Clothes

source: alexkerhead

I hate wasting time!

So I’m always on the lookout for quick organizing projects to tackle when I have a few extra minutes here and there. I’ve even started timing some of my daily tasks, and found that I could accomplish many of them in 10 minutes or less!

After thinking about these 10-minute tasks, I realized that by completing one every day for a year, I would tally up over 60 hours of organizing — pretty impressive!

So what can YOU accomplish in just 10 minutes a day?

Lots of stuff!

Head on over to the AboutOne Blog to read 22 simple ways you can get more organized in 10 minutes or less!

And I know you have at least 10 minutes!

?

1 comment →

It’s THAT time of year again.

Ready or not, the lazy summer days will soon be replaced by a more structured, back-to-school schedule.

And even though the transition from summer to fall can be a stressful time of year for many families, the change is manageable if you take some time to simplify and organize a few key areas of your home and life.

1. Clothes

Fall is a great time to declutter closets – both your closet and your children’s. With the change of seasons, you may also need to change out your wardrobe and your children will most likely need a few new items for school that you missed during the back-to-school shopping rush. Plus, with the holiday season right around the corner, now is a great time to purge some of your old things to make room for new holiday outfits and gifts.

Simple Tip: Make the process fun for your children by hosting a fashion show and asking them to try on all their clothes. You’ll quickly see which items should be donated to charity and they’ll be entertained for an hour or two.

As for your own closet, purge anything that doesn’t fit properly, anything that’s damaged, anything you don’t feel great in, and anything you haven’t worn in the last year.

 

2. School Supplies

It’s the best time of year to stock up on school supplies as many stores are offering substantial discounts. However, before you head to the store, take a quick inventory of what you already have. Compare your current supplies to your children’s back-to-school lists and only buy what you don’t have.

Simple Tip: Take advantage of the amazing deals, but don’t get carried away. If you only need one package of markers, then only buy one (even if they are only $1.00). Those extra supplies will just take up valuable space in your home.

3. Technology

In today’s fast-paced world, you won’t get very far unless you have up-to-date technology. And while technology is a wonderful thing, it also requires an array of cords, pieces, parts, batteries, chargers and other accessories. Take some time to go through all your extra technology items and purge everything you don’t need. Then create a designated area to store extra cords, chargers, etc.

Simple Tip: Keep your cords organized by labeling them and reduce extra accessories and chargers by purchasing universal chargers like the Energizer Universal Charger. Its space-saving design can charge up to eight batteries at once and works with AA, AAA, C, D, and even 9V rechargeable batteries.

4. Meals

During busy fall months filled with meetings, ballet practice, piano lessons, and soccer games, it is extremely helpful to have a bunch of extra meals and snacks stored away in the freezer. Yes, this involves planning ahead and making those meals in advance, but once your freezer is stocked, you’ll save hours of time every week and you’ll never wonder “what’s for dinner?” again.

Simple Tip: Create a weekly meal plan at the end of the previous week. Write down what meals you’ll have each night, make a list of ingredients you’ll need to purchase, and don’t forget to schedule leftovers or take-out for at least one night!

5. Schedule

There’s a good chance your fall schedule will be busier than your summer schedule, so start off on the right foot by finding a good family calendar or personal planner to record all those important events, meeting, and activities. It could be an electronic calendar that you access via your phone or a simple wall calendar in your kitchen. The important thing is that you keep ALL the information in one place.

Simple Tip: Use different colors to record events for different family members. That way, everyone knows what the others are doing each day.

By planning ahead now and organizing a few key areas of your home and life, you can make a smooth transition into the hectic fall months.

What are YOU doing to get ready for the fall and back-to-school season?

?

Thanks to Energizer for sponsoring this post and allowing it to be published in newspapers and magazines across the country!

8 comments →

Earlier this week, I took you on a tour of our brand new Master Closet.

It was the first post in a series of posts I’m planning to do about “clothes clutter” and it gave me a good opportunity to  show you exactly how Dave and I keep all our clothes organized {and all in ONE closet!}.

