Out of sight, out of mind. We all have clothes in our closets that need to live there, but that we don’t wear regularly. It could be your interview suit, a formal dress, a fancy coat, or even costume items. If you don’t wear these items day to day they just create visual clutter when you’re searching for the day’s outfit. File these items away in a hanging garment bag – you’ll know right where they are when you need them, but they will visually disappear so you can focus on your main wardrobe.

Be all matchy-matchy – this isn’t anything new, but organizing your closets into outfits will help with grab and go. If you have a double rod closet you can group your tops on the upper rod and pants and skirts on the lower rods in loose groups that go together – casual blouses hang over the khakis and jeans, dressy shirts hang over trousers and skirts. If you’re working with a single rod, group them side by side.  (Or turn your single rod closet into a double rod easily with this rod doubler.)

Get your kicks – take it to the next level by incorporating storage above and below your hanging clothes. Pair appropriate shoes with your outfits by adding a shoe storage shelf on the floor, or add a hanging shoe rack to the back of the closet door across from the hanging clothes.

Accessorize – If you own beautiful scarves and necklaces, but forget to add them to your outfit like I do, add an undershelf basket to keep them front and center, or drape them over the hanger of a coordinating blouse.

Keep it real – sometimes it’s hard to pick out what to wear because you feel like you should get some use out of the clothes you don’t really like, or that don’t get worn often due to a poor fit or lack of appropriate matching garments. Having a closet stuffed with extras can make choices overwhelming. Find out what you really wear by turning all the hangers backwards (the open side of the hook faces away from you.) As you wear items or launder them and put them back, hang everything back up normally. At the end of a month or six weeks clear out the backwards stuff – it’s either seasonal or not really your style. If you love it anyway – put it in the garment bag, you’ll probably forget it’s in there after a while, but it’s not gone yet.

The power of 3 – if you’re really getting into the idea of paring your closet down to just the clothes you love, you might want to try Project 333. Every three months you chose 33 items that are the only items you will wear for daily life. It may sound way too restrictive, but you might just be surprised. And imagine how tidy your closet (even a tiny one) will look. Here are the details: http://www.theproject333.com/getting-started/.

Single Adjustable Over the Door Hook

Double Adjustable Over the Door Hook

Stacked Double Cubicle Hook/Hanger

I decided on the double cubicle hook—the two hooks are next to each other in an upside-down Y shape, ideal for hanging  my purse on one and my coat on the other. I really like how the hook is clear—it is very discreet. The sturdy plastic makes it one of the best options for cubicle coat hooks. The best part, however, is the ability to adjust the size. Not every cube wall is the exact same width, so you can buy this cubicle hook without having to worry about whether or not it will fit. There are 6 notches so you can adjust the width from about 1.5″ to 2.25″. I have had several frustrating experiences at home with buying hooks for my doors, only to discover they are too wide or not wide enough, and then I have to end up returning them. I am thinking of picking up a couple extra of these to take home.

Me:

Mission: closet makeover using money from tax deductible donations

What’s in it for me: an organized closet, good karma for helping others, and nearly a $100 in tax deductions

How did I do it? Just as with many organizing projects, you accomplish it in small steps. You can give your closet a makeover and give yourself money back through tax deductible donations that just may pay for your any items you need for the closet makeover. I did it and you can too.

Step one: Re-purpose your damaged goods. Take any clothing, shoes, and accessories out that are damaged goods. If your favorite pair of jeans has a hole in it, put it in a pile for damaged goods. Show no mercy. Ask yourself, how long has it been in the closet without me wearing it? A week? Two? More than six weeks?

If you have kept it thinking you were going to repair it, either do it today or up-cycle them into something else. Same goes for any clothing items that have stains, holes, broken zippers, or rips. Because they are damaged goods you can’t donate them. So, either toss them out or go green and find a way to re-fashion them to another use.

My favorite way to get more life out of damaged clothing is to cut them up into small cleaning cloths. This saves me money and is a greener way of dealing with ruined clothes. I don’t use paper towels in my home ever. It started as a pledge a year ago and even though I found it hard to believe at the time that I could give up my paper towel use, I can’t believe now that I didn’t give them up sooner.

