You know the kind I’m talking about. Those rooms in your home that just never quite get the royal treatment they deserve and we keep them isolated from everything else. Why do we do that to ourselves? What causes our brain to just set aside that mess (or disaster zone) and just live with it? Why are we so careful about the other rooms in our home making sure they are always picked up and presentable? I don’t really think it’s just because those rooms don’t get seen by your visitors. There has to be an underlying reason that I haven’t quite put my finger on.
Case in point, our master bedroom closet. Why have I lived with it like this for 4 or 5 years, hating every second of it, but yet, have still done nothing about it?
Why have I lived with that?? I know you are probably freaking out right now and some of you may be even hyperventilating. I apologize if so.
Why am I so anal about the rest of my house being picked up and clean, but yet I continue to curse my closet out in my head every single day and have for several years now? Why haven’t I done anything about it, like I do when I get mad about dishes being in the sink or laundry getting piled up that needs to be folded and put away? When I need to get something off of that top shelf, which is usually daily because my jeans and work out clothes are up there, why do I continue to let clothes fall on me as I’m trying to drag something out carefully, and then just toss it back up there (while I’m still cussing out the clothes in my head)? I’m not kidding y’all. Every single day this happens. It’s maddening. It’s one thing I really hate about myself. *sheds tear* (not really)
So the other day, I popped up ready to tackle the world, and decided to just take our closet in baby steps. It’s so overwhelming to me to even begin in there. And can you imagine what the rest of our closet looks like (this is my side)? My husband’s side isn’t any better. He has a bag fetish but that’s for a different post. The rest of the closet just gets worse who am I kidding.
But the one part of the closet that REALLY annoys me is all of the clothes that fall down on top of me so I did go through them the other day. Outta sight outta mind…
No your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, that is a live human in the pile.
So I had a HUGE pile of clothes to donate and now the top shelf looks like this.
It might not be much to you, but it has made me a tad bit more sane. I dream of a nice fancy closet with built-ins and shelves and drawers and stuff. That would be so awesome. But for now I have to make do with what the builder gave us. Our closet could be so much more practical with at least some drawers or something!
You know what’s even more sad? Over 2 years ago I had a real homes, real life link party where a bunch of you linked up your messes. It was awesome. And guess what was on my list? Yep, our closet. And sadly, it’s worse off now than it was then. Sigh.
Our other dirty little secret is the….garage. Ugh. Don’t get me started about that. Maybe if we could clean it out I could actually get to my saw and tools and build something for our closet. Now that would be amazing.
What’s your little secret? Do you have anything like this in your home that drives you insane, yet you continue to just make do and learn to live around it? I feel like I was catering to my closet and the never ending pile of clothes that fall on me every day. Baby steps.
xxoo,
Decorchick!
Let’s Connect!
I was baby stepping on my master closet yesterday, too. And like you, it and my garage are the worst clutter spots in the home. But I vow (oh so dramatic) that I WILL be able to get my car in the garage before hurricane season starts in June.
And yesterday – I purged a garbage can full of debris from the closet.
So I am getting somewhere!!
Sounds like you are doing good. Gosh, if we are ever able to park a car in the garage, that truly will be a miracle. I am just not too optimistic at this point. lol
Yikes the first couple of photos did give me anxiety! But it looks like you are on your way to getting it where you want it to be. In the meantime, how about using some baskets up there on top? Even plastic ones could help. Check out Dollar Tree and good luck!
haha sorry Gina! But yes, baskets, bins, whatever…I need something. lol
This is too funny. What were you guys doing in my closet? You could have at least peeked out and said, Hi. :D
Well. It could have been mine. The jumble of shoes look familiar.
I’m with you! I would love to have a closet company come in and do their magical thing. If the $ was there.
Just last week I spent 3-days in the master closet and laundry room *which happen to be next to each other* doing just the same thing. I could hardly move a joint after. ;)
I realize that half the stuff I own I don’t wear anymore. Working myself up to chunking the lot.
