Franes First Episode of Hoarders

I don't know how it happened, but our house could be eligible for an episode of Hoarders (which I watched for the first time while visiting SIL Michelle).   Seriously, this weekend I cleaned out our storage area and my closet and I took out 20 bags of items to be donated and 5 bags of trash!!   Now before you call protective services on me, keep in mind most of my stuff was either in my closet or in Rubbermaid containers (toys the kids aren't playing with and clothes they've outgrown).  But still - how did we accumulate so much stuff?

STEP ONE:  THE FRIDGE

For whatever reason, I was inspired to clean and organize my fridge.  While cleaning and organizing I realized I had 3 jars of mayonnaise, 4 bottles of mustard, 2 bottles of soy (you get the idea).  But now that everything has its place, I'm not duplicating products.

The Organized Fridge

I have a tub for healthy snacks and a tub for salad supplies.  Otherwise, I have my entire fridge LABELED with the following:  salad tub, dressings, bread spreads, meat, snacks, drinks, pickled goods, eggs, miscellaneous, and dairy.  The drawers are labeled as cheese, potatoes, and onions.  What a difference and now it's impossible for me to buy triple of something already located in my fridge.


STEP TWO:  MY CLOSET

Never let me wait two years to clean out my closet

So, it took me about 1/2 an hour of complete concentration and I was able to transform my mess into this:

The organized closet - it's a walk in but you can't tell.  On the sides you will
find my fashion hats, scarves and belts in CLEAR totes.

Because of my utter lack of organization, I discovered I own 7 pair of black yoga pants, 5 black cardigans, 4 pair of identical black leggings AND 80 dollars!   My new organizational skills are going to help me save money - I'm sure of it.   I organized my closet from left to right hats, belts, summer shirts, summer dresses, summer skirts, winter shirts, sweaters, blazers, winter dresses, and winter suits.  Think of all the time I'm going to save - every morning I was going through EVERYTHING trying to find something to wear and now I can go right to the winter side.



STORAGE ROOM

And, this lead me to our laundry room which was completely full of Rubbermaid boxes full of toys the kids no longer played with and clothes that had been handed down.  Trust me, it was FULL and now:

The cleaned up storage room - whew!

I also organized my spices and made myself an "office" where I can actually blog and pay bills uninterrupted.  But, for the sake of making my blog too long I'll save that for a later date.

My goal is to organize one small area a week - just one a week and it's made such a huge difference!!  It's also helped that I've actually been staying home at night and on weekends.

I must say I'm thankful for Chad too - since he's unemployed he has been cleaning the house giving me time to focus on organizing and purging.

Do you have a method organizing or a tip for me??   I. Must. Do. Better.

Happy Monday,

Kristin