Settling In

I have finally, officially, certifiably, and undeniably moved. I have been living between two homes now for almost a year and we finally sold our home. Sadly because of the market it wasn't a good thing financially, but to have some finality in my life it is worth it. I finally feel as if I can settle in our rental home at the beach now. I have all my furniture and things here. Quite a bit is in storage, but the fun part is choosing what to use here.

I love to organize. So as I settle in our home here I am organizing everything. I just wanted to share a few organizational tips that may help you in your home.

First off, let's take a look at my personal sock drawer. Yes, that's right. My sock drawer. I found these wonderful organizers at Home Goods. I miss Home Goods. I don't have a Home Goods here where I live. It really is quite easy to organize your sock drawer like this and keep it like this. It is so nice to just open my sock drawer and grab a pair of socks. No searching for the match. They are all neatly arranged and so easy to find.

Next, my closet. I first learned to reduce my clothing. I used to hold on to clothes thinking I would wear them again and never did. Everything was hung on all types of plastic and wire hangers. Nothing was hung evenly. At my home that just sold I had installed a very nice closet system. I had shelves for my shoes and fold up clothes and a bar for my shirts and jackets and a bar for my pants and skirts. I am now in a rental home and it is back to the lovely wire rack shelving. I am making the best of it and wanted to share how I stay organized in my closet.

Please keep in mind that my closet is small. Which is good. It keeps me from collecting too many things. This closet serves as my clothes closet as well as scrapbooking and crafts so it is pretty cramped. I like to hang my clothes in like colors. I start with skirts, then pants, then short sleeve shirts. I hang all like colors together. This makes it so much easier when you are getting dressed. If I know what I want to wear, it is easy to find this way. I then hang all long sleeved shirts (in like colors of course) and then jackets. Once you organize your clothes like this, it is very easy to maintain. Another tip is to replace your hangers with nice ones. All the same. It can be costly so if you need to budget, just grab a few packs of hangers each week until you have replaced them all. I purchased mine at Wal Mart. I now only use one type of hanger for everyone's clothes in our home. Everything hangs neat and uniform.

Also, the shelves and fabric cube boxes you see are from Target. They work great.

Don't let organizing scare you. Just take one drawer at a time. In fact, if organization does not come natural for you, just start on your sock drawer. Really. Find some organizational trays like the ones I have used. Dump out your sock drawer. Go through all the socks. Throw away anything you will not wear or that does not have a match. Reducing is also part of organizing. Then put each pair neatly away in your cubes. You will be glad you did. Then you can move on to another drawer. And who knows, maybe you could even tackle a closet next!

Be Inspired. -Karol