Making Progress

by | Apr 27, 2008 | Organization | 10 comments

Thank you everyone for your encouragement! I am not done, but I am making progress!

Now, before I show you some more photos, I want to defend myself in regards to that HUGE mess. My closet is not a “typical” closet. First of all, I was moving around tons of furniture this past month, which caused many things to become homeless. Secondly, one of the drawbacks to our home, is that it has very little storage space. We don’t have a basement. We don’t have an attic. (I do have a small storage closet in the school room, where I save baby clothes… I’m so thankful for the school room!). Our garage isn’t the greatest… It is detached from the house, and it is filled with lizards, black widows, rattlesnakes and bats, so I am totally scared of going out there. (We hope to finish it off and seal it up, but in the meantime, I only store our Christmas items and camping gear–carefully sealed up–and that’s it!) Then to make matters worse, none of my children’s bedrooms have closets. We were given my sisters old armoire for the girls room, and my hubby put closet organizers along one wall of the boys room, but it just isn’t the same. So, basically my closet has become the storage place for everything that doesn’t have a home in our house.

So, that said, I am very excited about my progress, even if I’m not quite done.

Here is a quick look in the door, and behind the door. Ah! So nice to be able to open and shut the door without anything in the way. There is still quite a bit of stuff that I wish I didn’t have to store in my closet, but there really isn’t any where else for it. For example, that big plastic tub has all the kids snow gear in it. Where else can I put it??

And the top shelf is where I keep serving dishes that just won’t fit in my kitchen cupboards. Peter Walsh would disagree with this probably, since he says to keep everything in it’s zone, but our house was built in the 50’s and our kitchen is small. Some day we will remodel it, and add on a Dining room, but in the meantime they will stay there for now…

Here is a closer look at the shelves:

Looking at them all together like that, they still look cluttered, and I am sure there is even more stuff that I can get rid of, but I am SO EXCITED to actually have a couple EMPTY shelves!

Alright, now my clothes… A couple weekends ago I tried most everything in my closet on for hubby, and ended up getting rid of half of my clothes. I still have too much… at least too much that doesn’t fit! So, I hope to go through it again soon. It’s just so hard to know what to keep and what to get rid–especially when I have worn about 6 different sizes in the last few years! 😉

And last of all… Here is a quick glimpse at what I still need to find homes for:

The photo on the left is mostly all pictures. We need to go through them and decide what we want to hang up, and the rest will have to go. The pile on the right belongs mostly in the school room. I don’t have a file cabinet, so today I picked up a file crate, and I hope to begin implementing Dawn’s file crate system.

OH. I’m tired now! It was quite a workout running up and down the hall all day putting things away!

I’m so glad that I am almost done, and THANKFUL that tomorrow is Sunday. A day of rest!! 🙂

10 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    Jessica,
    I’m so impressed! It has motivated me to begin the “purge” of our black hole of a closet. ‘
    Have a blessed Sunday of rest!
    Love,
    Kathleen

    Reply
  2. Christine

    Jessica, You’ve done an incredible job. I really appreciated your “mess” photos because it made me realize that I still have a long way to go.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    I think you did a great job! I hope you like Dawn’s system. I’ve been doing it that way almost two years now (previously I used three ring binders) and I LOVE it!

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    Wow, Jessica–not only is it beautifully organized, but what a beautiful space to work with!! Our house was built in about 1860, and they didn’t worry much about closet space back then (‘course they had lots else to worry about!!). As a result (and because we just have too. much. stuff.), there is clutter galore around here. But I am totally inspired by your amazing efforts just the same!! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Jessica Gordon

    Thank you everyone!!

    Kathleen — Your comment made me realize just how many people have now seen my mess! I’m so embarrassed!! 🙂 I wonder what my mother-in-law is thinking!! 😉 Good luck on your own closet!

    Christine — I’m sure you are doing just fine!!

    Paula — I’m so glad to hear of others using Dawn’s filing system, and liking it!! I can’t wait to get started! It is so awesome to have all these women sharing what works for them.. It keeps me inspired and motivated!

    Eileen — Oh! I’m sure your home is SO neat, since it was built back then!! But it’s true, they sure didn’t put much storage in old houses back then, did they?!? Ours is partially our own fault, since when we added on to our home, we didn’t want to upgrade the sewer system–it was working fine, and very expensive to do–so our kids bedrooms are actually “bonus” rooms. We have a 2 bedroom, 3 bonus room house! lol!! Plus, we were trying to keep it as affordable as possible. We did put as much storage as we could in the new Master Bedroom, and so that is why I have such a great big closet, and my hubby’s is a good size too! (now you all can see why he didn’t want to share one with me…can you blame him!) I am impatient when it comes to finishing our addition–adding a dining room and family room to the other side of the house, and remodeling the kitchen–but it will probably be years from now, so I have to figure out how to make it work for the time being!

    Well, we are off to Mass! Have a Blessed Sunday everyone!

    Reply
  6. Cheryl

    We have boxes of pictures to go through in our basement. Your before (other post) and after pictures are great. Keep up the good work!

    Reply
  7. Jamie Jo

    Wow!! Great job!! Your closet looks great!! Doesn’t it feel good? I bet you keep looking at it, don’t you?

    You have rattlesnakes? Oh, my gosh!! I thought those were only in like…the desert! Scarey!!

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    Oh my goodness!!! You have been sooo busy!!! What a great job you did! I agree with Jamie, if you are like me…you will keep looking at it…LOL Anytime I get something to look the way I want, I feel so proud when I walk by and see it..isn’t that silly 🙂 I love doting about an accomplishment…hehehe

    Reply
  9. JoAnn

    Good Job Jess!!! :]

    Reply

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