Organizing Your Spring Closet

Now that it is finally warming up outside (and hopefully stays that way) it was time to get my closet switched from my winter wardrobe to my summer one.  I love this seasonal task.  I love pulling out clothes that I have missed for the last 6 months.  I also love the chance it gives me to go through my closet and get rid of items that I don't wear, I'm tired of, don't fit, etc.

One of the things I loved about the floorpan of this house was the quite large master closet.  I have big plans to sometime make it really organized and beautiful with built-ins.  But for now, we still have quite a bit of space with what the builder put in.  With this closet, I am able to keep most of my off-season clothes still hung up, but a few things I put away in bins on the top shelf.  But I usually move my off-season clothes to the back, so what I am wearing is front and center.  So all of my short-sleeve shirts were pushed to the right of the closet.  

Photo courtesy of The Every Girl

As I went through all of my shirts, switching the summer items to the left and the winter items to the right I ask myself the 7 Questions to Ask When Cleaning Out Your Closet by the Every Girl.  These are great questions that really help you evaluate if you should keep and item of clothing and why.  It also helps you make sure you are only keeping the best items in your closet.  I was happy to get rid of a full trash bag full of clothing that will bless someone else.

When I organize my shirts, I like to keep like items together.  Starting from the left we have tanks, old tees (I mainly use for working out in the yard), layering tees, tees, nicer shirts, short-sleeve sweaters, dressy shirts.

From dressy shirts we move to jackets, and then into some of my winter shirts that I didn't put up in the bin.

On the lower rod I hang capri's, shorts, a few jeans, cardigans, hoodies, and then some other jeans (that are actually too big right now.)  My capri/shorts/pants section is looking pretty skimpy right now because I am in the process of losing 30lbs (already down 22!).  Once I finish losing my weight I will purchase a few more in the right size.

On the right side of my closet I have my skirts and dresses, hanging shelves with my PJs, and shoes.  That cute chevron bin (from Marshall's) is my 80% bin.  You know that pile of clothes on your floor of things that can be worn again but don't necessarily get hung up? Like my sweats I quickly threw on to take the kids to school.  That goes in this cute bin instead of getting thrown on the floor.  Kevin has one on his side of the closet too.

Now my closet is all set for Spring! Have you gotten out your Spring wardrobe yet? Do you switch things with the season?

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Organizing Your Linen Closet

When we moved into our home almost 6 months ago I unpacked the boxes for the linen closet and didn't really do much to organize them beyond what they already were from our previous linen closet.  Well, it was time! The closet wasn't horrible, but it wasn't really working for me.  And if it doesn't work, then it needs to change!

One of the things that helps my family and my kids to stay organized is labels.  With labels, everyone knows where things are supposed to go and are more likely to put them there.  I say "most likely" because everyone gets lazy sometimes....and that's how a closet ends up looking like the one above!

First off, I started by emptying pretty much the entire closet.  I threw away a lot of things that were old, unused, or expired.  I also moved items that needed a new home to other places.

The next thing I did is group like items.  This step is really important.  Then you see how much you really have of everything and figure out the best plan to put things back.  I had several bins already in the closet and few others stored around the house, so I began finding bins that would work for the items that I had.  In a perfect world, everything would match and all the bins would look alike.  But let's face it...I'm on a budget and when I have perfectly good bins laying around I don't need to spend money on new ones just so they can all match!  Use what you have!

Once I got everything put back in the closet and put in place, I decided to start labeling.  I had organized my linen closet a few years ago (in my old house) and had put labels on things, but many had fallen off or were starting too.  So, it was time to make some new labels.  This time, I turned to my Silhouette and some vinyl to cut out the labels for each of the bins.  I love using vinyl because it is easy to use and easy to remove.

Here is a good before and after to see how the labels were deteriorating.

With each bin, I used a ruler to determine how big I wanted my labels and then used my Silhouette to cut the vinyl.  The labels turned out great!  It will make it so easy for the kids to see where everything goes.

 And here is the finished, organized linen closet.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  The things we use most often and eye level, medicine is up high, and we still have room for our beach bag!

What are some things you have used to organize your linen closet?  Do you make labels?  What are some of you favorite?  See more ideas for organizing closets on my Pinterest page.