Jake’s a Girl
Ha so funny. I still have LOTS to go through in the closet to get rid of and donate. Never ending…
Our bedroom has been like this. We don’t have a lot of storage at all, so everything was ending up in our bedroom (which is HUGE!). Piles of stuff that didn’t have a home. And it’s been like that for years. We always make our bed and that part always looks great… but everything else just had bins, furniture to get rid of, piles of who knows what… We started tackling it about a month ago and it is looking amazing! I only have a couple problem areas left and can’t wait to finish and have a peaceful place to go…. and actually enjoy being there!
Well good for you Sarah!! Sounds like you’ve made great progress. Hope I can follow suite. :)
I am in the process of doing a huge experiment with my closet. A few weeks ago I took ALL my clothes out of my closet and moved them to another closet in our house. I only allow myself to hang clothing items in my closet after I have actually worn them (and, yes, washed them ;) ) I did this because I have a ton of clothes but I knew that I only wore a few of the items – the ones that I felt comfortable and pretty in – but yet, every time I tried to whittle my wardrobe down, I just couldn’t do it. I am now on week three and I only have about 10 items in my closet – proving what I already knew – I have too much stuff! Bonus: I actually found a couple of favorite items that I had forgotten about because they were buried underneath everything else. Not sure how long I will do this, especially with the season change, but the idea is that at the end I will just get rid of everything that is still hanging in the other closet because I never wore it.
This is a super idea! I know the feeling…..”I MAY/MIGHT wear this some day, but doing it this way shows , no, I wont!” After it has been isolated for so long I can see the attachment would fade. Good idea!
Yes good idea!
I did start hyperventilating at the first few photos. Oh my! When my closet starts to get out of hand, I take everything out, sorted through all the clothing (donate, keep, storage/seasonal). Doing this a few times a year is great, and it helps to get rid of tattered clothing and things that are not longer stylish. Good luck to you!
Will you come over?
Thank you so much for posting this, so many bloggers are afraid to show the ‘dirty’ secrets! This made me feel normal. With three kids it is impossible to be organized but I guess every effort counts right?
Yep, as long as we make an effort it’s all good. :)
LOL man your closet is CLEAN compared to mine! It’s been our dirty little secret for about 3 years now. I’m waiting until school is out to “fix” the problem.
Good job on yours!
Hahaha! I can’t imagine what yours looks like! ;)
Mine is the garage, too. And the storage room in the basement, which was great, and then people messed it up and then they messed it up more and more and now it’s a DISASTER.
Baby steps…:)
Mine is my vanity area. I think it is because it doesn’t really affect anyone other than me, even if it doesn’t look great. I really need to get it together though!
We just moved into our first house so I am getting everything organized but I would have to say my little secret is my crafting supplies. I have them on the floor in my closet, piled into a dresser in the living room, stored in pull out drawers in the bookshelf and stacked on a shelf in the dining room. I am not proud of how disorganized it is. I know that is not the worst secret I could share but I really don’t have room anywhere else to have a secret.
But if you have a walk in closet you could always buy some old cabinets from the refurbish yard and install those across the top of the closet where the open shelf is now? Just a thought! Keep breathing and take baby steps, you will get everything done!
Great idea Colleen!
I know exactly what you mean! Here I blog about organizing and my friends think I’m organizer extraordinaire, and then I have areas just like that. In fact, I just shared our basement disaster recently. I think it’s great to be real…we’re all human!
I just went through something similar with both our master closet and the linen closet. The trick that saved the day? Crates. It seems so simple, but I had not thought of it for the closets! Now we have a labeled crate for my jeans, my hubs’ jeans, king sheets, queen sheets, dog towels, etc. I just grabbed a few cheap crates from Target and some of the canvas bins from their dollar spot (they were $3) and it did the trick. Who knew something so simple would change my world so!?
The top of my husband’s and also my dresser. Stuff gets laid down and never picked up or I just move it all into the top drawer…and we have a beautiful custom closet! What’s up with that? We are just human I guess
Oh yea…the dresser. That’s also a disaster.
