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Sunday, October 5, 2014

31 Days 5: Toddler Closet

If you read yesterday's post, you know that I had to switch my kids' closets because, well, I had their closets switched.  Shark Baby's closet is fairly empty now, which makes me happy, because I can now offer Hubby proof that I am not, in fact, a hoarder.  I just save things that may be useful for another purpose.  I call it thrifty.  He calls it trash.  Ah, married life.  *Actually the truth is, we balance each other out.  He would buy everything brand new without looking at the price tag on his own, and if I didn't have him to go behind me throwing crap out, I probably would be in danger of being a bit of a hoarder.  That's the beauty of finding your other half.  Mr. Rogue Mom completes me :).

Now that I've had my corny moment for the day, on to Little Man's closet!  With his own clothes in it!

Here is the before.



 It's not messy, but it doesn't function.  Partly because, well, those aren't his clothes.  That bin on the floor has air mattresses in it.  Doesn't go here.  The shelves are full of baby gear and keepsakes.

This time I remembered to take a picture of the empty space.


Or tried to.  Little Man wanted to be in the empty closet.  Wonder why all these spaces are in disarray?  You moms remember.

Next I put away the things that didn't go here, which was most of it.  The clothes moved to Shark Baby's room or into "too small" bins, the mattresses into the linen closet.  But the keepsakes are his.  And I want them to be taken care of, not tossed in the top of his closet.  I needed a box.

So next step, shopping.  I found a box I bought at T.J. Maxx because I loved it, but never found a use for it.  No longer!  Mind you, it's not a baby box.  It's not even a boy box.  It's a teal ikat very "mom" box.  But it's a box, it's the right size, it's FREE, and it will protect those little keepsakes I love.  Perfectly imperfect.

And while I was going through these keepsakes, this happened.



Well, I needed to vaccuum anyway, and baby powder actually works as a pretty good carpet freshener.  Always learning, young padawan.

After vacuuming and wiping the baby powder off my purple minion, I got back to work.  I have always had a love/hate relationship with this closet.  The opening isn't wide enough.  You can't reach into the sides of this closet.  In my renovation plan, I want this opening widened.  But that involves sheetrock, carpet, lumber, a demo hammer...for now, I must make do.  So what to do with the negative space?

Nothing.  No, I'm not going to figure out a super crafty interesting way to use that space, because if I can't reach it, it will inevitably become a no-man's land of stuff we throw back there and forget about. Sometimes, working with what we have means that there isn't a solution to every problem.  So I took a moment, accepted it, and moved on.


I put socks and underwear in little $3 bins that I buy from Target when the One Spot goes on Cartwheel all the time without a specific purpose in mind.  I have a ton of these lying around.  Since I don't have a dresser for Little Man, his shirts and shorts and pants get stacked on shelves.


In the top of the closet, I have his extra sheets and comforter, his humidifier for when he's sick, his very grown-up keepsake box, his nap mat for when his cousins stay over, a hat his Great Grandpa gave him, and a bag of blankets.  These things were everywhere.  I gathered them up and put them in one of those zip-up plastic bags that so many linens and toys come in that I always want to save and Hubby always tries to throw away.  See Hubby?  Waste not.

And the negative space to the right?  There's a toy Little Man put there that he can reach, but other than that, nothing.  Maybe I will find a creative way to use this space, maybe not.  For now, everything that is here goes here, and nothing is here that doesn't go here.  I can get to everything (well, I can with a step stool, but such is the life of a short girl.)  

It's not earth-shattering.  It's not something people are going to repin 1000 times on Pinterest.  I keep saying that, but this is about stuff we are actually going to live with, not stuff we dream about with our dream house Pinterest board.  Love what you have now!  You will be happier in the long run.  I know I am, now that I can sit on my laundry-free couch!

How do you organize your closets?  And how do you deal with wasted space areas?

31 Days of Organizing Projects Using What You Already Have






2 comments:

  1. Great job Mama! Closets are fun to organize because they make such a huge difference. I'm looking forward to more of your series.

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  2. ah, yes...the dream house pinterest board. I have more than a few of those...
    love the real life of the cutie with the baby powder! :)

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