Closet Makeover

Welcome!  Come in and see what I've been doing.

I'm usually a very organized person.  I have no idea how I let my closet deteriorate to the state it was in, but I decided I could no longer live with it.  I did most of the work one evening and finished the rest the next day.  Here's what I had to tackle:

Looks like the bear is trying to get in the hamper!  I don't blame him!  I would want to be rescued from this mess even if it meant going in the washing machine, too.

I am so proud of my newly reorganized space which includes a very clean floor.  I had to invite my husband, daughter, and you, of course, to bask in my closet awesomeness!  LOL

My shoes are my favorite part.  You can barely see my shoe tree to the left.  That is where I keep my sandals and flip-flops.  All of my other shoes are organized by color and type (casual, dress, boots, tennies) and labeled.  And I have plenty of items to donate to the women's shelter now.

This was part of my 52 Weeks of Organizing with I'm an Organizing Junkie. I'm determined to keep it neat! So, tell me, Company Girls, what projects have you been attacking this summer?

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Organizing the Extra Closet

Oh, the dreaded closet in the extra bedroom, aka my craft room.  It's not a super-large closet, but I have a small bookshelf in there as well as boxes for files, clothes, games, and an assortment of items that have no other home. Not to mention that 11 months of paperwork that needed filing was staked on the floor.

I had to re-do this closet in bits and pieces over the course of a few days.

I started by moving everything from the floor out of the closet.  Then, I did the bookshelf, which I thought was the easiest part.  Next, I went through the clothes.  There were costumes, jackets, clothes my mom had given me, and our daughters' formal dresses.  The costumes and extra clothes from my mom had to go.  The formal dresses and jackets got to stay.

The most dreaded chore was organizing all that paperwork, but I did it!  And I purged a lot of it, too.  Then I had to put the warranties, tax info, bank statements, bills, etc. in their own file boxes and organize the contents of each of the boxes.  I also keep all of my gift wrapping in a box on top of the book case, so I straightened that.  Last, I tried to do something with the items on the shelves at the top of the closet.  There wasn't a whole lot I could do with it, but I tried to straighten things up a bit.

In the end, I think it's a big improvement.  I can find anything I need quickly, and I'm no longer afraid to open that door.

Thanks for visiting my attempt at 52 Weeks of Organizing with I'm an Organizing Junkie.

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Organizing the Bathroom Drawer

I have been organizing a lot around here lately.  This is my bathroom drawer project (makeup, hair clips, nail files, etc.).  I took everything out of the drawer, purged, and tried to put like items with like items in a way that will make it easy for me to use each day and easy to keep neat.

Here's all the stuff I started with.

And here's what it looks like in the drawer now.

This is part of my effort at 52 Weeks of Organizing with I'm an Organizing Junkie as well as Tackle it Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom.

The Laundry Room

One of my favorite blogs, I'm an Organizing Junkie has a monthly "round-up". Each month, we're supposed to organize a certain room in our homes. I've been able to participate several times this year. February was dedicated to the kitchen. In May, I did my son's room. In July, we were challenged to oranize under our bathroom sinks. And in August, we did the entryway.

November was the laundry room, and here is mine, such as it is. Not so much a room as a closet, in my opinion, and certainly not the laundry room of my dreams (is there such a thing?) But, I've had to be creative and use what I have to work with.

First we have the view of the left side, then a view of the center, and last, a view of the right side. I'm fairly organized as it is, but there were a few things I needed to do.

First, the whole room needed a good cleaning. I don't think the blinds had been dusted since I moved in 3 and a half years ago. Next, I needed to clean off the machines themselves. It's amazing what you'll find behind a washer and dryer, and not just socks (a ski glove? hangers! unbelievable amounts of lint)! I had to toss some things my step-daughter put in there when she returned from college last summer such as a pop up hamper, a disabled DVD player, and a picture she no longer wanted hanging in her room.


On the left, I refolded the extra towels and made a stack for regular bath towels, a stack for beach towels, and added a plastic container for extra blankets and pillows so they won't fall off the shelf. I still have my bar for hanging items that I don't want in the dryer.


On the right, we have three stacks: flat sheets (because for some reason, my children don't always like to use the flat sheet on their beds, and I just don't get this); full size sheets, and twin size sheets. I made labels for each stack. On the shelf underneath these I have pillow-cases, my refresh'n dryer towel, and a box of dryer sheets.

I wish there was some other place to keep the laundry detergent and bleach, but there is just nowhere else to put another shelf, so those have to stay on top of the dryer.

After I cleaned the floors, I was finished, and it feels good. Wonder how long it will stay this way?

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This Week on the Home Front Part 7

As part of Organising Queen's declutter challenge, I've been making a special effort to declutter at least one thing each day.

This week, in addition to recycling all of our aluminum and plastic, I took a few minutes to clean out three pajamas/nightgowns from my dresser as well as 3 tanks tops and 2 blouses from my closet. I also cleaned out 2 shirts from my son's closet. Not a lot of progress, but small steps, baby, small steps. Here's this week's stack to donate:

And speaking of clutter, one of my favorite blogs, I'm an Organizing Junkie, has a post with 11 tips for decluttering. For all my non-organizing-type bloggy friends, check it out. It's not so hard! I especially love her "One in, one out" suggestion. If I get a new shirt, I try to get rid of one. Sometimes that's difficult, but it's a good suggestion.

Speaking of small steps, I also take part in Rachel Anne's Small Things Challenges at Home Sanctuary. Come on in for some coffee! (I don't drink coffee, but the logo is so cute!)

