Organizing & DIY Link Party – Week 5

Dresser Drawer Organization

Do your dresser drawers look like this?

 

Or do they look more like this?

It isn’t hard to organize your dresser drawers.  I did a post on Organizing Your Dresser Drawers and showed you how easy it is to do.  I used organizers that I found at Ikea and a few I also found at Old Time Pottery, but you could also use shoe boxes or other boxes that fit into your drawers and achieve the same thing.

Share your DIY, crafts, decorating, organizing projects!

You can find the link for my button on my top “Buttons” Tab. (right now I only have the Organizing Mission Monday button, so it is fine to continue to grab that) 
1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)
3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it
4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or crafts or decorating are WONDERFUL!
5) No sales pitches or web sites.
6) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list. If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple. If You Are On A Reader and Want to View All the Great Link Up’s on this post please Click here 
This party will be open until Feb 5, 2012 at 11:59pm

Cubby Storage

Using Cubby Storage In Your BedRoom

I LOVE cubby storage, as most of you know who have followed me for awhile, so I decided to utilize them in our bedroom. I am in the process of slowly making over our bedroom.

We don’t have the finances to go into a beautiful bedroom set (that happens when you have eight kids right? Everything else like college and food come first! lol) so we do the best we can with what we have.  I also love Ikea, and I found some tall cubby storage units that we could use to help with our clothes storage.

We were storing our jeans, sweaters and sweatshirts on wire shelves in our closet. I tend to be more practical & functional than decorative, so I didn’t have a problem with open clothes storage in our room.

We have three of these cubby storage units in our rooms.  They are five shelves tall, with Dave having two of them and I have one.  This one is on the other side of the room from the top picture.  I got him two baskets also to help out with socks and T-shirts.

We also got two smaller cubbies that are on either side of our bed. We each have two baskets in them.  Yes that is my gun safe if anyone is wondering. You can see my cool pink gun on my pinterest board. (no nasty comments about me having a gun please)

There are plans to paint and also plans to make one of the cool headboards that I found on Evolution of Style  blog. Isn’t this awesome? I pinned it on my DIY pinterest board . This is in her little girl’s bedroom.   I loved it because it is right inbetween two windows which is the exact set up we have in our bedroom. I am still trying to decide on a paint color (not pink, I love it.. but poor Dave) and think my headboard will be the brown/black to match my Ikea pieces. Thoughts?

 

Pin It

Transferring Clothes For The Season

Are You Ready For The Cold Weather?

The Changing of the Guards Clothes – Bring Out The Winter, Put Away the Summer!

This is not something I look forward to each season!  But it is something we need to do this week.  The kids have a couple days off school, so I thought it would be the perfect time to get it done.

The triplets are now old enough they can do most of it on their own, I just have to give instructions and follow up. (If I don’t, I will have one huge pile of clothes and they won’t know what they are keeping or getting rid of)

When we bring out the clothes from last year, there are some things that Alex can wear of Zach’s from last season. Even though they are triplets, Zach is about 5 inches taller than Alex and weights about 25 pounds more, so it does make it nice for handing down clothes.  The boys also have clothes that I have saved from Tim & Drew who are now 17 & 18.

8 Easy Steps to Transferring Clothes For The Season

1) Get your supplies ready. White (donate) and black (trash) trash bags, sharpie
marker, labels (sticky address labels work great, bins (clear are best).

2) Get out the winter clothes from storage.

3) Start in the kids rooms and pull out one drawer at a time. Determine with each
piece
* Will it fit someone in the family in the future? (If not donate)
* Is it in any condition to save? (If not then throw away, don’t donate clothes
that are torn, stained or are better for rags)
* Will the next child wear it? Was it worn at all this season? (Do they like it?)

4) Make piles.
* Save for next year
* Donate (white bag) – Doesn’t fit, they don’t like & won’t wear.
* Trash (black bag) – torn, stained, not in good enough shape to donate.

5) Go through the new season clothes and do the same thing as you put them away in
the kids drawers. Make sure they will fit your child this year and it is
something they will wear.

6) I prefer you use clear bins. Get ones that fit your space to store and latch closed. They will go from season to season.

7) Take the bins you have for next year and be sure to label them.
Put boy/girl, season and size on each label. For instance, Boy – Summer  - Size 10

8) Donate can be taken to friends who can use them, sold at a garage sale or resale
shop or taken to a facility such as Good Will.

Closet Organized

Reorganizing My Messy Closet

Did I say I had a messy closet?  You bet ya!  My organized closet gets unorganized with the best of you.  Our room ends up being one of the last priorities (other than basement) in the organizing and cleaning order of things.  I only have so many hours in the day and at the end of it, I get lazy. I’ll toss my clothes down, I’ll put my clean hoodies and sweaters haphazardly on the shelves etc.

It is really bad and I can’t believe I’m showing you my closet in this bad of shape.  I have wanted to get it taken care of for awhile now, but with everything else I’ve had going on I just didn’t do it.

Tonight after dinner I tackled it.  I have been wanting to get nice looking matching organizing cloth cubbies for it. I’ve priced them a few times, and they are out of my budget for a closet. That has been one of my excuses for putting it off.

