Take Photo

Welcome to the final week of our big  "Wait-No-More" Organizing Challenge. To recap, I am focusing on four main areas of our life that need a lot of organizational help. Instead of biting off more than I can chew all at once (and subsequently becoming quite overwhelmed), I am tackling one space each week.  We took so much time focusing on the kitchen/living room for the first half of the year, that the rest of our home began to suffer severely.  Having certain areas of our lives on the fritz has added to a little renovation burnout.  So, I told my hubby to take a little break and I have been working hard to take back neglected bits of our home and life!

• Time Management
• Automobiles
• Master Bathroom
• Master Bedroom Closet

And many of you are joining in and working on a few of your own spaces, which I totally love! For this week's organizational challenge, I am focusing on our master bedroom closet.  Here is my inspiration....


If that room looks familiar, it is because that is our master bedroom closet.  The awkward layout of our lower level didn't allow the space to be considered a bedroom (due to lack of a window), so we turned it into a large dressing room.  We could have done a giant wall-to-wall closet, but A) it would have cost us a fortune and B) we just don't have that much to store, nor do we want that much to store.  Since we initially divided our belongings between two armoires, a dresser and some open shelving, we have been very happy with our current situation.  Boy-oh-boy, it sure does clean up nicely!  This week I hope to get it back to that fabulous condition.


Although the room fits all of our belongings, and functions well in general, we have done a poor job keeping it tidy and have lost control of the space.  Well, I guess I can take credit for most of this one too... What happens behind Bryan's closet doors, stays behind Bryan's closet doors.  That is one of my favorite benefits of having two separate armories; I have no clue how organized or unorganized his closet is. #happywife

But an organized system only works if I work to maintain it.  Of course, the goal is to create easy-to-maintain set-ups, but sometimes lack of time, effort and motivation get in the way.


I have quite a few problem areas happening around the room.  First, the typical unused clothing problem.  It has been over a year since I have done a good closet purge, and inevitably I have some work to do in that department.  But this time, I really want to go the less is more route.  I hope to come up with a variety of outfit creations that I love, using a few key favorite pieces, and really simplify the amount of clothes that I own.  Having too many items to select from causes me to become overwhelmed and I end up wearing the same things anyway.  And the other half of the items become ignored/forgotten.

How much one should have or keep can become a touchy subject.  There is no right or wrong amount of clothing to own.  We all live different lifestyles and have different passions and if you love clothes, I say hooray!  I have no judgement towards those who live out of a giant walk-in closet filled with the latest and greatest trends or someone who has their wardrobe narrowed down to a single drawer.  You are the only one who can decide how much it makes sense for you to have.  That really goes with anything in life right?

When it comes to purging and letting go, I don't typically have too hard of a time saying goodbye to unused things that take up space or that no longer make me happy, because I know the end benefit is worth it.  Occasionally, I can even sell items and come out ahead.  But I tend to struggle more with clothing (just as I did with certain types of toiletries).  Some articles of clothing can be expensive, so even though they ended up being ill fitting or have gone out of style or have become damaged at some point, I am pretty good about making excuses to hold on to something.  In fact, during this process I found multiple shirts that I forgot I owned as well as a shirt and a dress that I have been making excuses to keep for about 3 years (yet still haven't worn).  Selling clothing can be time consuming, tedious and hard to reap much reward.  I prefer to donate, but that is when I become a bit more strict about pieces I let go of.  And although it may sound weird, I don't like not knowing where that donated clothing is going.  I would like to know that someone in need is benefiting from it, or that it is truly being passed on and receiving new life.  The unfortunate fact is that many common donation facilities only use about 10% of the clothing that is donated and the remainder becomes extra work, waste and has alternative impacts to the process.

That said, I am going to sort ruthlessly and not worry right away about what the outcome of the clothing will be.  I am just going to ask myself important questions and make decisions accordingly:

• Does the item still fit?
• Is the item comfortable?
• Is the item damaged?
• How often is the item worn?
• How versatile is the item/How many outfits can I create with the item?
• Do I have the space to store the item?

 I am not going to ask myself:

• How much did this item initially cost me?
• Does the item have a sentimental attachment?
• What am I going to do with this item once I let go of it?
• Will there be a need for this item three years from now?
• Will the item fit better if I change my exercise and diet routine?

