Organized House: Front Hall Closet

This morning, I got up and did my workout at home before heading the the studio for the first class!  The ritual is working so far, plus I was just super excited about starting the New Year Fit Camp at StudiOne today.  I need to find ways to have this kind of enthusiasm for every regular day of life.

Y’all I’m pretty proud I’ve made it three weeks in a row of sticking to this organizing the house plan.  And I’m also proud to report that the master closet and the laundry room are still looking neat and tidy and perhaps even more impressively, I haven’t purchased any items of clothing in 2017.  I do have some points expiring at the end of this month so I foresee a purchase, within point limits, in the next week or so.

This week my organizational task was conquering the front hall closet.  I really only have one “house closet”, that’s to say a closet not in a bedroom.  With limited storage space outside of the bedroom, I had some specific objectives for this space.

• Coats and winter gear
• The vacuum
• The carryon suitcase

I stuck to the same plan as the laundry and master closet by taking everything out of the closet first, and then deciding if it was worth putting back in OR sorting into trash and sale piles.  (I’ve decided while I don’t have anyone in that front room, that it’ll be a holding room for an early spring yard sale).

Everything out first

Coats and winter gear already fit into this closet so it was easy to put them back in in an orderly fashion.  The vacuum and carryon suitcase haven’t fit before and just occupied space in the very narrow hallway.  I don’t like it.  I had piles of old and mismatched Christmas decorations, random sheets of tissue paper and a variety of gift bags (a poor attempt at storing wrapping supplies).  Most of that got trashed.  I hate it, especially the part where I might be able to use it in the future, but better out than in at this point.

This one was a quick project I finished in one evening.  The carryon and vacuum found homes, as well as my big duffel of race shirts ;).  I also had a plastic storage bin that wasn’t really being used so I saved the most practical wrapping supplies and put them all in there.

The best part though, and something I appreciate about younger me, was coming across an old photo box that had prints from high school and college, notes from all kinds of occasions from my parents, roommates and friends.  And my Ireland travel journal that I knew was saved somewhere.  I love saving love notes of all kinds, and even though I’m sure I’m not supposed to keep them (clutter you know), my heart is always so happy when I find them.  So that box stayed.

Vacuum and suitcase fit now!

I’m feeling good about this focus for the year!  Next week the podcast is about kitchen counters…..seems easy enough!

 

Organized House: The Laundry Room

Last week I mentioned one of my big focuses for 2017 was organizing my home, mostly through having less stuff around.  I resolved to not purchase any new clothes this entire year (save a few exceptions) and to work on one room/area of the house each week.  Last week I tackled the master closet – and this week I hit the laundry room.  I’m following a podcast called Organize 365 and picking out the rooms that apply to me from her “40 days, one whole house” organization series.

The master closet was a daunting task, and I’m proud to say after one week it is still organized.  Next in her progression is the laundry room.  She claims that she can tell how organized a house is based on its laundry room, and well, based on mine she’s probably right.

Holding space for everything

Since I had just completed the master closet, this task seemed a little less daunting.  It helps that my laundry room is fairly small.  I love my built in cabinets and shelving but it was so cluttered with things that didn’t belong anywhere in the house, I could hardly use it.

The first task was to decide what else besides laundry would I want to use my laundry room for?

• Miley – she goes in and out this back door multiple times a day.  I decided to keep her food, leash, doggie bags and medicine here.
• Cleaning – not only do I want to keep clothes clean in this room, but it makes sense to me and my house to keep the mop bucket and a few other household cleaning items like dust towels, vinegar and extra sponges (especially since it’s adjacent to the kitchen)
• Extra supplies – it also makes sense to me to keep other extra supplies for the house in here.  I’ve got the room for them and it’s better for me than going down into the dark, damp basement.  I keep extra paper towels, trash bags, my very small toolkit, lightbulbs and bug spray.

This mess makes doing laundry extra stressful

I wanted the countertops to be clear except for laundry supplies.  I made an exception for detergent etc, because I didn’t want to have to be getting into the cabinet for every load of laundry.

Good luck mama.

The first task, much like the closet, was to just clear everything out of the space.  Next, I started to sort out what kinds of things I use, what kinds of things truly might be useful to me in the future.  Everything else was trash.  If I didn’t know what it was, I wasn’t going to take the time to figure it out.

There was a lot of trash.  I’m learning how to not feel guilty about having trash to toss out.  It’s better cleared out of the way than weighing me down as I try to do household tasks.

