Saturday, September 12, 2009

Week Six Done--Operation Organization


I'm still hanging in there with Melinda's Organizational Challenge. This week I tackled our coat closet. (When I say this week, I mean yesterday morning ). And now I'm finally posting after a very full day.

Here is the closet before:


And now:

It may not look different, but I feel much better. :)

I've started to notice a pattern with my little organization projects. The most unorganized spots simply have too much stuff in them!! So far, each of my projects has involved a lot of tossing, as well as a lot of "reassigning homes" for things. Once I sort things out...I realize that half the mess doesn't even belong there! I think Flylady says "you can't organize clutter". Oh, so true bloggies. I need to stop trying to fit too much in one spot! I need to be realistic with how much stuff can fit in a space and make choices if I have too much--it's our only hope of keeping it semi-funcitonal.

In our coat closet, I got rid of a few coats that were too small or out of style, and moved a bunch more that are only used occasionally to our guest room closet. We had way too many crammed in there. The drawers you see on the bottom left are for hats and gloves. The bottom drawer for bubba, the middle for pickle, an the top for hubby and I. The thing is, if the drawer is stuffed full...it can't be organized. Searching for things in the mess just creates more mess.

So...a bubba hat and pair of gloves were moved to his soccer bag for cold games, a few pairs of gloves to the car glove compartment (ooohhh, that is why it's called that) for those days we didn't bring any. Several extras to GoodWill. And hubby and I no longer share a drawer...it was too crammed...so he now has his very own bin on the top shelf just like a big boy. :) I also took all of the scarves out of the drawers and hung them on a hook we had on the door. I bought two more hooks to use there too, so we can spread them out. Just haven't had a chance to stick em on yet. And lastly, made sure everything was hung with full-size sturdy hangers. We had winter coats on wire dry-cleaning hangers and plastic store hangers in there...bent, broken, the whole deal.

So that's it. It took 45 minutes. WHY did I wait months to do this?

Okay bloggies, I must really trust you not to judge...cause my next before picture isn't pretty. It is my nightstand. Seriously....I know.

Can't blame the kids or hubby for the mess that has exploded there over recent weeks. It comes from my love for being in my bed and having lots of things near me, and that I mean to read tons of books, and that I store travel toiletries stuff under my bed...and they never made it back there after our summer trips. And that apparently, I'm a slob. SO, this week it is getting fixed. I think I'll need to make some choices again...there is no way all of that stuff can fit there neatly. So, here's to organizing--more than straightening--and a neat functional nightstand to come!

If you want to see other week six organizational victories...hope over to Melinda's post here. Happy Weekend!

6 comments:

Melinda said...

Oh Dawn,
You will find no judgment here, girl! This coming from the woman with 13 hairspray lids in her bathroom drawer! Yes, I'm a bit of a hairspray junkie. I have very fine hair and it's the only thing that gives my hair any measure of vavavoom! ;0) I don't have thick, wonderfully curly hair like you! Shoot!

I agree ... you can't organize clutter. The more I get rid of the easier it seems to be to keep the house clean. I have a long way to go.

And, BTW, my side of the bed looks very similar to yours for the same reasons you cited. I'm tackling it and the rest of my MB over the next two weeks.

Keep up the great work, Dawn!

Madonna said...

Oh the nightstand. What I have done to minimize the mess on my side of the bed, is just moved the nightstand to my husband side of the bed. (We only have one!) Then I never see the mess. When I need something, I simply ask him to pass it to me. Aren't I terrible!

secondofwett said...

Oh my....hubby and i have been tossing things from our basement...we have to make room for removing our present oil furnace and oil tank and make room for new gas furnace...which is really suppose to take less room..so why do we have to make room...to get the cotton pickin' thing OUT! We have sooooo much clutter , it's obscene! That's what 36 years of storing will do for ya!

Rosario said...

Thank you for the encouragement. Believe me, we all have our disaster zones. My kids rooms are usually the worst. But over the weekend, we worked together and managed to get them in order. We just have to keep reminding ourselves to put things away, and do it now instead of later. 5 minutes in each problem area daily makes a big difference.

Diane said...

Yes I find too that I have too much stuff or clutter in the areas that drive me crazy!!!!!! I have been trying to cut down too.
Your nightstand gives me an idea that is what I will do for the next challenge. I can hardly wait to see the after pics.

Amber said...

Absolutely no judging here! It seems to me like we always put ourselves last and it's so easy to just toss stuff into the corner to "deal with later." I'm loving the opportunity to get rid of some of our excess and clutter and find that it really is easier to keep clean and organized. Keep up the good work!

Related Posts with Thumbnails