Organizing the Family Room: Update #1

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As I mentioned about a week ago, I’m taking part in the 30 Day Organizational Challenge at I’m an Organizing Junkie.  I’m organizing my family room, and I’m running a bit behind schedule.  I’m glad to be posting my first update, because it will help hold me accountable for following through on this challenge.  So far I’ve developed a plan of attack for my room by answering some questions that Laura suggested.  Here’s the plan:

1. What do I want the purpose of this room to be?  I want the family room to be a place where the family can hang out together and relax. A place for watching TV, playing games, reading, and having friends over to chat. It also needs to be a room where we can do some office work, like balancing the checkbook, other computer work, paying bills, etc.

2. What do I need in or near that room to serve that purpose? Comfortable places to sit. Small surfaces to hold food. Attractive wall décor. A desk with computer. Some way to keep the desk neat and organized.

3. What can I remove from that room? The piano. Possibly the fish tank. The trunk. Craft supplies. Extra CDs, DVDs, and videos.

4. What problems do I see with the room? We have too much stuff crammed into one little room right now. There’s no landing area to organize backpacks and shoes. Not enough sitting space. There’s no organizational system for the desk.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems? Something to organize the backpacks and shoes. A computer armoire would be great someday. A curtain for the TV cubbie would be nice, so the TV isn’t always staring at us. A basket for reading materials. A nicer filing system. CD storage that is closer to the CD player. Either that or I need to try to move the CD player closer to the TV.

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems? I need to deal with the mail and paper clutter in a more effective manner. We also need to develop a habit to deal with backpacks and coats as soon as we get home.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams? I’d probably need at least $1000 to create the room of my dreams. (remember the computer armoire?) I’m on a super-limited budget now, though, so we’re going to do the frugal version.

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room? I think I can have a pretty good system up and running by the end of November. It won’t be my ideal system, but it will be good enough. Sometimes you have to let perfection go and settle with “good enough to work.”

9. What is my plan of action?

• Decide what can go and immediately list on Craigslist.
• Assess the best way to arrange the furniture.
• Follow the Getting Things Done method of dealing with paperwork.
• Decide how to deal with backpacks and jackets.
• Once decisions are made, find organizing tools to work with the systems.

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?  My family, of course!

Over the weekend I plan to pull out everything I need to get rid of and list what I can on Craigslist.  I’ll take what I can’t sell to Goodwill or list it on Freecycle.  If you all could say a prayer that I’d be able to unload the piano, that would be great.  It doesn’t work very well, and we can’t afford to fix it right now.  Our house is really way too small for the piano, so I’d love for it to go to someone who wants to fix it up and will really enjoy it.

I’ll be back with another update next week.  Have a great weekend! I’ll be working hard! 

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