Before:
After:
As I was decluttering the bar, I realized I have had short timer syndrome. I have been in denial about our clutter, saying that we've outgrown our house after having two kids and that we need to move to a bigger one. That when we moved to a bigger house we would have enough room for our stuff, and we could finally be organized. As I worked on my decluttering project I realized it's not the house's fault we are so cluttered, it's our fault for having so much unneccessary stuff and for not using the space we have wisely. I also realized that since I was wanting to move, I wasn't bothering to try to organize our stuff-- I thought it would be easier just to move and start from scratch. It doesn't help that my husband and I are both messy people, but if there was less clutter there would be less stuff for us to mess up, and it would be easier to pick up after ourselves. I realized that I really do love the house we live in, and if I can conquer the clutter I will really enjoy living here for a long time.
I came up with a plan before I started my project. It was simple but very effective, and I'm going to use this method for each of my organizing projects. First I asked myself "what will the purpose of this space be?" I decided I wanted to have a place to put my purse and lunch bag, answering machine, a charging station for our phones, ipad, etc, a place to put important paperwork out of reach of the kids, and a place to prep and serve food. Then I made a list of the items I wanted to keep in the space (a wooden caddy with small wooden bins to use as a charging station) and things I needed to add to the space for it to function (a power strip and a small mail sorter).
I took everything off the bar-- a lot of it was old mail that hadn't seen the light of day in a couple of years. I threw a ton of stuff away and put a bunch of stuff in a bag to take upstairs to find a new home. I have to admit that some things ended up getting piled in another cluttered area to be dealt with later. I tried to put things as close to their permanent homes as possible if they didn't have a spot yet. I realized that just because I've been keeping my huge purse and lunch bag on the bar, it doesn't mean I can't put them somewhere else. I ended up hanging them on one of our coat hooks by the door.
Wow, I can't believe how clean the bar is now! It's so convenient to plug our stuff in there, and I don't have to worry anymore about stuff falling off the bar and into the sink. As you can see from the after picture, there is still tons of work to do in the kitchen. We don't have much counter space and we tend to just shove things there that don't belong, which gives us even less.
Writing this blog and talking about my dirty little (HUGE!) messy secret has really gotten me motivated to move on to other areas and hopefully eventually organize our whole house. Blogging about it has made me feel accountable. To make me feel even more accountable, I am posting a before photo of my next project-- the desk. We don't even put the laptop on there (we used to have a big clunky computer but got rid of it) because there's no room! We don't have room to print stuff, so I have been known to put the printer on my lap to print things. That's just ridiculous! A lot of the stuff that's piled on the desk is our daughter's art supplies-- I'm going to organize her art/craft area at the same time I do the desk, so I'm posting that before photo also. My husband also has his art supplies piled there, so I will try to figure out a smart way to organize his stuff too.
Desk:
Kid craft area:
Whew, time for a rest!
I am WAY SO proud of you!!! What a huge accomplishment even to make the decision to dig in. Before and after photos do help accountability, and help us see it IS possible! Keep up the great work!!!
ReplyDeleteYay, Rachel! I am really excited for you. It will feel SO good to accomplish this, and you will love how you feel in your nice organized space. And maybe when you're done with your project, you'll invite me over. wink wink. :)
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm one of your colleagues at ACT who's subscribed to the Parents at ACT community :)
ReplyDeleteI'm also trying to move to a less cluttered lifestyle and I SO feel your pain. It is wonderful when you get actual spaces cleared up and functional. This fall I reorganized the kids art supplies, and we've been enjoying the space immensely. As a result, I have a couple recommendations that might be helpful, but see if it makes sense for you :)
1. A lot of art supplies that were cluttering up our space were condensed into a clear, plastic shoe organizer that hangs over a door. Each pocket has a different 'type' of supply, ranging from 'glue' to 'feathers' to 'sticky notes', etc... I was amazed at how much space this cleared up. Also, because the pockets are clear, we can really easily see what is in each pocket and it isn't forgotten. Which brings me to the next point...
2. Having clear containers/holders whenever possible seems to make things much more usable in the art/toy space. I've started using gallon-size ziplock bags as a major organizational element in the art room -- I can put stickers in one, instructions and materials for friendship bracelets in another, instructions and materials for shrinky dinks in another, etc... I then place the ziplock bags upright in a low-walled bin so that it is easy to thumb through them and know what is inside each. This has again saved a lot of space (we don't have a ton of boxes all of different sizes and with a lot of wasted space stacked oddly) and it has increased the accessibility of the supplies. (Ziplock bags have become my new best organizing friend...I've started moving a number of our board game pieces and puzzles to these as well).
3. Unlike other areas I've decluttered, where it seems to be better to have less visible, the art stuff is kind of a different story. I've figured out that stuff doesn't get used if it isn't easy to see/recognize/access. This is a little different for each kind of supply...for example, when I stacked coloring and activity books in a drawer, no one used them. But when they were on a shelf with the 'spines' easily visible, or upright in a bin so it's easy to flip through and see the covers, they became used a lot more. I stack paper in stackable filing trays, so that I can separate plain white from colored from cardstock, etc... and again, it is easy for the kids to see and pick what they want. Markers, crayons, colored pencils seem to be most used when I have them in holders where the color of each is easy to see AND you can get the one you want without dumping the whole lot out. So, having colored pencils in one 'cup', thin markers in another 'cup', etc... has worked really well for us. I actually found holders meant for picnic silverware (the kind that you'd put out on a picnic table, where the silverware is upright) to be most ideal for this...
So, there are some thoughts for what it is worth!
I wish you lots of luck and inspiration and satisfaction from the changes!!! I'd love to stay up to date with your experiences & discoveries...our office/guestroom/library/sewing room/my closet is next on my de-clutter list.
Rya
Awesome ideas! My progress has been going sooooo slow. But at least it's better than not doing anything at all! Unfortunately the bar ended up getting a bunch of stuff stacked on it again while we were decluttering other areas. There are just some things that are hard to find homes for, but hopefully once I get more organizing done I can work it all out.
ReplyDelete