From Disaster to Delight: An Organized Linen / Cosmetics / Toiletries / Storage Closet

My big organizing achievement for July was my linen closet, which also serves as a cosmetics/toiletries and general storage closet. The "before" clutter clearing & organizing photo is on the left and the "after" is on the right. Big difference!

Someone asked for details on this clutter busting project so here they are. The basic "how to" was the same as most of my organizing and clutter busting projects:

1. Remove everything, 
2. Clean the empty space, 
3. Get rid of everything I don't need/use/love, 
4. Organize what's left. 

For the purging I donate everything useable (either to charity or friends), recycle everything left that can be recycled and trash the rest (very little has to be trashed, thankfully).

• Extra toilet paper is stored in the small handled basket on the top shelf.
• Hair accessories are in the pink photo storage box on the top shelf (the box below it is empty for now but it will probably gain items from under the sink vanity once I get to that).
• The baskets hold one type of linen or cosmetics/toiletry each. There's a basket for pillow cases, hand towels, face cloths, hair products, face products, body products, etc. Blankets are stored in an extra drawer in the bedroom but since there's space on the top shelf I might eventually move them there. 
• Within the linen storage baskets things are folded uninformly by what makes sense for the amount of that item that we have and the depth/width of the basket, mostly with rounded edges facing upward and the neatest part facing forward.
• Towels and the extra bath mat are folded so the rounded edges face outward.
• They don't show in the photo but we store our space heaters and some cleaning projects on the bottom shelf.

Last year I bought baskets and kind of organized things but I didn't purge enough to make it truly organized. It's hard to tell from the photos but there's a big space above the door jam and there's a bar to hang clothing up by the ceiling. I left the two cedar hangers on the bar and you can see the very ends of them in the "before" photo (above) but the rest of that space is empty right now (though eventually I might hang extra table cloths from the bar as our clothing is too long for the space).

Clutter clearing was definitely beneficial here as retrieving things is easier and I don't have to worry about things falling on my head when I grab something from the top shelf anymore (a definite bonus). I think the biggest difference from the first go at organizing this closet and this time was having read Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I haven't implemented her process yet but it made it a lot easier to release the things that don't "spark joy."

I love to organize but have a host of health challenges and little energy lately so this project took me from July 6 to July 27, even with my kind husband's help. The key was to do a small, managable section at a time (like one basket). 

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Do you have any storage organizing tips? I'd love to hear them! 

Related posts:
Storage cabinet clutter clearing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/02/clearing-cabinet-clutter-clutter.html
8 minute microwave area organizing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/03/8-minute-microwave-and-cut-flower.html
14 minute kitchen counter clearing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/03/14-minute-kitchen-counter-clutter.html