Hi friends, I always love to hear success stories from my readers and I especially love to see how my PROCESS steps have helped them get from a cluttered Point A to an organized Point B. Today I’ve got Amy sharing how she used the PROCESS to help her organize her linen closet. She did a great job! I think the REMOVE stage tends to scare everyone the most but as you can see in this example it is most beneficial. Send me an email if my PROCESS steps have worked for you and you too could be featured on my site!
Now here is Amy….
I love my house organized but let me confess, I’m a horrible organizer!
I was checking out a friend’s guest post here and ran into PROCESS. While I could use this in many, many different areas of my home, I decided to tackle my hall linen closet.
Let me show you a few before pictures. My closet is in a long hall so it’s hard to capture but I think you’ll see enough to know I was in desperate need of this makeover.
Yikes! You can hardly tell there are even shelves—it looks like one big pile ‘o junk!
Plan of attack
Normally, my plan of attack is no plan of attack. I might straighten a few things up to make it look somewhat presentable but you can see I was a tad past that stage of faking it.
I decided this closet should serve the following purposes:
- Store bath towels
- Store pool towels
- Store sheets and blankets
- Store games
- Store a few miscellaneous household items
It was clear having so many games in the closet was not working for the kids. They could barely get the games out they wanted and had a hard time getting them back in.
Remove Items
I would normally fail to complete this step but I removed every single item from the closet and made sure to sweep the bottom and clean any cobwebs from the ceiling.
Everything landed in my living room.
It was absolutely shocking to see how much we had stuffed in one little linen closet. My sister walked in just as I was startling to tackle the mess and she said, “Did that all come from your closet?!” Yes, sister, yes it did.
Organize Into Piles
From the large piles in the living room, I kept a plastic bag to throw items away we couldn’t use anymore and couldn’t pass on.
I created a pile to the left of items we thought we could donate or sell. It was amazing how many items had just been taking up room for no good reason at all.
I relocated the kids’ favorite four board games to the cabinet behind the sofa for easy access and extra room for the closet.
After that, I just had one item I thought I could sell on eBay.
Containerize
I gathered up the household items and put them all in the plastic bin we already had in there but had woefully overtaxed.
And here’s what happened after I put everything back:
Better, right?
Evaluate Plan
After living with this, I realized that there were several small games that were just sitting on top that could use a container.
Solve/Simplify
I added a plastic bin to put the smaller games in and set them in the empty space on the floor.
Smile
I am definitely smiling at this difference!
I can’t tell you how good it feels to have used the PROCESS steps to tackle this closet. I no longer have to cringe when the kids have friends over and they need a towel for the pool or want to play a game.
And bonus? I sold the item on eBay within just a few minutes and made $10 for my hard work!
Amy Bennett is wife to her police officer husband, Scott and mommy to two girls, Emma and Lexi. They reside in South Carolina with their two dogs Bella and Tucker and a picket fence to hold them all in. Amy spends her day writing code for a bank and her evenings writing about faith, parenting and homemaking at AmyJBennett.com.
Linking up: Your Homebased Mom and Thrifty Decor Chick
Amy says
Thanks so much for having me and for the steps!
Hilda @ From Overwhelmed To Organized says
Great job Amy! Nice that you made $10 for your efforts too 🙂
Amy says
Thank ou, Hilda! It sure was a nice bonus!
Vicki K says
This is very inspiring and encouraging – to see a small space completely transformed by good principles. Thank you for sharing it!
Amy says
Aw I’m so glad it inspired you. Good luck in your space!
Student Mom (Jenn) says
Oh Wow! What a change. I am inspired. I think I’m going to tackle my linen cupboard this evening.
It doesn’t look that difficult now that I see someone elses cupboard (which remarkably resembles mine!!) has been rescued.
Amy says
So good to hear someone else is in the same boat! Let me know how it goes for you!
Stacey says
Nice job, Amy! Makes me want to go tackle my linen closet 🙂
Amy says
You definitely should! Let me know how it goes!
dani says
Whoo-hoo! looks great Amy! I had to do the same with our linen closets before we put the house up for sale. It’s crazy how my closet had turned itself into one giant “junk drawer.” I like these steps to organizing – easy to remember for those of us challenged in that area.
Amy says
Thanks! I definitely think the key was removing everything!
Crystal says
Fantastic job!! It looks so organized!! Love it!!
Amy says
Thanks so much, Crystal. I’m definitely enjoying it!
Ann says
This is very motivating! My closet looks just as bad, so its great to see what it could look like–now I have a definite goal for this summer, thanks!
Amy says
Ann, you definitely should. Honestly, it only took about an hour start to finish–you could do it sooner than you think!
Alia Joy says
I just got through ( well I’m almost done) with a house-wide cleaning and reorganizing and we now have half a two car garage full of garage sale stuff for this weekend. I can’t believe how much stuff we just had piled in our house that the kids don’t play with/fit in or need. I love the feeling of everything in it’s place but I’ve always just had too many things to organize.
Amy says
Yes, definitely think that’s part of my problem too!
Kelly says
GREAT job!
Amy says
Thanks, Kelly!
Mrs. Nicole H says
Thanks for all of your wonderful advice! I need all the organizing help I can get. I would like to enter to win your book give-a-way this Sunday, June 9th. Thanks!!
Jenny Lynn says
Job well done! You know for me, I have no problem organizing, my problem is maintaining.
Amy says
Thank you and what a good point and I totally have the same issue–maintaining!