I love the word versatile.
It doesn’t love me.
This one-sided relationship results in me dumping all sorts of things in my exceptionally versatile office/game-room/guest-room.
SO many things can justifiably be dumped in one of those three rooms. And when those three rooms are really one big room, the results are not good.
Oh, and I have one more excuse for this room. It’s a doozy, and it piggybacks on the whole “versatile” thing.
I have plans. Big ones. I’ve come up with some ideas for completely re-arranging the room to make it more useful in its versatility. But these plans involve the departure of certain furniture pieces which requires the moving of stuff to other places and the heavy-lifting skills of hubby and the use of a truck.
All those requirements equal lots of procrastination.
So, I broke my Visibility Rule and cleaned out ONE shelf. One shelf in a built-in cabinet that was full to the brim with random stuff I never ever use. My goal was to make space so I could have a place for the things that really need to be in this room. Then I could finally get rid of certain irritating pieces of furniture.
(Just so you know, I did this last week and have already learned how wrong my brilliant rule-breaking plan was. More on that next week.)
Here’s what I did:
The bottom shelf is the one I decided to clean out. I forgot to take a picture until after it was like this. Trust me, it looked worse than the other two shelves.
At this point, I got my all-too-typical panic feeling, not knowing what to do with all of the stuff I had pulled out:
Stuff like cords-galore, a box of 500 don’t-look-like-me-anymore-anyway headshots, two pairs of (my) tap shoes, etc.
Etc. Etc.
I decided to make this bottom shelf the game shelf, since it’s the one my kids can reach easily. Yes, the games had been on the TOP shelf.
I sent quite a bit to the Donate Spot, including several ebay leftovers. This used to be my ebay cabinet until it morphed into an entire ebay room and eventually led me to total despair. And to start this blog.
That’s a maternity bathing suit that I found at a garage sale. A good thing to put on ebay . . . but not in December. Since it sat in that cabinet through the last two bathing-suit-selling-seasons, I decided to let it go.
That’s the finished shelf. Not a vision of organization wonder, but just a game shelf.
Which is so much better than an everything-you-can-think-of shelf that can’t even be used.
My goal was to sneak in other short decluttering times and get the rest of the cabinet done so I could then move on to the rest of the room.
Then yesterday, I remembered that my 8yo is having his first sleepover with a friend tomorrow night and I promised him they could sleep in here.
Sooooo, next week’s webisode will be about how I changed that plan and did a 45 minute Fast and Furious Decluttering session to make the room usable!
If you’re reading this by email, click through or click here to watch the webisode!
___________________________________________
Another Amazon deal alert – Have I mentioned my “thing” for laminators? Seriously, I’ve had a love affair with laminated stuff since kindergarten. I wonder if it’s a deep-seated desire for un-wrinklable paper? Anyway, there’s a great deal on laminators on Amazon right now. These laminators are on sale for only 16.99 right now on Amazon!
I’ll be linking this up to OrgJunkie’s 52 Weeks of Organizing, which I’m guessing are almost over!!! Aaaahhh!
Only 473? You crack me up!
Okay…now I can’ t wait for the next installment. 🙂
Hey Nony – I have the same maternity bathing suit that is in your donate pile pic!! (Embarrassing admission – I already had my daughter but still wear the suit!!) But, I have one or two bathing suits I really don’t even like that I still hold on to – why? BC I’m a slob too!! :o)
Oh Nony!! I have just found your website! I am truly inspired by you! Please go read my post…I mentioned you. http://housekeepinginprogress.blogspot.com/2011/12/change-in-theme.html
I am going to forget about the great laminator on sale….such a goooood sale….because I can get anything I need laminated for $0.90/foot ($1/ft. & I have a 10% off card…) less than 2 blocks up the street. But, OH!, a laminator! Droool.
I cleaned and de cluttered my family room/play room today! Every single toy was out on the floor for the past 2 days while I sorted, put into keep, trash and donate piles and now it’s all put away. And I have told my kids that if they feel the need to take the toys out and then leave them on the floor that I’m just going to put them in a donate bag. I got 1/2 of the sunporch taken care of and will finish the last bit tomorrow. Then onto the bedrooms (lord help me there). Again I will sort into trash, donate and keep with emphasis on donating! I had a discussion with my husband tonight about how we really need less in our house because none of us knows how to keep things organized and neat. Four slobby people and I used to be the neat one so it’s an uphill battle around here. Thanks for all your posts. They really do help get me motivated. Oh, and there’s no dirty dishes in the sink which is a miracle.
Love, love, love that you broke out into song on your webisode. It did make me wonder where that tape went that you and I made together….
Do you mean the “Old Time Rock and Roll” video? Or did we do a song together too? I have a vague memory . . .
Nony. Just a thought about your head-shots. If they aren’t what you look like anymore, and they are never what you are going to look like again… and you are having trouble finding where’s a good spot to put them…
Maybe the way to go, is just keep one for your Memory book (or whatever you have when you go to remember) and use the others for craftwork or dump them? That way you only have to have one head shot to go find a place for.
I get really attached to things too. I have a big box of 30 year old unfinished sewing projects that I can’t find it in me to throw out.
I just wanted to let you know you have really inspired me. I am living in my parents house and starting trying to purge and go through all their stuff(I have lost both parents) then was diagnosed with two different types of cancer. Good news is I so far seem to be beating the big C, but the house was really wearing on me. You have helped me to realized that any step forward is that and not to keep beating myself up. I still have mountains to go, but today was a great day and got several bags ready to donate to someone I know that help the homeless and my outside trashcan if half way filled with stuff I have no clue why I was even keeping it. I am so glad that I stumbled across your site and please I can;t wait for the next step in this story!