Project: Basement Closet

When we purchased our home, we had the builder finish the basement for us before we moved in.  The original plans included a 6-foot hallway in the basement.  Such wasted space!  So, I asked them to put in a 14-foot closet.  I had them leave it completely empty so that we could customize it exactly the way we wanted it later.  Well, later came a couple of weeks ago when my husband had a free day. 

I drew up the plans and began emptying out the closet while he got started cutting and painting the shelves in his shop.  Then it was time to install.  We put shelves in the left side of the closet at specific heights for what I wanted on the shelves.  The hubby installed a divider wall and then braces for each of the shelves.  Then he put the shelves in.

On the other side of the divider, we put a rod up to hang up our winter coats and snow pants in the off season.  

The right side of the closet was left completely empty so that I could put all of the bins (holding off season items and kids too-small clothes).

Here are the shelves once I got them all loaded.

Under the first shelf, on the floor, is a place for all of our suitcases and my Rubbermaid Wrapping Paper bin.  I had measured the tallest item ahead of time so that we could place the first shelf above those items.  This turned out so well because all of the suitcases were accessible and we didn't have to dig to find them!

The bottom shelf was for all of my gift wrapping items.  I have a plastic milk crate that holds all of my gift boxes.  My gift bags are in magazine holders labeled with Martha Stewart Bookplates I picked up from my local Staples. I also have a few boxes of notecards and stationary.

The two drawers hold my tissue paper, bows, ribbons, and gift tags.

The top shelf is for all of my sewing stuff.  I don't use it as often as my gift wrap supplies, but still like it easily available and organized!  I have my sewing machine, serger, sewing box, as well as bins of fabric and other supplies.

Well there you have it folks! Are there any spaces in your home that you have customized to fit your needs?  I'd love to see them if you do!

Laundry Room Reveal

Hello everyone!  I am so excited to show you my Laundry Room reveal today.  I am so pleased with the way it turned out.   Eventually I would like to paint the little room, but for now, it is D-O-N-E!

Now, as you can see, my laundry room is not very big.  But that doesn't mean it can't be the space that I want it to be.  I would love to someday have a large laundry room that I can have built in laundry sorters, drying racks, etc.  But for now, I can still have a space I love!  Let's take a tour, shall we?

First off, my washer and dryer.  I purchased these Kenmore Frontloaders a couple of years ago and have never regretted the quite large purchase.  I didn't have the funds to get all the bells and whistles but I did look at Consumer Reports and for my price range, these were the best.  Having these machines literally CHANGED MY LIFE.  I know that sounds dramatic but it is so true.  When I purchased them, I only had the three children but felt like I was ALWAYS doing laundry.  It felt like such a chore and I really despised the task.  But with these babies....laundry has some how magically become not the worst thing in the world.  The wash cycle is about the same as my old one, but the dry cycle is quite fast.  I once dried a load of whites in 12 (YES TWELVE!!!!) minutes.  Some people have complained of smells from their Front Loaders.  If you make sure to leave your washer door open to let it air out, use the clean cycle once a month, and clean out the filters once a month, you shouldn't have a problem.  I have also heard (from very picky people) that they don't get clothes as clean.  But I think in her case, she doesn't have children at home any more and her loads are quite small, so they may not work as well.  Because they don't have an agitator, the washers rely on the other clothes and gravity to help scrub and clean.  I do small loads in mine (once in a great while) and haven't noticed things not being clean, but for the most part, most of my loads are regular to large size.

Now, let's look on what is on top of the washer and dryer.  On top of my dryer I have a lazy-susan that I purchased at IKEA for about $12 I think.  I really liked this one because it is sturdy (made of wood) and big enough to handle a few big bottles.  I love that I am not having to shift bottles around to get to the one I want.  I would have LOVED to have had this on top of my washer (instead of my dryer) but I found that the bottles fell off quite often during a spin cycle.

You can also see in this photo, that on the shelf above my washer and dryer I have two bins.  One is labeled (with vinyl lettering I did on my Cricut, but you could also use sticky labels, or a hang tag) return and the other donate.  I LOVE having these bins in general (always a place to put things!) but I love having them right there because through my laundry room is the entrance to my garage.  So when I am headed out the door to the store, I can grab my return bin and return anything while I am there or I can grab my donate bin and drop things off at a nearby donation center.  I got these big plastic tubs at Target.  Another reason I love them is because of their colors.  Red always makes me happy.