Save money. Be green. Re-use old clothing as cleaning cloths for dusting, scrubbing, and spills. I keep mine in the IRIS small storage bin in my laundry room. If you are crafty, keep a few of the more visually interesting pieces for up-cycled craft projects. Store these pieces of fabric in a water tight storage container labeled for this purpose. I use the Store-N-Slide file box by IRIS. Always remove and keep the buttons. Buttons are great for craft projects or for replacements on your clothing. I store all my buttons in a 2.4 quart deep stacker box in my laundry room.

Step two: Clear out all the clothing you never wear. Take a picture of it as you pack it away in a box to donate to your favorite charity. (You’ll want this a little later – and you can delete it off your phone or camera when you’re done.)

Step three: Remove any clothing that is out of season. You can store out of season clothing somewhere else other than in your closet. At the change of seasons, swap your closet out. I store all of my out of season clothing in an ultimate clear box because it is airtight and water-resistant. Clearly label and store your box (or boxes) in your attic or basement. Swap them out at the change of seasons. Look at how much more room you have made in your closet already and we aren’t even done yet!

Step four: Remove any clothing you have not worn for 6 weeks or longer (excluding special formal wear). Six weeks is the duration of a typical maternity leave and unless you have been on maternity leave (in which case your body is changing and you may fit into those clothes again), it is time to donate it. You don’t love it or even like it if you don’t wear it. Might as well make money for your closet makeover by donating it. Remember to take photos of each garment as you pack them away for donation.

Step five: Look over what is left. Anything that has not been worn for 4 weeks is on probation. Everything that has not been worn for six weeks should already be gone. Ask yourself, do I love it? If the answer is yes, why don’t I wear it? Do I like it? Same thing. If the answer is yes, why don’t I wear it? If you have room in your closet, put your probationary items back in but really try to evaluate over the next few weeks if these items would be put to better use by donating them. Remember that tax deductible items can put money in your pocket to invest in your closet organization makeover or towards clothes you actually love to wear.

Step six: Consider using a charity calculator like Turbo Tax’s ItsDeductible. I decided to try out this service when I did my closet makeover. The service was free so I figured I had nothing to lose, but time in giving it a whirl. Find it online here. The first page is going to ask for your basic information – name, city, state, and income. Then, you are taken to a page that gives you four categories: items, money, stock, and mileage. Here is where taking all those photos are going to come in handy. It is going to ask you to evaluate the individual clothing items that you have donated and the value of the deductions is based off of these evaluations. The photo can help you remember what condition the clothing is in and also be used as proof of itemization for your tax records. It only took me 15 minutes to do this. The calculator gave me a $96.83 tax savings!

Step seven: Here is where the fun part comes in. With a $96.83 tax savings, I could help organize my closet even more efficiently (on top of clearing out all the space from the donations) with effective organizing products. I already had an over-the-door hanging shoe rack that I hung up on the back of my closet door. All those shoes were up and off the floor in an organized and easy to see shoe storage product. My shoe rack is similar to Whitmor’s tan 24 pocket shoe storage. If you don’t have one already, consider getting one to clear out space in your closet and to keep your shoes protected. I decided my sweaters needed to be stacked more efficiently on the top shelf of my closet. As it was, they were always tossed up on top and inevitably they ended up in a big chaotic jumble. Using my tax deductible charitable donations savings, I decided on chrome shelf dividers. Each set comes with two dividers and I got 2 sets at $9.99 each. In order to create more hanging space in my closet and make it easier to see what clothes I have, I used Kascade hangers. These hangers have notches on the ends to keep my shirts from sliding off and they connect creating a cascading effect. These hangers are a great space saving solution for $29.99.

For half of what I am saving through tax deductions, I was able to buy some products that added to my organization and space saving closet makeover. If you were to buy all of the products I mentioned because you don’t have any of them, you could still save a tremendous amount of money on your closet makeover. You might even save more depending on how many items you have in your closet to donate. My closet makeover cost me $50 with a tax deduction savings of nearly $100, leaving me with $50 leftover to … shop for more clothes! If I had to buy all of the products I mentioned here at once, my tax deductions would still have covered the cost of my makeover: the total cost coming to approximately $94. With a $96.83 in tax deductible deductions, not a penny spent for a closet makeover.

