As if she doesn't have enough to do with her famous Menu Plan Monday, Laura the Organizing Junkie has started up a 30-Day Organizing Challenge!
I'm up for it. Anything that can help me improve my basement/pantry/laundry room/graveyard for assorted, miscellaneous "stuff" will be a great blessing! If nothing else, putting this out in public will shame me into doing something about it.
Here's the mess at hand:
As for the plan of attack: I'd love to do what they do on "Clean Sweep" where they empty the whole room into the backyard and sort the stuff, but that's not practical--and I don't have my own personal bunch of burly movers and camera crew! So I think my plan will be to "sweep" around the room twice. The first time will be the Get Rid of What We Really Don't Need sweep. The second time will be the Find A Home For Everything We Kept sweep.
I am going to allow myself a budget of $50 for any containers I might need--but there's a good deal of storage space in this room that I am not using well. I hope I won't need to purchase too much of anything.
(And tomorrow's Recycle Day, so I'm going to get all those cardboard boxes out of the way right away.)
UPDATE: (April 4) I have 8 boxes ready to go to the recycle pile outside. I have 4 boxes of outgrown stuff piled up to donate, and I will be calling to have those things picked up, later today. I am starting an area for "Things to Freecycle." I'd have stayed down there longer, but I swept around the furnace and hot water heater to evict the Dust Bunny Colonies, and kicked up so much dust that my asthma started acting up.
I have also figured out a better place to keep all the soda, and a place to store the wrapping paper. Those things will be taken care of soon.
CLICK ON THE LABEL "30 Day Organizing Challenge" and you'll see all the posts on this subject!
Hi Beth
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of your blog as the front of your fridge - I "get it" immediately!
Welcome to the challenge!
Marcia
Well Barb,
ReplyDeleteIf you don't win the challenge, I think you should get an award for bravery!
Good luck, you obviously want to achieve something here, and you will!
See you soon, Clare
Thanks for the compliment and encouragement you left on my blog, Barb! Looks like you tackled a huge project, too! Not that there's anything less important about organizing a closet, but you and I sure have our work cut out for us! I'll check back and see how you're doing. (SFO as in San Francisco? I'm originally from Santa Rosa.)
ReplyDeleteNever mind, I just figured out what SFO stood for!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun project! Be ruthless on your fist go around the room!
ReplyDeleteI'm really hoping that the "shame" factor of the before photos keeps me going, too! Looks like you've picked a big space, but one with lots of good bones. Good luck! Hope you'll keep us updated on your progress!
ReplyDeleteThe space looks great. I can't wait to see what you do with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog.
Wow, looks like a great "challenge" area. Now that the boxes are gone you can probably see the light at the end of the tunnel. I love the pantry area and am totally jealous of that. I'll be back for updates!
ReplyDeleteWow! I need to do better at having a food supply! I love going around and looking at all of these projects! I can't wait to see what you do with this! It has great potential! Good Luck! And as you told me YOU CAN DO IT!!!
ReplyDeleteoh boy there are some big duzies out there.. this is definately one of them.. Good luck and happy cleaning!
ReplyDeleteGood for you!! I just read your update and am impressed with your progress. Keep it up! Thanks for stopping by!!
ReplyDeleteNow that is what I call a pantry! Mine is similar but only with one set of shelves. You sound like you have already made amazing progress...I love that! Keep plugging along, you are doing great :)
ReplyDeleteLaura