Closet Organization for Joyful Living

Closet organization, while it may seem complicated and daunting, is actually one of the most satisfying and straightforward tasks when tackling a room. After you’ve channeled all of that wonderful Kondo-ness from our girl Marie Kondo, decluttering and removing unnecessary items in the space, you should feel ready to approach joyful organization with calm excitement. Let’s get to the details:

First off, the clothing in your closet should be facing you when you enter your closet. For those who feel this is ridiculous, think of it this way—would you want a friend to greet you without looking up from a screen? Your clothing should feel inviting and function as a source of comfort and structure. If you go about creating joyful closet space, even if it takes some time, you should find your items more quickly, they will look better, and un-coincidentally, YOU will look better.

The next step is categorizing your closet. Take time to do this in a similar way that you would your pantry: Tops separate from bottoms, socks separate from shoes etc. My closet breaks down into tanks, t-shirts, long sleeves, collared shirts, cardigans, blazers, jackets—you get the idea.

Within the categories that you’ve made, take the extra step of ordering them by color as well. However, if you can’t commit to categorizing by both, item AND by color, choose the former. Categorizing by color alone is a great way for articles to get lost in the depths of wardrobe space.

For those of you who have already taken the steps to perfect and beautify your closet, how has creating an organized closet promoted joy in your life? Leave your comments and questions below.

Gift Boxes for Smart Foxes

My mother—queen of gifting—since I can remember has designated gift boxes that were stashed away in our house. Looking back on a function that once puzzled me, I realize now that it’s a stroke of genius for anyone looking to save time and become more efficient. She had a separate large box for every occasion to make it as easy as possible to be prepared for any event or party.

Find a spot in your house that you can safely store some large boxes to hold any fun gifts that you’d like to keep on hand. I know that when I’m shopping and see a great deal on an item I tend to gravitate toward anyway, I save time, money, and extra trips to the store—especially if it’s a bustling holiday like Christmas!

Implement boxes into your storage space to make your kid’s friend birthday parties, weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers fast and simple to prepare for—not to mention the money you’ll save along the way!

Create a Kid-friendly Craft Station: Fun for All Sizes

Now that the school year is fully underway, it’s a great time to focus on organizing a space for your children to work on their school projects, as well as have a great place for them to play as the weather gets increasingly chilly and play time is moved indoors. A craft station that can be cleaned up and moved out of the way is a necessary part of your home—unless you like chasing your 5-year-old child with the permanent marker that was left out while making Halloween crafts for school the next day.

·       Start with an extra-large multi-purpose bin (I like this one from the container store) as the basis of your craft station.

·       Fill neatly with coloring books, crayons, markers and any other crafty supplies that need to be an easy grab for your little ones.

·       Voila! This is such an easy project! Just find a convenient space to store the bin and you have an all-in-one craft station that’s easy to get out and put away for both you and your young artisans.

Make sure you only bring out the craft station when your children are supervised. Having it put together neatly will absolutely relieve the anxiety that straggling art supplies can cause. For those of you with crafty young ones, what other items would you add to a craft station? Please include in the comments below!