No more excuses, I didn’t go buy anything new to use. I didn’t have any fun, cute matching cubbies (like I want) or fancy tags to label things.  It is just down and dirty…. sorting… donating….and putting back on the shelves in some kind of order.

Before

Below this we have a laundry hamper for our dirty clothes.

Ugh… (so embarrassing)  We added the 2nd shelf  when we first moved in. Another way to make the space go further.

We also have no linen closet, other than a very narrow small one in the kids bathroom. So when we moved in we also took the left wall and transformed it into our linen closet with several shelves.

Here are the top two shelves.  The top is my keepsake box. (right)  The red basket is my hair coloring clothes.
The beach towels are the next shelf. We only use them in summer so they are on an upper shelf.

The shelf underneath the beach towels presently is a real mess.  I have a couple pair of jeans on the left. The iron is out and my sweatshirts on are the right.

The shelf below that  has the hand towels in the blue basket on the left, wash clothes in the small red one and pillow cases in the right blue one.  Below that are the bath towels. A set of winter flannel sheets also got left on that shelf.There is one more shelf under the baskets that has the bath towels on it.

I have a shoe rack on the bottom. I’m not big into shoes and clothes. I would like to be, but this body is not easy to fit… so buying clothes isn’t so easy.

LOL.. what a mess! My suitcases, the toilet paper gets tossed in here once the bathrooms have all been stocked. This has been driving me crazy (as it should!)

There is more to the closet. But I told Dave that I wouldn’t show his side.  He has less room than I do, but he did just organize his things and tossed out a couple of shirts to be donated.  I would have liked to have done it, but he wanted to do it and I said I wouldn’t touch his side.

I went through and pulled out the clothes that I did not wear this last winter.  I donated them.  A couple things were hard to donate. For the last couple of years I had debated a couple items, but I gave it one more winter… and since I didn’t wear them again – this time I got rid of them.

I moved the winter sweatshirts and sweaters to the “summer” bin.  Most of my summer clothes were already in my closet.

I borrowed my daughter’s 2nd closet rod. She wasn’t using it and is old enough she can reach clothes hanging from the regular closet rod.

After

I really thinned out my clothes.

But I also added a 2nd rod.  I hung my shirts on the top and my dress pants on the bottom.  I don’t have very many pair of dress pants.  Mainly I wear jeans, but I do have dress pants. I am very heavy right now and don’t want to have very many pair of “fat” pants.

I also hung my extra purses here.  I thinned them down to two (I did have 5 purses) plus my tote bag. There is still plenty of room for the hamper.  My big suitcase is still in the corner. My pants are not touching the ground (although it looks like they might be in the pic.)

I put my weekend suitcase up on the shelf and moved the other set of luggage to my daughter’s closet. I don’t use that set anymore and know she could get some use out of it.

I kept out a few hoodies if it gets cold, and made a place for my jeans.

Here is a better view.

Now onto the linen closet side of our closet.

I moved my keepsake box lengthwise out on the shelf.  It is up high enough that I don’t have to worry about hitting my head on it. It takes up less space this way.   I also put several of the good adult larger beach towels up top. I like to have towels that are large enough for me when I do need one.

The next shelf down I put the toilet paper. I also had the little clear shoe boxes. I am going to label them with a sharpie and sticker.  I have my travel accessories in them.  Left one has travel organizers for jewelry, make up etc.  The top middle box has travel sample sizes. My hairspray, toothpaste, etc. Below that there are small purses. A couple of dress purses, but a couple are small over the shoulder purses that are nice to pack in my suitcase. I don’t like to take my big purse if I’m out and about on a trip.
The far right plastic bin has my bathroom tote bags already to go. The larger one (you can’t tell in this pic.. they just look black) for longer trips and then I have a small one that goes into my carry on suitcase.  Both are packed and ready to go other than for a couple things that I use daily that need to be packed.

I moved a couple shelves around. I moved the beach towels down to where the kids could reach them. They were forever trying to pull one down and several would tumble.  This will work much better this summer.
I also sorted through the pillowcases and hand towels (had too many of both) and sorted them out. I moved the pillow cases into the small red basket and the wash clothes into the larger basket.

The bath towels are on the bottom shelf.  I have a load of clean towels downstairs that need to be put on this shelf. We really do have more bath towels than this for seven people.

I got rid of a couple pair of shoes that I don’t wear. Since I moved all the purse and travel stuff up on the other shelves, I had more room for my shoes.

My big suitcase stayed in the same place.

Hopefully next time I reorganize my closet and clean it out, I will be able to get the nice matching cubbies to put everything in.  But don’t think you have to spend money to clean and reorganize.

I spent about two hours tonight in my closet doing this. I feel SO good!  ahhh…

 

 

 

 

 

Handbags

How To Organize All Those Handbags?

Are they over taking your closet?  Do you have a purse for every outfit or every pair of shoes?

Do you have an idea what my advice is going to be?   Yes….. you need to sort through them and purge them.

I want you to ask yourself these questions:

1) When was the last time you used it?
2) Do you LOVE it?
3) Is there anything wrong with it?
4) Do you really Need it?

Here is what I want you to do.

