Shoes, shoes, shoes….our entryway closet was filled to the brim with shoes, and frankly, I’d just grown so tired of it that we were just throwing them into the closet in a huge pile. (blushing) Yes, it was that bad. Take a look….(Before you look at the pics, I put my MamaBuzz watermark on every single picture….I claim temporary insanity….it should say Real Heart Prints.)

Finally, I said, “Enough is enough. I’ve got to get this mess organized.” This weekend I set to work organizing both our coat/shoe closet and our movie cabinet, so I’d love to share before and after pics. Ready for the after pic on the coat closet? (Drumroll, please….) Voila!It was a lot of work, but I went through things, overwhelmed at first, but finally getting into a groove. I had a donations bag and a trash pile. Anything I thought we could bless somebody else with went into the donation pile, including purses, coats, even shoes. I actually brought my purse box out of our bedroom closet, cleaned it out, and made that box into a hat, mitten, glove box to put in the top of our coat closet; that way when we’re needing hats or gloves, we’re not searching. We know right where to find them. The boys had a hat box in their closet too that I emptied out and cleaned up, putting them in this little crate instead.It freed up a bit of space for them.Then Dan built some awesome tiered shelves for me with some scrap wood he had in the garage. They work great for keeping our shoes neat and orderly. Boots went up top, and I tried to put the kids’ shoes down low, so they’d be easier for them to get out and put away. I also had a flat mirror, hiding out in that closet before, that we put on the inside of the closet door; that way, we can see if our shoes match as we get ready to walk out the door.Finally, I also organized our movie cabinet and transformed it from this….

into this….yay!

Games are organized by game system, old cases and things are thrown away, game controls are put away in the two green fabric boxes (I got for $1 at Dollar tree, incidentally) out of sight, and exercise equipment/videos are all together. Even our music is stacked neatly, including all the kids’ CDs, easy to find, easy to put away. Our board games actually went into our boys’ closet, since they had a whole top shelf to work with, which really gives so much more room for everything.

I had games stashed anywhere and everywhere, so this freed up room in all parts of the house.:) I actually had no idea how many games we have until Jacob made a huge stack in his room….pretty much as tall as he is. My word….(we are so blessed here in America, I might add; we have so much, and this picture really brings that fact home for me).

So, next week, I’ll share my pantry pics with you….yikes! I’ve totally got my work cut out for me this week.:)

Join in on Organize with Sandy’s Organizing Mission Monday; get inspired, get organized, and have fun with it!