My favorite post this week was one titled Creating Sanctuary from Chaos - Where Do I Start??? Where to start is often the reason most of us don't de-clutter or organize. Right? It's my son's biggest problem when he's cleaning his room, and sometimes I feel that way with my filing at home and grading at work. First things first... start with a prayer. I think that's the best suggestion I've had all week!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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This Week on the Home Front Part 2

I love to organize. And I love a neat home. And I strive to make sure my home feels comfortable. But face it... I have a husband, four kids at home, two pets, and a full time outside-the-home job. Therefore, to keep myself motivated, I participate in Organising Queen's declutter challenges and Home Sanctuary's Company Girl/Small Things challenges. And being the efficient woman that I am, I'm going to combine my weekly update for each of these.

This week, I tackled my other step-daughter's closet (not nearly as difficult as the closet last week). Some pillows, stuffed animals, and a few outgrown clothes and shoes are being donated.

I also decluttered my email inbox, with some inspiration from Marcia (OQ). I started with 542 emails and ended with 218. Woo hoo! I kept the emails that have photos attached (so that I can save them to the computer later) as well as confirmation of account/password type emails. Pretty soon, I will have all of that organized, too, so I will eventually be able to delete those. I feel so free already! (By the way, over at I'm an Organizing Junkie, her monthly challenge is the home office. Marica guest posted at OrgJunkie this week.)

Marcia encouraged me to update my reader. I deleted three blogs. I think a few more can go. I also began the very time-consuming task of decluttering the labels on my blog. This one is going to take a while.

Rachel Anne (HS) inspired me most this week from something she posted earlier in the month. She asks up to read a verse and print it off. My verse was in a visible place at school, but since the hurricane, I haven't had it in front of me every day. But it was there when I went back today, and it was comforting. (Ephesians 4:24)

Today's task was also my favorite for the week. She asked us to give a "round of applause" to a family member who could use a little boost! Sometimes, I think my husband doesn't realize how much I appreciate him. I made sure he did, today. And my oldest stepdaughter helped around the house (without complaining). Not only did she get a hug and words of appreciation, but I tried really hard to help her with several things that she was doing, and it was so good for our relationship.

The most clever post at Home Sanctuary this week was to do something "square." I had fun with that! I used a square laundry basket to get some washing done, squared away some bills, made a square scrapbook page, squared away some housekeeping, and worked with two other squares (my mailbox and my email inbox).

That's it for this week's issue! Please come back next week for some more decluttering/organizing/creating sanctuary goodness. If you subscribe to my blog, you won't miss it! And while you're at it, why don't you join me at these great challenges!

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You still have time to enter to win a Bob the Builder computer game!

This Week on the Home Front

We have been out of school because of the hurricane all week, and there has been a lot to do. First up, we've had to clean up the tree limbs and debris in our yards and contact the insurance company. Second, there has been a ton of laundry to do since the power came back on. Although we're not drinking our water yet, we are using it for showers and laundry.

Also, having so much time on my hands, I decided to undertake a huge de-clutter. My step-daughters just switched bedrooms about a week ago. Neither one of them is what you would call "domestic" by any stretch of the imagination. But, the oldest one is getting better. You should have seen the clutter in the closet she inherited from the younger step-daughter! So, I tackled it. I found old backpacks, my husband's CD case that has been missing for two years, ski boots, supplies from her knitting phase three years ago, pillows from couches we haven't had in the house for years, school supplies from the last three years, and so on, and so on. I purged, categorized, and organized, and what a rush! I love doing that!

I filled up two large trash bags, filled a backpack, a large clothing store sack, and still didn't fit everything in. But do I feel better! And my oldest step-daughter was so grateful. A hug from her made it all worthwhile.

I haven't been able to do every "small thing" challenge at Home Sanctuary this week, but I did manage to sweep the corners (and the rest) of my living room and clean out our soap and tissue dispensers. I would have loved to bake something from scratch, but we still don't have any fresh eggs being delivered to our area since the storm, and the grocery stores have lines just to get what provisions we can. I also ran out of sugar. If I could, I would make this Texas Chocolate Sheetcake, especially since it's a recipe from my friend who runs a bakery/catering business and because my birthday is next week. She shared the recipe with me, so I will share with you (just click the link above).

I also would have liked to clean up by my back door, but we got a new dining table delivered, and the old one is blocking the back door for now. We're going to donate it, but right now, there is nowhere to put it. This is the new table.

If you haven't checked out Home Sanctuary, you should. It's never too late to join, and she always gives me great ideas on ways to make my home more blessed.

I also recommend checking out Organising Queen. She is the best at de-cluttering, and she is so helpful! She also has great tips for organizing your computer, as well as a terrific post on de-cluttering the paper in your life, and since this month's Organizing Junkie roundup is the office area, it's definitely worth a look! OrgJunkie has a great post about weeding out the time consumers in our lives.

Since I will be off another week (many of our schools were damaged and aren't ready for students yet), I am planning to de-clutter, organize, menu-plan, and create some real order in my household! Won't you join me?

And remember, I have two giveaways ending soon.

Prima Princessa Swan Lake DVD

Book - The History of Love

Org Junkie's August Organizing Roundup

The Entryway was this month's challenge at Organizing Junkie's Roundup. I was fairly pleased with the way my entry was set up, but junk does tend to accumulate in that area. These are my "before" shots.

I decluttered the shoe basket. There was a bag full of empty binders that I brought home from work for the kids to use for school. Those got put in the school supply closet and will get used during this last week of August.

Everything else that didn't belong got put back in its place, I cleaned off the coat rack except for the few things that really needed to stay there, and I put the plant in the corner. That's it. This was the easiest area in the house for me so far! Here are my "after" pictures.