organizing – Blonde Rosie Blog

organizing a small closet

Published on August 14, 2017January 3, 2019 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

A few weeks ago, I came home from work exhausted and literally tripped four times in my room because there was so much stuff on my bedroom floor. For the last month, we have had family visiting us, I have had a full work schedule and all of my free time has been spending time with the family. With all of this going on, my clean laundry pile and dirty laundry has been growing. My shopping bags of recent purchases have turned into clutter because I haven’t had a few free minutes to put it away.

I hope you joined me on my Insta Stories as I took you along on my closet cleaning. To start with, I have a very tiny closet. I spent about two hours taking everything out of my closet to clean it out and then using creative storage solutions to find ways for all of it to fit back in. Every few months I take everything out of my closet to find new ways to store things in my room. I have a full closet of clothing and shoes, but I am constantly taking garbage bags filled with clothes to Goodwill to donate. This isn’t my first post about organizing my room, and will definitely not be my last! I have a very small closet, but need a lot to fit into it. If I can make everything look neat and have a place, I am positive you can too!

Here are some closet organizing tips I shared in my Insta stories. If you like posts like this, let me know in the comments so I can share more.

Get Comfortable Put on comfy clothes, light a candle, put on a good Netflix show to get yourself in the mood to start a project like this. The most difficult part is getting started. Once you start cleaning your closet, you can’t really stop because your room will become a mess in the process ! HA! Make sure you have enough time set aside to do this.
Take Everything Out of the Closet I find it helpful to take everything out of your closet to start with a clean closet with nothing in it. I color code all of my shirts on my bed, put all of my purses in a pile and shoes go in a bin. A new thing I have started to do is to separate my work clothes and casual clothes.
Make Piles Once everything is on your bed (or floor) I start to make piles for items to donate, seasonal storage and things to keep. I also make a pile of my work wardrobe and my more casual stuff. I’ll explain this last part further down!
Make sure you love it before you put it back in your closet… I make sure that I love it before I put it back in my closet. I also have rules like does it fit correctly? Have I worn it in the last year? If I haven’t worn it lately, why not? I also put a year rule on my clothes. If it is from high school – donate immediately. If it has been in my closet since college- think hard and find a good reason to justify keeping it.
Work Wardrobe and Casual Clothes Since we spend more days a week wearing work clothes than the basic t shirt or leggings, I found ways to make more room in my closet. I only hang my clothes that I would wear to work and my casual t shirts and more weekend apparel is folded and put in a hanging closet organizer. Just by doing this I saved sooo much room in my closet. It is also very helpful because when I wake up tired in the morning, I know I can just grab a top and I can make a work outfit easily. And of course, my closet is organized by short sleeves and long sleeves and then by color.
Invest in Good Hangers Before you hang a thing in your closet, go to Costco and buy felt lined hangers to replace all of your current hangers. It makes a closet look neat, prevents clothes from falling off hangers and it takes up less room in the closet.
Organize Your Off Season Clothes I have my winter wardrobe in cardboard boxes and organized by style and by fall/winter. I also have written on them what is in them so I know what is in each box. Helpful when you are looking for that cozy cardigan but can’t remember what box it is in!
Creative Storage I took a bookcase that went on top of a desk and put it in my closet to store work pants and jeans. On the bottom, I use boxes to store my sandals, leggings and sweatshirts. No matter how big or small your closet is, it is helpful to put a bookcase or other storage in your closet like I did to make the best use of your closet.

SPRING CLEANING (MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR)

Published on March 24, 2017January 3, 2019 by blonde rosie3 Comments

If you haven’t realized it yet, I love to clean and have an organized home. I don’t wait until spring to start my “spring cleaning” because it is something I keep up on throughout the year. It’s something I hope to have a career in the future because I love to organize and clean rooms. It is one of the reasons why I got a part time job in retail because while most employees hate closing and cleaning the store, I actually love it! I thought I would share some of my rules for spring cleaning, organizing your home and share some previous posts on the blog you may find helpful!

You might think that your bedroom or apartment is already clean so why bother taking everything out and do a big spring cleaning. But when was the last time you saw the back of your closet or took out every shirt in your closet or vacuumed behind your dresser? With this new season, I like to reorganize, reevaluate what belongings I have and start fresh. When you declutter and clean, you make room for more positive things in your life. This is my third week cleaning my room and so far I have donated 10 garbage bags to Goodwill and thrown out countless bags of trash. I also was able to get rid of a dresser in my bedroom and an extra desk because there was nothing in them.

Spend a few days after work cleaning your room, put on Netflix and you will be amazed at what you find and how much stuff you can get rid of.

