Two years ago just before I moved provinces I tackled my closet BIG TIME giving away 108 pieces of clothing!!  There is nothing like the motivation of moving to put a fire under you to get stuff done.  When we moved into our new home I then blogged about my new closet and how I organized it.  That was a year and a half ago and since then my closet has continued to evolve and change in order to maximize space and the efficiency of how I use it.  You might remember this post I did singing the praises of thin hangers which I am still loving by the way.

In the last couple of weeks though I knew I needed to once again do a big tackle on my closet.  How did I know?  Because every time I walked into my closet I would immediately get annoyed and grumpy.  Clothes were everywhere and I was having trouble finding what I needed because there was just too much stuff stuffed in.  However I did what I know many people are guilty off.  I walked out and did nothing only to be annoyed all over again the next day.  I don’t have the time or I’ll do it later were just a few of the lines that repeated over and over in this big head of mine.

Then one day I went in and decided to do just ONE thing.  I wouldn’t worry about the whole closet at this point, but I could take 5 or 10 minutes to do just a little.  I’ll just hang up all the clothes not on hangers I decided and do the rest later.  Well you know what happened don’t you?  As I was hanging up those clothes I came across a few things I no longer wore or loved.  And then I came across a few more and then a few more after that.  Before I knew it stuff was flying out of that closet so fast.  I hit the zone.  There was no stopping me once I got going.  Toss, toss, toss (that’s my most recent purge pile above).  A half an hour later, I was done.  Not just that ONE thing that I had originally set out to do but my whole closet.  IN 30 MINUTES!

Seriously why do we do this to ourselves?

We put up with being annoyed day after day after day which, let’s be honest, plays out in so many other areas of our lives when we could easily nip the problem in the bud once and for all.  I know this, you know this but we still convince ourselves it’s going to take forever.  We convince ourselves we don’t have the time but with all the time we waste just thinking about doing it, we could have had it done.

So because I had no idea before I started that I’d be overhauling my entire closet I neglected to take a before picture.  However here are some after pictures though so you can see how it’s changed from when we first moved in.

Love my thin hangers!

This is my BelleDangles Jewelry Organizer.

I found this great basket on clearance and it currently holds my summer tank tops but that might still change.

This fantastic organizer on my top shelf is from a company called Neat Containers.  These are very cool for shoes, purses, wallets, scarves, slippers, bathing suits, etc.  They are plastic bins that slide in and out like drawers.  I like the way they use up vertical space that would otherwise be wasted.

And in case you missed this the first time I shared it, I’m going to share my 11 tips for parting with your clothes again.

Org Junkie’s Tips for Parting with Your Clothes

1.  If you haven’t worn something in a year then out it goes regardless of condition, price or size.  Why a year?  Because you cover every season in that period of time.  If you haven’t worn it during the year, you probably never will.

2.  If you have a piece of clothing that you wear but are annoyed with it every time you do, seriously stop it.

3.  If it’s waiting to be mended and it’s been waiting for a long time then enough is enough already.

4.  If you hate to iron and your ironing pile sits there totally neglected while you wear all your favorite clothing over and over again, why do you still have an ironing pile?

5.  I’m not opposed to keeping your “skinny” clothes (and I know we all do it) but for goodness sakes you don’t need to keep all of it.  Styles change, your tastes change, your body shape changes so chances are good that when you get back to that size you’re going to want new stuff anyway.

6.  If you absolutely love a shirt but never wear it because you have nothing to wear it with, well guess what, a mate isn’t going to magically appear in the night.  Follow the one year rule.

7.  Sentimental clothes that you aren’t wearing shouldn’t reside in your closet.   Either take a picture of it and preserve the memory or limit yourself to one tote of “clothes to show my kids so they can laugh their heads off at me someday”.

8.  Don’t hang onto something that is “just alright” because you don’t have something better yet to replace it.  Let it go now unless it means you go naked, that wouldn’t be right.

