Organizing Revolution - The Home Stretch

January is nearly over and I'm ready to catch my breath! 

 

Thanks to the blogger ladies who hosted the New Year's Organizing Revolution, I've cleaned up my office area, organized some kitchen cabinets, did an overhaul on 2 closets and spruced up my living room (remember the sneak peak at my new stereo cabinet last week?).

What? You haven't seen the rest of the living room yet?  Well, then, please take a look!

BEFORE

You can see above, the state of this room before. Piles here and there, the sock basket left on the couch, parafernalia left behind after a visit from the grandkids, over-stuffed bookshelves --  Yikes! does anyone else's living room get into such a state?

I put every to work taking (almost) everything out of the room. Wish I had the magic of television to capture the scene - you know, those shows where people swapped houses for a weekend and emptied out and re-decorated a room in each others' houses? That's what it looked like in my living room this weekend. My assistants were all a-blurr moving everything out.

(mostly) EMPTY!

Once everything but the large furniture was removed, I swapped out the bookcases. There wasn't going to be much furniture rearranging, since sweet hubbie likes his favorite green chair just where it is, and he prefers the other chair and couch where they are. He has so few requests when it comes to the house, I'm happy to comply with his wishes. 

I was thinking it'll be nice to have things cleaned up and cleaned out, but everything will basically be the same. I was ok with that. What I didn't expect was how much difference moving 2 pieces would make. And how much I LOVE the emptiness. 

AFTER

So, what did I put back in the room? The most important items and our most favorite things. That's it. I am so pleased with the results!

My absolute favorite thing in this room now? My new family gallery wall:

with 3 new grandchildren this winter and a wedding next month, this wall already needs updating!

These final days of January, the hosts of this Organizing Revolution are giving Grand Prizes to the 3 finalists who get the most votes. (Voting begins January 28 and closes January 30 at 8pm central time) You can view all 12 finalists HERE and vote for your favorite. I am finalist #9 (Apron Strings & other things). 

Thank you to everyone who has followed along, cheered me on, left sweet comments and took time to view my progress. I appreciate each and every one of you!

also linking up to TeachMeTuesdays at GrowingHomeBlog.com

Organzing Revolution - The Living Room

Wow-ee! Wow-ee! Wow-ee! Yessiree, I'm wowed! 3rd place for me last week in the New Years Organizing Revolution. Incredible! I thank each and every one of you that stopped by to view my spaces and clean-out projects, each of you that took time to vote, the ladies hosting the challenge, the sponsors providing the prizes. Thank you everyone!

And so we come to a new week, a new room, a new project. On to the living room! 

Today, (and tomorrow, and maybe even the next day) we are doing a little purging, a little rearranging, a little decorating and updating in our main living area. 

Starting with the spot where we keep the stereo and cd's. The place where all good dust bunnies go to hide, or die, or multiply, or whatever it is they do. 

Stereo/Entertainment Area - BEFORE

Crazy, isn't it? How is it that all that dust and cobweb-by yuckiness collects around the electronics? And if there is a tiny space under the stand or cabinet or behind the unit it becomes a magnet for, well, you know!  

(Imagine here a photo of those cute dusty little critters. Alas, the battery on my camera went dead and so you are spared the ugly sight.)

  I came up with a solution for the taming of the dustbunnies AND keeping our stereo and supplies organized and lovely to look at. I presented the idea to my amazingly talented husband and he has custom-built for me this perfect little cubbie-cabinet. 

Stereo/Entertainment Area - AFTER

The stereo unit is now up at a more user-friendly level. I have my eye on baskets just the right size for containing the cd's and other stereo accoutrement (think IKEA-style). They'll fit nicely into those cubbie-holes, but I'll wait patiently and be content with this big improvement we've made already. Perfect! Love it! I'm so happy!

Stay tuned for the next installment of our living room make-over. It'll be an ongoing project this weekend and I'll keep you posted!

I will not be adding my link to this week's challenge since I'm still in the midst of the big re-do of our living room, but I'll still be checking out what others have done. I'll be voting and I hope you will too. Hop on over to OrgJunkie.com and see what bit of inspiration you can find for your living spaces. You may want to visit the sites of the other host-bloggers, too. They are an amazing and talented group of ladies.

Organizing Revolution - Closets

It's Week 3 of the New Year's Organzing Revolution - YaHoo!! It is feeling so good to get so many spaces cleaned out this month. Would you like to see what I've accomplished this week? Our assignment was to take on a closet. I'm sure some have glamorous and gorgeous closets and amazing storage systems. Me? I'm happy to have some closets and thrilled to get them cleaned out and in order. You may not see much of beauty here today, but you will see two labors of love. 

