Hello and welcome back to Operation Unhoard Our Rooms! Last week we tackled our clutter, sorted things out, and threw out a bunch of trash, and now we’re ready for the real fun: ORGANIZING! HURRAH FOR ORGANIZING!! THREE CHEERS FOR ORGANIZING!!!
It’s fine that none of you find this as thrilling as I do.
We’ve got a ton to cover, so let’s dive right in with my five essentials for keeping a tidy room:
1. Wastepaper basket.
2. Laundry hamper or hanging bag.
3. Decorative and/or practical hooks.
4. A chair or bench, space permitting.
5. Proper storage space for your belongings.
There’s one key word in that last item — can you figure out what it is??? It’s “your”! And I say that because our beloved LW asked of me "Like, what kinds of organizers do I need, and which could I live without?" Which is an understandable question but also the wrong one to ask, because everyone has different things in need of organizing. So really I can’t tell you which ones you need and which you can live without, because for example Headband Girl (and don’t worry, I saw you and have a few headband storage ideas to share) needs different organizers from Scarf Hoarding Girl (got you too!).
But let’s talk about these basics for a quick sec before we get into specific types of organization solutions. The first thing on the list is a wastepaper basket, because those dirty tissues have to go somewhere that isn’t your floor! And the tags you’ve taken off your pretty new dress. And the receipts and cotton balls and used condoms and whatever other weird garbage is in your bedroom. However. Don’t use your bedroom wastepaper basket for food or food containers, okay? Bring that stuff to the kitchen trashcan for disposal, critters and smells and spills being what they are.
Next up is a laundry hamper or bag; space permitting, a hamper is a better option than a bag, because it’s a bit tidier looking. And ALWAYS go for a hamper with a lid for two reasons; (1) sometimes laundry gets stanky and a lid helps to contain the stench (2) the lid will force you to acknowledge that it’s time to do the laundry. You know, when you can’t get the lid on anymore and sort of have to balance it atop mounds of unwashed towels? Mmm yeah, that’s a pretty good indication that it’s time to do the laundry.
Then there are hooks! God, hooks are just the best thing going — especially in space-challenged rooms. They’re the perfect place to hang the dry cleaning you just picked up, the dress you wore that you want to air out before putting back in your closet, a bathrobe, your go-to weekend hoodie, that set of jammies you want to get a second wearing out of … the possibilities are endless, really. Hooks are also a great idea to install inside a closet to hold things like belts, scarves, hats, bags, and so on.
Space permitting, a chair or bench is a spectacular thing to have in a bedroom, because it gives you a place that isn’t the floor on which to toss stuff. You can also stack the laundry you just folded but don’t have the will to put away, or segregate items that need to be dropped at the dry cleaner, or you know, you could sit on it.
And last but certainly not least, proper storage space for all your belongings. Which leads me to...
My Things Are All Sorted, But Where Do I Put Them?
Rather than go through every possible thing you might store in your bedroom, I created a pinboard that I’ve filled up with loads of storage and organization ideas, as well as some low-priced furniture options for those of you who need/want to invest in new pieces. I’ll keep adding to it over time, so if you have photos, ideas, links, whatever that you’d like to see included, please leave them in the comments or email them to me at cleaning@thehairpin.com and I’ll post them to the board. I tried to offer a variety of styles, but you absolutely should adapt the ideas to fit your decorating taste. So if your aesthetic runs toward the industrial, consider metal bins instead of wicker ones; if you go in for the spa look, try finding items in teak and natural fabrics like linen in place of metal or plastic. That sort of thing. You can also DIY-enhance found or bought storage containers with decorative paper and glue. Or twine and glue. Or paint! There are a million possibilities.
Let’s talk about some basics, though, starting with a dresser. Now that you’ve gone through the exercise of organizing all your clothes and figuring out what you don’t yet have room for, you can start thinking about what style dresser will work best for your things. That’s the best approach: buy the right piece of furniture for your things, which of course you can’t do until you know what your things consist of. Also be sure to buy a piece that leaves you room to add things. One reader wrote to tell me about her 60% rule: “No matter how my categories are determined or my drawers are set up, I strive strive strive to never have any drawer more than 60% full. Whether this means getting rid of things, or sorting categories differently, or even getting a second dresser — which I have done! — it changes everything about how easy it is to put clothes away and to put outfits together when you can a) see everything without taking it all out of the drawer, and b) put something away without rearranging anything that's already in there. If I could give only one piece of bedroom organizing advice to someone, it would be to enforce this <60% rule religiously.” DISCIPLINE! I <3 it like Bleachie!
If space for furniture is limited, consider installing wall-mounted shelves and placing bins or baskets on them to serve as drawers. You can also dedicate one or two shelves of a standing bookcase to bins for storage. Ladders (like, pretty ones!) are also a great way to create shelving without taking up a ton of space.
Many of us use the space under our beds for storage, which is a great thing to do. If you’re really pressed for space, consider getting bed risers to lift the frame up higher, allowing even larger storage boxes to fit. If you go that route, you’ll also want to get an extra long bedskirt, since standard ones won’t be long enough and ugh hide that shit.
Shoes, judging from my inbox, are clearly a universal problem among the ‘Pinnership. The board offers a number of ideas on getting your hoofwear under control, but one thing worth mentioning here is to place baskets or bins on the floor of your closet (or anywhere they can fit) to hold flip flops, sandals, ballet flats, and/or sneakers. Finer footwear in these categories can be placed inside shoebags to protect them from getting dirty or dinged up.
Okay but! To the pinboard! There are ideas there on storing and organizing shoes, accessories, jewelry, make-up, and other beauty products, bedding & towels, books, knick-knacks, electronics, bills & paperwork, and clothing. Knock yourselves out!
Oh wait but! Don’t forget to measure your spaces before you run out to buy things. That’s pretty important!
I’ve Got All This Stuff I Can Get Rid of, Now What?
I consulted Noted Philanthropist Andrew Krucoff for ideas on where to donate your unwanted items, and here’s what he had to say:
A lot of physical donation services are specific to your city/town/state, unless you're talking about big organizations like Salvation Army and AmVets. With that said, these are a few charitable outfits I recommend.I like donating books to prisoners. Free the mind. Here's one for New York at ABC No Rio. You can donate books and much more to Housing Works (Dennis Crowley, CEO of Foursquare, recently told me he gave them speakers, iPods, a Gameboy, games, clothes, a fan, books, etc., all of which they happily took). NYC.gov has a "Stuff Exchange" – other cities probably have the same type of thing too.
