2017 Declutter and Organization Thread

[debthaven]

The real problem is that I have little closet space. I keep all my clothes in my closet, even the out-of-season clothes. But between clothes that are too small (by 1 or 2 sizes) and clothes I'm sentimental about, I feel like I barely have enough room. And I ALWAYS do the one in / one out thing.

I may the "sentimental" clothes elsewhere, either in the linen closet or the extra closet next to it.  But I don't want my summer / winter clothes in different places.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Also, shoes. I found two pairs to donate, but I keep most of my shoes on the floor of my closet, which isn't practical. I'm perpetually trying to find a solution for that. What do you guys do with your shoes? I want to try this: www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50300044/

ETA: I found a transparent one on Amazon with more compartments, so I'll get that (eventually, when I don't have to pay for delivery).

ETA2: I bought 2 sweaters on sale today, red and hot pink. I am fed up with being The Lady in Grey. I always follow the one in / one out rule. This time I did 1 in / 2 out, I got rid of 4 (old) sweaters!

[debthaven]

I went onto Amazon, thought I was looking for info on Prime, and found out I had (inadvertently, I swear) signed up.

I went to my account to delete it. Amazon told me that my subscription to Prime would end in one month.

So I ordered the shoe thingie.

[Sharon]

What do you guys do with your shoes?

Don't you know shoes belong in the kitchen by the counter where you read the mail when you walk in the house in the evening,   or they stay under chair that is used at the computer desk.  On the weekends I may try and put shoes in the closet where they belong but for the most part that is where they are.  In my defense I have a lot of problems with my feet so I pretty much wear the same pair of shoes to work every day.  Usually the work shoes are in the kitchen and my tennis shoes are under the computer desk chair.

[tcu2003]

I have one of those on the inside of each of the kiddo's closet doors. I don't use it for shoes, but it's handy for hats, baby blankets, crib sheets, etc.

[taz157]

Shoes should be in my closet but the same shoes tend to hang out by the stairs while DD's are under the dining room chair that her book bag sits on...

[tcu2003]

For my shoes, most are in my closet (it has built in angled shelves for shoes), but probably 3-6 pairs are downstairs in the cubbies off of our garage.

[busymom]

Hey jenpen!  debthaven has a question for you!  (See page 15) 

I just found out I've got company stopping by tomorrow, so instead of working on my filing pile, I'm scrambling to get the living room/dining room/kitchen looking better.    At least I got a bit of warning.

I did get a few things accomplished today.  I got in my 10,000 steps (first time all week).  And, we've got DD set up for an IRA, but I'll have to run her check over to the financial office on Monday, and that's between 50-60 miles round trip.  Oh well, at least the weather is supposed to behave.

I also emailed my contractor this week that we have to start thinking about our next project or two.  That ought to keep me out of trouble for awhile...

[dee27]

All of my shoes are in the closet except one pair of slip-ons by the front door since we do not wear shoes inside the house. I store out of season shoes in clear plastic boxes on the shelves above the clothes.

We have enough closets to store seasonal clothing in different closets, so off season clothes are stored in garment bags in the spare bedroom. I hang cardigan sweaters and shells but fold pullover sweaters.

[Deleted]

My shoes are in 3 different place. I have my boots, a pair of flip-flops, sneakers and slippers on a bathmat by the front door for the cats to rub themselves all over because apparently my stinking feet turns them on. The rest of my flip flops are in a crate in the bedroom closet and my dress shoes are hanging in a shoe bag on the back of the spare room door upstairs. DH's shoes are in the bedroom closet but he doesn't wear any of them so I might see about getting rid of them.

[startsmart]

All of my shoes are in the master bedroom closet on 6 shelves I built into the corner where clothes previously went to die. The exceptions are my slippers which sit on the top of the dog crate (also in the closet). I try to get them all put away every night before bed but miss more often then I'd like. 

Tonight I finished caulking trim in the living room and got a second coat on the first set of baseboards/trim in here. All the furniture is pushed to the middle of the room but I am nearly done here and will be able to clean everything up. 

