Lawrence “Buddy” Castaldi is a guy with big ideas and a good shtick.
When he wanted to be a rock star, he cut five records that played on college stations alone.
While fighting thyroid cancer, he wrote an e-book as a legacy for his then-1-year-old daughter: www.thesingledadscookbook.com. Castaldi moved to Lighthouse Point 10 years ago.
But his biggest idea came when he was working for California Closets, more than two decades ago. He returned to a recent client to find her newly reconfigured closet overflowing with the stuff she just unloaded.
Buddy the Closet Maven was born, offering same-day service, unlimited shelving, psychological counseling to ease separation anxiety, and a vision for garages, closets and home offices — for $50 per linear foot. Castaldi’s truck advertises “The Closet Maven. The Perfect Solution to Closet Pollution” and it doesn’t leave the driveway until the job is done.
To hear Carissa Penn, Castaldi is a knight wielding a level instead of a lance.
The Lighthouse Point woman said the person she hired to clean cost $200 and failed to conquer the clutter. Teaching full-time at The Alexander D. Henderson University School in Boca Raton left her disinclined to do it herself. “I felt like it was bigger than me,” she said.
Not Castaldi. He emptied the closet and handed Penn four big garbage bags for stuff for the closet, stuff for other closets, anything she would wear herself, for a charity and, finally, trash.
In 20 minutes, Castaldi had a blueprint. In three hours, Penn had three T-shirts on one shelf, shoes on another, and a new life.
“I learned I could live with out all that stuff I’ve given up,” she said. “I haven’t missed a thing.”
As for the stuff? Castaldi used to urge clients to donate it to charity. When he returned to find it stuffed back into closets, he began delivering donations to the Salvation Army in Pompano Beach or to Deerfield Thrift on East Hillsboro Boulevard.
There, owner Lauren Strassburg converts it to cash, sending a quarterly sum to the six churches that make up the Deerfield Beach Ministerial Alliance. She offers needy students at Deerfield Beach High School, Deerfield Beach Elementary school and Park Ridge Elementary school in Pompano Beach $10 vouchers for clothing.
And Castaldi’s one-man show now plays more than 250 closets a year.
“I can be a catalyst for people to get rid of their old stuff and create more space and the products go to help people. It’s a pretty simple idea,” he said.
Call the Closet Maven at 954-478-8221.