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I mentioned in my last post that I didn’t make any resolutions to get organized this year. That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to move in that direction… it just means that I’m not going to beat myself up over it if it doesn’t quite happen the way I’d like it to.
That said, I’m trying to do as much organizing before the kids go back to school next week. Once they are back in school full-time, I need to focus on work so my organizing time will be limited. Although I’m officially back at work this week, I’m still spending most of my time at home with the kids. This is a great reminder of why working at home with the kids here doesn’t really work for me.
Anyway… back to organizing. I am a firm believer that it’s much easier to unclutter the mind when you have an uncluttered home. While I wouldn’t say my home has reached hoarder-status, we definitely have too much STUFF.
I found this list on Pinterest and I thought it might be helpful in trying to sort through all the cleaning and organizing that inevitably overpowers me to the point where I’ll hide in my bedroom and pretend it just doesn’t exist. 52 Weeks to an Organized Home. Of course, I printed it out and my daughter wrote “Not going to happen!” on the page. Way to be supportive, Temera!
Now, not everything on this list needs my attention. Believe it or not, there are some areas of my house that are quite organized, thank you very much. Also, there are areas that need my attention sooner than others, so I think I’m going to jump around on this list. I think the trick is to do something (anything) every week to move you to an organized home.
Today I’m starting with my closet. I can’t stand it. We have hardly any storage space in our house and the closets we have are tiny. No big walk-in for us. One of the huge influences on me (and my clutter) has been The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Mari Kondo. You’ve probably seen a ton of people commenting on the book lately, but I read it a while ago and have already put some of it into practice.
I organized my drawers and I donated a ton of clothes that I’ll never wear, but it seems that no matter how many times I try and clean up the closet, it gets messy again. One of the things I keep hearing about is changing your hangers so they actually hang backwards. That way, if they are still left backwards at the end of the year, you’ll know that those items weren’t necessary to keep around any more. I’m definitely doing this with my awesome velvet hangers that I purchased last year. They are non-slip and super thin (lets you add more hanging clothes without they all ending up on the floor of your closet).
My biggest problem is going to be what to do with all the shoes we have. We don’t have room for actual shoe storage so I’m going to have to get creative.
UPDATE:
Took me about 3 hours, but I emptied the closet and only put back the things that we really needed. Well, what I needed… David will have to go through all his stuff on his own, but I did turn all those hangers backwards and I can’t wait to see what we’ll actually wear over the course of the year.
Obviously, I got rid of a lot of stuff. I had two bags of garbage (yes… garbage!!!) and one bag of clothes to donate. The reason it was only one bag was because I did get rid of several more the first time I organized my dresser drawers.
Phew… one task down for today. I feel really good about it too. I think my next project will have to be tackling my home office.
What room/area of your home are you working on getting organized?
I really need to get control of my family room! My daughter’s toys & other playthings are scattered all throughout that room. What I really need to do is go through all of her stuff, edit things down (donate or throw things away) & so on.