27. Clean Closet

How about this? It's my winter storage--sweaters in the cubes, winter pajamas and turtlenecks in the drawers (three drawers are empty as of yet. And then on top, my costume jewelry (my good stuff is elsewhere) and chains and bracelets organized so I can see it all.

All from Target--just their flat pack build it yourself closet storage stuff bolted together. Cost me $85.

Above on the built in shelves are still items that I keep in my closet although would work better in a hall closet--a large pack for long camping trips, my old baby sling, my flute, a few stocking stuffer/last minute birthday gifts...

And below, my shoes. Yes, I own few shoes. But I'm going to store them right. More on that tomorrow.

25. Spring Cleaning: Closet Update

Umm.

My closet is a small thing, a footprint of about 8 square feet with a regular door that opens out into my room. It has 10 foot ceilings like the rest of the house, though, and so it is one of those spaces that would be more useful if it were turned on its side. But no. It has two shelves above the standard closet hanging pole.

I started by taking out all the clothes I will never wear again. What I had left was so little at this point--I'm not working outside the home and so I don't have a bunch of work clothes, and my standard wardrobe is all folded in drawers. I counted what I had left and stood there blinking. My closet was a waste of space.

I took the hangers with the clothes I do occasionally wear, including three wedding-appropriate kind of dresses, along with Sophia's First Communion dress and a few other things that were stuck in my closet for whatever reason, and took them to Mike's closet.

Mike's closet is probably more appropriately called a "trunk room." It is a big walk-in closet off the bathroom. I say "big" in comparison to the rest of my house's closets. I have, of course, a total of 5 closets if you count the pantry. Pantry, hall closet, one in each of the second floor bedrooms, and Mike's closet. Oh, and there are two linen closets but really they aren't, since they don't have doors. More like built in shelving.

So yes, it is a big closet. Big enough Mike keeps his dresser in there. There's a chair to stand on to reach the top shelves. We use it for storage and his hanging clothes.

I rearranged hangers in his closet so that they were all decent, tossed the beat up wire ones, and put my clothes to the left-hand side. Everything fit.

Going back to my closet, I took out the random assortment of "put this in my closet" stuff. I have a sewing machine in there that I need to do some repair on, for instance. There is a tub of vinyl records. A tube with a couple of posters we've always meant to get framed but haven't yet (this year we will, or we will get rid of them). Leftover boxes from Christmas packages. A sweater I forgot I owned (and kept, I like it).

So now I'm on pause. What do I do with this closet? Do I hire the folks that are doing Ann's closets and have them redesign it? Do I do it myself? Do I stick a bunch of tubs full of crap in there? Hmm. What to do.

24. Spring Cleaning: Closet

This week's goal? Clean out my closet and dresser drawers.

For every day, I wear one thing: black and denim. Jeans in the winter, capris in the summer. I throw a sweater on over a black t-shirt in the fall and spring. I rarely break out a sweatshirt or turtleneck. Everything on top is black and everything on bottom is denim blue.

Yes, I will dress up for a wedding or party. And there are a few items I keep because I use them when I need them--like the blue t-shirt to volunteer for Sophia's Irish dance school's feis (competition). I also have some bike pants that I wear under capris when I bike at the extremes of weather.

But this doesn't explain the the pair of green corduroy pants I will never wear again. Or the yellow, spring yellow, capris. Don't get me started on the weird collection of dress shirts in my closet. What?

I'm saving them because I'm lazy. It's not a case of "I'll get skinny and wear them" because THEY FIT NOW. Time to go.

After that, it's Mike's turn. He has t-shirts dating back to the late 80s, complete with the holes you would expect of that sort of vintage. Bleah.