However, after hearing feedback from many of you, I decided that accessories should be the next post in this series.

I think accessories are like food storage containers — they magically multiply without your knowledge – and before you know it, they’re everywhere!

If you feel like your accessories are taking over your closet, bedroom, bathroom, etc. Then let me give you a few tips to keep them organized — and show you how we keep our accessories organized.

Jewelry:

:

I keep my bracelets in an old star ice-mold that sits on the top of my dresser. It looks fantastic and makes it really easy to find what bracelet I want right away. Plus, if the mold starts to overflow, I know it’s time to purge. Cool bowls and baskets would also look nice.

Similarly, I keep all my earrings and rings in an old muffin tin. I actually keep this tin in one of our bathroom drawers so it doesn’t spill or tip over. Ice-cube trays are another great way to store earrings and rings in individual compartments – plus they stack!

I hang all my necklaces on an old ladder — simply by pounding nails into the ladder at differing heights. It’s nothing fancy, but it also serves as decoration for our bedroom and keeps my necklaces tangle free.

Unmentionables:

:

I got a TON of questions asking how I stored my underwear and socks — so although I never thought I would show a picture of my underwear drawer on the internet…. here it is!

It’s the very top drawer of my dresser and I use these clear plastic drawer organizers to keep everything in neat rows {yes, I always fold my underwear!} Also, I should mention that I actually have a double layer of socks on the right side of the drawer — heavy wool socks and tights/nylons on the bottom; athletic socks and dress socks on top.

Tank Tops / T-shirts / Athletic Clothes:

:

I have quite a few tank tops, t-shirts, and athletic clothes because that is what I wear most often. I usually wear a tank top under everything, and the minute I get home, I change into a t-shirt. So I like to keep these items easily available and very visible.

As you can see by the pictures below, I fold all my shirts and stack them “horizontally” instead of in a vertical pile — that way I can see every single shirt when I open the drawer. Tank tops and PJ’s are in the 2nd dresser drawer, t-shirts and athletic gear are in the 3rd drawer.

 UPDATE: If you would like to see how I fold our t-shirt, click here!! 

Shoes:

:

Shoes were another thing I got a lot of questions about — and I realized shoe storage can be a huge pain, especially if you have big boots, and other more substantial shoes that take up all kinds of space.

I used to have a ton of shoes, but over the last few years, I’ve really cut back to just the basics — a good pair of black and brown flats, black and brown dress shoes, black and brown boots, a few flip flops, a few “cute” pairs, and then my tennis shoes. Besides the boots and running shoes, I keep everything in the basket below.

A few other ideas for shoes would be to use an over-the-door shoe organizer, put shoe shelves at the bottom of your closet, or even keep your shoes by the back door {if you have enough room there}.

Belts, Scarves, etc.

.

I just installed a clear over-the-door shoe organizer on the back of one of our closet doors to organize all our belts, scarves, and other mics. accessories – we LOVE it!!

Dave even decided to keep his MP3 player, cell phone, sunglasses, wallet, and watch in a few of the compartments {which means they won’t be sitting out on his dresser any more!}

As you can see, we still have plenty of space for more!

A few other ideas for belts and scarves are to install hooks, put the items in baskets, or just hang them on hangers.

Purses and Bags:

:

Over the past few years, I have REALLY tried to cut back in the purse department too! I have a nice bag for summer/spring and another one I like to use in the fall/winter. I also have a couple smaller bags as well as a couple dressier clutches…but that’s it.

I keep all my purses and bags on the top shelf of our closet. I stuff them with newspaper so they keep their shape and then put them inside cloth bags so they don’t get dusty.

So that’s how I organize our many different accessories.

.

Obviously, depending on the size of your closet, your bedroom, and the amount of accessories you have, my suggestions may or may not work for you. {too bad I can’t have ALL the answers!}

Do you have any suggestions that work well for your accessories?  I’d love to hear them!

