The Container Store is currently having their Elfa Shelving Sale. This is one of my favorite they have. It last almost two months and they have it again at least once more during the year. All of the Elfa Shelving is currently 30% off. What I love about the Elfa system is that you can create anything you want. A closet, like I did; an office space/desk, like I’m planning on; or you can even have an organized garage. It also comes Free-standing, if you don’t have a closet or enough space to organize one.

I re-arrange my Elfa system every few months to accommodate my needs and the flow of the closet. I usually use a shelf in the shoe section for my Winter Sweaters, which are then store away in the Summer. I am looking at these drawers to add to the closet. You can use them freestanding with it’s own frame or onto your existing Elfa system. And you can add a top to them to make it a container so that you can store them away.

I have never bought the Fascia. For me, it’s just a cosmetic look that doesn’t suit my needs. I do like the look of the Platinum as opposed to White, so that’s always my pick.
I bought my Boot Shapers there. They are great because they have a hook so you can hang them in your closet, off the ground. I even bought my Flip-Flop holder from there.

If you are looking to update your closet I really recommend the Efla Shelving. I know that there are other systems out there but I have designed two closets with it and loved both. If you have a store near you the employees are always super friendly and extremely helpful. It’s definitely a place I would love to work, if not at J Crew or Anthropologie, of course. The system if very easy to install and if you don’t want to do the work yourself, the installation is also 30% off right now. What an even sweeter deal!

And, if you have your closet complete, there’s always the kitchen. This over door rack, with the Mounted Standards is great for holding those items in your pantry that you frequently use.

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Happy Organizing!

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Heard of Stylebook? I hadn’t until my latest InStyle magazine. It had a “Conquer Your Closet” feature on how to purge, organize and shop, all to better your closet and YOU. One of the suggestions was the Stylebook App. I immediately went to the iTunes store, read a few reviews and purchased it within minutes. This App costs $4 but I have to say it is so worth it.

The App has different Categories for your Closet, Looks, Inspiration, Calendar, etc. You take pictures and sort them into the different Categories/Sub-Categories. You can also search for them on your favorite shopping sites, right in the App. You can add or remove Categories and Sub-Categories to fit your needs. For example, I’ve added sub-categories under Tops for Cashmere and Button-Down Shirts.

From your Closet you can then create various Looks, very similar to Polyvore. You can then add the look to a Calendar, one of my FAVORITE parts.

The Calendar allows you to keep track of what you’ve worn and when. You can see if you repeat certain items. You can see that I wore the Reva Elephant Tunic within days of each other.

You can shop or save items to a Wish List from your favorite sites (all powered by ShopStyle).

Two of my other FAVORITE things about this App is that you can:
1) Add information about your closet item, including size, color, brand and price and
2) See your Cost Per Wear for your item! Oh I love that part.

As you can see, my Biennial Briefcase is down to $31 cpw. I use it every time I go into the office. I know the CPW is lower than that but I need to check my expense reports to mark my office visits. And, I will be able to use my blog and Instagram to create more Looks and add those to the Calendar too.

I have been adding little by little every night. I usually try to save the stock photo of every item I purchase. Then I’ll add the details for each item. I know that my CPW will be lower than is shown because I have some items that I’ve worn but won’t be able to account for on the Calendar. But being able to keep track of that now is so awesome!
I have been looking for something like this for a while. I can’t believe it took me so long to find but Thanks! InStyle for recommending this App. Stylebook is my new bestie!
**This is not a sponsored post in any way. I just had to share this wonderful App with you!

I have been intrigued by Jewish Girl’s “Use it or Lose It” challenges recently. The gist of it is you wear items in your closet you haven’t worn in a while or never within 30 days. If forces you to figure out how to wear that pencil skirt or embroidered blouse and let’s you ultimately decide whether or not it’s a keeper.

Her first challenge was skirts and her current challenge is Cardigans/Jackets and Shoes. To keep herself on track with what is in the challenge she added a green mark to those hangers holding those items. It would be interesting to participate but I don’t dress for work like those who work in an actual office so I’d probably “use” 2 of 10 skirts or something like that. It seems like a good way to purge your closet one or two clothing categories at a time. To be honest, any more than that at a time can be too overwhelming and you’ll want to keep everything.

I am blessed to have a closet that allows me to have ALL my clothes out all year round. I store my cashmere and heavier sweaters in boxes during the off season that I keep on the floor or top shelves of my closet. Unlike most ladies, I do not have to switch out Summer to Fall or Winter. Unfortunately, seeing everything at once also causes me to 1) be indecisive on what to wear and 2) think I don’t have anything to wear. To help with that I re-arranged my closet again, moving around the shelves, placing the shoes up front-and-center and, my purging trick, turning all my hangers around, which I probably saw on Clean House or some HGTV show years ago.

