Hi Moms!
We have a spare bedroom that always turns into the throw-everything-in-it-because-company-is-coming room that I can never seem to get or keep clean. I would love to have a dual purpose room used for crafts (I scrapbook and stamp) as well as a spare bedroom for any overnight guests. It's not a huge space; about 11.5 feet by 10 feet.
Do any of you clever moms have ideas on ways to clean out my room or tips on how best to organize it and keep it clean?
Thanks to all,
L.
Thanks to all you wonderful moms with the great ideas and suggestions! I can always count on this website for a wealth of good information. Well, since I was feeling overwhelmed, I did as some had suggested and set aside a little time each day to work on one part of the house. I started with our spare room. I got so motivated that my 15 minutes turned into a few hours, and it's now almost finished. It's so nice to not see so much clutter. I did throw out three trashbags full of stuff and also have three boxes for an upcoming garage sale. On a funny note, it did help me to watch the TV show, "Hoarders" to help motivate me to clean. I could really see myself keeping things and hoarding if I did not do something to alleviate all my mess.
Thank you again to all, for your wonderful insights and ideas. Some of those websites suggested were terrific. Your encouraging words really did help to motivate me in the right direction.
I hope all you moms have a great weekend!
Many thanks,
L.
Try storage bins, you can stack them. No cardbord boxes they invite roaches and spiders. Get some command hooks you can get clothes bags and other things off the floor. J.
Your room is your miscellaneous box. In order to get it organized and keep it organized, your miscellaneous box needs to get a lot smaller, like the size of a shopping basket. In order for this to happen, the rest of the house needs to get organized.
Label all boxes, shelves, etc with what is supposed to go there. Do this for the entire house. This has an amazing clarifying effect as everyone comes into agreement about what goes where. It also makes really obvious the things that have multiple homes and the things that have no homes. Things that have no homes need to get a home or go out of your home.
Once you have the house organized, designate a small basket for items that need to be put away. Make it everyone's job to regularly take the basket around to the various storage places in the house and put things away.
It might be helpful to physically lock or block the room at some point to help retrain yourself and your family from using it as a miscellaneous box. A week of zero access to that room would give you some interesting feedback on how often you go to that room and why.
Warning! I have finally achieved this in my own home. It took six years. Admittedly, I've also got nine people living in the house, so the forces of chaos are very strong. However, don't expect that you'll be able to create core organization in your house in a weekend. It takes a long time.
The good news is that once you've gotten that core organization, it's really easy to pick up. We can take our house from total disaster to orderly in less than two hours, including the kitchen. Actually *clean* takes longer, of course. Just because everything has been put away does not make rings on the tub go away! :)
Good luck!
a few things here. First it probably overwhelms you to even start so you of course dread it. (who wouldn't) second you can't organize clutter so you have to give everything a home. start small 15 min sessions. try to do 1 per day if you can do more. take 3 boxes 1 for trash, 1 for give away, 1 for put away. ask yourself if you like the item, if you want it, if you need it, if you have another, if something else will do the job. When the 15 mins are up toss the trash put the give away in the trunk of your car and put away all the put away. next time you are out stop by the local thrift store and make a donation. Anything they dont want goes in the trash. you'll be surprised at what you can get rid of something. then when you have cleared enough stuff you don't want you can organize. There are many craft blogs that show different ways to organize things. most will be based on what you have and what your preferences for storage are. Tip junkie is a great site that has tips and ideas for organization. Good luck!
BHG.com is an awesome site for this.
When you clean up a messy area, divide the items into categories based on what room those items belong in. Put those items in separate baskets and have everyone take a basket and put it away. It only takes a few minutes if each person helps out.
Everything in my house has a "home." This makes it very easy to straighten up because any thing that is out has a specific place to be stored even if it is in my one junk drawer in the kitchen. First, clean out the bedroom. I think it is easiest to take everything out of the room then only put back what belongs in there. The rest should be tossed, donated or stored in your garage, shed, attic or basement. Then from now on do not use the space for storage. Hopefully you will be less tempted once the room looks really good.
You could use a futon or murphy bed to save space, especially if you don't have company very often. We did this to create a playroom. My goal is to have all the toys etc. in their bins on the shelves at the end of the day, and not leave more than one current project out on the table.
I have the same problem and I'm looking forward to some answers. Hope you got a great response, and good luck!
If you haven't heard about FlyLady, you should check it out. It's a great site. Good luck!
