Although my days have been incredibly hectic as of late, I try to set aside some quality downtime throughout the week. This week’s stress-free activity entailed cuddling up on my couch with a glass of wine and the March 2013 InStyle magazine. I am a bit behind in my magazine reading, but I am glad that I read the March issue. 

While looking through the March 2013 edition of InStlye magazine I came a cross an article called, “How to Organize Your… Bags, Shoes, Jewelry, and everything else crammed into your closet, stuffed in those drawers or stacked on your already cluttered dresser.” 

 I am a bit of a neat freak when it comes to my closet and that it is organized, thus this article captivated me. I broke down how to organize a variety of items in every woman’s closet, mainly shoes and purses! I found this article to be enlightening and helpful.




Each page of the article explains in great detail the best way to organize different items in your closet so that they are preserved over time, hold their shape and are easy to locate. One of my favorite parts of the article was the section that described how to properly display and store handbags. I never know how to properly store my handbags; I usually end up hanging them on the bedpost. The article recommended, using steel shelf dividers to separate the bags and keep them standing up straight. 

If you do not have room at the top of your closet for dividers try installing hooks along the walls of your closet to hang the purses. Resist the urge to stick smaller purses inside of larger purses because it is easy to forget about them. For most people out of sight means out of mind, this makes it easier for people to buy duplicates or certain purses because they forget they already own something similar. Now not all bags need to be placed in dividers, hobos and totes are fine if they are just laid flat.

Furthermore, article illustrates a variety of ways to properly store shoes. If you guys can’t tell by now I am a total shoe fanatic! I pride myself on keeping my shoes in excellent condition! Prior to wearing my shoes I spray them with either leather or suede spray according to the material composition of the shoe. I make sure to keep them wrapped in tissue paper and keep them in boxes in my closet to protect them from dust. 
 
I truly believe that shoes are an investment piece, which means that I am willing to spend more on shoes than any other garment. Since I am always on my feet my shoes must be comfortable, durable, stylish and classic. To maintain my investment, I always make sure that I keep them in excellent condition.

 The article suggests several ways of storing shoes including, hanging shoes on photo ledges or arranging shoes in bins with clear drawers so you can easily see where everything is located. If you happen to OCD about your shoes, you can also organize the bins by colors, for instance you can put neutrals in one bin and colors in another. If the shoes are small or less structured it is possible to put more than one in a bin to consolidate space. 
One of my major pet peeves is when my tall boots get creases from where they fold over in my closet, to avoid this I use boot shapers. Certain boots are meant to maintain their shape and structure, but that can be challenging for boots made from soft leather boots. In order to provide structure you can either buy boot shapers at the Container Store or you can use old magazines- roll them up and place them in the shaft of the boot- both ways are equally successful.

Happy Spring Cleaning! I love feedback! What’s your organizational style?