There's also a good service for donating all kinds of stuff to Vietnam vets, and they do pick-ups all over the country. Planet Aid is a clothes donation that has a focus on protecting the environment and supporting sustainable development in impoverished communities around the world. [Ed. A reader wrote to say that this might be a scam-y group. Disregard!] You should also include one that donates clothes to women going on job interviews. Dress For Success or something like that.
You lovely ladies also had a ton of great ideas that you shared last week. Another reader wrote in to suggest that “even non-religious Clean People might want to check out their local churches,” which oftentimes hold fundraising rummage sales with donated items.
An important note on donating items — be sure to think through what you’re donating and to whom, and be realistic about whether or not your goods truly will be of good use. A reader wrote in with the following advice, which I’ll share with you:
There are all sorts of great organizations out there that will be happy to take one's cast off clothes, books, kitchen items, electronics, etc. — but it is critically important to make sure that what is donated matches what is sought. For several years I worked at a church as the director of their outreach ministry; we had wonderful volunteers and generous donors. Unfortunately, we also had people (oftentimes very well-meaning) who saw us as a clearinghouse for whatever they didn't want but felt guilty about just throwing out. From long-expired food to broken radios to filthy undergarments, all sorts of unusable items were dropped off at our church. Sorting through these materials wasted the time and taxed the patience of our volunteers, who had to pick through everything and then throw out what wasn't usable. What had been someone else's problem became our problem.A solution, of course, is for donors to call ahead and make sure that what they give matches what is needed. Because at the heart of the matter, donating needs to be about helping — not just about clearing out our own space. Why would you donate something that's not going to be helpful? And if an item is seriously (or even moderately) damaged, it's okay to throw it away. In fact, it's probably the right thing to do.
Items like clothing, bedding, towels, etc. that are no longer fit for human use can be donated to animal shelters, which can use them as padding in cages.
But, Like, How Do I Keep From Reverting Back to My Feral State?
Our LW asked: "Can you give me, a person who's notoriously messy and horrible at organizing, some advice for getting my room into a more live-able state and keeping it that way?"
I sure can! In news that will surprise exactly none of you, the biggest piece of advice I can give is that you should make your bed every day. And actually? I’m going to pause for a second to pull the column over on the side of the road so the people who keep insisting you shouldn’t make your bed because you’ll get bedbugs can get out and fend for themselves. You guys, come on. That is horsepucky. Look, if you don’t want to make your bed, don’t make your bed. You’re an adult with free will. But don’t get all up in the comments section spreading lies and scaring people. The theory that these loons like to espouse is that if you make your bed your linens don’t get a chance to air out, thus making them more attractive to bedbugs. Like an army of bedbugs is going to march toward your bedstead, see that it’s unmade, and the commander is going to shout, “FALL BACK MEN! WE’VE GOT AN UNMADE BED SITUATION! HOSTILE TERRITORY, RETREAT, RETREAT.”
There’s a kernel of good advice in there, however: it’s not a bad idea to let your sheets air/dry out after you’ve slept in them (this will also help to make the bed less hospitable to dust mites). But, unless you’re an extremely heavy night sweater, they’ll have plenty of time to do that in the ten or so minutes it takes you to get up, use the toilet, brush your fangs, wipe the sleepies from your eyes, etc. So, like, don’t make your bed the instant you get out of it, but certainly don’t not-make it because someone on the internet told you you would get bedbugs if you did. (And yes, I’ve read the same articles they have. I’ve also read the articles where the experts cited explain how what they said was taken out of context by journalists looking for a splashy headline.)
Next up we need to talk about your floor and how it’s not really a place where things other than furniture, rugs, and feet should go. Trash goes in the wastepaper basket. Dirty clothes go in the hamper. Clothes that you’re not going to wash immediately but also aren’t going to put away can get tossed on your chair or bench, or hung up on one of your decorative hooks. But they don’t go on the floor. They’re your clothes!! That you spent money on! Treat them with compassion.
If you can get a strong handle on making your bed and keeping things up off your floor, your room will be a million times tidier-looking for it. You might also want to implement a schedule for yourself where you take an hour or two once a month or every other month to put things back in their rightful place and remove any stray clutter from the premises. It’s a lot easier to spend an hour a month cleaning up than it is to have to devote two weekends once a year to digging yourself out from under your bedroom.
Now how about rewarding yourself? One of the goals our LW had was to create an inviting ladyspace to which to bring gentlemen callers, so hey, why not treat yourself to some pretty new bedding? Garnet Hill is having a HUGE sale right now, rah rah sis boom bah! (Oh gosh, I wish I hadn’t seen that all the Lilly bedding is discounted...) Or maybe you’ve had your eye on a great corner chair that you want to splurge on! Or maybe you just want to buy yourself a new scented candle (might I recommend this one?) — whatever it is, give yourself a little gift in the name of feeling great about your awesome bedroom!
Previously: Part One – The Cleaning.
Jolie Kerr is not paid to endorse any of the products mentioned in this column, but she sure would be very happy to accept any free samples the manufacturers care to send her way! Are you curious to know if she's answered a question you have? Do check out the archives, listed by topic. More importantly: is anything you own dirty?
Photo by Anton Gvozdikov, via Shutterstock
Hey gals! A quick note about the pinboard: I have a few photos of my things (particularly my infuriating collection of a million bangles that shed glitter all over the place, that I FINALLY managed to find a good way of corralling by using ribbons) that I want to include but Pinterest is being beastly with uploads today. So check back on the board tonight or tomorrow, when I'll hopefully have better pinning luck.
Also! If you have or want to take photos of your clever organizing solutions please feel free to email them to me and I will upload them to the board.
@Jolie Kerr I loooove love love organizing and do it in my free time and I am totally going to email you pictures of my awesomely organized tiny, tiny bedroom tonight.
I find organizing thrilling!
And I've made my bed every day since the last Clean Person column! I'm so proud of myself :')
I put my silverware drawer in order in Jolie's honour!
@Nicole Cliffe I'm all, damn it feels good to be a gangster
@redheadedandcrazy I too get overly excited about such things.
Watching Clean Sweep and Clean House and all those shows was like porn to me.
