28 Day Challenge- Bookshelves!

What a mess! I am a little embarassed to show this but I have to be honest about where this shelf started. I started out by getting rid of 50 things. Between this project and a couple others in my room, I was able to get rid of over 250 items! The items that I donated are pictured below!

By repurposing baskets from other areas of my room and creating a function for each basket, I was able to create functional shelves! I could have gone all out and put a basket on every shelf for storage but I wanted space for photos and memories. I was able to completely empty one of the baskets so when I have a need for more space on my shelves, I will have a place for the items.

Please excuse the windows-- I live in an attic room without heat so the windows are covered with plastic. I will be making curtains next month!

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

My biggest challenge was purging. I have a big bedroom and it is easy to hold onto lots of stuff. I realized that it was taking me an extra 10 minutes to get ready every morning because I was walking all over my room, digging in piles of clothes trying to find something to wear. I work best with tangible goals so I decided to get rid of 50 things. In the end, I was able to get rid of over 250 items. Granted, some of these things were small like old lip glosses but bigger achievements included my entire magazine collection and getting rid of 42 underwear/bra/swimsuit pieces and thus clearing out my underwear drawers so that they actually close.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

I now have a designated place for things. I used to dump my items on the dresser or floor upon entering the room. Now I keep things in my arms and take a lap around my room and unload them into their correct space.

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

After taking a picture so that I could remember how good it felt, I decided to donate everything. Some of the items I could have sold but I thought it was best to get them out of my house as quickly as possible so that I couldn’t change my mind.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

The thing that I am most proud of is repurposing items so that I did not buy any storage containers to organize my room. Containers can be so expensive so I wanted to prove that organizing did not need to be pricey. One example of a creative was when I found an old baby wipes container with dried out wipes and decided to take off the lid and use it to hold my pens instead of buying a container for them.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge? I actually decided to challenge myself to take on one small organizing project for 28 days and created a blog to track my project. (I had some computer problems so I was not able to post towards the end but I did continue to complete projects.) February 28th marked the anniversary of my dad’s death, a day that I had been dreading for months. It was my goal to take control of the clutter that had built up by February 28th and make March 1st a fresh start with a positive attitude.

This experience has truly been life changing. I did not realize how draining it was to live in such a messy space. I now feel like I have more energy and time for the craft projects that have been wanting to do!