Calling all you Organized Gals

willow ↓

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 9:00 am

Ok I gotta ask after living for.... with a messy closet I want to know how you keep your closets neat? I mean most ppl here do not have dressers just the typical Israeli closet with shelves. So how do you keep all your stuff from getting into a jumble? embarrassed

Motek

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 9:14 am

?!

My things were THE NEATEST in Israeli closets! Maybe depends on how they're designed but I found they had a place for everything. Shoes in shoe drawer, shirts in section just for them.

You can add bins and shoe boxes to store tapes etc.

Tefila

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 9:20 am

Quote:

I want to know how you keep your closets neat?

Eighter one is neat or one is not. I have a friend whose house is a balagan but her closet which consists of basic shelving.... just about is immaculate :!: .

Me well I like to be organized and find stuff in the right place and though outwardly my house is neat and organized
but no I wouldn't call my closets the neatest ones out.
Thats why there are doors b"h Twisted Evil

So before you do anything r as sarag says going to need a system. Hatzlacha Tongue Out

JMto2 ↓

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 9:23 am

For my kids room I did not get a dresser I did closets with shelves I feel they are much neater for your personal undergarments you can get a bin/ containers and put it folded in there on the shelf regarding like socks they can also be in a container on the shelf have things divided good luck.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 9:27 am

I agree with you willow. the shelves are so large, that things just get into a jumble unless you keep order.

what do I do? I take time every week or two weeks and just clean it out and make order. and forget about the shelve with underwear and socks, I know I have a pair of purple socks somewhere in the heap.

and as for a shoe shelf or drawer, I dont know what you are talking about, my cupboard does not have anything like that. we just havea jumble of shoes on the bottom shelf.

chen ↓

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 9:28 am

Ok, this is what I learned in summer camp where e/t was in open cubbies--and we had daily inspection:

1. don't have too much stuff. it IS impossible to keep an overstuffed shelf neat. allow enough headspace for you to be able to easily slide your hand in over the top of the pile.

2. place stuff on shelves so that the folded edge faces front. Pile your stuff one on top of the other and line up all the folded edges.

3. Keep piles low. Tall piles will fall over. If your shelves are too far apart, install shelves between them or use those slide-in baskets. as an alternative you can put in vertical dividers to convert a long shelf to a series of cubbies that will keep the piles upright.

4. Put small or awkwardly shaped items in boxes or containers that you can slide in and out. Sometimes keeping an item in its box actually saves you space b/c you can stack boxes neatly. Shoes, never, and hats, rarely.

↑ willow ↓

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 12:52 pm

Thank you for your replies I appreciate it:

Motek - I think you had a much better closet then I do Very Happy

Mine has these huge shelves and no compartments for anything.
JMto2 - I have some bins maybe I need to buy some more?
ytwh1- Yep Huge shelves and a pile of shoes Confused

. Isn't it annoying to keep having to clean it up?
SaraG- What kind of system?
chanab - I probably won't buy a book
Chen - I do have a lot of stuff. embarrassed

tefilla - thanx

So now what? Wink

suomynona

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 1:04 pm

chanab wrote:

I am a big fan of the book "Organizing from the inside out" by Julie Morgenstern.

I read her time management book a few years ago. Liked it a lot.

red sea ↓

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 1:08 pm

the best idea I have for large shelves is dividers and shallow baskets

you can buy dividers if you can find them or just buy a few pcs of 1x2" lumber and cut them to size and nail them down.

Buddy

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 1:28 pm

One more organizing tip:
Arrange your stuff in a way that things used more often are easier to reach, and things used less are more towards the back/harder to reach areas.

↑ chanab

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 2:03 pm

Quote:

chanab - I probably won't buy a book

Can you borrow it from someone? It completely changed the way I was looking at organizing (and friends tell me the same).Worth every penny imho
OTOH, try out the message boards at organizedhome.com

roza ↓

Thu, Jul 27 2006, 4:34 pm

are your clothes sorted out? for example: tops, skirts, underwear and so on? or they are all mixed up? if you will sort them out and designate a shelf for each type, then your stuff will be organized.

↑ chen ↓

Fri, Jul 28 2006, 5:51 am

Buddy wrote:

One more organizing tip:
Arrange your stuff in a way that things used more often are easier to reach, and things used less are more towards the back/harder to reach areas.

I once went to a shabbaton at a summer camp. we each had a vertical cubby with some 5 compartments for our stuff. after unpacking, I looked at my friend's cubby and burst out lauging: we had both placed our things in exactly the same order on the shelves: footwear on the bottom shelf , haircare and toiletries on the top, underwear below it, shirts below that, heavy sweaters or jackets below that. The order was so logical that it was automatic--neither one of us actually thought about how we were placing things.

↑ JMto2

Fri, Jul 28 2006, 7:49 am

Willow you said that you have a lot of stuff I would tell you to start going through all of it if you did not wear it or use it in the past year give it away chuck it or storage it so it does not take up room in your living quarters. divide all your items for that closet and see what you would like to put into bins once that is done go purchase the amount and size bins you feel that you need. Good luck ask away if anymore advice is needed

↑ willow ↓

Sun, Jul 30 2006, 12:59 am

JMto2 - o.k I am getting rid of stuff that I never wear and putting it in storage.

Red sea - I am going to see if I can put dividers in b/c I think that one

huge shelf for all different kinds of items isn't such a good idea.

roza - Thanks I am going to try to keep a different area for each thing.

Thank you to all. I'll let you know how it goes. By the way SaraG I would like to know what system you use.

Crayon210 ↓

Sun, Jul 30 2006, 7:53 am

willow wrote:

JMto2 - o.k I am getting rid of stuff that I never wear and putting it in storage.

Will you ever really use it again if it's in storage? Won't you at some point have to go through all the stuff in storage to see what you really need to keep there and what needs to be given away or put into further storage?

If you never wear it, you probably won't again. You can donate or throw it out--how liberating!

↑ willow

Sun, Jul 30 2006, 8:22 am

Crayon210 wrote:

willow wrote:

JMto2 - o.k I am getting rid of stuff that I never wear and putting it in storage.

True but it is so hard for me to throw things out. I think maybe someday when.... then I will need it. Confused