One linen closet down

Hello all! How are ya?!

If you were anywhere in…well…the country a couple of weeks ago…you were most likely getting some wicked crazy weather. We certainly did. The temps here have been in the 40’s and high 50’s this week, and we STILL have three inches of ice on our lawn.

The first day or so, I was kinda digging being iced in…by the third day of not leaving (we couldn’t even get out to the mailbox), it was starting to make me twitch. Just a tad.

So I put the twitching to good use. :) We are SO lucky to have a ton of closet space in our house. We have a fantastic linen closet it our downstairs powder room that we use a TON.

Although my before pics are horrendous cell phone pics (bad blogger!), they don’t look too horribly messy, right?:

 

I didn’t think it was that bad either…till I actually started going through everything.

I plopped my booty on the floor and went bin by bin…and I GOT RID OF CRAP. :)

It’s quite amazing how much STUFF hides in those storage bins:

Seriously? This was the stuff I didn’t keep.

Ummm…I really hope the toilet was clean for the picture. Huh.

No really, seriously? That’s insane people! That’s all stuff we didn’t need or don’t use. Taking up lovely storage space. (In the closet and in my head.)

Well, except the potty step…that just got caught up in the mess. :)

You don’t even get the full effect with that picture since stuff is piled high. Here’s what I bagged up from the closet:

The little bag went to Goodwill. The donate bag was full of cleaning rags and supplies that we DON’T NEED FOR GOODNESS SAKES, and that went to a local shelter. The last bag was just trash.

And some of that pile went down to the basement. Crayzay!

After all of that, I actually got rid of one of the bins, and just reorganized the others.

Here’s the after with a real camera:

I know, the whole good camera thing helps the after pics a bit. :)

This helps too:

Smartie me didn’t have lights installed in our closets, and this one is especially dark. I’ve had this little dodad for years and haven’t really used it till now.

DUH. It works GREAT! I lost the back part that you attach to the wall, so I just nestled it into the wire shelves. See, wire shelves are good for something! :)

Let’s take a little tour, shall we?

The top shelf is just extras and our hand towels rolled up in a small bin:

The next one holds a bin for batteries and random toy parts. (I put broken pieces in here so when I find the match, I know where to look.) There’s also a bin for light bulbs:

LIGHT. BULB! Sorry, couldn’t resist the Despicable Me reference. :) Lurve.

This is one of the shelves that gives me little bitty hives cause a bin doesn’t match:

Just go with it Sarah. Breathe. Life will go on. You’ll survive this.

Anyhoo, that odd one there holds all floor care stuff, and the other holds all other cleaning supplies. You can see I only kept the stuff we USE and got rid of or stored the extra stuff that we didn’t.

On the next shelf, we have a bin for air fresheners (cause it is a bathroom) and my Bath and Body Works plug in jobbies that I’m obsessed with. I keep the supply for the house here:

The other bin is for dirty clothing and towels. I learned about two days after bringing the Bub home from the hospital that I needed a spot for dirty clothes downstairs. It works great for random socks and kitchen towels.

Down one more shelf (isn’t this SO EXCITING???) is a bin for the vacuum parts and one for rags:

I had an obscene amount of rags. I mean, it was positively ridiculous. Got rid of half of them.

I’ve always used the back of the door for storage, but I added a couple more hooks – one for covers for the floor broom (upper left), and one for the potty seat on the bottom:

This space is ALL about function over form. :) But I am thrilled that we now have a spot for that seat. Now when friends drop by, they’re not greeted with a bright yellow potty seat. You know what I’m sayin’.

The closet can now breathe again:

   

And the very best part? I was so excited to have it organized again, I finally got rid of the brassy knob and hinges on the door:

WHOO HOO! I’ve had them for a YEAR now…that’s how slow that process has gone. Almost done switching them all out – when I’m done I’ll tell you more about that DIY project. :)

So…have you been decrapifying? Organizing? Loving it? :) I hope so! If you haven’t, maybe a little shindig will get you in the mood:

This coming Monday, come one come all! :) Link up all of your decluttering or cleaning projects. Can’t wait to see your tips and tricks!

 

P.S. There is usually a child proof door handle on the knob to the closet. Because I had just changed it out it’s not on for the pictures. :)

 

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THE PAPER

Well, last week it was the craft/tool/decorative stuff area in our basement, and that before was pret-ty bad. This week I’m tackling the clutter that doesn’t make a big mess physically, but it does take up a lot of space in my head. It’s presence wears on me, makes me feel completely unorganized and occasionally costs us money.

It’s the PAPER. (Dun dun duuuun.)

I swear to you – it is the one thing I just can’t get it figured out. It. drives. me. NUTS.

