Scuba Gear

I had a meeting at the Dive Shop I go to tonight about how to pack scuba equipment for my trip next week. Of course, that meant that I needed all of my scuba gear together to take there and fit in a suitcase. So my boyfriend and I rounded up the stuff to take. We need better storage for our scuba stuff. I want to be able to have it for a long time, so we will decide on the best storage for that after our trip. Right now it resides in big plastic bins, which is ok, but we need to find out a better way to do it than just throwing everything in. I would love to get the scuba travel suitcase, everything fits in and is nice and protected. We shall see. For now my mind is swimming with ways to make our scuba gear work (nice pun, right?!)

Under the Kitchen Sink

Under the sink had become a disgusting collection of garbage bags, vases, and various cleaning products. I also say disgusting because it needed a good old fashioned scrub down with heavy amounts of elbow grease. If it were my house, I would have painted it too, but it is not my house, so I left it at, "I know that stain is a clean stain". I took everything out from underneath the sink and scrubbed it out. No wonder I can never quite get the kitchen smelling fresh, the dirty water stunk! But there was never really an odor coming from under the sink, nothing that you would notice upon opening the door. I must say after scrubbing out the underneath of the sink, the kitchen doesn't hold any odor at all now. Once I dried out the cabinet and put everything back where it belonged, I found the rest of the supplies that hid in another cabinet because they had lost their home under the sink. Nothing is homeless now, and although I would never expect a guest to say, "My what a organized under the sink cabinet you have", I feel a little better if I ever have to tell them where the trash can is and they open the right door instead of the left!

Before:

 After:

Physical Photo Organization

So if you are not a regular follower of my blog, or missed the entry, I did a huge part of my photo project when I scanned my negatives and saved them to CD's. I have also found a way to organize my photo CD's  in a binder that I made for quick and easy access and also for backup protection. What I could not do, however, was find the motivation to go through the beach bag (yes, you heard right) of photos that were loose, in envelopes and a complete mess. At least they were all in the same place, right?! So this afternoon, I set out to get as much of this beach bag done as I could. Suprisingly, I got the whole thing emptied, and a majority of the photos sorted! I went on a major purge of photos that just didn't make the cut. Photos of places/scenery that I didn't care about, photo's of ex's (who wants a reminder of that?), any blurry photos or pixelated ones and finally the ones that shouldn't have been printed in the first place! Now all of my photos are in a photo box, organized by sections. Some include- high school, college, pregnancy, birth, baby's first year, baby's first birthday, Easter and Christmas of various years, and various months or seasons Summer 09 or October 2010. Now that they have all been put in their various sections or categories, I can pick out a section at a time to chronologically put them in order. Eventually I would like them to all make it into photo albums, but I want everything sorted and saved first. I spent about 2 hours and about 20 minutes cleaning up on this project. Something I was dreading taking hours longer. So any ideas what I should do with the beach bag? :)

Cord Calm

I saw another person in the 52 week challenge who tackled the cords in her space. While I was at the TV project, I took a quick intermission to move the stand and clean behind it and saw the mess of unnecessary cords behind there. 5 minutes was all it took to go from chaotic to cord calm.
I also re-programed the universal remote in my room so that I can watch TV, switch the channels or pause a movie. :::Sigh:::: Sometimes it is the little things.

Bedroom TV stand

I have a TV in my room which I barely use. The area is so cluttered, and I don't watch any regularly programed TV, unless you count Disney Junior every morning! I never watch my DVDs  in my own room because it is usually cluttered, messy, and overwhelming. Which leads me to falling asleep in the living room and waking up with a neck ache. I took everything off the stand, gave it and the tv a nice scrubbing, and organized books and DVDs. Photos and CDs don't belong here so they were put in their own homes. My DVD player is once again hooked up to the TV, and I enjoyed an afternoon nap to the sounds of RENT, waking up pain free and refreshed and accomplished!

Before:

 Emptied:

 After:

"Keep" Box

So I'm going a bit crazy this weekend! I have a snow day today so I decided to go full force with some of the projects on my list. I had a rubbermaid tub just sitting in the basement. It was full of stuff from when I lived with my dad (ie, hasn't been gone through since before college?!). I emptied it out, most of the stuff was old/garbage. The rubbermaid tub is so old it is yellowed. I gave it a good scrub down. The things that I kept from my "keep" box are a few pendants, jewelry, and trinkets that made the cut, THIS TIME. If I feel I can part with these items the next time I do this tub, they will be gone. I'm sure I don't need them, but I do still love them, and they may be transfered to my permanent keep box at my moms house.

The Before's:

 Cleaned out and After Picture:

Card Collection

First off I would like all of my friends and family to know that I love my birthday, Christmas, baby, graduation cards etc. but I finally went through the gift bag full of them and only chose to save a few. Mostly ones written by my mom or dad, or grandparents that had a message that I wanted to save. I don't know why I have kept them, except for the guilt of throwing them away. Cards are expensive, but it doesn't mean I have to save them.  I am happy to have saved some very special cards, but adios to the other ones taking up space. I know how much you all love me, I don't need a card to remember that!

Photos to put away, cards to keep, cards to pitch!

Shower Solution

I finally found the shower organizer I wanted! I went to Big Lots and searched and searched hoping they had one but to no avail. Bed Bath and Beyond had one but it was more expensive that I wanted to spend. Went the next day because my boyfriend liked the hanger caddy I got and saw it in the same section I was looking for over half an hour. It is the kind that goes in the corner with four shelves and a tension pole. I hate when my shampoo and shave gel and everything else falls in the tub, and sometimes on my toe (OUCH). This also allows us all to have our own shelf and keep the tub free of product. It is amazing how something so simple makes our space so much happier.

