clean my room

I’m looking around my room now, and I think I am at the point where I can make a list of things to do and have this goal complete.

1. Box up office supplies
2. Arrange and clear table
3. Find a place for stuffed animals to save for future (try to fit in childhood box)
4. Go through stuff in plastic box to decide what to take to Ohio or not
5. Go through files and organize
6. Go through school books/wedding planning book and organize
7. Empty white crate and put in the office

That’s all I can think of, but this goal will be complete when my room is only filled with things I am leaving for my mom and I can walk in without feeling like everything is just stacked everywhere.

I’m very proud of myself for everything that I’ve done. A before picture wouldn’t have done anything justice because you wouldn’t have been able to see the clutter tucked away in drawers, closets, in boxes, and under the bed. It’s things that I’ve always had that I’ve forgotten about. When I think about it, my room is now very livable or will be after some last steps.

Since I’ve been home, I moved all of the wedding stuff into the living room. I put the moving boxes in my closet. I plan to pack what I can in them, then move them to another room, so I can put art supplies in the closet. Looking around my room now, the only clutter I see are the art supplies boxes and boxes of things I am moving. Since I have to live here for 3 more weeks, I’m going to put the boxes up in a room no one uses much.

These are the main things I need to do. I think I’ll be able to mark this done soon, because anything else unseen I can make into smaller goals! These goals could be things like “Organize my scrapbook stuff” and “Pack for Ohio” and my current goal “Organize and reduce my art supplies.” I’m very proud of myself. I know that many people have moved in their lifetime and gotten rid of things, but this is my first time to do this in 22 years so that many years worth of stuff is a lot to handle. I’ve done well :)

I probably should have cut this goal into shorter steps, like clean out my college room, and clean out my room at home. Since I’ve already started this though, I’m going to see it through. I only have a month left of it anyway!

I’m packing up my college room today, and getting rid of a lot of stuff. I’m getting married so many of my girly things will not be coming with me. The things I absolutely can’t get rid of are going into a box for later.

My room at home needs even more help now, because not only is it filled with things from my childhood, but now it is my mom’s storage room for all things wedding. And moving. She has put as many empty boxes as she can find in there. I will probably use many of them, but it doesn’t help when I need the space clear so I can think about what I actually want to keep.

You might as well crown her the Packrat Queen! I honestly should never let her see the bags I give away, because my junk becomes her treasure. And I’m not just talking about nice things like electronics or books. I mean useless junk like a rubber ball, a ping pong ball and a plastic frog. It would be fine if she were saving it for a kid to play with, but she’s not. I spotted them in a vintage bowl of vintage buttons. Vintage is cool, but not when you add bright plastic stuff to it! This morning as I was getting in the shower, I noticed that she has salvaged a bath robe that I had from middle school. The reason I got rid of it is precisely the reason why my MOM should not wear it! The back of it says “baby girl” in all caps school/university font. Are you serious?!! She is not that poor!! As soon as I graduate from college and my wedding is over, my parents can use and save all the money they were putting toward my gas, cell phone bill, insurance, sorority, and whatever other expenses I incur. I don’t ever ask for extra money and they don’t even pay my tuition! I will be paying for all my expenses in six months! This is not necessary!!

OK, now that I have ranted, let me lay out what I have done in cleaning my room during Christmas break so far. I’ll start with the list from last entry.

• Continue putting craft things in the proper category box
• Get CD Stereo in car to pawn
• Continue boxing things I want to decorate with when I am married
• Put decorations for new room in a box away from everything else
• Put all vintage things for etsy out of the way in the closet
• Put cloud sheets and comforter on bed, after washing them
• Use the lavender side of silk coverlet on the bed
• Look at frames and start deciding how to decorate with each one
• Make sure to keep suitcases under bed for Will to use
• Bring pink sheets back to school to use

I have done all but two, which are in bold. Yay me!!
I have also:

• Gone through magazine articles that I have saved and either recycled or pasted in a book
• Emptied 3 shoeboxes of scrapbook stuff and recycled or pasted in scrapbook
• Went through old CDs and decided what to keep and what to give away
• In the process of going through VHS tapes and deciding which to keep and to give away
• Donated half of my t-shirts so the ones I kept now fit in my dresser drawers
• Hung up my clothes and rearranged my closet, so I wouldn’t live out of a suitcase for two weeks
• Emptied basket of t-shirts which now holds blankets and towels

Thats all I can remember now, but I’m doing well and I am about to go back and do some more!

Right now at the dorm my rooms gets messy, but its beginning to be only clothes and schools papers that get in the way. My room is very small, but everything has its place and once it gets put away, my room is normal again. One thing I do need to do however is finish with the newspapers that mom gave me. I can go through them at my leisure, which is not often so they do pile up. Since they are temporary, the only way I can keep them organized and out of the way is is a shopping bag. The rest of the papers I brought from home to organize are for the scrapbook. Now that they are sorted into a scrapbook pile, I need to separate them by year, track down stuff from the rest of each year, then purge by deciding what I actually want to go in my book.

