Clothes-ing In!

I feel like I have been working for forever on the projects around here, yet not completing anything. It's so frustrating to not be able to come here to update you all on my YAWYK challenge... but it's even worse when I have a few minutes and nothing to share!

A couple weeks ago, my husband quit his job. Don't worry! It's a good thing! He is now working from home, which creates it's own set of challenges... but there is a HUGE benefit: He is home and able to enjoy the boys the same way that I have been blessed to. He is helping to make sure the boys are up, ready and to daycare each morning, and that they get home safely in the afternoon.

In my efforts to make things easier around here, I purchased a couple of these:

Ok... well, maybe not those EXACTLY... mine are black and gray... but they are pretty much those. They were on clearance at Target. I got one for each boy.

Then I cleared out my hall closet.

When cleaning out your hall closets... remember these tips!

1. The more accessible the closet (or other storage) the more accessible the items inside! Your inside hall closets aren't for holiday items or long term storage items (wedding dresses, "memory boxes", etc).

2. Hall closets are like bottomless pits. If you want to store items there, store them so that it's easy to see what is actually there. Clear totes, hanging storage, and bins are great for this when properly used.

3. Think creatively. Just hanging stuff in a closet will only utilize the hanging space... and if you are like me, the little toddler jackets seem like such a waste of space, leaving sooo much room underneath! Put a set of drawers in places that are underutilized by little clothes!

4. Think vertically. Add shelves if you need them!

Alright... so like I was saying... I cleared out a front hall closet.

To sell:
401-410: a variety of stocking holders... Yeah... seasonal... and not used.
411: tube of 100 green ornaments.
412-425: assorted cables, knicknacks, and other hallway clutter that tried to find a home here.

To a better place:
269-300: hangers. Assortment of cheap wood (Dollar bins anyone??), wire and retail plastic. Likely would be appreciated by GoodWill more than by me.

To trash:
209-218: Another bag o' crap.

Then I hung those two organizers in the hall closet. We decided that was a good place because a) We live in AZ, where jackets are rarely needed or hung in a hall closet, b) I do laundry late at night and almost never get it into the boys rooms because they are sleeping, and c) we get the kids ready in the living room in the morning.

I gave each boy 1 set of hanging cubbies, and put their outfits in them.. one per day... Monday through Friday. I then put two collapsible bins in the bottom cubbies (there were 6 in each hanger) and put socks and underroos in there!

It has worked out perfectly! I can organize the kids outfits over the weekend, and then he can get them ready while I am running around like crazy putting on my make-up for work.

I am all for anything that makes life a little bit easier right now!

Sorry there aren't any outfits... it's Sunday and laundry day... ;o)

What do you do to keep the kids organized in the morning?

Shoes!

Earlier when I talked about entry ways... there was a comment from you asking about shoes! I know I know... you take them off when you get home... piling them in the corner of your entry. Or maybe you have a bin or a basket. Or maybe you line them up beautifully under a bench.

But for most of us... it's usually a bit overwhelming, no?

My family has the basket. It's not by the front door... but in the living room. We have a built in entertainment center, and I bought some baskets (that I should have thought about more) that we put under the TV. Then we had kids. And those baskets got moved to the side of the built in (in another cubby) to make way for toys...

It works for us... especially with 2 small ones always looking for their shoes. And it makes for a quick tidy.

But it's not at all what I want. I hope to one day during this challenge conquer my family's shoe issues...

Here are a few tips for keeping your shoe clutter contained!

1. Do a weekly sort through. Put away all the shoes that are at your families drop off site. This way, the shoes that got dropped off at the front door 3 seasons ago get put away and don't hang out forever looking clumsy and misplaced. Don't worry about them so much during the week. :o)

2. Weed through your existing shoes. Remember that part of the YAWYK challenge is to live with the best you have! Are there shoes piled up that need to be replaced? What about the kids outgrown pairs? And do you really need 3 pairs of black flip flops??

3. Make a decision as to how many pairs can be at the front door/mud room/etc. If you say it can only be 2 baskets worth, then don't let any more pairs sit on the side of the bins! If you say 1 pair per family member, hold to your rules!

4. Remember, any storage you use in plain site needs to be functional and "on purpose"! I always think it's better to have things in a container that has a purpose rather than just schlepped in a pile. So, pass on the "along-the-wall-in-a-line" approach if you are able to use cute totes or a shoe shelf!

Here are some ideas I have come across that I love! I hope that you can find something that works for your family to keep things corralled!

Photos were from Ikea, ApartmentTherapy, Brookstone and Home Decorators!

I seriously love how the Apartment Therapy one (shelves in the hallway) appear to be magazine shelves not unlike these... made into a shoe rack! What a great way to be resourceful!

Do you have any great ideas for shoes in the entry?

Laundry Day... and a cool tool!

My hubs and I decided to get crazy and tackle the entire house in 2 days. I will admit that there is only 1/2 the decluttering going on... but at least the house is looking much cleaner.

And I don't mind that one bit!

Part of that huge push to clean meant washing and drying and folding and putting away about a billion loads of laundry. Usually, that process falls apart after the first step... and clothes often develop a musty smell before I remember that I forgot about them in the first place... then a second wash (with a touch of vinegar to get rid of the odor) and then get to the dryer.

