Making My Home a Haven

I missed last week's challenge because I was coming down with something. I didn't realize it on Monday, just knew then that trying to articulate our laundry system was beyond me. That probably should have clued me in because our system isn't that complicated. ;)

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad to be participating again. I love the challenges posted on Biblical Womanhood.

This week is closet clean-up, which is absolutely perfect for me. Our bathroom remodel is basically done (more on that tomorrow) which means that the closet which had been holding everything from the bathroom can be put back in order. Yay for that because the closet is in dreadful shape from being stuffed with all those extra items. The floor is covered, I have bathroom supplies stashed just about everywhere, and any organization my clothes once had is long gone. And there might be a slight issue with papers (it's my storage area for old paperwork, such as tax returns, that I need to retain. But it's gotten super out of control, and I need to pare it down to just the items that need to be kept).

If I can get my computer to cooperate with pictures, I'll post a before and after. I'm not holding out a lot of hope however.

Updates to come, although it'll be awhile. I have to head off to work and then I'll tackle the closets when I return.

Update:
When I got home from work, instead of heading straight for the closet, I followed Crystal's advice from previous weeks and spent some time reading my Bible instead while having a drink. A few Psalms and some hot chocolate made a nice transition home after a tiring day at work.

While fixing dinner, I decided that my highest priority closet-wise wasn't my bedroom closet like I discussed this morning. Instead, it was my kitchen closet floor (a.k.a. my pantry floor). We'd had a water line to the fridge installed in preparation for the new fridge with automatic icemaker that we'll be getting sometime in, oh, 2013 perhaps. The installation process meant my brother-in-law had to remove everything from the pantry floor (which I would have gladly done if they'd told me it would need to be done), then he replaced everything. In whatever fashion was easiest for him because things were completely jumbled. My flour, which I use several times a week, was buried in the farthest corner, underneath some applesauce. Juice bottles were spread around in several places, well, you get the idea. I just needed some order. So I spent 10 minutes and got things back where I can access them more easily AND keep track of supply, rather than wondering just how much juice I have (as an example that happens frequently; L drinks juice daily and prefers the ready-made stuff in plastic bottles).

Before (two pics because some items were already pulled out from when I made dinner):





After:



I realize it's still not fantastic or anything, but it's easily usable for me. And that's good enough.

And now, on to my closet. I figured I had twenty minutes to spend in my closet, so I picked the far left side and started in. My shoes were a jumble and there were random boxes scattered, as well as items for Goodwill and even some socks to throw away. Here it is before I started:



Twenty minutes later, here's that corner:



The empty spot on the top shoe rack is for the shoes I was wearing. I also spent some time rearranging some hanging clothes, but no pictures of that. Goodwill items in a pile ready to take, and trash is all thrown away. There's still a lot more work to do in that closet, but this is a start. :)