Garage Sale Blues

I hate garage sales. Yet I agreed to have one this coming weekend. I'm happy to be purging tons of stuff from my house (we've been collecting stuff since last summer) but I dislike the entire process.

I don't want to dicker. I do not want to 'make money' (why people think they make money from garage sales is beyond me - you're selling everything at a loss). I don't want to engage in inane chit-chat with strangers. Buy my stuff or don't, I don't care. Well, I do, but whatever doesn't sell is going to Good Will on Monday anyway.

I'm kind of shy and I do not flourish in these kinds of conditions.

Oddly enough, my husband is amazing at garage sales. We had one five years ago (at my parents) and even though my husband dreaded it, the first punter through the door, he was chatting and making sales.

Two days: I've got to get through two days.

TroubleMaker is dead excited - he is going to be running a lemonade stand. I'm oddly embarrassed by this (weird conditioning from my parents) but I am going to be his biggest champion (and likely thirstiest customer).

Maybe it will be okay... TroubleMaker has committed to selling many of his (old and unused) toys - he is hoping to raise half the funds to buy an all weather, all terrain Grave Digger monster truck. His excitement will fuel mine. I adore that kid and always manage to see things through his eyes and that gives me renewed excitement.

I'll see you on the other side. I'm going to Tweet about my garage sale adventures so feel free to follow along!

29 Day Challenge: The Final Reveal!

It has been an amazing month for me; it's been a labour of love and self realizations. It has been a month in which I discovered boxes of soup in triplicate, finding every eraser I've ever owned and the month I've come to realize that if I don't use it, it is okay to let it go. I've learned the benefit of containers and containerizing almost everything outside of it's original packaging. I've learned organizing is not expensive and even a processed cheese box can "containerize" something!

Spice Cupboard (before)

Spice Cupboard (after)

1. What space did you decide to organize and why?

I chose my kitchen for this challenge. As a working mom who spends almost half of my time at home in the kitchen, it only made sense to try and organize this cluttered, frustrating space. The large kitchen had jam packed cabinets, piles of cookbooks, food and artwork stacked three apples high on the counters and no space left to do any of the work usually done in a kitchen. My precious home time was being eaten up by moving pile after pile in order to free some counter space to prepare dinner and without fail, another twenty minutes was spent sifting through the endless packages, empty bottles and cascade of junk spilling out of my spice cupboard.

Snack Cupboard (before) 

2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline?

Working as a project manager, I did what I do best to prepare for this challenge. I planned it out, step by step, job by job over the 29 days. I used my standard construction schedule template and instead of steps of construction, I added the tasks needed to be completed. I held weekly meetings with myself Saturday mornings to assess my next steps and taped the schedule to my fridge as a constant reminder.

Snack Cupboard (after)

3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?

Medicine Cupboard (before) 

I think the hardest part for me to deal with was the sheer volume of stuff that I had to go through. Each and every cupboard was packed full of everything – jobs I thought would take an hour ended up taking an entire day due to the volume of everything jammed in them!

Medicine Cupboard (after)

4. What did I do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of the newly organized space?

 I packed it all up in boxes and it’s being posted to our local Freecycle website. The things I am unable to give away will be taken to a charity shop (like Value Village or Goodwill).

5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?

In today’s society, a person’s perceived success is often tied to the stuff one has. “Things” have a way of making me feel important and like I’ve achieved success. These things are also the bane of my existence! Being able to get rid of the non-essentials was very liberating and made me realize that I don’t need LOTS to survive! Mies had it right when he said "Less is more!"

6. Explain any organizing tools you used to help you create additional space and to establish limits and boundaries?

Broom Closet (before) 

I used the containerize theory and took it very seriously. I didn’t realize how setting up a finite amount of space would aid in keeping me (and my things) in check! In the snack cupboard I used some baskets I bought last spring and because I purged some of the old plasticware, I used those containers to house other snacks and bits and bobs. I became so in love with containers, I decided some of the food boxes I'd emptied were just as good as any basket! Once I get a few moments, I'm going to cover the boxes in some nice scrapbook paper I have in the craft room!

Food Cupboard (before) 

Broom Closet (after)

Food Cupboard (after)

7. What is the one piece of advice you'd give someone else to encourage them on their organizing journey?

Everything I think of sounds cliche... But the key to understanding and discovering my organizing "groove" was the CONTAINER! Limiting the amount of space for any one item truly put it all together for me and solidified my understanding of the "PROCESS"!

Junk Drawer (before)

No more junk drawer!

Cheese box holds the bag clips!

Puppy Teeth!

