Giving a MUCH needed push.

I have decided that, if left to my mother, nothing would ever get organized in their house. SO... I figure I will just have to give her a serious push in the right direction by starting it on my own. Maybe then she will see that its pretty easy to do and start doing it on her own. She does OK once something has already been organized for her, but she isn't overly motivated to do it on her own. She always says things like, "I wouldn't know where to start", or "That just seems too complicated", or "You know I don't always finish a project once I get started cause I get bored. I wouldn't want to do that now." I have heard them all and may more. Love my Mom, but its time to jump start her... and the only way I see fit is to run head first into her and her messes!

I thought it would be best to do an area that both her and I use, so it can be like a double bonus. (or at least that's how I see it in my mind!) There are 3 bathrooms in the house. One is in Mom and Dad's room, the second one is downstairs, and the third is the main one in between my room and my parent's room. This is the only bathroom in the house that has a closet. Since it is the most used one in the house I decided tackling it first would be best.

Now I don't make a huge paycheck, but I make enough cushion to go shopping now and again. I willingly put this paycheck's "spending money" to use on supplies for the bathroom closet. Next paycheck I am going to get supplies to clean up under the sink in the same main bathroom, and if I can afford it, for all the other under sink areas.

This project took me about 2 hours.... mostly because it was a mess! (Some of which was my own fault, which I will explain about in a second.) Little embarrassed that we let it get so messy.
I am going to explain the closet a little just so you get a better idea of how bad it was. The closet has 4 shelves. Three of the shelves, not the very top one, jut inside the closet and then corner in a little. Makes for a corner shelf on the inside left half of the closet. I tried to show you that in the second picture. (Its easier to see when its done.)

The closet was so messy that you couldn't find all the pieces to a matching sheet set without digging, which lead to things falling on you. Everything was so crammed in that nothing else could be stored in here.

I picked up two large dark bamboo baskets, and a matching set of 2 medium and 2 small baskets. I also picked up two plain brown fabric baskets for the corner spots.
When my parents originally moved into this house they thought just 3 folding the towels and stacking them would be fine. That WAS true, but then my Mom kept finding really good towels at the thrift stores and they became over loaded. Then along comes me and all my stuff. Most of my stuff is in boxes in the storage room downstairs. However some things that were boxed up got unboxed when I moved into the bedroom. I found 5 towels that were mine (Mom has a color pallet of whites, brown, tan, greens of all colors, and blues, while all my towels are bright or pastels.), plus two sets of sheets and my bed cushion liner. All these things, and a few other items, were pushed into the bottom corner of the closet. All these items were boxed up, labeled, and moved downstairs.

The two big baskets were used to hold the majority of the towels. I put all the white ones in the one and all the colored ones in the other. I sorted through all the towels and "donated" some of the frayed ones to the rag bag. There were still ALOT of towels, so rolling them was the best way to get them all to fit.
The white basket went on the bottom and the colored basket went on the next shelf up. We had a few large towels and those were rolled and put a tan basket that was in the closet before. Those were stored on the bottom floor with the whites, as alot of them were white. The brown towels didn't fit with the other colored towels, so they were stored in the two brown fabric baskets and put on the next shelf above the other colored ones in the corner part of the shelving. One of the medium baskets was used to store all the hand towels. One of the smaller baskets was used to store all the wash cloths. Those baskets were on the next shelf above the colored basket of towels. The other medium basket was used to hold the decorative towels we use for company and the holidays. This basket is also holding the linens for the table. (I will need to pick up another basket to hold these separate.) The last small basket is also holding decorative and holiday stuff, but its the hand towels and washcloth items. This closet is also holding one of the holiday quilts we use for Christmas. The decorative baskets and this quilt are on the shelf above the other hand towels and washcloths. The very last shelf holds extra pillows for guests.
On the floor of the closet in the corner I put all the female products and tucked the scale in between the large and regular white towels. The next shelf up in the corner holds all the other supplies for the bathroom: extra deodorant, extra bath wash, extra toothbrushes, few bottles of lotion, sunscreen, leg wraps, shoulder support harness, knee supports, and an extra bottle of rubbing alcohol.

Little elbow grease, some patience, and what you get is a clean and open closet!

 

I am not the greatest at folding fitted sheets, so don't knock me for that.  

I will have to wait for the store to have more of the baskets I baught, so I can put the sheets in them.

Not the greatest views of the inside corner section, but it gives you an idea.

Stue and Grace both like the improved closet, as there is room for them to explore... and sleep.

Now I would generally not suggest that you do it the way I did, which is box yourself inside the bathroom with the heater running for 2 hours, but I wanted it to be a surprise to my Mom.