30 Day Organizational Challenge - I finished!

Wow! I actually did it! When I started this project, I was a little apprehensive. My family room was a MESS! My husband wasn’t (and still isn’t) working a regular 8-5 job, so I had no routine. And if you all know me, you know I thrive on routines! Money has also been tight, so I knew I’d have to go easy on buying organizational supplies.

Frazzled and frustrated, I pressed on though. I will admit I procrastinated, but it’s 10:00 on Thursday night, and I finished! Now for the wrap up. I need to answer 5 questions, and then I’ll post my before and after pictures at the end, because we all know that’s the best part!

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it? The hardest part of the challenge for me was just getting started with the actual work. I love to organize things in my mind, and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. Putting the plan into motion was a big stumbling block for me. I think I actually started pulling things out of the room and organizing last week. (Though I did clean the room before that….Don’t worry….my house didn’t look like the before pics all month!). Once I got started, it was really easy though.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order? I took out a lot of stuff. That helped a lot. I moved a trunk out of the room and rearranged the furniture. I added a bookcase and got the photo albums out of the cabinet under the TV, making it easier to organize the DVDs and videos. Rearranging the furniture also made room for the Christmas tree, which is a first for us. Usually it’s crammed right next to the door.

I’m also employing a in-to-empty a la Getting Things Done strategy for the mail that comes into our home. I have stackable inboxes on the desk. The top three are my husband’s (so ignore the stack of paper in the top bin….the best I can do is encourage him to go through it). And the bottom three are mine. I’m still working my way through the pile, but I should be able to tackle the rest tomorrow.

While the Christmas Tree is up, we still don’t have a landing spot for the kids’ backpacks and coats. After the tree gets taken down, I’ll put hooks up to hold the backpacks. For now, they’re being taken directly to the kids’ rooms.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space? A lot of it is in the trunk, ready to go to Goodwill tomorrow. The trunk is in the hall where the bookshelf used to be. The books that used to be on the bookshelf are stacked in my bedroom, waiting for me to list on half.com or try to sell to a local used bookstore. What I can’t get rid of by the end of the week will be donated.

4. Now that you have completed the challenge, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life? Most definitely. I think a big part of that is the fact that I organized the kids’ DVDs and videos in a way where they can actually see each title. They can find the one they want to watch without taking all of the videos out of the cabinets, and they can PUT THEM BACK! They’ve also been very interested in looking at the photo albums lately, and now they’re easier for the kids to take out and put back.

Finally, the desk has always been a huge problem area for me. I took some of the electronic stuff (like the digital camera and accessories) off the desk and put them in the under TV cabinet to free up space on the desk. I also bought a little container to hold a few pens and a scissors, so they’re easy to get to. Extra pens, pencils, scissors, etc are in pencil boxes, so they’re stored neatly.

If I can continue to process my paper clutter as it comes in and not let it pile up, I think I will be in great shape. I can tell you that sitting in a nice, organized family room gives me a sense of rest that I have not had in a long time.

5. Why do you think you should win the challenge? Look at the pictures! My place looks great! Seriously, I should win because I overcame more than just a disorganized room. I managed to get this done spending only $50 on bins to hold CDs, DVDs, Videos, and a small container for pens. I managed to do this while my husband was home during the day and working in the middle of the night, which meant I had to be quiet while I worked, and I had to work around him at the desk. And the best times to work according to my husband’s schedule (afternoons) were also the times that my kids were home wanting my attention.

Are you ready for the pictures? I thought so. Here goes….

From the Front Door

BeforeAfter As you can see, I switched out the piano for the sofa. This is actually a better place for the sofa, because the kids don’t pull on the curtains anymore when they’re sitting on it. It’s also easier to see the TV without a glare from the window.

Moving Counter-Clockwise to the Next Corner

BeforeAfter Not a huge difference here. We did get a new, more comfortable computer chair. Thanks mom!

The Next Corner

BeforeAfter Again, the piano is where the sofa was. I also have recent pictures of both of my kids on the piano. We kept the plastic file boxes, because we can’t afford a nice cabinet right now. But that’s OK. They serve their purpose, and there will be plenty of time to buy a cabinet in the future. The important thing is that the papers are off the desk!

From the Kitchen Table

BeforeAfter I got rid of the trunk and the plastic carts. The carts went into my son’s bedroom, since all the stuff in the carts belonged to the kids. I brought out a small bookshelf from the hall to store the photo albums. I replaced the pictures on the wall with our family picture. After Christmas I think I’m going to move the piano to the wall with the bookshelf, and the bookshelf to the piano wall. Then I want to get a comfy chair to sit next to the bookshelf. And I’ll hang hooks on the wall by the door for backpacks and coats.

The Desk

Before After Do I even need to say anything? And the ONE piece of paper that’s lying out on the desk is a page I printed out for the organizational challenge. It’s getting recycled as soon as I hit post. Oh, and a reminder that the top bin is my husband’s. The second bin is empty. The third bin has a book I need to mail out soon and some movie passes that expire tomorrow. (Are there any good family movies out right now?). The fourth bin is my inbox. I have some bank statements to reconcile and phone calls to make tomorrow. Then it will be empty. The 5th bin holds my idea notebooks and the checkbooks. And the bottom bin holds some magazines with some good coupons in them. I need to clip them this week.

TV Cabinet

Before After This is perhaps the biggest improvement. Before all the videos, DVDs, and CDs were just stacked up on the shelves, making finding things impossible. The photo albums were crammed into the bottom shelf. I bought some big wire bins for the videos. I actually need one more, but Walmart was out. I’ll check again for another one next week. The big, black box on the right holds all of the CDs we held onto. We got rid of a lot, and we also got rid of all the cases, so they’d take up less space.

Electronics, such as the camera and video camera are on the bottom right. The smaller black bins (which came with the big ones) hold home movies. Another black bin holds electronics cords, which are coiled and fastened with twist ties. Right nowI have the camera accessories in a basket, but I will move them to the new black bin when I get it.

I also have the exercise equipment on the bottom left, as well as the laptop and lap desk. The lap desk won’t stand upright, which bugs me, so I’m not sure that’s it’s permanent home yet.

Finally, here is the picture of the stuff in my trunk, ready to drop off at Goodwill.

So there you have it. My new, organized space. Regardless of whether I win, I’m thrilled with the way my room turned out. Thanks for the motivation to get this done!

Be sure to visit all of the participants in the 30 Day Organizational Challenge at I’m an Organizing Junkie!