4/1/09

CLEAN HOME CARNIVAL



Several weeks ago, JulieMom invited us to a Clean Home Carnival. She challenged us to start getting our houses in order by picking one or more rooms or spaces to clean and organize, and then come back on April 1st with before and after pictures to show what we had done.

Well I had all kinds of great plans for what I would accomnplish for this great Show and Tell, but alas, I got bogged down with work (the kind that pays the bills) and was only able to focus on one room--my bedroom/office.

This room doesn't have a real partition in it, but I have accomplished that in a virtual sort of way by having the bedroom part face one wall, and the office part face another. Here are the "before" pictures of each half.

As you can see, lots of clutter. Stuff all over my bed and the floor, under the credenza, and stacked all over the top of it. And my computer desk so full of paper, it was a frustrating eyesore.

The first thing I did was wash the windows and curtains, and vacuum the blinds. Then I decided to focus on the bedroom half of the room. What to do with all these piles of stuff. Bills that needed to be paid, things that needed to be filed, magazines I had started reading, projects I was in the middle of, books and videos I had borrowed from the library, all haphazardly scattered everywhere you looked. So off I went to Costco, to scrounge up some sturdy boxes of varying sizes that could be hidden under my bed, or neatly placed in my giant walk-in closet.

My next step was to sort everything into organized piles, and put each category in a separate box. Now nothing is mixed up anymore, and I can instantly locate what I'm looking for without creating an even bigger mess trying to find it. And, I can also work on one project at a time without creating any more clutter in the process. Oh, and I almost forgot. While I was working on the bedroom cleanup, I ordered myself a new bedspread and pillow shams for a bit of a new look. It arrived just in time to be included in the "after" pictures.

Now that I could actually see my floor again, and the top of the credenza was no longer piled high, I was able to do a thorough dust and vacuum job, including underneath the bed. And in the dusting process, instead of just dumping all the papers on my computer desk someplace else and back again, I took time to put them into the binder and folders they should have been in, in the first place. Such a simple thing, and yet such a huge time saver when I'm trying to put my finger on something I need fast.

The finished product? Voila!

Thank you, JulieMom, for sparking the fire.

11 comments:

  1. I think you did a wonderful job Sandy! I have an award waiting for you on my blog. Stop by and pick it up when you get the chance. I know how busy you have been my friend.

    Congrats!

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  2. WOWZA GRANNY!!! Awesome job! Love the new bedspread too. :0) Doesn't it just feel great?

    And the motivation to keep it this way is so much greater now that you've documented. Well done!

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  3. Wait, there's a space called "under the bed" that needs to be cleaned??? Haha.

    Nice job!!! What a huge improvement!

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  4. Look how shiny your desk is! ;^) I just love 'real' pictures!
    Thanks for dropping by to say "hi"...btw, I too, have not organized our photos, digital or *gasp* the old fashioned portraits w/ albums (I left off when our oldest son was 4, whom now is 20, yikes!!) Yep, photos are a huge elephant in my closet, lol!
    Keep up the great work!
    ~Sheri

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  5. I am very impressed. Now don't you just love going to those spaces now! I wish I would do that with my desk.

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  6. Wow you did wonderful, must have been a lot of work too.

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  7. Wow! Looks great!!! I think I had better get a move on and get mine done. Love the new bedding!

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  8. Amazing, GGG...! How have you been?

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  9. Wow! Looks great!! I need to participate next time. Lots of cleaning to be done around here.

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  10. Holy crap do you ever know how to clean. My clean would be your before. har har.

    I love that Renee Award too. It was made by Bella and Ces, I don't know how to make it bigger unfortunately.

    I have nothing to do with giving it to people or anything like that. They do that somehow.

    They made it for my birthday. xoxo

    I see you were discouraged before your uber award. Don't be discouraged.

    Love Renee xoxo

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  11. Oooohh! Nice work! You are a good organizer...very inspiring :) And functional too!

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