Married to the Empire

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Drawer Organization

Admittedly, organization is on my mind lately because my home somehow morphed into a cluttered mess. So, bear with me over the next few days because you'll probably hear a lot more about it.

My bathroom drawers were a mess. I had to dig to find my hair bands or barrettes, and I had a ridiculous amount of stuff. You know it's bad when you uncover gems like these (excuse the blurriness):





The first is a pair of barrettes that I received as a birthday present--in the 1st or 2nd grade! We're talking circa 1981-ish. How they've made it with me through 10 moves and more than 25 years is a mystery!

The second is just a testament to the early '90s. I'll leave it at that.

About 15 minutes of my time, and I suddenly had my 2 messiest drawers somewhat tamed:




Notice all those little button envelopes? Has anyone developed a decent system for dealing with all those little envelopes with extra buttons that always seem to accompany new clothes? My system, as you can see, is to throw them in a drawer. Not very sophisticated or effective. I wonder how many buttons I have that belong to clothes I no longer own?

Truthfully, I don't think I'm done. I kept way too many barrettes. Considering I rarely wear barrettes, this just doesn't make sense. But it's good enough. For now.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to have the same button envelope problem, but now I don't keep them--I remove the buttons and store them in a very small tupperware container, which I keep in the top drawer of my nightstand.

A. said...

I don't think there is a decent system for storing extra buttons or extra threads of cashmere. I keep them in the envelopes, and write the article of clothing to which the extra buttons belong. I reason that this saves time by eliminating the need to sift through tons of buttons and trying to match them up. I keep them all in a shoebox in a closet shelf.

Allison

Anonymous said...

Oh, I like the writing the article of clothing on the envelope idea. I cull mine every year or so, and keep them in a smallish mason jar with my other sewing stuff.

Becky said...

I keep my buttons in a little sewing box that my mother-in-law bought for me. I figure that I would go to the sewing box if I lost a button anyway!

Btw, I love the Carmex tubes in the picture! I'm a Carmex addict :)

Amy W said...

Purging has been my theme lately too. Freecycle is great!!!!

Has anyone actually had need of an extra button that they saved? I finally let my girls use those things for craft projects.

Sue said...

I keep the buttons (sans envelopes) in an old Altoid case. If I had to retrieve buttons on a regular basis, it would probably save time to keep the envelopes and notate the article of clothing. But I have to admit...I've never actually used a spare button, and I'd rather save space in reality than time in potentiality, if that makes sense! :-)

Anonymous said...

I keep all those little button envelopes too. I figure the moment I start tossing them, I'll actually need one. /sigh I just need to let go (heehee!).