Organizing my own closet

"52 weeks of organizing" challenge at "I am an Organizing Junkie" here I come again...



I've been procastinating to organize my own closet for quite a while now. But let's face it... Now with the winterclothes definately being out of season, I could do it while sorting them out, right? RIGHT! It was not what I planned to do when I got up this morning, nope, it was a coincidence because I was at my chinese store again and saw a few small and not too expensive tools which I hoped would help to get my mess into a more acceptable shape...
So this is the BEFORE picture

What you can't see in the picture is the small plastic containers containing sunglasses, scarves, belts...

I also had two drawers just close to the bed, in which I kept my socks and underwear.

First of all I took out everything that did not belong there and put it into it's place. Then I kept going through everything single piece of clothing, and tossed everything which was for one or another reason in an inacceptable shape.
I sorted out the winter clothes, putting everything I had kept from the winter before but not worn last winter into a big plastic bag to give away.

I put my little tools together. 3 small drawers and a closet organizer... When I was done, I put the remaining socks into one small drawer, the underwear into another one, and all the belts, sunglasses etc into the third one. I put them on one of the shelfs in my closet, and put the handbags I decided to keep just next. I neatly folded the jeans and shirts as well as my PJ's, put them into the 'closet organizer'.
And, what did I see? There was one ENTIRE shelf completely empty!!! I took my chance, and put the bath towels there, knowing they won't remain there forever. We'll be getting a new closet for the kids soon which means my daughter's will become the new closet to keep these kind of things. Oh, and due to the weird weather, I didn't dare to put the box with my winter clothes I'll keep, too dar away. So it is still sitting there, on the bottom where it is easy for me to reach.
Time for the AFTER picture :)

Well, that's better, isn't it? :)

So, Laura from "I am an Organizing Junkie" asked in this weeks "52 weeks of organizing" post:

Do you rotate your seasonal clothing? If so, have you done it yet?
I usually do not rotate seasonal clothing, not mine anyways. Doing it now made me realize that this helps me keep the clutter in my closet to a certain minimum.

Are you celebrating your accomplishments as you go? It’s so important no matter how big or small the task is you complete!
Well, the high I get from it is celebration and motivation to me. But I admit it: For every week I keep going, I get myself some good ice cream from the supergood gelateria at the end of my street :)

What’s on your list for this next week?
This is hard to tell. There are quite a few things I have to tackle. It also depends on the tools I find, or inspirations I have. Looking around it *might* be the kids toys.

Our linen closet

If I had to chose one single closet in our home that was causing me a headache, that was definately the linen closet. WAS. Yesterday, I just dragged out about everything.
To give you an idea of what it looked like BEFORE, there you go.

I took out the big red overlay (which I absolutely had to get, along with the matching pillowscases and curtains, but just used once since), and this is what I saw.

No, we do not have a lot of bedsheets here. I tend to wash them as soon as I changed them, so we do not really need a lot of them.

A while ago, I bought a lot of boxes of different shapes. 3 of them were pretty flat, but large.

They were perfect to put the sheets in.

And there came the big challenge... Would the overlay fit in there?

The answer is no. So I tried with a dfferent box to put actually under the bed, and it still didn't fit. I did not really want to go back to just stuffing it in there with the rest. I needed something... big... The answer was right by my feet. The big laundry basket my husband got for the master bedroom. I haven't really used it because if I am good at something, then that is with keeping up with my laundry! One single basket is enough for us! And there you go... :D

I used small greet boxes to put in those extra pillowcases I might get rid of because they are not really matching any covers we have.
The final result:

Better, no?
I love it! :) Makes everything so much esier. Basically, I just drag out a box and have everything matching in there. :))

First aid and medications... duh....

So I take advantage of my early morning and a good cup of coffee to come over and blog about first aid and medications. I organized those on Sunday. Since we celebrated Easter at my moms on Saturday, I didn't really have a lot to do on Sunday, except for the Easter egg hunt for the kids in the morning.
I had quite a lot of meds that were expired (which I did not think prior to going through them), on top of that I had so much fluid medications that were open for I don't know how long and decided to toss it as well. They all went to a huge plastic bag and I am very proud to say I brought them to the pharmacy yesterday, so they will be disposed the way they should. Yesterday then, I decided to do something I wanted to do for quite a while now, which is keep an inventory list of the meds we have, why they are for, if they are for adults or for kids, and last but now least, when they expire. This way, just checking the list once at the end of each month, I just toss out whatever is about to expire. Like right now, I already tossed whatever expires May 2011. I guess working in the pharma industry years ago helped me to think about this...

So right now, the remaining items are sitting in two small baskets in my kitchen, which does not look very appealing, so I am thinking about another solution. I probably need to declutter some more in order to find just the right and perfect place for them!

Take Care :)

Work with what you have... Earth Day Challenge.

Jen over at 'Iheart Organizing' posed a challenge for Earth Day. The challenge was to find something you already had at home and use it to organize something.
I had a basket here for quite a while which I was tring to figure out what to do with. Without knowing, Jen gave me a good suggestion in her blog entry yesterday; I could roll up towels and washcloths and put it close to my bathtub. I also added a new bottle of shower gel. I could have made it prettier with getting new and matching towels and washcloth, but then I remembered to work with what I have (on top of that I really do not need any new washcloths and towels right now.