On top of my washer is my laundry detergent and a big white tin I grabbed at Target last summer (it was supposed to be for drinks.)  I again used my Cricut machine and did vinyl lettering to say "Laundry."  It seriously made my day when I made the vinyl lettering for these bins.  I always love things when they are labeled AND pretty!  I use this big tin to throw any dirty laundry in during the week.  Rags, towels, dish rags, tableclothes, etc.   If you look closely you can see that I have added little pads to the bottom of the bucket.  Again...during that spin cycle this tin bucket would rattle and you would have thought the house was coming down!  It was so LOUD!!!!  So I added these pads (like the kind you put on the bottom of furniture so it doesn't scratch your floors) that I got at Home Depot to the bottom and now it is quiet during the spin cycle. Yeah!

On the shelf behind the bucket, I have a few other cleaning products I don't use very often as well as extra laundry detergent.  My husband actually works for a company that makes laundry detergent, dish soap, fabric softener, etc. so we usually have quite a bit on hand.

I have my washer and dryer on pedestals. When I got them, I was not married to the wonderfully handy (not to mention handsome!) man I am married to now so I wanted them to not only provide storage, but also put them not so close to the ground.  This was also before the days of Pinterest.  If I were to do it again, I would NOT buy the pedestals, and probably do a laundry basket storage/sorting thing like this instead.  But, since I have them, I use them.  The drawer on the right stores full-size rag towels.  The drawer on the left is divided into two sections.  The left section stores microfiber clothes for dusting and moping.  The section on the right has hand towel and wash cloth size rags.

Now let's flip around to the opposite wall.  On this side of the room I had my handy husband hang a drying rack I got at Ikea for $20.  I love that it is down when I don't need it.  It can also go on an angle which comes in hand when I am drying pants or rugs or something.  It can also go out straight so I can lie something flat on top or hang my laundry hanging dryer (also from Ikea for $5) to dry delicates or even beach towels in the summer.  One thing to note is that I had my husband hang the rack just high enough that I can still stand under it when it is open.  That works for me because I am fairly short.  And because it is a tight space, I still need to be able to get into my washer.

You can also see I have some cute little frames on the wall.  They were actually black frames I had on hand and I just spray painted them white.  I found this cute printable on Pinterest and put it in one frame and then in Photoshop I create my Laundry schedule in similar fonts and colors.  (I also found this printable recently on Pinterest and may have to change the colors and hang it as well.) 

I do, what I think is, an insane amount of laundry for our family of 7.  Probably 15 loads a week.  There is NO WAY I can do that in a day.  It is just too overwhelming.  So I have broken it down into 6 days (no laundry on Sunday) so that I am doing a little each day.  Then, if I get behind, it still isn't overwhelming to make it up on another day.  Also, I do all the laundry do the school year, but my kids do their own during the summer.  So, this schedule works for that too!

Monday - Clothes (mainly mine and my husbands)

Tuesday - Girls (I have a 10, 8, and 4 year old.  The older girls do theirs and the little ones during the summer.)

Wednesday - Boy (I have a 13 and 5 year old. The oldest does it during the summer.)

Thursday - Sheets.  Everyone rips theirs off in the morning and has a clean set ready to put on when they get home from school.  During the summer they put on new sheets right away because we have extra sets.

Friday - Clothes (mine and my husbands again)

Saturday - Towels. Everyone brings theirs up.  I usually do the laundry that is in the tin bucket on this day as well.

On that same wall, I stack my empty laundry baskets on the floor and have my trash can.  Most of my laundry baskets are red too. Happy!!!

Next is my closet.  As you can see, on the door we hang our iron and ironing board.  This is great except for the fact that we have 8 ft. doors and so I actually have to get a stool to get the iron down.  But...I rarely iron, so I can handle doing that every once in a great while.

The closet is fairly small but because I rarely clean with chemicals I don't have a lot of cleaning supplies.  What supplies I do have are on the shelves and the bottles, along with cleaning products I have made, hang on the rod.

I like to hang pretty much anything I can to keep things off the floor.  So, I have Command Hooks all over this closet.