9.  You don’t have to do it all at once.  Try organizing in stages and be motivated by your success.  One day you could do shirts, the next day shorts, etc..

10.  Try everything on.  This one I can’t stress enough.  Do not hold something up and say oh this is so beautiful I’m going to keep it.  That’s too easy and what you might not remember is that, although it’s beautiful, the buttons gape at the front showing off your woman parts.  Nope we don’t want that now do we.  Get rid of it.

11.  You only have the space that you do.  Jamming your clothes into the closet and fighting with them every single day to find what you need won’t make your closet grow in the night.  It will only make you grumpy…every single day.  It’s not worth it.

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And just in case you need a daily kick in the pants reminder, here is a copy for you to print out and stash away in your closet if you need to :)  Click on the link below for the pdf file.

11 Tips for Parting with Your Clothes

Hope that helps in your quest to do some serious clothes purging soon!!!

What organizing task have you been putting off for a long time? 

Org Junkie’s Tips for Parting with Your Clothes + Free Printable! is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

credit: misteraitch

Yesterday I watched the show Anderson.  It was only the second time I’ve ever seen the show and this one was about a mom and her hoarding issues.  She was a regular mom with piles and piles and piles of stuff.  I found it so interesting that she viewed her stuff with a similar love that you would have for a child.  The idea of throwing something away for her hurt as if she was giving away her own flesh and blood.  Those are some intense emotions for the things.  I can imagine that to be just as overwhelming as all the stuff.

When Anderson showed this mom the video footage of her home, you could tell she was surprised.  When Anderson asked about her reaction, she replied “this is the place I go to everyday for solace and that’s what I live with but I don’t always see it”. She then said “I see a ton of stuff with no where to put it.  I use all of it”.  Denial.  She had enough piles of clothing in that house that even if she wore something different every day for a couple of years she still wouldn’t be using all of it.  The Professional Organizer hired to help her found many many pieces of clothing with the tags still on.

And then I thought of another show I’ve been watching lately, the new one with Peter Walsh called Extreme Clutter.  Over and over again Peter talks about the power stuff can have over our lives.  We allow it to keep us from living in the present and truly living in the now.  We allow the stuff to call the shots and push us around until we are “living” in a fraction of the house we own thinking we just don’t have enough space.  The stuff holds us captive, and can be crippling.  Then when we can’t take it anymore, rather than deal with it once and for all, we rent storage units and transfer the stuff to there just so we don’t have to think about it anymore.

Cluttered = procrastinated decisions

Do you know that North American’s spend over 20 billion a year on storage facilities?  20 BILLION DOLLARS!  A YEAR!  Wowsa, let’s let that sink in for a moment.  I learned this staggering stat while watching yet another show called the Million Dollar Neighborhood, where a community in BC, Canada attempts to get out of debt.  One couple had two storage units full of stuff that simply sat there collecting dust, they hadn’t used any of it in years.  In all the years that they’d had these units the amount they paid for them was over 5 figures and yet they had no retirement fund to speak of.  They’d never stopped to think about it, the stuff had that much pull over them.  One of the show’s challenges was to have a huge community garage sale together.  When it was all over it was so moving to watch how relieved families were to not to be burdened by their stuff anymore.   And the couple with the two storage units were beyond ecstatic to have such a huge weight lifted off their shoulders.  A weight they didn’t even know was there until it had been removed. Very emotional.

Recently I had to make some storage decisions in my own home.  And while it was on a much smaller scale I did realize that the shelves my basket and bins “in waiting” were taking up could definitely be used for things I do use regularly.  You’ll remember that just a couple of months ago I purged some baskets from this area but it was time to do it again.  It was fine if I didn’t need the storage space but I do so the decision was made to part with even more of my baskets.  You know how I love my baskets!!

My stash is almost next to nothing now.  I’ve come a long way from my “container for my containers” days:

Do not be burdened by the stuff.  Don’t give it more power than it deserves.

