Update 31 Day Organizational Challenge: Failure!

Well, perhaps "Failure" is too strong a word. But, basically, I did not come close to meeting the goal of getting the spare room emptied out and reorganized.  

The excuses are many:

• My son was not around enough
• My husband was home for two weeks
• My arthritis was paining me bad
• We got a new bird that needed attention

But, the truth is, I just did not go in that room and do more work on my own.

Spare Room Before

Spare Room After

However, I did:

• Work on the pantry (Kitchen)
• Clear everything from behind and under the computer desk (living room)
• Cleared the bottom shelf for the computer desk (living room)
• Organized pill cupboard (Kitchen)
• Cleared boxes so that the bird cage could be moved (Living/Dining Room)

Bird Cage Area Before

Bird Cage Area After

There is so much to still be done and I hope you will remain with me on my journey. I am not giving up on the spare room, nor any other room in this apartment. I will continue, even if the official challenge is over.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Questions Laura (OrgJunkie.com) asked us to answer:

1. What space did you decide to organize and why?

I decided to clear out and organize our "Spare Room" because it has been used as a storage space and junk room for too long. I want to eventually turn it into a spare/guest bedroom that our son can use when he is here and to finally have overnight guests when he is not.  Also, we have a storage locker we are paying for and I want to empty it and bring the rest of the stuff here to be sorted, put away, given away, thrown away. This would be a perfect staging area to do that (before it becomes the guest bedroom). We have a lot of stuff that needs to be culled, currently in the room, and in the storage locker (as well as the rest of the apartment, but none is as horrific as this room).

2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 31 day timeline?

I had planned on 15 to 30 minutes per day. However, this did not happen.

3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?

The hardest part of this challenge was having to wait on our son in order to get this room cleared. He insisted on being part of the process as much of the "junk" is his and he wanted to be the one to decide what is thrown out, given away, or put away.  He is not physically here most of the time so we were not able to get into the room as often as I had hoped. I did not overcome it. 

4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

Much of what we did remove was thrown out, down the garbage chute of our building. Some was put in a "give away" bag to be taken to a local charity. The "to keep" items were put in a "to keep" box that will then be put away when we have more room cleared out.

5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?

One of my proudest moments was when our son went and did work in the room without being asked or prodded by me. Also, when we saw the floor.

6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?

We really did not get that far with this challenge. Basically: - we used a timer to keep us focused  - had a throw away, give away, and put away box/bag for things as we went through them - we immediately discarded the trash bags as they filled to keep us from going through them again - we put the give away bags by the front door as they filled and took them out to the vehicle when we next went out, and dropped them off with the charity as we were doing our errands (so they would be gone).

7. What is ONE piece of organizing advice you've learned on this journey that you could encourage someone else with?

Do things that you do not have to count on someone else to accomplish. This way you get more  done, and start seeing results sooner. Once you have done that, then, if you need to work with someone, you will feel better about the whole venture. Set a timer to keep focused. Don't kick yourself if you did not accomplish everything at once. Do a little at a time. It will get done. 

DO NOT GIVE UP! 

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

Update #3 of 31 Day Challenge

New Bird

Well, dear readers, I am cheating today. The photo, below, is not in the spare bedroom but rather one wall in the dining/living area.

Before

It has been a crazy week. Our son was quite ill this week so we did not get a chance to get into the spare room. Also, we adopted a new bird. We needed to move her cage from the far end (and in the way of the doorway/walkway) to where all these boxes are (front of photo).  AND, to add to my joy (sarcasm) the monitor on my computer kept shutting down and would not come back on.

It kept "going to sleep" but would not "wake up". I spent several hours trying everything I could think of to get it up and running again, including pulling the computer desk away from the wall and unplugging each plug, cleaning it, and re-plugging them back in. While at it I added labels to all the plugs so now we will know which plug goes to which device.

Eventually, the combination of everything I did, plus some crazy computer magic, my monitor came on and I was able to finally come back on to work (and to do this update). 

