neverhomemaker: accomplishments

My friend Taylor said something that really resonated with me last week. It was something to the effect of "organization doesn't need to be pretty" -- and she's absolutely right. I think I've been caught up in the past when I'd be trying to clean. Maybe all the stuff was put away, but the room I was left with wasn't exactly Pinterest-worthy. Despite the accomplishment of organizing, I was left with a sense of failure. And feeling negative about the experience didn't exactly help with motivation to keep it clean.

So, today I'm airing my dirty laundry, so to speak. Because there's actually no dirty laundry on my floors upstairs. After my marathon cleaning sessions this weekend, my ENTIRE upstairs is organized and tidy. Better yet, MOST closets and drawers are organized as well. The exception is that 4th bedroom closet. We don't have much basement storage, we have no attic storage, and the garage is tight this time of year. This is our only space to keep extras. I'm hoping that will change sometime soon.

So, my rooms aren't all painted or decorated, but I'm proud of this progress.

Eloise even has her own tiny capsule wardrobe!

I think this is the first time in years I would have photographed every room in the upstairs at the same time. They have never all been clean at once. Now, I want to organize that 4th bedroom closet better than it is now and relocate the last of the boxes in that room. But this is HUGE progress. And, no. I don't think these rooms look great. Maybe Ada's. Poor Eloise deserves a painted room already. She's 19 months old!

One thing at a time. More soon!

Minimalist Kid's Room Tour
Eliminating the Maybe
7 Clutter Categories
Cleaning Week Snapshots
Wannabe Minimalists

After writing up my What's in My Makeup Bag post, I realized my microblogs have gotten a bit lengthy. I want to stick with writing, so this week I need to change things up a bit. Today I'm going to write up a short and sweet list of accomplishments I made toward my organization/cleaning/minimalism goals. There's more to just cleaning -- it's changing the whole cycle of buying and identifying needs vs. wants. But that's a post for another day.

To recap: Here's my action plan for getting rid of our clutter.

TOYS

Cleared out most toys from our first floor living room
Purged half the toys from the basement playroom
Leaned out more toys from the bedrooms
In total: Have donated or packed away a total of 2.5 large bins of toys

CLOTHING

Collected two garbage bags of clothing to donate
Identified some items to sell on my Poshmark store
Separated out spring from winter clothing to have less stuff out
Packed away one large bin of clothing as a result -- less laundry!
Made a capsule wardrobe for myself of 25 items for winter
I didn't yet have Stephen go through his clothing -- doesn't have as much as I thought

KITCHEN

Went through all drawers and cupboards
Got rid of one large box of items, including glass jars with no lids, broken stirring spoons, etc.
Relocated a bunch of stuff that had no business being in the kitchen (toys, personal care items, etc.)
Still have more to do . . .

HOARDERS ROOM (a.k.a. 4th bedroom)

I could barely open the door to this room. No joke!
Found THREE bags of paper and other trash (broken things, not pizza boxes) in this room
Found a bin of maybe items that we'll hold onto for a month or so before donating
Have almost cleared the whole room out, except the closet -- which is amazing!

BATHROOM CLOSET

Go rid of near-empty bottles of product by combining with newer bottles
Organized our bulk items (soaps, shampoos, etc.) into bins for easy grabbing
Got rid of a bag of trash in this area
Found tons of used water glasses and dishes in the closet for some reason

All and all, these activities didn't take a single hour as I had hoped they would. It was more like on-and-off for two days. I'd say maybe five to six hours total. Yikes. But it was necessary. AND I'M STILL NOT DONE! I am hoping to give you some visuals in the coming days. I'll probably devote this entire week of blogging to organizing and minimalist stuff.

Stay tuned . . . and check out more of this month's micro-posts.