Closet Storage Makeover

I am so proud to post that Monday my boyfriend and I completely made over my closet. We went to Home Depot and bought a Closet Maid storage solution and put in in my closet last night. Of course, it couldn't be quite that simple. We first had to take out the stuff on the walls with a crowbar. I say we, but I just watched. I know that I plan on moving in a few months, so why would I do something that includes a fixed unit that I won't take with me? Well, one reason is that I just don't have enough room, even for the few remaining months I am here. I also wanted to see how well my boyfriend and I could work together on a home project. Not that I was testing him, but I could never have done it by myself. Also, to see if I liked the idea of different closet storage solutions. Well, I'm hooked! I love the way it turned out, and I am sure whoever uses the closet after me will love it too. I have an extra 4 feet of hanging space and lots of room for storage on top. We still need to go through and patch up the holes from the crowbar and ripping the old wood off the walls, and it needs a fresh coat of paint, but we will do that when we have a weekend to let the things dry.                                                       The Before's:

 Over stuffed and overflowing

That is not my creepy monkey!

Boxes of junk in the bottom

Really, when is the last time I needed 2 pairs of character shoes and tap shoes?

During:

All emptied out, have to pry to wood off...

So in doing this, I have another project to do, fill in the holes and paint the closet. I also want a light in there.

 After:

Job well done!

My Personal Planner/Home Journal

I think I am ready to take the plunge. I am starting a Personal Planner/Home Journal or whatever you want to call it. I am not really a pencil to paper gal, so we shall see how it goes. So I bought my binder. First steps first, right? Then I set out to find some printables that would be relevant to the tabs I plan to have in my journal. There are so many great resources out there for free! I printed and organized the pages, carefully hole-punched the freshly inked paper, and put the binder together. Talk to me in a month and ask me how the binder is working out. I plan to use it as a way to declutter my brain of all the things I often forget because they haven't been written down. A special thanks to Danielle who had a great post about building her own planner and where to find some amazing printables.

The cover and my tabs. 

I have Daily, Monthly, Laundry List/Goals, Grocery, Medical, $pending, Misc., and Tips & Notes.

I spent $4 on this total. I bought the binder and had everything else I needed to make it. I printed in B&W because my printer eats color cartridges and they are so expensive. I'm sure I will find other things I want to add, things I might not use, and modify it a bit, but for now it looks like a great start. I told my son's grandma that it will be a communication log as well, she can leave me notes on the daily page if she needs to.

I am so excited to share this with you all. I talked to my boyfriend tonight and told him some of the things I have been doing, not in great detail mind you, but enough to let him know that I have been on this decluttering kick in preparation for when we move in together. I told him of all the wonderful advice I had found from all of these blogs, books, and magazines. I think he's got the itch. He told me that he puts it off because it is overwhelming. I am ready to help him with some of the info I have gotten to help him purge and declutter so that we can both become organized individuals together. How awesome is that?!

Corner Clutter Controlled!

I have a little shelf in the corner of my room that just accumulates stuff. I don't ever work in the corner of my room, but this little area houses things that I'm not quite sure what to do with, and school things. I finally decided to go through the stuff and make it a visually pleasing area with a purpose.
A lot of things got shredded or put in the paper recycle. Things to keep got put in the right file in my filing box or in my keep box.

Before:

 Cleared everything off:

 Nice new area:

The sunglasses holder up and filled:

I still have the rolling cart of 3 drawers that sat in front of it, but the bottom drawer is done from yesterday (the tangled mess). I got rid of the 3 milk crates that were in this corner and will re-purpose them when I find a need for them.

Sunglass Solution- I made it!

I have quite a few pairs of sunglasses that are much like my jewelery. Unless they are out in the open, I will probably wear the same pair everyday, even though I really want to switch them out for a better match to my outfit. While I was thinking of options, my mind fluttered to the sunglass displays at my work. I am not about to go buy one, but could it be that hard to make? I set out to make one of my own. I used a side-wing poster from work that was going to be thrown away. You could also use cardboard covered in wrapping paper or something similar for visual appeal. I measured the racks at the store and came up with a prototype.

I marked out my measurements on the back of the poster (had to modify it down just a touch, but gave the correct measurements listed on my design). Then I cut out the holes, and filled it with sunglasses. I was at work and these do not belong to me but I haven't taken more pictures. I have a place for 6 pairs of sunglasses on my poster.

 If you make a sunglasses holder off of my design, please show me a picture of your final product, I would love to see it!

Tangled (Not a movie review)

This weekend I focused on those tangled messes that we keep putting off because of the time it takes to untangle before organizing. These two areas included my jewelery and cords for electronics.

Now, as for the jewelery, I bought one of those "As seen on TV" Blingee sets as a temporary measure. I know I won't wear my jewelery unless I am able to see it, not hidden in a drawer or jewelery box. Now they are displayed on my mirror, for now. I will re-evaluate how the jewelry organization solution goes in the next month or so.

The electronics were a jumbled mess. I untangled all of it, separated and sorted the cords. Why do I need a motorola razor phone car charger? I DON'T. All the cords that do not belong to something I own are going to the college where they reuse and dispose of these things properly.

Before

After

Donated

 ETA: I got to work not half an hour after my project and remembered the place that I see the recycle for used electronics. Right there at CVS where I work. Into our box they go! I called the company and they take the chargers and cables as well, not just the stuff pictured. Win-Win!