Thursday, April 29, 2010

Exorcize Your Closet Monster

Do you have one? You know, one of those closets – the kind that makes you cringe when you open the door? Have you lost articles of clothing (or maybe even one of the grandchildren) somewhere in the closet, never to be seen again? Well, it’s spring. Maybe it’s time to tackle that monster in your closet and get organized.

First off, you’ve got to get everything out and tossed into one of three piles: “Keep”, “Donate”, and “Toss”. If you want to keep it, no problem. If it’s time to get rid of it, then be honest – if it’s wearable, you can donate it to your favorite thrift store or have a garage sale to get rid of it. If it’s seen better days, then throw it out. If you’re like me, the next thing you have to do is actually drive the ‘Donate’ things to the thrift store and drag the ‘Toss’ pile to the curb. (If I save it to do later, it will just end up back in the closet until I get time to ‘deal with it later’.)

Next, looks at the “Keep” pile. Decide what needs hangers, what goes on shelves, which items would be best stored in drawers, and if you need any ‘special’ storage for some items. Once you have your inventory, then you can get to work on deciding the best remedy for your storage needs. There are all sorts of boxes, bins, hooks, and tags you can pick up at housewares or container stores to suit your situation.

A more permanent solution might be to install a closet system to solve your storage problems. They can range from simple shelves and coat storage for the excess stuff in your hall closet, all the way to a fashionista’s master closet dream. The choice is yours. If you’re handy, you can tackle this yourself. If you hire a professional for this, they will sit down with you, evaluate your storage needs, survey your closet inventory, and tame the closet monster you’ve been living with all this time.

So steel your nerves, fling open the closet doors, and kick that closet monster out once and for all.

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