These photos say it all. I worked side by side with a mom for 16 hours on this bedroom. (Not all on the same day). And then the girl’s mom worked an additional 5 hours alone. She remarked she was surprised how long it took to organize. It does take time to organize and clear clutter.

As you are getting rid of clutter keep this in mind:
Before:

After:

•Getting rid of clutter and tidying up are two different things entirely.
•Don’t try to do it all at once, work a little at a time. On this bedroom we did 4 hours at one time. (A combined time of 8 hours each day).
•Find homes for everything.
•If you don’t know where you want to put something take time to decide where it goes before moving on to some other place.
•Put things that don’t belong in the room in a BE (belongs elsewhere) basket to be removed later.
•Have containers (label plastic bags) for trash, donate and to sell as you are getting rid of clutter.

There are other plans for this room such as painting the walls buying new carpet and painting the dresser and bed. Now that we have gotten rid of the clutter Phase II can begin. The girl whose bedroom this is is thrilled and is now motivated to get rid of clutter rather than letting it pile up.

Product Review Friday:

Getting rid of clutter just got easier. As you may know I really like wooden hangers but here are some other hangers I think you will be interested in. As a professional organizer I have worked with many women who use these hangers in their closet and I do think they have some good things going for them.

Slimline hangers:
•They come in a variety of colors
•There is a built-in-hook which allows hangers to cascade
•Accessory bar organizes belts, scarves, or ties
•Nonslip surface holds clothing in place

12 of the slimline hangers take up 2.75 in (7cm) of space where 12 wooden hangers take up 6 in (15.2 cm) of space. So if you have very limited closet space this may be a good alternative to wooden hangers. I don’t know if clothes are more likely to get wrinkled when hung close together. They are great to hold clothes that otherwise would slip off of wooden hangers.
http://www.marilynbohn.com/images/blogfeb1910clothes.jpg
I bought these at Bed Bath and Beyond with my coupon so they were less than $9.00 with tax for 12 of them. The brand is Real Simple solutions. As you are getting rid of clutter in your closet take a look at your hangers and see if it is time to let go of the plastic and metal ones that are living there.

What is your favoriate hanger that helps you with clutter control?

I am grateful that as a professional organizer I am blessed to help others reduce clutter in their homes. This is from a client who decided to take action and reduce the clutter in her closet.

The first picture is of the things she took out of her closet like magazines, empty boxes and stuff she never used. Things were piled on top of each other and it was hard to get to what she really wanted. She also didn’t know what she had.

The second photo is what she paired everything down to—a few pages for reference that she will put into a notebook. All of the rest of the things (Except for the books in back that she moved to another area) she got rid of. By reducing clutter she:

•Can find what she actually wants when she wants it
•She created space
•She now has visually charming shelves.

What have you done to reduce clutter? We all can be inspired!

This week I want to talk about simplifying and streamlining to clear clutter. We are all busy doing what we like to do and with all our “to do lists”, meetings, obligations, shopping, food preparation and a zillion other things we have to do, not to mention exercise and hobbies by streamlining and simplifying what we do and what we have in our homes clearing clutter will become easier.

Let’s talk closets today: It is soon going to be the time of year to switch out seasonal clothes from Summer clothes to warmer clothes. If you have so many clothes in your closet that you can’t find anything to wear or you don’t like what you have here is a tip on how to clear clutter in your closet:

•Take stock of what clothes you own. Take everything out of your closets and drawers. Anything that doesn’t fit or that you never wear or you don’t feel fabulous wearing donate so you only keep what you wear. Your drawers and closets will be free of clutter so you can see what you have and what you need to purchase.
•When buying shoes, belts, purses or other accessories purchase pieces that will go with a number of outfits rather than with just one outfit.
•Organize clothes either by hanging complete outfits together or by type such as pants, skirts, dresses, and blouses together etc.

Do you need to simplify your closet? Is it arranged to save you time and frustration? What nifty tip do you have that has helped you clear clutter in your closet?

Does closet organizing get you down? Remember I am Showing and Sharing, these are not photos from a magazine. There are living and breathing people who use these spaces. Which means things are organized, but aren’t absolutely perfect.

As a professional organizer closet organizing is one of my favorite things to do. The messier the better as there is such great potential.

This is the hall closet. Coats are hung on wooden hangers with one hanger separating each person’s coats. This isn’t necessary, it is just something I am trying right now. On the top shelf are winter gloves and hats contained and easy to reach down when needed. The box with the vacuum bags is labeled so we don’t have to keep pulling it down and looking inside to see what is there. (I’m impressed I spelled vacuum right on the box).

An extra quilt is kept available for use in the nearby living room.

