Getting Organized...or trying to...

The other day I was reading a blog called "30 Minute Martha" , and the blogger, Lain Ehmann, was talking about a 30-day organizing project she was getting ready to do. It was based on an e-book titled "30 Days to an Organized Home". Each day she was going to do the challenge and then blog about it. Well, I am all about getting organized (when I was a kid, I loved to clean out my closet, I was organizing at a young age!) and I thought it might be kind of fun to try the same thing. So I ordered the book here, it downloaded immediately, and I was ready to get started!





Day One:

The challenge today was to clean up "The Spot". This is the area that I'm sure we all have, the place where all those papers and other miscellaneous things land. The place where you put all the stuff that you will get to later! My "Spot" is a counter top in my kitchen. I have a file basket there for my kids' papers, plus another basket that I keep notepaper and writing utensils in. And that is where the organized part ends! I am pretty good about going through the mail and immediately recycling or shredding what I don't need. But then I seem to put every piece of paper I DO need into piles on my "Spot", and that's where the piles get bigger and bigger. This was the perfect place for me to start on my 30 day quest to organization!



So I cleared out all the papers and other stuff, and that's when I realized it was going to take me a lot longer than 30 days to get through the book! Because once I cleared out all the papers I had to sort everything and figure out where they needed to be filed. You can see below how I parked myself on the family room floor and got to work. Plus I had to find homes for all the other items that had been living on that counter top! And that was going to take more than one day, since believe it or not, I do have other things that need to get done around here!





So once I came to the realization that I could take on this project, but it would take a bit longer than originally planned, I was determined to do this! Below you can see my beautiful clean counter top! The things you see behind the sink are actually the clay pots and other "sculptures" my boys have made over the years. I cannot part with them just yet, so they are part of the decor. I have also decided that I need to add another file to my basket for all those papers that will need attention in the near future. So hopefully when I add that, then I won't be tempted to just make piles again, and maybe the counter top will stay clean! Yikes - this is harder than I thought it would be!




I will keep you posted on my progress! And I challenge you to join me and get an organized home too! Really, this could be fun!




2 comments:

Rob I said...

I will follow with great interest. It might be my solution too

June Houck said...

Kudos to you! I have that same spot that I actually worked on a bit about 1 week ago. Mine does not look this good, but it is 50% less than it was :)