If you are having trouble making these decisions, please ask someone for help.  Whether it be a friend, family member or professional, it’s amazing what happens when we try to explain out loud to someone else our reasoning for wanting to keep something.  It might even be the first time you hear yourself say it and it can be very powerful.  Try saying it to yourself in a mirror even.

While going through the list of challenge participants I loved what Elizabeth from Ready, Set, Simplify had to say.   “Part of this project will be analyzing what happened and coming up with some solutions to prevent it from happening again”.

To do this, ask yourself some questions:

1.  What am I hanging onto today that takes up valuable space that could be used for more needed purposes?

2.  What am I allowing to rule my roost?  Is the stuff calling all the shots?

3.  What isn’t working?  How can I make it better?  Why do I want to make it better?

4.  What is working?  Why am I able to maintain these particular solutions and not others?

5.  Am I trying to organize clutter to avoid making the tough decisions about my stuff?

6.  Am I really seeing my clutter or am I in denial?   Looking at pictures of your space really helps!

7.  Do you have a storage unit?  How long have you had it?  Could you say what was in it?  Is it worth it?

I would love to hear some of your answers!

Are you burdened by your stuff? is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

Since January I’ve already made two separate trips to the thrift store to drop off stuff.

Purge Pile #1

Purge Pile #2

I am pretty strict about the “one in, one out” rule.  So with everything that came in for Christmas, something else had to leave.  One toy in, one toy out.  One sweater in, one sweater out and so on and so on.  We don’t have to wait to “find room” for our new things because we simply replace the new where the old use to live (although sometimes a little tweaking is necessary).  It makes life so easy and stress free and I don’t have to be the bad guy with the kids.  I’ve done this with them since they were little that they just think this is the way everyone does it :)

The second pile you see above happened at about 8:00 pm one night while I was playing hockey with the kids in the basement.  All of a sudden, as we were dodging this and that on the floor, the room started to feel smaller and smaller.  How hadn’t I noticed it before now?

That was it, game over, mommas got to organize!  The kids just roll their eyes, they know the drill.

Anyway it became very clear to me right away that we had quite a few toys down there the kids had outgrown.  My baby (6) isn’t a baby anymore.  Out, out, out.  The toys that is, not my “baby”.  So an hour later we had collected some things for the thrift store (above), a big bag for the garbage and my hubbie took out to the garage a huge play table that I will sell.

Oh how great it feels!  What a sweet and glorious high!

Seriously you’ve got to try it for yourself, just don’t take my word for it.

Here’s what you do.  Grab some garbage bags and fill them.  End of story.

Okay, okay I know it’s not that easy for some.  But it could be that easy if and when you just decide that enough is enough already.  If you have more stuff than space, you purge till it fits.

As you are working, don’t let yourself get distracted in other areas of the house…remember focus on the task at hand.  If you’ve got a lot of stuff to clear out then print off my purge labels and make an area for each category.  Then it’s just a matter of starting.  Initially you want to do a quick purge and not be held up hemming and hawing about any one thing.  Put it to the side.  Keep going and go back to that item later if you have to.  You’ll see that as you keep moving, this purging thing gets easier.  You’ll slowly start to get a small taste of the high and you’ll yearn for more.  Go, go, go!

Before you know it, you’ll be done.  You’ll look around and think to yourself.  Gosh this gal Org Junkie really knows what she’s talking about!

Well maybe you won’t say those exact words but you will be buzzing from your organizational high.

That’s when I say to you.

Welcome to my world friend, welcome to my world!!!

Have you experienced a purge high lately? is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

In that post I initially recommended a solution for them that consisted of a sideboard with some shelves.  Well two things quickly became apparent after that suggestion that required me to rethink that plan.  My anticipated $500 budget was slashed to $150 (due to unexpected expenses they had) and a sideboard was simply not going to be enough storage space for their needs.

