Week 09 March 1, 2012

29 Day Challenge Final Result This is it I am done. My room is huge again. I cannot believe how much more open it feels with all the piles gone. And they really are gone or at least will be on March 5 when the donation pick up truck takes away 4 boxes of donations. The trash is gone, recycle items recycled, and things that did not belong there were put in their home not thrown into another room. I cannot believe I accomplished all this while working full time, babysitting part time, and taking 2 college classes. Florica has had a busy soccer tryouts week and it is finals week for school also, therefore, I did not get much done this last 4 days. The closet is still a little full I did not have time to do a real purge here. However, I can now close the door. The dressing table and dresser are functional and decluttered. Finally the stack of boxes going up the wall are now organized and not falling over. I realize I still have a few more things to deal with on the shelf but at least I can get to the items now. I will handle that in one of my self imposed weekly challenges. 1. What space did you decide to organize and why? My Bedroom because of health reasons and it had become the dumping ground. Every time we had family of friends visit we would clean then dump the rest in the bedroom, close the door, and pretend the house was company ready. 2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline? I planned the space. Designating certain spots I wanted to achieve by the end of the week (the next link up). However, if I did not get everything done I did not beat myself up over it. I would redo my plan if needed and allow myself a regrouping not a failure. 3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it? The hardest part is starting. When I see those huge piles of items and know that they could fall on me as I started to move things I would give up. This time I took little steps and reminded myself I will be able to breathe easier when I am done. 4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space? 5 boxes of donate, 2 kitchen size bags of trash, and putting things in their proper home not just moving them from this room to another room to deal with later. If an item did not have a "home" one was made or it was donated. 5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge? After finally calling it finish I decided to dust and vacuum. It was so easy to accomplish this chore that I had not enjoyed for years. And there was nothing on the floor to get caught in the vacuum. Yea ME! 6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries? I bought a couple of bins from Dollar Tree and Target to add a little color and make the shelves look a little nicer. For the most part I used cardboard boxes and labeled them. The "closet organizer" next to the closet was a free from the neighbor. The small wooden shelf stacked upon the table in the corner was from another room but it was not being used. The picture frames and cork board for jewelry storage were all from Goodwill taken from an idea I found on the internet. Finally, three 12x 12-3 drawer Sterilite storage containers were perfect to hold make up, crafting papers, and necessities beside my bed (flashlight, batteries, inhaler, a book, change... and there is still room. Most of the other items were already there. 7. What is ONE piece of advice you’d give to someone else to encourage them on their organizational journey? Decluttering and Organization are an ongoing process. I posted my final pictures but I am far from done. There will always be one more thing to move, put away, give away, or rearrange when it stops working. Failure is not a part of organization, Slow and steady wins the race and a peaceful home.