Buuuuuuuut I also grew up with a textbook hoarder, so.
@redheadedandcrazy Damn, I was proud of making my bed every day this week. (FOUR TIMES IN A ROW!!!!)
@andrea disaster Who's good? WE GOOOOOOD!
@redheadedandcrazy I'm trying to high five you but this computer screen keeps getting in the way. (Also, love the new Ronald photo)
@redheadedandcrazy Me too! My whole week has been SO GOOD, and I blame it all on Jolie's bed-making advice.
SHOE LAZY SUSAN!
HAIR BAND CARABINER!
ICE CUBE TRAY AS HOLDERS!!!
*dies*
@PistolPackinMama BRUSH YOUR FANGS, STORE YOUR HOOFWEAR
*dies again*
(Also, I like organizing. I am going to go buy ice cube trays for my earrings because GENIUS. Now my little black leather jewelry box can be for my pearls and other fancy costly things that should have special storage and not get all knocked around.)
@PistolPackinMama: The best thing about ice cube trays is, they're stackable, so you can stack them in a drawer to keep your precious baubles from getting dusty. I should know, lol - I have a vanity with drawers full!
@PistolPackinMama OOOH THEY ARE STACKABLE, THIS IS GENIUS.
@PistolPackinMama Same concept as the ice cube trays, I use one of those ginormo purple(!) cardboard egg crates from Costco to store necklaces. It's convenient, it fits right in my drawer, and (best best BEST) it was free!
Captain Planet would be so proud of my recycling skills.
@holden cauliflower Also- not sexy but totally effective- those little compartmentalized plastic things, like for fishing lures or beading projects. You can fit small earrings in there, one pair per cubby, and then they don't get mixed up.
@fishiefishfish Yes, this is what I use. I have one where every divider is movable, so you can have larger compartments for big necklaces or bangles, and little ones for earrings. It is not cute, but it works best for me.
I did a big clean-up last weekend and it's amazing how much more you feel like you have your shit together when your room is clean. Here's what works for me, storage and keeping-it-clean wise:
-Yes on making the bed. I'm dubious about the dust mite thing, because I have SERIOUS dust mite allergies and I don't think making/not making the bed makes a whit of difference. What does is hypoallergenic mattress covers & washing the sheets in hot water regularly.
-When you take off your clothes, they either go 1) onto the made bed and then onto a hanger IMMEDIATELY or 2) into a hamper. Not on the floor. NEVER ON THE FLOOR. You leave one sock there and it's the start of an avalanche of clothing. If you're me, that is.
-I'm not a morning person and a lot of my mess comes from rushing in the morning. I've found getting up 5-8 minutes earlier is all it takes to make sure I'll have enough time to put away my hair dryer/straightener, hang up my towels, make the bed, etc. 5 minutes! And it makes such a huge difference in my day.
-Finally, the Unfuck Your Habitat tumblr/twitter/facebook is life-changing. It's like A Clean Person who yells at you more.
@Emma Peel I just started following Unfuck Your Habitat. The best part is the victorious gifs you get when you submit a success story.
Also, I unfucked my grown-ass-woman desk yesterday and I definitely don't have my shit together any more than I did before, but it feels awesome and I just want to climb into my desk and sleep in it it is so big and spacious and I am so excited
@Emma Peel Unfuck Your Habitat is totally life changing for me too! That combined with Ask A Clean Person and FlyLady, and hot diggity, my home is so clean and organized and nice! Everyone is so impressed with me, even my terrifying neat freak of a stepmother. (I love her, don't get me wrong, but she is a little bit scary.)
...except for that huge closet in the basement that's full of boxes of random things that I haven't unpacked since I moved last time.
@Emma Peel Keeping my shit clean makes me feel like a real grown up
I'm exhausted just reading all of that (and...inspired?) but mostly I am singing "Decorative hooks, practical hooks, pragmatical hooks, fanatical hooks, oratorical hooks, Delphicoracle hooks..." under my breath.
@Decca I'm a little in love with you right now.
@Decca oh man, you for president.
Oh my gosh also I love that butterfly hanger. How can you hoard scarves? How can you possible have too many scarves?!
@redheadedandcrazy My storage solutions are far less cutesy, i.e., I tear off the lid of my empty contact lens boxes (the big 90 day ones) and tuck all my nail polish in there. BUT IT IS ORGANIZED BY COLOUR.
@redheadedandcrazy "too many scarves" is not a number that exists.
@Anna Marquardt
"It's like a girl too pretty, with too much class, bein' too lucky, a car too fast..." No matter what you say I've done, well I ain't never had too many scarves!
(um, 90's country, anyone?)
Oh, dear. Now I am going to have go to Anthropologie and buy ALL THE HOOKS.
I NEEDED THIS. And way too many things on your Pinboard. You are awesome!
No matter how desperately you need a new dresser, only buy one from IKEA if you 1) really enjoy putting furniture together 2) know what you're getting yourself into and 3) have very patient friends. I love putting together IKEA furniture so much I volunteer to help other people with it -- unless a dresser is involved. Mine damn near killed me. I will opt for the hassle of Craigslist every time to get something already assembled.
@Emma Peel Have you ever tried putting together a bed from IKEA? The kind with like, 5000 wooden slats? And then, when you go to put the 5000 assembled slats into the bed frame your husband was assembling in the other room, you find out you have full-size slats and a queen-size bedframe? And then you have to DISASSEMBLE AND GO BACK TO IKEA?
I have no trouble with the dressers, but that little project right there. OMG.
@punkahontas That is so horrible it made me laugh and cry. Haven't done a bed, but I've done a futon -- several times, because I disassembled it to move it. Yes, I moved a $150 futon from IKEA across the country. Twice. My mother was masterminding the move and is kind of a hoarder.
I'll do the beds if you do the dressers. (It's the tracks for the drawers that defeat me.)
@punkahontas Hahahahaha. I helped my best friend assemble her Ikea bed - it had 500 slats, PLUS the entire mattress assembly (yep) would lift up on these pneumatic things so you could store stuff underneath, which involved a combination of ikea-type screws, PLUS screws that required a drill. That was a 2-bottle-of-wine kind of job. Now that I think about it, if we hadn't had the first bottle, we probably wouldn't've needed the second.
@Emma Peel DIT. TO. And I *love* putting shit together. Never, NEVER the dresser!