Logically, you place all your hangers so you can retrieve them from the front. As you can see, I reversed the hanger so the curve of the top of the hanger is to the back wall. If I wear something I hang it back with the curve to the front. At a glance, this shows me exactly what I’ve worn and what I need to wear. Then, after each season, I can assess what I have not worn and decide if it really is a keeper or if it finally needs to go. The only things I don’t use this for are classic items – the white button-down shirt, LBD, black pencil skirt, wool trousers, etc.

Another idea I looked into was a “Wear-Minder Tag“. You place a tag on a hanger and each time you wear that article of clothing you remove a “petal”. You would have to give yourself a cut-off date so you don’t have clothes in your closet with three petals missing in three years. They also look like they are easy to make, with some scrap-booking paper, a design, and scissors. By making them yourself, you can also add the article of clothing to the center of the flower so you know which hanger it goes back on.

I don’t have a definitive way to purge my shoe portion of the closet yet but right now I am just doing a once-over every few months. I finally purged some shoes that were too cute to let go but that I hadn’t worn in over two years. Because of this, as you can see, I now have a front-and-center shelf for my sweaters. Maybe if I have them out Mother Nature will notice and keep it cool for a while so I can wear them.

Jeans are another issue I have. I don’t hang them so I only get rid of them when they don’t fit.

My question to you is – “How do you purge your closet?” Especially shoes. I’d love to hear your ideas and tricks on what you do to keep your closet from exploding. Do you participate in the “One in, One Out” concept? Are you participating in Jewish Girl’s “Use it or Lose It” challenge, even secretly? Do you purge at the beginning of a season or re-assess what you haven’t worn when you change seasons and purge then?

Go check out Jewish Girl’s blog, if you haven’t already, and read up on her “Use it or Lose It” challenges.

Have a great day!

And I love it! Almost all my clothes and shoes are in that closet (still gotta keep some tees and jeans in the master closet for those “throw something on” days.) It all fits with room to spare.

Before…

Ooops…A big mess on the bed.
 
Painted (gray) and partially shelved.
Shoe wall…a freaking SHOE WALL…7 shelves which can hold 10 boxes each.
Some of the shoes will be hidden which is why I try to have a picture on every box. I’ve got some updating to do as some boxes are missing pics. It’s a really great way to find the shoe you need quickly. I stole this idea from a Clean House episode. Clear shoe boxes work well too. I love the black shoe boxes with the red trim but sadly cannot find any more. I found them at Ross, Marshall’s and TJ Maxx, practically stalking every store in two cities to get as many as I could. Now I try to keep all my shoe boxes for any new pairs of shoes.
 
Finished…
Top Shelf – Hat Box storage, Sweater box storage
Top Hang – shirts organized by color and type (sweaters, button-downs/blouses, tees, tanks)
Middle Shelf – Boot box storage
Bottom Hang – Short coats, shorts, skirts, pants
Floor – More Boot box and Sweater box storage
Long Hang – Dresses, Long Coat
2nd Shelf on Long Hang – More Sweater Storage
Brown box on the floor in the corner has more sweater storage. I think I need to purge my sweaters. It looks like I’ve got too many and not enough cold days to wear them on.
The lids of the hat boxes and shoe boxes.
  
And look what I found (among many other things)…
Silk camis
Silk shirts
I forgot I had these. I was wondering where they went.
I have yet to add my purse hanger on the wall along with my flip-flop hanger. I found this at The Container Store. It hangs on the wall and hold up to 6 pairs of flip-flops or sandals. I love that store!
Now I can shop my closet and stop buying another white shirt or black heels or silk shirts and camis.
As always, thanks for reading.

I’m so excited! I received enough gift cards and cash to head on over to The Container Store and build out my closet. Oh boy…13 feet of wall space here I come! I have most of my stuff organized but after building out a closet in our first house I love the idea of utilizing the entire wall with a double-hang. Currently with the single-hang I have to still stow away my summer clothes. I’d really like to see all I have for layering purposes.

Here are some pics of the before. I’m hoping to go this week to design it and then set it up next weekend. I want to paint the closet too but husband is against it so I may have to settle for a fun rug or something.

The entry is not that cluttered any longer. I moved most of that to the back of the closet, for now. 
Most of my shoes with pics so I know what I have and somewhat color coordinated sections of clothes. 
Some sweater and boot storage. (The keyboard is gone.)
My flats 
My flip-flops and some sandals and athletic shoes.
  
More sweater storage.
The sale I’ve been waiting for…The Container Store currently has all their ELFA shelving 30% off.
I should have a post up after the New Year with the NEW CLOSET! YAY!