Get my makeover with these products:

IRIS small storage bin	Store-n-slide file box by IRIS	2.4 quart deep stacker box by IRIS
Ultimate clear box by IRIS	Whitmor’s tan 24 pocket shoe storage	Large curved chrome shelf dividers
Kascade hangers

A simple solution is to leave the closet door open all the time and even circulate the air with a fan. However, if you are like most people, you prefer to keep your closet doors closed. Louvered doors can help increase air circulation and possibly light, but is going to be useless if moisture has invaded your closet.

What causes mold and mildew in interior spaces?

Home repair issues are common culprits – a broken pipe inside a wall, or a leak from an ice dam in the siding or a bathroom or kitchen in the room above your closet.  You’ll usually be able to identify these issues by a water stain on the wall or ceiling of the closet.

Certain climates and regions are at increased risk of dampness or moisture problems – based on several studies, an estimated 50% of United States’ homes have dampness issues or mold. The fog belt along the coastline of the Western United States battles with the moisture carried in along with the fog from the ocean air. Coastlines and river valleys have a high prevalence of dampness. Southern states battle high humidity due to the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico can impact as far north as the Midwestern states with humid weather. The eastern coastline has a much higher dew point, like the South, increasing their felt humidity as well.  Excluding some areas of extreme aridity, like Las Vegas and parts of the Southwest, much of the United States is in a battle against dampness and the damaging effects of mold, fungi and bacteria from moisture.

Closets with exterior walls and those in bathrooms can have condensation issues. When an air surface becomes cooler than the surrounding air, you get condensation so closets with an exterior wall that isn’t well insulated will get condensation on the wall surface.  Cold water plumbing can create the same effect – it’s why closets near bathrooms can have so many moisture issues. Closets throughout the house are not always well insulated or heated well and that increases the likelihood of condensation issues.

Closets in basements are notorious for mold issues. Wet, damp concrete floors and walls are susceptible to the changes in the surrounding water table when it rains. A dryer that is not properly ventilated in a basement increases the humidity in the air. Running dehumidifiers appropriate to your inside spaces are part of the battle gear you need to fight off potential mold, fungi, and bacteria that love to thrive in the dark, damp, and poorly ventilated spaces of your home. Even dust mites increase in population in areas that are more damp than dry.

Even if your clothes are damp, moisture is there to aid mold growth so be sure items are completely dry before putting them away in a closed closet.  Wet closets can put a serious damper on your clothing options as your clothing develops mildew odors and mold growth leading to the degradation of the materials.

Why is mold such a problem?

Mold loves organic materials like wood and fiber, which most closets have plenty of both. However, mold is stubborn and can find a home on nearly any kind of material. Mold is dependent on one factor in particular: dampness. Give mold some moisture and some oxygen and it grows up real fast.

Even if you didn’t mind wearing musty and mildew-laden clothing, you shouldn’t ignore the health risks associated with mold. Health problems abound when moisture is present due to mold and the microbes that multiply in a wet environment. Mold, fungi and bacteria reproduce spores, cells, fragments and volatile compounds that circulate into your home’s air.  In addition, too much moisture can degrade materials, initiating a chemical or biological breakdown of those materials, with an output of pollution into the indoor airspace. Off-gassing of formaldehyde and other toxins can increase during the degradation of building materials, like wood composites of shelving systems and wall board. That’s why dampness is associated with wheezing and coughing. The dampness is feeding the mold, fungi and bacteria that makes us sick with asthma, allergic reactions, and other respiratory symptoms.

Headaches, fatigue, respiratory illnesses, allergies, nasal and sinus congestion, cold like symptoms, sore throats, watery eyes, skin rash or irritation, and coughing all can be result of mold, fungi and bacteria living off of the damp air in your home. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and other people with respiratory conditions are at an even greater risk to ill health effects from mold.

How do you get rid of mold & mildew in closets?

The only way to eliminate mold is to eliminate moisture. A mini dehumidifier can eliminate the mold and mildew found in your closets and cabinets. The Eva-Dry mini dehumidifier uses a specialized engineered crystal silica gel that is odorless, non-toxic and safe to absorb the moisture from the air.   It holds a charge for 20-30 days and is renewed by plugging it in to a standard outlet.  It’s the perfect size for an enclosed space like a closet. It reduces the moisture in your closet, keeping your clothes drier and mildew free.