And just because it’s been a while, here’s a picture from earlier this week {6 months along}

59 comments →

We’re FINALLY all moved into our new master bedroom — and more importantly, into our new master closet!

It feels SO great to have all our clothes organized and all in one place again — and it also gave Dave and me a great excuse to purge a few things we haven’t worn in awhile!

As I mentioned last week, I’m starting a mini series on “Clothes Clutter” as it seems to be such a huge problem for all of my clients — and thanks to the feedback I got on Facebook — it seems to be a major issue for many of you as well!

A Peek Inside Our Closet

:

I figured that a perfect way to “kick off” the Clothes Clutter series would be to take you on a tour of our closet. It’s just a normal reach-in closet — not a fancy {or large} walk-in closet, and we don’t keep clothing in any other closet in our entire house.

So beside the socks, undies, t-shirts, and PJ’s that we keep in dresser drawers {I’ll show you those on another day!} our closet contains ALL our clothes — even all the maternity clothes I’m borrowing right now.

Now obviously, we have A LOT of stuff in our closet, but thanks to our REALLY awesome closet system that was designed and installed by ORG West Michigan, we were able to fully maximize every square inch of our limited space {and even make room to accommodate a TV for Dave}!!

QUICK TIP: even the smallest closets can fit SO much more inside if you have a well-designed closet. Just take our extremely small nursery closet for an example.

Ok, so let me take you on a full tour {you may want to keep referring back to the photo above so you can get the full picture}

Short Hang

:

We have two 40″ rods of short hang on the left side of our closet {I actually measured how many short-hang clothes we had, so I knew they would fit}. Dave gets the top rod and I get the bottom rod.

There is also one shelf above Dave’s clothes that I use for all my purses and any bags we have.

Oh, and I would highly recommend the thin, velvet hangers {I got mine free after rebate from Menard’s!} because they take up way less space and your clothes will never slip off and fall to the floor.

Long Hang

:

We share 36″ of long-hang space on the right side of the closet {yes, I measured that out too}. We keep all our dress pants, my dresses, and some longer skirts in this section.

Dave has two shelves above the long hang that he uses for jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts, and other athletic clothes. He also has space under the long hang for his shoe shelves.

Shelves

:

We made sure to leave plenty of room for shelves since both of us like to fold all our sweaters, sweatshirts, pants, t-shirts, etc. We also installed a cable outlet and electrical plug towards the top of our shelves so we could put a TV in our closet {I figured Dave deserved it!}

We made the center bank of shelves 22″ wide — partially to accommodate a flat panel TV {eventually}, and partially because a stack of pants usually takes up 11″ so I can easily fit 2 stacks of pants and 3 stacks of shirts because of the way I fold them.

I also found some great baskets from World Market that fit perfectly inside our shelves. I use one for scarves, belts, leggings, etc. and one for shoes.

QUICK TIP: I know some people think drawers are the coolest thing to put in a closet, but to be honest, drawers take up more room and offer less storage space than simple shelves. So unless you have a massive closet, I would definitely recommend shelves over drawers.

Here’s a closer look at how I set up some of my shelves. You can find the shelf dividers I purchased here.

Shoes

:

Shoes seem to be a huge problem for most people — and I’ll be honest — it’s most likely because you have WAY too many pairs! I know this because I was once a person with too many shoes, and then I realized I didn’t need that many shoes — just a few basic pairs.

Besides our winter snow boots that stay by the back door, we keep ALL our shoes at the bottom of our closet! Dave has ginormous shoes, so he get the shelving unit — I keep all my shoes in one of the baskets from World Market. I also have two pairs of dressy boots that I keep right next to the basket and one pair of tennis shoes that I keep on Dave’s shelf.

Accessories

:

I saved the best for last! accessories are another HUGE clothes clutter issue for most people {especially women!}

Since they seems to be such a large problem, I’ll actually be doing a full post just on accessories — so I won’t go into tons of detail today.

