Saturday, September 20, 2008

6 Bags Lighter

After reading this post today, I thought I'd share my good news for the day. After the early softball practice this morning [for Therese and Fia, not me ;)], I decided to once and for all tackle our master closet.

My dear husband was so kind to install a new closet system last year, which really utilizes our space in there. Unfortunately, not in the way it was intended.

I started using our homemade ottoman in there as a small ironing pile. Boy, did that thing get out of control. Whenever I took out all the ironables from the dryer, I'd put them into a pile and carry them straight to my small pile. The boys shirts, Paul's shirts, an occasional pair of pants for one of the girls, Paul's pants... one load at a time, they went right on top of the ottoman. Clearly, the problem was that I did not keep up with ironing as I should have. Another problem - we keep our ironing board/iron in our closet too. The board is usually a piece of furniture in there - we have to work around it. But not only that, where else do you think clothes go? Yep, on top of the ironing board. Piles create more piles. I've seen it! It isn't pretty.

So today I just started cramming clothes in bags. Some things I just had to part with. Some I had to trash. Some should never have been bought in the first place!

I did have some clothes that still had tags on them - they were given to me by a neighbor. I'll try and sell those on eBay.

So 6 bags of clothes later, a little trash thrown away, the closet vacuumed - I had a nice clean and roomy closet. I'll have to post a picture tomorrow! I drove them up to Goodwill down the street and heaved a sigh! It's a good feeling to be lighter!


It's difficult to get a picture of your closet - especially with the zoom lens on!


The drawers I used to keep the wrapping paper and supplies in. I just threw in my old purses in there in the meantime. For the wrapping paper, I bought an under the bed plastic container at Target. It's long enough for those longer rolls too. Plus I have plenty of room for supplies. I used a smaller box for all those gift bags/tissue paper which also fits under the bed. I could put them up on a shelf in my closet, but I want the kids to be able to have access to the boxes.

Here's the ottoman Paul and I made about 7yrs ago. Its base is MDF - so it's a real substantial piece.

The best $8 I've ever spent! I love this iron holder. I didn't take any before pictures, but just try and imagine not seeing carpet on the floor and clothes everywhere, and my small ironing pile on top of the ottoman ;) Surprisingly enough, it didn't take that long to clean it out. Now I just need to MainTain!

Oh, you may be wondering what I did with my small ironing pile... I just hung them all up. I'll iron them as needed! At least that's my plan ;)

7 comments:

Regina said...

ack, i too am an ironer....the prospect of ironing as i go though would make me bonkers. usually i iron on wednesday and on saturdays during football games.
r

Shelly said...

that's cause you're a *good* homemaker ;)

Sara said...

Have you ever done the ironing test? Iron something and then see how it looks 15 minutes later. Usually it looks like it did before ironing. I've never been able to make myself iron (except as needed) and I always wore wrinkled clothes.

Now, I keep hangers in the laundry room and hang all the hangables as they come out of the dryer, instead of leaving them rumpled in a basket for hours (where children will sit on them!). This little step makes a big difference---very few things need to be ironed now.

Shelly said...

yes, a SmartMartha you are!! I don't have a place to hang things in my laundry room - but i need to start hanging as they come out. My dh's dress shirts need to be ironed, and sometimes the kids' things just look 'fresh' when they're ironed - There's something about a sleeve with a crease :)

Motherhen said...

I don't iron my own clothing, but I do like Redd & the boys' clothing ironed for Mass. That's about the only thing I'm ironing though.

I tried to be an ironer, but I just can not do it!

Your closet looks great. Do you play the guitar?(at Mass??haha!) Since I've lost weight (pat pat) I've got a huge pile of clothing that doesn't fit. I hate to bring it to goodwill, but it's taking up so much room in the closet. If I bring it to the attic, I'll never see it again, nor will it ever get to the goodwill. If I keep it and gain the weight back, I'll be so bummed out, but if I gain the weight back, i'll need the fat clothes!

What to do what to do!

Shelly said...

Dh plays. And dd#2 is taking lessons. The younger 2 girls are starting piano this week [yay!].

i know what you mean about the clothing size, paula. let me know what you decide!

Jessica Gordon said...

I am *SO* behind in reading blogs... and have totally missed it!! Tonight is my catch up night, at least for awhile. :)

That is awesome that you were able to get rid of so much. Isn't it great to have a clean closet!

I am still working on sorting through my youngest daughters clothing.. ugh! It is taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!!