Make 4 piles:

1) Keep Pile -  Use it frequently (within the last 6 months)
2) Maybe Pile -  It matches an outfit perfectly that I have worn in the last year and the outfit fits me
3) Donate – I haven’t used it in over a year. (or ebay, Craigs list)
4) Trash - Not in good enough shape to use or donate

I think they are all self explanatory except the “Maybe Pile”.  I want you to go through your maybe pile and only pick out the purses that you WILL be sure to use in the next 6 months.

Now.. you may be saying, “But Sandy, no way! I paid WAY too much for that handbag to just donate it!” Then sell it on ebay or Craig’s list, or a resale store. But give yourself a date to do that by, don’t just throw them in your closet and think you will do it later (because we both know you won’t)

It may be hard, but be realistic, how many purses do you really need to keep? They are more than likely taking up space that you could use in your closet.

I want you to note which bags you use over the next year. I bet it is only a couple.

If you HAVE to buy another purse, then decide which purse you are going to get rid of. One in… One out!

How To Organize Your Remaining Purses

The Closet Purse Hanger – These are basically “S” hooks. You can put several purses on one hook. I also use these for belts. They work great.  They are different from your standard “S” hook because they are twisted so they hold your purse correctly in your closet.

You can see a closer view here.

Here is another option that I reviewed called Simply Sarah Handy Hold All.
This has fabric hooks that wrap around your purse to hold it in place.  If you have long straps, you have to wrap them up, so they don’t hang down too long.

There are of course many other options:
You can find cardboard bins like this called Park-a-Purse from Organize.com

Be sure to watch for the rest of my posts this week:

Purse Organizing – (Part 1)
Purse Organizing - The pouchee (Part 2)
Purse Organizing – Card Cubby  (Part 3)

I want to see how you organize your purses!! If you link up your purse post to my linky party and it is of how you organize all your purses, I’ll pull a picture and add a link to this post too!

I’d love for you to link it up to my Organizing Mission Monday Link Party
It will be open until March 27th to link to.

I LOVE your comments!

Thank you to Beth from Plus Size Mommy for taking all her purses out for me to get a picture!

Organizing Mission Monday Link Party – Week 13

It’s Almost Spring! How is Your Spring Cleaning Coming?

I have tacked a few projects myself that I will be sharing posts later with you.  I have so many more lined up, it is just a matter of making the time to do them.  I bet that sounds familiar doesn’t it?   But I am adding the decorating component into my spring cleaning this year.

I am going to be working on my medicine cabinet tomorrow!  So start thinking about how you want to clean yours out!

Featured Bloggers This Week!

Mel from Mama Buzz and Real Heart Prints – Closet & Movie Cabinet

Mel took her closet from this:

BEFORE:

To This!

AFTER

See what all she did by visiting her at Real Heart Prints !  You can also see how she added a shoe mirror onto her door to check out those shoes before you walk out the door.  Then you can get the bonus of seeing her organized movie cabinet also.

Jo from Creative Collage -  Master Bedroom Closet Makeover

I’m am so impressed with this!  Check it out.

Jo’s master bedroom closet:

BEFORE

Here is her after, but keep in mind, Jo did all of this herself!  She didn’t have a company come in and install it, she didn’t buy it pre-made and install it… she made it ALL herself!

AFTER

Didn’t she do an awesome job?   She goes through the tutorial of how she did it on her blog, so be sure to check out The Creative Collage.

Bianca from Walnut Avenue – Office Makeover

Bianca took her office from this:

BEFORE

She had an inspiration picture that you can see on her blog post, but she knew the look she wanted in her office. She said in her post that she isn’t finished with the entire office, but look at the cool arrangement that she has made so far.

AFTER

She has really made great use of shelves for her office! I love them.  Be sure to stop by and read her post about her office on her blog Walnut Avenue!

Be sure to stop by both of my featured bloggers today and give them some “comment love”

For those of you who were featured this week, please pick up your button (code below the button) for your blog!

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Link up to my Link Party

Link up any organizing or cleaning post to my link party!!

But this week I encourage you to start working on your medicine cabinets!  I will be having a blog post tomorrow on how I did that, so be watching!!

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Rules

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog

2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)

3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it

4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning

5) No sales pitches or web sites.

6) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog.

8) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Be sure to check out my list of link parties

If you have a link party.. please link it up! Underneath the daily buttons there is a list of text links I have compiled too! (Many more there!)

If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple.

This will be open until Sunday March 27th.

I LOVE your comments!!

Shopping Saturday – Woman’s Closet

Check out this awesome “woman’s” closet.

Remember last week’s master bedroom that I would love to have? Well, here is the closet that goes along with that master bedroom.  Now keep in mind this is only the woman’s closet.  Yes on the other side of the room was the man’s closet.

This is just a small part of the “closet”. Can you believe this is a closet?  They were getting ready for the Parade of Homes in this MI home. They had one of the drawers pulled out sitting on the window seat.

Check this out….

The doors open out to make this 3 way mirror!

Now look at this touch in the closet.  Remember this is the closet!!

Now to see through from one side of the closet to the other.

You can see some more drawers sitting on the floor, they were going to be opening the Parade of Homes the next day, so there was still a lot of finish working going on.  Kind of reminded me of Extreme Home Makeover last minute rush!

