Conquer Your Closet with Wayfair

Disclosure:  I was given a gift card for the Wayfair products in my post.  My opinions about these products are 100% mine. 

I was so excited when I was asked if I would like to participate in the Conquer Your Closet campaign.   With my crazy schedule, three teenagers, and lack of organization, most of my closets are in major need of help.  The closet that probably needed the most help, is one we walk by multiple times a day...   the hall closet 

It is kind of embarrassing that it got this bad.  The hall closet had become a big black hole of stuff. There used to be a bi-fold door on this closet that at least hid the stuff, but we removed it last year.  We got tired of it falling off it's track, and basically being a big old pain in the back side.  Once the door was removed, the stuff in the closet started spreading into the hallway.  I moved our makeshift coat rack in front of the closet, because it was easier to throw our coats on the rack instead of fighting the clutter to hang them up. (not that my kids like to use hangers, they seem to prefer hooks on the wall, chairs, and sometimes the floor)  

One the top shelf of the closet, I had our Aero-bed we use for guests, a random sleeping bag, and a cardboard box filled with miscellaneous items. 

The biggest problem in the closet was the growing mountain of various of  bags.  On the bottom was a big bag filled with plastic bags, the clear bag in the middle was overflowing with  all of our extra gloves, scarves, and hats.  The bag on top was  the extra snow clothes that my daughter took when camping with the girl scouts a couple of weeks ago. Instead of being put away, the bag just ended up in the closet.  

Something had to be done, and fast! 

My closet is not very big, so I had to chose the right size bins for this project.  I went with two bins from Houseshold Essentials that were 13 inches x 13 inches x 10 inches. As you can see they were a nice size.  You can see more about them here on Wayfair.com.   I decided to use them on the top shelf. 

Since my shelf is not wide enough for three bins, I put one on each side, and a sturdy shoebox in the middle.  The bin on the left holds miscellaneous items such as collapsible coolers, an extra mini throw, and our Detroit Tigers claw.  The bin on the right is holding our extra snow clothes that are not used very often, such as snow pants (teenagers do not wear snow pants often), heavy duty gloves, and some extra hats.. (same reason as before,  I can't remember the last time one of my kids wanted to wear an extra hat)   The box in the middle holds all of our extra extension cords that we can now find when we need them. Since the middle space is smaller, I would need a thinner bin like the one below. It would fit well with the two bigger bins

Rubbermaid Bento Box

I had another idea for storage, but due to the size of my closet, I had to get something that would not takeover the closet.  I decided on this 10 pocket organizer that is 8 inches wide by 12 inches deep by 50 inches long.  I thought it would be perfect to hold items that we are using frequently, that can easily be found when we need them.  

I hung the pocket organizer on the left side, which was the perfect size for scarves and gloves.  My girls and I are about the same size, and  we often buy stretchable gloves in various colors. Having several pairs, we then can pick whatever color we want depending on our mood.  That will be a lot easier to do now that we can see our choices.  

I rehung only the coats that we can actually wear, and removed all of the ones that were too small. I also removed several of the hangers that were not the right size, or were too bent to use.  I  love that I can now fit the vacuum cleaner back in the closet where it belongs. After this photo I decided to move the yoga mats to another location, since we are not really using them right now.   There is quite a difference between before and after, don't you think?!.  My family thinks so, every single one of them have said that it looks so much better. Maybe now they will help keep it looking this way!  

Handbag Hangers

Another item that I bought, but will use in my main clothing closet are these handbag hangers.  I have so many hangbags, and have never known that best way organize them.  I can't wait to see how they look when I finally have time to clean out closet.  

Do you have a closet that needs some organizing?   Hopefully I have given you some inspiration, now that you see how much better a cleaned out closet can look.