Here was my challenge:

Toys, toys, toys everywhere (although on this particular day the toy clutter wasn’t really all that bad).  As you can see though not a lot of storage.  The green four basket container isn’t normally kept in the living room either, it is used for hats/mitts by the front door.  With all the company it ended up in the living room temporarily.  This toy area is actually a formal dining room space at one end of their living room that they used to have a second table in (they also have a table in their kitchen).  However after having two kids (now ages 3 and 1) they quickly realized they needed to reclaim this hardly used space for all the toys that come along with two kids.  They don’t live in a big house (maybe about 900 sq feet, on just one level) so I think this was a brilliant solution.  However with no boundaries and limits to the toys, they just seem to scatter everywhere, from one end of the house to the other.

What’s my #1 secret for keeping toys organized?

Don’t give kids free access to all their toys all at one time!

When kids have free access to all their toys a number of things happen:

• toy sets don’t stay together making them less interesting to play with eventually
• kids get overwhelmed easily with the volume of toys at their disposal
• because they are overwhelmed kids get bored more quickly with their toys
• kids have no place to play because the toys are taking over the floor
• clean up is frustrating because of the magnitude of mess
• imaginations are limited being surrounded by so much clutter

My sister didn’t have anywhere to tuck toys away and out of sight so that was our number one priority.  We looked at many different options including many Ikea solutions.  However so many were out of our price range and we really wanted to be able to fill the whole wall on the right hand side to maximize toy storage space as much as possible.  We decided to go with a pantry solution because we found a great sale at Canadian Tire that would allow us to purchase two matching ones to place side by side to fill the space.  Each pantry cost only $69.00 each and fit right into the budget :)

Here’s how it looked afterwards:

Now this solution isn’t going to be for everyone and for sure my sister and her hubbie would have liked to have purchased fancier cabinets however they had two options.  Wait a couple of years down the line to purchase what they really wanted or purchase what they could afford now to solve their current problem immediately.  It made sense to do it now in order to save their sanity and cure their organizational diarrhea.  The amount of storage these units provide is incredible and most importantly as you can see in the above picture we were able to add locks to them, hola!

Here’s a picture of the inside:

Our Daddy even attached them to the wall for us to keep my nieces safe and sound!

We still need to label everything.  Since I didn’t bring my label maker with me (Gasp, I know!  What kind of professional am I?) I will send her some labels in the mail.  My sister already had the fabric bins that we were able to repurpose and they each hold toy sets for things like Mega Blocks, dress up clothes, dolls and doll clothes, etc.  We did purchase the clear shoe box containers to house additional toy sets on the left and craft supplies on the right.  She even had room to store her party supplies and games on the top shelves.  None of these things had homes before and it is just so cool to have them consolidated now all into one place.  It’s a huge weight lifted off my sister and BIL’s shoulders.

(Barbies, Mr. Potato Head, My Little Ponies, puppets, Little People and musical instruments)

My sister can now bring out toy sets one at a time and my nieces know that when they want to play with something else they have to clean up what they were playing with first.  And because it’s just one container it’s not too overwhelming for them to do.  Now when toys come out it’s like they are new all over again.  The girls might not have seen them in awhile and it’s exciting to discover them all over again.  I’m a huge huge fan of toy rotation!  Not to mention how the cabinets now serve as a limiting container to keep the toy purchases under wraps.  If they get something new they’ll have to get rid of something they already own to make room.

I’m so relieved to know that they no longer suffer from this distressing organizational diarrhea dilemma and that they are now able to enjoy the freedom and benefits having an organized space provides all without having to go into debt to do it.  Success!

My #1 Secret for Keeping Toys Organized is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

Do you have the clutter runs? (sorry I couldn’t resist)

My brother-in-law apparently does, he told me so himself.  So next week I’m flying to Ontario to help him with his clutter digestion problems.  Okay okay so maybe I’m not flying there for that reason alone (although I am going to tell him that so he thinks I’m the best sister-in-law in the whole wide world!) since it does also happen to be my Granny’s 95th birthday while I’m there.  NINETY-FIVE years young, crazy!!