Wouldn’t that be awesome to have a closet like this?

If you have an awesome closet.. link it to my Organizing Mission Link party – Mission Spring Cleaning !!

I LOVE your comments!!

Spring Cleaning – Declutter Winter Gear

Spring is (almost) here. Let’s clear out winter clothes & gear!

Winter clothes, coats, hats, gloves, boots, shovels, sleds are just part of what can be either decluttered from your home or stored away until next winter.

When you go through your winter gloves make sure if you are going to keep them that:

1) They all have a match
2) They still fit your children and there are no holes in them.

If they are in good shape but are too small for your children, then put them in the donate bag.  If you only have one, then don’t keep it, and certainly don’t throw it in the donate bag (someone one other end of sorting will just be the one to have to get rid of it)

For your hats and coats and boots – Go through the same thing. For those items that will still fit next year and are in good shape, store them in a clear bin and label it.

For your snow shovel and sleds and skies.  Ski racks on your garage wall would be ideal.  The same for the snow shovel if you have the space.  Look UP in your garage. Use your wall space.  If you have rafters in your garage… use those for storage!

8 Easy Steps to Transferring The Clothes

1) Get your supplies ready. White (donate) and black (trash) trash bags, sharpie
marker, labels -sticky address labels work great, bins (clear are best).

2) Go through the drawers & closets. Pull out each piece of clothing and evaluate it quickly.

* Will it fit someone in the family in the future? (If not dontate)
*  Is it in any condition to save? (If not then throw away, don’t donate clothes
that are torn, stained or are better for rags)
* Will the next child wear it? Was it worn at all this season? (Do they like it?)

3) Make piles

* Save for next year
* Donate (white bag)
* Trash (black bag)

4) Get out the summer clothes from storage.

5) Go through the new season clothes and do the same thing as you put them away in
the kids drawers. Make sure they will fit your child this year and it is
something they will wear.

6) I prefer using clear bins if possible. Get ones that fit your space to store and latch closed. They will go from season to season. Now for really long clothing storage, you might want to look into another form (but I don’t suggest long term clothing store of any one item …usually)

7) Take the bins you have for next year and be sure to label them.  The labels don’t have to be fancy printed out labels!  Just get something you can see clearly and you can peel off or stick over for next season.
Put either sex or child’s name, season and size on each label. For instance, Boy – Summer – Size 10

8) Your donate bags can be taken to friends who can use them, sold at a garage sale or resale
shop or taken to a facility such as Good Will, but get them out of your house as soon as possible.

We have so much cold winter gear, that just putting it away or giving it away makes you feel less cluttered doesn’t it?

I’d love to see how you clear out your winter clutter!  Blog about them and then come back and

link it to my Organizing Mission Link party – Mission Spring Cleaning !!

I LOVE your comments!!

Organizing Mission Monday Link Party – Week 5

You Can Leave a Post or Find a Post!

Another great week with some really fun ideas!  I am loving this!  You all have some really creative ideas and I will be using a few of them in my own home.

Here are my Featured Blog posts for this week.

Please pick up my “Proud To Be Featured” button from my sidebar.  (for whatever reason the coding of my buttons are going wacko when I put them in a post. Until I get someone to fix them for me, I’ll ask you pick up the buttons from the sidebar – Thanks!)

Megan from Polish The Stars has creative this awesome craft closet out of a utility closet.

She took this utility closet and decided to create her craft room!  It went from bare to craft closet beautiful!!

Is this too cute or what? Look at how she even incorporated the water faucets to make it look cute? She didn’t try to cover them up or anything.. they just look like they fit there. lol

I love this method she used to hand her ribbon also.

Be sure to stop by and check out her full blog post to see the rest of the pictures she has.  Also check out the rest of her blog Polish The Stars

House on Ashwell Lane has some unique organizing solutions that I liked.

Looks like just a normal book shelf on a wall doesn’t it?  But it is house rain gutter!  Isn’t that a neat idea?

This is my favorite idea of hers.  So easy.. and no cost!

I think this is such a neat idea.  I am actually collecting empty rolls right now because I need a better solution for my cords by my chair. I am thinking of stacking and gluing them together… and making them like a pyramid.

Be sure to check out House on Ashwell to see the rest of her Clever Solutions.

Michelle from Sustainabley Chic Designs got my attention with this homemade washer & dryer pedestal

Her husband took it from this

Then to this:

and finally to this:

Isn’t this awesome!!  She took a basement laundry room with brick walls and turned it into a cute little laundry room. Love the colors! Look at the complete guide on the rest of the laundry room make over at Sustainabley Chic Designs

Link Up!

Rules

1) Link back to my blog with either the button or my link. (Use the Organizing Mission button on my sidebar)
2) Would also love it if you could follow me
3) Blog posts related to Organizing or Cleaning please.
4) Family friendly (or I will delete)
5) No sales pitches or web sites please.

I ask that you please link back to me with my button or my link (or both!) Thanks!

Be sure to check out my list of link parties! If you have a link party and I don’t have you listed, let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

Not sure how?  It is simple….