When the counters and shelves were cleared, I cleaned each with a rag and vinegar, after vacuuming some accumulated dirt and cobwebs away.

Much better!

The shelves on the wall are specifically for commonly used outdoor items like bug spray, Miley’s leash, grill supplies and a picnic blanket.  It looks so much calmer!

Already feeling less stressed when I do future loads of laundry

Way to go mama!

No more storing things on top of the dryer.  If I’m doing a quick clean of the house, everything in the laundry room now has a place.  All the extra house supplies and cleaning supplies go in the cabinets.  Laundry supplies are out, and the outdoor supplies are in the shelves.  If I somehow acquire something that doesn’t have a home, I’ll make one for it.

Is it true?  Does your laundry room dictate the organization level of the rest of your house?  (The rest of my house now has some catching up to do!)

Next week: The front hall closet.

2017: The Year of Less

Happy 2017 friends!  I’m relieved the holidays are over, and even though January 1 is just another day in the year, there’s something about it that gives me energy to get shit done.  This year it even started a day early – all New Year’s Eve Day I spent in my house, alone, cleaning out my closet.  It’s a daunting task to end 2016 with but it felt amazing, and like the final perfect task for an excellent year.

This closet purge was inspired by one of the podcasts I’ve been listening to called Organize 365.  I don’t listen to every episode but the host has a 40 week program that guides you through one organizational task per week.  The idea is to work on it all week, but I’m a procrastinator and like to tackle it all in a tight deadline.  I skip over days that don’t apply to me (like kids’ closets) and have completed two weeks of organizing pieces of the house. I’m going to start sharing each week here so you can follow along too!

The Master Closet

Before

The first step is to take everything out of the closet.  Since I only have myself to worry about, and a relatively small closet, I tackled my dresser too.  This was the easiest part.  It took me less than five minutes to create a gigantic pile of clothes, shoes, purses and other odds and ends on my bed (put it on the bed – huge motivation to complete the task, unless you want to sleep on the couch.  Which I don’t have right now, so I had to get it done).

The Pile

The sorting process is next.  This is a little daunting.  The following items get tossed:

1. It doesn’t fit anymore.  Right now, today.
2. You don’t feel like a million bucks in it
3. It’s torn, ripped, stained
4. You haven’t worn it in the past six months

I struggled at first but then I got on a roll.  Old high school sweatshirts, out.  Torn designer jeans, out.  Bridesmaids dresses, out.  Skirts, never worn, out.  Some of this was really hard, but I just shoved the items into bags and soon they were out of mind.

Sorted.

Everything else got folded and sorted onto my kitchen table.  Jeans, workout pants, shorts and shirts.  Sweaters, shoes, hanging items, accessories.  My table and bench were covered.  But my closet and drawers were empty and cleaned!  From here, I continued to pare down.  No duplicates went into the closet.  I tried on every pair of jeans and dress that I put back in.  If I didn’t feel great I bagged it.  If it was too big, even though it was my favorite dress, I bagged it.

The struggle came with the race shirts.  SO MANY.  And I never wear them, ever.  So, I decided to keep only the ones from the state races, and any current PRs.  Everything else – bagged.

I had one bag of trashed clothes (torn, stained, unwearable etc), hangers and tattered shoes and two bags of giveaways.  Everything up to this point probably took two and a half hours.

Returning everything to its proper new home was easy.  “Dress” shirts (for me, anything that’s not athletic) went back in the closet in a color coordinated order.  Jeans, shorts, sweatshirts and workout bottoms got arranged on shelves in the closet.  Shoes on the bottom.  Workout tops, bras and shirts into the dresser drawers, sorted by bra, built in bra or just a top.  Workout t-shirts in a separate drawer.  And the race shirts all ended up in a duffle of their own in the hall closet.  Scarves and winter gear moved to the hall closet.  The over the door hanger moved to the bathroom to hold towels and robes.

And just look at the magic….

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After all of this and seeing my pile of clothes on the table, I had a thought: I do not need a single ‘nother item of clothing.  And today, as I write this, I’m resolving to not purchase any additional items of clothing this entire year (excludes new running shoes, clothes bought with Athleta points and a dress for a wedding).  Yep, there it is in writing and now all y’all can hold me to it.

What are y’all working on this year?

