31 Days to Organization – SUCCESS!

It’s time for the final unveiling!

Over the last month I have been participating in OrgJunkie.com’s 31 days to Organization Challenge.

The goal was to focus on one room and get it organized, following a process that she has all laid out for you in easy steps on her blog. I chose to focus on my girls’ bedroom, specifically the closet, but the whole room really, because it is ALWAYS a disaster and I am tired of finding it looking like this:

Jelly Bean did this in about five minutes one day while I was getting ready

If you’d like to catch up, the first two posts on this challenge can be found here and here.

For this final post, we are supposed to answer a few questions and be sure to razzle dazzle you all with our finished product. So here goes!

1. What space did you decide to organize and why?

My daughters’ (ages 3 and 1) room. (See above picture if you still want to know why!)

2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 31 day timeline?

I followed your PROCESS plan!   (carried around the little bookmark and everything!)

The girls just had way too much stuff in their room! Not only that, the way it was (not) organized made it difficult to even put things away or keep it straightened up. The large bookshelf just wound up collecting a whole bunch of crap and things got piled on it.

I had clothes in the room that they won’t be able to wear for at least a year, or that they have long outgrown. Broken toys, age inappropriate toys, STUFF.

So I followed PROCESS and started from scratch.

I made a plan and decided I wanted to get rid of the shelves and replace it with a cubby system with bins.

Everything came out! I sorted four piles – keep, put away, donate, re-sell.

I made the following changes:

• I removed all of my 3 year old’s dress up clothes and put them on hooks on the inside and outside of her closet door. Now, when she wants to dress up, she does not pull out every item in her closet!

• I used bins and baskets that I already had on hand and put the items that I wanted to be able to access easily, but don’t want the kids to get into (like arts and crafts supplies and next season’s clothing) neatly on the top shelf

• The cubby system allows us to store all the toys easily, and makes for quick pick up

• All clothes that don’t fit or are out of season went away in the attic

• I moved the cloth diaper supplies, which were overflowing from the basket next to the dresser, into a drawer in the dresser

3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?

Staying on track and continuing to modify the parts that still didn’t work.  I am horrible at organizing, I am even worse at getting rid of stuff that doesn’t need to be there. So it was tough to continue to let go of stuff.

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

We are having a yard sale! Some stuff I gave away, and some will be donated. And the junk went in the garbage!

5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?

I’m pretty proud of myself for actually creating a space that is organized and easy to pick up each day. I have been unable to do this in their rooms EVER! I actually SMILE every time I go into their room now cause I’m so tickled with the outcome!

6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?

I tried to mimic ideas that I saw on other sites. The cubby style shelves are very popular, with the pull out bins, and after implementing, I understand why. I used cubbies, bins, baskets, for everything that couldn’t be hung up or go in a drawer. I also used a hang up “net” to put up a lot of the excess stuffed animals that my daughter did not want to part ways with! Additionally I added two small shelves where I put some of the “breakable” memorabilia – it is now up on the wall where we can see it but the kids aren’t getting into them. And much of the memorabilia went into special memory boxes that I put on the top shelf in the closet. At 1 and 3, the girls don’t need most of that cluttering up their shelves!

7. What is ONE piece of organizing advice you’ve learned on this journey that you could encourage someone else with?

Help is out there! If I can do this, I guarantee you that ANYONE can! (My family calls me “Gearbomb” if that gives you any idea of how disorganized I usually am!) Use a methodical process, follow the steps, and stick to it!

Overall, this process has made our life so much better! Each night it only takes us about five minutes to clean up, instead of resulting in meltdowns by the kids and mommy as we tried to tackle the mess.  I was continually frustrated by the horrible disaster each time I entered the bedroom!

I have started implementing the PROCESS in other rooms, and I am SO HAPPY with the changes that are taking place! Thank you OrgJunkie for helping me improve my life and set a better example for my children! They learn by example, and hopefully I am teaching them to be better organized that ME!

So, here is the big transformation! Drumroll, please!!!

I was so sick of the old bookshelves that just kept getting cluttered, I got rid of them and started with new cubby shelves!