Organization: Questions and Answers

Maybe because it's January or maybe because it's literally 65 degrees outside (I know, it's January. What's up with that?!), but I felt like a little spring cleaning today.

Question: Wouldn't you think that kids would love to play outside in the nice weather today?
Answer: You could think that. But you would be wrong.
I tried to get the boys to play outside in the nice weather, but they would have nothing to do with it. Weirdos. I could force the issue and go to the park, but it's supposed to rain and I just know that if we went to the park it would rain as soon as we got there. Murphy's Law and I are not friends.

So I've been cleanin' and organizin' all morning. Here are some of the organizing projects I am most proud of. (I just wish I had thought of taking before shots. Then again, maybe not. They were pretty bad!)

Reorganizing the coat closet

The top was a jumble of board games, sports equipment, and extra winter gear, and the bottom was stuffed to the brim with winter coats. I moved three coats that are not currently being used (and won't be in the near future) so that we didn't have to literally stuff our coats when hanging them up anymore. Shocker: we even have room to hang up a few guest coats!

I also reorganized my winter gear, putting the hats, scarfs, gloves, and umbrellas that we use most in the hanging shoe rack I use for this. (See photo below.) All the extras are in a bag up on the shelf.


Question: Is there such a thing as too much winter gear? (i.e. hats, coats, scarfs)
Answer: No way, Jose! Even growing up in CA we had a basket of winter stuff that we seemed to use quite a bit. (Although we might have been wimps then - it rarely got lower than 40 degrees!)

I am no longer scared of an avalanche when I open the coat closet door. And as Martha would say, this is a Good Thing.

Reorganizing the linen closet

This closet had needed reorganizing since the day we moved in! Sheets and all sorts of random things were stuffed onto every shelf. I decided to make this narrow closet exclusively for linens. Except for a box of scented candles that I won at bunko once - I like the way they make the closet smell.

We inherited a ton of sheets from my Dad and Susie after they got married. Having a lot of extra sheets is actually pretty handy, as you can imagine. (Think midnight emergency bed-changes.) But upon closer inspection I discovered sheets that had "Honduras Tegucigalpa Mission" (where my brother served) written on them and pillow cases that were once white but were now yellow. Ewww. On the plus side, I also found three table cloths that I hadn't seen in ages and had figured the house elves had stolen. Hooray!

Question: Is there anything more futile than trying to fold fitted sheets?
Answer: Nope.

Hence the rolled sheets at the very bottom. I hate folding those things. And with ten to fold, that's a whole lot of hate.

Reorganizing the medicine cabinet

Okay, I actually did this a couple of months ago. But I kept meaning to blog about it and just always forgot. Anywho, we don't really have a medicine cabinet, so we were keeping all of our stuff in a Rubbermaid box in the bathroom closet. I bought this box at IKEA for $10 and printed the labels. Voila! I am happy every time I see it.

Actually, I am happy whenever I organize something.

Question: Does that make me a freak?
Answer: Perhaps. But a happy freak who knows exactly where everything is!