Day Seven - March 15, 2013

31 Day Organizational Challenge

I can see it!!!!  I can see it!!!!  I can see the light at the end of that tunnel.  I can also see why Laura put on her downloadable calendar for March 17th "Don't Stop Now!"  I was so ready to quit yesterday, but I picked a spot and worked on it.  It looked a little better.  Then today I decided it was time to start moving furniture around.  I moved most of the bins in the hallway, where they will later be moved to the garage for the time being.  Then I was able to move the bed, desk & bookshelf to where I thought she would want it.  (She'd gone shopping with dad to buy some stuff for homework projects).  She loves the outcome, although there is still much to do.  But at least we can begin to see more clearly the fruits of our labor.  Still left to do is clear the clutter from her desk, bookshelf, one closet shelf and the shelves next to her bed (only half of those - you'll see what I did with the other half in just a moment).  She also needs to go through the bins as well and re-determine what she wants to keep or get rid of.  After that, we'll bring dad in and see how we can accommodate the things she wants to keep but has no space for yet.  In her middle closet there is a lot of empty space just waiting to be built upon and filled.  So, here we gooooo . . .  (I apologize in advance.  My pictures are out of order and for some reason I'm having a difficult time moving them around and getting them to look nice and symmetrical, so a straight vertical look at her room, and somewhat out of order, is what you are getting today.  :o) )

BINS MOVED TO THE HALLWAY.

TIME TO MOVE THE TRUNDLE BED

UH OH!  SHOULD'VE MOVED THE STUFF OUT OF THE CORNER FIRST, HUH?

SUCCESS!  LOOKS GREAT THERE.

NOW IT'S TIME TO MOVE THE DESK.  THIS IS FACING THE DOORWAY

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DESK FROM THE NEW LOCATION OF THE BED.

OH YEAH, THIS THING SHE WANTS DAD TO HOOK UP FROM THE CEILING.
 IT HOLDS HER STUFFED ANIMALS.

A VIEW FROM THE DOORWAY. 

HER BUILT IN SHELVES.  CLUTTER, CLUTER, EVERYWHERE.

I'VE MOVED THE BOOKSHELF FROM IT'S ORIGINAL SPOT BUT NOT TO IT'S FINAL SPOT YET.

OK, THE DESK HAS BEEN MOVED.  THAT'S HER DOORWAY TO THE HALL TO THE LEFT.

A VIEW OF THE FINAL SPOTS FOR THE BED AND DESK.

CLUTTERED BUILT IN SHELVES.  WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO?

AH, WELL, HERE'S AN IDEA.  I FORGOT SHE WAS WEARING A PAIR OF SHOES WHEN I DID THIS, SO I'LL PROBABLY CLEAR OFF ANOTHER SHELVE SO WE DON'T HAVE TO SQUASH.

A VIEW OF HER NEW SHOE SHELVES FROM A DISTANCE.

AND A VIEW WITH THE DESK IN THE PICTURE.

A VIEW OF HER DESK FROM HER BED.

A VIEW FROM THE BACK CORNER OF HER ROOM.  STILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THOSE BINS AND BOOKSHELVES.  SEE THE CLOSET?  THAT TOP SHELF NEEDS TO BE GONE THROUGH AND PROBABLY MOST THINGS THROWN OUT.  WHO KNOWS WHAT'S UP THERE.

FROM ONE WALL TO ANOTHER.

FOR NOW, THE FINISHED CLOSET.  SO MUCH SPACE UP TOP, BUT THERE ARE NO SHELVES OR ANYTHING. I SURE WOULDN'T MIND WINNING THAT CLOSET SET UP.  :o)

Day Six - March 14, 2013

31 Day Organizing Challenge

I'm so discouraged.  Is anyone else discouraged?  I want to quit.  So.  Much.  Stuff.  I want to just pitch it all, but it's not my room.  Thankfully my daughter realizes there's just not enough room in her tiny space to accomodate all the stuff she has.  Too many things coming in, very little going out.  I went to my sister in law's house where she and her husband recently bought the house next door to rent out.  I walked through it and I was like, ahhhh . . . so much potential.  A clean slate.  I was a bit jealous.  :o)

It's Spring Break here and we haven't done nearly as much as I would've like, but then again I want their break to be fun and not all work.  So, after a fun, relaxed week, today we dove back in to tackle another area.  Her dresser.  I didn't want to just clear the top of her dresser, I wanted to move it all together.  I needed to see another clutter free space so that I could see another light at the end of this very cluttered tunnel.  I think maybe the next project will be to get the bins out of her room as well as the clutter in the back corner.  My husband said we can move it into the garage for now.  This way I can move furniture around and see where she wants her bed, bookcase & desk and then bring a bin in at a time and see where we can put the stuff she can use and what stuff we can let go of.  

We will do this!

BELOW IS WHAT WE STARTED WITH TODAY.  

BELOW LEFT:  (1ST DAY) BEFORE                     BEFORE RIGHT:  (TODAY) AFTER

 

BELOW LEFT: (1ST DAY) BEFORE                              BELOW RIGHT:  (TODAY) AFTER

I don't know about the guitar on top of the dresser and I definitely don't like her shoe basket on top of the brown cabinet.  Any suggestions on how to store her shoes?

THE REST OF THE PICTURES BELOW SHOW THE CLUTTER STILL LEFT TO DEAL WITH.  I'VE GOT TO LOOK AT WHAT'S BEEN CLEARED AND BE HAPPY THAT WE'VE GOTTEN THIS FAR INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON WHAT'S STILL LEFT.

    

Day Five - March 10th

31 Day Organizational Challenge

Here's just a quick progress report from Sunday.  I will update if we do any more before the day's up.

HERE'S THE SPACE WHERE THE SHELVES WHERE. 

