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Tidy Tips? How are your drawers or shelves or anything?

(141 Posts)
trisher Sat 06-Sept-14 12:56:24

I am about as untidy a person as you can get. Watching a detective drama recently I heard someone describe a victim's t-shirts as "rolled not folded" in a drawer. Well that was the start! I have now re-organised all my drawers and I love it. It's easier to take things out and I can fit more in. So I started to wonder how many other ways of keeping things tidy am I missing out on? Come on you neat Grans I need your help!

Ana Mon 08-Sept-14 21:06:21

Oh no, I'm even more slobby than I thought! Changing hand towels every day???

(Obviously, if you have a houseful, or a particularly dirty job...but if it's just you, or you and DH?)

annodomini Mon 08-Sept-14 16:16:28

I roll the hand-towels that live in a basket next to the bathroom sink, ready to be swopped daily. Apart from that....chaos.

rosequartz Mon 08-Sept-14 15:33:41

I feel as if I have stepped into Stepford, Connecticut!

Please come and sort me out, one of you!

The towels start off in neatish piles, folded and stacked by size in the airing cupboard with too-high shelves. Then I want one that isn't on the top and all the rest fall out so are shoved back anyhow because I am usually in a rush.
Will try to roll them instead and see if they all fall out when I take out the bottom one.
I have cupboards in the bathroom but not enough room for towels.

Ironed face flannels shock never heard of that!
I had a friend who used to iron socks.

coolgran you must have very big drawers if you can fit shoe boxes into them!

nanapug Mon 08-Sept-14 15:10:53

Have a look at these links ladies. Your lives will be changed ;)

buzzfeed.com/peggy/52-totally-feasible-ways-to-organize-your-entire-h#1cj1b00
glamumous.co.uk/2013/03/101-household-tips-for-every-room-in.html

Elegran Mon 08-Sept-14 14:17:58

Look online at The Sock Shop Alie. They have a lot of non-elasticated socks.

AlieOxon Mon 08-Sept-14 13:41:09

I have just sorted all my socks - and thrown OUT all the ones with holes....lately I have had difficulty in getting socks without elastic round the tops, so have been making the ones I had do as long as possible......

However I did find three pairs out of the odd whole (not holy) ones!
I think I will have to go to Oxford to find out if I can still get the original kind.....

Who knows, I might continue to T-shirts.

vegasmags Mon 08-Sept-14 13:40:07

I thought abut tidying up, but the idea was so exhausting that I had to have a lie down instead.

Stansgran Mon 08-Sept-14 13:26:15

I was inspired by the OP too. I decided that one in one out and as I had just bought two skirts and a new dinner suit for DH I would do some chucking out. DH has grown out of his old DJ and the new on could have bought us a holiday so I felt I could start on his wardrobe then move to mine . I couldn't find anything that I'd thought of his suitable to go .no he'd gone fishing and he was wearing it all. I'd love to have outfits all on the same hanger so I could just pick it out and wear it without rummaging . Harrigran should set up a business.

FlicketyB Mon 08-Sept-14 06:46:05

Ah, but whitewave if you are tidy, it saves time. Not only do you not have to spend time tidying because things are always put back where they belong but you do not spend hours looking for things you cannot find.

suzied Mon 08-Sept-14 06:43:54

After reading this thread yesterday I started a sort out of my main wardrobe and chest of drawers, much tidier all t shirts, vests , jumpers rolled and sorted into colours ; cardigans and shirts hanging in colour order and in plastic covers ; trousers sorted into summer and winter, casual and smart in different drawers ;shoes tidied and sorted into summer and winter. Underwear sorted and greying/ baggy stuff chucked. Hoovered round the wardrobe. Haven't tackled the dresses yet ( they are in a different wardrobe) , but filled 2 bin bags of clothes and shoes for the charity shop. Everything looks so much tidier thanks to OP and all those organised posters for giving me the impetus. And I now need to go lingerie shopping.

Flowerofthewest Sun 07-Sept-14 23:23:11

A well known farmer, controversial and columnist friend of ours was once interviewed by a reporter for a broadsheet, she described his living area as a ' Rather unkempt dog basket' I think he was rather proud as it hadn't changed when we visited a few months later.

Deedaa Sun 07-Sept-14 23:17:12

I'm with you jingle the times I've walked into the bedroom only wanting to fall into bed and then realised I've forgotten that I'd stripped it !!!

whitewave Sun 07-Sept-14 19:48:39

What I can't understand is where everyone gets the time to be so tidy etc.

If I spent time tidying as well as housework gardening etc there wouldn't be any time for fun.

georgiejg Sun 07-Sept-14 18:42:19

When I retire perhaps I may have time to organise and colour code as chaos reigns at the mo

Purpledaffodil Sun 07-Sept-14 18:07:28

Louisamay I worked with a similar "doth protest too much" lady whose observed habits were gross, she used to eat raw fish fingers off the staff room draining board, dipping them into a pile of salt similarly placed shock
She once famously announced as she finished work one lunchtime, "I'm going home to do the spring cleaning" then spoilt the effect by adding "and then I'm going to dig the garden". Strangely enough we didn't believe her! grin

glassortwo Sun 07-Sept-14 17:20:35

Saves me hours jingle just putting your hand on everything you need in one grab and saves upending the airing cupboard everytime. I wont leave a bed till later as its my pet hate rolling up to bed ready to fall in and its still unmade. <shiver emoticon>

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 07-Sept-14 16:46:24

Glass that is a huge thing to do. I don't, hence the non-matching pillowcases on my bed. (When I go up at 11.30 having stayed too long on here, and find the stripped bed still waiting for me, desperation kicks in hmm)

glassortwo Sun 07-Sept-14 16:34:34

Well I am a slut shock no organisation. .. no organised chaos describes me well.
The only thing I do is place all linen for a bed change in one of the pillowcases so I dont have to rummage in my tidy airing cupboard for a missing peice of bedding... grin tidy airing cupboard who am I kidding wink

louisamay Sun 07-Sept-14 16:31:10

Don't know where this thread is going BUT, a friend once told me that her husband came home 'from the pub' and when he undressed for bed she noticed he wasn't wearing his own underpants! As she bought all his clothes she knew they were definitely NOT his. I don't think the mystery was ever solved but it was highly suspicious . They are still together..

louisamay Sun 07-Sept-14 16:24:37

He probably wasn't playing squash - well not in the sporting kind of way.

kittylester Sun 07-Sept-14 15:31:06

I worked with someone who brought a clean pair of her DH's underpants with her which he then collected from her after he had played squash!

Still can't get my head round that. He was a gp and a couple of years later he was imprisoned for sexually assaulting young men! I don't know if the two things were related!

louisamay Sun 07-Sept-14 15:02:31

I once worked with a woman who's hygiene was, shall we say, 'questionable'. However, she was constantly talking about how she cleaned the house top to bottom every night and how often her and DH bathed/showered etc. The thing that sticks in my mind though, is that she reckoned DH changed his
underpants three times a day, and was so careful about cleaning himself 'down there' that he used a whole toilet roll every day. Of course it was nonsense but I imagined him packing his lunch box along with his spare pants and toilet roll every morning before setting off for work.

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 07-Sept-14 13:55:54

grin No! He doesn't change them several times a day. I just mean I save them up until there's only one pair left in the drawer. It's not exactly a large wash.

Galen Sun 07-Sept-14 12:54:05

NOTHING is tidy in my house and I don't care. It's a home, I live in it and can find everything
Usually
Well, eventuallyhmm

Galen Sun 07-Sept-14 12:52:26

Perhaps he's a large DH?