Fall Cleaning and Organizing

I'd really rather be going to the North Carolina mountains to get fresh apples, taking pretty outdoor pictures, or decorating my house and porch for fall.  That will come (sooner rather than later, I hope) but for now, I'm cleaning out closets and drawers and trying to re-organize everything.  Why am I doing this?  I'm afraid the people from "Hoarders" are going to show up on our doorstep any day now if I don't do something with some of this stuff.

The late George Carlin famously said that "A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff."  :)  So funny and so true.  At least it's funny until you're forced to have to find a place to store all this stuff.

I've mentioned before that our house was built in 1972, so that was before the time of really big closets.  Our first house, the 1924 bungalow in Greensboro...

 ...had teeny, tiny closets; they were almost non-existent.  So when we first moved into this house,

 I was thrilled to have these closets.  I'm still thankful to have them; I'm really thankful to have a home, period.  Never the less, our closet space is at a premium right now.  But to show you how closets and homes have grown over the years, my parents' bedroom closet is bigger than one of our bathrooms.  :)  Their house is only nine years old.

I'm not going to let this clutter defeat me, though.  We like our home, and I've just got to keep working on organization.  The tried and true method of throw away, donate, and keep is a good way to go about this.  At the moment, I'm working on my bedroom closet.  I'm really pleased with the progress I've made, and I'll share some pictures when it's finished.  This evening, I bought a purse organizer made by Real Simple at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and I think it's going to be just the thing I need for storing my purses.

I'm also about two-thirds of the way finished with the bathroom linen closet.  One day when our son moves out on his own, we'll have another closet to use for storage.  But I'm not rushing him out the door.  :)  If I get a lot accomplished with the organizing tomorrow, I might reward myself by putting out some fall decor.

What method or system works best for you in keeping your home organized and clutter-free?  Do you have big closets, tiny ones, or medium-sized closets like me?

I hope you're enjoying a fine fall day wherever you may be; it's really beautiful here today.  Thanks for stopping by!

*Update*  I've hung the purse organizer in my closet with my purses in it, and it's a great solution -- I love it!!  This is the first Real Simple product I've bought, and I have to say I'm very impressed.

Denise