Organization Overhaul: Operation Closet

If you are anything like me, you love having things organized, with a place for everything and everything in its place.  This particular closet was a joke in our home.  When we moved in, we just stuck things in there that we knew we would store there, but for months I kept saying, "we really need to organize that closet!"  Every time I would attempt to find something in that closet, it took forever to find what I needed, and I often got attacked by falling items.  I dreaded opening that door.  I was seriously a little giddy when it was finally neat and organized.  Even my hubby appreciates being able to find what he is looking for.  I wish I remembered to take a before shot so you could see just how awful it really was.  But, I was so anxious to get organizing that I totally forgot!

During my mom's last visit, I told her that one of my birthday gifts would be helping me organize this closet!  We set off on a mission with measurements of all of the shelves and a list of the items that needed to be organized, to help us pick the right storage items.  All of the plastic bins and canvas totes came from Bed, Bath & Beyond, purchased with a combination of their awesome coupons. 

I used mini wooden rectangles that came in a pack from Michaels to make the labels, and sprayed them with chalkboard spray paint.  I used Chalk Ink Markers (also from Michaels) to write the contents of each bin on the label.  For the plastic bins, I used good ole' duck tape to stick the labels on the front of the bin.  It has held great!  For the canvas bins, I used a piece of 1 inch grosgrain wrapped around the top with a mini clothespin to hold it to the chalkboard label.  The grosgrain ribbon came from Dollar Tree and the mini clothespins came from the office supply aisle at Walmart.  If I ever want to change the contents of the bins, a damp cloth will wipe off the label.

It felt fantastic to check this task of of my ongoing to-do list.  And I still get excited every time I open the closet door.  I wonder how many minutes of my life were wasted hunting through this closet pre-organizational overhaul?  It only took an afternoon and it was 100% worth the effort.  What closet do you need to tackle?