If you like what you see, if I've encouraged or inspired you at all, please click HERE sometime this upcoming weekend and vote for my closet spaces. My entry will be labeled 'hsmominmo'.

You can see my previous posts in this series by clicking HERE.

First Up: The Coat Closet

 

Just look at this cluttered, inefficient, totally embarrassing excuse for a coat closet in the front entryway to my home. Shameful! 

Well, now take a look at what my handy-dandy-six-year-old-helper and I did yesterday. (wish I had picture of her working hard, but she was on the other side of the camera this time around)

First, following the PROCESS, we completely emptied the space. 

We purged and sorted and returned items to where they belong and found new homes for some things and added more to our Donation Station.

What did we put back into the space? Only things we use and wear.

 On the upper shelf we stored the lightbox Dad and Caitlin sometimes use. and various binoculars/spotting scopes for bird watching, nature walks, hunting. On the lower shelf we put a bin for outdoor kidfun equipment (like bubbles and chalk and such). The drawstring bag and bin under the shelf hold wooden blocks for kiddos. This may not make sense in other families, but this is where we go to look for them, so when the grandkids come to visit, that's where they'll go to find them. So they stay. We slimmed down our collection of coats and now have room for guests to hang theirs - Nice!

Now, the dilemma - where do I put all the wrapping/shipping materials?  Not back in this closet. I'm on the lookout for just the right spot, so I'm scouring the house with my newly shined organizer glasses. We'll find a solution, just praying it's the right one so I don't have to keep moving and readjusting.

Next Up: The Broom Closet

You see before you very eyes another shameful mess. This closet is right next to the kitchen area and is the hold-all, catch-all for housekeeping and home maintenance. From time to time we clean it out and put things back in an orderly fashion, but it doesn't take long to look like the photo above. 

So, here we go again!

First we empty the space. Then we purge, sort, and containerize. 

 

 Take a look at the result. Amazing! Love it! So nice!A place for everything and everything in it's place. The brightly colored bins are from the nearby dollar store - the perfect thing to keep bottles and and such corralled. The green bin for small paper bags and a magazine holder turned on it's side is perfect for keeping old newspapers contained. If the bins start overflowing, it's time to get rid of some. On the floor a cardboard box to keep grocery totes and paper sacks from sprawling all over the place.

Now let's look at solutions we found for two problem areas. 
1. brooms, mops, dusters, etc  were either shoved in, falling over, or on random nails here and there.  This little rack took care of all these problems. Luke installed one on each side wall in a manner of minutes. Love it! 
2. measuring sticks - we use them often. Previously they were tucked, sort of, in the corner right inside the door. Amidst all the other junk falling all over the place, this was a disaster. Solution - mount a paper towel tube on the wall and slip the sticks in. LOVE it!

I believe this week's projects have been the most enjoyable and satisfying. I was dreading it, but really, it took very little time and is making a huge impact on daily life. I'm so happy! Big sigh of relief and contentment. 

Don't forget to come back and vote, starting Friday morning and ending Sunday afternoon. See you next week with more organizing!

Organizing Revolution - The Kitchen

Last week I took on the challenge of organizing up my office area. This week it's on to the kitchen!

During this first month of 2013, I've taken the New Year's Organizing Revolution challenge put out there by Laura at OrgJunkie.com and 6 other bloggers.

Last year I cleaned out and organized my junk drawer and a couple of other drawers in my kitchen and wonders of wonders they are STILL clean and organized! So let's build on this terrific foundation, I say!!!! (please excuse all the exclamation marks - a girl has to do whatever it takes to psych herself up for a job like this)

I have once again been following the PROCESS for cleaning out and organizing. It really is a most amazing help. I stay focused and on-task when I work through each step.

As I walk you through all that I've done, you'll see pictures of the amazing transformation of my kitchen cupboards. Soooo, grab a cup of your favorite cuppa and get comfy and enjoy the show!

I used items that were sitting around, like random organizers (this one became a plate rack).  Only purchase for this project was new shelf liner

I Planned out my project -- get rid of items we do not use/need, make items in cabinets more accessible, give shelves and cupboards a good cleaning, change shelf liner, etc. Do the easy jobs first, then tackle those that are driving me bonkers. The rest can wait.

My "Special Pieces" Before (left) and After (right)

Then I Removed ev.er.y.thi.ng. and sorted what was to stay and purged what needed to go. I was in such a hurry I didn't take pictures of any totally blank spaces. But trust me, each cabinet was a blank slate before moving things back in. You can see in the photo above I started cleaning out before taking my 'before' shot.