It’s like laundry. I ignore it as much as possible. :)

But like laundry, it’s kinda hard to ignore. Bills and socks and all that good stuff. Drats.

My process with paper that comes in our home is to not really bring it into our home. I let it pile up in my car till it’s just ridiculous. Then when I can’t find the so-and-so bill, I grab it all, dump it on the floor and sort.

That happens about once a month. Or so. Or less. Whatever.

Anyway, I’m determined to conquer the PAPER this year. No more junk mail as the floor mat in the car. I’m going to figure. it. out! YEAH!

But first, I needed to go through the piles we already have. And it ain’t pretty people. We’ve had piles going in the basement for quite a while now – and I knew I had to address those before I started a new paper process.

The first pile was just random papers, cards, stuff that I had laying around:

Not so bad huh? Yes, it is so bad, but once you see the other piles, you’ll realize this was CAKE.

My problem with the papers is not having a spot for them as soon as they get in the house. (Because the file cabinets have been stuffed to the gills for ummm…years.)

My other problem is I’m a bit of a hoarder when I comes to the paper stuff. I keep cards from birthdays and anniversaries forever and ever and EVER. I also keep little pieces of paper that are a memory for me – ticket stubs, business cards from favorite restaurants, whatever. It’s one of those things I just can’t give up. I think I’m going to start scanning them all into the computer, so I can save the words and memories, but still keep some space.

After the first batch, I had this pile to shred:

Funny how the pile looks so innocent and short. It was a TON of paper.

It was when I addressed the next set of files that I realized something:

The teeny tiny shredder that overheats in two minutes just wasn’t going to cut it. :)

I went out and got the biggest, baddest shredder I could find (at Target):

Awww yeah – POWERSHRED baby!! :)

I need that sucker by the time I went through the last of the files:

Hold me. Please?

It took forever. I’ve been at this for three days now. Well not three days, 24/7 – but you know. It’s taken a long dang time.

The latest shred pile:

It’s killing me – I’m only through half of that pile, and I have THREE trash bags full:

I will never, ever buy gift bag stuffing again. :) And I’ll be vacuuming up this stuff for weeks from all over the house. Awesome.

All of this is going heading out to be recycled when I’m done. I’m betting I’ll have seven trash bags.

THAT IS INSANE.

Some things I’ve realized when it comes to the paper clutter:

1. Being organized saves you money. I found a warranty for our windows we didn’t know about, and we have two that need to be replaced. SCORE!

2. I don’t really need to keep ALL of my class schedules from college. Really.

3. I think I’ll get by without the product pamphlet for our $10 can opener. Maybe.

4. We will never, ever go back to credit card debt:

(Two years worth of credit card bills.)

5. Three trips to the hospital in pre-term labor and then five days in the hospital when the Bub finally came (three weeks early!) equaled some crazy debt that added to that pile up there. :) (I think I had blocked those numbers out – sheesh.)

6. And finally – it’s funny how some things never change:

All these – still true 25 years later. Hate my ears, still don’t make my bed, stay up way too late, still hit snooze about five times in the morning, hate math, eat too much, and still hate to change my sister’s diaper.

HA! (Love ya Stink Eye.)

I just have one little pile left to sort through – then I’m reorganizing it ALL. I’ll show you my (new) methods soon and let you know if they work. :)

So, is paper your nemesis? Have you ignored the growing piles for years like me? Or have you found a process that works? Do tell! PLEASE. I’m begging.

But first, we declutter

Hey all! WHEW – I have been working my tail off on our basement over the past week. It’s been exhausting, liberating and a little disturbing all in one. :)

Every single year in January, I start a massive decrapification of our house. I go room by room, putting all the STUFF I’m not sure about in the basement. And then after I’m done with every. single. room…I start on the basement.

That’s usually around August, just in time for the fall decor bins to start creeping out. And then the holiday mess in the basement begins…mixed in with the rest of the stuff from the house.

It’s a recipe for an absolute disaster. I feel like I’m working on cleaning out the basement constantly, all year long…because I am. Gah. What’s that definition of insanity again?

I finally realized a solution this year – first of all, I need to start with the basement. Then I’ll have a spot for the STUFF from the rest of the house. And if I don’t have a spot, I’ll know it’s gotta go. Which brings me to my next revelation – we have way, way, way too much stuff.

I know, I say that a lot, and I get rid of a lot every month…every year. But as I get older, my tolerance for stuff is getting less and less. I just don’t want anything that’s not meaningful, pretty, or useful in our home. If it’s not one of those things to us, it’s OUTTA HERE.

Buh bye. Don’t let the door hit you in the patoot.

So, with all of that in mind, I started with the basement last week. The befores are not pretty. Prepare yourself.

My craft “room” started like this last week (excuse the poor iPhone pics):

It’s like this half of the year, and did I mention I’m SO OVER IT?

