Category Archives: 15-minute organization

the linen closet

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The linen closet isn’t the most glamorous of spaces, but it’s an important one. Mine has become even more important since my introduction to freezing cold Indiana winters, because it’s where all my blankets live! {And I have a LOT of blankets!}

But my linen closet had become a jumbled mess.

As a result, many of my blankets and towels have stopped living in my closet and are more likely to be flung haphazardly across this poor chair:

Every time I passed this chair it made me feel bad. I knew it was time to do something about it!

My first step was clearing out the closet and deciding how to organize each shelf. I chose to put extra sheets, pillowcases, and not-much-used blankets on the very top shelf. I folded them all neatly and stacked them up on the shelf.

Next, I designated the middle shelf for towels. I have always just folded and stacked my towels, but I’ve read on some other organization blogs that rolling your towels can keep them more accessible, better organized, and also save space! So that’s what I did. I made one section for my big bath towels, another section for hand towels and kitchen towels.

On the third shelf, I folded and stacked the blankets I use more often — the ones that are in hiding now that the weather is getting warmer, but that I will definitely want to pull out again next November when the snow returns!

Here is what my newly organized closet looks like:

Hooray! I’m so happy about it that I’m leaving the door open today, and every time I pass it, I can’t help but smile.

What organizing projects are you working on this week?

Happy Wednesday,
Dallas

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Cost: $0.00
Time: 15 minutes

necklace organization

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Hi everyone, and welcome to the new blog readers who are joining us — thanks for taking the time to stop by!

I have a quick and easy project to share today that tackles a problem I’ve been trying to find a good solution to for quite a while, ever since I outgrew my little-girl jewelry box back in middle school: how to organize my many necklaces.

Necklaces are my jewelry of choice. I don’t have my ears pierced, and I have a couple rubber bracelets that I wear every day (a Livestrong support bracelet and a bracelet for my brother Greg’s nonprofit organization Give Running) so I don’t tend to wear many new bracelets. Necklaces are a way for me to change up my outfit and style, and each necklace I have is a special reminder of a place I’ve traveled or a person I love who gave it to me.

I tried jewelry boxes, but the chains of my necklaces got hopelessly tangled. I tried a small jewelry tree, but some of my necklaces are too long and got clumped up at the bottom.

Then I got an idea: why not hang them on the wall?

The best part of all? It could not be easier, faster, or cheaper!

All you need is one package of these adorable plastic hooks — I got mine at Target for less than $4. I love these because they come in a variety of sizes and are removable, so they won’t damage your walls if you ever want to take them down.

My first step was to organize my necklaces by length — I planned for one longer chain and two shorter ones. Next, I attached the hooks to the wall using the special adhesive that was included. After waiting fifteen minutes, I just hung the necklaces on the hooks, and viola: my new-and-improved “jewelry box” that doubles as pretty wall decoration in my bedroom!

Organization task of the day: complete. I’m looking forward to sharing a great recipe with you in these next few days — stay tuned!

Hope your week is going wonderfully!

More soon,
Dallas ❤
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Cost: $4.00
Time: 5 minutes

greeting cards & stationary

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Happy Easter, everyone! I woke up this morning feeling much better {thank you antibiotics!} but am still planning to have a low-key day in. Since I’m still getting over my cold/bronchitis, I picked a relaxing and easy organizational task to do today. I did it all while lounging in my jammies on my couch, watching the latest episode of The Voice on Hulu {go Jordis! you rock!}

I already confessed my love for tea. I also have an unabashed love of greeting cards and pretty stationary. My good friends know to keep me away from Hallmark and Papyrus stores — I’m on self-imposed probation. Even though I have a ton of stationary already, I can never walk out of one of those stores empty-handed. There are just so many beautiful and cute and lovely cards! I am the type of person who has a birthday card picked out for someone two years in advance, saving it and saving it because it is just so perfect for them and what they mean to me.

If anything, I’ve gotten even *more* into stationary the past couple years, since I moved to Indiana from California. Being far away from many of my friends and family has fueled my love of sending old-fashioned S.W.A.K. letters and cards through the mail. Birthdays, anniversaries, minor holidays, missing you, thinking of you, just saying hi — any and all occasions are opportunities to pop a little note in the mail to let my loved ones know how much I love them.

The problem: I had so many various cards for various occasions that it was difficult to remember what I had — and where I’d put it. Cards accumulated in the drawers of my desk, wedged on my bookshelves, stacked on the end table. I knew I needed a system to get my stationary organized {and keep it that way!}

So, last week as I was browsing the dollar section at Target, I came across this cute file folder.

Perfect! I grabbed it and brought it home, where it’s spent the past week sitting on my kitchen table, waiting for me to do something with it.

Today was that day. My first step was getting all my cards & stationary together in one pile, and then sorting them into different categories. Next, I used these categories to write out labels for each section of the file folder.

My final categories are:

-Birthday/Anniversary
-Friends/Thinking of you
-Get Well/Sympathy
-Thank you
-Gramps {I send a lot of cards to my grandpa, who lives alone and loves getting mail, so I made a special section just for him!}

Then all I had to do was place each card into its designated slot! And, viola — an organized, compact stationary folder!

Now I know exactly what I have, what cards I need, and where to find everything. Which means I can concentrate my energies on tracking down every last one of the amazing greeting cards designed by Taylor Swift {I love her stationary almost as much as I love her music!} Like isn’t this one adorable?

Have a beautiful & blessed day,
Dallas ❤
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Cost: $1.00
Time: 15 minutes

my love for tea

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I am a major tea addict.

Major.

See what I mean? I must have twenty boxes of tea cluttering up an entire shelf in my kitchen cupboard. Black tea, green tea, herbal tea. Half-empty boxes, plastic bags, canisters. I’d practically start an avalanche of boxes anytime I opened my cupboard to brew myself a cup. Tea is something that makes me feel happy and centered, but it was beginning to be stressful — the opposite of what I want!

So, today I went to Target and bought two small stackable containers with snap-on lids. They were less than $3 each. I am using one for black tea, and the other for green & herbal tea. I emptied out my various half-empty boxes and placed the individual tea bags into two neat rows in each container.

Now not only do I have a LOT more room in my cupboard, I also have a better idea of what kind of teas I have! Never again will I reach into a box for my favorite ginger green tea and find nothing but emptiness! YAY!

In fact, think I’m going to curl up with a cup of tea and a good book right now. Organization task of the day: complete!

Until next time,
Dallas ❤

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Cost: $6.00

Time: 20 minutes