So where were we?  Oh yes, diarrhea.  How many times do you think I can say that word in one post anyway?  My sister and brother-in-law live in a tiny tiny house.  Well they live in a big house but are kindly sharing the basement portion with my parents which only leaves them with the top floor to work with.  When they first moved in and for the first couple of years (pre-kids) their living room space consisted of both a living room at one end and a formal dining room at the other.  However once my darling nieces arrived the living room exploded with toys.  They were everywhere, it was messy (just like diarrhea!).  So they decided to turf the formal dining room table (seriously brilliant maneuver on their part, who needs two dining areas anyway?) and created a play space where the dining room used to be.  The couch acts as a divider between the two rooms.  I promise to show you all pictures when I get there.

So do you see where this is going?  They’ve carved out the space for the toys but now need to maximize the potential of the space.  And that’s where I come in!  Even more exciting is my brother-in-law is giving me $500.00 to spend on the project, whoot!  I love spending other people’s money and he apparently is ready to cure his runs once and for all.  Poor guy, I don’t blame him, clutter runs can be so painful.

So in anticipation of all the fun we are going to have cleaning up their explosiveness, I started to do my homework ahead of time.  To Dr. Google I went and sadly I got no assistance after typing in “what to do about organizational diarrhea?” and I’m pretty sure Pepto Bismal’s not going to fix this one.

So what we need here is a way to house some of the toys out of sight so a toy rotation can be put into place, store craft supplies which are currently taking up valuable kitchen space and in my brother-in-law’s words “make it look nice”.   I can do that and after spending a bit of time on various websites I think I have found the perfect solution.  Normally I’d recommend cubbies but they wanted it to look a little more grown up and wanted to keep little fingers out (they don’t want the girls just helping themselves.  They do have another small organizer for the “toys in rotation”).   Of course I haven’t even shared these ideas with them yet but they’ll read this post and tell me whether or not I need to continue to drink the pink stuff because I’m way off from curing any digestion instability.

I initially thought an armoire of some kind would be nice but since they already have a computer armoire in their living room I thought another piece of large and tall furniture would be too much.  Remember the space isn’t that big.  So I’m leaning towards a dresser of some kind although I have learned from experience that this can be a controversial topic.  When I put a dresser in my old living room and posted about it, you people had some serious opinions in the no department.  So I’m not going to call it a dresser this time, I’m going to call it a buffet.  That sounds nice and totally appropriate for a dining room turned playroom don’t you think? :)

Here’s what I have in mind from Ikea:

This Hemnes 8-drawer dresser comes in a variety of colors and is $299.00.  On the wall above it I’d like to put some floating shelves with some pretty baskets for additional storage.

Here is what I’m using for inspiration:

source: i heart organizing

Isn’t that pretty?  Then underneath the bottom shelf, I would love to add a curtain rod like this one below (also from Ikea) to hang the girl’s artwork.

So there you have it.  Let’s review the cost:

Buffet: $299.00

plus

2 Shelves: $40.00

Equals:  $339.00

I’ll need a few dollars for accessories and baskets but should have plenty of  money left over.  That way they can buy me a bigger Christmas present!  Just kidding, my brother-in-law is a chef so I actually get paid in delicious and pretty plated food while I’m there.  Yum!  I can’t wait to see what they think of my suggestions.  I’ll keep you posted on the outcome and whether or not it cures their organizational runs.

In the meantime you know I have to ask, do you suffer with your own organizational diarrhea?

PS:  will you ever forgive me for mentioning the word diarrhea 10 times in one post?

Part two can be found here.

Related posts:

Organizing my sister’s kitchen
Organizing my sister’s nursery
Organizing my sister’s coat closet

Organizational diarrhea, it can be painful is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

If you are new to 52 Weeks of Organizing, catch up here!

