If you are wondering why it took so long to finish my closet, let me just say that the adoption process is not for the faint of heart. You may remember that part of the driving force behind this blog was the nesting instinct spurred on by the pending adoption of our sixth daughter.
Unfortunately we hit a fairly large hiccup in the adoption road last week. We are not new to international adoption paperwork,this being our fourth international adoption; however, last week we hit a new all time high (or is it low) for volumes of documents required to bring our daughter home. I think we conquered the new mound, and I'm back up and running with my home organizing and blog!
Our master closet is COMPLETE.
Following are some organizing ideas from my closet:
1)
Use canvas bins with lids, instead of
dresser drawers - see my previous post on eliminating dresser drawers in your bedroom. Lids are ideal because they keep your clothes from getting dusty. I purchased these bins at our local Walmart. They are very economical and hold a surprising amount. I use them to hold off season clothes and lingerie.
2) Wherever possible use hooks. I hang my extra purses and belts on a hook in our closet. My husband also uses hooks for his belts (and sometimes pants). We find it is a great compromise to the floor!
3)
I organize my jewelry in canvas jewelry trays. I also found these at Walmart. They are great because I stack them. They do not take up a lot of space, and I can see all my jewelry at a glance.
4) I store my out of season shoes in shoe size plastic boxes (Rubbermaid knock-offs - about $1.00 a piece). I like these clear boxes because they have lids and keep the dust off of the shoes. They also allow me to see the shoes easily without removing the lids. I store these shoes on a shelf above my hanging clothes.
5) I do not have the luxury of having an extra closet for my off-season clothing. Instead
I store my out of season clothes in my husband's old suit bags and hang them in the back of our closet. I find that having just the current season's clothes visible makes it easier to put together daily outfits. If you have problems with musty odors, you can put a dryer sheet in the bottom of the bag.
6) And my final organizing tip is make use of over the door shoe organizers. I actually do not use these in my master closet because I have a full length mirror hanging on the back of the closet door. However, I do have one of these hanging in each of the girls' rooms and LOVE them!
If you do not need all the slots for shoes, they also make great spaces for scarves, hats, gloves, tights, hoise and even small stuffed animals that you want to get off of the way.
Organizing my master closet forced me to make some tough decisions.
Here is a list of items I finally parted with:
A bridesmaid dress that I wore in my sister's wedding 5 years ago.
I'm taking it to the resale store this week.
Western show clothes from when I used to show horses...8 years ago.
I'm listing them on Craigslist this week.
A wool sweater that one of my daughter's brought me back from her trip to Iceland. Unfortunately
I am allergic to wool and can't wear it.
I am listing it on E-Bay.
An evening dress that I haven't worn in years. This one I am just giving to a local charity.
Multiple pairs of socks, t-shirts, single earrings, one pair of old jeans, one pair of shoes, and several other
miscellaneous items.
Master Closet - Conquered!! (except for the matching hangers which will have to wait for another day.)
