Judge Not...

...when you see the following pictures. They are of my Trash Closet. It was not meant to be exactly what it sounds like- a closet full of trash- but that's just about what wound up happening!

The cupboards in my kitchen are too short for the trash can so we put it in the hallway closet and started calling it the Trash Closet. I clean it out probably twice a year and what you see in the before picture is pretty much what happens in between clean-outs. Not much of what you see in there is actually trash, though. In the (embarrassing) "Before" photo, most of the stuff just got jammed in there- and I do mean jammed- for lack of a better place to put it. Or because it belonged somewhere else and I wasn't going to that place right then and I wanted it out of sight. You can also get an idea of just how often I use my iron, if you can find it in there!
So why did I decide to do this right before Christmas? Are you about to read some jargon about a fresh and organized start to the New Year? Nope! I needed to fit in a 12 pack of paper towels that my mom gave me, and as you can see, it was not going to happen.

So I got to work. Well, WE got to work. When the boys saw that I was hanging around by the arts and crafts containers and was even taking stuff out they became interested. And I found that I was not using my children to their full potential! They can bring stuff from room to room for me and what's even better, they LIKE to do that! It took almost no time to empty it out and now everything that wasn't supposed to be in there is in it's proper room, waiting to be put away. So it's pretty unlikely the closet will ever get that bad again since the boys can put stuff away for me! And as a bonus I found a couple of little plastic toys and about 80 cents in change for piggybanks as a little positive reinforcement for helping!

 Before. (This would be a good picture to print out before you go on a long car trip with your children, as it looks a lot like one of those "I Spy" books.)

After (top). Keep frequently used objects, like cleaning supplies within easy reach. I added a paper towel holder by mine. I keep my seasonal door decorations on the top shelf along with other infrequently used things. Arts and crafts are within easy reach on the bottom shelf. I have them separated into two containers, Frequently Used (coloring books, crayons, glue, paper, etc.) and Infrequently Used (paints, craft kits, dropcloths, larger projects, etc.)

After (bottom). Pretty self explanatory. Trash can and- Oh! What is this? The paper towels actually fit into the closet with room to spare! It's a Christmas miracle! 

I also added a recycling container! We have streamlined recycling, I think it's called, so we don't have to separate anything. It just gets tossed into the recycling bin and someone else deals with it. Nice.