I grew up with make-do, possibly because of the "Depression" and possibly because of a Scottish heritage which made a lifestyle out of making do. No Barbies at that time, I sewed the doll clothes myself, by hand. I haven't any memory of not being able to sew or darn. I rarely alter my clothes -- never did, preferring classical styles of good design and material, and having a mostly unchanging figure. Mend, yes, I still can 'sew a fine seam' and blind-hem and replace a zipper with the aid of only a few swear-words. But by the time my clothes are worn out, they really are worn out; they progress from crisply ready for office work, to limply ready for yard work, to threadbarely suitable as a coverup when painting. It isn't long until only the paint spatters are holding the material together and then they become rags to use when staining wood or applying wax. Yesterday, I finally threw away a rag which began life as a sleeve on lace-trimmed blouse, about thirty years ago. *That* was good material. I remember embroidering crazy quilts made from sections of my father's wool suits. The suit's seat, elbows, knees and collars would be too worn to wear to the office; so eventually a brother would get a jacket or pants made from the larger still-good sections while the scraps would be saved for piecing into a quilt. I don't unpick yarn nowadays, although I certainly did when I was young... a hole-y child's sweater could provide enough yarn for three or four mittens. Now, it seems that sweaters are acrylic or some other chemical name, and the threads aren't worth the effort to unpick. We weren't poor, or even low-income. Looking back, I suspect that monetarily the family would rate as upper-middle class, although the lifestyle would have been familiar to a budget-conscious back-to-the-lander. Then, thrift was simply a way of life, which has stuck to this day. I am equally unable to throw out stale bread or to wear new jeans when mowing grass, lol. Interestingly, there are a number of on-line sites -- the code word is usually 'frugal' which apparently lacks the implications of poverty that some associate with 'thrift'. Most of the web-sites are yawnable, but there are a few good ones. For young-uns who want real-life, up-to-date, usable ideas for help in living well [which is not the same as living extravagantly], I do recommend a book, "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn, which is a compilation of the newsletters she produced for several years. She combines practical money management tools with familial anecdotes in a way that makes for fairly easy pick-up, put-down reading. Rob ~ invest in a large packet of tiny gold safety pins. Each garment kept should have a tag pinned to it, showing the most recent date worn. Anything not worn for three years (the experts say two years) should be donated to someone who can use it. Clothing kept for sentimental value should be safely packed instead of hanging in the closet.

Sheesharee, my DH and I are just getting ready to finish the built-in storage in our two closets, which are about the same dimensions as yours. We are doing L-shaped storage, that is, along two walls, so there's enough room to comfortably stand/dress in there. We're doing built-in stacks of shoe/sweater shelves, with double hanging bars on one wall and singles on the other. The empty wall will have hooks for robes, belts, etc. Each closet will also have a rolling laundry hamper we can easily roll down the hall to the washer/dryer area. I carefully planned it all out depending on the measurements of what we each need to store. It will probably end up costing us about $250 in materials by the time we're done. I'll try to post some photos once the main component are installed, and then later (hopefully by next weekend!) when it's all painted and has clothes in it :) We have been living out of piles and remote closets and basement boxes for over a year now since we had to gut this part of the house due to a mold problem and bathroom renovation. It's been so frustrating not knowing where stuff is. I am sooooooooooo looking forward to having nice, organized closets!

Here is what I did about 6 months ago and it has worked great. I've been fighting with clothes for 3 kids for 14 years. I have a large laundry room in the basement - if you do too, this will work. I got 3 sets of large, deep, heavy-duty snap-together shelves at Lowes on sale for $44 each. Each has 5 shelves that can hold 2 rectangular laundry baskets side by side - so each son has 10 baskets. I made labels and stuck them on the shelf under each basket: socks, underwear, tshirts, shorts, jeans, sports uniforms, long sleeve shirts, and gym glothes (they do a lot of sports so they have lots of Underarmour shirts & nylon shorts). Everyone has the same locations = all the underwear baskets and socks baskets are on the 2nd shelf, etc. Each still has one unallocated basket - I usually put out of season items there like hoodies in the summer. As clothes come out of the dryer, they go straight into each basket. The boys can choose to either leave everything in the basement and get dressed there, or take a weeks worth of outfits to their rooms. They do both depending on how motivated they are - my middle son is BO so he picks out a week of outfits and takes them to his dresser, the other 2 are more "dress in the basement" types. This has totally eliminated all the arguments about putting their clothes away. Each has a dresser & a closet but there was never enough room. It's also eliminated lost soccer uniforms, lost socks, etc. For sports that use the same uniform year to year, they know exactly where to find it when the season starts (their volleyball and swim teams use uniforms for 2 or 3 years). I hope this makes sense - I don't know how to upload pictures or I would post pictures.

At the front. Door opening activated. You CAN'T stand in there with the clothes and shelf. The closet is only two feet deep. Hence the term........."reach in closet" Organize it well, and you won't need to "dig" for anything in it. Or open the WALL. Frame it, and install double swing doors for more full access.