I did this about a month ago. We could not walk a foot into our “walk in” closet. I pulled everything out and started over. I tossed/donated 5 big garbage bags of stuff and 5 big bags of clothes. I literally tried on every piece of clothing I kept (of my stuff) and made my DH try on a lot of his. Everything in there fits us and is hung up by color. Okay, so the amazing part is that my hubby is still hanging the clothes by color when he helps with the laundry. WOW!
Oh wow now that IS quite the accomplishment!
I think it all comes down to the fact we choose to spend our money where it has the most impact. Closets are hidden and don’t deliver much wow. It’s much more fun to decorate a family room. Just try to pare down and put away out of season clothes and you will feel less stressed.
:) I feel your pain! I recently cleaned out my office closet, I couldn’t find my iron for months after having to borrow my neighbors I finally sucked it up and cleaned the office closet out! It was like Christmas day all the stuff I found, the favorite thing I found was a compact mirror that was my moms (mine broke and I hadn’t gotten around to buying a new one so I was using a sliver of a mirror to do my make up every day until I found my moms) I know that’s not a huge thing to find but my mom passed away in 2005 so anything that was hers is special to me!
My part of the master closet looks like yours! Our closet is long and my husband was smart and chose the first part of the closet when you first walk in because he didn’t want to jump over my piles every day! Oddly we have three boys and I am a freak about keeping their closets cleaned out on a regular basis! I don’t know why because they could care less. I have found hanging everything for my boys helps to keep us focused on only keeping what they truly wear. Guess I should try it for myself!!
mine is my master bedroom…unfortunately my nightstands are overflowing (both inside & on top) with papers of all sorts: bills, kids schoolwork I need to go through, coupons, magazines & all sorts of other stuff. it’s ridiculous. last week the exterminators came out & I had to clear out everything – I thought oh good I can go through all this stuff as I put it away…nope didnt happen. i swear it looks worse than it did before they came out!…le sigh, here’s to hoping it happens this weekend…oh & my husbands side of the closet looks kinda like that – he’s got a tshirt fettish, i swear he’s got some in there from when we first met in Jr High! slowly I’ve been getting rid of them but somehow I swear whats left is multiplying!
You’ve lived with it because NO one from the outside will ever see it…why change it if no one will see it? Because you will be happier with it cleaned up. You will like it once it is done. So take all the tips from the professionals, make the piles and use them, keep, donate, trash. Once you have the keep pile organize it by type. then work on a home for it. Once you sorted by type you will know how much room you need and what the best storage container will be. Take a list with you to the Container store and you’ll be set…..NOW GET TO IT
Love ya and God Bless
Same as you – closet and garage….and my daughters’ closets! It’s just so easy to throw things in and close the doors. What can I say. I tackle all closets and get them back to pristine condition about once every 6 months when the mess drives me overly insane again. The garage belongs to my husband and a 3K lb weight called a ’68 Camaro he plans on sprucing up and getting running again. I figure he will have to clean the garage when he starts that project.
i live this clutter for all of my life, if no one can see it, than just live with it..
feel free like the wind i say…
I have the same problem with my closet. Every other room in the house is perfect, but dont step in my closet. About a couple of weeks back I decided enough is enough and spent a good hour organizing it. Now I have myself on a tight leash. Each evening I have to put my clothes back in order because I know if I slip one day then its all downhill from there!!!
THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! for posting the mess pics!! No, really!! I thought I was the only one that had laundry.. and toys.. and books… and mail.. lots and lots of mail. Sometimes it just gets to the point that I am too tired and really don’t care that I have to sit on the laundry to watch TV. Even though I am a stay at home Mom, I do like to have time to myself. And, time with my family. Waiting for the laundry to finish doesn’t count and just doesn’t cut it! And getting laundry and dishes done is fulfilling.. just not in the personal project kind of fulfilling. Or saying who cares about the dirty house.. lets go to the beach! The mess will be there when we come back! Blogs show a wonderfully organized and pretty house that is just perfect. My husband tells me.. “That isn’t real”. You have disorganization and clutter.. Thank God!! You are real and I feel normal!! The live human in the pile made me laugh.. we have a live dog in our pile. He ADORES dirty clothes.. he’s now the weird one! :)