There's no monster in this closet!

Usually, the more mundane and unnoticed rooms in the house tend to get avoided when it comes to organizing, decorating, or cleaning. Seeing as I'm the gotta-be-different compulsive cleaner (I'm seeking professional help, cross my heart!), those areas are the first ones I attack. The closets are my favorite parts in any house and I love the potential for storage and order. When we moved into this house, I refused to put anything in the closets until I had a chance to purge, sort, and decide how I wanted to organize it first. I was so afraid that stuff would end up shoved in closets and I would never.ever.again.amen. know what lurked behind each door. My motto is 'every item has a home and if it doesn't - make one!'. So instead, we had haphazardly stacked piles and boxes in front of all the closets until I had time to go through everything. And lemme tell you... with an 8 month old... time sort of disappears somewhere between the Cheerios and Goodnight Moon. Thankfully I got to all the rooms within a month or so. I only drove my husband partially crazy... *grin*

I like to organize things in a way that is easily accessible, not difficult to clean under/around, portable, and attractive. It's easiest for me to accomplish this by using storage containers of some sort. That way I can move them if I need to and I can see a container more easily than a random box of band-aids thrown on a shelf somewhere. The Dollar Tree is my f.a.v.o.r.i.t.e. place to find small storage containers and, at $1 a pop, it's quite affordable too. (No, the Dollar Tree didn't pay me to say that. I am just.that.dedicated. Tomorrow, I'm buying stock. Or diapers. Haven't decided which one yet... )
 
Want to see a closet in my house? Here ya go! This is the Master Bath Linen Closet:

The nice thing about the baskets is that it makes it easier to store small items without having them fall through the slots on the shelves. It's also much easier to find a specific item in a narrow closet. There is something so freeing about having all your stuff in order. Plus it just makes me so happy to open the door and see fun colors. Hi, I'm Kelsey and I'm a nerd.

 

Everything fits really well in the baskets. I haven't 'overflowed' one or even come close. All the baskets are categorized such as 'teeth', 'hair', 'eyes', 'face', etc. And it is so handy to be able to pull the whole basket down if needed. When I'm done with a long luxurious bubble bath and I'm sitting on the couch watching reality TV and eating bon-bons, it's really handy to pull out the 'nails' basket for a pedicure on the go.

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(You realize that whole scenario was hypothetical, right? I have an 8 MONTH OLD. I don't even remember what lipstick looks like, much less nail polish. I tell my husband I'm living a minimalistic lifestyle and he should be happy I at least shave my armpits. duh)

 

Usually I make my own labels, however, I tried some free printables with these and just customized the words. (I can't remember where I got the printable. Maybe bhg.com?) And the baskets, of course, were from The Dollar Tree. (be still, my heart)

If you noticed in the first picture, I don't have baskets on the bottom or top shelves. I use the bottom shelf for our stocked up soap, lotion, shampoo, body wash, and other bottles. Sometimes the shelf is full, sometimes it's more empty, it just depends on how the sales and coupons are at the time. (I don't believe in spending more than about $0.50 for a bottle of body wash or shampoo so I have to be patient sometimes... this shelf holds us over until a better deal comes along.) The top shelf is where we store bulk tp and kleenex. You'll also notice that the floor is clear. I REALLY don't like to store stuff on the floor unless I am absolutely out of room. If I need more space at some point, I'll put a bin on the floor to hold the tp. However, I find that when I have everything organized it takes up much less room than if it's all just floating freely in the closet abyss. 

So that's our linen closet! Sometime I'll show your our laundry closet. It makes me all giddy inside.