Trouble Shooting

There are these places around our house that are trouble spots for me.  I think Flylady calls them "hot spots".  For one reason or another they bug me.  Either clutter collects in these spots, or stuff piles up, or they just look messy.  The other day I tackled a couple of them and I thought I would share with you what I did.

The first one is the spot where we keep doll clothes.  

Lovely, right?  All of the clothes were kept in large Ziploc bags.  Whenever the girls play dolls they dump all of the clothes out into the floor.  Even though they are good about picking the clothes up when they are finished there was just something about this sight that got under my skin.  I decided to go to Target and find a plastic container that would be a good fit in this little section of the bookshelf to hold the doll clothes.

I was super excited when I found this since it is a perfect match to the girls' room.  Isn't that just so much more pleasing to the eye?  Ahhh...yes.

I had to laugh (and snap a pic) when I saw the way Olivia was putting everything into the container.

She is her mother's daughter.

Another trouble spot for me was the door to the girls' room.  The backpacks and tote bags and every other thing was being hung on the door handle.  Most of the time I couldn't even shut the door without removing all kinds of stuff.




As I was thinking about where to put all of these items I remembered some drapery hold backs I had purchased at a garage sale back in the summer.

I paid 25 cents for these...can you believe it?

I never intended to use these for drapes (seeing as I don't have any drapes in my entire house) but I knew they would make great hooks sometime when I needed them.  I turned one around like a J and my honey hung it in the girls closet for me, right inside the door.  The size is perfect for holding lots of stuff.  I can't think of another hook that would be able to handle so much.

I'm not sure if you can tell but there's still room for more.  This hook is sturdy and can handle the weight.  As of this posting the girls have hung a whole lot on there and one of them has been keeping her bathrobe on the hook as well.  It's a big hook!  If you come across any drapery hold backs at garage sales or consignment shops let me encourage you to pick them up.  They make fabulous hooks.  I'm already contemplating where to hang the other one.  The garage...by the back door...inside the hall closet...there are so many places where this would be useful.

I don't have time today to post about all of the trouble shooting I've been doing lately but I've decided to try to post a couple of things each week for a while.  Hopefully it will encourage and inspire you in your own efforts to organize, de-clutter, and simplify since I know that's what most all of us are doing in January!

Thanks for dropping by today.  Please visit again soon!