GetOrganised: organising your bedroom

GetOrganised

For March 2013, each Sunday I'll be helping you to GetOrganised. I'll share tips and tricks aimed at making organisation work for you...noting of course how you could possibly tweek everything to suit your needs.

This post is the last of the official GetOrganised series and for this post I hope to leave you with some simple practical ways to organise things around your room.We'll look at giving clothing, shoes, accessories, linens and your beauty products a more organised place to call home.

1. Making sense of your loads of clothes
We all have clothing in our closets and drawers that we haven't worn in ages and probably will never wear again. Not to mention the stuff that we have never worn but 'will soon wear' (yea right); or the things you find and say 'OMG I didn't even remember I had this.'

If you want to just make sense of what you have....
In your closet, use hanger dividers (you can buy them or check out this video to see how you can make them yourself) and pretty much just put your clothing into categories: dresses, shirts, skirts, pants, party, seasonal, etc.
For your drawers, simply place different articles of clothing into a different drawer; that way all your tops for example are together and a bit easier to find. If by chance one particular item of clothing cannot fit into one drawer, it may be a sign that maybe it's time to get rid of some stuff....or you need to fold them better.

If you need to figure out what's worth keeping and what needs to go.... 
In your closet, turn all the hangers in one direction and push everything as close to the left side of the closet as possible. Use a  hanger divider or something similar to mark where it ends. Everytime you wear something and it's ready to be hung back up, put it to the right side of the closet. At the end of a set period of time (maybe a month or four months, depending on how you wear your clothing); whatever is still on the left side is what you need to go through to donate, trade or dump.

For your drawers it's a bit trickier...I suggest you go through them one drawer at a time. Divide the contents of each drawer into four piles: 'must keeps', 'possibly keep', 'seasonal', and 'ready to go.' Whatever you are 100% ready to let go of should be placed in a bag and donated, traded or dumped ASAP; while seasonal garments should have one drawer to themself if possible (it helps to eliminate the confusion). Must keeps should have a draw for themself and the 'possibly keep' items should be put in a drawer together. When something from the 'possibly keep' drawer is worn, re-assess whether the item is to be kept or gotten rid of.



2. Keeping shoes together
With two feet, it would be nice to always be able to find both feet of shoes. The problem is that sometimes we take shoes off and knock them to one spot, then somehow one shoe in the pair goes missing....and when you need to wear them (and have no time to search) is when you're tearing the place apart to find it.

Besides maybe just knocking off your shoes into your closet (or where ever your shoes are kept) there are a few other things you can try.

Shoe boxes
Storing your shoes in boxes can help keep suede  and white clean, patent leather scuff-free and pairs together. Boxes also make it lots easier to organise and pile your shoes neatly to one side. This of course though is annoying if you have lots of shoes, because then you may spend way too long trying to find a particular box with a particular a pair...then of course you're going to have to put them all back into the boxes. If you're up for it though, you could label the boxes or get clear ones, then pile them in an order that best suits you.

Shoe racks
This is similar to how shoe stores and 'super-star closets' present shoes. It does make shoes easily visible and quicker to grab, but this may present a problem with regards to keeping shoes clean. There's also the fact that depending on how many pairs of shoes you have, you may need a whole lot of space to lay your shoes out.



3. Storing linens
So you want to change your sheets. You've found the fitted piece but somehow the cover sheet and pillow cases are nowhere to be found....how annoying!

Sheets....
I've tried many ways to keep my linens together and for sheets, the simplest and easiest way to keep linens in order is to use one of the pillow cases to store the other pieces in the set. Fold the fitted and cover sheets as well as the other pillow cases/covers in the set, and place them into the other pillow case.

Towels...
With towel sets, you can either use a bulldog clip to keep the pieces together, or fold/roll the smaller pieces (rag and face towel) into the bath towel.

This way whether it's for the bathroom or bedroom, the sets are already together and easier to find, plus this could even help save space in your linen closet.



4. Give your accessories a home
Belts, bags and jewellery can't enhance an outfit if they are nowhere to be found. How you store then of course will depend on how many of the items you own. Let's say you own a few belts, a couple bags, and almost a store full of jewellery...storage solutions do exist.

Bags...
Depending on how many you own, your bags could probably fit into a draw or two. Otherwise, a coat hanger with multiple hooks is probably the best solution for you. Once you put it somewhere that's easy to reach, you'll be able to easily toss your bags on it without much stress.

Belts... 
Belts can be rolled and piled into the drawer if you have that kind of space available. If not, a coat hanger or belt hanger is another easy option that can make belts accessible. Unfortunately, if you have a lot, the belts can get a bit knotted in the hangers and make it frustrating to get one without taking a number of other belts off. A DIY option is to get magnetic strips and hang the belts by their buckle....of course this would need a pretty strong magnet and the space on a wall or door to place the strip.

Jewellery...
O the joy of having many options to accessorize your every outfit. Of course it's annoying though when your chains are tangled or when matching earrings cannot be found. The solution is a jewellery box of course! But you're grown and the average one cannot be home to your mountain of accessories....so you get a tool box.

Oh yes, a tool box with compartments and all the trimmings is the perfect way to store your accessories.  Besides keeping everything in one place, the box keeps it sheltered from dust and water, a variety of sizes make it easy to find the size you need, and you can place it under lock and key (away from those lovely siblings who borrow as they please). In addition to the toolbox for main storage, consider too getting some ziplock sandwich bags to keep delicate pieces and special sets individually wrapped. This makes them 100% easier to find when you don't have much time to get all dolled up. Also an option is getting a smaller toolbox that you can use for travel. Find one that can lay flat in your suitcase and will be able to hold the specially selected pieces you'll need.



5. Hair and skin products
Lotions, fragrances, deodorant, moisturizers...the works. There's just so much on your vanity and it could almost look like a skin product showroom. Besides the fact that there are so many things in one place, truth is...you use all of them (and if you don't use all of them then a cleanup needs to happen asap).

Containers that are basket woven or made of plastic are simple ways to keep the beauty products in one place. You can choose to get one big container, or use a number of small containers placing the products based on how/where/when they are used.

Another solution would be to get them off the vanity completely whether you'll have a standing caddy, or opt for a shelving unit. This will work if you have the space for it...and possibly the handy skills to get it done. It may definitely be the better solution for you though if you have a lot of supplies to keep in storage.



Let's hope things start shaping up now as you slowly introduce the new methods into your routine. This may be the last of the series, but no worries, there'll be other posts as time passes and I find other ways to help you GetOrganised.