Moira needed a bag for her soccer gear this fall.  Instead of buying one we decided to try a pattern in One Yard Wonders.  (which was otherwise just ok) We went through our fabric stash and see what we could come up with.  She chose a brown and pink cotton. 

The bag body consists of four large panel with the bottoms rounded. You sew two fronts to two backs to make a shell and a lining – leaving 4in for turning the lining.  There are two side straps pinned inside and sewn together. Then the right side is pulled through the opening and the lining is tucked into the shell. 

you sew a piece of stretched elastic to the inner bottom which scrunches the bottom of the bag. 

A casing is sewn at the top, the shoulder strap sewn to the sides and elastic pulled into the casing to scrunch the top of the bag.  Voila.  Very pleased.  I tend to start way more things than I finish so this was a morale boost! I can sew a bag <g>

Tardy as usual but I did promise more on the new Family Closet, currently ranked as one of my major life blessings. For years I had read about consolidating the laundry and clothing storage areas into one space. It is so foreign to most people that it is quickly dismissed as impossible, impractical, or just plain out there. One relative of mine who shall remain nameless was utterly appalled at the mere suggestion and asserted that we were hovering on the brink of barbarism. But I tell you, look to the mega families and their systems.  They have come to do things the way they do because those things WORK.  It took me a long time to embrace that fact.  Those women do not have the luxury of inefficiency. As a result, their homes often run more smoothly than those with just a few children. 

In our last home we had already set up the rooms before I got serious about home organization and there were so many fires to put out on a regular basis we never were able to really revamp our system.  When we moved I was determined to start fresh, so we analyzed our spaces well before the furniture arrived. 

The  basement had a large storage/utility room which was perfect for the new closet set up.  This was made possible because we had gotten rid of a considerable percentage of our storage items before we moved. The rest fit into the attic. So the basement was wide open. (If it had not been, we intended to use one bedroom for clothes.) The base issued us one collapsable wardrobe unit per person since we do not have built in closets in the bedrooms.  These I used to line the room.  (If the room had been smaller I was prepared to put those wheeled hanging racks in the center of the room as well.)  Inside each unit is a pole for hangers and a top and bottom shelf.  I have most things hung and then have a number of large plastic dishpans on the shelves for "toss-ers"  like socks, unmentionables, pj's, etc. The little girls could easily fit a second hanging pole in theirs since their clothes are tiny. 

The iron and board are nearby. At the moment shoes are tossed rather unceremoniously into the bin you see in the pics. There is a basket on the dryer for socks waiting to be matched. I suspect that there will be some boxes on top of the wardrobes to hold 'nearly fits' and 'just grown out of' sizes as we finish unpacking the winter clothes boxes. 

We are blessed with two dryers but honestly I rarely use them both. The beauty of having the clean clothes near the washer is that I am bound to visit that room several times a day to get myself and others dressed and undressed.  While I am there, I move laundry. That simple. If I can't fold and hang immediately – and I usually cannot) I move the clean baskets to the closet side of the room til the end of the day and catch up then.  Its a matter of minutes to fold and hang when I can put it all away right there. It helps to plan ahead some so that the machines are empty for the day after games and the bed changing day. 

 It's been almost three months now and I have no plans to change a thing. Only wish I had done this sooner.  The bedrooms are now a breeze to keep clean as well since there are no piles of clean or dirty clothes to wade through. Kids are notoriously bad about maintaining closets and drawers. Even if you are fanatical about folding and stacking their clothes, one child in a hurry can undo hours of clothes organization in a moment's rifling for socks before practice.  Been there.  Done that. So wherever your clothes are stored, I highly recommend NEVER letting small people take out their own clothes. Small meaning anyone under double digits.  Seriously. I have never seen that go well in any family we have visited. Store them high, lock the closet, or whatever. 

 If you can't imagine how this would work in your house, think outside the box. Key here is to compartmentalize rooms more than the American norm of having lots of rooms with similar functions.  This was explained really well in the Duggar's book.  When the move to a new home was delayed they ended up in a two bedroom home with a half dozen kids or something like that. Living with most of her things boxed and labeled ended up being a blessing and they realized that most families don't need more rooms and furniture in and on which to sit, but rather more organized storage space. She continues to keep only the daily use items in easy reach and the rest are shelved and boxed and labeled for easy access. 

A bedroom doesn't have to be a bedroom. Ditto for a family room or whatnot.  Figure out your needs and assign each room a function in that order. Don't let common room labels dictate the use of your space. 

So there you have it. Family closet 101.  Since the laundry and dishes amount to the majority of a families chores and messes, getting on top of those makes the rest of life go very smoothly.