After

We moved the new bird's cage to where the boxes were. Now she is closer to the family action and her cage is not in the way of walking. Her cage is the one with the cover on it. She used to be covered at night where she used to live. However, we do not cover our birds at night and are going to see how she does without being covered.

Despite not working on the spare bedroom, I feel good. The area that did get done was on my list of areas to clear out. This area is now almost done (we still have 3 boxes... not including the ones in the hall...to go through).

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

The purpose of the 31 Day Organizational Challenge is to get areas organized, in particular ones that we have been procrastinating about. So, I believe this counts in the spirit of the challenge.

Spare Room Update #2 for 31 Day Challenge

It certainly is going slowly. I am not sure this room will be completed in the allotted time frame. However, I am not going to give up. To paraphrase FlyLady: "Progress not Perfection - 15 Minutes at a Time!"

We did manage to get in the room a couple more times. Although there is still much to do, it is getting better. We are making progress. The thought of reclaiming this room warms my heart.

Original Before Photo

After a few more sessions in the spare room

Next, we will start tackling some of the boxes. We will be so pleased when this room is cleared and usable. It will be great for my son to have a room he can call his own when he is here, and it will be a great guest room when he is not.

Thank you for all your support.

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

Spare Room First Update for 31 Day Challenge

I wish I could say more was accomplished, however, sadly, we only got a very small amount accomplished this week. The challenge was that my son insists on going through everything himself, which means I cannot go into the room and just start throwing things out willy-nilly.  We only managed one 15 minute session and it looks like we barely touched the room.

To be fair, we did throw out two grocery bags of garbage, started another bag for papers he needs to keep and sort through later (no time to do it right now), one bag of "give away", one laundry hamper full (for me to wash next laundry day), and one box of things to keep but we either don't have a spot for them yet or we cannot get to the spot they need to go. 

This would go a lot faster if he would not get upset if I went in "his" room and just ruthlessly throw things out.

BEFORE
(Sorry about the quality,
I am using my iPhone)

AFTER

Now that he knows that he can do 15 minutes without too much pain, I think it will be easier to get him in there when he is home.

One of the big issues here is that this was supposed to be our son's bedroom, but when we first moved in, 3 years ago, we "temporarily" put boxes in here for storage, that we were supposed go through. As it turned out, we did not get to them fast enough. Our son has this nasty habit of dumping boxes on the floor when looking for things, and not picking up afterwards. He also loves to just dump things in this room for "storage".  Whenever he has no idea where to put something, in this room it gets thrown...literally!

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

The rest of our home is not in the same condition as this room. This room gives us all anxiety attacks as we look in.  It will be a miracle if it can get cleaned out and organized by the end of the month. Thankfully, I believe in miracles.

After another 15 minutes Our Son is now
enthused about getting this done!

FlyLady's Shiny Sink Video

www.FlyLady.net FlyLady has been helping people get rid of clutter and CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome), and regaining control of their home and life - 15 minutes at at time!

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

31 Day Organizational Challenge

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I need to get the spare room / storage room organized.

Over the years my son has gone in there and dumped things on the ground while looking for things, and not pick them up and rebox them.

Every time I look in this room I get anxiety attacks.

These are the "before" pictures.

We found some fungus growing where the air conditioner used to be. I have sprayed it and killed the organisms but I need to go scrub that area to get rid of the dark marks.

From these photos you would think we belong on one of those hoarder television shows. Please trust me that we are one of "those people". Not that you can tell from these photos, but the rest of the place is not so bad. Well, there are boxes in practically every room, but they are tidy and not dumped everywhere. We are trying to de-clutter a 4 story house worth of stuff to fit into a two bedroom apartment. It is slow going, but it is getting there.

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

I want this room to be straightened up so that we can add a bed and bedroom furniture in it.  My son has been recruited to help clean this mess up as he is the one who created most of it. This will eventually be our son's room for when he is visiting or for when he moves back in.