Well I have a feeling I’m not going to make any friends with this post but I think it needs to be said especially as we enter into the heavy duty three holiday season….Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas…whew.

Today I want to focus on holiday decorations.  Stores are stocking their shelves with all sorts of goodies hoping you’ll get so wrapped up in the cutest of it all you’ll plum forget to think about whether or not you have the space to store them.  Listen it happens but starting today I hope you’ll hear my silly little voice in your head instead going “do you have the room to store this, do you have the room to store this, do you have the room to store this?” over and over again until you drop whatever gizmo you had in your hands just to shut me up.  Hahahaha, okay maybe that’s a bit extreme, I’d probably only say it twice :)

My kids and I took a drive around town last night to check out the Halloween decorations and we saw some simple houses with just one blow up decoration:

and houses with two:

To houses that go all out:

And this is nothing compared to Christmas decorations!

Now I get it, I promise you I’m not a total bah humbug.  It’s fun, the kids love it, yada yada yada.  But what I don’t get it is this.  When the holidays are over those decorations have got to go somewhere.  Most often it’s the garage.  I’ve seen enough garages now to know that many of them are storage warehouses.  The cars live in the driveway while the “stuff” takes up residence in the garage.  How much does a blow up decoration cost?  Now how much does a car cost?  Why in the world is the car the one sitting in the driveway?  Honestly it makes absolutely no sense at all to me.

Here’s another way to look at it.  Holiday decorations are used for just a short time of the year and the rest of the time they need to be stored whether it’s in the garage, attic, hallway or basement.  You are giving up prime storage real estate space for something you use for just a short period of time.  Not a big deal if you have the space (go crazy in that case!) but most of us don’t unfortunately.  Are your living spaces cluttered to the max because you have run out of storage?  Does your vacuum live in the hallway while your holiday decorations take up a valuable closet?  Think about it.  Is it time to take another look at the volume of your holiday decorations and perhaps where you are storing them?  Only you can answer that.

Remember holiday decorations are not a necessity.

One trick I use to keep myself from buying more than I can store is to use a limiting container.  Designate a container that fits the storage space you reasonably have available and then keep that in mind when you are out shopping.  If you buy something new you’ll know that something else might need to go to make room for it.  It works beautifully!

Purge until it fits.

Questions to ponder:

1.  Do your holiday decorations take up valuable storage space that could otherwise be used for things that clutter up the rest of your home?

2.  Are all your holiday decorations stored together?  Are you utilizing limiting containers?

3.  Have you given this any thought before today?

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Please feel free to share your organizing journey and encourage one another in the comments. You are also invited to link up to the linky below with any posts related to your 52 weeks of organizing participation or to any post of an organizing nature that you feel will inspire and encourage others in their quest to get organized. Please remember to link back to here though so we can reach out to as many people as possible in need of some inspiration.

One other thing to consider: by including your link below you, you are giving me permission to use parts of your post including pictures as a spotlight in future 52 Weeks of Organizing posts. Proper credit and links will of course be provided. If you are not okay with this please do not link up. Thanks!

52 Weeks: #42 Taking control of your holiday decorations is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

Here is the before picture:

I’m not too concerned about the organization of it inside because these games get pulled in and out all the time.   My main concern was making room for all the games so they were all housed in ONE spot.  So out everything came and with the kids help we were able to create a donation pile that looked like this.

Not bad at all, I was very impressed with the kids.  We went through each game one by one and they provided me with a yes or a no.  Some decisions were easy since my youngest who is now 6 had outgrown many of them.  Others hadn’t been played with in a long while.

Finally everything fit back into this one space:

The two yellow bins hold smaller games and decks of cards to make them easier to find.

Last week I also had a chance to change out the clothes for the seasons and so my purge pile last week ended up being three big boxes that I dropped off at our local thrift store!