1) In the first box it says “link it to” – Just put the url of your specific blog post. Still not sure? Click on your blog post (not your blog, but specific post) You will see the http://your blog name/your blog post name up at the top. Just Copy and past that link.

2) Caption or Title – What is your blog post titled or what do you want the readers to see under your picture

3) Your email- that is simple

4) You can either check “From File” and this will take you to your computer info where you can pick a picture. Or you can pick “From Web” . This will take you to pictures from your specific blog post and blog. This is the one I usually pick as there is much less searching to do for a picture.

5) Once you pick your picture it takes you to that picture and you can move the box to show what part of the picture you want. then just click load or start at the bottom of the picture. Your done!

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Thank you!

Organizing hats and gloves

Are your Closet Shelves Over Flowing with Hats and Gloves?

Do your hats and gloves need organizing?  This has been a frustration for me.  With 7 people in this house… we have many hats and gloves… and not just in the winter.  We have the ball caps in the summer too. (fuzzy pic, but I took it awhile ago)

I still don’t feel like I have the best system down for all this mess….but I’ll show you a few things I have done.

Here is one solution.  Use baskets to organize the hats and gloves.  This works pretty well for the ball caps.  However… a couple things that I didn’t like with this idea.  Stacking the baskets didn’t work at all.  No one is going to take the time to actually reach up and lift the top basket off to put anything away.  Plus this is not a good option for younger kids who can’t reach.    The cubby’s are a possible solution to this.

We use these for a catch all option for the kids as you come into the house.  They can be used for the hats and gloves.. and they do- along with all kinds of other things.  Keep in mind this was right after I cleaned them completely out last week.

This is my latest attempt to organize these pesky hats and gloves.

I have this hung at the landing of the basement stairs.  Since we have such a small entry area and small hall closet, we have issues with book bags and  coats too.

This is the view looking from the top of the basement steps.
I have tried hooks inside the closet door for the book bags and coats. As the kids get older the book bags are just too heavy for the hooks now.  Since they always want to throw their book bags on the floor anyway…I am just trying to help them a bit by having a big bin for them to put their book bags in.

We have hooks on the wall for extra coats.

This basket is another tool I use to help with the clutter and stuff that have to go downstairs.

This is not for the kids to put hats and gloves in. This is for me to use. Small things that have to go down to the basement go in here. Then I grab the basket on my way down to the basement and can put them away.

I linked this post to:

Organizing clothes for changing seasons

Winter is coming!!  The “Changing of the Clothes”

Do you dread the “changing of the clothes” as much as I do? Getting out the winter clothes and putting away the summer?
I do not look forward to it. In fact, so far this season I have not done it.  I always leave a few warming things in their drawers for the summer, so they aren’t wearing shorts on a 60 degree day)

We do use the “hand me downs”.  How could we not?  The older two have clothes that I have saved (that they liked… we didn’t save everything) for the younger boys.   Since we only have the one girl, we tend to either have one of a couple people give us clothes for her, shop in the resale shops or buy new. (Oh darn….how I hate to buy girls clothes.. Not!!)

Here are the tips that I used in the spring of 2009 when I did a post on transferring clothes from summer to winter.

7 Easy Steps to Transferring The Clothes

1) Get your supplies ready. White (donate) and black (trash) trash bags, sharpie
marker, labels (sticky address labels work great, bins (clear are best).

2) Get out the winter clothes from storage.

3) Start in the kids rooms and pull out one drawer at a time. Determine with each
piece
* Will it fit someone in the family in the future? (If not dontate)
* Is it in any condition to save? (If not then throw away, don’t donate clothes
that are torn, stained or are better for rags)
* Will the next child wear it? Was it worn at all this season? (Do they like it?)

4) Make piles.
* Save for next year
* Donate (white bag)
* Trash (black bag)

5) Go through the new season clothes and do the same thing as you put them away in
the kids drawers. Make sure they will fit your child this year and it is
something they will wear.

6) I prefer you use clear bins. Get ones that fit your space to store and latch closed. They will go from season to season.  Now for really long clothing storage, you might want to look into another form (but I don’t suggest long term clothing store of any one item …usually)

7)) Take the bins you have for next year and be sure to label them.
Put sex, season and size on each label. For instance, Boy – Summer  - Size 10

7) Donate can be taken to friends who can use them, sold at a garage sale or resale
shop or taken to a facility such as Good Will.

Cache-Cachet Covertures Review

A little bit of luxury to store your delicate and fine clothing and accessories

There are times when you want a little bit a luxury to store your dine clothing items. The Cache-Cachet coverture might fit the bill for you!
This is a soft silk bag that has a button closure.  It has been used by Katie Holmes and Kate Bosworth who I’m told have both outfitted their closets with the Cache-Cachet covertures to store their clothes. (now wouldn’t that be a closet to have? wow!! – insert jealousy here)

One of the features that I love for organizing is that there is a clear window so that you can see what is inside.  That is so important to me.  Organizing items can be done, but to make it efficient and usable organization…you need to be make your storage solutions  accessible and easy to use.

Here is a picture off of the www.cachecachet.com site that shows how great these can be for organizing a closet.  (Wishing this were my closet!!)

There are 2 sizes of Cache-Cachet Covertures, the small one is big enough for 2 sweaters – (which is exactly what I have stored in mine).  The other they said is large enough to store a jacket in.

