It’s true. My bathroom is seriously small. I’ve remodeled and I love it, but it is way too tiny to store anything at all. I have an open cabinet sink, so there is about a 2’x3’ space under there, but it’s barely enough for towels, washcloths, a make-up tray, and the toilet paper.

Now, I kind of pride myself on not owning very much “stuff”. I like to keep it minimalistic around the house and I’ve been known for throwing away or giving away a lot of stuff just to have the house feel emptier. There’s something nice about only having a few things in a room. In fact, besides the bed, I only have one tiny dresser and two bedside tables in my bedroom. I don’t like furniture and things taking up space. So, keeping that in mind, I must confess that I absolutely love beauty products! I’ve tried everything under the sun. I do facial masks, bleach my teeth, experiment with hair and make-up, just about daily. I can’t get enough. I don’t spoil myself much, except with these types of things. I’m a big couponer, mainly so I can get tons of free or obscenely cheap beauty products.

So, you can see where this is going, right? I have accumulated a TON of hair products, accessories and tools, make-up out the wazoo, facial masks, body lotions, the list goes on and on. Because of the awesome coupon deals I’ve gotten, I also have a healthy stash of body washes, shampoos, conditioners, razor blades, and deodorants.

I finally came up with the perfect solution. I really didn’t want to put a bunch of shelves in my already cramped bathroom. I’d have to install them in between the studs, recessed into the wall, covering the entire wall to put all of this stuff somewhere. Even then I’m ashamed to say, it probably wouldn’t be enough. So, anyway, I acquired this media cabinet. It was a nice, beveled, kind of wavy glass front cabinet, about five feet tall. The awesome thing about it was that it had a lot of glass shelves that were adjustable. Finally a way to organize all my bathroom stuff!

Now, this thing does not fit in my bathroom, but it does fit nicely right outside of the bathroom in my bedroom. It took me two hours to categorize and go through everything that I had and figure out how I wanted it stored, but I did it and it’s magnificent! I didn’t like that the inside had a lot of holes for cords to feed through. This was meant for electronics, initially. So, I hung my great grandmother’s tablecloth in the back. It turned out so cute and made the cabinet special. I used a pencil and pen carousel for my make-up brushes, tweezers, nail files, and more. For the sections that were too deep, I stuffed some tissue down in the bottom to adjust the depth so that everything stayed perfect. Really I could go on and on about it. Anyway, I just wanted to share how I found a new purpose for a piece of old furniture that keeps all of my stashes perfectly organized and ready to use without cluttering up my house at all! Let me know what you’ve done!

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Does your storage closet look like a bomb went off in there? Mine sure did! I had slowly added random things that didn’t have a place to go to this “out of sight, out of mind” little nook in my house. Then one day it hit me. I have a junk closet. I’ve had to repurchase things that I already own because I can’t find them, or I don’t have the time and the energy to dig through the giant boxes that I’ve shoved in there! Oh, how I thought those big deep shelves would be so convenient, not realizing that I was creating a place to bury everything that I own in a virtual storage mortuary.

When I tried to shove in my kids’ yearbooks and they wouldn’t fit, I realized that I had robbed myself of this precious storage space. It was so many layers deep that I had no idea what I had stored near the back almost 3 years ago. This was long overdue. I cleared the room and just started pulling everything out. Now, you might have done this too. The plan was to go through every box, bag and container, get rid of some stuff and simply, possibly magically, organize what was left.

There’s the magic word, now, right? Organize. It holds such promise for an easier, neater, future. However, as I went through, I started to realize that I’ve done this before. I wasn’t finding that much stuff that I was willing to part with. Sure, some things were important at one time and no longer were, but a lot of this was precious memories. Photos, a select few baby clothes, Christmas tree decorations, craft supplies, and more were all stuffed in. So that’s when I decided that I would try not putting anything back into that closet that didn’t have a specific, sturdy, long-term space to go.

I used the whole room spreading out my stuff. I made piles of knitting and crocheting materials. I had a bunch of falling-apart plastic drawers and dressers just full of photos. I had multiple torn and smashed cardboard boxes holding everything from office supplies to my kids’ first handprints. This was not acceptable anymore! I decided to make a chart.

My chart listed each thing that I needed space for and I managed to get everything into just a few categories. Sewing and yarn, photos, kids’ school and artwork, craft and office supplies, mementos, computer supplies, Christmas stuff, exercise equipment, sports equipment, and my wedding china. I invested just a little into photo boxes, two sturdy containers with lids for the kids’ work, an extra shelf to add to the deep shelf for organizing sewing crafts, a few reusable grocery bags for holding smaller exercise equipment, and so forth. Everything had to go into a category and fit into its designated area or it had to go.

Limiting the space that I was “allowed” to use for each category helped me to make it happen. I couldn’t believe the space that I had left over once everything was put away in proper containers. I even had room to install a new hanging rod, stocked with coat hangers, for the bulky coats and suits that were causing space issues in my bedroom closet. It was definitely worth the time to do it right. No more falling-apart-containers and boxes holding my precious memories and no more searching for what I need when I need it.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Why wait until spring to do your spring cleaning? Right now, you’re probably trapped in the house just waiting for spring to get here, so why not use this time to get your whole house in order? You don’t have to set aside a whole weekend to do it. Just a little bit each day can have your whole home in order by the time spring comes around. Then you’ll be ready to go enjoy the great outdoors while everyone else is stuck inside trying to do all of their spring cleaning at once.

1) The first step is to evaluate your home and prioritize problem areas. There may be a “junk room” that you use for storage that really needs to be cleaned out, but is it the area that gives you the most trouble? A giant laundry mountain that never seems to be conquered may be your best place to start. Or, the kids’ paperwork from school is so piled up, that you don’t remember what is what and which things were important. Pick out the worst area and start there.

2) If you work full-time, then you may not have the time in your schedule to really dedicate yourself to cleaning. Some people have health problems that prevent them from doing it all. Or, your family may keep you so occupied that you just can’t find the time to do it. Try to do a little bit each day. As the end of the project approaches, you’ll find yourself getting more and more motivated to get it done.

3) As you clean, keep getting rid of things that you may not need to keep. The more you can get rid of, the less you’ll have to clean the next time. Have you caught yourself cleaning the same thing over and over, even though it was barely, if ever, used? Get rid of it! If you’re keeping things just because you “like” them, ask yourself what you like more, the item, or the clean space? You would be amazed how much cleaning you could avoid if you simply got rid of the things that you don’t use every day.

4) Getting your storage space in order can really help you to get things done faster. Organize your closet and make a space for everything. Then, while you’re cleaning, you’ll have a place to put everything. A little extra space in the closet can go a long way. Use hangers to hang everything from hats, flip-flops, coats, scarves, ties and purses. This can help you make room in your dressers and on your shelves for other things that need to be organized. Some clothes hangers can even help you to hang multiple items in one spot to make more room in the closet for more things to be hung.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.