Organizing the Linen closet.

Today I am bursting with pride.

I cleaned the linen closet!

When we moved in and found we had absolutely no storage space we pushed things into the linen closet. All those little boxes for stemware, the full box set for our 8 piece dinnerware and our completely unpacked china set were all shoved to the bottom of the closet. Then, as shelf space ran out, we just piled on top of the boxes. Then it became so bad that there was no point anymore and we didn't even fold throw blankets before shoving them in there. You know in cartoons where they open the closet and the whole mess falls out on them? It was like that. Except that in real life, things settle and when you pull something in the stack out, everything around it stays just as it was. (evidence below: gaping hole between afghan and pillow) This is how you make an igloo, or how you burrow in our linen closet. Important life stuff. You're welcome.

Before

After

So, after 13 months and 24 episodes of Hoarders (moral support), I did it.

Tips for when you clean your own closets:

1. If you have movable shelves/wood planks, move them! By bringing the very top one down one notch to make a mega wide shelf, I was able to store all the boxes up there as high as my heart desired AND create a barrier for the chaos.

2. Learn how to properly fold fitted sheets. Check out this video for the how-to. Though, even with this know-how, I will never be able to fold a sheet as well as him...

3. If you have baskets available, it will make your life easier. I had 1 ghetto pink crate, but my bulky afghan blankets are living the dream in it.

I thought once I had done this, I would feel like our apartment was in good shape. Sadly, we are just coming out of a bout of sloppy. So, the only place that is now organized is our linen closet. Gah. I want a maid.

Happy cleaning!