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Saturday, January 8, 2011

52 Weeks of Organizing






Before I even begin, I am going to
apologise for the atrocious
pictures.

I actually took them with the computer
because I wanted to get the post
up ASAP.

The plan is to go back with the good
camera (and in the daylight)
to take better pictures and just
edit the post later.

Good luck with that.

One of my new favorite blogs,
is having a challenge of sorts.

52 Weeks of Organizing

SHE actually enjoys organizing.
I'm not completely sold on the process,
BUT
I do like the results.

SO

I'm gonna try it. 
What's the worst that can happen?
I do nothing...just like
the nothing I've been doing the past
10 years? 
LOL.

I was supposed to come up with a list.
52 projects.

I couldn't come up with 52.
Just coming up with 4
made me slightly twitchy.

Will I be able to do this in one week?
What if something "comes up"?
It would really ruin me if I started on
project 1 and didn't get it done in time
for project 2...
The perfectionist in me would scrap
the whole ordeal.

BUT

I have 4.
And here they are.

1. Organize the landing on the way down to the basement.  Previous owners installed shelves here that are SO NICE (well, not nice looking, but a nice thing to have on the landing of the stairs) I just can't seem to decide what exactly to use them for.  Because I can't seem to decide what to use them for...everything that is SUPPOSED to go to the basement but we are too lazy to take all the way down there makes a pit-stop here.  And then never leaves.  I think I would like to use these shelves as extra pantry/kitchen storage.  Extra boxes and cans that we pick up when Price Chopper has a sale. Extra kitchen machines and pans that maybe I don't use often enough to constitute them taking up precious cupboard space, but I don't use them so little that they require long-term storage or a trip to the Salvation Army.  Here is how it looks now:

I was trying to show you how the disaster has moved from the shelves and spilled across the actual floor of the landing...making it a real hassle to even get in the basement at all...in fact, the other day I smacked the edge of my kneecap on that stupid crock-pot there and it brought tears to my eyes.  How awful it would be if we had to have a furnace person or plumber come fix something down there!

2.  This picture is even worse than the basement picture because it's so dark, but hopefully you can see it.
     The second project is going to be my front porch.  I think I secretly have not accepted that the previous owners decided to enclose this space.  Yes, it is nice in the winter...it gets all nice and warm from the son and probably really helps keep the front of the house warm.  But the rest of the year I really wish it were an "outside" porch like it was originally meant to be.  Because of this, I believe I subconsciously ignore it.  We use it for, well, anything we don't need that we can't fit in the basement... So the kid's bicycles are out there, their scooters and skateboards, some chairs we can't fit in the house...my favorite: the exercise bike.  Everyone has one of those to hang clothes on right? I do have a little decorative ladder out there that I used to do up all nice, but since our recent home-improvement project, that has been inaccessible.  The picture only shows a tiny sliver of the clutter.  Maybe when the light is better I can get a "whole porch" picture so you can really share in my utter embarrassment.  I guess this is another place I need to make a decision about how I want to use the space...and commit to it. Oh, and accept the fact that the porch is enclosed and not a southern-style veranda!


First and foremost, this is the first thing people see when they come to my house!  This is unacceptable.

3.  The third project is in my DD's room.  Her room is the nursery.  It is TEENY TINY.  We are biding her time in there until my oldest leaves in 5ish years...then she can inhabit his room for the rest of her time here.  But until then, she gets her very limited space.  I want to concentrate on her "toy box".  Somewhere along the line, someone figured out that it was safer to have these collapsible storage units for children.  I do see the genius in it, since my second son was good for taking hard-sided objects, stacking them up, and climbing them to get toys near the ceiling of his room.  However, they stink. Or maybe we stuff too many toys in there?  Whatever the reason, I aim to organize her toys.  I need to find a way to organize them that makes it WAY EASY for her to put them away, but that looks nice when they are put away.  I'm thinking a cubby unit from Target...but we'll worry about this when it comes time to start the project.  Here is the "before" picture:


Quite fuzzy, I know.  Sorry.  This space is actually behind her door.  So whatever goes in there will need to allow the door to open enough to safely get into and out of the room...

4.  And the final project that I have planned so far is my DS #2's room.  Now at this particular time, his toys are ALL OVER...and that will probably make the list also.  But before I get to that, I would like to organize his DRESSER.  To be honest, I would like to just chuck the dresser and buy him a new one...but I'm having a buy nothing year...so unless Salvation Army comes up with a promising one...we'll have to see what we can do with this one.  Let me just say:  those units they sell with the nursery furniture...the ones that "grow with your child"?  Don't buy them!  Unless your child is normal.  My child (he's the climber) broke his years ago climbing into the drawer to get on top of the dresser to....I don't even know what.  Maybe we can just put a new slider in it.  Regardless, we need to weed out clothes that are too small and figure out a  way to organize what is left in a way that he can start to put his own clothes away...and if it is possible, in a way that when he picks his clothes out for the day he doesn't un-fold everything in the drawer EVERY DAY.  Is this a pipe dream? Maybe we can use cubbies from Target for this too?  Those would fit right into his closet and give him TONS of room! Oh right. Buy nothing...unless it's necessary!!  lol.

See what I mean?  The bottom drawer is open because it's too hard for him to close himself...The rest of it is probably my fault...a started project gone wrong.  Now, if I do get the top of this cleared off, I need to think of SOMETHING to put on it to hopefully dissuade him from climbing up there...any ideas?

Well, that's all I've got.  Do you see now why I'm concerned that these projects will take more than a week?  I left extra room on my handy-dandy list just in case.  Just writing them down and seeing the embarrassing pictures has given me several other projects to tackle.  I cannot wait for the AFTER pictures!


There you have it.
A month's worth of projects for 2011.
The plan is to try to spend an hour
a day on them and no more.
We'll see.

Fly on over to
to start your own
52 weeks of projects!

Just Amy

3 comments:

  1. Good luck! I'm in on the 52 weeks of organizing too - not going to be easy but should be fun trying to get things done as a team :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just joined this challenge myself. I am so glad I'm not the only one with problems. Our house is so cramped. I hate it. Anyway, I look forward to seeing the final product!

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  3. Thanks for checking me out ladies! It's always more fun with friends. I was really torn about whether or not to post the before pics. It's SO EMBARRASSING! But, without the before, how can you really appreciate the after? lol. I was sick yesterday, but today got the floor cleared on the landing and VACUUMED! Looks tons better already! I'll be checking you guys out tonight!

    ReplyDelete