Motivational literature from my teen angst years

I was a massive fan of Sassy Magazine in the late 80s and early 90s. Midway through my January-cure organization overhaul, I found my stash of them in our garage. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I posted some tweets on my treasure and a great gal named Jolie Kerr asked if she could do a Q&A on me for Blackbook Magazine. Read it here.

It is always great to know that you are not alone in your freakish obsession over mementos from your past. 

After having been in our townhome for more than a year now things, for me at least, were starting to get cluttered. The usual spaces started getting crazy. The closet that I share with my husband was one of the biggest offenders. It is so easy to throw things on the shelf, pile shoes on the floor, and forget half of the things you own during the morning rush. 

Apartment Therapy has been doing a month long event called The January Cure. Step by step, day by day, they lead you in making your home life a cleaner, more organized one. My first task was to clear out all of the old clothes from Aaron’s closet. Now that clothing has gone to a children’s shelter, a box for spring consignment and a bag for a friend’s 3-month old son, that task is complete. I hope to make a few more changes like these I also saw on the AT website. As a kid grows so does their stuff. I hope to continue to wrangle it in and keep it managed. 

Next up was our closet. I did not take any photos of the before because it was a wreck! Instead I choose to capture beautiful after photos. 

The size 11 shoe high-rises!

I can now quickly find my necklaces. Yes these are silverware bins.

Some of the purses, wallets and belts now easily visible.

Close up of wallets and clutches. I’d forgotten I had half of these.

Once ironing is done I will post complete pics of the entire completed closet and the top shelf that had become a dumping ground for EVERYTHING. 

Many magazines have columns devoted to getting a designer look for less. Of course I have read them but never have I been on a quest for my own bargain look alike. Until about a month ago when I saw the Original Flea Saddle Bag. Click here to see a photo of this showstopper. 

It was elegant. It was classic. It was me in handbag form. It was also $440 and that was not going to happen for me. While I do pride myself on having a stellar handbag collection, this price tag was too much to bear when our child will be looking at college in 16 years. Nonetheless while the price was lofty, my need for this look in a bag still nagged me. The hunt was on. 

After months of searching I am now the proud new owner of this-

Klein tool bag

The Klein canvas tool bag. It took me a while to find one as the local hardware shops from Ace to Lowe’s did not carry them. Ebay has them in droves and the price is right! I snagged this 12 inch version for $36.00. They come as large as 24 inches but this one holds all of my things without the bottomless pit issues you get with larger bags. The look is similar to the $440 model, but it has the added bonus of having enough weight, thanks to the metal frame opening, to be used as a weapon if needed. 

Fashion and weaponry function. WINNER!