I ask you, who can craft in this?:

 

Holy cats, it’s giving me hives just looking at the pictures. Did I mention I was over. it? This is the very last time I will have to do this – mark my words.

It helps to have thousands of people mark your words. ;)

I’ll give you a little tour of the space first, because I’m just so darn proud of it! First, the wrapping shelves, which were filled before:

I keep a TON of gift bags – so I went through all of them and tossed (or donated) any that weren’t in great shape, or that I just didn’t like. If I wouldn’t have picked it out myself, it was gone.

Why? Because otherwise I knew it would continue to sit there for YEARS (like some of them had). And I was over. it.

I also had so many little random gift boxes – boxes I’ve kept for probably 10 years now. Seriously…OH EM GEE. Will it kill me to get a box from the dollar store if I need one?

Ridiculous. You can’t see in that picture above, but the bottom two shelves are now pretty much empty. It is a glorious thing.

WHOOHOO!!

Next up is my crafty stuff. This area was more reorganizing than purging:

I separated everything into categories -- wood crafts, random crafty stuff, paint, ribbon, contact paper/wallpaper and a big bin at the bottom that holds all holiday crafts.

By the way, do you see that empty spot on the shelf? Gleeeee!

My decorative stuff is next:

This was a HUGE purge – and it wasn’t easy. I had to pry a few things out of my own hands. I held each piece in my hand and asked myself – have I used it lately? Do I love it? How much would it cost to replace? Do I love it?

Do I really, really, I’m-not-even-kidding, this-is-insane, REALLY love it? If not, gone.

(I still think I kept too many candles, but you should have seen what I had before.)

On a quick side note – I’ve used these plastic shelves for years and luuurve em! They hold a ton of weight, it takes about five minutes to put them together, and they’re cheap! I’ve gotten them from both Target and Lowe’s.

I like to install the shelves backwards for decorative stuff, so there’s a little lip at the front edge:

It keeps things from sliding off. :)

I was determined to only use what I had to organize everything, so a lot of the stuff is in random baskets:

Looks like a farmer’s market, eh? ;)

It’s hard for me to part with lamps. They’re not cheap and they’re so easy to redo -- but they take up so much space. I moved them up to the top so they are out of the way:

Next up – the tools (happy sigh):

I’ll tell you right now – I don’t purge tools. :) Tools (usually) aren’t cheap, and if I buy something – I know I’ll use it. It stays.

Back away from the tools peeps!

I keep the major power tools in the garage, but the smaller ones I keep in small bins down here:

 

I’ve had them organized like this for years and it works great (for me!). I can’t do a big toolbox – the organizer in me needs separation and labels. ;)

The last set of shelves is one I’m pretty excited about. First of all, because it’s half empty:

Secondly, because I decided I want a mini-pantry of sorts down there. Not for food, but for entertaining pieces, party supplies, surplus paper products – all that stuff that I don’t have room for upstairs.

LOVE!! :)

(YES, you can see adult diapers sticking out of one bin, and NO they are not for us. :) We use them as piddle pads for pee cat. Long, long, story.)

Many of you have seen my craft table:

The table is really a large, (nasty), metal folding table. I covered the top in fabric and then hot glued a “skirt” around it (with cheap muslin). Talk about a transformation! It’s so dang cute, I can’t even stand it!!

My life is complete with colorful supplies, a picture of my baby Bub, a coaster for my hot chocolate and my silicon hot pad that I rest the hot glue gun on:

:)

I found a spice organizer at Goodwill forever ago and knew it would be perfect for the glitter:

I hung it up on the pole next to my table and it’s just perfect!

My craft room -- purged, organized and with EMPTY space:

I feel about 150 pounds lighter. :)

I like decluttering and it was still a monster. But I’m SO glad I got this done, and in January? I’m ready to tackle the rest of the house!

Maybe next week. ;)

Let’s take a look at the before and after again, shall we? Cause it’s pretty fantastic!!:

It took four days of working down there every free minute. But it was so worth it – I’m just not doing it ever. again. Did I mention that? ;)

Sooo…what are YOU working on? Spill it! It can’t be as bad as my before. Really.

P.S. Anything I don’t want the Bub to get to it placed up on the higher shelves. He doesn’t get into any of my stuff anyway. Yes, he’s that good. :)

P.P.S. I’m taking some of stuff to Goodwill, some to the consignment shop. That’s my standard after-purge protocol.

The garage decrapification (again)

Awww, you SQUEEZIES. Thanks for your sweet comments this week. :) (If you haven’t seen The Nate Show segment, you can see it below. Ignore the cat.)

