Organizing Your Closets

Some areas of the home are easier to ignore when it comes to a mess. Take for instance closets. You know the old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.” I recently decided to tackle the most disorganized and messy closet in my home, the linen closet. Here are the steps I took which I plan to do with my other closets. First, empty the entire closet. It is better to start with a clean slate. Otherwise you end up just moving things around. I made it a rule for myself that as I emptied things out, I wouldn’t decide … Continue reading

Organizing as the Manager of Your Home

As we continue in this blog series on being the manager of your home, we are tackling the last thing that a home manager does, which is organizes. While planning and coordinating are essential to a well-managed home, it won’t do any good if you aren’t organized. Organization can make your home run more efficiently and reduce levels of stress. Look at 2012 as the year in which you will learn at least five new organizational skills. Hopefully you will be able to get some ideas through my blogs but otherwise, you can always do a Google search. The idea … Continue reading

Organizing Your Front Hall Closet

Last month I blogged about tackling those unseen areas in our home, the ones that no one else but our family knows is a mess. My plan was to get to these areas one spot at a time. I also talked about writing down all of the areas that need work. At first I thought I would tackle our linen closet, since it is the biggest mess and one of the more commonly used areas in our home. But instead I decided to take a different approach. I am going room by room, starting with the front of our home, … Continue reading

An Organized Closet Encourages Independence

Typically, we think of cleaning and organization in terms of how much order it can bring to our family lives, but as parents, having an organized closet—whether it be the linen closet, in your entry way or your child’s clothes closet (and this goes for cupboards and pantries too) can actually encourage our children to learn how to be more independent. Consider this: if you take the time to arrange your child’s closet in an orderly way, label and mark where everything goes, and provide plenty of accessible storage—your child can learn and be expected to put things away. If … Continue reading

My Spring Cleaning the Master Closet 2

Come with me and help me spring clean my master closet. Add your tips in the comment section. I’m going through clothing right now, but there is more ahead. So, we are still in my master closet, and regarding clothing, I also got rid of items that needed repair. Since I hadn’t bothered to repair anything in years, there was probably very little chance that I would have the motivation to do so any time soon. Maybe it is wasteful not to repair the skirt with the pulled out hem, for example, but it is just as wasteful to leave … Continue reading

Custom Closet Idea

Love the look and functionality of a custom closet? Here are some ideas that will help you crete your own custom closet from scratch without actually building one or buying one. Custom closet systems are great. My husband put one in our old master closet and we are hoping to put one in our new master closet as well. But there are so many other projects for the house right now that a custom closet may have to wait a bit. With that in mind, I decided to take matters in hand to see what I could do, just with … Continue reading

Spring Cleaning: What To Do After You Purge Your Closets

Currently, it is –5 degrees Fahrenheit in my neck of the woods (-26 degrees with the windchill). Nowhere near spring-like temperatures, but that’s not stopping me from continuing my “spring cleaning” project. Last week, I told you that I was purging my home in an effort to find space for all the goodies we received over the holidays. Today I worked on the front closet and my daughter’s closet. The latter was a lot more challenging than the former. My daughter had a major growth spurt during our recent trip to Hawaii (she went from fitting into 2T’s to now … Continue reading

Frugal Home Improvement: Make Your Doorknobs Glow

Did you know that there is one easy-to-use tool that can quickly and easily make all of the hardware in your house glow with that holiday shine? Chances are you probably have this tool in your home somewhere. Shining up your doorknobs, outdoor locks, house numbers and other types of household hardware is such an easy project, but the results make such a difference in your home. I’ve lived in our present home for more than six years now, and my husband has been here for almost nine years. In living here and keeping up with the day to day, … Continue reading

Organizing “Problem Areas”

Last night, I dreamt of owning a bulldozer. I had contemplated using one on my daughter’s playroom the other day, so I’m sure it was just an offshoot of my subconscious. It may sound ridiculous, but it was the only tool I could think of that would accommodate the task of singularly scooping up all of the toys that lay strewn on the floor. The room looked like a toy-eating dragon regurgitated his five-course meal on the floor. Just looking at the mess made me want to curl up on the floor and fall asleep (I very well would have, … Continue reading

How Many Sets of Sheets Do You Need

Yesterday I spent the day with my friend, cleaning out her laundry room. Nancy is a self admitted hoarder but before you get a picture in your head from a TV show let me say that her home is beautiful. Nancy hoards where no one can see it and she doesn’t have any trash, everything she has is good quality, in good condition, she just has a lot of it. We started in her laundry room which made me drool. The room is about twelve feet by thirty feet and has three huge closet off of it. There was plenty … Continue reading