Please take a moment to check out Jen's amazing blog.

Menu Plan Monday

Ha.. You didn't think I actually would, right?
First of all, I am linking this beautiful button back to Laura's Site 'I am an Organizing Junkie'. Setting MPM (Menu Plan Monday) up, she deserves the credit!



So, now to the Menu Plan..

Monday

Lunch:Beef and Rice (altho I am leaving out the cellery due to an allergy I have, and I add a little tomato sauce to the carrot/beef/onion mixture)
Dinner: Mac&Cheese

Tuesday
Lunch: Beef Enchiladas
Dinner: Spicy Honey Soy Roasted
Dinner: Lemony-Garlicy-Cheesey Tilapia

Wednesday
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Dinner: Spinach Goat Cheese Lasagne

Thursday
Leftover Day

Friday
Lunch: Southwestern Vegetarian Pizza
Dinner: Spicy Honey Soy Roasted Chicken Thighs served with French fries and a mixed salad

Saturday
Lunch:?? probably leftovers
Dinner: Turkey Breasts and baked potatoes (topped with sour cream and cheddar cheese)

Sunday
Lunch:?? probably leftovers
Dinner: Moussaka and cottage cheese salad

Monday
Lunch: Large mixed salad with baguette
Dinner: Amish Husband's delight (willing to share the recipe if anyone is interested)

I never plan breakfast. We always have so many bagels, fruit, corn flakes, yoghurts etc over here that everyone just grabs what they feel like. Drinks are juice, chololate milk, milk, water, coffee and tea. Snacks are usually yoghurt, crackers or fruit as well. :)
Now off to fix lunch and write my shopping List for tomorrow:)

My drawer in the bathroom

Another great challenge at "I am an organizing junkie". The challenge was to get a drayer of your choice organized. I have so many drawers, some organized, some not, so out of all the drawers I had, I chose the one that I probably needed every day: The drawer in the bathroom where I keep my hairbrushes, nail polish, make up, hair scrunchies etc. I tossed a lot, unfortunaterly I forgot to take a before picture, however, the after picture looks so much better than the before one would have...
Dadaaaa

It's not THE big thing, but a small step forward:) Right?
I will even try to do the Menu Planning Monday challenge on "I am an organizing Junkie", but I'll probably do that in a speparate post later. Aaaaahhh, procastination....

Yep, still here

Altho I feel like I am talking to myself here, I am still here and posting. I've been busy these days, not because of Easter, but because we will finally buy our own house. We do not have a specific house in sight yet, however, just going to the bank, get the info, do all the talking is enough for me to get all excited. It won't be for another year but still, I do have some other goal to reach right now. The monthly down payment of a 3 bedroom house is less than the rent we pay right now, so go figure.
I did not take picture of my progress, but I took pictures of the kids, if that counts??

My oldest was pretty busy during Eastern Break, had something else to do every day, so no good pictures of him to share today, sorry.

I also decided to get my papers better in order, get boxes for different keepsakes, organize my pictures and get a recycling system up. Right now I like the ones IKEA have, but I haven't quite decided yet. I already organized papers when doing my home management binder and I was surprised how quickly I had some papers on my hands when I was looking for them a few weeks back. I knew exactly where to look and loved it. I felt less stressed than I usually would be, so this is a huge motivation for me to continue, altho I have been slacking a little during the last time. Oh, reminds me I also have to organize my recipes, toss out all those I tried which were not a hit, and type those we liked and add to our daily routine.
Well, I am off now, so see you:)

Here again

So it's been a while again. I was kind of struggling with what to say, and I could come up with excuses, but I won't. I won't give up my blog just like that. I can't say yet that I put much work and effort into it, but I intened to get SOMEWHERE and I will. So, nope, this is not a goodbye post.

I am unemployed as of March 14th. I have kind of seen it coming. No, I was not fired or anything like this. I was just there temporary and didn't manage to find something else in time. I am glad that my husband found at least work and started on April 1st after 3 years of unemployment but it is still like a slap in the face. We were planning to save up much more since we thought we finally had two paychecks again, thought we would not have to struggle as much as we did during the last 3 years. But still, if it had to happen I am glad it happened now, and not in a year or so, having to go back from two paychecks to one.

On a lighter note, my kids closets are set for summer. I am glad I kept my boys clothes from last year because they still fit! I know I won't resist when I see a cute shirt or a nice pair of shorts if they're not too expensive, but I am glad I do not have to start all over again. I got a lot for my 18 months old daughter from ebay, lots of brand stuff with the tags still on for next to nothing.

Being at home for a month now, it's organized and clean. Gone the unvaccumed floors and gone the dust on the furniture (I dust, vaccuum and mop every day!). I tend to iron again more, my laundry basket is almost empty most of the time. No processed food, nope, I have the time to actually cook and do everything from scratch. Yesterday, I even baked my own bread. From scratch of course. 3 weeks ago our big trashcan was so full of stuff I purged, we could not even close it anymore. I guess you never know how much clutter actually accumulates in your home unless you really look for it. And do not even get me started on the kids toys. I organized them a while ago, tossed everything that was broken or had pieces missing, I had to do it all over again. Do you all think I am bad for telling the kids that Santa inspects their rooms every now and then all year long to see how they treat the toys he brought them?

See you one of these days:) Probably with pictures of my progress :))