A New Year's Link Between Organization And Good Health

After the holidays, many shoppers load up their carts with storage bins, shelving systems and color-coded containers, all in a resolute quest to get their collections organized for the new year. The country's collective desire to clean up and manage collectibles is evident in the proliferation of organization-oriented businesses like the Container Store and California Closets. Reality shows like "Mission Organization" on HGTV and "How Clean is Your House?" on Lifetime feed a national obsession to de-clutter.
Getting organized is unquestionably good for both mind and body -- reducing risks for falls, helping eliminate germs and making it easier to find things like medicine and exercise gear.
"If you can't find your sneakers, you aren't taking a walk," said Dr. Pamela Peeke, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and the author of 'Fit To Live,' which devotes a section to the link between health and organization. "How are you going to shoot a couple of hoops with your son if you can't even find the basketball? "Dr. Peeke says she often instructs patients trying to lose weight to at least create one clean and uncluttered place in their home. She also suggests keeping sporting goods and a gym bag with workout clothes and sneakers in an uncluttered area to make it easier to exercise.
She recalls one patient whose garage was "a solid cube of clutter." The woman cleaned up her home and also lost about 50 pounds. "It wasn't, at the end of the day, about her weight," Dr. Peeke said. "It was about un-cluttering at multiple levels of her life."

For the extended New York Times article, click here.

Mint Offers Peek at Next Dollar Coins

Coming soon on new presidential dollar coins - Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook, Old Man Eloquent and the Last of the Cocked Hats. The U.S. Mint, the maker of the nation's coins, unveiled yesterday the stately images of the next four presidents whose faces will appear on the front of the shiny gold-colored dollar coins next year. James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren will be the new additions to the presidential dollar coin series that started with George Washington in February. The presidential dollar series is modeled on the Mint's popular 50-state quarter program, which lured millions of Americans into becoming coin collectors. More than 800 million presidential coins were put into circulation in 2007, the Mint said. Those first four coins carried the images of Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Monroe, the nation's fifth president who was nicknamed the Last of the Cocked Hats - a reference to the hat worn by soldiers of the American revolution - will be the first of the 2008 presidential coins. The Monroe dollar coin will come out Feb. 14.


Adams, the country's sixth president was nicknamed Old Man Eloquent because of his long speeches. The Adams coin will be put into circulation May 15.




The dollar coin bearing the likeness of Old Hickory, the moniker for seventh president Andrew Jackson because of his leadership in the War of 1812, will be rolled out Aug. 14.




The Van Buren dollar coin, honoring the eighth president, will come out Nov. 13. One of Van Buren's nicknames was Old Kinderhook, a reference to his hometown in New York.



Like the quarters, the dollar coins will feature changing designs - four new presidents each year in the order they served in office. The president's faces are on the front of the coins, while the backs feature the Statue of Liberty. Some of the lettering, including "In God We Trust," was moved to the edge of the coins. For more information, check out the original article here. It is easy to use iTaggit to organize collections of coins as well as value your collectibles. Just add them into our “What's My Item Worth” collection, or try out our new Live Assist feature for instant help.

Johnny Depp At The Top For Autographed Memorabilia

The Associated Press released a great article last week about celebrity autographed memorabilia. Johnny Depp ranked at the top of the charts as the most gracious celebrity for the third year in a row. Behind him in adoring-fan generosity are: Matt Damon, George Clooney, Jack Nicholson, Rosario Dawson, John Travolta, Katherine Heigl, Jay Leno, Dakota Fanning, and Russell Crowe. Crowe's placement on the Top 10 was considered a surprise, as he is infamous for throwing temper tantrums when it comes to fans and paparazzi, but the 43-year-old actor has apparently turned over a new leaf.
The worst celebrity signers are shamed in the following order: Will Ferrell, Tobey Maguire, Joaquin Phoenix, William Shatner, Renee Zellweger, John Malkovich, Julie Andrews, Bruce Willis, Teri Hatcher, and Scarlett Johansson.
The editors of Autograph magazine, who compile the list annually, said they take into account input from autograph-collecting judges based in Europe, New York, and California when ranking the celebs.
If you need help pricing or organizing your collections of celebrity autographs, use an iTaggit account, as opposed to software for collectors, for the most secure way to store your valuable's information. Then be sure to share your autographs with the rest of our community, and add in the interesting story of how you obtained them in the notes section!

Comic Book Organizing Has Never Been Easier

iTaggit Comic Collectors:

It has come to our attention that Amazon has made it even easier for you to organize your collection of comic books on iTaggit. Use our easy Amazon uploader through the Add Things button. Then type in the title of the comic you are looking for. We are currently unsure of how far back their library goes, or how extensive their variety of titles is, but at least it might save you some major time on your most recent acquisitions. Let us know if we can help you find your comic book's value through our “What's My Item Worth” collection.

The Web Based Management Movement

With the information age in full swing, the collecting world has seen many changes. These changes have not necessarily come in terms of what is being collected, but more so, how people manage their collectibles. Since the computer has become a common household item, many turned to it to manage their things by using spreadsheets or downloadable software for collectors. Recently though, the trend to managing collectibles has moved in a different direction, and collectors are now capitalizing on dynamic web based applications, such as iTaggit. With a web based item management application, collectors can now build communities based on their interests and find the value of their collectibles easier. The features offered in a web based application allow collectors to manage more information and dig deeper into researching their things. In addition, iTaggit offers a platform for collectors to manage their items and then easily appraise, sell, and share their items, which is better than a dusty old spreadsheet. Best of all, iTaggit is free to users, making web based item management the best option for the modern collector to organize their collections.

