Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the delay! I've been super busy with planning my wilderness camping trip and spending time with family that I just didn't have time to code and finish editing my photos for this post! However, as promised earlier this week, here is how I clean out my closet.





So our bedroom closet is our largest closet. We seriously don’t have that much space in our apartment so we have to try and store most of our things in here. We have our linen closet and a small hallway closet that keeps our jackets, ironing board, weights, and vacuum cleaner. So in the bedroom closet we have our luggage, clothes, some shoes, my bags, and additional things that were in boxes.

To start, I emptied out my side and some of Jered’s side. Seriously, emptying out the closet as much as possible will make it easier for you. If you have your own closet, empty the whole thing out. You need to see what you’re working with.



I ended up emptying his side further and moved some items to places that made more sense. I moved the foam rollers to under Jered’s side of the bed. He usually does those when his back is really irritating him. Since that’s not used as often as before, it made more sense to put it under the bed. I also moved his guitar cases into the smaller hallway closet. I left the large suitcase where it was but moved the large iMac box next to it. I also stacked our cat carriers on top of the box.

NOTE: Because we have plans on selling his iMac, that box will be leaving in the near future.


After taking care of Jered’s side, I thought I would tackle my side. To clean out my closet, I divide my clothes into 4 piles:

An essentials pile – items I reach for first and timeless pieces.
A work pile – items that I need for work but might not wear on a regular basis.
A maybe pile – items that don’t fall into the other two categories but I might want to keep the item.
A giveaway/donation pile – items I know I don’t need anymore.

Once everything has been divided, it’s time to start further eliminating old clothing. I always start with my essentials pile as it should make up the majority of your wardrobe (unless you’re rich and can afford to change out your clothes every season). I mainly stick to a black, white, and grey color pallet and this honestly makes my essentials pile so much easier to maintain. In this pile, I have a few t-shirts, collared shirts including button ups, pull over sweaters, cardigans, and dresses. Anything that is too worn (think pilling or holes) or doesn’t fit properly, get rid of it. Otherwise, usually your essentials pile is good to go.

The work pile is fairly self-explanatory. Its clothes that you need to wear for work. Depending on your job, this can really vary. If you work in a corporate position, then things like button ups, dresses, and cardigans are essential to obtaining that professional look. If this is the case, I would recommend getting rid of things that don’t fit properly or are old and worn.

The maybe pile can be a little tricky. You’ll want to get rid of items that are tired and stuff you’re just not feeling anymore. If you’re having a hard time thinking if you should keep or donate it, ask yourself: When’s the last time I wore this? When’s the next time I want to wear this? Do I want to wear it? A general rule of thumb for me is if I haven’t worn it within the last 6 months, I probably won’t wear it anytime soon so it’s time to let it go.


I originally bought this shoe holder to hold shoes. It eventually started to hold some tank tops (not pictured) and miscellaneous items along with shoes. I ended up getting rid of all the tank tops I don’t wear anymore. However, I still have a good amount of tank tops that I keep rolled up. In the second cubby, I originally had my miscellaneous items which included wallets/clutches and hair accessories. Instead, I folded my flannels and put them there. This made my hanging clothes more visually appealing. I put my wallets and clutches in the third cubby and my hair accessories in the fourth cubby. The last two cubbies have my heels that I don’t wear as often (they are seasonal items).


One reason why I really wanted to make space in the closet is for my bags. They were originally sitting out in the open by my bedside table. Not a pretty sight. I ended up putting them on the top rack. I still haven’t decided if I would like to keep them there or not. Along with the purses, I put my hats on the top rack. I ended up stacking them on top of each other and luckily they fit nicely.



Last but not least, here's a few shots of what the floor looks like. I kept my large makeup case, bike helmet, and camera on the floor. This was for easy access purposes. But other than that, it's much more organized and cleared as a floor should be.


