We are well into January already. And yes, I'm still writing "2011" on everything. I've made some organization-specific resolutions/goals for the coming year. Last year I found I was pretty successful in keeping my resolutions when I introduced them gradually. This year, I'm hoping to continually move toward each of my goals, and I'm already making some progress.
Each day for the next week or so, I will introduce my storage/organization/cleaning goals, plans, and progress for 2012. And I will revisit these goals throughout the year as progress is made.
1. Organize Storage Room:
This is actually one I can almost check off the list. The new year started with my husband expanding the shelving in our storage/laundry room. He also added shelving for his hunting and fishing stuff and a bench and chairs to create a workspace. I am relieved to finally have a home for all of those fishing poles and duck calls that inevitably end up on our kitchen counter. Just after we had everything put away in the storage room, my sister sent me several boxes of baby clothes via a visit from my parents. We are planning on having more children, so we'll hang on to the clothes for now. I was happy to see there was actually still room for the clothes on the storage shelves. The final to-do in the storage room is to find a place for our pantry overflow. We stock up at Aldi a few times a year, and whatever doesn't fit in the pantry goes in the storage room. Previously the food was stored on our shelves (when the floors were covered in stuff). I have my eye on the shelves above our washer and dryer, but they are inconvenient for a shorty like me. For now, I'm holding off on figuring it out until our next trip to Aldi, which I plan on making in the next couple of weeks. If I were going for perfection, we would have matching plastic storage bins on these shelves. I'm not going for perfection. I happily used what we had on hand. Diaper boxes make great boxes for kids' clothes. Down the road I may replace some of the cardboard boxes and bags, but for now it works.
I wish I had a before photo to show you the dramatic transformation, but you'll have to take my word for it. This is about twelve thousand times better. I can now do laundry without passing through an obstacle course (yay?). On the right side of the room (not pictured) is more shelving, a work table, and the washer and dryer.
On a slightly unrelated note, I've been watching old episodes of Hoarders on Netflix. Have you seen this? It's fills me with anxiety. The episode where the woman hoards perishable food? The one where they remove 8,000 pounds of GARBAGE from one woman's home. Or when they find 13 dead cats in another home. I've decided, though, that it's not so much the amount of junk, clutter, and garbage that these people are living in that makes this show so heart wrenching. It's the strained relationships. The hopelessness of the loved ones who so desperately want the fog to clear from their father/mother/sister/brother's eyes. It kills me.
Way to go! You have a good start for your organizing this year. I think you're smart not to run out to get a lot of plastic bins. Too many times we rush out and end up with things that don't quite work or aren't really necessary. After all, when it's a storage room, it doesn't have to be pretty...just functional.
ReplyDeleteBut...if you did want to invest in something to store your food from Aldi, you might check into those shelves that hold cans???