‘Tis the season to be … jolly about having an organized closet!

Huh? Don’t have one of those? Or maybe you have one, but aren’t so jolly because the season changed on you, and now you need to access a whole different set of clothing?

For me, I solved the seasonal clothes “musical chairs” dilemma by having two closets – one consisting mostly of clothes for cooler weather; the other for warmer weather. One closet is a walk-in and the other is a reach-in.

However, I know that everyone doesn’t have two clothes closets in their bedroom. So, we manage with other solutions.

Most closet tips I read about suggest:

• Parring down your clothes
• Make room for the new season and store out-of-season clothing in space-saver bags within containers under the bed, or hung within mobile wardrobe storage closets.
• Grouping wardrobe pieces together that work together
• Parring down your clothes

Oh, did I mention parring down your clothes twice? Purely intentional, actually.

While the above are all good tips, in my professional opinion, I want to add my 2-cents about working with different size closets. Large or small, all closets have the same issues. And, it’s always about space.

With large closets, for example, it may not be such a problem to store all-season clothing in same space. Yet, the clothing area can still get out of control and end up too jammed packed with clothes, shoes, and accessories. That is because these things have a way of growing (especially if you’re a girl or woman!). Therefore, large or small, parring down becomes a necessity.

When it gets to parring down your clothing, the task is often performed during a seasonal change. No matter when it’s done, it involves setting aside some time to allocate for the sorting process.

• Do a closet sweep in sections. Sort through clothes by working on sections of your closet, like a few feet of clothing rod space, or shelf section.
• Have tools ready for sorting clothes. This would be boxes or bins or trash bags to place discarded clothing items to “donate”, and ideally a wheeled clothing rack for what you are keeping.
• Organize as you go. You can put some items you’re keeping within a section back on clothing rod in closet (to make room on wheeled clothing rack for next section). Do this by placing items back in closet by category or type of clothing, and color within that category.
• Repeat the sorting process. After the first closet sweep is done, do it again. This time, really evaluate whether you truly, really like it and/or will wear it again.
• Sort dresser drawers, too. Need I say more?

If you’re going a step further and doing a mini-closet makeover, consider replacing wire hangers with some space-saver hangers.  The Container Store has some fabulous solutions for hanging clothes that save on space, like the “huggable hangers”, or add-on skirt hangers, or tiered slack hangers.

There are also some good solutions to store your shoes and clothing accessories better, like for belts, ties, and scarves. And, speaking of scarves, since this is the season for those, here’s an over-the-door hook solution I use in one of my closets:

And ladies, for shoes, I really liked this shoe organization for shoes stored in boxes – having a photo of the pair of shoes on outside of the box! I’ve done a project like this for a client and, what fun!

Okay, now that your clothes are all sorted and organized, let’s make it easier to keep it that way …

My golden rule for clothing maintenance is:

WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING NEW, GET RID OF SOMETHING OLD.

No, I’m not yelling. I’m emphasizing.

If I buy an article of clothing or pair of shoes, I replace something in the closet with the new item. If I buy 3 new articles of clothing, I must discard 3 articles of clothing. Sometimes, this is not so easy and I have to go through my closet twice to find something I’m okay about parting with!

Now, after many years of applying this policy (or guideline, if you will), I’ve been able to manage my closet easily year-round, and no longer have to make “an event” out of it.

Of course, now that cooler weather is approaching, I do have an annual task to confront – my coat closet. And that is because I haven’t applied my closet policy in THAT closet! No biggie though. Doing that closet annually is good enough for me.

Happy sorting this season!

Get organized this year (and every year) by organizing some holiday tasks in advance and establishing “zones” for your holiday tasks.

You may also need to prepare your home for guests, therefore get ready to set the stage for your home to be guest-ready (just like home staging!).

Overall, getting organized for the holidays means being prepared. And being prepared involves several aspects unique to the holiday season.

Advance holiday planning

Here’s a checklist to help you with your holiday preparations:

• Gift list – Start making your gift list. Set a budget and try to stick with it! If you have a Smart Phone, the “Memo” app is great for listing your gift list. That way, when you’re out shopping, you can quickly view your list. You may also want to purchase a few extra gifts to have around for last minute or unexpected guests. I find that candy boxes are a good choice to have around.
• Holiday cards – Purchase holiday cards and get your card list ready. I suggest handwritten envelopes instead of printed labels, so extra time needs to be allocated for this task. You may want to order photo holiday cards, in which case, you’ll need more time planned to get these photos taken and ordered. Schedule yourself to mail out cards at least two weeks in advance of the holiday.
• Holiday events– Plan your holiday events well in advance to establish your party guest list and meals. Creating a holiday menu will help you create a shopping list of all the ingredients you’ll need when you go to the grocery store.

Holiday organization

Try these solutions to make the holiday season easier for you:

• Gift wrap zone – set up an area of a room to wrap gifts, if possible. You can bring out your gift wrap, gift labels, scissors, and tape. If you have a portable, folding table, you can use this for a wrapping table.
• Gift zone – establish an area to store purchased gifts, ideally in the gift wrap area. To hide them from prying eyes, you could put them in a locked luggage case.
• Holiday containers – keep your holiday stuff stored in clear plastic bins / containers so that you can keep everything categorized together.

