One month organization challenge - Page 6

[Siouxsie]

This may become a summer challenge for me instead.......(or a 18 year challenge until my kids go to college ) I actually got the pictures put away. That has been bugging me for so long it feels great to have that done.
This week I have to tackle my craft and art stuff and force myself to downsize. I got some awesome cube storage shelves from freecycle I'm going to use for toys in the play room.
The biggest challenge has been my room. It's not that big but we have myself, my husband, a 15 month old and a 6 month old all sleeping in there (plus a puggle and at least 1 of 3 cats ) and everyone's stuff ends up all over. I really want to fix that because it's not relaxing at all to have clutter everywhere. It's always the last room I get to because well, no one sees it. I just need a whole day to go through and get rid of stuff and organize what I need.

[nyssaneala]

Looking at these lists I just realized I have made some progress last month!

Originally Posted by nyssaneala 

My priorities:

- Downstairs desk - Not finished, but made a lot of progress

- Home Office - work in progress

- DD's books

- DD's closet

- my car

Originally Posted by nyssaneala 

I came across a great little article in my mom's All You magazine that is aligned with where I'm at now organizing wise, so I've changed my plan for the month. I did organize DD's books before we left for the beach, and I will *hopefully* clean my car when we return home on Sunday. Then I'm going to try a once-a-day small clean-up, using the list from April's All You, starting mid-July and finishing mid-August. There are a few I know I can not do in one day (shredding unneccessary papers!!), but most of them actually seem doable.

My 30-day plan to banish clutter:

1. Create a central drop zone (we've lived in our new house for a year and I still haven't done this)

2. Weed out overstuffed coat closet

3. Stop shoe pile-up (I tackled this last month, so I think I'm just going to add a spot to store slippers by the door)

4. Purge your pantry

5. Establish food zones (I need to do this every few months, does anyone else's pantry go downhill quickly?)

6. Streamline spices - waiting for my new spice cabinet to come in the mail

7. Freshen the fridge

8. Tidy under the sink

9. Unify utensils

10. De-junk a drawer

11. Gather manualas and warranties into a single binder (this is already done, but I have a few that need to be added to it)

12. Create a command center (in one day, yeah right! But I'll at least start it and find a home to stash it!)

13. Get shredding (for me, this means working on scanning and paperless goal)

14. Put a label on it - files (since we are going paperless, this will be my day off from banishing clutter)

15. Tackle the magazine pile

16. Give electronic odds and ends a home

17. Wrangle your wires (we're good on this front...another day off!)

18. Rank your products - organize cleaning supplies.

19. Sort out linens (not needed - day off!)

20. Attack the bedroom closet (this will be DD's closet)

21. Prioritize footwear

22. Address dresser top (our dresser is fine, so I will target downstairs desk instead...our biggest problem spot)

23. Untangle jewelry

24. Organize kid's books (Done! But will probably have to address this by the time the 24th day rolls around!)

25. Corral stuffed animals (Will do a general tidy up of playroom)

26. Clean out medicine cabinet

27. Organize toiletries

28. Clear out the garage (we're okay on this front)

29. Go vertical - hang gear on wall (we do this to an extent, could probably do a little more)

30. Relax and enjoy clutter free home!

[sunnysandiegan]

I finally got to clearing the office floor last night!!!! My DD has a friend with us all day today, so I decided to clear the office floor FAST with my DH's help. I would take so much longer to analyze each and every item, so I asked him to please sit on the floor and just hand me like items (I had already organized the mess into piles of like items). It went pretty darn quick, but the end result is not exactly what I wanted...the closet is not any less full than before, but the lower shelves are all organized and the top shelf is crammed full of like items. LOL I'll have to revisit this project another time, but at least the office is clear and easy to walk in and around, etc. Even my desk got cleared off!

I did throw away a bag full of actual trash, and recycle another bag full of plastics/cardboard, and gave away a bag full of items I no longer want/need.

[Ragana]

Finally got some organization done - whoo hoo! I agree that this is an ongoing challenge!

Over the past week, I had my kids clean out their "landing pads" - areas by the back door where we put school bags. We also sorted and organized shoes. We have about a bag to give away. Then this weekend DH and I cleaned out the girls' art/homework shelf, plus our bedroom closet. More bags of stuff gone. Our bedroom and bathroom is about at the minimalist level I like. I need to clean a couple of things off of my nightstand, but then I'm happy. Then probably on to the dreaded hallway shelf...

How are the rest of you doing? Back to school yet?
 

[sunnysandiegan]

We have been cleaning our house every weekend for a couple months now and it is in so much better shape!!! We have a charity pick-up on Thursday and have a big pile-up right inside the living room since the foyer is too small. Our kitchen table has too many herbs and concoctions, too. Otherwise, though, our house is clean and liveable (not showroom clean! LOL).

Due to the extreme heat lately, our front yard plants in pots are dead :( and the backyard resembles an overgrown jungle. I'll work on those when it cools down. ;)

[PoetryMom]

I hope this challenge is still going on. I NEED  to do this!!

I have started today. Decluttered kitchen island

Before:

After:

I will list my goals later. Have to go pick up kids.

[nyssaneala]

Well, I think my 30 day challenge is more like 30 months. 

We are making progress on our home office. I just posted pics in another thread, but we painted the closet, installed shelving, and I am slowly weeding through the out of control papers and organizing craft supplies. Our ultimate goal is to move most of DD's educational workbooks, games, etc on to the shelving above our built-in desk in the great room downstairs. To do this, I first have to sort through the massive piles of stuff on said desk, and move it upstairs into the newly renovated closet (or scan it into our paperless filing system). Ahhh...I really, really hate paper clutter!

We have managed to keep our main desk clear of clutter for the past month, and I just re-established my daughter's art/craft table. I keep it fairly bare bones, but change out the activities almost daily. She loves coming home from school to see what new 'work' (we're a Montessori family) awaits her! (btw, I'm incredibly proud of the leaf lacing work I made out of foam sheets. I'm not the craftiest of people, and this turned out to be an incredibly easy mini-project!)

[PoetryMom]

We're Montessori too. Good job with the leaf lacing work. Love that!!