@punkahontas I wish I could find a picture of the behemoth ikea wardrobe my sister and her then-boyfriend put together one day. It took up most of a wall. It was free-standing. Two sliding doors. I mean, we bought A LOT of Ikea furniture for that house but that shit must have been a nightmare.
@punkahontas Oh my God I hate my IKEA bed so much. I mean, it's fine (although I bang my shins on it every damn day). But I've assembled/disassembled it at least 10 times at this point due to moving and various house repair nightmares, and every time I need several drinks to calm down.
The stupidest part is that when we first got it, it was missing two slats. OK, fine, just send us some more slats? NOPE. You have to disassemble and repack the whole thing and return it for a new one! So instead, we just made a point of stopping by the "As-is" area every time we went to Ikea, to ask if they had any slats. We got them finally about two years into owning the bed.
Any suggestions for inexpensive dressers or chests of drawers? My super tiny room requires me to keep my large hand-me-down Ethan Allen dresser in my closet, which leaves little space for hanging clothes. I've looked into the ELFA systems at Container Store, but they are just too expensive for me to consider while renting. I plan to store the dresser (apartment has tiny bedrooms, but crazy storage) for a time when it can carry out it's life in a larger space.
@LornaLoo one thing on the elfa - it disassembles really easily, so you can take it with you when you move. Mine has gone through 2 moves already (and we also had one that the next tenant was willing to buy from us - not a full price, but got some $ back).
@Ophelia Good to know on the Elfa stuff... I could settle for something less attractive (read: less expensive) as I finally installed a curtain and curtain rod to hide the atrocity that is my closet. It's not DIS -organized, per say, but it's poorly laid out, therefore super unchill.
@LornaLoo Yep, just make sure that, if you get a cheaper one, you spring for some hard-core mounting hardware (go ask someone at the hardware store), so you can hang/stack lots of heavy stuff and it won't pull out of the wall.
@LornaLoo ELFA is also 30% off right now, so if you're going to jump on it, do it now!
@Emma Peel I know! That's been tempting me for the last week or so. Paychecks don't come until end of the next week, however. I hope the sale can hang on!
@LornaLoo Elfa is the best thing ever. I bought it four apartments ago and it travels well, although it can be quite heavy (the shelves...) Totally worth the investment, imo.
@LornaLoo Would the IKEA antonious stuff be cheap enough? I have the drawers in my craft room and they're actually pretty great, although I haven't tried the other combos. I wanted to use them to make myself a closet, but I live near a factory and it's dusty so I really need something with proper doors. I'm saving up for a proper built in wardrobe now because my space is small and specific, and I just don't have enough drawers. Be careful with the modular stuff, though, the price really adds up so watch how much stuff you're buying.
@LornaLoo My tiny studio still looks nice with storage added, as I found an abandoned pine armoire on the curb. It was doubtless obsolete in its previous life as a TV cabinet, but is now doing fine as an actual armoire. I refined the hardware pulls, so total cost- under $20.00.
Nice name drop, Krucoff!
This weekend, I am going to adopt the 60% rule and ABIDE BY IT FOREVER. I am sort of the opposite of a hoarder - I get a thrill out of tossing shit out. I also live really close to a Goodwill, so there's some satisfaction in dropping off bags o' stuff. But I seem to hover around 110% when it comes to drawer capacity and the idea of 60% sounds positively delightful.
@karion YES! Hoarding runs in my family so I definitely have developed a tendency to get very excited by getting rid of things. I once lived with a girl who would keep every sentimental little bibble bobble that came along and even though it wasn't in my room, it used to drive me crazy. She also used to stick apple stickers to the cabinets in the kitchen. OH MY GOD.
@redheadedandcrazy Is there such thing as an organized hoarder? Because I think I lived with one of those too. Or perhaps her idea of not enough stuff was my idea of HOLY HELL HOW DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH DAMN STUFF???
But, it was all neatly organized, clean, and stored, however, it left no room for my small amount of things.
@LornaLoo YES! Definitely. Have you seen extreme couponing (or whatever it's called)? Those people are MAD hoarders but a lot of them take pride in keeping their collection organized, like all the labels facing the same way, stored by xyz, they have these huge warehouse like shelves stocked with all the powerade they've managed to buy for negative money.
@redheadedandcrazy Oh man I KNEW IT. It's like a functional alcoholic, only instead of showing up to work on time every day, your problem is just labeled and dusted in a large back room somewhere, getting ready to be moved from place to place to place until you die.
@LornaLoo I mean, push comes to shove, I guess I'd take a functional hoarder? at least an organized hoard is easier to exorcise, I would imagine? The problem with a disorganized hoard is you really can't just say EVERYTHING INTO THE GARBAGE because then you find like, a cheque for $500 or a birth certificate, or a precious gemstone, or etc etc
eta: although the thought of living with a hoarder, any hoarder, gives me chills.
@redheadedandcrazy Yes, but also an organised hoarder is less likely to have rotting floors because all the literal crap is literally moldering away. Have you seen www.squalor survivors.com? Sometimes I go there before I'm going to do a big clean, to make myself very enthusiastic.
My sister is a sentimental hoarder (well, not an actual hoarder, but she has tendencies). I'm a just-in-case. We might need this bit of twine from around the bale of straw one day! What if the apocalyse happens and we can't find any more... what even is this thing? It comes from growing up in the country. I'm dealing with it.
@Craftastrophies I am SUCH a just-in-case-r. I used to be worse, but now I live with my best friend in a tiny room, and she is blessed with both a good firm put-it-down-you-don't-need-it voice and a zero tolerance for clutter....
I put all my necklaces on a piece of driftwood hung on the wall! And all my earrings on a little woven straw pillbox hat I hung on the wall!
@Teffodee I use a large branch for my necklaces and bracelets! I also inherited a large number of former slide drawers from a library, and they make really excellent organizers. It is totally worth a trip if a university or library near you is unloading old office equipment.
@roadtrips driftwood hanger sounds awesome!! My earring holder has window screen in it.
@Anna Marquardt I use something similar for earrings - I have a corkboard with pushpins, and I dangle my earrings off the pushpins. Yours is far classier.
@llamapyjamas I have a corkboard with ribbons hanging on it, since most of my earings are studs. I put the earings through the ribbon and stick the back on them. Also good for hair clips and brooches. I have one of those Grundtal rails, and I hang my necklaces off of S hooks off that, and hairbands over it. Works pretty well.