Home -

• Continue putting craft things in the proper category box
• Get CD Stereo in car to pawn
• Continue boxing things I want to decorate with when I am married
• Put decorations for new room in a box away from everything else
• Put all vintage things for etsy out of the way in the closet
• Put cloud sheets and comforter on bed, after washing them
• Use the lavender side of silk coverlet on the bed
• Look at frames and start deciding how to decorate with each one
• Make sure to keep suitcases under bed for Will to use
• Bring pink sheets back to school to use

I’m sure there is plenty more, but this will keep me busy for more than Thanksgiving!

I went to my parents house 2 weeks ago and did some major cleaning out…

THREE huge black garbage bags are going to Goodwill!!
I also recycled a huge bag of paper.

I am so proud of myself.

The organizing I did:

-I put my Disney VHS tapes, Barbie dolls and clothes, and some other random games in a big plastic box. My mother doesn’t want me to get rid of them, so hopefully I have a little girl one day and the VHS player still works :)

-I have a Ukranian doll that my aunt and uncle gave me, which I put in her own separate plastic box along with her beautiful clothes. That is one unique gift that I will not part with.

-I went through all the boxes under my bed, recycled papers, got rid of junk, and found a few fun things that I had forgotten about.

-I made categories for my craft things and put them in boxes by category: Painting, Drawing, Beads/Jewelry Making, and Fabric/Ribbons.

-I took apart an old art project that I was not too fond of. At least, I didn’t like the whole thing. I plan to fix up parts of it and make it new. It was fairly large, so doing this cleared out my floor a little bit.

-I had a huge stack of newspaper and magazine articles to go through, so I took those back with me in my car to go through while I am in Tuscaloosa. Also, this was to get it out of my room, so I don’t have to deal with it next time I go home.

That’s all I can remember right now, but I think I did pretty well! :)

is harder than I thought. Will gave me his TV so now I have to figure out where I want it to go. The knick knacks are overwhelming but I think I will get it figured out. I get off work in about an hour so I am going back there to work on organizing some more.

I also have some ideas for my room at home. Mom said I could redecorate it for her so I am going to use some of my old picture frames and I am probably going to look through the pictures in the computer room that are just waiting to go up on the wall somewhere. I’m thinking of a beachy theme but who knows what it will turn out to be! I’m pretty excited but I must focus on school for now.

literally. I took everything out of my room and gave away all the furniture except for the desk and bookshelf. The desk went home and the bookshelf is going to my dorm room. I can’t move into the dorm until the 8th, so I’m staying at a friend’s house until then. I’m thinking that once I get settled in to my dorm room, I can get everything situated and maybe even give away some more stuff. I’m definitely downsizing, even if I dont need to.

So, when I get into the dorm, if there are any more knick knacks to go through I need to do deal with them as I find them. Make a place for them or throw them away immediately, or else they will never be looked at once I get busy with school again.

Next step is to clean out my room at home. My mom is probably going to turn it into her craft room or something and I know she wont go through my junk. It would just stay there forever and ever because she never throws anything away. I dont want to fuel her packrat tendencies. I’m already trying to get ahold of mine.

I’m going to use one of my empty moving boxes to pack up my old barbie dolls and disney movies so that some child in my life whether my own in the future or someone elses can use. I would probably have given them away by now if it weren’t for mom telling me I needed to keep them. I’m glad Will is picky because I don’t need someone else like my mom encouraging me to keep stuff I’m considering giving away!

which is even more motivation to get rid of my clutter. I don’t want to move to a new place carrying a bunch of boxes full of crap. That’s too much work for nothing.

I scheduled the thrift store to come pick up my mattress and box springs and my dresser on Tuesday. As far as furniture, that leaves my desk and bookshelf, the first I will take home and the latter will go with me to the dorm.

I bought moving boxes, one each for desk/school supplies, cleaning supplies, books and movies, decorations, dishes, etc. It’s nice knowing that most of the stuff in my apartment is my roommates and I won’t have to be moving that stuff.

I have a filing system for my scrapbook stuff and important papers. In this way I’ve downsized on paper clutter.

I’m still going through everything, but I have some more stuff in my trunk to take to the thrift store as well.

I’m moving to a new place at the end of the month and I’m tired of moving from place to place with the random knick knacks that I have attained while in college.

I cleaned out my junk drawer, decided what to use for crafts and what to give to the thrift store. Those were the only two categories I used, which forced me to be picky. I took three shopping bags to the thrift store and I was very proud of that. My room is still a mess, but half of the stuff will be given away at some point, so they are in organized boxes.

I’ll be glad when I can arrange my room without any extra clutter to stuff somewhere.