Having finished up my organizing over the past month (the most recent changes are already two days old), I've had the opportunity to sit back and enjoy my space. I'm making a diligent effort to PUT THINGS BACK where I got them from, not let my paper clutter get away on me and did I mention PUTTING THINGS BACK! Before I show my horizontal spaces, I'd like to share one of my more curious finds... My baby puppy is now 12 years old - I've been carrying these around for 11 years! I'm not ready to part with them however cleaning the broom cupboard and getting rid of some old dog toys meant I could keep this little memento of my big dogs little dog days! 

Kitchen Clutter!

Kitchen Clean!

My kitchen counter clutter was eating away my time and desire to be in my kitchen. By thoroughly cleaning out the cabinets and purging boxes and boxes (four boxes, to be exact) of stuff allowed me to home many things off the counters and give my big country kitchen back it's "big"!

Clutter be gone!

Clutter Corner!

Microwave Clutter!

Microwave Clean!

Sharing my successes with the Organizing Junkie's 29 Day Challenge! Congratulations to all the participants for all the hard work! I've been enjoying reading all the posts and the trials and successes we've all be experiencing!

PS I've been having all sorts of technical issues with this post - my apologies if the formatting is wonky - it's late, I'm tired and I just don't know how to fix it!!! I also wanted to share my purge piles but too much more of this and I'm afraid I'll lose the post! 

29 Day Challenge: Down to the Wire!

Happy Friday, everyone! How is your organizing going? I'm starting to get my groove on this and although I was sick all week, I tackled a few more cupboards this week. With only four left to go - plus the dreaded Spice Cupboard, I think I have it all well in hand!

My purge piles aren't big, but I did do some big organizing! Our kitchen has a phenomenal amount of drawer space - seven drawers, to be exact. The unfortunate fact is that two of the drawers are "junk" drawers. The first one I tackled this week was JJ #2.

When I opened it, it looked like this:

And when I finished, it looked like this:










Simple right? The blue shopping bag you see in the first picture is filled with manuals - all the manuals for everything in our home... Dating back to the original 1970's washing machine (which is what we still use). We aren't in the bag often but when the time comes, it is a pain to find anything - the contents get dumped out and we're madly rifling through trying to find the dishwasher manual so we can order a part or get the serial number for the dryer. It may have made more sense to have them in our file cabinet but they have always been here (and this is where the previous owners kept them) so we left them there. But they needed structure so I filed them by room.

Lazy Susan (after)

Next, I hit up one of the two lazy Susan's... As a designer, there are some serious flaws with a typical (old style) Lazy Susan. They are round. Boxes are not. Secondly, building a corner cupboard is a big waste of space. In any event, my kitchen is the way it is and I can't change it but if anyone has any ideas on how to better utilize my Lazy Susan, I'd appreciate any tips!

Utensil Drawer (before)

Utensil Drawer (after)

The other big organization job I tackled was the utensil drawer. I purged it last year as part of my 52 Week Organizational Challenge but I'm having a hard time keeping it tidy. When I went through it today, there wasn't much to get rid of but I tried to sort it in a manner in which I use it - frequent items up front, less frequent tucked at the back of the drawer. I'm not completely happy with it (because I'll have to pretty much empty the drawer to get to things like the kebab skewers) but it is about as logical as I can figure at this time.

How are you fairing with your challenge? Laura's words hit home today - "...purging alone is an ongoing process." I adore the idea of a "Donation Station" - we've got three of those going on right now - one of which is from Week 16 of the 52 Week Challenge! Yes, I realize I have an issue... Thanks for stopping in and we'll see you in five days for the final share!

29 Day Org Challenge: Applying the PROCESS!

Our kitchen is the hub of our home and as such, it is often a dumping ground for mail, packages, artwork and all those “things” a house has that has no other home. We cook, eat, entertain, play games, surf the Internet, craft, take pictures, play trucks, potato head and read books all in this one room. At first glance, it doesn't look much different than any other kitchen across the world; cabinets, counters, appliances, table and chairs.

It's what you can't see that is the problem! Behind the fir and cherry late 1970's cabinetry is a host of clutter and chaos that threatens to spill out every time one opens a door. The plastic containers are helter-skelter, the spice cupboard is a balancing act an aerobatic team would envy and the food storage is a mess of tipped cans, squashed boxes in duplicate and triplicate (because I buy, lose in the mess, buy, lose again, buy – repeat). Behind each closed door is a new disaster.

And I'm ready for change.

My kitchen “hot zones” - areas that continually attract clutter – are:

• spice cupboard
• plastics storage
• pantry/food storage

Other areas that in the clutter trap are:

• lazy Susan's (x2)
• the entire counter top right of the kitchen sink!
• Bread box

The whole challenge has me feeling overwhelmed – there are 20 cupboards in my kitchen, 7 drawers, too much horizontal surface, a work station, our table and the “feeding” stations for our fur-kids. I keep reminding myself it is a PROCESS and to look at it in little bits but as the week is wrapping up and only three left to go, I'm overwhelmed. So I did what any good project manager does and made myself a schedule.

