** Easy Organizing Finds **

What’s hiding in your pantry? Whether you have an actual pantry or just cabinets that hold food items in your kitchen, you can use these tips. Your pantry organization goals should encompass:

Function - Pantry items are there to serve the cook in her or his cooking related activities.

Convenience - The chef should be able to “grab items and go.”

Usability - It’s all about being able to reach and use what you need when you need it. It’s also about storage. Store items in your pantry in efficient manners, and to keep them off of your countertops.

Visibility - See what you need in the pantry (or what’s missing from the pantry) at a glance.

Safety - Make sure nothing comes tumbling down on a family member’s head.

First things, first. Can you… (more…)

Do you know what a customized bedroom closet space is? It’s where you have customized your closet with shelving, drawers, cabinets, hanging rods and more to specifically meet your particular storage and organizational needs. The keyword there is “your”. Your bedroom closet is customized with closet organizers and storage solutions to meet YOUR needs.

And I’m not talking about personalizing it to make it radiate your personality, although it may indeed do so. I’m talking about if you have 13 pairs of shoes, 10 long dresses, 5 suits, dozens of knit sweaters, 18 belts and 6 scarves that need to go in that bedroom closet, that’s what your customized closet will hold. And it will do so in a simplified way that’s convenient for you to access too.

You can create your own customized closet with deliberate thought and prefabricated closet organizers and shelving. Plus throw in some other closet organizers like double hanging clothes rods, wall hooks or even peg racks.

You also can hire someone to create your customized closet. Companies like CaliforniaClosets.com can come into your home to create these customized solutions for your bedroom closet. But that’s not all. (more…)

Summer is near! That means now is the perfect time to evaluate your clothes closet. But not to remove out-of-season winter clothes. That’s a whole other topic. Now is the time to take those spring and summer clothes that are just using space in your closet to charity.

This is the time people in need (or people not in need who just like to shop at thrift stores) are looking for cool-wear clothing. So if you’re thinking of donating that wool coat you might want to hold off until winter. Thrift stores and donation drop-off points don’t always have room to store or display everything that’s donated to them. So they won’t be displaying a lot of your winter wear during the hot weather season. Hang onto your winter clothes donations until winter. That way they have a chance of going to someone that needs them and not ending up in the local landfill due to a lack of space in the warehouse or storefront.

Just last weekend I hauled a pile of clothes off to the local Goodwill. A bit of irony though is that I didn’t make more room for my wardrobe in my bedroom closet. That was because these were mostly hanging in my home office closet. The closet rod in my bedroom closet is full of stuff I wear now. That’s my primary wardrobe space. I had put these mostly short-sleeved blazers that I don’t wear anymore due to a change in profession in my office closet. But the good news is I’ll have more room in there for my files and office-related items now.

When evaluating your clothes closet, consider donating… (more…)