The Simple Life at Home

It was pretty embarrassing, I tell you.

But they say you can't really deal with your problems until you admit them. Hello. My name is Lori and I'm a secret slob.

I'm here today to report on how it went. I didn't accomplish all my goals. Preparing to put our house on the market and move to the Middle East kind of has a way of throwing a kink into all the plans. I just had to set priorities. So, the painting didn't get done, nor did the closet door get fixed (Home Depot was missing the piece when I went). And, in the end, I decided to move the computer out completely to give it more of a "bedroom" feel, rather than a "let's throw this computer in here" feel.

So now, on to the pictures. Drum roll, please!

The view from the door looking in.

The view of the full-length of the bed.

The view of the bookshelves (sort of). You can't really tell, but there were 3 completely packed full bookshelves here. Now we have reduced it down to 1. It's a little over-packed, but c'mon, that's a huge reduction! I have a gigantic box of books to list on eBay and another to donate to Goodwill.

The view of the bed from the other side of the room. All the toy boxes have been removed!!! Yippee!!

Laura had posted some questions for us to answer in review of what we have done. Here we go with that.

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

The hardest part for me was definitely trying to get my husband to go through his things that were in the room. He's someone who likes to keep EVERYTHING!! He always envisions a use for everything at some point in the futures. Fortunately, he's a little more motivated than usual with our upcoming move. I pointed out to him that once he leaves the US (2-3 months before me) all of this things are fair game and if he didn't go through them, I would get to make the call as to what he gets to keep. That got him going!!

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

Umm...No one is allowed in this room ever again.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

Well, unfortunately I forgot about the "bonus prize" for the biggest pile of stuff removed. Cuz, ladies, I would have won it, hands down. About half the books are in a box to be listed on eBay (mostly curriculum). The other half either were thrown away or taken to Goodwill. Daniel's toys were sorted through and we made room in his room for them. The computer and utility desk I decided were not really necessary in the home, so they have gone out to the garage sale pile for Hubby to sell while I'm gone. All the extra stuff in the closet (boxes of paper that had been given to us, a big Rubbermaid of purses, MORE books, wrapping paper, etc.) is gone!! What was sell-able was sold at one of our 2 garage sales this month and what wasn't was disposed of. In fact, I had to take some of our garbage to our empty rental property to put out because we had so much!!

4. Now that you have completed the challenge, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?

Oh, yes. I mean, I joke about it being my shame. But it's really not a joke. It's mortifying to have an unexpected guest and know they will walk by that door and see how awful it is. Now I can relax and just enjoy people who come for a visit. Much better!!

6. Why do you think you should win the challenge?

Well, I hate to promote myself. But to be able to get this room into shape with all that we've been dealing with here is really a miracle. The stress level around here has been incredibly high. I don't know that I should win, but I know that I've already won in my own mind just by getting this done!!

Thanks to Laura at the Organizing Junkie for hosting the 30 Day Organizational Challenge and helping me to reclaim a bit of my home and my life!!