My number one cleaning rule is to tackle one area at a time. Even cleaning your bedroom is too big of a project to do correctly. Instead of doing the daunting task of your entire room, pick your closet, dresser or space where your bed is and break it up into small tasks. Take everything out, Clorox and Endust the entire space. Then decide if you really need it or if it needs to go back to where it was. My bedside table is where magazines and books pile up making it look messy and overcrowded. On Sunday nights, that is when I bring glasses down to the kitchen, put books away and do a quick wipe down.

I had two small (like childhood furniture small) dressers in my room that just took up too much space. When I took everything out of the dressers, I realized that I did not need to have dozens of t-shirts from college taking up space and put the majority of them in a bag to give to my aunt to make a college t shirt memory quilt. Each dresser had an empty drawer and work out clothes were taking over both of them. Using the Marie Kondo Method (Keep scrolling to learn how this changed my life), I was able to put all of my work out gear in own drawer. I donated the second empty dresser and now have even more room in my bedroom!(Before)

Organizing Trick #2: Baskets

I use baskets for everything that it is actually becoming a problem. If you don’t have the budget to buy baskets, I also use brown boxes to store a lot of items as well.

My laundry basket is actually a basket with a lid and it never looks like it is overflowing with laundry (as it usually is) but instead it blends into my bathroom better.
I store my slippers next to my bed in a cute basket and my closet is filled with baskets that store items as well. I
store extra throw blankets and throw pillows in a basket next to my bed because it is the best catch all solution for the space. In the morning I make my bed with my decorative pillows and at night I can easily throw them into a basket.
Since I have zero space in my tiny closet, I use a basket to store all of my purses making them easy to grab but they are all stored together.
My bathroom has very little storage, so I found a basket at Target that can hold toilet paper and looks decorative not sloppy!

If you have the money, I highly suggest Pottery Barn baskets!

Organizing Trick #3: Hooks & Hanging

I own a lot of necklaces and wear them everyday so instead of keeping them in a drawer or a jewelry box hidden away, I like to hang them on my wall. I found both of my necklace organizers at Goodwill and they are a blessing! Instead of keeping items hidden in your closet or a drawer, be creative and find ways to display your treasured belongings. I rarely wear hats, but instead of getting crushed in my closet, with a few thumbtacks I was able to hang them and make them wall decor. With my parents in the eye business, I have accumulated a lot of sunglasses over the years. I found that the best way to store them was to put them on a tray (also a Goodwill find) on my dresser so I can easily grab a pair when I am leaving the house. Sometimes the best way to organize something is by having it out on display.

Organizing Trick #4: Canisters

I think it started in college when my living situations had zero storage and I had to get creative. My biggest OCD is seeing clutter on surfaces. Like I can’t go to bed at night if I see stuff on my dresser that is not put away or if there are too many clothes on the chair in my room. With that being said, in college I only had a wardrobe, a desk and a small bedside table to store things making me find ways to get creative. I started to use pretty canisters to store things like nail polishes, makeup tools and other items.

A few months ago picked up plant canisters from Ikea but use them to hold my mascaras, brushes and a larger one to hold miscellaneous things I find in my room. At Target on clearance I picked up a cute canister that now holds all of my nail polishes and at Goodwill I found a glass canister that holds all of my lip products. As much as I like to have everything in its proper place, I also like to make things easily accessible as well. Canisters give me this nice solution where everything can be put away, but I can have them accessible on my dresser.

Organizing Trick #5: Multitasking Furniture

I have had this desk in my bedroom since we moved into the house more than 10 years ago, but I have my own office so I rarely used it as a desk. In the drawers there was clutter and dried up sharpies, the shelves had books and journals that looked cute but was all unnecessary. Ed helped me purge the desk and right now it is waiting to be dropped off at Goodwill in my hallway. The top portion of the desk is ideal for storage, so I took that part and turned it into a bookcase. I recently inherited a Pottery Barn trunk and I wanted to make the the most out of it. Instead of it taking up room in my bedroom I needed to make it useful. I decided for now to have it hold my off season pillows and soon it will hold my winter throw blankets.

(before. I don’t think Ed wanted me to get rid of the desk!)(after)

I am really excited to start putting away my heavy throw blankets and winter bedroom decor away to make room for my spring decor.

Pick a weekend and lock yourself in your home, put on some Netflix and do some cleaning. I promise you will be so happy you did!

Start Here: The Magic of Decluttering and Organizing

Get Rid of Clutter: Declutter

Organizing Your Dressers: The Folding Method

the magic of decluttering and organizing

Published on March 23, 2016January 3, 2019 by blonde rosie4 Comments

I love to go to the gym but I hate getting ready to go to the gym.

It turns into a process of finding clean clothes and trying to find a pair of socks. I try to go within 10 minutes of getting home from work because if I sit down for just one minute there is a 99% change I am not getting back up! But lately getting out of the house and to the gym has become a hassle because I cannot find anything!

