This is a guest post from my daughter-in-law, Emily. I'm proud of her for sharing her ideas. I know this will be helpful to anyone needing to organize a closet! Enjoy 😊
I am not a naturally clean person. I prefer for things to be tidy, grew up helping around the house, but somewhere into adulthood, I lost the discipline….. especially when it comes to my closet.
I throw clothes on the floor when I try them on and don’t like them. I leave clean clothes in hampers for weeks. I avoid laundry and wonder why I feel more stressed in my room than restful or relaxed.
Lately, I’ve been better, not perfect, but better, and it’s caused some self reflection. What changed? How does my closet look so much better now than it did for the last several years of my life?
Believe it or not, the changes I’ve made have been small and slow. I believe lasting results come from habit change, not big moments of productivity. So, I’d like to share my closet journey with you in hopes that you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel, or that huge pile of laundry, just like I have. The steps below are are just Part 1 of 3 in my “Closet Rehaul” series and include some simple “First Steps” to start your journey.
1) Just start. It can be exhausting to stare at five overflowing baskets of laundry and get stuck in bed wondering how it’s all going to get done. One day, instead of waking up and staring at the mess, I decided to get busy.
Out of sight out of mind is real. I started this journey by taking a load of laundry out of my room and plopping it in the middle of my kitchen floor. This makes my mess inconvenient to more people than just me, and that certainly motivates me to take the next step and actually put it in the wash.
2) Keep dirty laundry in one place.
I’m a scatterer. If I take my clothes off in the bathroom, they usually stay there for a while or end up in the hallway. If I take my jacket off in the living room, it’s tucked in the cushions for months. Now, I try to stay in the habit of doing frequent “sweeps” of the house to make sure that all the clothing goes in a laundry basket.
3) Put your clothes away.
This can be the hardest step for me, especially because I tend to prioritize my toddler’s wardrobe over mine. It can be so easy to put a basket of clean clothes in my closet and live out of that until I’m out of options. I’m learning to take a deep breath, put on a podcast or playlist and just do what it takes to put everything away. Surprisingly, if you do this as you finish laundry, it just takes a couple minutes (way better than an hour when you let it pile up).
*** I used to procrastinate doing my laundry because the idea of bringing my toddler with me during each step was stressful. I’ve learned to include him in the process by storing a few toys near the laundry machine and in my room so he has plenty to do while I do what I need to. I’ve found it’s fun to let him close the dryer or carry his clothes to his drawer to “help” too!
4) Find a detergent you love.
This step may seem random, but I’ve noticed that it’s made a difference for me. I had some anxiety when it came to washing my newborn’s clothes in the detergent I was used to. Then I realized, if I’m concerned about his skin then maybe I should care about what touches mine as well. I started making my own detergent that uses just 3 simple ingredients. Making my own detergent makes me feel more involved in the process start to finish.
These are just some of the first and more general steps I hold onto when approaching my laundry. Reminding myself that I’ll always feel better when it’s done helps me push past any anxiety I may have to start. I hope you are encouraged and find these small reminders helpful and approachable.
Make sure to subscribe to http://oasismv.blogspot.com/ for Part 2 of 3 of My Closet Rehaul: Freedom in Organizing and more “helpful, encouraging tips for home organization, cleaning, gardening, crafts, and cooking for those who want their home to be a place they don't want to leave.”