Most of my accessories aren’t even in our closet. I keep all my jewelry, socks, underwear, tank tops, t-shirts, athletic gear, pajamas, etc in my dresser {which I’ll show you later}. I keep my purses on the top shelf and I keep my scarves, leggings, and belts in one of the baskets on our shelves.

I am also planning to install hooks on the inside of our closet door for Dave’s belts and ties, but other than that, we don’t have many accessories.

So that’s how we organize our clothes

:

And no, I honestly did NOT remove any clothes to make it look less crowded. This is what our closet really looks like all the time — yes, I know I’m lucky to have a husband who actually keeps it looking nice too!

Oh, and in case you never saw how horrible the master closets were when we first moved in — this picture should help you see how far we’ve come!

YIKES!!!

!

So if you could design the closet of your dreams, what features would you include? What would help YOU better organize your clothes clutter?

And if you’re looking for a great closet design, I would highly suggestion contacting ORG West Michigan, they do amazing work!

10 comments →

source:

I’ve received an overwhelming number of emails asking about closet and clothes clutter.

It seems you all have “too little closet space” – or MAYBE, you just have TOO much stuff!!

Either way, I’m thinking it might not be a bad idea to do a few different posts about clothes clutter. And I’m planning to start off by bringing you on a full-blown tour of our FINISHED master bedroom closet. {You can read about the closet system installation here}.

This time of year is one of the best times to purge and organize clothing — the seasons are changing, kids are getting ready for school, and the fall months always seem to encourage more shopping But before we get started on our mini clothes clutter series, and before I show you our new closet, I want to know…

What is the biggest source of clothes clutter for you?

?

Do you have WAY too many shoes, purses, belts, scarves, or other accessories?

Are you wasting space with clothes that are too small, too big, or just look horrible on you?

Do you keep buying more without getting rid of anything?

Are you struggling to find the best way to store and organize your clothes?

Do you have several items you never wear but hang onto for emotional reasons?

Are you storing anything besides clothes and accessories in your closet?

Do you just have too much of everything?

Leave your “clothes clutter issues” in the comment section — and then check out the lists of posts below. They might help you get started on your mission for a clutter-free closet!

Clothes Clutter Motivation:

:

1. Check out our master closet renovations

2. See how I organized our nursery closet

3. See what my closet in our old house looked like

4. Here’s my opinion about the things that should NOT be in your closet

5. A few tips to organize your kid’s closets {just in time for school!}

6. Interesting information about saving space with a Family Closet

7. Have you heard about the 80/20 rule for your closet {get ready to purge!}

That should keep you busy reading for awhile… and make sure to leave your “clothes clutter issues” in the comments below!

Oh, and don’t forget to come back next week for a tour of our new closet!

6 comments →

I was SO excited to participate in Apartment Guide’s “Smart Storage Solutions: Control the Clutter” Blogger Challenge over the past month, because it gave me another excuses to design and organize the smallest space in our house — the nursery closet!

Not that I really needed a ton of motivation {it was really fun!} but it was definitely a welcome break from priming, painting, installing wood floors, and dealing with our tile shower.

And I am beyond thrilled with the final results!

Two weeks ago, I showed you my initial closet design ideas, and then this past weekend, we set to work installing and painting the plywood shelves, and organizing all the cute baby things that I’ve accumulated over the past month or so.

I was fortunate to get a bunch of free girl clothes from a friend, and then my mom found all sorts of amazing garage sale deals {yes, she’s just a little excited!}

I found these adorable Kid’s Huggable Hangers from The Container Store and purchased the Fabric Shoe Organizer from Target — which is perfect for onesies, sleepers, and sleep sacks. I love using the hanging fabric organizers for small closest where you don’t have enough for vertical shelving.

I also found these Fabric Storage Bins at Target. I already filled one with 6-9 month clothes and one with 9-12 month clothes. The third bin will be a place for me to put clothes that the baby outgrows {which I hear happens quite quickly!}

I love my antique laundry basket, but will probably switch to a smaller one to gain a little extra floor space later on {I’m hoping to use floor space for some of the bigger toys}.

