On my last Tackle it Tuesday Post, almost three months ago, I set myself the accountability by saying that my next post would be cleaning out Ali’s closet. However, this isn’t as easy as it seems, because I can’t manage to clean out her closet with her there, because, first of all, it’s JUST THAT BAD, and second of all, I can’t take trips up and down two flights of stairs whilst carrying many boxes AND keep up with a very-nearly-almost-two-year-old.

SO, all that to say, I FINALLY got around to it this past weekend while she was at my parent’s for an overnight stay in grandparent heaven.

Why, then, was her closet so bad? Well, as I would swap out clothes as seasons changed or she grew out of them, I would haphazardly put them in boxes and put them in her closet, until I could address the problem. And, when I finished a box of diapers, I would put the diaper boxes in the closet to store more clothes.

Needless to say, my strategy multiplied by the year and a half since we moved into this house, you get quite a problem.

So here are the mortifyingly embarrassing pictures of what her closet looked like before it’s overhaul:
So I started pulling out the boxes, some empty, some full, and putting them in her room to prepare for sorting:
That was the first layer. Her closet still looked like this:
I counted. There were 25 diaper boxes in that closet!!! If you figure 3 minutes per diaper, I have spent over 7 days of the past 16 months changing diapers (this stat brought to you by my best friend, Sir Excel). And that doesn’t even count the first 8 months of her life!!

Is it an oxymoron to say that I love my job, but it’s quite crappy?

So then I began sorting by season and size. Here’s a picture in the midst. But look at that shiny closet behind me!!
And, finally, the beautiful finished product!!
And the now boxed clothes, ready to be moved to the basement closet:
Now maybe I won’t be such a bad tidiness influence on my daughter. If only she would reciprocate by not creating so many empty boxes!!!

15 thoughts on “Tackle it Tuesday: The Dreaded Closet Cleaning

  1. Now that’s an awesome tackle! Having a 22 month old, I know how hard it can be. Great job girl!!

  2. Great tackle!! Want to come do my girl’s closet now? I have to go through the bags of clothes, that were Em’s. I need to figure out what Livie can wear now and what Em needs. *sigh* It’s never ending, lol.

  3. LOL! Great Tackle! If you’re like me, after cleaning out her closest you realize that most of the clothes hanging up no longer fit her, and now you must go shopping for more. :-)

  4. Wow! What a difference! I LOVE her crib, by the way. I wanted one like that but Jeremy thought it was too girly for a boy. Maybe, but I don’t think so!

  5. Nice job! I store everything in diaper boxes too, and it can get quite chaotic! They outgrow their clothes so fast and it’s tough to stay on top of it. Multiply your boxes by three and you can get an idea of what’s in our house!

  6. WOW, what a great tackle! The closet looks so bare now LOL! It’s always amazing to see how much stuff you can clean out of a closet!

  7. Amazing! It probably feels like such a relief to have finished this project. It’s quite smart of you to save all those diaper boxes for the clothes. I usually break them down, recycle them, and then wish for them later. Don’t forget to treat yourself with something fun for all of your hard work.

  8. Wow! You weren’t kidding about that closet being crammed, but it looks wonderful now! You inspire me to go clean out something… I just don’t know where to start or how to get it done with 3 little ones running (or crawling) around.

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