I think it’s back to school time that makes me want to get everything organized, so this weekend I spent a lot of time cleaning things out.  The biggest project was the coat closet at the front of our house.  I wish I had taken a before picture, it was pretty atrocious.  There was just stuff thrown in the bottom, including beach toys from our vacation LAST summer (yes, over a year ago).  Clearly, it wasn’t a usable space.

I wanted this closet to have a few things…

1. A place to put our shoes

2. A place to put all of the miscellaneous things that end up on my kitchen counter – watches, sunglasses, wallets, etc.

3. A place to store the reusable bags that we so often need as we are running out of the house

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.  I found bins in the Target dollar spot for $2.50 each and picked up a cheap shoe rack.  The whole thing cost $22.50.  Here’s the finished result…

There’s a bin for each of us (except the baby, he doesn’t need one, yet) and a shelf for each of our shoes (for now C1 and C2 can share).  As you can see, C1 has decided that it is important to keep his light saber and Thor helmet in his.  I already had some S-hooks so I am using those to hang other things, like backpacks & baby carriers.  There’s still room for each of us to keep one jacket in the front closet for when it finally cools off here again, someday, I hope.

I also tackled the junk drawers and took the junk from two drawers and organized it into one and cleaned out the laundry room. It’s a little thing, but I got the entryway a bit more organized, too. I finally hung a picture that we had taken on Mother’s Day and Carson’s Baby Dedication day and cleared off the entry table of everything except the library books that need to be returned.

Slowly but surely we’re digging out of what I affectionately refer to as the newborn fog, where we were just focused on surviving the lack of sleep and needs of a new baby.