So, there’s one thing about blogging – I’m held accountable to finish up certain projects. I finished up one this week that I mentioned about six weeks ago. It would have been so easy to let the little final details slide till…oh…the spring. Or summer. Or next fall, when I’m sure I’ll have to tackle it all over again.

But I told you I’d show you…so I finished up and I’m showing you. I hate being responsible and stuff.

This all started when my Sis (affectionately known as Stink Eye) decided to go and get a new, boring, well paying, professional job instead of being my minion assistant. Whatev.

Before she started her new job, I paid her to help me out with a few spots in our house that were overwhelmingly full of crap. I showed you the completed Sanford and Son deck here, and this week I finished up the garage.

It was bad. BAD. Here you go:

Receipts all over the floor? Check.

Sheet hanging from wall? Check.

Christmas tree stand from eleven months ago? Check.

We are AWESOME.

Here’s the other side:

Chaise lounge waiting to be reupholstered? Check.

Weight machine we haven’t used in five years six months? Check.

No access to my BFF…my SAW…check. (That’s a problem.)

Here’s a closer look:

You can imagine my glee every time I had to get back there to cut something. And my saw sat on this since the day I got it:

It’s about 18 inches off the floor. Talk about comfortable! NOT.

So…the decrapifying started. It was fun. It felt GOOD. I think we took four SUV loads to Goodwill?:

I lost count. There were also three bins full of trash.

When I get to this point, I have zero patience for a garage sale or Craigslist. It has to go NOW. The weight machine was on Craigslist for two weeks for a steal, and no bites. So it, and most of the other stuff we didn’t use or need was GONE baby!

Once we got it cleared out, we took a trip to True Value for some organization goodies:

Ahh…just look at it. Beautiful!

My goal was to get anything and everything possible up and off the floor. If I could hang it, it was going up. We got some holders that worked great!:

And a TON of these:

I use these a lot just because they’re so easy to install and they hold quite a bit:

And we picked up a packet full of different sizes and shapes of these screw in organizers:

 

I hung everything:

Last year, I was trying to avoid spending much on the clean up, so I organized the back wall full of wire shelving as best I could:

But I gotta tell you, it was driving me NUTS. And open shelves meant we would stuff things into them wherever we could. It was a MESS. So this year, I made the investment and got a few storage pieces from Target:

OH MY GOODNESS. So, so, SO worth it. Ack!

I used my dollar store bins and tried to organize things by shelf:

Do you see my spray paint shelf and how it sags in the middle?

:) I’m just happy to have it all in one spot. Giddy, actually.

So here’s the before and after goodness – before, the pit of despair:

And after, with everything off the floor:

If I could hang the lawn mower, I would have. :)

Here’s my little workshop corner before:

And here it is now:

We had a light installed in that spot last year so I can see while using the major power tools. A good idea – I recommend it. ;)

I picked up another storage chest at True Value and it turned out to be a perfect spot for my saw!:

No more kneeling down for every cut!

I have to tell you something – my scrap wood was out of control. I’m not kidding. It was insane. But of everything, it was hardest for me to part with. I swear I was shaking – I love my molding peeps.

Sis would stand in front of me, giving me a pep talk – Do you really need an eight inch piece of wood? Really? Do you really need the wood filled with nails? Really? Do you really need 200 scraps of beadboard? REALLY?

It was hard. I waffled often. I’d put something in the bin to get rid of it, then I’d sneak back, pick it up, think about it, take it out.

Then, when I wasn’t looking, STINK EYE got some red spray paint, went over to the bin and sprayed it all over the beautiful scrap molding I was supposed to be getting rid of.

CURSES! She’s brilliant! I hate her!

No really, I love her, but you know. I hate her and her smarty pants!

I did keep a fair amount and the smaller sections were organized on the wire shelving, the long pieces we placed in an old trash bin:

 

I cleaned up everything as best I could, including wiping down the black door I painted last year:

Don’t use cleaning wipes on a black door. They don’t work so well. :)

A little organization and a whole lotta decrapifying, and we have a garage that’s so much more relaxing:

It makes such a difference when we drive into this clean space every day! As always, the decluttering was FREE! And that is the very best part, in my opinion. :)

Of course, there’s some huge projects we haven’t tackled yet -- someday I’d love to paint the walls, but seriously, I have about 2,949 things I want to do before that. Our plan was to insulate and drywall the exterior walls this year, but we haven’t gotten to it. And I’d LOVE to do a treatment on the floors, but that requires taking everything out of there for days – and that gives me hives just thinking about it. :)

Is there a space you want to tackle before the holidays? I know, time is running out -- but everything we did only took about six hours, over two days. It was SO worth it!

Now, if I can just keep the Christmas tree stand out of there this year! That would be a first.

P.S. No idea why Live Writer is shrinking my text this week. Sorry you’re going to need glasses for this one!

 

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*

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