I have been mentioned by a Clean Person. This pleases me...*taps fingers like M. Burns* It pleases me greatly.
And yay storage! Now i just have to finish with the cleaning, storing of crap I refuse to get rid of, and giving rid of the piles of things I don't ever use. Darn school made me fall behind on my cleaning check list. I think I should just write out a new one.
@All Mimsy You say that now, but just wait until she writes a "looking back" post and goes into great detail about the size of your tits.
@All Mimsy
She doesn't know the size of my tits. I will just be that one weird girl with too many headbands, and an obvious obsession with the poem Jabberwocky.
@All Mimsy Sorry if I was being too forward. That exact thing happened to, um, a friend of mine.
@cherrispryte
How can you possibly be too forward on the internet? Really, the only way you could be too forward in regards to my boobs is to grab em' and say, "Yeah that's a B cup all right." But you probably can't reach through the computer to do that, so we're fine.
@All Mimsy I have to admit that I have a real fondness for you because of your username. I know moms aren't supposed to play favorites but....
And Cherri, what can I say? I'm a boob guy.
@Jolie Kerr No need to say anything! It was a total humblebrag on my part.
I am far from being the most organized person, but something I did recently that helped a lot was GLASSES ORGANIZER!
If you have a lot of pairs of glasses and/or sunglasses, a really easy glasses organizer is to take a piece of wood and string pretty ribbon/lace/string across it, nailed in at the sides/back. I actually did two rows of lace on mine for double the glasses space. Then you just hang the glasses by the arm on the ribbon!
On mine, I also put hooks out of vintage wooden spools along the bottom to hang all of my necklaces on.
I don't know if this is making sense. I can try to post of photo of mine if anyone is having trouble visualizing this.
@mustelid This is a great idea! I hang mine across the top of a photo frame that I have on my desk, but then it covers up the photo, so ... yeah. Kind of makeshift.
Although my actual glasses remain in the case in my bathroom at all times, for purpose of keeping them clean. But I never wear them, so I guess that's why.
@redheadedandcrazy I left my glasses on the coffee table last spring, and my puppy ate them. So now I don't need to organize them anymore.
@redheadedandcrazy Yeah, I used to just have a pile of glasses-cases on top of my dresser, but it meant that I only ever wore one pair of glasses (and I have like 6 or 7). They do get dusty so I just always keep cleaning cloths handy, but having them out in the open means I will actually wear the pair that goes the best with my outfit instead of just grabbing the pair that goes with anything.
@mustelid I sell glasses, so obvs I have a lot of pairs (like, 12-15?), but so does my mom, and I managed to find her a display stand that holds 10 pairs so she can choose according to her outfit too. You guys should make friends with your glasses sellers and ask if they could keep an eye out for a small one? We get a lot of those display stands, and most of them don't get used, so if you want to take them off the hands of the store, it's a win-win!
@Ophelia How thoughtful of your puppy to help keep you organized!
@holden cauliflower I know, right? If I'd realized how well this would work, I'd've gotten several*
(*Oh, god. Can you imagine the amount of chewing, and pee, that several puppies would produce?)
I hang my necklaces from little spools of thread of all different colors, which go over screws on the wall. It looks cute! I tried to find the site where I got the idea, to illustrate, but I can't find it.
@melmuu That sounds so adorable and wonderful! I love it!
@melmuu Hey, wow, I thought I invented that! Well, I did, just not first, I guess. I screw old wooden spools into pieces of wood, using a washer OR a coin with a hole in it (I have a big weird collection of coins that I don't really care about...). I have one of those in almost every room of my house, and they are great for necklaces or clothes or leashes or anything! So pretty when the thread is still on.
I use those shoe boxes from The Container Store for all my shoes. And most of my boots fit in the men's size shoeboxes, so I don't need to get the giant honking boot boxes. People look at me like I have crazy OCD when they see it, but you can store sooo many shoes, safely, in a small space. I have them stacked 4 high and 8 wide on the shelf in my closet. (And a little bit of overflow on a bookshelf.) SHOES!
@punkahontas I always keep the box my shoes come in, then stack them on shelves and my closet floor. that way you don't have to spend money on boxes. (I've looked into it but it's way too expensive for me because I have a lot of shoes.) SHOES!
I have a vast collection of tights in many colors that I store on something like this ribbon organizer (mine is wider and has only two dowels, not four, and I got it at Michael's, but I can't find it online). I like to be able to see as many of my belongings at the same time as possible or I forget I have them.
For keeping clothes that don't belong in the hamper quite yet off the bed and/or floor, I stole my parents' old quilt rack.
Also, if you have prom/formal dresses to donate, especially if they are newish and especially especially if they are plus-sized, consider giving them to a local Cinderella's Closet-type organization that redistributes them to girls in need to allow them to attend prom.
Please do not give your things to the Salvation Army if you can possibly help it.
The Salvation Army is a Christian charity, and they interpret that as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ folks. They discriminate in who they'll let access their services, in how they treat their employees, and support anti-gay policies (for instance, giving $ to Prop 8). In my opinion, an anti-poverty charity even having an official policy on "sexual intimacy" is insane.
Not to mention that in Canada, they've even refused to distributed donated Harry Potter and Twilight toys to kids at Christmas because they judged those stories un-Christian.
So please, give your stuff to Goodwill instead.
@gobblegirl Ugh yes I'm all about goodwill.
After Dan Savage posted a story of how they wouldn't let a homeless lesbian couple into their shelter - they would allow one in, plus the kid, but the other one was turned away. Sick sick sick. What is wrong with people?!
@gobblegirl I was seriously just about to leave a comment on this! So, yeah. Goodwill. Goodwill is good. Salvation Army is not good. Because... army? Yeah, hopefully if anyone needs a mnemonic they can figure it out themselves because I'm failing...
@gobblegirl Ughh and this makes me so sad because the Salvation Army seriously helped out my brother. Salvation Army, what's going on here? I love you. Get it together.
@franceschances Yeah, I reacted pretty much the same way. Sort yo' shit out, Sally Army.
"Space permitting, a chair or bench is a spectacular thing to have in a bedroom, because it gives you a place that isn’t the floor on which to toss stuff."