You can use these for everyday storage. If it is for a little longer storage you can use the herbal sachet that comes with it.  This is a herbal mix that will keep any bugs out of your clothing.  Much nicer than moth balls..that is for sure!

Clothing Care Tips from Cache-Cachet:

1) Don’t use plastic bags: storing clothing in plastic bags or containers suffocates clothes and accelerates the aging process, causing your garments to take on a yellow color.

2) Don’t hang your knits: Sweaters and other knitwear will stretch over time and elongate.

3) Do Clean your garments before storing them: Wool and other fabric can become damaged by insects such as moths, carpet beetle larvae, cockroaches, beetles and silverfish.  Insects are attracted to fabrics stained with food, beverages, perspiration’s and oil from the skin and hair.

4) Do keep your closet looking as beautiful as the things that you have in it:  Don’t fill your closet with plastic bins and bags. Not only are they bad for the life of your clothes, but they distract from the beauty of the garments you love.

5) Do extend the life of your clothes and accessories: Store clothing in cloth storage bags with herbal sachets, like Cache-Cachet covertures and garment covers.  This will protect your clothing from snags, deter insect damage and other harmful elements.

My thoughts:

I think this would be a very nice way to store your fine clothing.  I folded and refolded my 2 sweaters a couple of times to try and flatten them out a bit in the bag, so that it would lay a little flatter. But I think if you stacked no more than 2, maybe 3 bags you wouldn’t have any problems.  The silk is so nice, that I could see them sliding a bit if they weren’t flat enough, or you stacked too many on top of one another.

Price: The small one is $39 and the large one is $49.  That works for some budgets, but not all of course.  But even if you have one or two special things, it might be worth the investment to keep them nice.

Disclosure:  I was given a small Cache-Cachet coverture for review at no cost.  The pictures above (with the exception of the closet organizing picture that I mentioned was taken from their web site) are my own and the thoughts are my own.  I did use the verbiage from the clothing tips card and from the Cache-Cachet Web Site.

Creating an Organized Closet under stairs

In my teens Basement bedroom we had to create a closet underneath the stairs.

With his new room he was going to need a closet.  The kids had used this area as a fort before, so we had to remove all that stuff and do just a little prep work.  Creating an organized closet under the stairs doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. I think the only thing we actually bought was the hardware to put up the clothes rod and the light fixture.

Here is my step son’s closet underneath the basement stairs.  Ended up working great.  My husband put a light in the closet.  He has a rack for clothes, laundry hamper for dirty clothes, baskets for “stuff” and the shoe hanger with a basket above it.

My husband just had to put the rod in (right after he finished…so all his stuff is still sitting there.)

So… you can be a little creative and create some good usable space where you don’t think you have it.

Hanes and Organized Undies Drawers

Is your underwear drawer Messy or Organized?

I was in New York City for the big BlogHer conference for bloggers.  I was invited to this Hanes party and what do you think I thought when I saw this display? LOL  Yep…right up my alley!

This place was decorated so cute with underwear on pillows and umbrellas made from T Shirts. But they had a display showing a messy underwear drawer and an organized underwear drawer.

And then an organized drawer.  Aren’t these cool?

Now…here is the kicker. They were having contest to see who could organize a drawer the fastest. They were giving out gift certificates. They had one more contest and of course my friends nominated me.  Ok…this was too much pressure. I am the organizer…of course everyone would expect me to win… and I should right?  LOL

There was a laundry basket of underclothes, sweatpants, underwear, socks, tshirts and bras. We had to take them and fold them and organize them in our drawers the quickest. The fastest time before our last group was 1 min. 50 some seconds (I think).

My hands were shaking!! Literally.  But….. I didn’t win. The girl you see in the picture beat me by a split second. I think our time was in the 1 min. 30 second range….so I also beat the record. Does that count? LOL

But it was fun….

Michael Moloney from Extreme Home Makeover was there as the MC. He was so nice!  And of course very nice looking! {drool}

But it got me thinking. My underwear drawer is not really very organized. I have everything in it’s “area” of my drawer, but I don’t have any official boxes or “sectioned off” areas.  Hmmm….I might have to do that especially with the new fun undies and bras that Hanes gave me as swag.

Guest Post

Closet Organizing

by Melanie Dennis CPO

Today’s Guest post is by a fellow local Professional Organizer, Melanie Dennis CPO (certified Professional Organizer). I consider her the guru of closets. Not only does she plan them out and organize them, but she installs it all herself! Ok…that is way beyond me. I wanted her to tell you and me some of her closet secrets!

You use your closet twice a day.  Some of us do the happy dance, and some of us feel contempt for the piles on the floor, the poorly used space, the spouse who hogs the rod, or shelves and rods bowing from the weight of it all.  The good news is that it can be better.  Lots of today’s melamine and wire kits can be installed with a few basic skills.  It can be overwhelming staring at the closet hardware at the store and know what you need to get the results you want.

Where to Begin?