Because at the end of the day, those last five questions are all ways to make excuses to hold on to something that I no longer need.  Once I have my keep pile narrowed down, then I will decide how to handle the items that didn't make the cut:

• Sell on eBay
• Sell on local garage sale websites/Craigslist
• Sell at a garage sale
• Sell to a consignment shop
• Sell to Thred-Up or Poshmark
• Use damaged items as cleaning rags
• Use damaged items as stuffing for pet bedding
• Donate to charity
• Donate to a shelter, church or crisis center
• Donate to Dress for Success
• Pass on to friends/family who wear similar sizes
• Have a clothing swap party

Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments below as well.


Every time I go through these sorting and purging sessions, I become that much more aware of any purchasing mistakes I have made and it helps me become better with my intentional shopping.

A reader previously joked about her "chairdrobe", and I loved it so much that I designated this pile in our closet my "benchdrobe".


Because I knew I had a closet clean-out lingering in the near future, I started tossing my clean clothes into piles on my bench vs. hanging them up.  It was helpful in me realizing what I don't wear very often (the items still hanging in my closet), but has been a nightmare to find anything I am looking for each day.  Time to get my closet back in order.

Other areas that need some love are my jewelry nook....


My makeup vanity...


And my travel/toiletry drawer.


OK, fiiiiine.  All of my drawers....



So, let's take a quick look at my plan of attack.


There are some things we have implemented that are working:

• The amount of available storage
• Jewelry display/holders (I just need to actually use them)
• Drawer dividers in vanity
• A hook for setting out outfits
• Sweater storage boxes
• Shoe storage shelves
• Accessory storage (belts, swimwear, handbags, tall boots, etc...)

And a few things that are not:

• Outfit planning/selection process
• Make-up bag
• Vanity set-up
• Travel/toiletry drawer
• Clothing drawers
• Scarf storage
• Too many articles of clothing
• Laziness - I have not been great about putting things back where they belong

I took my jewelry off of the jewelry board to test it out in the kitchen, and the necklaces became a tangled ball and I never took the time to re-hang them.  I rarely use my vanity any longer because of poor lighting, the wrong mirror setup, storage and access to it after I am done in our bathroom.  My makeup has since been tossed around and broken in a cosmetic bag while other items are still in the drawer.  I love adding scarves to my outfits and have outgrown our previous drawer divider system.  My travel/toiletry drawer is just a random dumping ground and no longer speeds up my packing process.  And again, I need to streamline my morning outfit selecting process and pare down my closet in general.  Quite a few little problems have all equated to one big master bedroom closet disaster.  And being that the closet is the first space I see in the morning and one of the last I lay eyes on in the evening, it is time for a change.


Just like all of my organizing projects, all surfaces that were problematic were given a blank slate.


Everything was wiped down and vacuumed and ready for a re-do.


Majority of this project will be about letting go and making the most of the items we already have.  No painting this time around either, although, I do hope to update the vanity area using this as inspiration.

(via)

However, instead of lamps I am leaning toward some sconces with adequate lighting.  I also found a mirror on Craigslist I am hoping to score to keep the budget down, and if I can sell mine, then I may even break even or come out ahead.

Because we use both our master closet and bathroom for getting ready in the morning and at bedtime, we also plan to install a door connecting the two spaces (creating a true ensuite).


Here is our door inspiration:

( 1 | 2 )

We also have a door to install for our coat closet upstairs and hope to get them done at the same time.  With two door installations on the agenda, I am not sure this piece of the project will make my Friday reveal, but it is just around the corner and I simply can't wait for the impact that change will make.

With the upcoming holiday weekend, our week has also become jam packed with entertaining and activities.  That means this challenge has me on an extremely tight deadline.  And I have a feeling that I have hours upon hours of clothing sorting ahead of me, because each article is getting touched assessed and noted.  Time to start a new Netflix series.  Any suggestions?


You can find all of the challenge details in this post here, and also download some FREE project planning printables to help you get started!

A couple of weeks ago I completed a major closet purging session and went through every last piece of clothing that I owned.  I typically keep a "donate" bag inside of my closet, so I have been pretty good about maintaining a "one in" and "one out" policy.  And being that our personal closets are not all that big to begin with, I really didn't think I would find myself getting rid of too many pieces of clothing.

