My (not) dirty laundry

The linen closet...one of the only places in a home that specifically names what belongs in there (aside from the medicine cabinet in which medicine really shouldn't be kept anyway) and yet for some reason, I just never grasped the concept.  Maybe I should have named mine the miscellaneous closet or the I-have-nowhere-else-to-put-it closet.  Part of the problem is that it is not a high traffic area.  I am in there once a week to change my sheets, twice at the most.  The door shuts, and I forget about the chaos that exists in there until the next time.  The door opens and my first thought is "I have to do something about this" and then the door shuts and it is all forgotten about again.  Then I saw it, the monthly challenge over at I Heart Organizing; bathroom and linen closet organization.  Perfect! A challenge!  Just the kick in the butt that I needed. So I immediately went to work.  This is what I started with, ugggh!

  

Horrible, I know but there it is for all to see...what I was hiding in my closet.  Not pretty, but it's the first step towards healing LOL.  Next, was emptying it all to see what I really had.  It's amazing what you carry around from place to place and year to year and never use.  I can't even tell you how many pink pillowcases I had, and not one set.  And since I am the only girl in the house, I can only deduct that the last time they were used, I was lying on my twin bed and talking to my boyfriend tangling myself all up in my pink CORDED phone.  Yeah, time for the donate pile.  Once I figured out what was going to stay, I had to figure out a way to organize it.  I really liked some of the divider ideas I found on the web but lucky me, I have these really useful, efficient, thoughtful (do you sense the sarcasm yet?) wire shelves the builder installed.  So, it was back to baskets (my old faithful Walmart ones.)  I still couldn't get past the shelves though and then the idea fell into my lap (literally when the "curtains" basket pile fell over because it was too tall!)  I had purchased a whole bunch of curtains at Goodwill for $2 a piece (how could I not buy a whole bunch?) and had used only a few in the boys playroom.  I loved the simple gingham pattern and knew that I would find another use for them in the house someday.  Well that day came...shelf liners! 

Amazing what excites me.  I just cut them down to shelf size, used a little stitch witchery for the hems and put a couple of yarn stitches through the wire to keep them from going anywhere.  Whipped up a few Avery brown craft labels to let me know what was inside, and ripped up a few strips of canvas (from the same old organizer I used to make the box for my wrapping center) to tie around the handles.  Had the cute little clothespins from a craft I must have done so long ago I can't even remember, and that was it.  So the only cost was the baskets (total under $20!) Oh, and a bonus for having wire shelves I discovered after.  I can slip dryer sheets in the wire to lay between the material and the shelf so they are invisible, but the closet smells really, really good when make my weekly visit.  Does it even need a door now?