I have the worlds worst closet. I really do! My house was built around 1900, during a time that closets did not exist. My room was redone to make a closet so now it is a big closet but you can’t actually reach anything in the back because of the way it is built. Space wise, it is great because it holds a lot of boxes, practicality wise, it is awful. I have two closets and two small dressers to fit everything. After laundry day there is no room in my closet or dressers to fit one more thing!

On Sunday night I decided to start The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I have not personally bought the book but I have read about these cleaning and life changing techniques online so much lately I got inspired.

In the post grad life we have once again moved to another house. Whether it is to another apartment or you are back with mom and dad (like me), we now realize how much crap we have! I have always been a sentimental person so I keep a lot of stuff that has turned into clutter. After struggling with keeping my room clean I decided it was time to purge. I have done this a few times since I came home in May but I wanted to do it correctly so I am following the Marie Kondo way!

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Lesson #1: Tackle Categories, Not Rooms

When I usually say I am going to clean my room, my room ends up messier than it did before I started cleaning! Marie Kondo suggests tidying by category. Deal with every piece of clothing in your closet individually or go through each book in your bookcase when deciding to tidy up or give away your things.

Lesson #2: Respect Your Belongings

Kondo asks that you consider your clothing’s feelings. Are they happy being squashed in a corner shelf or crowded onto hangers? My closet was full of clothes, my dresses had so many clothes in the drawers that they would not even close! I did not respect my clothes and it showed.

Lesson #3: Nostalgia Is Not Your Friend

I am that person who never wears an outfit twice. Okay, I do but I try not to wear the same thing over and over. If I see a shirt I can remember a memory I had while wearing it. A certain dress brings me back to one of the happiest days of my life. Unfortunately now, I am at work 5 days a week and on the weekends I live in leggings and the same shirt. It is smart to stay focused and not reminisce about the old times now when cleaning. I found a picture of an old boyfriend and I while cleaning and the next thing I knew I was Facebook stalking instead of being productive.

Lesson #4: Purging Feels So Good

The best way to purge is to put everything of its kind in a pile and then go through each piece individually. I took my entire closet and threw it on the floor. It was now way past my bedtime but now I had to finish a project I started! By individually picking up each piece and putting it back on a new hanger, it made it easier to say goodbye to shirts I forgot I even owned. My closet was a mix of work and casual clothes which made picking an outfit for work difficult because I wasted time looking at casual tee shirts instead of my work blouses. I donated a lot of shirts I had since high school and others that I just will not wear anymore. I took my casual t shirts, folded them and put them on a shelf in my closet. This is my least worn wardrobe and it does not deserve to be hung up.

It started to get easier to toss things. When was the last time I wore this? Was this from my chubby days? What was I thinking when I bought this?? My Hollister and Forever 21 clothes are never worn. I wore them a lot at my old job working retail because I needed to wear clothes I didn’t care if they got ruined. So why did I care that that I needed them in my closet?? I had to cut ties with the sentimentality of a t shirt and let them go to Goodwill and not stay in my closet taking up room. Also, the amount of white v neck shirts I had was embarrassing. I tossed them all because one nice new one is all I needed. In the end my closet went from overflowing to half full (and many extra hangers).

Lesson #5: Fold, Don’t Hang

Now that my closet was full of work clothes, I needed a place to put my other casual clothes. Marie Kondo suggests folding clothes instead of hanging them. At the end of purging my closet I realized how few clothes I had now. Everything fit nicely on my shelf and I could see clearly what was there without it getting lost hanging in my closet. I also saved closet space by folding all of my sweaters and putting them on a shelf. I wear them often to work so it makes it easier for me to grab and go in the morning.

For the clothes that are hanging in my closet, they are hanging in a very OCD organized way. Short sleeve shirts then long sleeve shirts arranged by color. I didn’t realize how blah my winter wardrobe was until I saw that everything was black, white and grey!

Lesson #6: The Fold!

I have been a big fan of this folding technique for many years (Thanks, Martha Stewart). Kondo’s vertical folding technique makes everything organized and easy to see everything at a glance. Kondo suggests using shoeboxes or other boxes to keep everything in place. Unfortunately, my dresser is from childhood so it is not built that deep to put in a shoebox!

Lesson #7: Enjoy your new closet!

Once you have cleared the clutter and put everything in a place it is supposed to be, you can now enjoy your closet. For too long I have had to force clothes in there because there was no more room. I hated when my closet door was open because it was a chaos inside. Now getting ready in the morning is easy peasy!

Now I know what I have in my closet the next time I go shopping or I am trying to get ready to go out. In a few short weeks my summer wardrobe will be coming out and switching closets will be so much easier now that I have purged.

Now the next time I do laundry I won’t be afraid to put clothes back!