Closet Organization

I haven't done an organizing post in a while! That's because not much organizing has taken place in my house lately...whoops. I have tons of projects I want to take on, but limited funds and time makes it difficult. Plus, my husband has been talking about some major renovations to the house at some point in the near future, so I feel like I can't justify spending money on little things that are not absolute necessities. (Third world problems, much?)

Anyway, my daughter's closet has been LONG overdue for some help. Around this time last year, I bought a bunch of space bags and packed up all her baby clothes in them. (I really hope we put those bags in the shop, cause now I can't find them - oops). For about a month, we were organized. The problem with children is, though, that they just keep growing and outgrowing clothes! Every time I think I've got her clothes sorted so that only what fits is hanging up and in her drawers, she shoots up a size. So its a never ending battle.

My tactic for dealing with said clothes for the past year has been to just pile them in the bottom of C's closet. (I don't want to get rid of anything in case we ever have another girl baby.) At first, I had neat little stacks, just waiting to be stuffed into space bags or Rubbermaid containers. Over time, though, the piles got way out of control. It got to the point where I was ashamed to let anyone see her closet. Seriously. It was bad. Don't believe me? See for yourself:

anyone know why I randomly get dark spots on my pictures like this?? that's not a shadow!

 

See? I wasn't lyin! Embarrassing.

Last Friday I had finally had ENOUGH! I went to Target on my lunch break and noticed that they had some nice Rubbermaid containers for a good price. I think they were cheaper cause they were an ugly brown/beige color. But who cares about color? They will eventually be moved into our shop, so I am not concerned at all with how they look. I got 3 of them, and it turned out to be just enough (for right now).

When I got home from work, me and C completely emptied her closet. I was amazed at how much I had stuffed in there. It took over her entire room. For serious, you couldn't see the floor anymore (and C has a pretty big room). DH walked in at one point and his jaw dropped, haha. I told him to just turn around and pretend he hadn't seen anything! hehe

I found stuff I had completely forgotten about in that closet. C was thrilled to find new things to play with (as if she doesn't have a zillion toys already!). Once I got everything out of the closet and got it vacuumed, I sorted all the clothes and shoes (and oh boy, I clearly have a shoe obsession for my child...) by size. After a while, C got bored and asked if she could play in her crib. I don't know why she gets such a kick out of being in there when she's not sleeping, but whatever.

The whole ordeal took me over 2 hours, but it was well worth it! I have a pretty big pile of trash waiting to go to the dump - mostly damaged shoe boxes and bags. I found a bag of ancient cloth diapers that someone gave me a few years ago. I got them mainly to see what I thought about the whole cloth thing, but I quickly realized that these were not usable anymore. Completely worn out. Why was I holding on to them??? Hello, pack rat.

After all that work, I was left with this:

I know it doesn't really look much better to most people. There's still a ton of clothes in this closet. But now its all organized and neat! The 3 containers and those space bags will eventually put into the shop (as soon as DH makes some room out there), so the closet will have more room after that. I debated on whether I should keep that hanging organizer or not. The only thing I have stored in there now are shoes that C currently wears and baby blankets (that we no longer use, but I just don't have another place for them right now). I might see if DH can help me figure out how to hang that thing on the side of her closet. There's plenty of room, and that way I could still use it and have more space for hanging clothes.

I follow a lot of blogs, and I keep seeing posts on organized children's closets. And in those closets are like 8 outfits. With exactly an inch between each hanger. And then at the bottom of the closet is a stockpile of diapers and wipes. And that's it. What are those children wearing every day??! If C had so few clothes, I'd be washing every single day. Honestly, she has way too many clothes, but they're almost all given to me, and I don't turn down free stuff! And I like havin options for what to let her wear every day.

C has one dresser in her room, which is also used as a changing table. It has 3 drawers and 2 shelves (which are covered by a door). The shelves store cloth diapers (she's still in them at night). The top drawer holds panties and socks and hair ties; the middle drawer holds shorts and skirts; and the bottom drawer holds long pants and pajamas. And all the drawers are completely stuffed. So everything else gets hung in her closet. Maybe other mothers fold all their children's clothes??

Also in C's room is an antique cedar wardrobe and a cedar chest. The chest holds a gazillion blankets and quilts. It really needs to be gone through, but I just don't know where else to store that stuff. And the wardrobe is stuffed full of clothes for the next season. My mother and I buy stuff when its on sale, so we've been getting C some pretty cheap fall and winter clothes. Plus a family I know gave me a ton of clothes that C will be able to wear this winter.

I can't decide if I really hope we have another girl or not. If we do, we'll have plenty of clothes for her. If we have a boy next, we'll have to start all over. If C ends up being an only child, there's no need in keepin all this stuff! But how do you know?

So that's one more thing I can cross off my list. I still like opening up the door to C's closet and just smiling at how much better it looks! I'm a nerd like that. ( :


While cleaning out the closet, I found the t-ball stand that goes with a set C's had since she was a newborn. She's been playing with the super soft bat and balls (they're made for toddlers), but I had put the stand away for later, and then forgot about it. I had to explain to C what it was, but she immediately wanted to go outside and play ball. Then I found her tutu, and she said, "Mama, I want to wear my tutu and play ball!" So when the closet was finished, that's exactly what we did. I tied that tutu around her waist and we headed outside for some ball time. Man, I love my kid! ( :