I still ended up removing 114 pieces of clothing/shoes from my wardrobe!  That was almost half of what I owned and left me feeling a) astonished and b) amazing.  Suddenly, I felt free from my daily "what should I wear" battles.  I shared in this post how I tucked everything back into place, and today I am going to share a little more about the new system I have been trying out ever since. 



I am going to preface this post with a few points right off of the bat:

• This post is not at all sponsored by Stylebook.  In fact, they were a long time blog sponsor (which is how I learned about them), but they are no longer advertising on iHeart Organizing.  I decided to purchase the app on my own to help me make better use of the clothing that I own.
• Stylebook is an app that I use on my iPad and iPhone.  Just like many organizational apps, this app can be utilized down to an incredible depth of detail.  I am using it at a higher level and know that I am not fully taking advantage of every last feature that the app offers.
• Some of you asked that I share a few examples of the outfits that I decided to keep.  Knowing I am far from a fashionista, I was a bit apprehensive, but further down I do share how I put together a week's worth of outfits using the inspiration I gathered and stored in the Stylebook app.  Not a trendsetter, totally a follower.

The first step for me was to completely empty out my closet and my drawers.  I dumped every last piece of clothing onto my bed to prepare myself for a major sorting session.


As I began to work through my jumbo pile, I started to realize a few things.

• Many items hadn't been touched in over a year.  I would let myself believe that I would find a way to wear it or make it work to avoid letting go of something I thought I loved and splurged on.  This time I was ruthless and was OK letting go of things regardless of the cost or intention.
• I made sure to pay attention to the brands of the clothing I was purging the most.  There were a few brands that hadn't held up well to frequent washings and wearings.
• Many of the clothing items I was putting in my donate pile, were items that I purchased either impulsively or to create a single outfit.
• Having too many pieces of clothing to select from can create an overwhelming feeling in the morning and can also mean that the clothes that are being invested in, are not being worn often enough.
• Having too many clothes costs more than just dollars, it costs sanity and space.
• I had a lot of items that were quite similar in shape, size and style.  Below is an example of two dresses that I owned, and when I put them together I had to ask myself, "why"?

With each item of clothing I touched during the sorting process, I asked myself quite a few questions.  Do I really love it?  Like, really, really love it?  How often do I wear the item?  And more importantly, how many different outfit combinations can I make with the specific item?

Last week I shared my tips for making the most of your home decor, and I shared my new rule of three.  The rule is that any home decor item that I purchase should work within at least three different areas of our home.  I also tried to apply a similar rule with my clothing.  Was I able to create at least three different looks/outfits with each piece I was keeping?  And more importantly, did I enjoy the piece of clothing enough to even try?

I think the overall goal was to make the most of my closet and the items I own.  I want to spend less and achieve more.  To make the most of the amount of storage I have available instead of going out to purchase more as my inventory grows/changes.

Because I am not a blogger known for creating creative outfits, and because I also do better with visuals, I thought I would utilize Stylebook to manage my current clothing inventory.  Previously, I had pin boards on my closet door that I would use as outfit inspiration each morning...


The concept worked well but required me to print and pin up the photos, and truthfully I started to fall behind.  The same outfits stayed on the board to the point of not being useful any longer.  In fact, one board fell down completely a few months ago and I didn't even miss it.

Where did those outfit ideas come from?  Bloggers.  And where did I find those ideas and store many of them?  Pinterest.

As much as I fight it at times, technology can make our lives easier and is much more instant than the process of printing, cutting and pinning.  After my sorting session, I had reduced my clothing inventory to only key pieces that I truly enjoyed.  Now it was time to digitally catalog each of those special pieces.

Wowza!  This was not a quick process.  Fairly easy, but it did take a few different time slotted sessions to get everything added in.  And for those with walk-in closets and rows of clothing, this may not be the best solution for you.


Using a combination of Google Images, Online Shopping Sites and the "Shop" feature in the application, I loaded in an image of each of the items of clothing that I decided to keep (or images that closely resemble my clothing items). 



Once each item of clothing is saved, you can take things a step further and create outfit combinations with each of the clothing images.  Those combinations can also be saved within specific outfit categories, such as "day", "evening", "formal", etc...