This week was all about going through the seasonal outerwear and Halloween costumes.  Anything outgrown or not worn during the past season went into the donation bag.  Only one bag but still happy to pass these things along to someone else.

What was in your purge pile this week?

Games Cupboard Organization & Other Purge Piles is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

If you are new to 52 Weeks of Organizing, catch up here!

You would think I’d have some kind of editorial calendar set up for writing this 52 weeks series so I’d know what I was going to write about each week in advance.  But I don’t.  Each week I just sit down at the computer and write from my heart.  Many times I take inspiration from the participants that have linked up the previous week or, like this week, I am motivated by what is going on in my own home with regards to organization.

This week I’ve been on a roll organizing small things here and there and everywhere.  Small things that I’ve noticed lately were making me a little growly.  For instance, ever since we moved into this house a year ago I could not seem to find a system that worked for all my hair products and at the same time took into consideration my morning laziness and my desire to have a clutter free countertop.  I have tried many different solutions and was irritated by all of them. I just didn’t have the space on this countertop for my blow dryer, straightener and all my hair products (of which there are many – more on my hair obsession here and here) at the same time.

So I tried having two baskets on top of the counter, it was too much.  I tried having a basket underneath the counter yet that didn’t work for this visual girl and my lazy factor (I won’t even try to deny it).  I like things out and easily accessible.  And until the Styling Station I’m drooling over comes onto the market, I knew I had to come up with something to tied me over before I lost my freaking mind :)

So in a moment of desperation I simply stood there and looked around the room.  What areas weren’t being utilized to their fullest?  How could I solve my dilemma while meeting all my criteria (this would include budget if this is a factor for you as it was for me)?  What was I okay with?  What was a deal breaker?

I knew I was okay with one basket being on the counter and that was it.  A deal breaker for me was having my products strewn all over every which way…I’m a pretty messy groomer when I make my daily transformation.  Trust me, I need every single one of those products :)

So as I went through this mental process, a light bulb went off.  On the back of the door I had two 3M Command Hooks.  Only one was being used and that was for my son’s bath towel.  If I moved that to the back of his own door it would leave me with an entire door free.  How could I utilize the back of the door to solve my situation?

A shoe organizer!!!

This is where I wish I had before pictures for you but when I get in the zone, I get in the zone.  Watch out, a woman on a mission is a pretty powerful thing! :)

Off to Walmart I went where I purchased myself a $6.00 shoe organizer to solve the dilemma of messy countertop clutter.  That’s pretty inexpensive for a whole lot of sanity!  Unfortunately not as pretty though as the ones I carry through Opensky, hopefully I’ll get those in again soon.  This one was all I could find and I wanted it done right away…again the whole zone thing :)  Functional over fabulous.

Down came the hooks and up went the organizer which hooks over the door (and yes the door still closes):

Hallelujah!!

With all these pockets I had room for not only my hair products but my brushes and combs as well:

plus my face creams and toners:

This allowed me to stick to having just the one basket on my counter like I wanted.  I used this for my hair dryer and straightener.  So easy to maintain!

Look how handy my products are to my fingertips while doing my thing each morning:

When creating a system please keep these tips in mind:

• There are many solutions for each particular space, don’t get frustrated if the first one doesn’t work.

• Be honest with the personality you have and the time you have to devote to something.

• Ask yourself a handle of questions (similar to those I asked myself above) about what is working and not working for you in the space.

• It’s important to give each new system at least three weeks to allow new habits to form.

• Every system should allow for easy maintenance in order for the system to succeed.  Don’t over complicate things.

*****You can read more detailed information about creating systems here.*****

What organizing dilemma is irritating you right now and what kind of solution do you think you can come up with to solve it?

Please feel free to share your organizing journey and encourage one another in the comments. You are also invited to link up to the linky below with any posts related to your 52 weeks of organizing participation or to any post of an organizing nature that you feel will inspire and encourage others in their quest to get organized. Please remember to link back to here though so we can reach out to as many people as possible in need of some inspiration.