Where they sit. And we pull items out as we need them. Or turn it back on to "de-wrinkle".

What? You don't do that?? Liar.

Like I mentioned before, part of our problem with putting clothes away is that we just don't have anywhere to put them. Drawers being packed and all. And the boys' dresser is no exception to this. The boys share a dresser, with 4 drawers... but for some unknown reason I separated the drawers as follows: (1) Corbin's clothes, (2) Ryan's clothes, (3) Clothes that Ryan outgrew but Corbin's too small for, (4) Blankets.

Yeah... there is no room for my kids clothes in their dresser because I put linens there. Instead of in the linen closet. I am sure there is a good reason somewhere...

We got practical, weeded through those clothes. Hung up a TON of clothes... and got together our huge load for GoodWill. I think they are going to love us.

I did pull out about 12 items that I just can't part with just yet (special outfits and stuff) and put together a few boxes for ThredUp... but the rest is on it's way to GoodWill in an hour or so!

To a Better Place:
4-241. Infant/Toddler clothes! Items that were outgrown, faded, or otherwise not my "best", but still totally usable by the average consumer!

And I added to that another 27 items that were in my laundry...

To a Better Place:
242-268. Women's clothing... and a few men's items that my hubs tossed in.

This is the pile.. waiting to get loaded up to get out of here!

Now, here's the best part... those 5 bags represent about a $424 TAX SAVINGS on my 2010 tax bill!!! I used a program called ItsDeductible (available free!) to track my donation and it tells me what I can expect to be saving on my tax bill.

Who would have thought that decluttering your house leads to MORE MONEY in your Pocket!! Now, that's a benefit I can totally be on board with!

Go check it out... start logging your donations and see how much money you can find in your declutter!

OH! And don't forget to head over to the Giveaway this month! ;o)

Socks & Undies!

Ok... here is a little mini challenge for you! You can TOTALLY do this by the end of the week!

Besides... I double dog dare you!

Now you have to do it!

Attack that Sock & Undies drawer.

Ok, so I'll be completely honest. I was going to post a picture here and tell you about my S&U drawer... but frankly... nobody needs to see that. I have a strange mix of everything in that drawer... covering me from a size 6 (Wooohooo!) to a 42w preggo... and everything in between.

And even more embarrassing, I am 90% sure that over half that stuff was purchased before I was married... or likely even dating my husband... which was 10 years ago. :sigh:

So, I took my drawers of... er... um... drawers and dumped them on the bed.

Ok. Another no brainer bit of honesty.... there is not "donate" or "sell" coming out of your undie drawer... I know you know this... but just in case.

Anything that has shot elastic, holes, or is not comfortable... it's out! If you haven't worn it in the past year (or up to 2 years for anything "special occasion") it's gone, too.

If your socks are stretched beyond a nice snug fit, or if the left and right don't *really* match... give them up, too.

What you are left with should be what you truly wear, in great shape... and if there are some obvious needs now, you know exactly what you need to buy to fill in those gaps!

I am still knee deep in socks... so I'll post later what my final numbers were for the YAWYK tally!

Any suggestions from you for keeping your socks and undies organized??

Outgrown

Tubs of clothes have been sitting in closets and in my laundry room... filled with clothing that has been outgrown. And this is not going to be a problem that ends anytime soon as these boys are doing nothing but growing!

Here is what we got...

65-126. Onesies. This is a mix of short sleeved, long sleeved, and rompers! And yes... there were 62 of those!
127-139. Pajamas
140-146. Sleepers/sleepsacks/swaddlers. These are all practically new as neither of my kids liked to be swaddled in them.
146-162. Pants... sweat pants, lounge pants, and tiny jeans and corduroys!
162-165. Shorts
165-173. Outfits on hangers... these are all mostly multiple-pieced outfits that were pulled together months ago for the savvy sale.
174-182. Bibs/clothes... all clean... but not being used here!

And we broke 200 total items! Woot!

Cleaning out my dresser

It was laundry day here.. um... 3 days ago? My dining room table was covered with clean, folded clothes ready to go into their homes... but unfortunately, my dresser was packed to the gills. And to be completely honest, I have no idea with what... I hadn't opened a drawer in months!

So... that was my mini project today... and it was a quick one as we are super busy today!! But when I counted everything up... I was giggling as the numbers worked out like this. And I can't lie... I HAD to find a (2) of something to make the list complete!

To Sell:
28-55. Clothes from dresser:
- (7) flannel pajama bottoms... a "necessity" in Arizona for sure... ::insert sarcasm::
- (6) tank tops... old, stretched, stained
- (5) tee's... also old, mostly marketing...
- (4) long sleeve shirts that no longer were as beautiful as the day I bought them.
- (3) pairs of jeans that I am too skinny for now! YES!
- (2) pairs of hospital socks... still in packages
- (1) trapeze dress from Old Navy. Purchased in 2007. Still has the tags on it.

And although I still have a ton of clothes to go through... I am just going to tell you that if you are planning on doing this to your hubs clothes... getting rid of HIS prized tees or just-right shorts can be detrimental to your marriage... just sayin.