I’ve been decluttering and organizing The Master Bedroom this month as part of my Love By Decluttering project. Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie has helped me stay focused and motivated as I have been following along with her 29 Day Organizing Challenge this month!
If you want to catch up on all of the posts related to this project, here’s a list:
I am so excited to show you these before and after pictures!
Before – Walking in the door…
After:
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After:
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After – There’s floor!
Before #1 of the mega pile.
Before #2 of the mega pile to show what was under that pile of clothes – more clutter!
After!
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After – Crazy! In a good way.
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After:
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After:
My word for my newly decluttered and organized bedroom? Peaceful.
As part of concluding the 29 Day Organizing Challenge, Laura gave us 7 questions to answer:
1. What space did you decide to organize and why?
I chose the master bedroom because I wanted to bless my husband with a peaceful retreat, not a chaotic clutterfest. It benefits me, too, of course. And you know what? I will feel so much better about telling my kids to clean their room, now that I am setting a good example.
2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline?
I think one of the most important steps was committing to participate in all of the progress link ups. I didn’t want to link up a post showing no progress, so I knew I would at least do something each week and not procrastinate until the end.
It also helped to have a method to follow. Laura has these great PROCESS steps for organizing. These are the basic steps, but you can read more about it here.
Plan of attack – I chose the master bedroom, and worked my way around the room starting with the worst area. Then I went bask through again to get anything I missed and to do finishing touches.
Remove items – I did this in stages as I worked my way around. For example, I took everything out of my closet, vacuumed and wiped down the area and cleaned any clothes that needed it.
Organize into piles – I had trash and recycling bags, and give/sell bags to help sort through things. For the items I was keeping, I had like items with like.
Containerize – In some cases there were containers, and sometimes it was just how much room was on a shelf. This was very helpful in deciding to get rid of things until they would fit in the space.
Evaluate plan – Since the project just ended, this will be happening over the next few weeks.
Solve/Simplify any remaining issues – As I evaluate over the next few weeks, I will tweak things to make them work better!
Smile, relax and enjoy your hard work! 
3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?
Not getting overwhelmed. It was especially hard when I realized just how much paper and other miscellaneous clutter was hiding in my room. I really wanted to just move it out of there to deal with later, but I knew that would be the wrong choice. That’s how it ended up in my room to begin with.
In order to get through this, I broke it into smaller parts sometimes by working in small chunks of time or by having a goal of one box in a day.
My friend Kristen offered to come over and help one afternoon, too, and that really helped keep me motivated towards the end.
4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
-Some of it went to other rooms in the house (toys, kids’ clothes, potty seats)
-A lot of it left in a recycling/trash truck! (Mostly paper clutter)
-A lot went to Goodwill. (clothes, household/decorative items, books) My friend Kristen took some bags with her, and the rest are by the door. Mr. RSS is taking them today!
Here’s today’s load going to Goodwill:
I thought I was going to try to sell some things, but I realized that was too big of a barrier/time commitment and I just needed to get them out of the house!
5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?
Getting through a box of paper clutter while I had 3 kids in the bedroom with me. Need I say more? Somehow it worked. They actually loved looking through the old Family Fun magazines I was finding. It just helped me realize/remember that I can declutter with kids underfoot, on lap, running around, etc.
6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?
A lot of my organizing tools were already there and I had just allowed them to get overrun. So a lot of the process for me was paring down so that what I have will easily fit on the shelf or in the container without being crowded and cluttered.
-I made sure my shoes fit nicely on the shoe rack (I got rid of 2 or 3 pairs of shoes)
-I Paired down my sweatshirts so that they fit in one box that is stored on the floor for out of season storage.
-I got rid of some T-shirts so that all of my T-shirts would fit nicely on the shelf or in one drawer of my dresser.
7. What is ONE piece of advice you’d give to someone else to encourage them on their organizational journey?
Work with a deadline and tell someone about it who will keep you accountable.
Going Forward
An important thing for me in this process has been figuring out how the bedroom got this way, and how I’m going to keep it from happening again. Here are my take-aways:
-No hiding clutter from other rooms in the bedroom.
-Clothes need to be put away right away. Clothes that are dirty into the laundry basket and clothes that are clean into the closet or drawers. There is no in-between place in the bedroom for clothes to hang out in a big messy pile. Kids’ clothes go in their rooms, not mine.
-The one in, one out rule. You might be surprised to learn that shopping is not my problem. In the last year I only purchased 2 clothing items: a white T-shirt and a white tank top. And as far as clothing gifts go, there were 1 or 2 T-shirts and 2 pairs of shoes. My problem isn’t bringing stuff into the house so much as it is never letting it leave. That has changed quite a bit this year, though. So for every item that comes into the house, I will get rid of at least one similar item.
-Maintenance. I think when I have the kids clean their rooms on Saturdays, I’ll just think of that as a time for all of us to clean our rooms!
Head on over to I’m an Organizing Junkie to be inspired by more room transformations!