Waaaaaaait a minute here. Tossing stuff? In a pile? On a surface? I thought I knew you, Jolie Cleanperson, but I'm now questioning everything. A place to toss stuff is HOW THE PROBLEM STARTS. It is the feral gateway to feraldom. *sob* I feel so enabled.
@yup Sometimes you need to toss things! Like jeans that can be worn again - they shouldn't go back in the drawer with all your clean jeans or in the hamper with the laundry, so they go on the in between chair, which also holds pjs, bras, and sweaters that you want to get multiple wearings out of because handwashing is such a pain
@llamapyjamas I decided that if they're clean enough to wear again, they're clean enough to go back in the drawer. Otherwise, madness - and piles of clothes everywhere - reigns.
@yup. I have a basket - like a half-size hamper, with no lid - for the tossing. That way it's contained and out of the way, and there's not enough capacity for me to leave a week's worth of clothes in there. There IS enough for that nights' - I can just never motivate to put them away right that second, but I do try to do it every day - and jeans etc that get reworn a bunch of times. It works pretty well, and I am the WORST at putting things away.
That pinboard is genius! Basket of flip flops! Why did my messy disorganized brain never think of that?
@teaandcakeordeath No idea. I literally did a face-palm when I saw that idea, because duh, and immediately gathered up all the crocs I've been tripping over for...months (we are talking more than 12 here, but let's be kind to ourselves this year) and put them in the cats' basket, much to their confusion.
@wharrgarbl
I keep my flip flops bunched up in a platic bag, then I lose the plastic bag and think I have to buy flip flops. It's costly being disorganized.
Ha - cats dont sleep in cat baskets, its much better as a storage tool instead!
@teaandcakeordeath I didn't even do the plastic bag thing. They were just strewn wherever I kicked them off, or wherever the dog had kicked them (she like, plays soccer with them sometimes? she's a weird dog) from where I had kicked them off.
So they're now in the basket that the cats used to hide in while surveying their domain before they were all "whaaaa? it's got shoes in it now? I don't knooooow?", because the shoes had to go into a basket right away. I tell myself that the cats decamping to a stray cardboard box is like a vacation and now I won't have to call Confuse-a-Cat Ltd.
Freecycle is a fun way of getting rid of bigger/more expensive stuff 'cause you know the person who comes to get it really wants it and you don't have to haul it anywhere. I've posted furniture, a bike, smart phones, etc., and had it taken by someone who just fled a domestic violence situation or had a house fire or some other harrowing situation. I picture that lady and her kids at my old oak dining room table and being all safe and happy.
It's also a great place to get a thing! Even when things (other than the state of one's bedroom closet) are not harrowing!
My weekend hoodie hook is my favorite hoook.
Just remember that freecycle is not a fun way to get rid of your bedbug furniture! Not that any 'Pinners would do such a thing. END IT WITH FIRE.
JOLIE! EVERYONE! Can I have your attention please.
Cable organizing idea that literally changed my life (for the better, it's ok).
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/final-frame-organizing-compute-111983
@Twinkle Little Bat That is so...why didn't I think of that? Amazing.
@Twinkle Little Bat omg I am doing this the minute I get home.
@Twinkle Little Bat I gasped out loud. LOVE!!
GUYS, GUYS, CAN I SHOW YOU AN AWESOME PIECE OF STORAGE PORN?
Look what Mister made for his closet! I'd post the picture but it is...large.
http://imgur.com/gHfdY
Mister did a lot of awesome things while we were unemployed (refinished a shitty dresser, made the dining room table, that shelving unit, our bed frame...)
If you have an obnoxiously shaped nook in your room (or anywhere in your apartment for that matter) and you feel especially ambitious, you can totally make a handy femme project out of making one of these exactly to size.
@Third Wave Housewife Are there perhaps basic instructions for what you guys did to get this. I'm asking for a...friend. A friend who makes things way more complicated than they need to be the second power tools are involved.
@wharrgarbl I am...not sure. He has made furniture off instructables before, but I'm not sure this is one of those pieces. All he really did was measure the exact size of the nook he made the shelves for, and bought wood corresponding to that size, and according to how many cubbies he wanted. I don't remember if there are pegs or anything holding the shelves together, or if they are really just "cut halfway through the wood at exactly the width of the other interlocking piece." I can ask him when he gets home from work, and if you really want to make one, I'll fill you in on whatever details he gives me.
@Third Wave Housewife I have this super-weird nook that I think used to be a pantry or a large broom closet when the house was originally built. It is now just an awful, awkward nook filled with the same ugly, awkward bookcase that was there when we moved in because nothing else fits. Something like the pictured storage thing would be perfect.
I saw a blog article where someone took an old wooden ladder, painted it white, leaned it up against her bedroom wall and hung her high heels from it. It looked AWESOME.
For jewelry storage, I bought a big, cheap frame, took out the glass and covered the cardboard with pretty fabric, screwed some little metal hooks into it, and hung it on my wall. BAM: instant necklace holder/wall decoration. I also added a couple pieces of wire strung across the whole thing for earrings.
I tried the "basket on the closet floor" thing for my shoes for awhile, but I had a tendency to just throw flip-flops in there willy-nilly, and it was a pain in the ass to find a matching pair when I was in a hurry. I bought one of those hanging shoe-holders with the pockets and hung it from the back of my closet door; that way each shoe is with its perfect match.
What I want to know is, how do you people organize your makeup? I bought one of those plastic makeup organizers from Target, and it still seems messy and inconvenient.
@adwriter84 love the shoe ladder idea! especially if you have a nice collection of shoes, why not display em?
@adwriter84 I put a tray on my dresser/vanity and a $1 colorful mini pail from Target for stuff I use every day. Long cylindrical things (mascara, eyeliner, big lipgloss, brushes, etc) go in the pail. Bottles, lipsticks and palettes are nicely arranged on the tray. Weekend makeup is stored out of sight. It works pretty well and looks surprisingly nice.
@Emma Peel
Ah, I always do my makeup in my (small, with very limited counter space) bathroom because there's not enough lighting in my bedroom. That could be part of my problem.
@Emma Peel
Love the pail idea! I know exactly what pails you're talking about, too. I think I need to go to Target on the way home from work.
@adwriter84
This saved my tiny tiny apartment bathroom from an eyeshadow apocalypse:
http://laurathoughts81.blogspot.com/2011/09/make-up-magnet-board-round-up.html
I went the old-cookie-sheet route, since I had a million squirreled away under my stove. Frickin' genius.
