Get Control!

What is it about the new year that makes a person want to organize? For me, it's all about a fresh start. These days, it's also about simplifying and getting a little bit of control over the "stuff" in my life.

So I've been spending some time on cupboards and closets in the laundry room. This is NOT a glamorous place to start, but it is sorely needed. This is the stuff that drives me crazy...

First of all, how many extension cords does one house really need? Why the heck do we have all of these cords? (This isn't even all of them...several are in use right now on the Christmas trees.) I'll tell you why. We used to live in a 1923 home (and if I could move back there, I'd do it in an instant) that had very few outlets. We had to use extension cords all over the house. The cords are a carryover from those days.

The cords used to be shoved on a shelf in the laundry room. Today, they got a new home in a basket which fits on that shelf. Oh, happy day! You cannot know how excited I am about this. The basket cost all of $1 at Big Lots. What took me so long???

I read recently that clutter develops when items do not have a specific "home" or spot to be stored. That is definitely the case at our house. But this is going to end! One of the main problems is that we do not have a desk area in the kitchen to handle normal household business -- bills, school papers, documents to be filed, etc. Sure, we have an upstairs office area, but we would never drag all of that stuff upstairs to deal with it. For years I have struggled to find a place in our kitchen for a small desk area. At one point, I even took over a shelf in our pantry cupboard to use as a desk, but we quickly discovered that we didn't have room for food -- oops!

Out of desperation, today I cleared out a cupboard in our laundry room and converted it to a "desk" area. While not ideal, at least it gives us a spot for all the tools/supplies needed to handle household business. Hopefully we can all find a pen and a notepad when we need one -- which (believe me) is a HUGE issue around here. (Yes, I'll eventually cover those frosting containers with scrapbook paper, and I'll switch out that blue basket to one that is color coordinated.) I also made a spot for a small hanging file box in another laundry room cupboard, so hopefully papers will no longer accumulate on the kitchen counter. We'll see how this works!

Another area that drives me crazy is the laundry room closet, which houses some shoes, coats, and gloves. What a disaster! You open the closet and are likely to get hit in the head with something.

And the flip flops! Do not even get me started! (If you have a teenage daughter, you know what I mean!) I've tried all sorts of ways to contain them. Today I gained control! For $6 at Big Lots, I found this deluxe container...

Now the flip flops are under control! And so is my anger! See, I'm smiling! :-)

I also corralled the gloves in a basket, and I replaced the mismatched wire hangers with white plastic ones. Now the closet looks and functions much better.

Next task: The Dreaded Junk Drawer. Wish me luck.