Sometimes, knowing that I’ve showed the transformation of this same spot umpteen times makes blogging get on my nerves.
While the first time, I was proud of myself, and the second time I was able to grasp how this was a real problem spot and the third time I was amazed that it was such a quick fix . . . by the sixteenth time, I’m just irritated.
And embarrassed.
Because really? I’m the little kid who can’t keep her room clean to save her life. Being that kid was one thing, but being that adult is another thing completely.
But alas, here we are at the point in the year when we get our annual termite inspection that keeps our lifetime guarantee going. I have to allow strange people to go traipsing through my home, opening cabinet doors and collecting now-I’ve-seen-it-all stories to take home to their wives.
And I have to clean my room. Blech.
So, once again, I started with this corner. This corner that I’ve realized gets so bad because we never walk there. I have to have a path to the bathroom and to the bed and to the door, but no path is needed here.
I put the lid back on the clothing-storage box that makes a table (a two-second task) and then started following my two decluttering questions. Turns out, the pile was big because the stuff in it was big.
Like pillows. Some were bed pillows, so I put cases on them and distributed them to the beds throughout the house, giving everyone an extra pillow.
I also found throw pillows that were deposited here because I didn’t have a place to use them. Before I had a couch in my office/gameroom, there was a daybed in there. It was up against the wall, and I piled pillows across the back to make it look a little more couch-ey. Which didn’t really work, but whatever. I had decided that I was going to make that room “fun” and covered the pillows in novelty t-shirts from my college/Bangkok/general-travel days. I had every intention of one day sewing them up and making this fabulous idea official. It looked ok on the doesn’t-look-right-anyway daybed, but once the couch was in there, this idea looked ridiculous. There were too many pillows for that couch, and with the saggy shirts on them, it looked like a pile of laundry.
Which, in this house, isn’t too much of a stretch.
I’m sure I’ve said in my life that you can never have enough throw-pillows.
Turns out, you can.
They’re now in my donate pile.
I also found the suitcase that I took to the Savvy Blogging Summit in July. Exactly two months ago. It’s a small suitcase, but it makes the pile a literal foot higher. And for every foot higher a pile gets, the more overwhelming that pile is to me.
Eight minutes of work later, it looked like this:
Eight minutes of work, but two hours. Meaning, I worked on it between making chicken fried rice for supper, taking kids to activities at church, sitting and talking with my husband, etc.
Etc. etc.
I’m such a committed slob-blogger. (And I wanted to be able to put up another webisode.)
Really, though, this tackled space does spur me on to do more in that room.
That . . . and the fact that the bug man is coming and I don’t have a choice.
Here’s the webisode version. The webisode in which I am very tired, and somehow seem to gain 20 pounds between the first shot and the last.
I’ll be linking this up over at Orgjunkie.com for her 52 Weeks of Organizing.
Wow. I am SO glad to know that I’m not the only one with a scary master bedroom and a small path to the important part of it.
‘Course the rest of the house is pretty scary too. But when we DO get the rest of the house clean (ahem….whenever we have a big party…so a couple of times a year), that room still manages to stay scary.
Thanks for coming clean so the rest of us don’t feel alone in our slobbiness! =)
I like to pretend I don’t have a bedroom…..
Honey, every single person – even my neat-freak-mother – has spots like that. So welcome to ‘normal’ slob-ness….
Just so you know, I am supposed to be doing laundry. But here I am, watching your vlog. You’re distracting ;D
That so looks like the other side of my bedroom.Ya know,the side where the wall is, not the side with the path to the bathroom.This weekend I have decided to purge the junk piled on top and in front of my night stand because it is causing problems with getting the door open far enough to get into the bathroom.Hubby has been making comments about backing his truck up to the window and seeing how quick he can get the bedroom cleaned.I’m not even going to tackle that other side yet.
Your honesty is refreshing! I look forward to reading your blog. “I am not alone in the world, there are other slob brains out there too.
I just finished watching your “webisode” and I have to admit you really crack me up. I also have a special place for stashing stuff that I just haven’t had time to get to. It’s called the “office”. At least the rest of my house is clutter free!
haha…yes you are a crackup and don’t take this wrong, but honey, you need to get rid of a lot of sh**. Seriously let it go. Why are you holding onto the T-shirts. Why not replace that table with a nice small chest of drawers that would hold more of the clohtes that are piled around? Of course I give more advice to other people that I don’t necessarily take for myself! PS You should see my quilting/office space right now. SCARY!
Hey, Nony, I hate to stick my oar in when it’s your house and your blog but you must have known we lunatics would try to take over the asylum sometime.
Now, I haven’t yet got up to date with your blog but I have watched all your webisodes, including the one where you get rid of that dinky piece of white furniture because it attracted clutter. I could have wept and wished I had been passing your house the day you chucked it out.
It strikes me that this little “table” with the lamp is doing the same thing: it is a troublespot and must be a real bind taking that tablecloth on and off and reassembling the top. So I agree with Allysgrandma and think the bin should go. I know you’re in charge but see how well you are training your followers, that we can now identify the problem areas.
Oh, that top photo is like most of my house. And we have a workman who has been trying to get his annual appointment with us for about five years, but he has to get access to everywhere, so I keep making excuses …