Oh, my gourd, I love fall! Yes! My favorite time of year. Time for pumpkin spice muffins, yummy chili, a good book, and cozy sweaters. Don't forget, cheesy scary movies. So good!
It's also that time to winterize the yard, cut back the designer grasses, clean out the garden, and the list goes on. I can say that I love to weed the yard. I do. I find it satisfying, a stress reducer, and work out.
With that said, it is time to winterize your family. Set the family up to find what they need for cold weather. Let's talk about revising the coat closet. Last week the coat closet was on my list, with colder weather on the horizon. It is an excellent time to reset that heaver coats to the front of the closet and the lighter weight and hoodies to the back. By the front of the closet, I refer to the section that you see first when opening the door. The other items pushed out of the forefront.
Oh, and one of my favorite changes is matching hangers. The uniformity looks good and often creates more space, so choose a style and color and stick to that. No one kind of hanger is a must. Well, the must is what works best for your family. That may be wood hangers, felt-covered hangers, or plastic hangers. Just be consistent.
Our coat closet gets revised twice a year: fall and late spring. I began by taking everything out and grouping like with like. Winter coats together, hoodies together, lightweight coats together, knitted hats. Gloves all put in piles. Like many homes, our coat closet houses much more than coats. Winter essentials and more… hats, scarves, cowls, gloves, mittens, baseball caps, table leaf, and flags.
Once I had grouped like with like, I asked myself a couple of questions. These helped me evaluate what was working and what was not working. Are our baskets that hold the winter essentials meeting our needs? Are there items that are worn out, missing pieces, or too small to be donated or thrown out? A couple of winters ago, I gave everyone a basket with their name on it. This time around, I gave each basket a label with a broad title because people were not putting things in their baskets, and the flags needed proper storage. Yes, you caught me. Sometimes items don't make it back to the designated spots. So, now that I have weeded out the things that no longer serve us, I relabeled the baskets, head, hands, neck, and flags.
Another addition was a second cap holder on the inside of the door, with three males in the house who wear ball caps A LOT. And my desire to keep them off couches, countertops, laundry room sink, you get the picture— laying around. It hangs on the inside of the door, and it is easy to place or pull out hats when needed and not take up space on a shelf now if I could get them to use it more often than not. With the revision done and cooler weather, it appears that pulling those darn weeds has moved up on my list. Que an excellent audiobook and let the weed pulling began.
I hope that you are finding some joy and peace in your homes. Do not be afraid to ask me organizing questions. I want you to know that there is no right or wrong answer to what or where you keep things in your home. What you need to ask yourself is... how are my home and its space serving me/us? Are my things organized in a manner that works for me/us?
The purpose of organizing is precisely that. You are creating systems and processes that serve your needs. Do we all want that Pinterest Board coat closet, pantry, or whatever that picture-perfect space is? I want to say, yes of course, it is a work of art, but in the end, does it serve you? Do the pretty stacks and fancy baskets function well? When your four-year-old is picking out their clothes for the day, are they dumping everything out to get to the shirt on the bottom of the drawer? Is there a pile of shoes collecting in the laundry room because the basket is full, and your son is so frustrated that he is wearing mismatched shoes. Okay, that was goofy, but you get the point. Maybe a shoe rack in the garage is a better option.
Look at your space and ask yourself. Is the area serving our needs? How can it be improved? Could this or that better meet our needs if it is stored in a different location?
You got this!
Organizing and smiling,
Rebecca