"Organize Me"

I'm sure everyone has "that room" in their house that things just get thrown into. You're not really sure where to put something so you put it into "that room". For us "that room" was our master closet. It was storing craft supplies, old bedding, 72 hour kits, baby items, shoes that dated all the way back to high school, painball guns, and a ton of other stuff. For those of you who know me pretty well, you'll understand why this drove me nuts! The closet was screaming "Organize Me!!" So, I decided that with Christmas coming up, and us needing a place to hide gifts, now was the perfect time to clean up and out! 

I'm a little embarrassed to show these, but here is what our closet looked like BEFORE:

 My side

The middle shelves 

Bryan's side (on the floor)

Bryan's side (up high)

Bryan's pant rack

My pant rack

The way I was taught to organize, and, I believe, the only right way to organize a room, is to take EVERYTHING out, vacuume, disinfect, wipe down, and dust EVERYWHERE! So here are the photos of during.

Ahhhhh

So much better!

So fresh and so Clean Clean!

 Here are the rule I followed when considering what clothes to put back in the closet. 

#1- If you haven't worn it in the last year, donate it.

#2- If it has holes where there shouldn't be any, get rid of it.

#3- If it has the label "maternity" store it in the attic.

When considering what things to put back into the closet, I followed these rules:

#1- If you haven't used it in the last year, but still think it's "really cool", donate it so other people can think it's "really cool" too!

#2- If it is broken beyond repair, get rid of it.

#3- If you don't use it at least once a month, store it in the attic.

#4- If it's small and has too much sentimental value to go into one of the other categories  put it in a shoe box under your bed.

And now, and only now, was I able to start the process of putting everything back into the closet. Everyone has their own way of organizing things so I won't share my rules here. I do have some advice though. If you are putting something back and you find yourself yelling at it to "STAY!" then you probably need to find a new spot for it! Lol, yes, I learned this the hard way.

Finally, after a whole day of organizing, here are the B-E-A-utiful pictures of my closet AFTER:

My side

The middle shelves

Bryan's side

Isn't it lovely?!