My Closet Is A Mess!

A huge walk-in closet is a luxury most of us do not have.  I do have a smallish walk-in, but it is not like the ones you see on HGTV that are the size of a small bedroom with custom closet organizing units.  Mine simply has an area to hang clothes and a wrap-around top shelf--one level.  Not exactly what dream closets are made of.  I had to find creative ways to organize my closet so that my poor husband could actually have some of it for himself.

What I came up with was a ton of baskets for the top shelving.  They were simple, lined cloth baskets that I got on sale at Kmart for about five bucks a piece.  They fit nicely on the shelf without sticking out too much.  I even got my husband to buy into this basket idea. 

I hung all my clothes that were prone to wrinkling, my dress pants, blouses, dresses, etc.  The rest of my clothes (T-shirts, jeans, shorts, etc.) were organized by type into each basket.  One basket was for my jeans, etc.  They are all folded neatly in each basket, and they have a side handle to easily pull them down to take things out of them.

I purchased a couple inexpensive shoe racks for the bottom of the closet for all of our shoes.  It is a three-tier high shoe rack that accomodates my crazy obsession for shoes.  They are all now neatly lined up on the racks and organized by flats, heels, dressy, casual, etc.

Scarves and belts are on a hanger.  Simply slide them onto the hanger and hang it near the end of your closet.  My necklaces and bracelets are on hooks on the back of the closet door.

My collection of handbags is neatly tucked away in a cheap, plastic set of drawers on wheels, that I can pull out when needed to search for the right handbag.  It tucks in neatly at the back of the closet against the wall.

It is so much easier deciding what to wear in the morning when you have an orderly closet.  Now..if I could only find some more money to buy even MORE clothes...

Keeping Your Recipes And Coupons Organized

If you're like me, you use recipes when cooking.  I love to try out new foods and recipes, so I am constantly looking for new ones.  I am also an avid coupon-clipper when shopping for ingredients and other groceries.  I collect cookbooks, but I also like to look online for recipes to try out.  The internet is a great place to search for new things to try for preparing a meal for your family.  I also clip recipes out of magazines as well.

The problem was trying to organize and keep all of these clippings and printouts in an orderly, neat manner.  The way that I came up with was to keep a large three-ring binder.  You can also use a photo album with the transparent film on top of the pages.  In the binder are pages that are either laminated or have a plastic protective cover on them.  I then use the color coded separators that you can get in office supply stores. 

What I did was to come up with categories:  desserts, casseroles, veggies, etc. and those went on the tabs of the separators.  Then the other pages were for placing the clippings, etc.  You smooth over the plastic protective covering on top, and you are all set.  All of your recipes are organized by category, and if you happen to spill something on the page, it wipes right off.

Coupons can be a great tool to help save money.  Keeping them all jammed in the bottom of your purse will not help though.  There are a couple ways to keep your coupons organized and ready to use.

You can use a small index card holder (which you find in office supply stores), or a small pouch with presorted tabs.   A pouch tends to be more user-friendly, because you can simply slip it into your purse before you go shopping. On the tabs, you also categorize what coupons you normally use:  cleaning supplies, cereal, dairy, etc.  Then, when you clip the coupons, simply put them in the right slot.

It's a good idea to check periodically through the box/pouch to make sure that you don't have any coupons that are expired.  When coupons are organized, you are much more likely to use them and start saving some money.

Organizing Jewelry

Like most women, I have quite a bit of jewelry.  I used to keep it all in the typical jewelry box, but I found that that wasn't really the best way to organize it all.  I ended up losing one of a pair of earrings, or tangling up all of my necklace chains.  I decided that there had to be a better way.

Let's start with earrings.  I have quite a number of pairs, and I was always losing or misplacing one of the matched set.  They would often be hard to find in the tangle of other earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc.

What I came up with sounds a little odd, but trust me, it works so well.  All you need are a few cheap, plastic ice cube trays.  I found that these were narrow and slim enough to fit right into the top drawer of my bureau.  Then, you simply put one set of earrings into each little section of the ice cube tray.  Voila!  Cheap, easy, and oh so simple.

Necklaces are also a pain in the neck to keep untangled.  I found that a few hooks attached to the back of my closet door were the best solution to keeping necklaces organized and tangle-free.  They are out of the way, and easy to access.  I also hang bracelets by hooks as well.

Rings I keep in a small crystal bowl on the top of my bureau.  Not only is it functional, but it is decorative as well.  If you have the space or drawers for it, you could even use the ice cube tray system to organize your rings as well.

It might be a small thing, but being able to pick out jewelry to match my outfit every morning is a WHOLE lot easier when I don't have to go digging through a pile of tangled mess.

Organizing As A Way of Everyday Life

Organizing is something not everyone admits to being good at.  In fact, most people find that the task is daunting to say the least.  Being a busy working mom is hard enough, without the task of trying to be organized.  I'm here to tell you, however, that being organized can become part of your everyday life.  It can help your day-to-day life run more smoothly, even freeing up some much-needed and deserved free time.

All it takes are some simple life changes and routines that you would be willing to try out.  These, along with simple tips and suggestions, will get you on your way to being that super-organized person you want to be. 

Are you ready to tackle the organizing demon that is always there to confront you?  If so...keep on reading and please feel free to share tips of your own.

...Step 1:  Declutter

The first step to becoming organized is to stop the collection of clutter.  You may need to set aside a good chunk of time to declutter your home for the first time, but once you have done this very important first step, keeping it that way is so much easier (more on maintaining a clutter-free home in later blogs).

Make three piles:  a trash pile, a keep pile, and a donate pile.  Decide which of your belongings goes into which pile.  Be ruthless:  do you REALLY need to keep old copies of every magazine you subscribe to? 

Once you have your three piles, then you need to put them somewhere.  My mantra is and will always be:  "a place for everything, and everything in its place".  The trash pile is easy..simply put it in a garbage bag and toss it.  The donate pile can be  bagged in a similar fashion or put into cardboard storage boxes to keep until you find a worthy organization to donate to.  Finally, the keep pile must now be put back.

The key here is to find a suitable place for all of the "keep" items so that they may easily be returned to that place.  Clothes are best kept in the closet, for example, while you may use various things such as baskets, boxes, etc. to house the rest.  I rely heavily on decorative baskets to keep many things such as books, magazines, dog toys, etc.  You simply have to find the containers/places that are right for your own needs and the needs of your household.

If you look at the big picture, once everything in your home has a designated "space", your goal for day-to-day living is to make sure that those items are always returned to that special place you have set aside.  It should become habit.  For example, always returning your car keys to the little dish beside the front door should always be something you do automatically.

In the blog entries to come, I will go into more detail about setting aside special "places" for everything, and give you some tips on containers, places to keep things and more that you can do to slowly find your perfect "space" to put all of your things.  I will also pass along some ideas that may be useful as you set about organizing your home, office, calendar, etc.

I'm a busy working mom like you, so I understand that you want to find the easiest, and less time-consuming ways to be organized.  Let's explore those together.