Friday, December 16, 2011

Organizing ANOTHER Closet

It seems like no matter how much organizing you've done there's always so much more to do!  Sometimes I even forget what I've done.  One of the areas that I still need to do is some of my kitchen cabinets.  While digging in one of them while Christmas baking I decided to do a "mini-organizing" in one of my little used cabinets.  You know the one that you shove the stuff that you only use a couple of times a year, behind the Kitchen Aid mixer.  The one that you get frustrated with because it's difficult to get everything out.  Yeah - you've got one!

Earlier this week my husband asked me when I organized the kitchen cabinet.  After I told him that I didn't, we argued (light-heartedly) back and forth whether I did or not.  I would know after all if I had organized something, wouldn't I?  Turns out I wouldn't.  I had totally forgot that I had done it but my ever watchful husband who notices everything, noticed that I had added some new items to my kitchen stash in the basement.  I created a shelf downstairs for those items that are used a few times a year so that I don't have to deal with them the other three hundred forty some days of the year.  This is either a sign that this organizing is becoming second nature or that I'm losing my mind.  You can choose.

This post isn't really about that cabinet, I just thought it was a funny story.  I'm going to talk some more about my closets.  When we finished our family room a few years ago we had three storage closets built.  No, it wasn't because I needed the space (which I did), it was because our builder was a bonehead and put utilities in pretty much every corner of the basement.  Oh well, we did need the storage space so I'm not going to complain to much.

I don't have a before picture because I just wanted to get it done but here is my final product.  The picture is a little dark because when I turned on the closet light it added quite a bit of glare.



This closet was mostly used to build a leaning tower of luggage for luggage storage.  We also store our screen doors, folding tables, my yoga mat and a lot of junk in here.  Can you believe I found the original box from my Kitchen Aid Mixer as well as a Rock Band box?  I ended up with a big bag of trash and a significant number of boxes for the recycling bin.  Doesn't look like it's big enough to hold all the stuff I'm describing, does it?  That's why it was so stressful for me!!  Try finding the piece of luggage you want when it's in a jumbled mess.

Here are my steps:
  • The first thing I did was pick up my heavy duty storage shelf at Lowe's that I've used in my other closets.
  • Pulled all items out of the closet
  • Swept & vacuumed area (we want to start with a clean area, don't we?)
  • Sorted items, discarding those items no longer needed
  • Stacked my luggage within same brands.  Can you believe that the smaller bags actually fit inside the larger bags like a Russian Doll?  I know - amazing isn't it?
  • Neatly put everything back
The bonus was that I actually had two free shelves that I could put my fall decorations on.  The top two shelves (the top shelf isn't visible) contain my fall decorations.  When I finish my Christmas closet I may choose to do something different with my fall decor (because right now there's more in a different area) but for now it's a great place for them.

What have you accomplished this week/month as far as organizing?

I'll be linking this up to I'm an Organizing Junkie and Organizing with Sandy

You might also like:

Organizing Someone Else's Space
Organizing the Coat Closet
Organizing the Spices

2 comments:

  1. I have been slowly working on organizing my bedroom closet for nearly a year now. When I moved in, I shoved a bunch of stuff in there so that I didn't have to look at it, and then it was too overwhelming to fix! Several months ago, though, I decided I didn't have to do the ENTIRE closet, I could just do one thing and be happy that it was done. So, I organized my hang up clothes so that tshirts were with tshirts, pants had their own place, the rest of the shirts were organized by sleeve length, etc. I go through once a month or so and get rid of some things. I could probably get rid of more, but I find a box or so every once in a while manageable in a way that a serious purging would not be. Since then, I have organized some shoe boxes, gone through at least two of the boxes in there, and worked a lot on the top shelf, even getting some storage bins for up there. I still need to do a lot more--more boxes, shoe purging, putting in some kind of shelves in the end spaces--but it looks so much better than it used to, and I can find things now, ;).

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  2. I hate organizing closets! Hate it! In the past, I always made my daughter help me. She didn't actually do anything - just kept me company. But no matter how hard I try, I can't keep the closets straightened. I fix them, enjoy them for a while, and then have to do it again. That's pretty much true of every closet. Fortunately I don't care too much. As long as they're not too bad and I don't have to look at it, it's fine with me. I wouldn't mind if they stayed tidy, but that doesn't seem possible.

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