Show Us Your Life--Organizing

Last Friday Kelly from Kellyskornerblog hosted an organization themed blog carnival.

Ironically, I was too busy to post that day because I was working on organizing my bathroom cupboard!

Before:

After:

The cupboard had gotten completely out of control, and it was the only spot in the whole house that I didn't organize last fall during my "fall cleaning" so it was ridiculously cluttered and unmanageably disheveled!

On top of normal bathroom items there were even swim suits, pajamas, an old brace from a wrist injury and a plethora of other miscellaneous items for which I either found new homes or which were thrown away. Now that I've shown you the messiest part of my home, you know I'm not a proud person so I'm also not too proud to say that there were even some beauty products in that cupboard from 2004! Of course now those are in the garbage can--thank goodness!

I usually consider myself a pretty organized person. Some days or weeks get busy and you can always tell how my schedule has been by how my house looks. If piles start to form or unpacked bags appear, it usually is a reflection of us being busy. Just as I finally get everything cleaned up, put away and unpacked, I always get busy again so it's like a cycle!

The best organizing tip I can share is to simplify and categorize things in your home and in your life to make them work for YOU. For instance, I used to sell Premier Designs jewelry and have quite a few pieces left that I did not sell when I quit. So rather than just keep them all in the Premier trays where they would get tangled and therefore would never be worn, I separated every piece of jewelry into plastic snack size ziploc bags:

I don't have a jewelry box large enough to hold all of this stuff, so until I get one (someday!!) I keep all of my little bags of jewelry in this cheap plastic file case:

This is what works best for ME. It may not be the best way to store the jewelry or be how you would like to, but it fits my needs for right now and I can always find what I'm looking without it being tangled!!

I'm off to organize a cupboard in my living room today and my "junk drawer" in the kitchen :) Happy organizing!!