The green bag on the left is a little bag with elastic on the bottom and holds empty plastic grocery sacks.  The big TJ-Maxx bag holds all of my reusable shopping bags.  I also have my Norwex dusting cloth as some other dusters I got at Ikea (that don't work very well, but the kids like using them.)  I also hang my floor duster and swiffer.

So, the only things I have on the floor are my Spot-Bot, my Floor Steamer, my Dyson Vacuum, my long duster in the corner, and a yardstick.

And last but not least, behind the door is my key rack.  During the summer I mainly use my front entryway.  Mr. Handy has his workshop in the garage and it is usually too dirty and full of his projects for me to park in there.  But during the winter, his business slows down, and he cleans things up so I can park in the garage.  So I keep my keys and my cute Mayli Jade Cell Phone Clutch on the key rack so I can grab things and go.

Well, that is it for my laundry room.  Hopefully I've inspired you!  Now send me some pictures by email or post on our facebook and show me what you have been up to!

For more ideas on decorating and organizing your laundry room, check my Pinterest pages!

Get Organized in 2013 - Challenge #6 Entryways

The Master Bedroom is done and now you have a place to retreat to when the rest of the house is in chaos.  But wouldn't it be nice to walk into your home and have it organized right from the moment you walk in?  Well that is what we are going to work on for the next few days.

Get Organized in 2013 Challenge #6 - Entryways

The entryway sets the mood for the rest of your home.  We want to set up a system that works for you and your family and the way you walk into your home.  So set the timer, there is work to be done!  Here are a couple of links to my Pinterest boards to maybe get your juices flowing for your entryway spaces.  Entryways    Closets     Mudroom

Also check out my original post for my entryway.

1. Have a place for everything.  Where are you going to hang coats, purses, and backpacks?  Do you need hooks? A coat rack?  Is there a closet nearby?  Does that closet actually get used or do you and your family tend to just drop things?  Find a system that will work best for hanging things.

2. Have a key drop.  If you have a place to put your keys as soon as you walk in the door, you are a lot less likely to lose them.  Whether that is a little dish or basket or a hook to hook them on.  In our front entryway (which is the one we use most of the time) I have a little dish in the top drawer of our shoe cabinet.  By the back door we have some hooks right by the door.  Find what works for you!

3. Have a place for mail.  Do you put mail by your front door?  Does it tend to pile up there?  If you do, add a recycling station right there as well.  My mail place is in my kitchen, so I don't need it in my entryway.  But you might!

4. Have a place for winter gear. Baskets, a drawer, whatever works for your family. As you can see, the hall closet is very tiny and barely fits the coats we wear.  Our hats, gloves, scarves, etc. are in labeled baskets in the bottom. I got them at Target.  When the boots aren't wet, we store them in my son's closet.  He has a very large closet and doesn't use three quarters of it, so we keep our boots and hang our snow pants in there.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas.  You'll have a few days to get things in order.  You definitely want to organize the entryway you use the most often but don't forget the other ones you use too!  Please post photos and questions and ideas on our Facebook page or here in the comments.  I can't wait to see what you get done.  Monday we'll move on to a mail station.

How to fold sheets

I always envied beautiful linen closets with neatly folded sheets but seriously could NOT figure out how to make them look so nice.  After much practice, I have figured out a way, and wanted to share it with you because we all want pretty linen closets, right?

1. Lay out your fitted sheet as straight as you can.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

2. Fold it in half.

3. Fold it in half again

 4. Fold it in half AGAIN!

5. Flip it over. This is what the other side looks like and you can see my not so straight edges.

5. Now fold it in half the other way.

6. Fold your top sheet neatly and lay it on the bottom.  Put your folded fitted sheet and your folded pillowcase(s) on top.

7. Fold your top sheet over just far enough so that it matches the edge of your folded top sheet.

8. Now fold over the other side of the top sheet to meet the other edge.  YOUR DONE!

Wasn't that easy?  Doesn't it look so nice!  This of course was a twin.  But it works the same with other sizes.  Sometimes I have to fold them in thirds instead of halves to make it work.  Just play around with what works for you and your space.  But here is a picture of the linen closet with King sheets (ther red) and the twin sheets.  So nice!

Be sure to post pictures of your success!  I want to see those nice looking linen closets!  Before and after!