One other thing to consider: by including your link below you, you are giving me permission to use parts of your post including pictures as a spotlight in future 52 Weeks of Organizing posts. Proper credit and links will of course be provided. If you are not okay with this please do not link up. Thanks!

52 Weeks: #36 Finding a System that Works is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

It’s good enough and I’m okay with that.  Although certainly not easy when you see such gorgeous pictures all around the blogland.  Gosh it can get depressing can’t it (and inspiring all at the same time)?  Or is it just me?  And I’m sorry if my site has that affect on you too sometimes.  It’s never my intention.  What I find fun though, when I see an example of a fabulous (although out of my budget) space, is trying to come up with something similar for less.  It can be a challenge that is for sure but definitely not impossible (thank you Walmart and the Dollar Store).  Of course, in addition to the funds, it’s also a matter of whether or not you want to invest the time.  Often I just can’t be bothered like is the case with my backpack station.  It’s in the garage, how fabulous does it have to be? :)

So here it is.  Simple, simple, simple.  A couple of hooks with a whiteboard above it, which to be honest we don’t really use that often (as you can tell) but we had it from the old house so we just threw it up there.

I’d still prefer it inside the house but we just don’t have the space in our current entryway.  It’s right outside the garage door though so it works just fine.  Look at my sweet little doggie at the top of the stairs.  So cute!

And here’s with the door closed.  I showed you my Gear Pockets Organizer in this post and love it for corralling hats and mitts.

So there you have it.  In my old house we didn’t have a garage but had a bigger entryway so it looked like this:

If you have even less space to create a backpack station, then you might be interested in this week’s Opensky deal which is a three piece hanging bundle pack which includes the space saving backpack station you see below for over an interior door in addition to one for your purses and caps.  All for $18.00!  I use the purse one in my laundry room and I love that I can still close the door with it hooked on.  You’ll need to log in/sign up to see the offer.

Do you ever struggle with your spaces if they are functional but maybe not so fabulous?

Putting Together a Backpack Station is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie

You see here in my new community, garage sales happen late Friday afternoons, which I love and look forward to week after week.  Why?  Because I’ve got a standing date with my middle son (11) who absolutely loves to hit the garage sales each week (he’s always on the hunt for cheap Yu-Gi-Oh cards).  Since my other two kids couldn’t care less about garage sales, it’s become our thing to do, just the two of us.  I love spending one on one time with my kids and this has been such a great way to hang out with my boy.

Oh how I’ve enjoyed our Friday nights together even if it does mean I end up buying a few things that were just too good of a deal to pass up.  The entire DVD series of Golden Girls that I purchased for $30.00 was a steal and I took one look at them and knew I had to have them.  I grew up in the eighties what more can I say and the theme song?  Only the best there ever was.  Seriously there is just something about this song that puts an instant smile on my face and makes me start singing at the top of my lungs.  My family especially loves when I do that :)

For the most part though I’ve been pretty controlled at garage sales I must say.  Of course I always keep my eyes open for things to help me organize.  Two of my favorite finds this summer were only $2.00 a piece!!

First you know how I love my Pampered Chef Turnabout for my kitchen utensils.  Well when I found one on sale recently for $2.00 I snatched that thing up so fast and high tailed it out of there yelling “start the car, start the car!”  Yes I’m a total dork like that.  I use this one as my son’s art caddy.  LOVE it!

Second was this simple Closet Maid shelving unit, also for $2.00.  I’m always on the look out for these as they are the BEST for inside closets, I think every one of my closets has a least one :)  My daughter also uses one for a nightstand.  Not sure yet where I’ll use this one but I can assure you it will be put to good use.

So how do you feel about going to garage sales?  Love em or hate em or somewhere in between?  Did you find any great deals this summer?

Garage Sale Organizing Finds is a post from: I'm an Organizing Junkie