Laura, the organizing junkie, at http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com is hosting a 30 day Organizational Challenge.  I have decided to enter!  I like a challenge, especially when there are prizes involved.  Please visit her blog for more details and lots of great organizing information. 

I am entering the whole room/area category.

What will I be organizing?  The GARAGE!!!  I am going to post a before picture so I will be motivated to work hard and get an after picture!  Here we go.......






Let me explain.......ummmm, well, ok I guess there is not much to explain...it is a mess.  It was already quite messy and then I got on a decluttering binge inside the house and much of it ended up in here - so I didn’t really declutter anything, I just moved it.   The good thing is I know I can live without all this stuff because I have not missed any of it.  When I moved here from Australia 9 years ago I only had 2 suitcases worth of stuff - what happened!?

This is a double garage.  The car can still fits - but for how long?  I want one half to be for the car and the other half storage/art studio.

What is in there? 
1.  Lots of baby clothes and baby items.  I want to have more kids so badly that I have been hanging onto things.  Even if not for me, for my sister when she has a baby some day.  I have realized that a lot of baby clothing doesn’t keep very well.  And...”there is more at the store” .  If I should be blessed with more children someday I’m sure we will also have everything we need for that child.
I spent some time going through the clothes this week and threw out the badly stained ones, packed up the extra special ones and got the rest ready for a garage sale. 

2.  Empty Boxes - We have moved a few times and I got into the habit of keeping our boxes...they might be needed!  Well, I decided to look at some of them and guess what...boxes don’t keep either.  They get old and damaged and won’t be much good for holding anything.  We don’t know how long we will be living here .  I’ll take the freedom that comes with a clean, clutter-free space rather than being “prepared” by saving those boxes.  We took 3 trips to our local recycling facility and got rid of most of them.  Yay!!!

3.  Toys - One day I decided my daughter had way to many toys and proceeded to pack up the majority of them.  At the time I was not sure if I would rotate them or let her have a few back later, so I left them in the garage.  She has not missed them and has even received more since them...so out they go!  My daughter’s favorite “toys” are pen and paper.  She draws more than anything else.  I keep her stocked up on paper and she is happy.  Packing up most of the toys in her room was a wonderful thing.  It is much easier for her to keep her room tidy now and receiving the instruction to “clean your room” is not quite so overwhelming!!

4.  Junk - I’ll just group most of the other stuff in this category.  There are lost of odds and ends out there.  Some are useful..the rest need to go.  Some of it was here when we moved in..but not enough to really blame anyone for this mess

5.  Useful stuff - Decorations, outside toys, clothes for my son to grow into (from his cousin), camp stuff.

Oh dear, this really is embarrassing .  I can’t believe I am sharing this with everyone.  Oh well!

What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
MY VISION FOR THIS ROOM: I would like to use one side of the garage as an art space for my kids (and myself).  There are very few areas inside the house that are not carpeted so it is hard to create any great artwork without causing a problem.  I have a wonderful table and an easel that I would like to put in the garage.  That way the kids can enjoy being creative without mommy stressing out about the carpet (this is the church house so I want the carpet to stay nice!).


PLAN OF ATTACK:

1.  Purge - get rid of everything that is not useful or loved. 
     A.  TAKE the no good stuff to the dump.
     B.  GIVE some of the nice baby things to my newly married friends who are hoping to start families right away.
     C.  SELL the good stuff in a garage sale (I hate garage sales but hubby requested one.   Since his hard earned cash was used to purchase most of what we own I think we can do that.  He knows I don’t like them so we have deal - I get it ready, he sells it.  I can live with that)
     D.  Take that which doesn’t sell to the thrift store.

2.  Group like items together.  Most things will be containerized.

3.  Divide garage into sections.  I need specific areas for clothing, outside toys, art supplies, camp stuff, gardening tools, car supplies and tools, Christmas decorations etc.

4.  Buy an inexpensive rug for underneath the art table.  Will probably need to buy some plastic containers also.  I plan to spend as little money as possible on this project.  My goal is to use what we have.  I will purchase a few things as necessary but will not exceed $50.00.  I won’t purchase the rug until the garage is decluttered and organized.

5.  Time - Do as much as I can while my mother-in-law is here to watch the kiddies.  Then work for about 20 minutes each day.  More if possible.

6.  Change my habits.
      I need to learn to make decisions in a more timely fashion.  Adopt the “do it now” principle.  When packing up clothing my kids have outgrown decide if it will be sold at the consignment store, given to the thrift store or to a friend, or save for the future.  Put it in the appropriate place right away.  If for the thrift store, put it in the car, if for the kids - put in hope chest etc.
     Force myself to deal with junk on the spot rather than set it aside for later.  If this is not possible then I will need to have a day set aside each week to deal with what has accumulated (I’d rather be an on-the-spot gal)
     Don’t buy things we don’t need!

TODAY we actually took a run to the dump.  I documented it for you:

Throwing this stuff out was a huge high.  Just as big as shopping - only without the guilt!!

My mother-in-law has been so kind.  She helped me pack up all this stuff in her truck. 

Well, that is all for now.  I'll keep you posted.