I have two matching baskets sitting below the clothes bar — one for socks/shoes and one for bibs/burp cloths.  I still need to stain the lighter one to match the darker one below, but I like the “grab-and-go” aspect of open baskets for these smaller items. Plus it makes putting them away really simple!

Aren’t these little socks adorable!

However, these pink boots win the ultimate cuteness award

I have two shelves above the hanging bar, one will be for toys, books, the diaper bag, etc.

The top shelve is 4″ narrower than the other shelves {for easier access} and that is where I’m storing a bunch of our extra diapers and wipes — all found for free or almost free via coupons and rebates.

We don’t have many books or toys yet, but I haven’t even had a baby shower and we haven’t really purchased anything ourselves either. I’m certain I won’t even need to register for any of this stuff… it will just somehow accumulate!

Oh, and I was told that small baby items can easily “clog” front-loading washers so I hung two mesh garment bags on the inside of the closet door so I can put the small items directly into these bags. This will also make folding the laundry a breeze!

OK, so here’s the Before and After Reveal:

:

Remove one of the closets, replace blue carpet with wood flooring, replace mirrored doors with solid wood French doors, add gorgeous white trim and crown molding, and insert adorable baby girl items — Done!

Our new nursery closet is finished — just waiting for some stain on the floor and baseboards!  Simple, right

It really is amazing how much you can fit in such a small space if it’s well planned and neatly organized. I think the trick is to first decide what exactly you will be storing in the space and then create your design accordingly.

Obviously, I wanted more shelves and less hanging since most baby clothes will be folded. I wanted enough space to store clothes that are too big, and a top shelf to store all the diapers and wipes I’ve been getting for free! We do have a small dresser that we plan to use a changing table so that will offer some additional storage, but for the most part, I’m extremely pleased with how much STUFF I fit into this small closet!

Is there a small space in your house that could use a little organization?

?

Linked to Things I love Thursdays

Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Smart Storage Solutions: Control the Clutter” Blogger Challenge.  As part of that program, I received compensation.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Smart Storage Solutions: Control the Clutter” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

18 comments →

Remember two weeks ago when I introduced the Apartment Guide’s Control the Clutter Blogger Challenge?

Well, I’m back at it again with the design plans for our nursery closet — which is by far, the smallest closet in our entire house… so it WILL be a challenge!

Our Nursery Closet:

:

This is the current state of our nursery closet — with new doors, new trim, and a fresh coat of Bright White paint.

It’s not finished yet, but we certainly have come a long way from when we moved in — YIKES!!!

And one more…just for fun!

As you can see, we eliminated the closet on the right to accommodate a walk-in shower in the master bath that is just on the other side of the wall. We also put wood paneling over the FOUR layers of wallpaper, and we replaced the hideous mirrored doors with gorgeous, solid-wood French Doors to give the nursery an extra “farmhouse” feel and to match our master bedroom closet.

So while the outside of our closet is ready for our beautiful new nursery {and soon-to-be beautiful new baby}… now I get to plan, organize, and design the inside — which is always the most fun

Nursery Closet Design Ideas:

:

I used the elfa closet design program at The Container Store website to design what I want our nursery closet to look like. I couldn’t get it exactly the way I wanted… so I “fudged” a little with Picnik!

Here is the general idea…

I don’t have everything I need for the closet makeover yet, but I did order a few sets of these adorable Kid’s Huggable Hangers {we use the adult version in our closet} from The Container Store’s Happy Organized Home sale!

Progress is moving right along and I’m so excited to show you the finished results — right back here in about two weeks!

But before we finalize our design plans — do you have any suggestions or must-have ideas for a nursery closet?? I’d love a few tips from anyone who actually has a baby/nursery/etc.!!

Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Smart Storage Solutions: Control the Clutter” Blogger Challenge.  As part of that program, I received compensation.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the “Smart Storage Solutions: Control the Clutter” Blogger Challenge. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

7 comments →