Conquering Closet Clutter

One of my favorite blogs around to read is a blog by Jen called I Heart Organizing.  There is so much awesome inspiration and organizing tips and ideas - I can literally spend hours reading her blog sometimes.  So this week she is hosting a link up party all about conquering clothing clutter.  A few months back we conquered our crazy closet and organized and simplified it to make it way more functional.  I know I've shared the closet redo before so here are a few things we did to help cut the closet clutter.

Sometimes the first step is always the hardest when conquering your clutter - especially when it comes to cutting back your clothing.  There is always the thing in the back of your mind wondering, what if I will need that one day?  I think the best rule when purging your clothing is - if you haven't worn in the last year - you aren't going to wear it again, so get rid of it.  Purging, cutting back and minimizing your clothing is a life changer.  For one, you will wear more of what you own - because you can see it easier and two, it makes it easier to choose what to wear when you have less to choose from.

Something I really realized when we moved was how ridiculous it was to have so much clothing.  There is no need for a ton of shirts, cardigans, shoes or jeans.   When we simplified our clothing it felt really good knowing that I wasn't over doing it and wasting money.  I think part of conquering your clutter is also conquering your spending.  You don't need seven black shirts - really you just need one.  Seriously, I could be sponsoring a kid through compassion (probably many) with the money I was wasting on clothing.  It was a perspective change for me.

By the way, I love these space saving clothing hangers (they are probably my most favorite thing in our closet).  I found mine at Homegoods - the best price I could find.  Also, it limits the number of items I can have in my closet at a time.  I won't add a cheapy clothing rack so if I don't have an extra hanger, then I don't need it.  Just a way for me to keep things in check.

These itso storage bins were perfect for this little space and it required no building for us.

More itso bins for Justin, which also doubles as a shoe shelf.

We really don't have a lot of storage space so this closet is just about it for us, adding these bins with doors made a huge difference when it came to organizing Justin's things and keeping them neat and tidy.

I love our closet space and the fact that it allows us to live a more simplified life.  Conquering your clothing clutter is absolutely doable, sometimes it's just taking that first step.

Make sure you check out Jen's blog - I heart Organizing and all of the awesome closet link-ups!

Closet Organization Update

We are going to take a break from all things laundry and talk about a little closet update.  We've recently added more organization to our master closet redo so we thought we'd share the current status of this space.  Also, with all of the freshly painted doors and walls back there things are looking even better.

Let's take a peek inside...

It has come a far cry from this:

First, there was lots of painting - 

Walls: Olympic Silver Lake

Trim, Shelves, Door:  Olympic Off the Shelf White

Floor:  Olympic Steeple Gray - Darkened

Then came a lot of purging, simplifying and organizing -

So here is the before shot of my side of the closet, honestly there really wasn't much of any kind of organization going on in here and I really needed to do a major purge and clean out.

Here's my side today!  With the help of a few more itso storage cubbies and bins I have plenty of space for organizing all of my t-shirts, scarves and such.  I also love these new clothing hangers (from Homegoods) - they really do save space and I love the uniformity.  

I also picked up a little shoe stand at Target for cheap so now my shoes aren't piled on top of each other.

Here's Justin's side before.  He also had a couple of plastic drawers and all of his shoes were piled in that middle opening - if you squint you might can see that from this picture.

Now he has a nice neat spot for storing all of his things plus the side by side storage bins provide a shelf for his shoes.

The top shelf got a little love too...

One large itso bin for bulky sweatshirts and sweaters.

Justin's shelf needed major help.

Much better right?  These are the same itso storage cubes but with doors instead - helping to keep everything neatly tucked away and out of sight.

Our little closet door got a little face lift with some white paint and a cute new little knob.

We picked up this little knob at World Market on sale for $2.  I love this little added detail.

We are loving our simplified, organized and clean closet.  Simple living is something that is totally starting to take over our lifestyle - which if you know me is huge because I am known to hold onto something forever for the "just in case" moment.  There really isn't need for five different black shirts and ten pairs of flip flops, we found it to be just waste.  We are hoping that we (I) can continue to keep things simple - especially when it comes to our home.

 

So anyone else starting to get the spring cleaning bug?  

Linking Up Here:

Closet Reveal - So Far

This has been quite the journey for us this month as we have worked on this closet project and we are totally loving our new bright, fresh and organized space.  There are definitely things we would still like to do and add but it is a million times better than it was before. We have purged, painted, replaced, organized and cleaned our little hearts out.  So come take a look at what we have been up to:

Here is where we started, that classic ugly paneling that we have/had scattered across our house, ugly old linoleum and a closet stuffed with things that we just didn't need or use for that matter.

Everything was pulled out so we could begin the long task of purging and organizing.  This process took us weeks.  Mainly because we only had a few moments here and there to work on it.  After it was all said and done we got rid of 4 trash bags full of clothes and shoes and such - ready to be donated.  This project was not only about remodeling our closet but also a chance to simplify.  Did we really need five shirts that look almost exactly the same?  No. Did I need six pairs of flip flops when I always wear the same ones anyway? No.  So purged we did and wow, what a great feeling that was.

After, we had a clean slate to work with and everything was primed and painted - including the floor.  You can check out our how-to on paneling and floor painting for step by steps on what we did.  This was already a totally new space after all of the painting was completed.

 

Originally we had lots of plans to build storage ourselves but as time went on we realized that it just wasn't going to happen right now so we opted for something we wouldn't have to build or put together and was fairly inexpensive.  So off we went to Target (of course) and decided on the Itso organizers and bins.

Since we don't have a lot of clothing storage in our bedroom I need a space for things like t-shirts, pajamas and such so we picked up a few of these Itso storage cubes and bins.  I wanted to grab four but they were totally out of the white so I'm being patient and we will get one soon.  

I love these small Itso bins - right now I have scarves in one and the other is totally empty.  I can't believe I have a bin that is totally empty.  When I said we purged earlier, I really mean that.  I also grabbed another large bin for my top shelf to throw sweatshirts and sweaters in that I didn't want to hang.  Also on the top shelf are my boots and a jewelry stand.

So another addition was new hangers, I decided to go with the felt covered space-saver ones.  I picked up two packs at Homegoods (for $12.99, best price I could find) and then realized I didn't have enough. Of course, once I realized this and went back the green color I had already purchased was totally gone so I opted to grab some purple ones.  I decided it doesn't matter to me that they are different colors - they are still all uniform in size and shape.

I love these new hangers, they absolutely save on closet space.  So I got all crazy and organized my clothes by color.  Am I the only one who does that?

Shoes are something that got neglected in this project.  We plan on getting some shoe shelves in the future, but for now they have a spot on the floor.  

And, here is Justin's side - he is very proud of his neatness and organization.

His hangers didn't change much except for that he kept all of the plastic ones we had, another thing we will eventually do is grab some new hangers for him.

His shelf houses all of his pants, shorts and jeans.  And under he got a large Itso bin for all of his socks. 

So, that's pretty much it for now.  It's one of the places in our house that I love being in and now that we have a pretty and functional space we are hoping to keep it that way.

So one more quick before and after..

  We are so excited to be joining in with the Imagine the Impossibilities challenge.  Take some time to check out all of the great projects that have been a part of this challenge! And, thanks so much to all of the great blog hosts!

Thanks for joining us today!