Back to School II

Heya Nesters!  I am back with you on this bright Monday Morning with an albeit late follow up post to Thursdays Back to School post.  We discussed consigning, donating and throwing away some of your clothes to make room for that oh-so-cute new Autumn attire.  Or just to clean things up and declutter. So now what are you supposed to do with all those things you are keeping?

Most apartments are a pretty tight squeeze for all of your loot you've gathered over the years-- or maybe that's just me? But with our decluttering {first step in the right direction} being over and donewith, we can start maximizing our space and making things look cohesive and put away.  I am a strong believer that everything has its place. Every single item in your house should have its own home. Just as your forks, knives and spoons are put in a certain drawer and a certain container, your clothes should be the same. How many times have you picked through a drawer looking for that perfect outfit you wore last fall but you cant find it because your tees are with your blouses which are under your jeans and socks?! Yikes! Well lets solve this now.

Ikea has a great product for organizing those clothes that you are not only keeping but want to keep out, and in your drawers for use right now. Its the Kompliment series fabric bins that fit in all Ikea dressers, and can fit like a puzzle in most others as well. And for only $9.99 you can probably afford to get a few sets to organize the bejeezus out of your drawers.

If you dont want something quite so jigsaw, Amazon carries several differnt kinds of drawer dividers. These ones from Orderly Drawer are made of natural wood which would compliment any dresser.  

Now lets tackle how to go about dividing them up... Set your clothes in piles on your bed: jeans, slacks that don't need to be hung, shorts, activewear, nicer shirts {ones you could wear to work or nicer occasions}, tee's for the weekend and hanging out, tanks for layering and nice tanks. Now, put them in the pile in order of use. The ones you know you wear, you love and can't live without- go on top. This way, you're not digging to the bottom to get them.

For those hanging garments, organize them in a similar fashion: tops, skirts, slacks, dresses/suits.  Once divided, sort them by color for easy matching in the morning when some bleary eyes can't tell the difference between black and navy, you'll know what your reaching for. It seems excessive at first but once its done, you wont know how you ever lived without it.

Ok now lets wrap this up with some tips on what to do with those babies that will be packed away for the seaons.  Under the bed is a fantastic place to put the majority of your clothes.  Get a few under bed storage bins. These from Sterilite are sturdy and will hold up under lots of pulling in and out from under the bed. I have a combo of those plastic containers and one of these large Skubb fabric storage containers from Ikea that I recently had to replace because the zipper broke after about a year of rare use. Given, it is only a $10 investment for one of these versus a heftier investment in the Sterilite plastic container but over the long haul, the plastic are a better, sturdier, safer investment.

There is also the option of a wooden drawer for under the bed but this leaves clothes exposed on the top to dust, moths and any pets you may have. {My mothers cat loves to use this space as her bed and that would not be okay with me or my hibernating clothes.} So this isn't my favorite option but an option nonetheless.

Now, the secret to it all. No matter what receptical you end up with, wood, plastic or fabric.  Be sure to throw in some cedar liner.  With a fabric bin you may find it hard to "line" the bottom so perhaps you could use a Cedar Sachet or a Cedar and Lavender spray to keep clothes fresh and moth-free without smelling like your grandmother and her mothballs.   The cedar liners are great for any solid surfaced drawer. It could be MDF or real wood, adding the cedar drawer liner will look fantastic and again keep clothes fresh and sans moth. There are 2 kinds of liners: 1) The panks like these:

Or 2) The roll like these:

I have heard that the planks can tend to splinter a bit so I would use your own discretion when deciding which direction to go in with your purchase.

With all these tips, you will be sure to have a perfectly organized, easy-to-find waredrobe and will help you prevent any hair-pulling caused by the inability to find your favorite shirt that you could have sworn was in this drawer last week!!

Happy Organizing!!