Day 19: THE MASTER CLOSET OF DOOM

Uggh.  I have been dreading this one.  All month long.  Actually, I have been dreading this one for 2 years.  I have outgrown most of my clothes over the past year.  There, I said it.  I admit it.  I can see it.  Everyone can.  I have passed the pleasantly plump stage and I am officially fatter than I have ever been.  I am miserable in my own skin.  I have no kids to blame it on.  No excuses.  According to some posters, that means I should get rid of almost every piece of clothing I own.  Ain't happenin'!  I know I have too much stuff.  I have made HUGE progress in just 1 day of tackling the master closets (couldn't work on it yesterday at all) which has required me to attack the office closet (currently housing my summer duds, long dresses and too-small pants) and the disaster area spare bedroom which is the go-to dumping ground because no body ever stays overnight here.  That makes me sad that we are so old and fat and boring that we don't have parties anymore where people have to stay the night. : (  Oh, well, I guess there are worse things.  Anyway, this a** is getting back into those pants, so they are staying.  It's not that I haven't purged anything.  I flung over 20# of crap and a big bag of clothes out of here just in the past week.  Baby steps.  I hate to admit how bad I have let it get out of control around here, my dirty little secret....but I also hate seeing these posts where people show their supposed "master closet" and they have like 3 pairs of shoes and no pants are visible.  I know you are hiding your messes, people!  Where ARE your pants?!?!  I have taken pictures of my hot messes and I am posting them on the internet for everyone to see, judge, laugh, cry, shake their heads, forward to their friends, whatever!  I am not too proud and it doesn't look like that now and I already aired my dirty laundry, so it can't get much worse than that!  So here are some very scary before pictures.  (I can't believe I am about to do this.)

BEFORE--My closet and dirty clothes piled on top of basket of clean laundry to put away, shame on me!

DURING--who knew this cute chair was under those huge jeans and sweater!?!?!?

Actually, I had been thinking about trying those slim hangers, but couldn't find any that I felt were affordable until the other day.  I found 10 cute black and pink ones at Big Lots for $5, so going to give them a try. 

FOUND:  Missing Socks!  I think I matched up about 100 pairs today!

 The good news is that both my husband and I have a lifetime supply of socks.  We NEVER have to buy socks again, or cleaning rags, or draft dodgers and we can make a whole colony of sock monkeys if we want to, so there!

AFTER:  My closet, even a perfect spot to slide my slippers!  Most of the shoes I currently wear are hidden by the chair in this picture.

AFTER--Oh, looky, I can close the doors!


Now on to my DH's closet....

BEFORE--DH's Master Closet 

Awww, he's such a good sport.  I guess I would be to if someone was going to clean up MY mess!  I actually like keeping his closet and drawers up better than my own.  Don't have to think about anything, can just DO it.

AFTER--His Master Closet
 I changed up a few areas that I like what I did.  He had an old hanging shoe rack, the kind with the clear plastic loops (see left of white shelves)  His shoes are big, so only one shoe fit in a slot and a lot of slots were not being used so I was going to re-purpose the whole thing but then I decided to take his swimming trunks and workout shorts out of the middle shelves to make more room and rolled them up and stuck them in the "shoe rack."  (So we are ready for a last minute cruise or indoor pool....)

I wound up doing that with all of the shorts I could fit and put the rest in a plastic bin for storage.  Moved his short sleeved stuff all over to the left of his closet and put all the winter stuff as easy to get to as possible.  He prefers his gray or blue t-shirts, so I moved all of those from his drawers to the shelves.  I wasn't trying to recreate the wheel, so I just left them folded how he had them and stuffed them in there.  I also separated his long john pants on a shelf and his long john shirts, as he is wearing those daily now for his new job with the railroad.

  Then I went ahead and was able to get most of his sweaters in the closet, folded.  Put jeans together, then workout pants, then dark dress slacks and finally, khaki pants in the back.

I'm really pleased how it turned out.

Then I started working on his drawers.  The white socks were so crammed in there I couldn't open the drawer!  So I dumped them all out, he selected his favorite style of white sock and we matched them up and put the rest of them in a storage bin to access later when he needs "new" socks.

AFTER--Sock Drawer

AFTER--Sock Drawer

AND he has an empty drawer! (Um, we are experiencing technical difficulties, so please excuse the layout of this section and repeated pictures.)


Then, I ventured in HERE.....(I can't believe I am really going to show you this!)

BEFORE--Spare Bedroom

BEFORE--Spare Bedroom

BEFORE--Spare Bedroom

In all this mess, I guess I forgot to take a picture of the actual closet.  It is pretty small and now holds the hubs camo, suits, my short dresses and sorority stuff that I occasionally need to wear since I'm on advisory board for Sigma Kappa at Northwest Missouri State University.  The closet also has out of season shoes....although I am thinking about moving the shoes....

I found these dear old soles....

My favorite Calvin Klein shoes that I had to retire : (

Took their picture so I could always remember them....sniff, sniff.

AFTER--Spare Bedroom closet

AFTER--Spare Bedroom Closet

AFTER--Spare Bedroom Seasonal Shoes--Boots are in a different area...

Can't wait to wear these this summer!  Cutest shoes, ever!

DURING--Disaster Area Spare Bedroom--not perfect, but getting there, on the floor: more clothes to donate, quilt that needs cleaned and a couple of odds and ends to find a permanent home for.  This room is now my dressing room or "staging area," got my scarves all in the same place and on a hanger, jewelry and accessories are in here and it looks 400% better, doncha think?

All of this organizing the master closet meant I also needed to address the closet in the office...

BEFORE--Office Closet--really not too bad--right?

AFTER--Office Closet.  I did put my colors together, although I was kind-of already doing this.

I have a few more projects that I am working on for the Groundhog Day Organizational Challenge Recap!  Please check back here on February 2nd when I reveal my AFTER vs. AFTER-AFTER pics and some tweaks and some new projects, hopefully some new ideas and inspiration!  My goal is for everyone to have some accountability and link up and show us how you are doing!  Good job everybody!  This has been so much fun!  I've learned a lot, I feel like I've made new friends and made a TON of PROGRESS!!!