Laundry & Basement Declutter

This past weekend we decluttered our basement. I can't believe how much of our basement storage has been dedicated to Christmas! If you are anything like me, you go through stages: blue christmas, gold and red christmas, charlie brown christmas. I had enough christmas for Ralph & I to decorate three homes both outside and in.

​How, you may be asking? We pulled every box down and went through, asking ourselves, do we love this? If we don't love it, then lose it! The christmas stuff is going to families who have lost their homes to the wildfire, along with some kitchen items and a racoon halloween costume that I tried to pass off as a wolf. I'm hoping its new owner will have more luck passing it off as another animal, if not, then as a racoon. (note: read Jenny Lawson' book Furiously Happy to hear all about wonderful racoons)

Our purge also included three clothing racks that held all of Quinn's golf shirts (kid loves to golf) and our seasonal clothing of two very ugly Christmas sweaters. In replacement Ralph put up two closet organizers that don't fall over and have a ton more hanging space! Closetmaid, economical and efficient. Don't discount how versatile these system truly are. While they may not be as visually appealing as a wood closet organizer, they are far easier to customize! We had to avoid a few obstacles in our laundry room and a system that could be put together any which way worked for us.

I wish I had a before shot of my new little laundry and storage room, but alas I do not so imagine somewhere very cold and dreary. Now after you have that picture in your mind look at the photos below. It is still a basement, isn't as pretty as Pinterest but is much better than before (which is re-emphasizing how bad it was before).