Short list for tomorrow includes:
second coat of paint on living room trim / clean up tape and spillovers on floor
sweep/vacuum around the living room
move furniture back into place
take up old rug (move to garage for cleaning)
"stage" the living room and dining room / clean up kitchen in the background
take pictures 
put down new rug
start to empty stuff from office into living room

IF I have time: 
cut new baseboards in the office
install new quarter round in office 
sand desktop in the office
paint shelves in office closet

The dogs also desperately need baths and I'd like to get the old gutters to the and then clean out my car so we'll see how realistic this is  

I did get a chance to clean out the fridge today + the pantry since I found more pantry moths   - apparently they've come in to the house inside a trail mix I got at Costco. Everything gets put into glass jars or bags and that one was crawling with bugs! So disgusting. 

In order to clean out the office I have a big pile of stuff for donation/consignment so I'll be able to get that sorted and ready for drop off as I clean up my office. 

[debthaven]

Thanks for your answers everyone! And Busy thanks for tagging Jenpen!

We have a small wooden shoe rack by the front door, but it only fits a few pairs, and of course DH hogs that too lol. That's where I put the two pairs I wear most. But part of the reason I wear the same pairs is that the others are hard to access ... I'll see if this makes life easier.

I also keep boots on another rack on top of the basement stairs. So here too, shoes in 3 places.

I put the items I want DD to look at it in the "extra closet". My closet has more space now.

[whoisjohngalt]

I went through a huge shoe decluttering after I had kids.  There were many many pairs that I just knew I won't wear again.  I keep all that's left in my hallway closet. 

This is my last weekend before I start working on weekends so I am debating between doing nothing, doing our taxes, decluttering paperwork or DOING NOTHING 

Kids are sick so we won't be going anywhere anyway.

[debthaven]

JohnGalt that will be a big change for you! Good luck with the new job!

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2017 3:46:58 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

I went through a huge shoe decluttering after I had kids.  There were many many pairs that I just knew I won't wear again.  I keep all that's left in my hallway closet. 

This is my last weekend before I start working on weekends so I am debating between doing nothing, doing our taxes, decluttering paperwork or DOING NOTHING 

Kids are sick so we won't be going anywhere anyway.

I vote for nothing, myself. That's my weekend plan anyway. Well, laundry and some room rearranging in my office but that's about it.

[jenpen]

Jan 27, 2017 13:11:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Jenpen, you said you had lots of cardigans ... how do you store them? Hanging? Folded? I'm considering putting hooks or nails on the inside of my closet doors for them. I have quite a few long ones (to cover my butt) so they take up too much room when they're folded.

ETA: Sorry I know I've asked this before but how do you tag someone?

I hang my cardigans. It's too sloppy to fold them unless they're buttoned up, and I never wear them buttoned so it's too much of a pain.  They're light weight enough (all cotton) that they don't get stretched out by the hanger at the shoulders. 

The 4th button to the left of the big red spoiler button on the top right is an "insert person" icon with the "@" symbol and a person's head. Click on that and a dialog box pops up. Start typing the name of the person you want to tag, and it should find them for you. It won't find them if their screen name starts with a word that's not in their tag, though. When I tried to tag Lady Lizard, for example, I realized I needed to drop the "Lady" (no offense, Liz  ) and just type "lizard", since her tag is "milizard".  If you know the person's tag, you can just type it (@tagname) without using the find function. 

[jenpen]

On shoes: I don't wear outdoor shoes in the house -- 'cuz you know, I'm afraid I'll get all the cat hair dirty -- so I didn't like keeping my shoes in my upstairs closet.  A few years ago I got the Brimnes 3-door wardrobe from Ikea. It sits close to the front door.  2/3rds of it is my coat and shoe closet.  You can configure the Brimnes in different ways.  I put the rod at the top. It has 7 coats/jackets; several hangers with winter scarves; hangers with sun hats,baseball caps and small waist packs and backpacks (all used for hiking), and one hanger for my work backpack.  

