I made some progress with organizing and decluttering today.
My husband is eager to put wood flooring in the 4th room, and so he wants it cleared out. This “4th room” was the baby nursery, and then it was supposed to become my husband’s new office; however, it hasn’t been at the top of our priority list. As a result, it’s been collecting odd and ends of “random.”
before
The trouble {for me} when I start a project like this is that I don’t know where to begin. A lot of the accumulated things in this room belong to my husband — tools, shims, technological odds and ends. BLEGH! What am I supposed to do with all of this stuff?
The strategy I use in situations like these is to choose one corner and work from there. {Being slightly anal-retentive, I usually start in the leftest-most corner and work towards my right.} Anal, right? This strategy works for me because it gives me focus. Even if I don’t know what the item is or what to do with it, I make a choice. I pick it up and make a choice.
In this case, my husband’s tools went into the garage (in a neat pile), baby toys went into a bag for the consignment store, and technological doo-dads went into a box for Dear Husband to sort later.
after
I’m not sure that I got rid of 100 things like I said I was going to, but it’s a good start. The room will be clear soon and we can make some progress on our Office-turned-Nursery-turning-back-to-an-Office.
What do you do when you have to organize things that don’t belong to you?
Update: I forgot to mention a perk about using this strategy…Working from one corner and moving in one direction allows you to look back and see your progress. If I had picked up odds and ends from all over the room, the *Before* and *After* would not look as drastic — the room would still appear to have stuff everywhere. Now, although there’s still work to be done, I can look in the room and think, “Darn, I’m good!”
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice job K. I love a good declutter! The room looks heaps better already. Starting in one corner and going from there is a good strategy and you have to start somewhere so it might as well be the left corner!
As for stuff that doesn’t belong to me, I just put it in a pile, point to it and say, “All yours!”
Nice job! Came over from WFMW even though you’re in my feed. Having before and after pictures feels good doesn’t it.
We’re having our sunroom converted into a den this week and I’m so looking forward to the before and after pics - they are so satisfying!
Jamie
oh I love a good before and after pic! Good clearing! Go Kirwin!
Oh thank goodness, I am not alone in not knowing where to start! Seriously!! I usually pile it up somewhere else for whomever to go through themselves. But of course with the kids stuff, I end up having to go through it anyway. Twice the work! I need to rethink that one! LOL. Good job on clearing the room!
good job for not throwing all your husbands stuff away - I am so guilty of doing that. And, on top of that, for neatly stacking it all in the garage!! Good Work : )
@ Sami~
Out of the two of us (my husband and me) I’m the organized one! I don’t mind piling his things in the garage as long as he doesn’t blame me for not being able to find things. {He can never find things anyway!!}
@ renee~
Yes, it’s nice comparing the *before* and *after*. Darn, I did good! ; )
@ steadymom~
I can’t wait to see your *before* and *after* photos. Don’t you love it when a room becomes that much more useful?!
@ mo~
Thanks. I ‘got stuff done’, didn’t I? ; )
@ chele~
The strategy really works! Otherwise, I’d tend to put away the easy things and the items that required difficult decision-making…well, they’d be left there for ‘another day’.
@ Denise~
LOL, no I couldn’t do that. I guess I see it as ’something I can do’ to help. My husband does the heavy building & fixing, and often, I can’t really help. At least, I can kind of organize his junk! (BTW, you should see the garage — it’s a nightmare!)
I can organize someone else’s stuff way better than mine… It always seems that it’s cut & dry as to what to do with it. When it comes to my things, I can deliberate on what to do with it forever.
Your room is really coming along! Way to go! Can’t wait to see more.
right now, I am in the middle of organizing the garage. my husband built shelves along one wall the other night and now I am trying to take all the junk from the floor of the garage and from an old shelving unit and throw away what we don’t want and organize what we do. I’m not sure what to do with some of his work stuff, so I just put in at one end of the unit randomly and I organized the other stuff neatly in bins. he noticed the difference last night and I think he’s ready to go thru his stuff. I’ll have to blog about it when its done!
Hi Kirwin,
… your husband wants to put flooring down… Nothing like putting a little fire under our behinds. Sounds like just as good a motivator as mine: “the cochroaches are going to come and eat your papers Daddy!”
Ciao!
I find the trick is to just jump in and clear an area and like you said look back and see what you have done to motivate yourself to keep going.
Good job . I have a room like this which I will be decluttering in August but it is way worse.
Wow - Great job, K! You can come clean our house next - I have a few rooms to organize. I LOVE the windows in the office.