How do you clear clutter from your closet? What do you do to keep your closet organized?

I had a friend tell me she took my words to heart and she went into her master bedroom closet. She was on “mission clutter control”. She proudly said she now has nothing on her floor and is moving up higher in her closet.

After clearing clutter from the floor and the rods the next step in clutter control in the closet is the top shelve. Take everything down and decided if this is where the things need to live that were there. Are there items that can live there but need to be contained in containers? Are there other places and homes the things you found need to live?

Make a decision right now and find homes for everything and put the remaining items in your closet in containers to help keep them dust free. Label the containers if you can’t see in them and place neatly on the shelf.

Wow, stand back and enjoy your newly organized closet. As a professional organizer I get so excited when I see all the shoes and clothes organized so they can be seen and I just know it makes the person’s life so much easier and peaceful as it eliminates the frustration of wondering what to wear.

Have you heard the expression “The More You Have The Less You See”? This is true all over the house but today we are still talking about getting rid of clutter in the master bedroom closet. And when clothes are jammed in there it is hard to see what you have.

We now have our floor all tidy and organized so we are moving on to the closet rod in our quest of getting rid of clutter. Take everything out that is on the rod. If you share the closet with someone else just do one side at a time—I suggest doing your side first. It can be a chore to do this, but believe me it is worth it. Then you can see how much space you have and nothing can hide from you.

As you put your clothes back look at each one and evaluate if you like it, wear it, fit in it, is it clean or does it need repairing? Only put back clothes that you wear. Put them back in categories. All blouses together, casual tops, dressy tops and also divided by long or short sleeve. Put all pants together, dresses together and suits.

Get rid of wire hangers and plastic ones too. My preference is to use wooden hangers as they look beautiful and give your clothes some room so they don’t become as wrinkled. You don’t have to purchase them all at once, do this a little at a time and before you know it you will have all beautiful hangers. Around here IKEA is the most reasonable as far as price but I have seen them at Home Depot, Target and other variety stores as well.

Next week we will keep talking about getting rid of clutter in the master bedroom closet. You can get a really good start on the floor and on the clothes that hang this weekend.

“The woman or man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there”.

I chuckled when I first read this and then I read it again. But isn’t this the truth? To reach a goal or to change for the better it does take effort. This week we are talking about clearing clutter in our master bedroom closets.

Another tip for things found on the floor in the closet: As a professional organizer I often find gifts stuffed in closets. And many times the owner is surprised they even purchased the gift and are thrilled to have found it. I recommend putting all gifts you intend on giving away in one place in your home. The closet is fine if there is room. Put them in a container with a lid and place it where you can readily access it.

That may be in a container you roll under the bed, or in a container in the back part of the closet either on a shelf or on the floor. Or place it in a completely different room in a container on a shelf. When you need a gift it is so nice not to have to quickly run to the store or search the house for what you know you purchased but can’t find. And it certainly makes clearing clutter a whole lot easier when things are contained and you know where to find them.

What ideas do you use for clearing clutter on your closet floor?

How would it be to downsize from a 56,000 square foot home to a 17,000 square foot home? That is what Candy Spelling (mother of actress Tori Spelling) is faced with doing sometime this year.

Personally I can’t even imagine. Clearing Clutter is a problem for many of us but just think….it could be worse. This is a good time of year to think about clearing clutter in your home.

Let’s start today in our master bedroom closet. Take everything out of the bottom of your closet. Get everything up and off your closet floor. Chances are there are many pairs of shoes and stray boxes living there.

Now put shoes back that you wear. Toss the old ones that don’t match anything you now wear. Get rid of the worn out shoes with rundown heals—or take them to the repair shop. But don’t put them back in your closet. They go into the BE basket (Belongs Elsewhere) if they are going to the repairman or in the trash if they can’t be worn by anyone.

For the empty boxes, either recycle them or put them in a different place in your home. The garage might be the place for them or the storage room.

Oh, you had clothes on the floor? We’ll talk about those tomorrow. We can talk about clearing clutter in our bedroom closets all week long. Won’t this be fun? (It will too)

Do you have electrical tools that need recharging? When I start doing a project with my electric screwdriver and it only works for a few minutes it is so much harder to have to use a regular screwdriver and I wonder why I didn’t have it charged.

No matter how organized your closets, drawers and cupboards are it is a good idea to look through them about every three months or so and see if things are working for you and what if anything needs to be done to improve the way it is organized.

I was doing this in the space where I keep my rechargeable screwdriver and as I plugged it in I thought it was a good reminder for all of us to recharge tools before we have to use them.

Do you have some organizing tips about keeping closets and cupboards organized and what do you do to remind yourself to recharge tools before you need them?