Coffee Mugs (can a girl have too many? um, ye-es!) Before (left) and After (right)

Under the Baking counter (Before, top. After, bottom)

Baking Pans - I just love the red/cream checks - makes me smile everytime I open up the doors!

Organizing like things with like was pretty easy with this project once I finished the purging. My spices were pretty much in all the same area, breakfast foods and snack crackers were all together. Hot drinks and vitamins and baking pans each had their homes all ready. Mugs were all in same cabinet, specialty pieces were together behind glass doors. 

PURGE!!! I threw out empty and expired vitamin containers, combined half-empty boxes, got rid of my absolute favorite teapot (the one with the broken-haven't-fixed-it-in-10-years handle, sniff sniff), tossed various bottles and crazy amounts of who-knows-why-I-stuffed-that-up-there items.

Next, Containerizing!!! (Love this part!) But with very little $$$ available for this project, I had to utilize containers I already had around and/or get creative. I consolidated as much as possible and assigned space for everything.

Cracker/Cereal/Snack Cabinet (Before on left, After on right)

Spice/Coffee/Tea/Etc Cabinet - top photos show Before and After as you peek in the corner door. Bottom photos show before and after The Great Spice Purge and Reorganization. I keep most spice bottles on 2 lazy suzans, alphabetized (in general) with A-L on the left one and N-Z on the right one.

Gotta love containers!  Above you see coffee and tea condiments in a plastic bin, vitamins and other 'health' products in baskets. The photo on bottom shows how I corralled peanut butter and honey jars in a plastic bin--easy cleanup for those sticky messes now! See also how I re-purposed a large cardboard package as our snack bin. I (usually) keep this stocked with granola bars, snack cracker sandwiches, small raisin packs, etc.

 Once that fun part if finished (oh, yeah, right. this it's ALL fun!), it's time for an Evaluation of the plan. Since my kitchen space has already been working pretty well for me, I do not see any major problems. Except to convince police retrain the family as we build new habits putting things back into their designated containers.

This cabinet is above my double oven - I called it 'The Abyss' because it was so high, deep cavern. A plastic coated wired shelf to utilize some of the vertical space and a wire organizer (meant to be attached to a door/wall) turned on its side to keep serving trays at-the-ready leave plenty of space for bulky pitchers.

Do I have any issues to Solve/simplify? We'll see. Anything that doesn't seem to be working will be addressed over the next couple of weeks as we work in the kitchen and prep/clean up meals.

Smile, relax and enjoy! That's easy when you look around at a job well done.

What!? Could it be!? Empty Space!? Loving It!

If you've made it all the way to this point, and if you've enjoyed your tour through my newly transformed kitchen cabinets, please consider popping over to the Organizing Revolution and voting for me (#102 - hsmominmo) beginning Friday morning (Jan 11) and ending Sunday afternoon (Jan 13). 

Organizing Revolution - The Office

 

I spent this first week of the New Year cleaning out, sprucing up and organizing our office space, thanks to Laura at OrgJunkie.com (and 6 other terrific organizing bloggers).

Are you ready?  Heeeeeeeeere's The Office!

This is what it looks like today.

This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week.

Keep reading to appreciate all the changes that took place this week.
You can learn more about how I went about getting started in the BEFORE post with an introduction and pictures. 

And then you can see how things came together DURING the whole process in the next post.

And now, let's take a look at some close-up-and-personal photos showing the Befores and Afters.

Cabinet under the Aquarium

On the top shelves, I weeded out the fish supplies, moved the printer paper to the file drawer and replaced it with a file box where I store business cards and misc. contact info.
Bottom shelves hold stationery and greeting cards on the left (purged and re-ordered) and phone books and directories (purged and contained in a magazine holder)

Cords! Cables! Connections!

I coiled the cables and used twisty-ties to keep them that way and then stored them in a magazine holder (turned on its side) - they have not totally disappeared, but oh, so much better!

The desktop - Before on the left, After on the right (just in case you couldn't see for yourself)

Just look at how nice and clear all this space is now. I threw out the trash and outdated papers, loaded the kids up with their toys and treasures and sent them off the find proper homes. I cleared out the bulletin board and gave it a new look, adding a little basket to hold notepaper for those inspirational thoughts that pop into my head at the oddest moments.
You can see my "new" Landing Pad on the wall in the bottom right photo. We had this clear acrylic file box sitting behind the printer, but now it's up and accessible and ready to receive incoming mail and hold the bills until payday.

