Closet Cleaning Fun

Who doesn't love a clean closet? The wonder of being able to find your clothes and shoes was lost to me for the past few months (ok, ok years...).

The idea behind cleaning my closet was to be able to "shop my closet" and actually wear my clothes (as opposed to uniforms and PJ's all the time). It just feels so good to have a clean closet. It adds to my motivation for keeping everything clean. If everything has its place, it's easier to put it away!

I originally posted these pictures on the You Look Fab Forum.  You Look Fab Forum Closet Cleaning Post



So the first picture is the messy, messy closet! I had some plastic drawers in my closet to organize socks and undies etc. Yes those are my panties and my bras. Just had to show how messy it really was. I couldn't even close the door!



Next is the messy dresser. Ok, most of my clothes are folded, but they are all mixed up! It's hard to find anything to wear. You know us girls have a horrible time deciding what to wear... it's even worse when you can't find anything!



So I took everything out of the closet. I wiped down the shelves and vacuumed and steam mopped the floor.



Here is all the stuff I took out of the closet. Stuff everywhere! Clothes on pool table are all clean and have been there for about a week... not all mine, some are SO's.

Next in the process was sorting through my clothes. I had a huge donate pile of clothes I still had from middle school that I knew do not fit anymore! LOL Also had a trash pile for the things that are worn out... not much in that pile, mostly panties and socks. I made a store away pile for the things I just couldn't part with yet. If I don't go searching for them in the next year, they will be donated. Everything else goes in the keep pile.  Tiger Lily was helping!

I went to Wally World (it's all we have here in our small town) and bought 40 wooden hangers for about $25... I thought they would all match, but when I got them home for some crazy reason, 20 of them have black metal for the hook, and 20 of them have silver. Grrr!! It was the last 2 boxes they had or I'd take them back. Yes I'm that picky. I also got 8 skirt hangers and a few "shirt" hangers for some of my nicer coats in the front closet.

For around $10 I got the best invention ever, a closet extender. Made my 1 tier hanging space into 2! It adjusted to the perfect size for my closet!

The non-slip liner was left from another project a couple years ago, so I took advantage of something I already had at home.  This kept my shoes from slipping off the shelves and falling all over the floor.

After a few days of work, I thought to myself, "It's finally done!"

Having my closet organized has worked out amazingly! I've actually been wearing outfits more, cute shoes more, and it is a whole lot easier to get dressed! So much better!

I ended up with 5+ bags of stuff to donate.

I didn't think I would fill up the hangers, but I did! I even went back and edited to find my black plastic hangers and had just enough to put my dresses on those. I'll have to get more when I have some more money to spend. For now things are a little mixed up still.

I also donated my smaller drawers to SO's closet... the bigger ones don't fit in there. The 2 bigger ones I have left are holding socks and stockings/hose.  I also have a little tray on top for the things that come out of my pockets and my watch.

My dresser now has my lingere, tank tops/cami's, workout wear, tshirts, and pj's. Everything else will be somewhere in my closet. 

I think one shelf will have shorts for now, and another shirts that can be folded. My shoe shelves are working out wonderfully and they hold mostly nice shoes that don't get worn often. My boots are on the floor in a space. And I have a space behind my dresses that I will probably put my carry on suitcase as I don't have space elsewhere to store it and it doesn't fit under the bed.

I have so much vertical space left above the top shelves, I'm thinking about getting some more shelving... maybe some brackets and have boards cut at home improvement store to add shelving above to store seldom used items/ out of season stuff. Obviously I would have to have a step stool to reach it, but it seems like wasted space.

Note: The blank spots on the top shelves are for jeans and work uniforms. All my jeans and uniforms are in the laundry right now.

And I love my new mirror. I think my SO is using it more than I am!

I love the idea of using a tie hanger for accessories!  It works so well!

On a happy note, during all the organizing I found a favorite necklace I thought I'd lost forever! I had cried and cried over losing that necklace. Not anymore, and now I have a place to put everything!

Hope you like! Let me know if you have any ideas on how to make it better.