Start with graph paper and a tape measure. Draw your closet shape and size.  After purging and donating the old clothes, measure the amount of clothes on the rods in the following categories. Hanging space is either long hang, short hang, or double hang (two short hangs one above the other.) Count sweaters and shoes. When planning your space don’t forget the non-clothes things stored in the closet like cameras, memorabilia, binoculars, or luggage.  Here are some of the magic numbers closet designers use to customize your space.

24” – how wide to leave between clothes hanging on each side of a closet for a person to walk through.  This is also the average depth of a reach-in closet.

21” – how much room you need from a wall to hang clothes on a hanger

34-36” -where you should hang the lower rod to hang slacks on the bottom of a double hanging wall.

75-80”- where the top rod of double hang goes.

67” -where contractors hang a long hanging single rod leaving an awkward amount of space not used wisely.

7-8” -amount of shelf space needed per each pair of shoes.

12” from the back wall is where a rod generally hangs.

2’ -how much long hanging rod space the average woman needs unless she long hangs her pants by the cuff or waist.

0’ -how much long hanging most men need.  A hook for a robe will suffice. I am a fan of hooks for everyone.

45 -average number of shoes a woman has. I am above average and that is all I am saying about that.

2-3 -sizes of clothes in most women’s closets. Yup…you are normal.

No drawers should higher than the eye level of the closet owner.

Piles of clothes should not be more than 12-14” high because they will topple easy- use more shelves with shorter piles will ensure better long term organizing. Some systems have supports for piles of clothes and purses to hold them upright.

Don’t fuss with systems that offer corner solutions.  Hanging in a corner is not efficient.  It is better to take one side all the way to the corner and hang the adjoining wall rod two feet out from the corner.  You can tuck rarely worn clothes in the corner.

Finally, splurge on matching hangers.  It makes a huge difference.

Melanie Dennis, CPO® is the owner of

Neat Streak Professional Organizing in Columbus, Ohio.  She has designed over one thousand spaces both as a as a closet designer for The Container Store and later as a professional organizer.

Using Baskets to organize office supplies

Re-purposing a bookshelf in a closet is thinking outside the box.

This picture is actually looking into a closet.  I had a challenge with a client. Organize all these office supplies.  There was a small closet in the room and a bar across it and a couple of little shelves that had been left by a previous owner. There was no need for clothes for this office….and I wanted to utilize this space.

The client had  this bookshelf that wasn’t being used.  I did all the measurments before I had it moved into the room.  It was going to fit! I was So excited!

Now for the containers.  I wanted to use a clear plastic so that you could easily see what was in them.  I measured the shelf height and length to make sure I could get the most use out of the space…knowing I was buying the right size baskets or plastic boxes.

If you notice I have the lids off the boxes.  It would look very nice and neat to have them on, but would things get put back as easy if you had to lift a lid to do it?  This was a place that I could leave them open and easily accessible.  But….I did put the lid directly under the basket so that you don’t have to worry about losing them…and they are there if you want to use them.

Teenage Rooms – Where to start?

Usually the first step is to find the floor!

Usually teens (like most of us) have too much “stuff”. There is more stuff than places to put the stuff – so it is easier to just throw it on the floor. Keep in mind this isn’t always the case. My oldest son (at home) has plenty of storage space…but stuff is still on the floor – but he could still stand to declutter again.

Starting at the Beginning means starting with Sorting

Be armed with Black trash bags (trash) and white trash bags (donate).

Then remember your sorting basics.  Don’t spend more time on each item than about 5-10 seconds.  You don’t want to start reminiscing or you will never get the job done.  If they still have all kinds of stuffed animals or toys from their childhood (and they are teens)..help them pick out a couple special ones to keep (if they want to keep any). Take pictures of others if they are having a hard time deciding or not sure about getting rid of things.

If there are clothes that you need to keep to pass down to other children in your family. I suggest clear bins (so you can see what is in them) and be sure to label them well.

Work with them and have them decide: Make paper sorting cards to help remember what to do with their things.

1) Keep – Do I LOVE it? Do I WEAR it? Do I USE it? Does it FIT?
2) Donate – I DON’T like it and will not wear it, It DOESN’T fit, I DON’T use it.
3) Move – It doesn’t BELONG in my Bedroom
4) Storage - This can be season sports supplies or things they need to keep but don’t use but once or twice a year.
5) Trash – It is trash, broken, torn or worn out

Let them just make piles (they love piles anyway right?)  on the floor for the different categories.  If there is not floor space to begin with. I suggest piling everything in one big pile and then going through it.

Organizing Closets (Part 3)

Reloading Your Closet

Now that you have everything out of your closet and you have some extra shelves or space in your closet….how do you “reload” your closet?

If you have sorted the clothes down to the ones that you really do wear, you should have less clothes to put back in than when you started.

There are a few tips that you can try if you would like when you put your clothes back in….just to see if you REALLY wear them.

1) Turn your hangers backwards when you hang up your clothes. So that you have to reach under and hook.  When you wear it, turn the hanger correctly. After 6 months or a season, any clothes are still flipped backwards – you haven’t worn that item. Donate it.

2) Put a hanging mesh bag in your closet (or child’s closet).  Any clothes that you don’t want to wear, or have a stain or tear and you aren’t wearing – put into the mesh bag. Each month or two, empty that and sort into donate or throw away.