If you are at all like me, you like someone else to tell you how to dress.  I typically will utilize Pinterest to search for specific outfit combinations based on the item I would like to wear.  For example, if I would like to wear a coral skirt, I will search for "Coral Skirt" on Pinterest.


I will then scroll through the images until I find outfits I can make with the items I own (or outfits that look similar or can be used as inspiration).  I save each of those items to my inspiration files in Stylebook.

LOVE YOUR STYLE HI SUGARPLUM!

And that is as much as I have personally done with the app.  I have saved quite the variety of outfit ideas based on the clothing that I already owned, and finding at least three ways to wear each piece.  Now, each morning I am able to flip through the categories in my Inspiration file and based on what my day holds, I can easily plan my attire.  And because the application is on my iPad, I can do this from bed the evening before or right away each morning.  Heck, I can even plan an entire week's worth of outfits in a jiff!

 
I also loved that many of the clothing items left in my closet really reflected my personality and my favorite colors (the same ones I use in my decor, printables and day-to-day life).  That was a VERY good sign.

P.S.  Major props to the fashion bloggers putting together outfits effortlessly each day.  Even laying out pieces to photograph is not as easy as one would think! 


A few more notes about my Stylebook experience:

• I can easily sync and share my items between my iPhone & iPad, however, I wish it was automatic based on my profile and not something that I have to do manually.

• This app will prevent me from purchasing duplicate items and help me become much more intentional about my clothing shopping.
• Once I got over the major time suck of the initial setup, maintaining the app is easy breezy.  If I purchase a new piece of clothing, I just have to track it down on the clothing's website and save it to my Stylebook app right away. 
• I have been utilizing the app for a couple weeks now and it definitely has helped me make better use out of the items I am storing in my closet.  I am actually excited to pull together outfits each day because it is easy and I know I won't be wearing the same things week after week.  No more clothing ruts!
• One of the biggest wins for me is that although my closet is organized (even by clothing type and color), I can gaze at everything hanging there and nothing jumps out at me.  Looking at a full closet becomes visually overwhelming to me.  This app allows me to see my inventory right with the push of a button and also provides me with a variety of compatible outfits at any time, from anywhere.
• Stylebook offers a calendar that allows you to schedule your specific outfits out in advance.  I haven't done that yet, but I did want to mention that for any of you long term outfit planners.
• Stylebook also offers the ability to photograph your clothing, I opted to utilize stock images for a cleaner look.

Overall, the app is pretty user friendly, however, I did run into some questions along the way and realized I was making things a bit harder than necessary.  I found this website extremely helpful when it came to troubleshooting my questions



Anyone else a fan of the Stylebook app?  Or any other apps that help you manage your wardrobe?  I would also love to know where y'all find your clothing inspiration.

Although it is basically unavoidable, I love a clutter free workspace.  As someone who is easily distracted, having piles of papers and accessories makes me twitchy.  So yeah, my desk typically looks pretty snazzy.... the secret lies within the nearby drawers!


As in my dirty little secret.  It is like I basically use my arm to swoop my clutter right into the drawers of my filing cabinet tucked below my desk.


See?!


I actually really love the filing cabinet itself... I purchased it last year at CB2.  After bringing home two different Goodwill options to makeover, I wasn't finding that they were offing the types of storage that I was after, and they were not smooth to open and close.  When I was window shopping at CB2, the filing cabinet caught my eye and landed right into the trunk of my car.  It was a winner!

A winner at concealing my clutter in a very unorganized way.  Which was totally my fault.  I just have not taken the time to give this beauty the attention she deserves.  Until today.

A few weeks ago quarterly taxes were due and I searched high and low for those statement stubs.  I looked in binders, planners, and through the catch-all files that lived in this filing cabinet.  After over an hour of searching and having a small meltdown, I found just what I needed.  And moved the filing cabinet clean-out high on my priority list.

Here is what I started out with.


The top drawer held random files and a lot of clutter.  The second drawer did the same.  The third drawer was the start to my file organization from many months ago, however, because nothing ever was truly sorted or labeled, every last paper that I filed landed in a big "to file" file in the back of the drawer.  Nice.

