I Conquered my Organizational Challenge!

Yippee!!

The finished schoolroom/office

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I overcame obstacles, I hurdled canyons, I leaped tall buildings, I conquered the school room! I sure hope these photos do this room justice, because this room is C.L.E.A.N. and organized. The questions below are from Laura at "I'm an organizing junkie!" and my answers should reveal some of those obstacles and tall buildings I conquered in the last 30 days and the calm that has descended since completion.


1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
I had a couple of difficult parts:
a. so much paper needed to be filed**I overcame this one small bite at a time. The filing took me the longest to complete. I'd do a little, and then do something else for a while
b. too many CD's--educational games, picture back-ups, etc.**I overcame this by removing all the CD's from the room and sorting through them. The educational games were stored with only their cover and CD in an organizer, the cases were recycled. The other CD's were placed neatly on the side of the computer desk--in the CD storage place.
c. 3 children that were excited everytime I uncovered a new "whatever" and needed to be fed several times a day**I overcame this by letting them play with some of the newly found things, but I also tried to clean during rest/nap time. I tried to remind myself that I had 30 days to complete this challenge and that my family is my first priority. I only cleaned a little at a time.

2. Habits/changes I've put into place in order to maintain this organization:
First, I showed the kids where things go, how to put things away, etc. Having a three-tier paper tray for scrap paper, construction paper, etc. is going to be helpful for Bethany (5 y.o. and loves, loves, loves all things paper). She now has a place to get paper, a place to use paper and a place to put paper when she is finished. Also, there are label containers with pictures as well as words and small baskets in the bookshelf all to aid in putting things away.
Second, I also am making a practice of putting things away right when I'm finished using them and teaching the kids to do the same.

3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Ohhh, the fun part...I threw bags and bags of stuff away. I also gave a lot of it to Goodwill. My Hunny made several trips to that place. Lastly, a very few toys found a new home in baby boy's room. Everything else was outta here!

4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?

File papers when they land in my hand!! And, I don't have to be a cleaning fool to get a project done. Taking it little bit at a time was do-able and even fun! (My usual way is to tackle the whole thing in one day and stress everyone out doing it.)

5. Now that I've completed the process, do I think it will make a difference in my life?

Yes, sirree! This room is so peaceful now. My Hunny brought the rocking chair in from the living room, lit a candle and listened to soft music in here! Now that is a huge difference from before when we were literally stepping on things to get to the computer. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but this room is SO clean. My daughters have commented that the room is so big now.

My hunny has mentioned several times how much he likes this room and appreciates the hard work I put into cleaning it. That really is all this girl needs!



Tired editor's note: This post has given me fits!! I've been at it waaaaayy too long. I tried to line up the photos nice and neat and do other things to make it readable, but I'm not succeeding. So, here it is--at the end of the day, the room is still organized even though the computer is now out in the yard and we'll need to replace that screen.