And here's the final "after" look. It's still not as organized or clean as I would like but it's a start. I think eventually I'll have to get Jered to organize his things. Again, we'll most likely be down sizing even more depending on where we plan on moving. By the way, I moved that creepy wig head to be behind the fan :P



I hope this was helpful and you’re able to clear out your closet with ease. Happy cleaning!

XO Monie





NOTE: In my before photos I do have my wedding dress. I finally sent it off to get preserved. One I get it back I'll decide if I would like to sell it or keep it. I left this out as not that many people just have a wedding dress hanging around.

Labels: home, organization

It wouldn’t be spring cleaning without conquering your dressers and closets. There really isn't much need for a big introduction as this is fairly self explanatory sooooo~ this is how I organize my dresser.



Jered and I share a dresser so most of my clothing is in the closet. However, although I don’t have that much clothing in my side of the dresser, I really needed to reorganize. In all honesty, I’ve just been folding clothes and stuffing it into whatever drawer it would fit. Not the wisest thing to do.


In the top drawer, in order, I have bras, lingerie, miscellaneous items, and underwear. I threw away any bras that were worn and old. The lifespan of a bra is about a year when worn properly (start wearing on the loosest set of hooks first). Each set of hooks is supposed to be worn for approximately 4 months. Since there are 3 sets of hooks, it should be about a year until it is too stretched out and loses elasticity and shape. I throw out bras when they’ve reached that point and just don’t sit correctly on my body. I do the same with lingerie. Although I don’t wear that as often, I still throw out anything that may have lost shape. This can be from the wash, how it was dried, or even how it’s been stored.

My miscellaneous items are things like stockings, socks, and tights. Obviously, I threw out anything with runs or pilling. Anything with holes also should be thrown away. That is never attractive.

I actually keep two types of underwear: period underwear and nice/everyday underwear. Basically period underwear is old cotton underwear. My everyday stuff is the more expensive silk and lace panties. I just don’t want to risk ruining those.


In my second drawer I keep most of my bottoms. This includes jeans, leggings, shorts, and skirts. Obviously shorts are seasonal in Seattle but since I had extra space, I decided to put them in the same drawer as my other bottoms. To prevent my skirts from wrinkling, I try to fold them as little as possible.


I keep all of my work out-esque attire in my third drawer. On the left, I have my gym shirts and jackets. Then I also have shirts that I dye my hair in. In the middle, I keep my sweatpants and yoga pants together. On the right, I have an extra pair of sweats (I wear these ones around the house), and all my sports bras. If you’re active and go to the gym a good amount, I highly suggest having a drawer or space in your closet just for your fitness clothes. It just makes things so much easier.


Since we don’t have space to store our seasonal items, this is my seasonal drawer. I had to do some cleaning and donating for everything to fit in here. I now only have 4 sweatshirts and they’re seen on the left. I also have a fleece in the middle and a pair of thick socks for winter activities. With the remaining space, I have my swimsuits.



Cleaning doesn’t stop there. I still have my closet that needs to be emptied out and rearranged. I’ll try and get that posted this week since both cleanouts are closely related. Until then, I hope this is inspiring and helps you clean out your dresser!

XO Monie

Labels: home, organization

Our bathroom is a decent sized bathroom and we like to keep our counters clear from clutter. So where does everything go? Well, the only option really is under the sink. And yes, it’s a mess down there. I’ll admit that I’m totally guilty of thinking “out of sight, out of mind.” But let’s change that and make underneath the sink as tranquil as the rest of the bathroom.



We had bath products, hair products, cleaning products, medical products, basically everything under the sun products down there. So the first step? Empty out that bad boy. Once everything is completely emptied, I gave it a good scrub down so that it was as squeaky clean as the rest of the bathroom.


To start, I had to section where we wanted certain products. There is a section on the left, the middle section, and a section on the right. Since the toilet is closer to the right side of the cabinet, I thought okay, let’s put all our cleaning supplies under there. That makes the most sense. We have our plunger, toilet cleaner, scrubbing bubbles toilet tabs, (these are not pictured) toilet brush, multi-purpose cleaner, our scrubbing bubbles and cleaning rags.