As you see, I spent several days procrastinating, another day cleaning another space and then I planned my month and have been shopping for clutter solutions. I'm not sure if that's the right method – I keep thinking if I find the right system, it will solve my problems... This week, I tackled my plastics cupboard.

Presently, I have no system in place for any area except the plastics. In this cupboard, I have two sets of Tupperware; they stack nicely and their lids sit on the shelf above. The remainder of the 'take and toss' plastic has had various attempts at keeping it together. Snapping the lids in place and stacking them, stacking the containers and placing the lids under them. The current system is to toss them all in, shove them back if you need more room and close the door quickly and run from the kitchen and hope you don't have to open the cupboard next!

Needless to say, this isn't working.

When I decided to tackle this cupboard, I still didn't have a solution in mind. I really have no idea how to manage the 'take and toss' plastic ware. I emptied the cupboards, sorting the 'stuff' by brand and type. Next, I thought about what we use, how we use it and the frequency we use it. 

This made some of the purging decisions simple. The 70's wood salad bowl set belonged to my grandmother – I've hung onto it all these years because I “thought” I needed a salad bowl set... Ask me the last time I used it (it wouldn't matter because I couldn't tell you the last time it was used). The corn holders – again, we have them and may have used them once last summer but there really isn't any reason the cobs can't sit on our plates like normal people! Odd plastics, lids, old mixing bowls and broken items are set and ready to find new homes.

When I reloaded the cabinet, I decided that the way I had it sorted made no sense. I never use vases, I did have about 8 at one time, but I started buying flowers and sending them home with our mother's in vases. It was perfect! I only have two left and they are perfectly happy at the back of the cupboard. Also on that shelf, I put the glass bowls and serving platter. I do use them but not more often then the things now on the second shelf.

The issue still is how to store the plastic ware. After a discussion with my husband, we decided on ONE brand and as we move forward, we will start purging the old and replacing it will all the same brand. In the interim, I've stacked them by brand with their lids sitting under them.

Sitting back and looking at the cupboard, it was a small project but I feel like I had large success. It is tangible and it looks a thousand times better! I have my path for the remainder of the month and although it will be busy, having the cupboards organized and done by the spring will leave me time to plan and design my kitchen improvement project for the summer!

Thanks for stopping by and remember to check out the hundred or so of us participating this month in the Org Junkie's 29 Day OrganizingChallenge!

My first purge pile of the challenge!

52 Week Challenge: Purging "stuff"

What do you do with two full boxes of stuff you don't want and/or need any more?

Naturally, if you're married to a photographer, you have it all professionally photographed, edited and touched up and made purty!



Then, once all that is done, you commence the big PURGE.


Any guesses on what this is?

I asked Laura a question a while back about a couple of appliances I had that I never used but didn't want to part with because I might need them one day... Her advice was something along the lines of if I hadn't used them (at that point, it was 10 years) would I ever and what could be in that space that I really do use.

I didn't have the courage to ask her what to do with things I've purchased that I don't remember buying...


I'm sure I thought this was really cool when I bought it...


This little treasure involved a box of wine... Need I say more?


I know - harmless little picture frames... Except for the fact that I made these up more than 10 years ago for our old kitchen. My husband thought they looked stupid (I'd framed pictures of various spices I'd cut out from the side of a gift bag - he had no vision) so I never hung them up. Ever. I tossed them in a box... And they stayed there for eleven years...

Eleven years... Who hangs on to stuff they aren't using for eleven years?


I don't know how to do counted cross stitch.


This is a piece of very stiff, hand woven 'cloth' from the Philippines. In my defense, I bought it as part of a fundraiser the women in the cafeteria where I used to work were doing. In 2005.


Spring tension rod: 1999 New, in package...

See, if there really ever was someone who needed the 52 Week Challenge, it most certainly is me! All of this stuff (along with items like unopened Christmas ornaments from Ikea, four partially painted birdhouses, a ream of 11x17 vellum, a magic eight ball, and 17 plastic embroidery framing hoops) is diligently being posted on our local Earthcycle and Freecycle groups. because one person's junk is always another's treasure!

Thanks for stopping by!

52 Week Challenge: 34 Years of Magazines

While I've been embroiled in home renovations, my organizing has taken a bit of a back seat - that said, renovations are like the ultimate reorg of your home but this renovation is part of the 'big picture' renovation that started with me organizing my office/studio space.

So this week, as I put on the second coat of mud and read about installing wall paper, my husband set to sorting and purging his magazine collection...

