A look back on month #2 PROJECT: ORGANIZATION

*SIGH*

As a recap, this is what I said I wanted to do this last month (and by the way, I did take pictures of my house in it's disorganized state like I said I would but I decided for your sake and mine that I didn't post them, hehe):

Week 1: Clear ALL Flat surfaces (tables, counters, nightstands, dressers, and FLOORS) of crap, junk, and perhaps those few useful items. Find them a different home.

Week 2: Clear out closets (bedroom, pantry, storage) of unused items and make room for putting away useful things.

Week 3: Clean out and file away the smaller stashes (like mail, magazines, craft supplies, necessary family paperwork, bills, receipts, etc).

Week 4: The computer. Organize all those digital files of family pictures and videos, old school papers, and free digital scrapbooking supplies.



Well, let's start on a positive note, shall we? Here is what I did accomplish:

1. I picked up ALL the flat surfaces in my kitchen and have been doing a pretty good job of keeping it that way. The bread and random chip bags on top of the fridge found homes in cupboards and the mail that was piling up was eventually gone through and trashed or filed.
2. With the help of 2 AMAZING friends of mine - I LOVE YOU! - I was able to go through ALL of my clothes in my closet, a suitcase and 2 large bins. That was a HUUUUUGE mountain of a task. Here's what it looked like when we were finished.
3. I DID have my desk cleared off at one point.. but this seems to be a never ending struggle for me. I put things here as reminders to do them, but then that "To Do" list keeps piling up until it gets out of control. Still need to work on that.
4. I at least started cleaning out some of the smaller stashes in goal #3... but I'm no anywhere close to being finished. There's too many of them.
5. My computer --- a joke! But.. I DID manage to put in one final effort today to get somewhere on this project. And I'm happy to report I FINALLY cleaned up my downloads folder (where Firefox defaults all my free downloads to) and put everything in it's rightful place! That folder had downloads in there from like October. *Phew*

And well, that's about it. I completely underestimated the size of this project.. the energy required... the motivation needed to change my bad habits!

All month I've been reading a few organization books to help me on my journey. I didn't realize that this goal to just be more organized would actually turn into an extreme makeover - Janneke edition! One thing I've learned is that I need to make decisions when I come to them. For example... the mail. When I get the mail I just need to decide right then whether it's trash, to keep it for a week, or file it away AND THEN DO IT! Here it is again, the moral of the month:

DECIDE WHAT TO DO and then DO IT RIGHT THEN.

That's how your house gets cluttered. That's how your computer gets messy and slow. That's how your to-do list grows and GROWS and GROWS.

And that's how your headaches grow, too.

It's hard when it's not your habit. But I'm going to make it a habit. So even though I didn't manage to finish de-cluttering and pretty-izing my home, I feel like I've made a huge leap. I realize how much work it is and I'll just take my time doing it. I'll set another (smaller) goal this time and do it til it's done. And then move on. Then in the meantime I'll continue to try and recognize when I'm procrastinating my decisions and fix that so that things don't get worse than they already are. I hope my husband will still love me while our house is still a mess in some places. Now that we know we'll be here another 2 years or more, I feel a little more at ease knowing time is on my side.


Did anyone else do some organizing this past month? How'd it go?

Stay tuned for goal #3!

Jenna commented on "A look back on month #2 PROJECT: ORGANIZATION"

Mar 2, 2011

nice work - organization is a constant project - never complete. way to keep yourself accountable via blog. I am tinkering with starting another organization round - I tend to do a major overhaul every couple/few months.

Heather and Josh Wickern commented on "A look back on month #2 PROJECT: ORGANIZATION"

Mar 2, 2011

I went through my entire kitchen, linen closet, and kid's room! Got rid of the biggest box I've ever seen of random kitchen stuff I never use or have two of, as well as tons of linens and bedding sets that are missing parts (like pillow cases we left in hotels, etc), and organized the toys into age groups! We also organized the kids clothing tubs into sizes and genders and I built a shelf for our garage to put them all on! LOTS of work and it's not HALF finished, but it's amazing how awesome you feel! OH and I organized our canned food shelves and put them out in the porch storage unit. We also cleaned out our new chest freezer and then filled it with stuff not needed in our indoor freezer! Good for you for getting everything done! I know how hard it is!

Ashley from Sloanbook commented on "A look back on month #2 PROJECT: ORGANIZATION"

Mar 2, 2011

So fun haha. I love organizing/getting rid of stuff! However it is never done! I went through my clothes and filled up 2 big bags of clothes I never wear and that are old! Yay! Now to sell to Platos...eBay...and then DI ha