 

Sunday Vibes

Hi Friends!  I hope you’re enjoying this Sunday, even though an hour of it has fallen to Daylight Savings.   This past week was the first official week of business for StudiOne yoga+fitness and man it was a whirlwind.  It’s so cool to walk in and know that the studio is part mine and to have complete ownership over my classes.  I’ve loved welcoming friends and strangers into the space and hope to create an environment that makes fitness fun, exciting and a desirable part of people’s days.

This week was strange and exciting.  Stressful and wonderful.  Fun and hectic.  Pretty much any set of antonyms you can think of is how I felt about the week and having this new gigantic responsibility in my life.  I’m thankful for my partner and the army of supporters I have to speak fears to, and little excitements like our first drop in student.

With all this new studio stuff going on, I’m trying to be more intentional with my time.  That means no more lazy Sundays.  Or should I say, not-quite-so-lazy-Sundays.  That’s not to say I’m not relaxing and catching up on all the Bachelor gossip before tomorrow’s big finale (#teamjojo), but I have created a very specific list of tasks to get done that I know will make my week easier and breezier.

1.  Change sheets – and make bed.  As hard as I try, it never gets done in the chaos of the early mornings during the week.  But on Sundays, one of my first tasks is to take the sheets off the bed and throw them into the laundry.  While they’re in there, I clean my room and make the bed with the spare set.  It sets the tone for the calming day, and hopefully start to the week.
   

   Fresh sheets

   (Later, while I was out on my quality time date, Miley peed all over these clean sheets.  Sometimes Sundays don’t always go as planned….)

2. Do laundry – Nothing like fresh clothes to start the week.  For me it’s 95% sweaty workout clothes and 5% weekend outfits.  I’ll usually have to do one load mid-week too but I do everything on Sunday.
3. Grocery shop- I’ll usually pick a recipe or two to make for the week ahead.  I purchase these ingredients plus several staples (eggs, almond milk, peanut butter, bananas, a green vegetable) and fresh flowers on Sundays.  Then during the week I may have to swing by once for an item or two.  I learned today not to go early afternoon….
   

   Gerber Daisies for today

4. Cook one or two meals for the week- I don’t plan or prep every meal for the week in neat little rows of tupperware containers.  But I have found that if I can make even one meal on Sunday, I eat much better during the week.  I normally get home from my last appointment at 8pm M-Th and if something’s not ready in the fridge, it’s cereal, take out or no dinner at all.  Luckily this week I’ve got rainbow salad and mushroom soup prepped.
5. Take out the trash- Save this for after all the cooking.  Grab office, bathroom, bedroom trash bags too and take it all out.  I’ll also scan through each room for obvious pieces of trash – rogue pieces of mail, packaging, receipts etc.
6. Write all appointments down- While things are cooking or after a nap, I’ll sit down and plan out my weekly schedule.  This may not be as crucial for people with consistent work schedules but I’m sure even within your 9-5 you have specific appointments etc.  I’ll map out each day’s training appointments, classes and social events.  It helps me see which days may be particularly exhausting and which ones I can treat as recharge days.
   

   Appointment calendar

7. Fill in the gaps with my workouts – I keep a separate planner to track workouts in.  Sometimes I teach a class and do it with them, sometimes I just boss them and do my own workout later.  This second planner helps me keep those things straight.
   

   Workout calendar

8. Clean out car- I don’t always get to this one.  Like today since it rained all day.  But I do feel so much better on Monday mornings if I at least took all the trash out of the car and moved extra clothes and water bottles and coffee mugs back inside.  It’s amazing how much can accumulate in just a few days.  If I’m feeling really productive, I’ll take it to get vacuumed (once a year maybe 😉 )
9. Update budget- I try to deposit checks for both business and personal accounts as I get them, and update any purchases on my budget spreadsheet as they come in but anything that falls behind gets paid or logged on Sundays.  I started tracking everything I earned and burned in 2015 and it is by far the best lifestyle habit I’ve picked up post-college.
10. Quality time- This is my love language.  I’ll use time on Sundays to refill relationship cups with Miley by going to the dog park or with friends by taking a walk or meeting for coffee.  Sometimes its an evening drive to see the fella or a night in with him in Tulsa just spending a few hours catching up.  Long distance family members may get a card written or a phone call.  It always varies but I try to give some quality time to people on Sundays since the rest of the week is usually very distracted.

If you’re looking for a way to make your week more enjoyable and less hectic, I’d recommend starting to slowly add one of these ten tasks to your Sunday to-do list at a time.  Doing it this slowly shouldn’t interfere too much with brunch plans or sleeping in ;).