Welcome to the end of Four Days & Four Drawers week.  This week I was dedicated to accomplish four organized drawers within four days, and once again, I am sliding in just under the mini-challenge wire.  The cool thing is I almost accomplished six drawers in four days.  The not-so-cool thing is that when I was complete with the DIY portion of two of those drawers, I wasn't 100% satisfied with my work.  So although I am not quite ready to share the final two drawers yet, fingers crossed I will get those finished up this weekend.


But today is not about what I didn't get done, and all about celebrating what I did accomplish.  The final two drawers this week were both kitchen messes that I have been meaning to deal with for quite awhile now.  Next to our range we have two drawers that are dedicated to our cooking utensils and kitchen gadgets.  We have never been ones to keep an abundance of random kitchen tools on hand, but we do have a few favorites that we find quite beneficial to our daily cooking and meal preparation.

When we unpacked our kitchen boxes, we did it quickly to clear our guest room for visitors.  Everything was tossed into the specific cabinets and drawers as planned, yet not in any organized fashion.  Although the drawers and cabinets are not extremely messy, they definitely need a little love and attention.

The top drawer holds our spatulas, slotted spoons, pastry brush, can opener, masher and salad tongs, as well as our herb chopper and pizza slicer.


I had started trying to organize the next drawer down with some organizers I picked up at the Container Store awhile back, but I wasn't 100% happy with the result. 


After looking for a few options that would fit our spatulas and drawer measurements, I found myself coming up short.  And when I can't find exactly what I am looking for, I turn directly to DIY options.

We have created wooden drawer dividers in the past, but with all of the odd shapes and cuts for our kitchen tools, we decided that we needed an easier solution than the one we used previously.


For the dividers themselves, I picked up a five pieces of 3" oak hobby boards from Home Depot.  After I added a few of our unused tools to our donate box, I arranged the remaining items in the drawer.


Then we just measured and cut each drawer piece one at a time (straight and simple cuts).  We placed them into the drawer at the approximate location that fit our layout and worked our way from front to back. 


While each of the divider pieces were in their planned location, we used a pencil to mark each board to keep track of our template/layout.


After everything was measured and temped out inside of the drawer, it was time to make them stick.  We didn't want to do anything permanent to our new drawers, so we had to find a way to affix them together while keeping them removable as well.  I considered using wood glue and small nails or staples, but I didn't want the visual messiness of those options.  I found this tutorial and decided our best bet was to go with construction adhesive.


It is important to select an adhesive that will dry clear/transparent because the glue is placed along each divider seam.

Prior to gluing, we placed down a layer of parchment paper to protect our drawer.


We then put our drawer dividers back together based on our pencil markings, using the drawer as a guide to hold all of the pieces together while they dried.


We first placed glue on the edge of each board with our finger.  When the board was pressed against another board, the glue would squirt out through the seams.  I used a cotton swab to clean up any drips or chunks and occasionally also added in a bit more glue to be sure everything was going to dry solid.  Above you can see the adhesive initially comes out white, but below you can see it clearing up as it dries.


Once the dividers were dry (I waited a couple of hours), I removed them from the drawer so that I could line the drawer with true drawer liner (the same liner I used for our pantry and our essential drawer).


Although I typically use anything from cardstock to gift wrap when it comes to lining drawers, this stuff is the "real deal" and has held up quite well in the other kitchen drawers.  Plus, I appreciate keeping the lining consistent throughout the entire kitchen space.

Top drawer done and filled:


And the next drawer down also completed and filled:


Prior to this drawer project we had already purged the majority of our utensils and tools down to our very favorites, however, I did go ahead and purchase a new set of matching measuring spoons since we only had a few miscellaneous sizes of previous sets remaining (which also ended up in the donate box).  Above you may have also noticed that we had a spatula that was slightly too long to be placed in our drawer sideways, but being that it is made of wood, we were able to easily take a small portion off of the handle to make it fit where we wanted. #victory 


The entire cost of the project came down to the pieces of hobby wood and some glue.  To achieve beautiful wooden dividers that fit our exact tools and needs, I think it was $20 and time well spent.



As much as I love (LOVE) acrylic dividers, I also appreciate trying something new.  By mixing things up from our "go to" option, I was able to maximize how we utilize the drawers and create a clean look with wood that blends in seamlessly with the drawers.  Double win.




Have a great weekend everyone and cheers organizing our homes one fabulous drawer at a time!