Organizing the chaos of an Everything Closet
When a closet makes more sense than drawers, but it needs re-organizing
I knew the closet by my dining room was getting out of hand. I finally had to face the fact that I would have to re-organize it after digging around on the top shelf for spackling and feeling four Amazon boxes fall on my head. I don’t know why I didn’t shift those boxes the last time. The ceiling fan duster had already gotten caught between the doors after I put a bag of plant soil on a nearby shelf.
I had no idea what an Everything Closet was. I just knew I had everything that didn’t make sense in my clothes closets in this one five-shelf space behind my dining room table. Nobody knows the chaos inside when they sit at my dining room table nor would they have a reason to open the sliding doors. Only I know that it has become a dry cleaner, a tool shed, a gym, a shipping warehouse and a cleaning closet.
And although my condo board has managed to get on my nerves and I grumble about moving occasionally, I’ve made absolutely no move to do so — not even talking to a Realtor. So why exactly do I need more than 40 folded Amazon boxes on the top row? I don’t even paint ceramics anymore, so what fragile items would I need to pack up?
Finally, I had to come face to face with getting my Everything Closet organized.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I choose to continue promoting intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. All five of my Substack publications now include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site, not just the Amazon Black-owned logo, to verify this.) If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
Step 1: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
While I have no interest in moving but thought that some of those boxes could be useful for shipping items (eventually), there were other boxes that I couldn’t even defend. For example, yes, I subscribe to the HP Instant Ink program, but why did I have five individual boxes that used to house color and black ink? I’d already used the recycling bags included. What else was going to fit into these hand-sized, rectangular boxes? It was time to load up my recycle bin.