Decorating for the holidays

The best part of the holidays is also the fun part. You can get into the spirit of the holidays with these tips:

• Declutter your rooms – don’t let clutter grab people’s attention – make sure your holiday decor grabs them instead.
• Schedule decorating day – You can make an appointment to do this with the family or with friends. Bring out the tree and decorations and have a good time!
• Keep it simple – try not to overdo it with too many decorations that clutter up and overwhelm the space. Put certain holiday pieces out in certain places, making a couple of them a focal point in the room.

See some more holiday decorating tips.

Make your home guest ready

This is often the time of year when guests come to visit. Here’s how you can make your home welcoming:

• Stage gathering areas – These areas would include any areas that a guest will find themselves in, like the kitchen, family and/or living room. It might also include outdoor areas, like the patio. Move out any clutter and add some decorations. You’ll also want to make sure the guest bathroom is clean and tidy.
• Schedule cleaning day – Whether you have a house cleaner or you’ll do it yourself, don’t wait until the last minute to rush around and clean your house before guests arrive. If you need a house cleaner, make sure you schedule in advance before they get booked up and unable to come when you need them.
• Prepare guest room – For house guests, check your linens and make sure blankets and towels are clean. You may want to clear out some space in closet or dresser drawers for your guest’s clothing items. Remove any personal, private items you don’t want guests to see. And, if there will be small children, you should child-proof the room, like covering electrical outlet plugs.

I recently wrote an article for The Organized Home Club called “Creative & Decorative Organizing Solutions” that shows how to store stuff in decorative ways.

In the article, there are pictures taken from around my own house showing the various ways I use decorative storage solutions to store certain items in that I want handy. I wanted to share some of these here so you can see how creative we can get!

For instance, I love books around, and use these fake books (often mixed with real books) to store stuff in. Some open up as a box, and others open out as stacking drawers.

With an abundance of decorative shelf baskets in stores these days, it has allowed us to create a more pleasant appearance in our spaces. Wicker and canvas baskets are the most popular, and come in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

Then, there’s those decorative old small luggage cases. I use these to hide away and store items that I don’t have storage room for, and also want to keep handy (nearby).

There are so many creative storage solutions, and we only need to look around at what we already have, or what you see in a store while you’re out shopping.

For other ideas, read “Creative & Decorative Organizing Solutions” and see if this sparks ideas for you!

Beginning to embark on your decorating or remodeling adventure can hold all the excitement as creating your dream vacation trip. At least, during the visionary stage, that is. After that, the excitement can often get curtailed when you become overwhelmed with dozens of choices, mounting expense receipts, and the various contractors hired to a task on the project.

Enters in …

The Project Organizer

This is your own custom-made project book in a binder. It’s sort of like a school notebook. All you need to create your own Project Organizer tailor-made for you is:

• A 1-2″ three-ring binder
• Subject divider tabs
• Clear plastic sheet sleeves
• Pocket sheets
• Hole-punched paper
• Pencil holder pouch for a notebook binder

The type of category sections in your binder can be things like:

• Inspirations (for magazine clippings of favorite furniture, home furnishings and decor, color schemes)
• Plans (budget plans, general makeover plans, floor plans, etc)
• Contractors
• Samples
• Style Boards

You can have specific categories for remodeling projects, such as flooring, lighting, cabinetry, fabrics, furniture, etc. You can even use categories relating to each room you’re remodeling, like master bedroom, master bath, kitchen, etc.

The main idea for categories is to keep “like items” together relating to your project.

As for the pencil holder pouch, you can use that to hold receipts relating to the project. It keeps everything together in one place, making it easy to find receipts faster if you want to return something.

The clear plastic sheets and pocket sheets can be used to hold clippings or loose paper you accumulate without the need to hole-punch them.

“The Book” is not too complicated, and is very easy to put together yourself. It often takes on a life of its own, so be mindful for expansion! These kind of project books are something you can refer to and store away easily when you’re done.

Online Decorating Tools

Here are a few places that you might find helpful in your decorating project:

• Floor planner
• A Styleboard
• How to choose a color scheme
• Color Palette Generator (from an image)
• Color blending

Getting in a tidy car feels as good as entering a tidy room, and visa versa – getting into a messy car feels as bad as entering a messy room.

I find it interesting that some of my friends who have tidy homes are not necessarily the same about their cars. One would think that the habit of tidiness is something that would spill over into other areas of that person’s livingness or living spaces. And, a car is one of those living spaces. However, I don’t find that the tidy habits at home are always applied to the car.

The reason this subject even comes to mind is because we are now in the Summer months and it is hot, and having to wait outside the heat while your friend is moving things around in their car so you can get inside is not so fun.

So I thought I would vent here (which I think I already did).

Car Habits to Maintain Order

Personally, I have “car habits” that were adapted from the time I got my first car. Here are a few of my habits that I hope will help you maintain order in the car:

• Routine de-cluttering: When I get out of the car, I take any trash with me, as well as any items that go back into the house. I leave no car-clutter inside when I’m done using it.
• Containment for storing items: Whenever I find that I need to keep certain things inside the car, I get an item to contain it – like a car organizer, or special carry-bag for papers or whatevers. I use a bag hung on the headrest of the seat to store my fabric grocery bags and another bag on other headrest for trash.
• Clearance of floor space: Because my dog often travels with me, I make a point to keep items off the floor of the car where she needs to make that jump inside. But this habit is also good so that your people passengers who are getting inside don’t have stuff to step over or on top of.

With this simple habits, I’ve managed to keep my car orderly and tidy. The only other thing is the handling of your gadgets, which you can read about from an article I read called “How to Organize and Maintain Your Car To Save You Time, Money, and Effort.