If you don’t want to worry about recharging a dehumidifier unit, try Willert’s Keep It Dry closet dehumidifier. It absorbs the moisture from the air, protecting your clothing from mold and mildew. It can hold up to 350 ml of water before you need to replace it. Willert also makes a Keep It Dry closet deodorizer to help battle other odors like tobacco or perspiration as well as mildew. Until you get your mold or mildew problem taken care of using the Eva-Dry dehumidifier, the Keep It Dry closet deodorizer can help with the nasty odor problem. The best solution long term is to get the Eva-Dry dehumidifier going as soon as you can.

Have you lost yourself in Pinterest yet? Our team definitely has. We love it for the fact that you can create a clutter-free imagination board or reminder board for yourself—no paper mess, access it from anywhere that you have internet, and you can get inspired by people with similar tastes. So, why not aid your Pinterest addiction and add a little fun to it? With the holidays behind us and resolutions in full force, we want to help our fellow Pinterest lovers make their home organization ideas come to life. Here’s the deal…

All this month we will be randomly selecting projects/ideas/products pinned. For a few, that item will be showing up on your doorstep (lucky you). All it takes is pinning an item from SpaceSavers.com or an organization idea using something similar to an item we carry.

To make sure we know what you’ve pinned, leave a comment here with the link to your board/pins or on our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/SpaceSavers.

Winners will be posted in the comments on this page, plus we’ll contact you through Pinterest to get the address to send your organizing product(s). The more you, pin the higher your chances of winning.

Think of it as a kick start to your organization projects. Let’s stop dreaming about getting organized and start doing (with a little help from your organization & storage friends at SpaceSavers).

Good luck and happy pinning!

Oh, and if you haven’t yet been invited or you can’t figure out how to use Pinterest, we’ve got you covered with this tutorial…

How to Use Pinterest (and get an invite)

If you aren’t a Pinterest user yet (and we do mean yet) here’s how to get started and use Pinterest.

1. Get Invited to Pinterest. This is an invite only party, but don’t worry—we can help you out. Email jen@spacesavers.com with a current email address that you use, and we’ll send you an invite.

2. Create your Pinterest Account.

You’ll be asked to tie your account to either a Facebook or Twitter account—you can turn this off later if you want.

Then they’ll help you choose some things that interest you so you have content in your account right away—you can turn these off later if you want as well.

Tip: If you want to get more followers back, pin items before you start following people. You want to show them the types of things you’ll be pinning to pique their interest from the get go.

3. Create a board(s). Make a board about ideas for organizing your home or creative ways to use every day items (or wedding ideas, outfits, recipes, decor—run with it). You can type over the suggested board names in the text boxes, or add your own to the list.  Use the little “x” in the upper right corner of the pre-filled ones to delete any that don’t work for you.

Tip: The wittier the name, the more creativity points for you from your high school English teacher.

4. Add the “Pin It” button to your browser to easily “pin” pictures while you gallivant across the web.

To add the button at this step, drag the white “Pin It” button on the tutorial page onto your bookmarks bar on the web browser—that’s all it takes.

5. Get to Pinning. When you’re on any web page where there’s something you want to pin, hit the pin it button in your tool bar. A screen will pop up with all the images on the page. Hover over the one you want and click the blue “Pin it” button that appears. A window will pop up to let you pick the board that you want to pin it to, and allow you to enter comments about the picture including hashtags (like the #getorganized tag for our contest).

You can also upload images manually. Inside Pinterest use the “Add +” button at the top of the page, click that and choose “Add a Pin.” Enter the URL (web address) of the page you were looking at or upload one from your computer (be sure to keep the interwebz happy and include the original source in the description if you can).

“Re-pinning” is also a way to snag something for your own board that someone you follow has pinned. Remember, the site is meant to be social—chat it up in the comments section on other pins or repin and add your own twist to the description.

