Every year one of my new years goals is to organize and declutter around my home. I’m sure I’m not the only one who adds this to New Years Resolutions ……and I’m also sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t get done as much as I intend. We moved in to our current home coming upon 3 years and although it was move in ready, I still have a lot I want to do to make it ours. And I’m always looking for ways to make things work better and more efficiently for my family. But there are some tasks that just seem daunting and tedious, therefore I put them off and try to avoid them as much as possible. Right now decluttering is all the rage. My FB feed is full of ‘if it doesn’t bring you joy get rid of it,’ apparently everyone’s doing it. I don’t have time for that. If everyone’s doing it there is a 99.9% chance I’m not, lol! But seriously though, I know what areas of my home I need to work on to better organize, clean out and/or declutter but getting to them is another story!
Last week I started with my linen closet which I’ve been putting off forever. The problem is that my kids are in and out of there getting towels for showers or sheets to build forts. They don’t really care about the mess they leave behind when they get out what they need. Which means my neatly folded piles are all over the place and things are shoved back in without any care. Every so often I attempt to tidy up the closet but in actuality I pull out a pile or two, refold and put them back in without doing the entire closet. This time I decided to pull everything out and throw it on my bed that way there was no turning back, no cheating and I’d be forced to do it all. I took out all the crappy towels to use as rags, made a pile we don’t need to donate and decided to make room under each kids bathroom sink for their own pile of towels. This way they have no reason to even be in that closet…wishful thinking! I even got rid of all the remaining crib and toddler sheets, finally! Here’s my before and after pics, let’s hope I can keep it this tidy for a while.
This week I worked on my kitchen drawers and my jewelry. Let’s start with my kitchen utensil drawers which I’m so embarrassed to share. 🙈 They are super long and don’t have any dividers, so that and the constant opening & closing make it chaos. Recently at Bed, Bath & Beyond I stumbled upon the Madesmart collection of products and I was in love. I bought a few small, individual trays to organize my junk and silverware drawers a little better but I didn’t realize how much stuff they actually carried until I went online. I came across the large expandable utensil trays and ordered 2 of the grey with 2 BBB coupons. They expand all the way and fit perfectly in my drawers vertically. They are amazing! The expandable ends pop in and out and fix in place with plastic pegs like the little pegs on the back of a baseball cap, so you can set it exactly where you need it and it locks in place. Now nothing moves when I open & close my drawers, and everything has its place!
Last but no least, my favorite item EVER was for organizing my every day jewelry. I have a freestanding jewelry armoire so in theory everything should be nice and organized. 🙄Not true!! But the jewelry that I wear most often, I tend to toss on top so I can easily grab it the next day. Well …..it was getting a bit out of control! I hate digging through the drawers especially if I’m in a rush so more often I’ll just leave the house with out any more than my watch and rings on. Recently I was eying the Lauren Conrad jewelry organizers at Kohls but wasn’t looking to pay $36-$50. I was online last week and they finally went on sale! So I ordered the blush pink double jewelry bar and tray for under $15. There were about three different styles and a couple of colors, but I really love the two bars so I have one for watches and one for bracelets. This way I can keep the jewelry I’m wearing lately right on top to grab, then seasonally I can switch out from what’s in the drawers. And it just looks so pretty!💕
https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-3373044/lc-lauren-conrad-gray-double-jewelry-bar-tray.jsp
I know it’s daunting and hard to get started, but pick one thing a week and I promise once you start you’ll be on a roll!!
Not sure what to tackle next….pantry, closets, we shall see. But now that I’ve lit the fire and started, I’m excited so stay tuned!!
~Elena 💖
Elena And Erin.....It Is What It Is 