Before and After #4

Home offices are nice to have but not if they become clutter-central. Here are a few before and after pictures of an office I organized recently.

Before and After #3

My latest job was a doozy! The garage of an extremely busy family. Here are a few before and after pictures.






I grouped like objects together. All sports equipment together, all tools together, lawn care items together, etc.

Plan to Procrastinate

Did you know that we are in the middle of National Procrastination Week? (Yeah, I was going to write this post on Monday but I put it off) Well hopefully we can all get motivated to stop procrastinating this week because next Tuesday (March 10th) is National Organize Your Home Office Day. Are you as excited as I am? Focus! Breathe!

Okay, so first off you'll need to take a look at your home office and decide where your weaknesses are. Are there piles of papers to be filed? Is your bookshelf in disarray? Is your office a catch-all for clutter? Can your furniture be arranged in a more efficient or pleasing way? Start planning what you need to do now so that you can procrastinate doing it until next week. Or show that procrastination who's boss and start early!

The Downside of Organizing

So yesterday I decided to organize the garage. I grouped like-items together (all of the hunting stuff in one corner, all of the sports equipment in the other, etc.). I rehung tools on the peg board (it was getting too cluttered). I moved the refrigerator a skosh so I can get out of the truck on my side (no more crawling over the seat to get out the other side). I moved plastic tubs onto newly cleared off shelving. I gave away an old t.v. and sold the extra washer and dryer which created more space. Overall it was very productive. So what is the downside, you ask?

I accidentally found my birthday present! Oops! That's what I get for being too organized. My birthday is on Sunday and although there will be no surprise for me that day I love my present: Cross-country skis!!!! Yippee! It's snowing right now too, so Sunday should be fun.

Man's Best Friend

We have two dogs (Timmy and Abbey), which requires a lot of doggy accessories: dog toys, food, bowls, leashes, treats, medicine, cleaners, dog bags, etc. So I needed to find a place to store everything without totally cluttering up the house.

(Timmy) (Miss Abbey)

Our dog food holder is a giant garbage can in the garage. But I don't want to have to go out there every morning and night to feed the dogs. (Bare feet on cold concrete first thing in the morning doesn't make me happy.) So I emptied a drawer in the kitchen and designated it the "doggy drawer". That is where we keep the bowls, a 20 quart food container (which only needs to be filled from the garage once a week or so), medicine, doggy cleanup bags, leash, etc.

Their toys I put in a cute basket by the fireplace so they can reach them when necessary but I can hide them away when I need to.

Happy Birthday Dad

It is our Dad's birthday today. We would like to thank him for having four daughters....Not that he really had a choice on our gender, but it's worked out really nicely for us. We love you Dad! (And sorry for all the estrogen-induced drama you've had to put up with over the years.)

Before and After #2

Sometimes the simplest projects can make all the difference in a room. For instance the following pictures show the before and after of a bookshelf I organized. This room didn't have a lot of furniture in it but the way objects were placed made it seem cluttered.

We sorted through and donated unwanted books, then removed anything that wasn't a book from the shelf. We organized books by size and put magazines in new holders on the top of the unit.


Before


After