I've mentioned his ginormous collection a couple of times since I started participating in the 52 Week Challenge. Today, he went through and photographed his collections... He has decidied to finally get rid of all the magazines. All of them. Assuming he can find someone to take them... If he can't he'll take them all to the recycling depot.

I didn't realize immediately that he was doing this. He kept making trips up and down the stairs (his studio is on the main floor, the periodicals were stored in the laundry room). I offered to help after the fourth time I saw him, but he declined... I think it was his way of "saying goodbye".

As I ventured upstairs to see how it was going, he said...



"1996 to 2011 - that's how long I've been collecting Jeep magazine."

I looked at the magazines stacked all over his studio. Fifteen years of magazines were strewn about in neat, orderly piles. No doubt sorted by year, then my month. He's very organized that way.

"Initially, they only published three or four a year so there aren't as many as I thought there would be." he added.

A while later, as I was preparing dinner he requested my presence in the studio.

"1991 to 2010 - 4WD and Sport Utility magazines."



Nineteen years. Who keeps 19 years worth of magazines?

My husband. The organized pack rat. I am very proud of him for doing this - it is hard to get rid of something. He started reading both magazines because of his keen interest in "off roading". He got his first Jeep in 1991 and his passion and love for four wheeling was born. Passions and people change and all our purging will make way for new adventures and excitement!

For more fantastic inspiration, check out the Organizing Junkie's 52 Week Challenge and get inspired today! Thanks for stopping in and we'll see you next week!

52 Weeks of Organizing: An Amazing Accomplishment!

This weekend, I. No.

This past weekend, we accomplished something I didn't really think was possible. We accomplished the impossible.

First, it was a team effort. I could not have done any of the work if it hadn't been for my wonderful son and my amazing husband. Everyone was involved.



This was my husband's office. This is the area that will be opened up to the rest of the family room. The picture above is of my husband going through 20 years of filing. Tax records dating back to 1990. Instruction manuals for tools that have not been in his possession for nearly 20 years. Every certificate our dog has earned in his 11 years (which always makes people ask why he is so unobedient if he's been so well trained). The receipt for my sewing machine (it was a gift from him in 1999). There was more - lots more.



There are three more full garbage/recycling bags to go out next week. Plus we've got two large boxes (and an armful) of items to be posted on our local Earthcycle group. Did I mention that I haven't actually gone through my stuff yet? That will happen after the renovation and I know just how much space I've got left.

I also believe we've got the only three year old who understands the importance of 'shredding the evidence'. ;) I'm not sure, but could this be proof of his future as a politician?



No one was harmed during the cleaning of this space. The dog couldn't find a place to lay down and the cat decided it was safer upstairs and we only lost TroubleMaker in the piles once.



I enacted Laura's PROCESS. It just so happened I had so much stuff that I literally buried the rest of the family room under my mountains of stuff. I actually exclaimed to my husband "Can you imagine if I was a real hoarder and our whole house looked like this!"

There was only a very narrow path to the laundry room and the stairs leading up to the main floor.



You can ask my husband why there is a toboggan in the middle of that picture... Since it arrived in the mail last November, it has been in my office. I'm not really sure why but since there is was so many things piled in my space, I honestly didn't realize there was a toboggan in there until we started emptying the room.

After almost an entire morning, we did something I thought was not possible. I had no idea it could be done and I'm still surprised when I looked at the pictures. We did it. We actually did it...



Just in case you don't remember just what this space looked like when I started it... Here is a refresher...




I also just realized I never took a picture of the third angle. It was SO bad that even I felt I had to hide my shame!

Can you believe the change?



I know, I know... You're wondering if the rest of the family room still looks like an episode of the Hoarders... I am proud to report it does not. I absolutely refused to stop working on the Saturday until we could find places to sit. Because we are going to be taking down walls, all of my stuff has been packed into boxes and bins and it stacked in the back corner of the room that's coming down. I will cover it with drop cloths and start the demolition this coming weekend.

By Sunday afternoon, my husband was set back up in his "new" office space and continued purging his files. He went from a four drawer vertical file to a two drawer file cabinet! He's got enough space in his new digs for a reading nook and a third desk! We'll be putting the finishing touches on his space next week.

I'm not sure how I top this week's project. I am so proud of me and my boys - this was an enormous undertaking and means significant change for our entire house. Because my studio will be open to the family room, it necessitates me to pare down my mini-craft/design store to a reasonable collection and also will force me to work and live more organized! Thanks to the PROCESS, we were able to effectively empty two spaces, purge, purge, purge and then put it all back together again in a way that will work for our family!

Although I'm not really sure where the toboggan went... Probably to the same place the pair of eyeglasses I had to return... If you see them, please call...

To see more super work and for more information about Laura's PROCESS, check out the Org Junkie's 52 Weeks of Organizing!