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The best place to start is to clean out your entire closet.
Remove every piece of clothing, all shoes, belts, purses, scarfs,
you name it. Starting with a clean slate is best.
Go through your clothes, sorting them into piles (or in boxes)
called "Keep," "Trash," "Sell,"
and "Donate." Remember, this is a good time to be
critical.
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Don't keep clothes that you have not worn
within a year. |
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If you have clothes that are too big or too
small (aka skinny or fat clothes) put them in a box and
give them away (or if you really think you might wear them
again some day) store them in an alternative location. |
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Sometimes we are tempted to keep clothes that
we think might come back into style. The problem is, however,
that styles come back, but they are often altered slightly.
So, if you do hang on to those "hammer pants"
or "sweater dresses," make sure you are able can
alter them. |
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Now is also a time to take inventory of what
items you have. Sometimes we don't realize how many of a
certain kind of items that we have. Maybe you have 10 different
white dressy shirts, or several pairs of khakis. Maybe you're
like my husband who owns more than 20 navy shirts--yes,
short-sleeve, long-sleeve, casual, and dressy. The sad thing
is that I helped contribute to this glutton of navy. We
just hadn't taken an inventory in a long time, and didn't
realize he had so many of one color. |
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Admit your fashion mistakes and impulse buys.
We've all done it. It was 80% off, just the right size,
and....so you bought it. Now it hangs in your closet. You've
worn it a couple of times....to mow the lawn, painting the
house, or to drop your kids off at school. If you know something
is not right for you, don't keep it. If it's still like-new
and someone else might want it, you can try to sell it or
donate it to charity. (Note, don't forget that when
you donate things to charity, you can get a receipt. If
you keep receipts and add them up during tax time, they
can actually count as a deduction.) |
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Remove off-season clothes to either the back
of the closet (if you have room) or to an alternative location
for storage. |
According to easyclosets.com there are four ways to store things
in your closet: (1) hang it (2) put it in a drawer (3) store
it on the floor (4) or shelve it.
Figure out what your needs are. Do you need lots
of hanging room? Maybe you're queen of sweatshirts and sweaters
and need shelving space to store them? Your plan for your closet
will be determined by the type of items you have to store.
Debbie Williams from momscape.com says, "hooks for caps,
bags, umbrellas and purses keep things in sight for quick retrieval."
Hooks can also be used for "temporary" storage. Do
you like to try on several outfits in a given morning? Instead
of piling them on a neighboring chair or the bed, reserve a
couple of hooks in your closet for this purpose. That way, you
will always have a clean bedroom and you know what clothes need
to be properly hung up or folded later.
Use hangers for the obvious pants, shirts, skirts,
suits, etc. Also use them to hang scarves, ties, purses, large
necklaces, belts, etc.
Store sweaters, sweatshirts, pants, jeans, hats, even shoes,
or purses on shelving units. You can opt for expensive custom
closets or you can build your own from discount home stores.
Both achieve the same end, but the latter will save you some
considerable cash---of which you can spend on more clothes!
The floor is a perfect storage place. Fill your floor with baskets:
one for dirty clothes, one for dry-clean only, and one for clothes
that need to be mended or repaired. NEVER hang up clothing that
needs to be repaired or ironed. It's quite disappointing to
try on a shirt and realize buttons are missing. Better yet,
it's quite embarrassing to show up to work with a large hole
in your pants. Take away the temptation.
Baskets can also be used for shoes, purses, socks,
etc.
It's almost to obvious to state, but you can put anything in
drawers. Well, maybe not anything. I don't think shoes would
be a good fit, but if you've tried it and love it, email
me, I'd love to hear about it.
Drawers are great for under garments, socks, T-shirts,
jeans, and other things that don't wrinkle.
The closet door can be a great space saver. Hang hooks, shoe
bags, baskets, simple shelves, etc. The door can be a great
space that few people take advantage of.
There are two schools of thought here. Some people like to organize
their clothes by kind: sorting by shirts, pants, skirts, suits,
dresses, formal, etc. Then each category would be sorted further.
Shirts, for example, would be sorted by short-sleeves and long-sleeves,
casual and dressy, from light to dark. Organizing by kind can
be helpful if you have a lot of mix and match outfits. You can
easily find where all the pants are, all the shirts are, etc.,
and pick your outfit easily.
Sorting by outfit is another way to organize your
closet. If you are prone to purchase clothes by the outfit,
this might be the best way for you. Pants that match a particular
blouse would hang together in your closet. This way you can
easily find matching outfits. A drawback to this method would
be if you have a lot of clothes that could easily mix and match
with each other. |
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Organize an art desk using old soup cans
or orange juice cans for crayons, pens, pencils, brushes,
etc. The cans can be covered in construction paper or contact
paper to customize them. |
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Recycle margarine tubs for Legos, small Barbie
clothes and accessories. |
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Use babyfood jars for playdough containers
or to hold homemade paints. |
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To keep clutter to a minimum, have a limit
on the number of toys your child is allowed to play with
at a time. Some moms like to have a "four-toy rule." |
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Enlist your kids help. Have older kids help
you make a plan to keep their toys organized. Go shopping
together, or find containers around the house that would
work well. |
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Peach baskets and old soda crates make good,
inexpensive storage containers for small toys. You can clean
them up and paint them to match your kids' personalities
or rooms. You can also use shoeboxes and cereal boxes covered
in construction paper or contact paper. |
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What you need:
- shower curtain rings
-ribbon, string, or yarn
Steps
(1) Tie the shower curtain rings together with the ribbon.
Tie each ring with a knot to the next. See below.
 (2)
Once you have all the rings tied together, tie off the
ribbon at the end.
(3) Hang the string of rings on a hanger.
(4) Place ties in the individual rings
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FlyLady.net
Submitted by Mormonchic Reader, JS Barton.
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