 THEY WENT TO THE GARAGE YESTERDAY.

 

REMEMBER BEFORE?  

THIS IS THE PROJECT FOR TODAY

(MAYBE TOMORROW TOO, BUT HOPEFULLY NOT :o) )

NOT TOO BAD, HUH?  WE'VE TAKEN A BREAK FOR NOW, BUT I'M HOPING TO GET THIS OUT OF HERE TODAY.

ONE OF THE BAD THINGS ABOUT DE-CLUTTERING AND RE-ORGANIZING IS THE MESS IT CAN MAKE.  TWO BUCKETS WILL BE BAGGED UP AND PUT IN THE SHED FOR THE END OF APRIL GARAGE SALE.  THE OTHER STUFF. . . SHE'LL HAVE TO DECIDE TO KEEP AND WHERE TO PUT IT OR REALIZE SHE REALLY DOESN'T NEED IT AFTER ALL.

Update as of 5:00 CST, or is it 4:00?  This time change has me all kinds of messed up.  :o)  After lunch I worked at clearing the shelves while my daughter sketched a picture for her aunt's birthday.  She's quite the artist.  Totally didn't get it from her momma.  I'll post a picture of some of her work one day.  When her room is cleared up and she's ready to decorate she wants to draw pictures the size of some frames we have laying around so she can display her artwork on her walls.  

BELOW IS WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.  I'LL SPARE YOU THE VISUAL OF THE FILLED UP BINS.  THEY'RE BEGINNING TO CAUSE ME SOME ANXIETY.  SO MUCH STUFF, SO LITTLE SPACE.  OH AND I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT SHE CONVINCED DAD TO TAKE OFF THE DOOR TO ALL THE CLOSETS.  WE MAY MOVE TO A CURTAIN EFFECT OR, WHO KNOWS, DEPENDING ON COST AND HER REACTION, HANGING BEADS???

NEXT PROJECT UP WILL BE TO CLEAR THE DRESSER SHOWN BELOW AND THEN MOVE IT TO THE CLOSET SPACE SHOWN ABOVE.  AFTER THAT SHE'LL PROBABLY EITHER WANT TO WORK ON HER BOOK SHELF, THEN WE CAN START MOVING THE BED, DESK AND BOOKSHELF TO A NEW DESTINATION.  OH WAIT. . . THE DESK IS GETTING FILL WITH CR-UH, STUFF.  :O)  THAT'LL NEED TO BE CLEARED OFF AS WELL.  IT'LL ALL BE WORTH IT, IT'LL ALL BE WORTH IT, IT'LL ALL BE WORTH IT. . . 

Day Four - March 9, 2013

OrgJunkie's 31 Day Challenge

To answer Laura's question, asking if I am where I thought I'd be, I'd have to answer I'm definitely behind.  I really hoped we'd be able to do a little something each day, but school and other kid's activities and, well, life, happened and we didn't get anywhere.  It's definitely more difficult to move forward with her during the school week and we are at the point where she needs to be there to put her things where she wants them.  As far as being organized and cleaning up, I think my daughter may have made her bed one day this week.  LOL  BUT, we're still moving ahead.  Slowly, but forward.

This past week I ran by my husband the idea of buying some more bins so that we could just dump what was on her shelves in the bins and then get the shelves out of her room so we could see some progress.  I really want to try out Laura's PROCESS.  We've got the Plan.  We're taking it one area at a time  Now it was time for the Removal/Sort/Purge.  Hubby liked the idea so on Tuesday I went to Lowe's and bought 7 bins for under $6 each.  I would have preferred see through but at more than double the cost, I figured I could label the bins and save some money.  

Are you ready to see the pictures?  

THE START OF TODAY'S PROJECT.  NOTICE THE BINS, READY TO BE FILLED.  THERE'S ONE UNDER THE SHELVES THAT WE'VE BEEN USING ALL ALONG.  THAT'S THE GIVE AWAY BIN.  THE RECYCLE BAG IS HANGING AND BELOW IT IS HER TRASH CAN, WHICH WE PUT A BAG IN EVENTUALLY, BECAUSE THAT LITTLE CAN DOESN'T LOOK NEARLY BIG ENOUGH.  :o)  THE OTHER FOUR SHE USED TO SEPARATE THINGS INTO CATEGORIES.  ONE FOR ACCESSORIES, ONE FOR PAPER AND ART STUFF, ONE FOR CRAFTS, HER KNITTING AND OTHER THINGS SHE USES AND ANOTHER THAT SHE WASN'T SURE WHAT TO DO WITH.

SHE'S MAKING PROGRESS.  SHE ACTUALLY DID IT ALL HERSELF BECAUSE I WAS BUSY WITH LAUNDRY AND OTHER KIDS.

BELOW IS THE PROGRESS THAT WAS MADE.  WHEN DAD GET'S HOME WE CAN GET HIM TO TAKE IT OUT TO THE GARAGE.  NOW WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THAT STUFF IN THE BIN?

NEXT UP?  THE OTHER BAKER'S RACK.  ONCE THAT GET'S CLEARED UP ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE CLOSET WE CAN MOVE HER DRESSER IN THERE AND THEN MOVE HER BED TO WHERE SHE WANTS IT.  HOPING THAT'S ENOUGH TO KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM.  SHE CAN SEE ALL HER ROOM CAN BE.

JUST A LITTLE RECAP OF WHAT IT WAS TO WHAT IT IS NOW.

AND HOW DOES A TEENAGER RELIEVE THE STRESS OF HAVING TO CLEAN HER INCREDIBLY MESSY ROOM?  SHE DECORATES HERSELF IN ITEMS SHE FOUND IN THE NETHERLANDS OF HER SHELVES AND TAKES A BREAK.  :o)