Organization overload

In terms of organizing, last week was all kinds of productive. The fiance and I tackled his closet by literally tossing his clothes off the landing. This pile of clothing on the stairs resulted:Yeah, that's actually half of it. He hasn't gotten rid of any clothing in a loooong time. We sorted the keepsake clothes (boy scout gear, favorite shirts from high school, etc.), give aways, throw aways, and the wearables. We found some real gems in there, let me tell you…I wish I had pictures of some things! These piles resulted:

Keepers:


Give-aways!

We also conquered a major, major mess: his cables. In case you don’t know, my fiancé is a big computer/technology geek. The result? Tons and tons of wires, cables, plugs, and other tidbits that pile up. He used to have them all corralled in a camp box, but that was just not working. They kept getting tangled and it was impossible to find the right wire when he needed it. It looked a little like this but ten times worse:

The solution? I snagged these 6-quart Room Essentials shoe boxes from Target.

The damage? A measly $5 for 5 boxes! Awesome, especially since all the comparable storage options were $5 a piece and up! We sorted his various cords and components into categories, made labels accordingly, and presto -- fabulous techno storage for cheaps! The bins are very stackable, so I know these will be great on the shelves in our office closet. These bins don't yet have the cables in them, but you get the idea:

This week's other major organizing project was undertaken with my amazing sister Megan! After I purchased an awesome behind-the-sofa (or futon, in our case) table from craigslist for only $30, we had to shift around some other furniture and find a home for some cardboard recycling. Since the garage was pretty horrifyingly ugly before (and we were so focused on cleaning the place out quick) we did not take before pictures, but this is a bit comparable:



Now, the space is muuuch better! The furniture is all placed so that everything is easy to get out if I need it.

All in all, I feel accomplished knowing that Ryan's unsightly coils of tangled cords are no more, and that I can easily add or take away stuff from my growing moving pile in the garage! I'm sure as we move more organizational challenges will come my way...and I'll try to tackle them and share the solutions!