@slammysosa Is it bad that my first thought after seeing those is "how do those girls function with THAT small of a makeup collection?!" I may or may not have a cosmetics hoarding problem /hangs head in shame
@adwriter84 You just need a really big cookie sheet!
Confession: I have at least five different mascaras in my cabinet, and use exactly one with any regularity. But I will never give up hope that one day I'll find that perfect non-clumping, non-smearing-yet-still-removable holy grail of eye makeup, and will just have to come up with more creative storage solutions until that shining moment arrives.
@slammysosa Clinique Lash Power is cold water-proof (and cry-proof, ahem) but it comes off really easily with warm water. It's one of those tube technology ones, so you just wet your eyelasher and just kind of... pull? the tubes off? It's weird but awesome. I usually use that for ease of removal, but then layer Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash or Lancome Hypnose Drama over it, because I like my eyelashes to be really long and touching my glasses.
@Chesty LaRue TUBE MASCARAS! I evangelize for these things all the time. L'Oreal has a drugstore version that's pretty good -- Beauty Tubes.
@Emma Peel Excellent, thanks for the tip!
@slammysosa Holy shit. That's brilliant.
EVERYTHING IS GETTING SO CLEAN YOU GUYS IT'S AMAZING. THIS WEEKEND I'M PAINTING THE ROOM TAUPE! TAAUPPPEEEEEE
@contrary Taupe is awesome. I'd love a taupe wall behind, say, poppy red or periwinkle blue or lemon yellow bedding.
@laurel The new comforter I picked out has big black and white flowers with lemon yellow accents, how did you know!
@contrary We are all geniuses here.
Does anyone know what to do when most of your heels are of the 5" plus variety? I consistently have trouble fitting them into shoe organizers. Maybe the boxes for tall boots? Help!
@bridget driessen@twitter Try men's shoe size boxes.
justsayjolie! Okay, I already loved you because you are a cleaning goddess and I have so much to learn, but it appears you also like the best MTV show ever so now I love you even more!
Ahhhh Jolie these are GREAT IDEAS. Definitely buying the nail polish organizer, and a bunch of ice cube trays, pronto. Do they make cute ice cube trays?
@cherrispryte See, this is when I wish I still lived alone because I'm pretty sure if I started hanging nail polish and jewelry on the wall, mister cohabiter would be livid. It's bad enough already when I harass him about nail art. "Look! Look at my nails! Do you see them! I drew lines on them! Do you see the lines?! Look!"
@MollyculeTheory "See how this manicure represents Moby Dick?!"
Thanks, Jolie, for inspiring me to Make My Bed Every Day If Nothing Else. It really has helped. Also, WIGS! I need to get my act together and store them properly, but like not on a bunch of mannequin heads because I don't have room for that and I'm pretty sure they'd scare me in the middle of the night. Right now I have them tossed in with the rest of my costume stuff in a giant Tupperware, but that method has made some of them pretty much unwearable. Any ideas, Jolie and/or 'Pinners?
@MollyReid My mom wraps up wigs/hair extensions/etc in old pantyhose and stores them in a well-lined drawer!
@MollyReid Something like this?
(Sorry)
Protip: Use vertical space wisely. I have a closet in my bedroom and another in the hall that have that one giant shelf on top with, like, three feet of space above it. I used to just creatively stack stuff up there and have it constantly slide off onto my head (or the floor). But a couple of stackable bins have saved my head and my closet space. It's a beautiful thing.
Also? If you're not on the tall side, put stuff you use less frequently up high, so you don't have to bust out the step ladder (read: dining chair) every time you need another roll of toilet paper.
@Dancersize Also...that awkward space above the kitchen cabinets? Get opaque boxes, and you can store anything up there and it looks nice and neat.
@Ophelia But then where would the cat lurk?
@anachronistique You could keep one of the boxes empty, and make a little cat-door in it...
Commenting before finishing the read: I have a shelf up in my bedroom, and the three brackets that hold it up double as hooks. They are basically bra holders. Awesome.
"that set of jammies you want to get a second wearing out of"
LOL, a second wearing indeed.
@oldfay more like a second WEEK of wearing, am I right??
...or am I disgusting
...I think I know the answer to this one already.
@oldfay I had a total record-screech moment at that line. I am gross. :( But also...pragmatic? I save water, energy, time and money by not washing them, ah, as often as that? Maybe?
@oldfay I'm glad someone else brought that up! How long is too long with pajamas? I feel like they follow the jeans rule: if you didn't sweat flagrantly or spill extravagantly, and they don't offend olfactorally, they're probably fine.
@MoxyCrimeFighter that's actually my everything rule?
so if anybody wants to start submitting questions for "Ask a Dirty Person" I'll be here ... waiting ... still waiting ... anybody?
(okay except for underwear. even a dirty person has LIMITS.)
@redheadedandcrazy I change my pajama shirt every night...but pants? pfft, i don't even know. I hope I'm not disgusting. I'm sorry Jolie.
@MoxyCrimeFighter I usually pack one pair of pajama pants for a 10-day business trip, so I guess that should tell you everything you'd want to know about my personal pajama-washing habits.
It had actually never occurred to me that people might wash them after every wearing? I feel so gross now.
@oldfay Ho man, I looked at that and I definitely did a double take. I am a pretty clean person and everything, but I definitely get, um, several wears out of my pajamas before washing. Also jeans. Also bras. Sorry, Jolie. I worship at your throne, still!
@oldfay When I was a wee thing we had a 3-day-jammie rule. After three days, it's time to put your dirty jammies in the wash and get a new pair. Although I am an adult who can wash her jammies whenever she pleases, I always still feel dirty on day four.
@oldfay No, I'm with you drrrty folks. I figure I'm not much of a sweater (ha) and I try to change them like every 3 or so days, but I actually had to have an intervention with the boyfriend. We had SO MUCH LAUNDRY and so much of it was his sleep tees, and so I said "Hey, let's wear them for at least two nights before washing, ok?" It's helping. Do people actually wash them after just one night? You must have a washing machine in your home, isallI'msaying.