After cleaning the linen closet, I had a small dilemma. I didn’t have a home for my hair tools (hot rollers, curling iron, straightener, and hair dryer). Putting it under the sink was the only logical place since I only use those products in the bathroom. Next, I needed something to put the tools into. Luckily we had a basket that we used for cat toys that I could use. I cleaned the basket (really well mind you. I didn’t want to put my clean hair styling stuff into something dirty :S) then placed my tools inside. I then got rid of any hair products that I don’t use any more keeping only the essentials. Two different hairsprays, leave in conditioner, and dry shampoo. I placed all of this on the left side of the cabinet.


For the middle part, ideally I wanted to make some shelving to hide the plumbing and have better separation. Unfortunately, we’re in an apartment. We’ll probably have something weird happen like an inspection then get yelled at. Seriously, our complex is weird. In any case, I divided the products under the sink into three categories: my products, medical products, and our lotions. Again, I threw out anything we haven’t used in a while and started placing the items into the cabinet.

On the left side I had all my products: extra lotions, soap, nail polish remover, a face mask, body spray, feminine wipes, and a bath bomb. Our middle section had our medical products: the neti pot, bandages, peroxide, rubbing alcohol, aloe, and calming bath salts. In the future, I’ll be buying a container to place all our medical supplies into. We have band-aids and antiseptics in another location so it’s not as convenient. I think it will also look cleaner. Then we had our two lotions and a travel sized hand sanitizer.


If anyone has suggestions on where I should clean and organize next, please let me know. I’m trying to keep it to places that might be overlooked since most people know how to clean a bathroom, kitchen, or living room. We have a fairly unconventional apartment so some places that I need to clean might not be as helpful for others. I do plan on sharing how I do spring cleaning for my side of the dresser and our closets. Also, I was thinking about sharing our bookshelves, desk areas, or even kitchen cabinets. What do you guys think?

In any case, happy cleaning and I hope this helps inspire you to clean some of those “out of sight, out of mind” locations!

XO Simone

Labels: home, organization

Happy Spring! With flowers blooming, the sun shining, and the birds chirping, it’s time to start refreshing the house. I’m the worst when it comes to spring cleaning but since Jered and I talk about moving, I thought it’d be smart to get rid of things we don’t need. I try to take on small projects at a time so I thought I’d write a small series on organizing your home or apartment.


When I mean I like to take on small tasks, I mean small. Let’s start with the linen closet. We’ve never really kept it organized and although everything was clean, it was a mess. Things just went wherever and there was no care taken into putting away our linens.


To start, I emptied the closet out and put everything that was in there on the clean bed.



After emptying the closet, I started folding and organizing our bedding. (If anyone would like to know how I fold my bedding let me know!) For our wedding, we bought a new king sized bed but we still had a lot of our queen sized bedding. We gave the extra bedding away so we were left with a few bedding sets including one for guests. We like to change our bedding sets depending on the season so we have four different sets that are interchangeable.


Once everything is folded and nice, I match the bedding sets and tied them with ribbon. I feel like it just makes things look polished and more visually appealing. I also refolded our towels so that they would look as plush as hotel towels. Apart from some of the things in the linen closet, we also had some throw blankets and pillows in our clothes closet that was taking up space. I ended up rolling the throw blankets since I knew that they would fit easier into our shallow closet. The extra pillows were big and the only place they'd fit is the bottom of the closet.

After I finished folding and rolling everything, it was time to put everything back into the closet. This includes the toilet paper and toiletries that were also originally stored in there.









Literally the hardest part about organizing a small closet is folding everything and knowing what to throw out. I hope this was helpful for those of you who are trying to find motivation for spring cleaning!

XO Simone

credit: ♡

Labels: home, organization