Wednesday, October 24, 2012

One Corner Down...Crossing Off The List

I finally started the enormous task of organizing our home, and therefore, my life. The scope of the project was incredibly overwhelming and left me wandering around in circles, muttering "I have so much to do, I have so much to do..." and then giving up and drinking wine. Right out of the bottle. After a few days, and a few hangovers, I decided to break it up into numerous little organizing projects. The smaller, the better.

*Side Note* organization at my house occurred between the hours of 1-3 pm and after 8 pm. I don't have to explain this to any parents of young kids. For those who have not had the pleasure of pushing an eight pound baby out of their V jay-jay, let me explain. Young children are allergic to organizing. They see adults putting things in order- thus making life run smoother- and it causes a sever reaction. They start hyperventalating, and flailing around, running in circles, and knocking things over, crying, and screaming in tongues. Epi pens do not work: the only known cure for such an all encompassing, and never ending, allergic reaction is to let the child ruin whatever it was that you were organizing and stand aside as they proceed to tear your house apart. I prefer a preventative approach: I don't organize while they are awake...or to be extra careful, while they are within a tidy 5 mile radius of our house.

I started by organizing our foyer and mud room. I did the best part first- shopping! I spent a morning solo buying shelves, and baskets, hooks, and labels, racks, and mirrors. When I got home, I saw that my husband had cleared out the rooms for me. They had both become dumping grounds for random stuff that we had no place for yet. I gave him "puppy dog eyes" and convinced him to help install everything. At the end of the day, we had organized three separate areas: our foyer, where mine and Nick's jackets will go. We used a coat rack that was generously left here when we moved in. We also created an art gallery to display the kids' master pieces on. The mud room, where the kids' stuff will go, consists of high shelves laden with baskets. One for my stuff, one for Nick's stuff, one for Saku's blankets, and one for out-of-season hats. The storage bench houses the kids' toques, mittens, and scarves. Two rows of low hung hooks will hold book bags, purses, leashes and coats. On impulse, we organized the kitchen entrance, where sweaters and slippers will go. This tiny row of hooks used to hold all our jackets, hats, purses, book bags, and over 29 pairs of shoes resided beneath it.

On completion of this project, I've decided to add a stipulation to my goal- each area on my list needs to cost me less than $50 to organize...I went a little crazy shopping and this first project cost considerably more. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I'm even more pleased that it has made our lives a little more organized; I am no longer constantly picking coats up or looking for lost shoes. I know exactly where my effing purse is, and book bags now have a home. I forgot to take "before" pictures (I am, in fact, lying. I was too embarrassed by the utter mess that greeted guests at every entrance.)

1 comment:

  1. Love it! And your whole house amazes me in the organizational department Rachel!

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