The Hardest Part to Organizing is Getting Started + Tips to Organizing a Bedroom!...

Read all the way through to get some tips on organizing that bedroom that has been piling up with stuff that is now giving you a headache!

♥♥♥Hi, friendly reader of my blog where I talk about all things organizing and perhaps a few good experiences of my own.

So, just the other day I got a call (message) for my organizing services from a family member very dear to me. She said she could use my organizing expertise in her bedroom. I was very excited to help, so we scheduled it for the next day right away. Come early morning, I was there as promised and we got to work. We went through clothes, shoes, scarves, a few belts, trash, labeling a couple shoe boxes, and I organized her beautiful and massive jewelry collection (I wish I had that much!). Long story short, most of it was put away and organized, and the bed was finally made. Yup, I said "most of it". Sadly, I had to leave come afternoon, finished or not. I offered to come back because I felt I hadn't done enough, but for one reason or another, was unable to go back. However, before I left her house, I apologized for not having done much, and she looked at me and thanked me with the most sincerest words, she said the she was glad I had finally gotten her motivated to get started, which obviously meant a lot to her; which meant a lot to me. Nothing made me feel more honored than to hear her say those words. She even messaged me early this morning to chat and appreciated what I had done for her once again after I asked her how the room was doing. Which takes me to the next thought:

There is nothing better than being there for someone who needs help. Now I know, I wasn't working that day — I was helping someone overcome the fear of getting started on the big task of re-organizing what was unorganized... lifting a burden off of someone's back... motivating her to get started. I still feel I could've done more within that three-and-a-half hour period, but truth is organizing —especially a bedroom— takes ample time. The greatest thing was knowing I helped her to take those baby steps to get started.

So, my question for you to ask yourself today is... Are you currently lost in a pile of stuff? Are you lacking motivation to pick it up? It is okay. I am here to cheer you on and tell you that you are not alone. Go and start by sorting through your stuff and picking the trash up. YOU CAN DO IT!

READ Below to continue on to getting started with the right tips! 

STEPS ON HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR BEDROOM:

Pre#1: Turn on that green "go" light and get up and JUST Get Started! 

What You'll Need: A big enough box and trash bags. As well as a nice dark sharpy to label your box "Out".


#1-  Sort and categorize through all of your stuff. Separate clean from dirty. Think like with like and type with type. TIP: Don't just focus on the clothes, though. Sort through everything you can here. This helps kick-start the putting-away part!
#2-  Toss the Trash. While you sort through things, trash may tend to be more obvious now. So, throw it away.
#3-  Go through your clean clothes you just put aside, decide what you don't need or want anymore and put it in the donate box. Next- Hang-up, fold, and put away your clothes. 
#4-  Put away all your shoes. Again, purge out those shoes you don't need!
#5- Look around and see what is still left to put away. Is it purses, belts, underwear, socks, jewelry, the souvenirs from the other night (tickets, cups, etc.), papers? Whatever it be... Take the time during step 5 to gather the things and put them in their place, or designate a place for them now — and, NO, that does not mean under the bed. 
#6- YOU ARE ALMOST DONE!  Make the bed and clear under the bed junk! A clean room is only as clean as the bottom of the bed!
#7- The Cleaning Part: Dust away, sweep, mop, or vacuum. Disinfect, spray that yummy smell, what-have-you.
#8- Final step! Step back and admire that clean room you deserve to live in! And, finally decide what you want to do with that "Out" box and act on it that very moment. But, whatever you do, don't put it back in your room and don't leave it lying around your house!
#9- BONUS: Relax, take a nice hot shower, ahhh... it's over.

For more organizing fun visit my website at www.organizinglifelaredo.blogspot.com 


Sincerely,
Stephanie ♥ 

Organizing a Changing Table

You Don't Exactly Need a Real Changing Table For This Project... Believe Me!

Okay, so long story short, this was a free-standing kitchen cabinet that was passed on to me by my aunt Patty. Now, this was never a kitchen cabinet for me either... I used it to stow away all of my beauty products and make-up. I wish I had a picture, but sadly, I do not. It did it's job and I spent hours a day organizing and re-organizing it differently just cuz' I could. Served me well that ol' kitchen cabinet.

However, today, this free-standing piece is now serving as a full-time changing table for my little three month old niece, Jaylynn— and my make-up and beauty products have now either downsized or have a new home (pssst... downsized ...shhhh).
                                                 
                                                            Here's the project video!

I used organizing products from the Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart that I already had in my collection of organizing bins. No, I'm not a bin hoarder; they, too, have their own neat stash. So, this project was basically frugal 100%! I'll admit, the current implemented organizing system was created with my sister-in-law and baby in mind, so, as baby grows the system might need a tweak here and there. Therefore, it is not set in stone and it can change at any time and that, my friends, is okay too.

So, my tip for you today:

Look around for a piece of furniture in your home that may soon be serving you as your brand new changing table! It can be a drawer set, a good hip-leveled desk, a medium-sized rectangular table, etc. Just as long the piece is nice and sturdy. If it doesn't have drawers, don't worry! Look at how I organized the bottom part of the changing table; it's really all just about being creative and intuitive to create the perfect system for you.

XOXO-
Stephanie

Have Messes?

One day I will learn to be okay with my messes...

....... I was broken and I needed mending (part of a journal entry of mine). "Nothing could ever possibly repair my messes" I thought to myself while picking up the last set of books and magazines I hadn't even gone through in a while. Why am I holding on to all of this if I haven't used it or gone through it for the past few days    weeks   months... years?! I already cleaned, why does it still look messy?! .......

To my surprise, I learned a big lesson that one day....

Do you have messes?

Yeah, we all do.

Nobody is perfect— even lovers of all things organized have that junk drawer or magazine collection that hasn't been touched in a while. If you ask me, I'd say that a lot of times we struggle for that sensation of "perfectness" when we spot clean here and there. But, are we really acknowledging that it is something that has to be done constantly, or are we getting upset every time we have to do it? Think about it. There is an array of reasons why we are getting stressed out and upset when we have to clean. But, there is only one reason why we still have to clean all the time. Now, you may be asking yourself "what's this got to do with fixing my messes". Here's the thing: We have to learn to be okay with our messes. Simple as that.

Okay with our messes?

Yes!


Picture the last time you had to pick up, wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, sweep, mop, and all that squeaky clean jazz we do. The house smelled fresh, the linens were diffusing that yummy Downy smell, BUT... The house still didn't appear to be so in order.

So what went wrong?

My only guess? We most probably left out the organization process of the messes when we picked up all of those magazines off the table and transferred them to the desktop. AND, we most likely have been forgetting to do that for quite some time, and now it is piled up.

Get it now?

Simply, clean, pick up and put away. Don't leave things hanging out else where simply because you've cleaned the other side of the house. We have to learn to let go in order to progress into more organized spaces.

So, lesson Learned Today: Don't fight with your "messes" after the house is squeaky clean and smelling good, deal with it on the spot. Cleaning AND organizing is something we will never be done with—it requires time and effort; however, we can indeed minimize as we go. Therefore, make peace with that.

-XOXO-

Steph