Last week’s challenge was to find three containers. One to hold items to put away, one for items to recycle or throw away, and one for donations. These containers will make each week’s challenges more manageable.
Did you do it? If not, don’t worry. It’s not a reason to skip this week’s challenge. You can get to it over the next week or two.
The goal of each week’s challenge is to make a small improvement in one area of your home or life. Over the next six months, these improvements will add up. Yes, there is some overlap between the organizational challenges and The Deep Clean Cycle. It happens. If you’re doing both and you’ve already tackled that area, you can do a quick touch-up or give yourself a bonus challenge somewhere else.
This week’s challenge The Coat Closet(s)
We’re starting off with one of those places that tend to get out of hand quickly, just because it’s easy to give in to the ease of just tossing your coat into the closet rather than hanging it up properly.
Add in school bags, hats, scarves, etc., and you may have quite a mess on your hands. This can escalate quickly if everyone just got new items over the holidays or due to a growth spurt or change in seasons.
Organization Challenge #2 Let’s Dive into the Coat Closet.
Grab your bins or totes.
If you get easily distracted, set a timer and limit how long you will spend on this task. Ten to fifteen minutes should be enough to determine what goes and what stays.
Look at your coat closet (or entryway or mudroom, if that’s where you keep your winter coats and shoes).
Donate any coats that no longer fit (whether it’s due to kids getting bigger or your own changing taste). If you don’t love it and already have a replacement, it’s time to  ♬ let it go.
Easy enough, right?
*Want to earn a little extra credit?*
If you’ve got a pile of shoes at the bottom of that closet, consider some cubes to divide and conquer. Â
The problem with this solution is you need to make sure any other people involved actually use it. This may take coaching and guidance. Good luck!
If you have the time and energy, sweep out the grit that has likely accumulated in the bottom of the closet. If you don’t… don’t sweat it. Our goal with this challenge is reducing clutter.
That wasn’t too bad, was it?
Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.
Well, I did it! The coat part, at least. It actually wasn’t very hard since this is our first winter in our house & I donated lots when we moved. And I just used my usual “donate box” that I keep in the reading room. (It helps my husband & daughter if they always know where to put things she’s outgrown, etc.)
I can’t access the links. For some reason when I click them it connects to a read it format. Any advice?
Thank you!
Heh I broke the site in March. It’s why I disappeared for a bit, that was a lot of work to fix 🙂
I bought a house without a coat closet. I don’t really want to have my guests walk in the front door and be faced with a bunch of coats and boots, any suggestion of a good way to hide them? The staircase is right in front of the door so there is no wall or anything to put up hooks or stand an armoire in front of.