Gettin' Organized - One Space at a Time

We are about to start a lot of work at our house - new Heat Pump, Guttering, some odds and ends home repairs, some custom shelving in the living room, painting and new flooring. I expect my next year to be quite busy and full of strange men coming in and out of my house. (And some of them might even be there to work on the house. Ba-dum-dum!) We've lived here 14 years, so it is time to do some updating. We remodeled the kitchen five years ago and the bathroom two years ago, so we are slowly working our way through the house.

I am getting rid of things and putting the things I love out so I can enjoy them. I've been acquiring a lot of vintage tablecloths as of late, so I decided to get them out of an ugly plastic tote and put them where I can see them:
I folded them up neatly and put them on an old white metal kitchen cart that I had bought this spring for $3.00. It might be a temporary place for them, but at least they are out where I can see them.

And, since we can't afford to build on for more space, I am adding space where I can find it. I had a ton of baskets in the linen closet with my coupon purchased toothbrushes, deodorants and razors. I bought these nice fabric shoe organizers at the Dollar Tree. I stapled them to the inside of the door and now I have plenty of storage for all the little things that get lost in the shelves and baskets. I've even made labels for each pocket, but I haven't gotten them on the pockets yet. I'm so Martha! *snicker*

And, lastly. The Gift Closet. Doesn't everyone have one of these? I am always picking up nice gift-able items and putting them in the closet. The very same closet that got flooded in the Great Hot Water Heater Explosion of '08. I culled out a lot of the items that I had bought and donated them to my favorite thrift. It was all good new merchandise, I just overbought. For instance, at one time for some reason, I got an amazing deal on Amazon on Waffle Stick Makers. I think I got them for $3.00 each and ended up getting a rebate on top of that so they were either free or I ended up making money on them. But, I gave one to every conceivable person I could ever give a gift to and I still had a bunch left. So, they are gone.

I saved the glass dish set, a pasta cooking set, a baking set, two sets of all white dishes, an alarm clock, a silver cocktail shaker/bar set, a cool piece of new art pottery and a car washing kit. Something for everyone, right? I figured these are all good general gifts. As for that VCR - new in the box. We bought that for DH's parents, but his Dad died and we knew his Mom wouldn't use it and then she died a year later, so now we still have a brand new in the box VCR. I was told the new VCR's that they sell in stores now are really just Players and not Recorders. Is that true? It might be ebay-able now. The DVD/VCR unit was the Grand Prize at the Back to School Bash last year. DH won it and there it still sits. How do you get a man motivated to do anything? Granted, we already had one, but still, we could be using it instead of it sitting there on that shelf.

Next chore: I have shelves above the washer and dryer and they are crammed packed full of gift bags, ribbons, tissue paper and gift boxes. I am going to save a few and donate the rest. I am going to find only the phone books that are good for THIS year and get rid of the rest. All the partially burned candles are outta here. The batteries must all be in date. If I don't know what cord goes to what electronic, so be it, they are gone too. I am going to finally shred the cancelled checks from 1999. I will find The Bean's birth certificate and immunization record. I will put my photographs in matching pretty boxes with labels. Oh, a girl can dream, right? Photos to come.....