The Posh Blog

I had a client the other day who said “sorting through socks was almost as bad as sorting through paper”.  What she didn’t like was going through her drawer of socks and having to match up every sock to its mate.  You know the story.  You match up sock after sock and you end up with 10 extra socks that don’t have a match.  So then what do you do with all those socks that don’t have a match?  Certainly they will turn up.  So you stuff the socks in the drawer with the rest of them and then you don’t look at them again until next year when your sock drawer is overflowing.   

So what’s a sock lover to do?  First, do not put the stray socks with your matched pairs of socks.  This is huge.  If you mix the stray socks with your matched pairs it will be extremely difficult to differentiate between the pairs and the singles.  You need to have a dedicated place for the stray socks to go while you are waiting for the extra sock to show up.  This can be a separate container in your sock drawer or a container or bag in your closet.  The next time you go through the laundry and find a single sock you will know exactly where to look for a match.   

As many of you know I have two young daughters and with young children come lots of socks.  Socks that are too big, too small, in bad shape, missing a mate…ahhhh!  I was starting to feel like I was losing the battle against the socks!  As an organizer, I had a system, but it wasn’t working very well.  So it was back to the drawing board.   

For my youngest daughter (who is outgrowing socks every few months still) I set up this system:

Too Big, Too Small, Stray Socks, Trash  

Too Big:  Socks from my older daughter that are still in good shape that will move to a storage box once we collect enough.

Too Small:  Socks that are too small but still in good shape and will be donated to the children’s shelter.

Stray Socks:  Socks for my youngest daughter only, which are missing a mate.

Trash:  Socks we never found a mate for or are in bad shape. 

The system I used can be found in the kitchen section of Ikea.  The total cost for my sock sanity: $5.95 (plus tax).   My system may or may not work for you, but I wanted to give you something to think about as you are deciding what to do with your sock situation. 

Knowing I will be able to find a pair of socks when I need them, now that’s the good life! 

Enjoy!

Angela Ploetz  

Copyright (C) 2008 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com. 

  It’s Spring time and the change in the temperature means that it’s time to transition from long sleeves to short.  This is even true with infant and children’s clothes.  For adult clothing we typically switch out the Winter wardrobe for Spring and Summer styles, but for children, who out grow clothing on a seasonal basis things are a little different.   

I saved most of the clothing from my first daughter just in case I had another girl and low and behold I did.  Since baby clothing is sized every 3 months and my daughters were born at different times of the year, the clothing doesn’t always correspond to the appropriate season.  I have a box of baby clothes for each stage, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months and up.  So as my second daughter grows, I just go to the closet and pull down the appropriate box and start going through it.  I pull out all the outfits that are in season and put them in dresser drawers and anything that will not work gets transferred to a shopping bag to be donated.  I do have one small box of clothing that I am saving, but not many items go in there. 

 Now that I have emptied a box out, I use that box to add my older daughters out of season Winter clothing to.  I remove the label and add a new one.  Since the change is seasons is gradual and we still may need some long sleeved Spring clothing I keep this box on a lower shelf that I can reach and easily add more clothing to.   

This rotating system has worked really well for me.  If you only have one child and you want to save the clothing for your next child, like I did, let me give you a word of advice.  Purchase several boxes in advance and get them labeled now.  With my first daughter I didn’t always have the boxes at hand when I needed them and that resulted in “pile ups” until I could get a storage box.  This is a disaster!  You will quickly learn that children love to play with stacks of folded clothes that soon become piles of more work for you.   

Organizing is all about finding the right systems that work for you and support you.  My new system for dealing with my children’s clothing is working SOOOO much better than my first system did.  Oh yes, I love using the Deep Sweater Boxes from Container Store.  They fit perfectly on most shelves and are perfectly sized to hold just the right amount.

 Enjoy the good life,

Angela   

Copyright (C) 2008 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com. 

I just learned about this and thought in the spirit of Earth Day and clutter clearing I thought I would share this with my Austin readers.  Help make a young girls day by cleaning out your closet and donating a dress.  Read below and have a great day!

  The Specially for Children section of the Dell Children’s Hospital is seeking your help!
 
The First Annual Hungry Bunch Prom will be Saturday, May 10, 6-9pm at the Dell Auditorium at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.  They are currently seeking donations of fancy dresses to be able to provide a shopping party for the girls to come and pick out a free dress (being on treatment for cancer or a chronic blood illness can be a huge financial stressor for families so they didn’t want to add an additional, unnecessary expense for them).  
 
Dresses are encouraged to be donated by Friday, April 25. Dresses of all sizes are needed, as the program is open to patients 12 years and older.
 
Cynthia Fitchpatrick who is a childlife specialist and is helping to coordinate the event says, “One of the biggest reasons we are sponsoring a prom for these teens is very often these patients do not have the opportunity to go to their school proms because they are sick or may not feel comfortable attending if they are dealing with visible side effects of treatment (one of the biggest ones being hair loss).  Or they don’t live long enough to their junior and senior years when they are able to go to their proms.  It’s the first time we are doing it so we don’t have a very big prom budget so are going to rely on lots of donations.  Any assistance you could provide to help us get more prom dresses to be able to provide more choices to the girls would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your interest!”
 
If you are interested in donating a dress, bring it to the Austin Film Festival office at 1145 W. 5th Street, Suite 210, Austin, TX 78703 (Monday – Friday, 10am-6pm, 512-478-4795) by Friday, April 25 at noon.  You can also contact Cynthia Fitchpatrick at 512-671-0016  to get directions to bring them to the outpatient Children’s Blood and Cancer Clinic. (Beside the Dell Children’s Medical Center).

     After seeing the infomercial and hearing about these hangers from three different people I had to test them out myself.  They are the Ultra Slim Flocked hangers or the Huggable Hangers and they are all the rage!  So I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and purchased a set of 10.    

Initially I’m impressed.  Because the hangers have a velvety flocking they really hold on to your clothes preventing things from slipping off.  Love that!  I don’t know how many times I move one shirt in the closet and the one next to it falls off the hanger.  The indentions in combination with the flocking also allow you to hang tops with spaghetti straps easily without falling off, which is so hard to find.  I have to admit I was a little skeptical about using these hangers, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well they grip the clothes.   

As the hanger ad claims, they are “ultra slim” and I thought they felt a touch flimsy as I was hanging a few items.  Of course my closet is like a laboratory and I use all types of hangers, but these hangers do not feel as a sturdy as some of my other hangers.  My set of 10 hangers was incredibly thin and took up space comparable to FIVE of the plastic tube style hangers!  Now that’s a space saver!  

The Huggable Hangers also claim that the shape of the hanger will not leave the ever dreaded “hanger indentations” in your delicate blouses, which I have not been able to fully test.    

If you are looking for a hanger that holds on to your blouses or the oh so popular camis and save some space in your closet it’s definitely worth giving these hangers a try!  I’ll keep you updated as I continue to use these hangers.  

The Ultra Slim hangers are available at Bed Bath & Beyond and the Huggable Hangers are available from the Home Shopping Network in a variety of colors.

Ahhhh…my beautiful clothes not falling on the floor, how sweet it is.  

Enjoy the good life,

Angela    

Copyright (C) 2008 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com. 

Photo from Bed Bath & Beyond