Below there, I put the adjustable shelf low enough to have room to stack plastic bins for 18 pairs of shoes.  I have 20 pairs, so my hiking sandals sit on top and I usually have whatever pair I wore most recently sitting inside the front door to air out.  I do have a pair of clogs that live inside the patio door to wear out back, and 3 pairs upstairs: 2 high-heeled shoes that I got for special occasions and have not worn since as I wear flats 98% of the time, and a pair of snow boots that I guess I'm keeping for sentimental reasons.  I wore them when I was in Greenland for 2 months working on a NASA research project back in 1991.  

There's about 8 inches below that shelf.  When I got rid of my dresser last week, I decided it made sense to move all my socks downstairs with the shoes.  I went to Walmart last night to get 2 plastic drawers that will fit the space perfectly. Unfortunately, they didn't have them in stock (I would've sworn their website said they did  ) so I'll have to order them today.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

My shoes are in my master bedroom closet on shelves. DH's are on a racky thing. I'll post a picture. 
My cardigans are folded and in a drawer. I have probably 15. I was always taught to not hang sweaters as it stretches them out. 

[jenpen]

A few notes on progress: I forgot to mention I washed all the clothing I kept from my sister last weekend and got all of it hung up and put away.  I ran the washer and dryer pretty much nonstop for 2 days!  Earlier this week I realized I could re-use an Ikea Alex 5-drawer chest (it used to be part of a desk set-up that I no longer have) as my replacement dresser.  It's deep, but only 14 inches wide so it fits perfectly in my closet. I got it moved (thank heaven for furniture slides -- that thing is dang heavy!) and cleaned out, but haven't put things away in it yet because I want to rearrange some things first.

I also installed a key safe outside so I don't have to worry about locking myself out of the house.  That's been on my to-do list for 2 years, since my ex-boyfriend mailed my house key back and he was the only one who had a spare key!

This morning, after sleeping in till 8:30, I have cleaned out the track on the sliding patio door.  This has also been on my to-do list for a while, and got done only because I caught the sleeve of my coat on the door as I was coming inside this morning, causing me to spill half my cup of coffee all over the screen door and the track  .  

To do today:
brush cats and clip nails
dust and vacuum furniture downstairs
vacuum, dust-mop and wet mop all downstairs floors
make up 6 hours of work I missed yesterday for doctor appts

Sunday:
vacuum upstairs
mop bathroom floor
clean sink/tub/toilet
wash bedding
get a head start on work due next week (at least 4 hours, maybe?)

[jenpen]

  I just went to order the drawers I tried to find last night.  The website was still saying I could pick them up today. WTH?!?  Finally figured out, I WENT TO THE WRONG STORE!  LOL.  They're both on the same road, but one is 2 miles north of me, and one is 4 miles south.  I went to the north store, which is the only one in this area that doesn't carry these drawers.  This only makes me   because I spent 2 hours trying to find them and in the process spent $250 on stuff I hadn't planned to buy last night.  In my defense, I really didn't get anything I didn't need, I got my grocery shopping done so I don't have to do that today, and I was super happy to find they had the bath linens I've been looking for literally for 6 years!  

Anyway, I placed the order for free in person pick-up at the south store so that I can just go to the customer service desk and not put my wallet at risk by wandering around the store again. 

[Lizard Queen]

Jan 28, 2017 9:34:57 GMT -5 jenpen said:

Jan 27, 2017 13:11:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Jenpen, you said you had lots of cardigans ... how do you store them? Hanging? Folded? I'm considering putting hooks or nails on the inside of my closet doors for them. I have quite a few long ones (to cover my butt) so they take up too much room when they're folded.

ETA: Sorry I know I've asked this before but how do you tag someone?

I hang my cardigans. It's too sloppy to fold them unless they're buttoned up, and I never wear them buttoned so it's too much of a pain.  They're light weight enough (all cotton) that they don't get stretched out by the hanger at the shoulders. 

The 4th button to the left of the big red spoiler button on the top right is an "insert person" icon with the "@" symbol and a person's head. Click on that and a dialog box pops up. Start typing the name of the person you want to tag, and it should find them for you. It won't find them if their screen name starts with a word that's not in their tag, though. When I tried to tag Lady Lizard, for example, I realized I needed to drop the "Lady" (no offense, Liz  ) and just type "lizard", since her tag is "milizard".  If you know the person's tag, you can just type it (@tagname) without using the find function. 

