Six Dollars and Six Minutes

Remember when I declared my 2011 resolution to be all about organization?  Well here is a quick update that I had been wanting to do for a long time yet finally got around to.  Do you recognize this?

Well, the ironing board hanging from the bottom probably gives it away.  Yep - it's a contraption to store your iron and ironing board.  I had always just put our iron high up on a shelf in this closet and shoved the ironing board in it wherever it would stay put.  Now there is a designated place!  We picked up this contraption (what would you call it?) at Target for around six dollars, and like my post title says, we put it up in about six minutes.  Easy peasy.  The contraption came with the screws to hang it, but because Byron is very cautious about hanging things, we used some wall anchors that we had on hand.  You can see the screws in the picture above, and we really just eyeballed it.  That is a big step for me, because I measure EVERYTHING!  Once we had the anchors and screws in the wall, we just hung the ironing board as you've seen, and then the iron.

Not only was this a really quick and cheap fix, but there was an added bonus in that I gained back some space in the closet.  Now everything (including the vacuum - yay!) fits in much more easily.  I even have room to acquire new junk to store!  Just kidding.

Have any of you done any really quick and simple projects lately?  They aren't life changing or anything, but you gotta love the instant gratification they bring!

Tonight I'm Cleaning Out My Closet

Ah...our closet.  It had gotten bad.  You know that feeling where the walls seem to be closing in around you?  Well, our closet was starting to feel like that.  Clothes were EVERYWHERE.  I mean, yes, it's a closet, but even in a closet, things should have their place.  See what I mean?

Please don't judge.
Okay thank you.  Now that I've aired my dirty laundry to the world, although technically you didn't get to see a shot of the laundry basket, it is also time to tell you I did something about it.  I always start with the shelving behind the door, which is home primarily to Byron's clothes with a few of mine mixed in at the bottom.  I think I start there so because it narrows my focus and I can see progress quickly.  So down cam all of Byron's tshirts, socks, shorts, etc., and I began to fold and organize.  It didn't take long for the shelves to start shaping up.

Not perfect, but a vast improvement.  Once I tackled that, I moved on to the top shelf.  It was pretty simple to organize the rest of Byron's side of the closet.  His sweaters just needed a fresh fold, which should last awhile since it isn't exactly sweater season.  His jeans were also a pretty quick fix.  And voila!

So with half of the closet complete, the rest just sort of fell into place.

So maybe you notice from these pictures, but there is just one area that I have left to tackle.

This is also a little embarrassing, but the truth is, I plan to edit my shoes, but at the time, my feet are swollen and look like hobbit feet so I don't even know what fits right now.  Right now, I just wear what fits, whether it matches or not. The truth is, I really have it on my mind to recreate this closet organization system by Freckles Chick.  Oh how I am in love with that shoe organization.  But with planning for a baby, I just didn't feel up to tackling this just yet.  So that will have to become Closet Organization, Phase II.  Oh well.
One piece of good news is that when all was said and done and the closet was restored to working order, we were left with a huge mound of stuff to either get rid of or donate to Goodwill.

The picture may not do it justice.  There is a ton of stuff there, most of which is actually Byron's. Since I had already gone through my stuff as a part of the purge earlier this year, I didn't have quite as much to contribute, but I will say there are approximately 10-15 things of mine in that pile.  And...a while back Byron had mentioned to me that he thought we should do a "Summer 100" purge.  So this weekend I plan to count and sort these items and see where that leaves us.  Man, it was hard enough for me to get to that first 100 (mostly because I'm a hoarder), but it would be so awesome to come up with another!