My 3 Drawers (to the left of the computer), BEFORE

There was a mess of office supplies and a jumble of techy-type attachments in these drawers. The main problem was they were not contained, and we had made habit of tossing things in amongst everything else that was already there.

My 3 Drawers, AFTER

 So. Much. Better. Now everything has a place, and a container, and you can easily see and access whatever item you are wanting to use or needing to put away.

File Drawers (under printer)

Top file drawer houses copy paper and cardstock. There is also a tray at the back to hold my sunglasses, gloves, etc. and space for my purse.
Bottom file drawer is where we keep household files and important papers. Hubby will spend some time purging the banking folder this weekend, but I condensed the others. More work is needed here, but we are off to a good start.  The extra copy paper fits nicely at the back.

This task was undertaken with a budget of $0 and a little planning. Thanks to Laura's PROCESS, it was a breeze do-able.

One Last Look

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh! A job well done! I think I'll kick back with a Caramel Macchiato and watch a movie with the family and bask in the glow of all this relaxing, well-organized, ready to use space. And rest up for next week's challenge, The Kitchen!

If you've been encouraged or inspired, please click over to the Organizing Revolution Party and cast a vote (beginning tomorrow morning) - for me (#125 - hsmominmo) or anyone that has made an impact on you. There are tons of ideas and motivation there if you'll take a little time this weekend to browse around.

Office Update

A picture is worth a thousand words - so I'll share a couple of photos with you right off the bat so you can see my progress on Week 1 of the 2013 Organizing Revolution.

During the Make-Over process - making progress!

And Lord willing, I'll be posting After pictures tomorrow evening! 

(if you'd like to read about the beginning of this project and see the before pictures click HERE)

Now, Let me walk you through the PROCESS:

Plan of attack --  I needed to clear the clutter, especially on the flat surfaces, find homes for some odds and ends, organize some of the drawer spaces.  I need a "landing pad" for incoming and outgoing mail, I need to consolidate and revamp my household files, I need to corral all the cords and cables and get them out of sight. Budget=$0 on this project, so I'll have to be creative with some of my solutions.

Remove items -- On Tuesday I emptied out the spaces. As I cleared things out, I immediately threw away anything that obviously was destined for the trash.

After everything was cleared I chased out all the dust bunnies and pulled down all the cobwebs, Esther vaccumed out the drawers and cabinets. Whew! The almost-blank canvas is invigorating! 

Organize into piles --  As I cleared things out I quickly categorized things on the kitchen table as I moved them (papers in a pile, office supplies grouped together, techy gadgets and cable corralled in one spot, etc.) This was a preliminary sorting, didn't really thing about any of it, just placed like things with like as best I could as I set them down. 

Now that is done, I took my worksheet and tackled the area that has bothered me most longest - the computer cords/cables.  With everything out of the way I pulled out the twisty ties and paper clips and looped and draped and found a solution to get them mostly out of sight.  

I bent back a paper clip and hooked up cords then tucked the end into the baseboard to keep them up off the floor.

I'm continuing through my list one area at a time, sorting and purging items going back into the desk, so I end up with only things that are useful and necessary and important. 

Containerize --love this part!  You can see above that I took a magazine holder, laid it on its side and tucked coils of cable into it. WaHoo! I think this is my favorite most clever solution in this project! (I know, it doesn't take much to get me excited, maybe I should get out more?) You'll see more in my final post.

The cables are not totally out of sight, but oh-so-much-improved!

Evaluate --  Once I get things back together, and use the space daily, we will see what is working and not working with the set up.  I do not foresee much tweaking, since we have been using this space for a couple of years now and have a good idea what to expect.

Solve/Simplify any remaining issues --  I imagine I'll have more idea tomorrow where I've simplified and how I'll solve some storage issues.  I still need to solve the techy-cable-gadget problem in my drawer, and my filing system needs attention, as well as creating my landing pad.

Smile, relax, enjoy!  Yep, smiling already, having fun, and doing my best to relax throughout this little make-over.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow evening when I post and link up with my final organized office space.  And remember, voting begins on Friday, so you'll want to have a look over at OrgJunkie.com to see all the other amazing transformations going on.

Time to Tackle the Office

If you checked in here at the beginning of the week, you read about the Organizing Revolution challenge I am taking on to get this New Year off with a bang.

Each week in January 7 terrific bloggers are sponsoring/challenging the rest of us to get organized, each week focusing on a different area in our homes. Week 1 finds us in our office/desk area.

Almost 2 years ago my amazing husband and talented son custom-built for me a desk unit to fit into our office corner. I love it! But I have not been utilizing it and taking care of it as I should. So, I'm taking this opportunity to get things in order, put a system in place, so life runs more smoothly around here.