NP.  I was leaping lizard until a few weeks ago. (as leap year is over)  Not sure I like the Lady that much, but I guess I was feeling alliterative. 

My shoes are in 3 different places as well.  Front closet for boots and tennis shoes mostly, also a bench next to the front door has a tilt out shoe organizer.  DS1's upper shelf in his closet holds my dress shoes and sandals.  These are in their boxes, or some shoe sized plastic drawers.  Every day shoes that I wear all of the time are by the garage door.  (I have too many shoes.    Call me Imelda Marcos.)   I should sort them better and organize them.  I know I have some flipflops back by the garage door, and it's 30 degrees outside.  Not going to be wearing those any time soon!  

[tcu2003]

Peter Walsh 31 Days to Get Organized challenges.

Day 1 - TABLE TOPS
Day 2 - SET UP A DONATION BIN
Day 3 - GIFT BAGS
Day 4 – TACKLE THE FREEZER
Day 5 – UNDER THE SINK
Day 6 – TWO DRAWERS IN YOUR OFFICE (OR ELSEWHERE)
Day 7 – SHOES, SHOES, SHOES
Day 8 – THE CRAZY TANGLE OF CORDS AND CABLES
Day 9 – SOCKS AND UNDIES
Day 10 – SUITCASES AND LUGGAGE
Day 11 – GET BACK IN TOUCH
Day 12 – KITCHEN UTENSIL DRAWER
Day 13 – CONQUER THAT MAIL
Day 14 – CLEANING PRODUCTS IN YOUR LAUNDRY
Day 15 – UNDER THE BED(S) CLUTTER
Day 16 - MAGAZINES
Day 17 – PENS AND PENCILS
Day 18 – BROOMS AND MOPS AND THINGS THAT SWEEP
Day 19 – RECIPES AND COOKBOOKS
Day 20 – YOUR CLOSET (YOU CAN DO IT!)
Day 21 – ONE ‘SECRET’ SPACE
Day 22 – KITCHEN COUNTERS
Day 23 – THE PANTRY
Day 24 – LINEN CUPBOARD
Day 25 – YOUR CAR
Day 26 - RECEIPTS
Day 27 – MUGS AND CUPS AND DRINKING THINGS

Day 28 – A TINY CORNER OF THE GARAGE (OR MORE!)
Garages can be the most overwhelming space in any home. Today I challenge you to tackle just one small area of your garage …. It’s all about just getting started!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I'm on the left; DH is on the right. I have all of the shelves. Black shoes are on top, all the way across; brown shoes are on the middle right and bottom right; blues & purple are middle left; pinks and reds are bottom middle. Those two boxes on the far left are shoes I don't wear often but am not ready to get rid of yet. Those birks in the front left are the ones I just throw on to run outside; they're at least 15 years old and not fit for public consumption. I did complete the PW challenge of purging shoes. I threw out a brown pair of dress shoes that were worn and subsequently too uncomfortable. I also threw out a pair of sandals my girls had given me for a birthday gift at least ten years ago. They were a cheap pair from WM; I should have tossed them five years ago, but I couldn't for sentimental reasons. The girls are old enough now to understand me tossing them. As you can see, DH likes Adidas' Stan Smith's. In addition to the white and blue accent pairs in the closet, he is currently wearing an all white pair. He'll get a green accent pair in February and toss the red pair.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Here's what I need to do off of the PW Challenge. 
(I'm not ignoring the other stuff; it really is already taken care of and in a healthy state.)


Day 6 – TWO DRAWERS IN YOUR OFFICE (OR ELSEWHERE)
--I'm doing this one at work. I started with a bit of shuffling, but I've not completed it yet. 

Day 7 – SHOES, SHOES, SHOES
--I purged three pairs of shoes--two I'd not worn in over a year and were dilapidated and one pair I've worn but shouldn't. They weren't actually safe to wear--caused tripping--but they were gift from my babies. I also took two shoe boxes out of the closet that didn't need to be there. 


