Before and After: Reorganizing My Linen Closet

Just because you work for OrganizeIt.com doesn’t necessarily mean your life and home is free from clutter.  For example, Erica, a member of our Content Writing Department, recently reorganized her linen closet in her apartment with some items available on our website.   Below are her before and after photos, along with some ideas and tips you can use in your home.

BEFORE

My boyfriend and I moved into our apartment in June 2012.  One of the biggest selling points was the amount of storage and closet space available.  Of course, as we soon found out, we had a lot more stuff than we thought, and that storage space fills up quick.  We made due with what we had, but the hustle and bustle of everyday life always prevented us from really organizing our linen closet.  A couple of weeks ago, after rummaging through the closet while cleaning the rest of the apartment, I finally had enough and decided to actually do something about the clutter.

AFTER

As the before photo showed, there was no real order to our closet.  Health and beauty items, towels and cleaning supplies were just thrown in there to be “out of sight, out of mind”.  After utilizing some of OrganizeIt.com’s shelf dividers and storage bins, our linen closet looks 100 times better, and now we can actually find things right away.

Top Shelf – BEFORE

Top Shelf – AFTER

Just by looking at the before photo, it was obvious that the top shelf was in dire need of organizing.  There was no order, whatsoever.  I used three different types of storage bins to store and organize this shelf.  The 6 Inch x 6 Inch Clear Plastic Storage Bin was used to store various bags of cough drops (as seen on the left) and all of our toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste (as seen on the right).  Behind the toothbrushes and toothpaste is a 10 Inch x 8 Inch Clear Plastic Storage Bin that is holding various vitamins and other medicine.  Behind the cough drops, is a 10 Inch x 4 Inch Clear Plastic Storage Bin containing facial cleanser.  The storage bins created more storage space in the middle of the shelf, where I was actually able to put our first aid kit, which was stored under our bathroom sink, because there wasn’t enough space in the closet.

Second Shelf – BEFORE

Second Shelf – AFTER

Like the top shelf, our second shelf was incredibly disorganized.  Fortunately, most of the same items provided some great storage solutions   The 6 Inch x 6 Inch Clear Plastic Storage Bin was used to store bottles of rubbing alcohol and other extra first aid items, as well as dry dusting cleaning supplies (located in the back left corner of the shelf).  I got rid of the bulky boxes our dusting supplies came in and just put them in the bin, which created more shelf space.  The 10 Inch x 8 Inch Clear Plastic Storage Bin was used to store different cleanser bottles, while the 10 Inch x 4 Inch Clear Plastic Storage Bin was used to store the small paper cups used in our bathroom cup dispenser.  A new item that was used on this shelf was the Iris Medium Stacking Bins to store cotton swabs and some sticks of deodorant, which was a great way to utilize vertical storage on this shelf.

Third Shelf – BEFORE

Third Shelf – AFTER

The best part about going through the linen closet was throwing away items that were old or that were not being used.  There were a bunch of old, bleach-stained towels that we got rid of on this third shelf.  After getting rid of the crummy towels, I used one of our Chrome Shelf Dividers to help separate bath towels from our dish towels.  The shelf divider simply slides on to the shelf bottom, requiring no hardware for instillation.  The shelf dividers that were used come in a pack of two, which leads me to…

Fourth Shelf – BEFORE

Fourth Shelf – AFTER

The fourth shelf!  Like the third shelf, the fourth shelf housed towels, but it was also a dumping ground for random tools, bits of hardware and other accessories.  The second Chrome Shelf Divider was used to separate bath towels from hand towels, while the Iris Medium Stacking Bins used on the second shelf were utilized to organize the various screws and tools used to assemble our living room furniture.

Bottom Shelf – BEFORE

Bottom Shelf – AFTER

Like the fourth shelf, the bottom shelf became a dumping ground for random things, like protein powder…because it totally makes sense to put protein powder in the linen closet.  To make storage clean and simple, I put an Extra Large Mesh Basket on the bottom shelf to hold various paper products (towels and napkins) and our small portable hand-vac.  The basket definitely helps keep everything together and makes the bottom shelf look more in order than what it was.