While this may not be the worst shape my office area has ever been in, splashing pictures of its 'Before' state is definitely a hard thing to do. But it will get me motivated, so, here you go - take a look:

The obvious areas that need attention are:

1. Piles, and piles, and more piles of papers and books and toys and hairbobs and you name it.
2. Window sill clutter, and more clutter that needs to be put away or thrown away or given away.
3. The bulletin board is overflowing with outdated pictures and invitations to events in the past and reminders for appointments that have come and gone. Time for a whole new look here, I'm thinking.
4. Cords and Cables - here and there and everywhere!
5. Purses and totes. It is oh so easy to drop things as we I come, and then get busy and never come back to put them away properly.

I'm Queen of Clutter

or Princess of Piles - ugh!

  










And there's more! Would you like to have a look-see at what's behind those doors and drawers?

 In the cabinet to the left of the computer monitor, below the aquarium:

1.  fish food & supplies and printer paper on the top shelves. Greeting cards and telephone books & directories on the bottom shelves
2. office supplies - including pens, stapler, paperclips, stamps, check refills, etc.
3. envelopes, cords, memory cards, plastic containers filled with 3 sets of state quarters (really?! good grief!)
4. recordable cd and dvds, and what's that? the old satellite modem for the service we no longer use? whatever!
5. and under the desk, on the floor, a myriad of cords and cables and techy-box-thingies.   

Add caption

 To the right of the computer monitor, under the window and printer:

1. large top drawer houses colored printer paper and cardstock, and assundry items that had no home anywhere else once we switched from the old desk to the new
2. large bottom  drawer holds household files
3. small top drawer is where we keep various cd's for computer, and kitty socks. ALRIGHT! WHO LEFT THEIR KITTY SOCKS IN MY CD DRAWER!!! 

 You now know what I'll be doing today --  rolling up my sleeves and digging in to make this space functional, organized and beautiful. I'm following Laura's PROCESS - it helped me so much last year.

In tomorrow's post  I'll share my progress, and then on Thursday I'll post the Big Reveal. Friday, the voting begins! Please stop by any of the bloggers hosting this New Year's Organizing Revolution and check out what others have posted showing their office areas. You are sure to pick up a few pointers and plenty of inspiration. Then on Friday, stop back and vote for your favorite entry. Each week the three with the most votes win fabulous prizes.

New Year, Clean Spaces

We all know one of the most popular New Year's Resolutions is to Get Organized, De-Clutter, Get This Place Cleaned Up. So it's time for me to get in gear, again.

Junk Drawer Neat and Organized

 You may remember last year how we dove into our kitchen junk drawers. You can view that amazing transformation HERE.

My Sewing Area, Orderly and Functional

Or what about when I took the 29 Day Challenge hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. You watched all the month of February as I tackled our toy cupboards and crafting/sewing area.You can see the Before and After pics HERE.

It was such a great experience relief feeling of satisfaction when we finished that challenge we started in on our School Room.  You can see more about that make-over HERE.

The greatest thing is that once these living spaces were cleaned up and organized, it hasn't been all that big a deal to get that back in shape when necessary. While you won't be seeing any of our spaces featured in those Home magazines and websites, we are pleased as punch with these spaces we live in. They suit us nicely, even more so now.

And here we are, seeing another year out and a new year in. With Christmas projects and out-of-town company and new grandchildren arriving and wedding gifts and sewing projects for that upcoming wedding and . . . well, you get the picture. We've made (and are continuing to make) some messes around here. Now is the time to get things back in shape. It won't take us long to get our previously ordered spaces re-ordered, but there are plenty of other spaces needing some drastic attention.

And so, dear Laura comes to the rescue again! She and 6 other bloggers are hosting a new challenge to get the New Year off to a good, organized start. I'm taking that challenge and will be posting each week in January for you to see my newly cleaned-up-and-decluttered-and-put-into-order spaces.

This year's challenge is huge, HUGE. And there are prizes, amazing prizes. There's no way I'll even be able to keep up with all the other amazing bloggers and pinners out there, but I'm excited to dig in and clean out and declutter and organize for my family's sake. The winners of this challenge will be determined by who gets the most votes. It's all up to the viewers and readers, which will be fun and exciting, and probably just a tad bit crazy. So, if you like what you see over the next few weeks, if you should feel led to do so, I'll be providing links to make it easy for you to pop and vote, for me or whomever you has inspired you. No matter how it all plays out, I'm determined to make good use of all this motivation and inspiration.