Day 9 – SOCKS AND UNDIES
This totally needed to be done and went super well! I've only done undies, but I purged four bras and three pairs of underwear. I'll get to socks soon. 

Day 11 – GET BACK IN TOUCH
Am re-intouch with a former co-worker whom I considered a friend. We've been texting and hope to have lunch soon. 

Day 12 – KITCHEN UTENSIL DRAWER
Good challenge! I only got rid of six things, but we're pretty organized in the kitchen anyway. 


Day 20 – YOUR CLOSET (YOU CAN DO IT!)
I've only done my work-out clothes drawer so far--purged eight articles of clothing. 

Day 24 – LINEN CUPBOARD
Great task for me! We recently got rid of all but one twin bed. That meant we didn't need ten sets of twin sheets. (We probably didn't need ten any way    Down to two sets of twin sheets! Boo Yah!

Day 27 – MUGS AND CUPS AND DRINKING THINGS
Definitely need to do this!

[debthaven]

Chloe your closet looks great! I wish we had a walk-in closet like that.

Jenpen haha on going to the wrong store! I'm glad you finally found what you wanted!

[startsmart]

I couldn't really sleep last night so I started moving stuff slowly from the office. the big stuff is still in there but I do need to move and set up the computers in the dining room today. I should have done the last coat on the trim but I doubted my ability to function properly at 3am with a paint brush.

Dishes are almost done, last load of clothes is in the dryer and I am slowly cleaning up the kitchen while I wait for the trim to dry so I can move furniture. 

Happy Saturday all! 

[Saving4Norway]

Earlier this year I declared it was FINALLY going to be the year that I clean out and make my office (just a room in my house) look like an adult office-room. I'm kind of considering gutting it, one big section at a time, out onto the pool table. I haven't read the Marie Condor(?) book about massive purging but I think that may be my best bet.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome!

[busymom]

I don't need to do day 28 (cleaning a corner of the garage), because our garage still looks good from the cleaning we did for our garage sale.   Buuuut, it'll probably need a good sweeping after Winter is over.

I've got a shoe rack in my closet that looks similar to Knee Deep in Water Chloe, on my side of the closet, and it is FULL of shoes & boots.  I also have one of those hanging shoe racks in the same closet.  Seriously, I need to pare down some more shoes.  (But they are such expensive little beasts that I don't like to do that unless I'm sure I won't need them again.)

My company has already been here & gone.  I also got in 6,000 steps so far today, so I'll probably do some more walking after the kids get home from the movie they went to see.  Now, I'm trying to catch up on the exciting stuff, like laundry. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

debthaven, it's not a walk-in closet. That was one of the downsides when we purchased this house four-and-half years ago. I actually have an armoire in the bedroom also that holds my pants and blazers. 


I'm a bit more productive today than I've been the past two weeks. 
Already done
--cleaned toilets
--about an hour of grading (probably six hours left)
--walked the dog (First time in a week)
--rotated through two loads of laundry (three more to wash)
--folded one load of laundry (currently three more to fold; more after I rotate again)
--made a dessert to take to the dinner at friends' we're having tonight 


For the rest of the weekend
--a few more hours of grading
--clean laundry room
--lesson planning and prepping for the week
--edit letter for DH
--email tenant
--menus
--sweep whole house
--more to be added

[Jaguar]

Saving4Norway, split the room in half, then section each half into 3rds. Then purge each 3rd like hell, I find doing quarters makes it more massive and harder to do, break it down and tackle the smaller sections.

Good Luck!

[startsmart]

Pretty productive day! I got the living room done, moved most things out of the office and cleaned up the whole kitchen. I did some new pics for my blog and this is the only one where you can see the trim: 




I didn't get the outdoor work done but tomorrow is another sunny day so hopefully! 

I'll get to moving the 2 bookshelves, 2 chairs and rug out of the office and then work on some of the baseboard cuts. I only need 5 pieces to fit around the closet opening and then I can start on the quarter round.