Bins and Baskets and Hangers

I suggest plastic or wooden hangers for your clothes.  I used to think it was just silly and that the wire ones were just fine. But as I started using the plastic ones I noticed my clothes hung nicer on them and had less “hanger marks”.

You can also Color Code with your hangers if you use plastic.

1) Advantages – you can see who’s clothes are who’s at a glance. It makes taking them up and putting them in closets easy.

2) Disadvantage – Making sure you have enough of the right color for that person. When you run out, going to the closets and gathering them up.  Or when you go to buy more (as in my case) of a fun color like bright green or hot pink – they do not have those colors anymore.

I have used shades.  I use the bright green, orange and pinks.   Hubby uses black or brown. Kids use white, blue and purples.  So it is still general, but not as specific…so it simplies but still gets the same point across.

There are also many different hangers that help you add space to your closet.

Bins, Baskets and Dividers

There are many different closet organizers on the market.  You can pick up inexpensive baskets or bins at your dollar store or discount store. Be sure that they are ones that you can either see down into when you place them, or you can see through.  You do not want to have a bunch of pretty baskets or bins that you have no idea what is lurking in them.

You can find Wire Shelf Dividers in several places that can help you divide jeans, sweaters or towels.

When placing jeans, sweaters or towels on your shelves. Be sure to put the fold side out. It will just look neater and be easier to grab if you have the fold and not the open side facing out. (does that make sense?)

Make a place for each item. If you find you do not have room for it all – then back to some more donating. If you put too much in, you will not have a place for everything and then you will have a mess again soon.

Remember that when you bring in a new item – donate an item.

Disclosure: The links in this post are NOT affiliate links. I just wanted to give you some help where to find things or to show you what I was talking about.

I liked this post to:
A Bowl Full of Lemons Getting Organized Challenge for Closets

Organizing Closets (Part 2)

Finding additional Room in That Closet

Now that your closet is empty, I am sure it looks something like this. (Note vacuumed carpet!)  Actually this is a really good time to really clean it up. So it really could look like this soon.

The next step is creating more room in your closet if at all possible.  You might have a lot of wire racks or wooden ones in your closet already (lucky). But that doesn’t mean that they are being functional for you.

Create More space

1) You can call in a professional company to completely build you new “inners” for your closet. That would be a dream for me to have one of those companies come and do a closet for me.  But, for most of us the cost is too much to have that luxury.

2) You can install your own system.  The Container Store has some great closet organization systems.  Just be sure you have the know how when it comes to precess measuring and installing.  There are some professional organiziners that will install this kind of system for you (not I, says the “Not a Closet installer” organizer Sandy).  The stores also have installers that can do them. This would still be less than a closet company.

3) You can install just a few wire racks, or some simple solutions that are low cost  and it can still make a world of difference.

Here is an example of adding an additional wire shelf. So often the wire racks in the closet have the one shelf and then you have all this wasted space until you hit the ceiling.  Use that space.

Here is another example of addional shelves being used in a closet.  This person did not have a linen closet, so adding these shelves in their closet worked great for their towels and also some extra clothing.

Double your space by buying one of these hangers.  It is an extra rod that hooks onto the exsisting rod. It works great in a childs closet so they can reach their clothes. It also adds double the hanging space. Works for blouses and pants.

If your top wire rack is too low to make this work, maybe just moving that wire rack up higher would allow for addional space underneather rather than above.

Think outside the box to make some extra room in your closet

I linked this post to:
A Bowl Full of Lemons Getting Organized Challenge – Closets

Closet Organizing (Part 1)

Messy closet

Organizing Closets – Too many clothes and not enough space

With Spring here many of us are spring cleaning, trying to make more room for the summer clothes and are having a terrible time with it.
I have heard from several of my friends lately in regards to their closets.

One of my friends Beth from Plus Size Mommy had this post up and had a dilemma.  Here is her post on Closet Organization or really her Closet Question.

She wondered what to do with all the clothes that do not fit. She is working on losing weight and she presently has some clothes in smaller sizes that she plans on being able to fit into before long – but she doesn’t have the space to store them.

You can’t fit 5 years worth of clothes into a 1 year size closet. It just isnt’ going to work, so something has to go.

The Sort

Take out each piece of clothing and give it about 5-10 seconds to make a decision.

1) Do I LOVE it?

2) Does it FIT?

3) Do I WEAR it?

4) CAN I Wear it? Is it Stained, torn, in need of repair?

What do you DO with them?

If you can answer yes to all of these questions – then put it in your KEEP pile.

If you don’t love it, you don’t wear it or it doesn’t fit – put it in your DONATE pile (Use a white trash bag)

If it is stained or torn or in terrible shape – put it in your TRASH bag (use a black trash bag)

The Down Sizing Dilemma solved

Now, if you are in the process of losing weight and you have clothes that you know you will have to re buy – pick out a couple outfits to keep in that size. The ones you love and are in the best condition. Store those in a plastic clear bin and label them with the size. Get rid of the rest.  Hopefully these are just “passing through” clothes because you will still be going to even a smaller size that you get to buy new clothes for. yippee!

I liked this Post To:
A Bowl Full of Lemons Getting Organized Challenge – Closets

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