I feel so Organized!

Ask anyone who knows me and they will say I am organized, ask anyone who knows me well and they will say I like being organized and I often appear to be organized but I have a deep dark secret... Hidden within the dark recesses of my home or rather my closets lies a world of chaos! Alright, I exaggerate but my home is honestly a very lived in, very family oriented house. While some people I know have non-kid rooms or at least one kid-free zone in their homes we have none of these. I like the idea that the children feel this house belongs to all of us but the frustration is they have had difficulty learning to also take responsibility for the care and consideration of said house! Thus everything I carefully organize and arrange is almost instantly demolished!

To top off this organizational issue is one other important obstacle to organization...too much stuff and not enough room! With 5 people in a household one starts to realize how much stuff is accumulated over time! We live in a three bedroom home so our daughters share a bedroom. I have never been terribly concerned about this fact. The girls don't seem to mind and I think it has become a bit of a bond between them but we've run into one issue which has been driving me to the funny farm for some time--one average sized closet for two girls' wardrobes and treasures. Now here is where I admit my girls have no shortage of clothing but you also must know that 90% of their clothing is comprised of hand-me-downs, about 9% gifts from relatives, and the last 1% actually purchased items from us {I am serious}. I am a huge believer in reused/hand-me-dawn clothing but I also have a hard time weeding things out if they still fit and are in good condition thus the girls' extensive wardrobe! This week my husband and I found a wonderful solution to the frustration of cramming clothing into overflowing dresser drawers and throwing things into a closet with a proper place for anything. We installed shelving cubicles practically to the ceiling in one half of the closet and a shoe rack on the floor in the other half. We have the hanging bar in just half the closet but plan to install a second bar half way down to move the shorter items like blouses and cardigans to. I wish I had a before picture but it never occurred to me until we were through. I know it's silly but I just had to blog about it! It's funny my daughters absolutely love it and are actually carefully to remove things without ruining the effect...at least for the time being. What I love and my 6 year old was quick to point out is you can see exactly what there is to choose from.