organize my room

I’m still working on this goal! I had my room in pretty good shape two months ago, and then it went all crazy again right before vacation, and it still hasn’t recovered.

I need to do another yard sale, though, and now is the perfect time to get organize.

Step 1. Put all clothes away. I have this really bad habit of washing everything I own and then multitasking during loads, forgetting that I still need to fold and put clothes away. So, right now I have a crazy mound of clothes spanning 2/3 of my room. Crazy.

Step 2. No, I think the put stuff away will be all I can handle today. I have choir practice tonight, so I won’t be home until late, and I need to wake up early.

My roommie has been bugging me to get my Christmas stocking from the rafters. I finally acquiesced, reluctantly.

“Why the hesitancy?” you may ask. Well…because now I have this huge, blue container full of Christmas goodies that only further clutter my room.

Oh joy. This doesn’t help me in my goal to have my room managable by the time my parents come to visit Monday.

Another mess. Although, I did rearrange my room last week. It just looks like an explosion occurred.

So, today’s goals are:

1) put away clean clothes
2) make bed
3) find a spot for two things that are out of place

Those are small enough to conquer.

My room looks like a distaster again. I had moved things to the laundry room (inside my house) while the house was carpeted. The plan was to only bring things back into my room after I sorted and found places for them. Well, my roommate wanted her laundry room back, and understandably so. Which means, I have towers of “stuff” teetering perilously in my room. Oh well. I guess I’ll try sifting through it this weekend.

I’m nearly finished organizing my bookshelf. I just have to “beautify” it- you know, add pictures and make it look nice, not just functional.

Also, part of my birthday present was getting shelving made for me. My friend Paula got someone to make them for free, and now she’s going to stain the wood for me. I’m so excited. Once the two shelves are completely dried (about a week to make sure), I’ll be able to take a lot of the stuff off of my desk and have more room to just do bills or study.

My closet, however, is another thing. I have a huge box of “must look through” items that I’m not ready to look through. Maybe I’ll do that in February.

Well, the owner of the house I rent a room from decided it was time for new carpet. That meant that I had to clean off everything that was on top of all of my furniture. I also had to clean out the floor of my closet, and for that matter, my floor in general. The picture with this entry is what my room looked like before I went into action.

So, where does one put all their “stuff” while given a week’s notice? I put many things in boxes, to be sorted later. And I stacked things in my laundry room and bathroom.

The carpet’s in, and my furniture is back in my room, but I’m taking my time bringing things back into my room. I’m going o take this opportunity to organize my belongings, and try to resist the urge to just throw everything back in to be done with it. I can’t leave everything in the laundry room, so I have to start there first. We’ll see how this goes!

Tonight I am doing all of my laundry. I probably have 6 or so loads, and half of them are probably clean, but how would I know? After that, if it’s not too late, I will organize my closet. I will concentrate on my room for 30 minutes each day, without distraction.

I figure, if I have a place for everything, then I’ll be inclined to put it away. Sure, it doesn’t work now with my clothes, but it’s easy for me to put those away. It’s the other stuff- the mounds of “very important” papers, journal, dental floss, confetti, and other miscellaneous objects that clutter my room.

I’m not prone to organization. Spacial details, grouping…it’s all a mystery. I am ready to “demystify” it all.

One of the main reasons is for peace of mind. It’s not nice walking over things just to get to my bed. Studying at my desk is almost impossible. It’s littered with pictures, papers, Altoids, an autographed baseball, various vases, books,...yuk.

Another solid reason: my roommate. Paula is an amazing woman who lets me rent a room from her. She’s an incredibly neat person, both personally and organizationally. She used to think that my messy room was a disregard for her. It really isn’t. I’ve wanted my room to be nice for over a decade; it takes more than just wanting to please another person to take an ingrained trait and completely change.

My final reason is actually the one that has hit me the most. Heather Mercer, who was rescued from the Afghanistan prison with Jessica Lynch, came to our church. She will be living in Northern Iraq, facilitating a school for teaching English. Tears wouldn’t cease flowing from my eyes as she spoke about the lives she has seen changed for Jesus. I’ve seen a lot of lives changed for the better when we go witnessing on Thursday nights, but I want to go where there isn’t an abundance of Christians already living in the area. I don’t know if I’m called to N.Iraq, but if I am, I want to be prepared. Part of that is getting rid of unnecessary things. In order to do that, I need to be able to know what I have, and what needs to be let go. Yes, I would like to see my floor, too.

So, a team is leaving from my church next spring. I want to have my room completely organized and down to the necessities before then. Therefore….

Completion date goal: February 14
Why? It’s an offering of love to my Love.