@oldfay Maybe this is just me, but I have 2-3 pairs of shorts that I wear to bed, and 1-2 tank tops that I wear to bed, and typically I just wear one of each until I have to do laundry, or I have a particularly sweaty night for whatever reason. So, I wear a new set of jammies every 10-14 days. But I sleep in a tank top and shorts! Which is barely anything at all as far as skin covering! (I am a dream-hoochie.) So nothing really gets dirty... I've never even really thought about it before today. Ugh.
@Alli525 It just occurred to me how disgusting I am. Thanks y'all!
@oldfay @Moxie I shower at night about every other day and I change my jammies every time I shower. Going a whole weekend or longer without showering (I am having hermit weekend this weekend! No showers! No real pants! It's gonna be great) is not gross to me, but putting on pre-worn clothing, especially a shirt, right after said shower feels wrong.
@contrary: I feel like there is a column in the making entitled I'm sorry Jolie..
@oldfay um... how often does one have yo change one's sheets if one doesn't wear jammies?
@PistolPackinMama I was wondering this. Because I only wear anything in bed if it's really, really cold, and I'm quite sweaty, and I don't change the sheets all that often, I am forced to conclude that I'm pretty disgusting.
@PistolPackinMama Once a week is a pretty decent turn-over for sheets, especially if you're really sweaty or don't use pajamas.
@sparklepants I'm a naked sleeper and wash the sheets on Sunday so I'll be clean for god on Sunday night. Haha, no, it's because that's what my mom always did. Sunday was "wash the sheets" day.
Amen to making your bed every day. You know what other little thing helps your room always look tidy? Close your drawers and cabinets always. ALWAYS.
@Kateness Also then your cats don't get in the underwear drawer and get hair all over your pretty underthings and are fat and knock the bottom out of your cheap ikea dresser... That happened to a... friend... of mine.
Hold up. Did anyone else have a major record-scratch moment when they read that a hook is good for "set of jammies you want to get a second wearing out of"? As in, normally pajamas should be worn once before washing? My mind = blown.
@SuperGogo Oops, this just got addressed upthread. Carry on.
So I know we're organizing things today, but I have a cleaning related question! There's been much discussion on how to clean up for or after the cat, but I haven't found anything (or am too lazy to look) about how to clean the cat itself? An actual bath is out of the question unless I have at least two other people and we all have impenetrable skin. I tried a DIY dry shampoo using baking soda and corn meal, but then I couldn't seem to get it all off and kept finding little trails of corn meal around the house for like a week. And the baking soda just made him look dusty. Mr. Mojo does have minor bouts of dandruff, so I'd like something as close to all-natural as I can get, even if it's store bought. I really just want him smell nice and look shiny. Any suggestions?
@lil.orphan.shannie baby wipes? Usually cats are pretty self-cleaning, tho?
@lil.orphan.shannie with my cats, I found that looking shiny had more to do with what they were eating than anything else. We put them on a higher-quality food because they were puking a lot, and then within a week their fur was all nice and shiny and they stopped shedding as much. I suppose if you really need to wash your cat you could glue those softpaws nailcaps onto his claws so he can't scratch you, but they can be pretty obnoxious to get off later.
@lil.orphan.shannie It's definitely not all natural, but I bought a spray cat wash at Walmart recently. You just spray it on and then wipe it off with a warm washcloth. Older cats tend not to clean themselves as well, and it really does help to have a backup when they start to look a little mangy.
Also if it's just shinyness/healthiness of the coat that you're concerned about, and not actual cleanliness, give your kitty a little bowl of egg yolks (yes, raw) every once in a while! They go crazy for it, and it makes their coat shiny and soft!
I feel like baby wipes would just kind of... smooth everything down? He is self-cleaning, but his DIY baths don't get rid the occasional dandruff and whatever dust he likes to bring home after a roll in the backyard and hide in his undercoat. I wipe him with a damp paper towel whenever he comes back inside and he gets brushed with some regularity, but I feel like he needs a deep clean. Seriously, he is revolting, but I love him. He's my favorite.
@lil.orphan.shannie I would get a Furminator and Furminate him. Seriously. That's probably all you'd need to get the worst stuff out of his undercoat; the rest he'd take care of on his own. I used to have a barn cat that got into the NASTIEST things, but twenty minutes with the Furminator would make her shiny and mostly un-stinky!
@lil.orphan.shannie Do you used a slicker brush or just a regular comb? Slicker brushes are like $5 at Target or Walmart or Petsmart (which also sells grooming blades, but that's a use-it-outdoors kind of thing), and they get so. much. hair. off my cats.
@lil.orphan.shannie If you can get one helper, you can try doing what my sister and I did to wash her (very scaredy) cat. Put a couple of towels down on the bathroom floor. Get a couple of washcloths and a bucket of clean water. One person holds the kitty in place and the other person wets her by, like, squeezing out wet washcloths over her? Then lather up the cat shampoo in the same washcloth, rub it all over her, kind of massage it in, and rinse her off the same way you got her wet.
Kitty obviously meowed a little and wasn't super happy about it, but she ended up clean and nice-smelling and behaved leaps and bounds better than she would have with a normal bath.
This column brightens my whole week.
Jolie, I love you. So very, very much.
This column may very well solve all of my problems, and for that I thank you. I should, like, mail you some cookies or something.
Also, I love the carabiner clip idea for hair elastics! I'd recommend something similar for bangles if you're generally messy like me, because something like a carabiner (or one of those plastic rings that come with your pack of hair elastics when you buy it, or those metal ring things you can use to bind screenplays) would be convenient because you can just swoosh all the bracelets around on it and open it up just to get the bangles you want and not have to deal with any of the others.
Jolie you're amazing. AHMAZING.
You give a girl hope!
(As do all the other lovely Hairpinners leaving comments!)
Delurking to say that I love this column and I would happily live in a The Container Store if I could. Organized closets give me the warm fuzzies inside.
I just want to share my lunch-time Hobby Lobby epiphany for scarf hoarders such as myself.
Drawer pulls/handles. I will be screwing them into the wall and then BOOM: scarf hangers. Plus they're super nice looking and like $3 a pop.
I just realized that I don't know how to organize papers. Can anyone help?
I have one of those portable filing boxes that looks like an accordion and I have sections for bank statements, pay stubs, and different kinds of bills. And also lots of sections for things that are less important/useful. But actually keeping all this organized isn't really happening as well as it maybe should. Also how do I organize things that don't really need their own filing section?
Oh, Jolie! So many pretty things to do with all my scarves! Thank you!