Get Your Closet Back In Shape

As the weather changes and the super sales continue through the holiday season, it is quite possible to max out your credit card and your closet space. iTaggit will always be here to help you inventory and organize your collection of clothes, but for the everyday real world, I found these little tips that might help you manage through the muddle.

(as originally written by Nancy Redd at AOL)

Closet Crisis: Not having enough hangers has created piles of clothing on the floor.

Storage Solution: Stock up on good, solid hangers that will keep your clothing in line. Hate hanging clothes? Perhaps you can make it fun with wooden hangers with your favorite sport's team logo or scented hangers for your nicer outfits.

Closet Crisis: Shoes sprawled all around the closet are making it hard to match pairs and are unnecessarily taking up a lot of space.

Storage Solution: Take advantage of an underused space for your shoe storage with a shoe rack over your closet door. You won't believe how much extra room you'll create!

Closet Crisis: Hanging up sweaters stretches them out, but piling them on the floor looks sloppy and is taking up too much space.

Storage Solution: Keep your sweaters organized and in shape with a sweater shelf hanging organizer.

Closet Crisis: Your belts are all over the place and your ties are wrinkled and creased.

Storage Solution: Keep them neat and organized with a motorized tie rack.

Closet Crisis: Bulky coats are taking up too much closet space, and your closet isn't a good place to store your wet umbrellas.

Storage Solution: Bring these items out of your closet, but keep them close by in an attractive wood coat rack and umbrella stand.

Closet Crisis: You've got a really tall closet, and a lot of airspace is being wasted.

Storage Solution: Make the most of your closet height with an add-a-rod, which will give you extra rows to hang up your items.

Closet Crisis: Your extensive hat collection is extending out of your closet and into other spaces.

Storage Solution: A cap rack will keep your hats in pristine condition and out of the way.

Closet Crisis: There just isn't enough room for your out-of-season clothing to stay closeted.

Storage Solution: Keep your unneeded clothing safely stored under your bed or in other locations besides your closet with air-tight space bags.

Closet Crisis: You've got your clothing under control, but you're still misplacing your jewelry.

Storage Solution: A jewelry organizer acts as a mini-closet for all of your jewelry when you're at home or traveling.

Closet Crisis: Your closet just isn't big enough, no matter how much organizing you do.

Storage Solution: Never fear, an extendable-portable garment rack is here to create more space for your storage needs.

Need help getting through your piles of collectibles? Let iTaggit help! We help manage collectibles for those who need it most. Organize collectibles by creating new collections on iTaggit to group them in. Show them off in our Gallery and send them to your friends to check out or add to. Research collectibles like your own through our search option and add to your collection or wish list. Whatever it is that you seek for your collectibles, iTaggit will help you out.

Collectibles Eye Candy

What fuels a collector to collect? How does one start? Would you say you started piece by piece over the years, or did you suddenly take interest in something and began buying everything you found of that genre? Luckily collecting does not have to be an expensive hobby, and most everyone has a collection of some kind, whether they realize it or not. Collecting has certainly been around since the cavemen era, when the hunters would create and collect tools for hunting and making shelter, so in some of my spare time, I decided to research collections on the Internet that had some zany or kookie qualities to them, just to see what I could find. Check out some of the stuff I found out there:

Air Sickness Bags:
Curator Steven J. Silberberg brings us the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum. He writes that Air Sickness Bags are art. "One can tell a lot about an airline's image from their Air Sickness Bags. Some barf bags are no more than a baggie with a twist tie, while other sick bags could win international design competitions. Are they art? I think so. You decide." He also posts that he has never been out of North America and is single.

Chocolate Wrappers:

Martin Mihal, of the Czech Republic, collects chocolate wrappers from all over the world. He created his chocolate wrapper indexing site to "popularize this hobby, let anybody browse chocolate wrappers from five continents, and to find new collectors of chocolate wrappers in the world to exchange chocolate wrappers and cooperation." As of January 31, 2006, Mihal has 38,579 wrappers from 99 countries.

Fat Collectibles:

Bill and Becky Sherman, of Illinois, have a number of collections, but my favorite one for its oddity is the fat collectibles collection. Though they do not shed too much light on the story behind the figurines and books, they do share an interesting hobby which Bill introduced into their relationship, and which I now bring to you.

Rum Bottle Labels:
Petr Hlousek, of the Czech Republic, is a member of the Curiosities Collectors Club from Prague and an avid collector of rum labels from around the world. He has 6,407 labels from 98 countries, 4,046 of which are unique. He also has 366 full bottles of rum from 38 countries. Lastly, he lists 2,832 labels that he does not yet have, and asks for help from the cyber-community in obtaining them. His collection is categorized by country and then further dissected by region of the world.

Soviet Calculators:
Sergei Frolov has a rather large collection of Soviet calculators, about 150 models in fact. Although I couldn't understand some of his site for language barriers, he does have several models missing from his collection that he is actively seeking out.

And Last But Not Least.....
Drum Roll Please....

Tissue Box Covers!!!!!!!:
A lady of unknown name or origin has been collecting decorative tissue box covers for a decade now. She purchased some through mail order catalogs, but really began to increase the size of her collection when she found an eclectic assortment of them on eBay.

Collections bring passion and interest into the lives of those they enrich. Like any other hobby, avid collectors give a structured purpose to their free time so they can amass and organize collections. Keep on collecting and showing off your stuff for the betterment of the world!!! Or at least us here at iTaggit!