6. Play with it. Find things across the internet that might work for your organizing projects, including pictures of spaces that inspire you, and pin them to your board. You can go on a focused search if you’re ready to tackle a room right now and pin everything you might like, then come back to your board and winnow it down to what you really need and what fits in your budget. Or, you can plan a long term project and pin things whenever you’re online looking around (think of it as window shopping on a lazy day). Then, when you’re ready to tackle that project, all your inspiration is in one place.

That’s it. Easy peasy, right? There’s definitely more little odds and ends. If you have questions, comment and we’ll do our best to our best to answer.

Cheers to getting organized in 2012!

Winners:

Megan won 2 sets of Dream Drawer Dividers – her Pinterest comment: “Finally, something that would work in our super narrow drawers!” Check out her board: http://pinterest.com/meganyork/organization/

Controlling Kid Clutter: Kati is going to tackle taking control of the army of toys that has invaded every room of her house.

For Kendra, it’s a closet project: “I’m going to organize the shoes in my closet to justify having so many pairs.  If they’re all on racks or in shoe boxes, rather than a pile on the floor, it will look like there are fewer pairs…right?”

Paper Wrangling: Lisa is focused on organizing the constant influx of paper chaos streaming into her home: school work from her boys – tests, art work, notices, and lunch menus; bills, her college schoolwork, papers related to work-work, etc..

No new clutter for Jen – “I’m going to stick to the rule of one item in, one item out this year.  Ok, not for my collection of cake stands, but for everything else.”

Let us know what you plan to tackle in 2012- leave a comment here, or post to Facebook and help the SpaceSavers community get and stay inspired.  While you’re on Facebook – “Like” our page for a fan offer of 15% off a shopping trip at SpaceSavers.com.  Look for the “Fan Offer” button on the left side of the page.

I brought it home, and the kids absolutely loved pulling it around with it’s easy gliders.  They filled it full of their toys and books, and played for hours.  What easy entertainment!  Once the fun wore off, and I had time to get the sheets together, I wiped it out, and loaded my sheets in.  Much to my surprise, this tote held 2 sets of king size flannel sheets.  How nice – I now have a place to store our sheet sets when they aren’t in use.

The other really nice thing about this item is that it is see-through.  It’s great to be able to see what is inside without having to pull it out and open the container.  This would definitely be helpful for those that have multiple containers.

If you are lucky enough to have more storage space underneath your bed, or a larger area to store these, they are also stackable.  This allows you to store many different items in each one, and stack them nicely on top of one another, without using much space.

Two sets of king sized sheets fit easily into this tote.

Overall, this is a great container that requires no assembly, tools, or any other difficult set up before you are actually able to use this item.  I highly recommend this tote to anyone looking to do any type of organizational project.

I can remove the cardboard separators and use the Hallmark® boxes on one level, lay the level divider down and add another level of boxes or start using the dividers for the ornaments that don’t come with boxes I want to preserve. The number of dividers you use can also be configured to give you a little extra room for your slightly larger ornaments.

Bottom layer with my individual boxes - I didn't use the dividers here.

On this level I used the dividers for my loose ornaments.

I love that the hard plastic helps protect against storage issues such as moisture and critters. These ornament storage boxes from IRIS USA allow me to take good care of my precious memories so my children can have them for their Christmas trees in twenty years or so.

Packed up and ready to store until next December.

Day 1:  While the house is still decorated, evaluate your storage space or spaces and go through any leftover decorations that didn’t get used this year. Do you still need them? Will you use them again next year or do you want to keep them for sentimental reasons? Donate or get rid of anything you don’t know you’ll use again. If you pulled holiday items from a number of different places this year, is there any way you could re-organize your storage and consolidate so everything is in one place? Look for a spot in the back of a closet or on a top shelf since these items are only used once a year, that allows you to put other storage items that are used more often in the easier to reach spots.

Day 2: Clean and store away special holiday dishes and serving utensils.  If you don’t have a hutch or china cabinet where the good dishes are displayed year round, invest in a set of storage containers to keep them dust-free and protect them from chipping.  Be sure they’re in a spot where nothing could drop on them from above when you’re accessing other items in your storage space.

