. DH comes handy when I need to reach them ;-) If he is not home, I just use step ladder that I need to have in the house anyway - my 5ft vs his 6ft.

Another idea: get some of those Sterilite plastic drawers, and stack them on one side of the closet. That'll "partition off" one small section to be for cleaning supplies. And a drawer will help you access the deepness of the storage space, bcs it'll pull things forward. The one drawback to those is that they're sort of short; most bottles won't fit in them standing up. But there are taller versions. Or, try this "laundry tower" concept--a tall, skinny cabinet w/ compartments; it would interrupt the shelf and hanging bar, so maybe not the best. http://www.improvementscatalog.com/imp/290307?cm_mmc=GooglePLA--LaundryRoom--2014-_-437559&mr:trackingCode=0B124480-8F0B-E311-9612-001B21BCC0BC&mr:referralID=NA&mr:filter=98946355732&intlShippingCtx=US%7CUSD&code-macs=MP4XW091&mr:ad=43916408932&mr:device=c&mr:match=&SourceCode=MP4XW091&mr:adType=pla&mr:keyword=&redirect=y But this sort of cabinet, designed to go between washer and dryer, might be great (this one isn't available anymore, but this is the general idea). The drawers are tall enough for bottles, and it's skinny and short. http://www.lowes.com/pd_172508-46-WVP5000SQ_4294857913+8+4294965476_?productId=1043069 http://www.shopgetorganized.com/item/WICKER_BETWEEN_WASHER_DRYER_DRAWERS/24415?src=GOSHPZLA&utm_source=shopzilla&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=24415&close_prompt=1 My favorite idea is the kinds of unit w/ different heights of drawers--IF the largest drawer is tall enough. http://www.target.com/p/sterilite-5-drawer-storage-cart/-/A-13794467#prodSlot=medium_5_9&term=drawer Because some things are tall and some are short, and tall drawers are really bad for little things. http://www.amazon.com/SEI-Iron-Wicker-Five-Drawer/dp/B000X09XGE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_op_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0X75NQ44TWHDJY5ME354 Even a filing cabinet could work. http://www.target.com/p/hirsh-3-drawer-file-cabinet-steel/-/A-14796066#prodSlot=medium_2_23&term=drawer This one looks really good--that bottom drawer is as tall as a file drawer, so maybe it would hold cleaning bottles standing upright. http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=677&view=0&picture=1&tab=Uses&ProductCategory=188&section=1 This one is nice and narrow--but I don't know how tall the drawers are; they look kind of short. http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=405&view=0&picture=1&tab=Uses&ProductCategory=187&section=1 This one also, I'm not sure how tall the drawers are. http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=406&view=0&picture=1&tab=Uses&ProductCategory=187&section=1 Then again, you could just store the tall bottles in a caddy on top. HOWEVER, and this might be true always anyway--you should probably store -only- one bottle of what you truly use. The extras should go somewhere else, like in the garage or under the sink, if at all possible. (Or if you're like me and live in an apt., don't buy extras--practice "just-in-time inventory.") If you got something like this, you could just take out one drawer to make the drawer below it taller (and you could access it more easily as well); I've done that w/ a shallow drawer unit. Because I *think* this one doesn't have bars across the front, just supports along the sides. http://www.amazon.com/4D-Concepts-Corner-Clear-Silver/dp/B0006TXDSG/ref=sr_1_2?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1413299007&sr=1-2&keywords=utility+drawers And you could set your "daily use" caddy on the top of such a drawer unit; it'd be handy to grab the caddy itself, or just the window cleaner/whatever. Because the caddy would work as an organizer that would keep your most-used items from falling over. And you might be able to put -all- the cleaning solutions in the caddy, which would ease the pressure on having a tall drawer. There are lots of carts for this space, but you have to pull the whole cart out instead of just a drawer. But it's an idea--you could put it on the open side of the closet, and pull it out to get to stuff. And hang shorter jackets above it.

I see this posting is now 3 years old however it is still coming up quite high on google rankings so I'll throw my two cents in. I own an estate sale company in Long Island, New York. Henry Laurent Estate Sales. I'm happy that you were able to post your concerns and then follow up with the results. As one poster said you usually read the question - which rarely paints us in a good light - and never hear the outcome. If people stumble upon this post in the future there are some things to keep in mind. Companies should provide you an itemized list. Always. My staff will write "Sheet $1". It is the only way to accurately account for every dollar in and every item out. Also we always have questions of " how much did xyz sell for?". It could have only been a $10 item but it was sentimental so they are curious. Secondly, for a normal household mixed with small and furniture the average sale is around $6k - $10k for a 2 day sale. Lower end for higher amount of smalls, high end with several nice pieces of furniture, jewelry (over $500 a piece). 35% is just around the national average right now and is what we charge. About 80% of that spent towards advertising. While one poster said that you should do it yourself because Craigslist is free ... that is true but only one site out of the 12 that we use and I'm sure others do as well. Out of the 12, 3 are free the others are subscription based with additional fees to highlight or bump your sale to the top spot. Local papers also cost around $300 - $1,000 for a proper 7 day run depending on amount of lines, bolding, placement ..etc. Finally, there is always the concern that we will under price things. Believe me we put the price at the high end of estate sale prices because we know that there will be haggling and bundling. We also know what the market will bare. While chairs might be selling on ebay for $300, it doesn't mean they sold for $300. You are seeing them because they are still available. Average dining room and bedroom sets go for around $500. All in all I'm happy that you posted and that you had a good experience. A good review for one estate sale company is always good for the industry.