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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Blog entries for the category Closets

Closet Organizing Video

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, October 3, 2011

How to Organize Your Mudroom Off Season ItemsHere in the Midwest, it is that time of year, when we are slowly switching over seasonal clothes. I like to do it in stages, first with long sleeve items and jeans and then later bring out the sweaters. This video demonstrates how a busy mom of four swaps out winter items and summer items in their family...

Try this at Least Once

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, September 15, 2011

Last Sunday I was motivated to go through my closets and just try on all pants, skirts, and dresses. I must admit, I’ve never done this. I usually just glance at the clothes to see what I can purge out as the seasons change. But this time, I wanted to try something new. I often suggest my clients try clothes on to make decisions s...

Reigning In T-Shirts

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, July 14, 2011

This summer I said enough is enough. I’m sick of all my tshirts jammed in a drawer and mixed together. So I decided to divide them up and look at them not as tshirts, but how I choose to wear them. For me it divided them into three groups. T shirts I sleep in and would never let anyone see me in them outside the house. Tshirts I wear with sho...

Mudroom Mania

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, June 17, 2011

You’re not alone, if you haven’t cleaned out the coat closet or mudroom to make room for summer. Scarves, mittens and hats are still floating around and it’s June. This mom was very organized and made this spare bedroom closet into her off season mudroom. Instead of having everything cluttr up the mudroom, she shifted things...

Organizing Hanging Clothes

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, April 8, 2011

In my opinion, there’s really only three ways to hang and divide clothes in a closet. The first is by season. Here in the midwest, it would make sense to sort out clothing by season. I find this is the hardest system to maintain though. Clothes are easily mixed by accident and maintaining the seasonal categories requires a greater effort. The...

Taking Jewelry Along

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Packing jewelry for a trip can be quite the challenge. Necklaces get tangled, bracelets are easily bent, and earrings and rings are too easy to loose because they’re so small. I had to laugh recently when my sister was visiting. She spread out her comestic and tolietry bag on my kitchen countertops to dig through to find her jewelry. I didn&r...

Forcing Organization

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, January 28, 2011

Today the insulation guy is coming over. He’s going to tell my husband and I how we can reduce the cold and heat upstairs on our second floor. We live in a cape cod style home so we have some dormers on the east side of the house but the west side has small short closet space in the eaves. It’s helpful storage but I don’t really p...

Swapping Purses Successfully

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, January 17, 2011

How to Change out Purses Fast and EasyI’ve seen the inside of a lot of closets during my organizing days. Two things always prove true: women love purses and women change out their purses often. This poses a probelm. Coins, business cards, lipsticks, tampons, receipts, pens, and random contents hang out at the bottom of purses and rarely get ...

My Organizing Projects

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, January 13, 2011

Getting Things Done Over My Christmas Entering into my Christmas break, I had a few organizing goals in mind. Every time I opened my office closet, I was annoyed at looking at a mess and having items in the wrong spot. I had things at waist and eye level that should have been put way up high out of the way. And I had things way up high that should ...

Hats, Mittens, & Scarves

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, January 10, 2011

Keeping Winter Wear Under ControlNobody wants to search ten minutes for their missing mitten or glove. So how do we manage keeping hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves all organized and accessible. I propose these tips to help you keep it all under control. 1. Assign a pair of gloves or mittens to each winter coat. Just keep the pair inside the ...

Organizing Kids’ Closets

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, December 14, 2010

We’re in the midst of fall here in Chicago, so lately I’ve been digging through lots of kid’s closets, dresser drawers, and rooms. If you want to control the revolving door of clothes and shoes, try these three essential tools. ...

Switching Over

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, September 27, 2010

 Rotating clothes is at the top of my to do list this weekend. Last night I slept in socks, a long sleeve shirt and pants. That’s a good indication that the heat will soon be turned on and the drawers and closet contents switched over. Even my husband commented, “Looks like it’s time to get the winter clothes out.” By t…

Rotating Shoe Organizer

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, August 13, 2010

The other day I was in a closet organizing clothes minding my own business. When all of a sudden I noticed this hanging shoe organizer. At first I was skeptical, it didn’t look practical and took up a lot of space. Then i moved it to take a closer look and it spun! This organizer actually spins in a 360 degree circle and functions really…

Turning Old T-Shirts into a Masterpiece

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Do you, your husband, or kids have lots and lots of t-shirts? T-shirts can multiply very quickly if your kids are in a lot of sports or if you have a particular hobby, such as running. As a runner, you always bring home a t-shirt from race days. My husband and I met in college while running cross country so I “feel” the t-shir...

Top Ideas to Organize Your Linen Closet

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Amber’s Favorite Tips & Tricks to Organize Your Linen Closet1. Match up sheet sets with their respective pillow cases. Then stash one whole set in one pillow case. Continue this process until you have neat piles. Next time you have to change the sheets, just grab and go! 2. Use stacking drawers to organize small toliet…

Finishing Touches

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, May 24, 2010

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Bells and Whistles for Your Closet

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I recently helped a client through 2 clothes closets. Despite culling a lot of clothes and shoes, we still couldn’t fit everything inside so we purchased these products- what I like to call “bells and whistles. “  …

An Organizing Quote Re: Clothes

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, September 21, 2009

“If you haven’t worn it in the last year, and especially if you haven’t worn it in the last two or three years, then let it go.” I totally agree- which doesn’t surprise you. A year is generous- don’t you think?  Last night, we got back from buying my husband some clothes and I stated my rule: we brought 4 in…

Keepin’ Up With the Clothes

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, September 14, 2009

You know the saying, “Keeping up with the Jones’”. Well most moms feel the same way about keeping up with kids’ clothes. They grow so fast and a good share of time and money went into purchasing those clothes. There’s no wonder why we’d like to save the clothes for the next child. It just makes sense. Here are so…

Organize instead of Shop

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, June 23, 2009

By now you’ve dug out all your tanks, T-shirts, skirts, and shorts. Before you run out to do some summer clothes shopping, organize first. It may just save you money or even a trip to the store. In a recent research study, Standford University in California, found that just by rearranging and organizing clothes in a closet,&nbs…