Day 3: Gather up leftover wrapping paper rolls and any gift bags or special decorations you want to save and re-use for the next holiday. You can hide away rolls of wrapping paper in a storage box under the bed or in the back of a closet. For ribbons, bows and bags – either fit them in the same space or choose to pack them away in a holiday tote so it’s easy to evaluate what is available when it’s time to wrap the next batch of gifts.

Day 4: You may already utilize software or an online card service to maintain your holiday card list but if you don’t, or you enjoy looking at holiday cards from year to year, a card keeper can be a handy way to maintain your card list. Store cards, envelopes, and letters away with any blank cards you have to send next year. Bring it out when it’s time to send cards and you can be sure you won’t forget anyone on your list.

Day 5: When it’s time to start taking trimmings off the tree and any greenery you may have decorated an ornament storage box is a true space saving addition to your holiday storage system. Eliminate multiple cardboard or plastic boxes and place each ornament into its own protected compartment. You won’t have to worry about broken ornaments or trying to balance an armful of boxes when it’s time to decorate the tree again.

Day 6: Tangled light strands are great for comedy on t.v. shows during the holidays, but not so much fun when you’re trimming your tree. Take the hassle out of adding lights and garlands to your tree next year by storing them on cord wraps in a box that keep each strand separated. You can even place the plugs on lights so you can test them to be sure they work before you add them to the tree.

Day 7: When it’s finally time to say goodbye to the tree, look for a city service or nature center where you can donate your real tree so that it is turned into mulch or wild bird habitat if possible. For artificial trees, the box they came in often doesn’t have the same life expectancy as the tree itself. If your box is worse for wear, you can replace it with a tree storage bag to keep dust and dirt at bay.

Day 8: Figurines, stockings, candy dishes, and other special decorations placed around the house can be consolidated into a storage tote to make them easier to move in and out of storage each year. Nest delicate items in the tote inside their original packing or boxes and protect other items with leftover bubble wrap or clean newsprint to prevent chipping.

Day 9: Wreaths are an awkward shape for storage, and prone to crushing or having decorations damaged if you don’t have a good storage spot. Custom wreath boxes are the way to go – choose from a square box that will integrate with the rest of your storage totes easily on shelves, or choose a round box that can be stored upright in a narrower space or even hung on the wall if you have a long hook.

Day 10: If you hosted a number of guests over the holidays or like to switch out linens and towels for the season, you can minimize the amount of storage you need for those items and store them practically anywhere by packing them away in Space Bags.

Day 11: To extend the life of your outdoor decorations, resist the temptation to leave them outside until spring. If the weather permits, bring lights and extension cords back inside and store them away in a light box. Pack away smaller decorations or inflatables in storage totes. Large decorations or structures may need dedicated space in the garage, storage shed, or basement – make use of hooks and racking systems where you can in order to get items off the floor and make room for additional seasonal storage.

Day 12: Once everything is put away take an inventory – you probably had ideas for things you’d like to change for next year, or items that need to be replaced like light strands that don’t work or garland that has seen better days. Take your checklist and hit the after season sales either in stores or on the internet and stock up for next year, or paperclip it to your calendar for November 2012 so you can shop early and have everything in place when you’re ready to decorate again.

Happy Holidays!

• Check expiration dates  and realistic dates – yeast will expire and die, baking soda loses its effectiveness after a certain date, or drink mixes may have gotten moisture in them and be ruined even if they don’t have a ‘use by’ date.
• Peek inside opened packages – if something is half-used is it still in good shape or did it go stale?
• Use it up – if you have ingredients that have been on the shelf for a while it may be time to determine if it’s something you really will eat.  If you bought it and can’t remember why consider throwing it out so it doesn’t take up valuable space.
• Do creative meal planning – if you still want to try to cook with that unusual ingredient you stocked find the recipe you intended to make, or something else that sounds great and get that dish on your meal plan for next week.   You can do recipe searches by ingredient at sites like allrecipes.com or recipematcher.com
• Space planning – consider setting up zones in your cupboard so everything’s easy to find – canned goods, baking supplies, meal add-ons like canned vegetables or fruit.
• Storage system for staples – the containers for items that you use up bit by bit can get beaten down in the cupboard, consider stackable airtight boxes for pastas, marshmallows, oatmeal, flour, sugar and other item it makes sense to buy in bulk.