I’m cleaning in preparation for my mother-in-law’s visit next week; she’s arriving Monday. I’ve been cleaning a little bit each day for a few weeks now. I keep attacking low-priority projects (box of diaries!) instead of high-priority ones, but it’s okay. Sure, Elizabeth’s closet is not as important as the living room, but as the visit gets closer, it’ll be easier to face the living room and not as easy to face Elizabeth’s closet. Besides, every task contributes to the overall cleanliness of the house and to the level of my despair about it. Besides-besides, the living room will just get messy again before she arrives, but Elizabeth’s closet will stay tidy.
The last few days, I’ve been working on our computer room / office. It’s a tiny room, and we’ve got it so crammed with stuff it’s amazing any human being can squeeze in there. There are two computer desks, one craft desk, and a big piece of furniture we call The Furniture because we don’t know what it is: it’s over 6 feet tall and it has two shelves, a secretary’s desk (folds out), and three drawers. All four of these pieces of furniture collect paper and clutter like you would not BELIEVE. It’s the most cluttered room in our house, I think.
I started with The Furniture, and I am KICKING myself because I had a whole shelf cleared off before I remembered to take a photo. And it was the worst shelf, too! It had a 2-foot teetering stack of child art, and a “desk organizer” bursting with desk supplies. I’d also cleaned part of a second shelf, removing several 3-ring binders, several folders, and five—FIVE—boxes of special envelopes purchased on a post-holiday clearance. Also: a handful of cardboard pieces for putting in envelopes with photos, three hardcover notebooks, three boxes of stationery, a stack of videotape labels, and a stack of mail-in film processing envelopes (we’ve been completely digital since 2005).
I almost didn’t bother to take a photo at all, I was so discouraged. But I took one anyway, and you’re just going to have to imagine that all the cleaned-out gaps are stuffed with the same type of crap as is stuffing the rest of it. This is The Furniture from the top (where we keep two fleece nests for the cats to escape to when the children are being persistent) down to the secretary’s desk, which is folded out because there is too much stuff on it to close it (I didn’t photograph the drawers because they’re closed and uninteresting):
And after:
It really would have been more impressive if that top shelf hadn’t been empty in the Before shot. Oh, I am so CHEESED about that! I mean, if anything the After shot looks WORSE! Well, we must work with what we have.
The biggest improvement was getting rid of the huge teetering pile of child art, which I had already done here; it HAD been taking up nearly that whole top shelf. I transferred it to an empty diaper box (those boxes are so handy), which I’m storing down in the basement. The now-empty 2-inch-deep box the pile used to be teetering out of is back in place to receive more art, and we’ll see if I can make myself empty it into the downstairs box when it’s full.
Or maybe the biggest improvement was clearing out the secretary’s desk enough to be able to CLOSE it. All the stuff that was on the folded-out part is now on the shelf, which is why that shelf is not particularly pretty right now—but at least it’s tidied up.
I don’t know what I’ll do with that top shelf now. It seems like it would be perfect for large decorative items, but I don’t think I have any homeless large decorative items.
How satisfying! And, perhaps your readers are picturing the top shelf even worse than it was so that forgetting the before picture is actually a good thing :) Perhaps a Target run is in order to secure a few large decorative items? Just a thought! :)
I love that you call it The Furniture.
I think the second picture looks much nicer than the first picture. You did a fantastic job.
I cleaned off my kitchen desk Monday and got rid of a large pile of Kid Art, too. I found some older kid art that I’d put Elsewhere for a while… and I learned that the passage of time makes me MUCH less sentimental about finger-print ladybugs (especially ones where I forgot to write the date on the back). Into the Trash with all of it! Am ruthless!
The clean desk is SO satisfying.
My large decorative items always end up looking like clutter, mainly because the empty shelf space never stays empty. We have a Piece of Furniture, too, and I cover up the open shelves with curtains.
And it really does look way better. Clean spaces are so nice. Too bad you can’t spray a seal-and-lock coating over it to make them stay that way.
Great job! You are inspiring me.
Framed photos on the top shelf, maybe? A big picture of your mother-in-law?
Wouldn’t pretty baskets — on clearance from Target, of course! — work for both decorating and organizing the Furniture?
i thought of framed photos too, but nowheymama is BRILLIANT with the suggestion of a framed picture of MIL. bwaha.
Yay! Good job.
I spent $210 on a housecleaner before my mom came to visit. It was worth it, for the occasion (a lot of dirt was removed by her, while I focused on de-cluttering only). But in the future, I will probably not have her back, it was too pricey.
My point is, though, that the BEST thing about having these kinds of stressful visitors? Is when they leave, you have a cleaner, nicer home.
Keep up the good work!
:)
Nice work!! That is the best feeling, when you’ve cleaned something that’s so overwhelming like I’m sure The Furniture was to you.
I second the above suggestions of pretty baskets and framed photos – the baskets would clean up that second shelf you’re not happy with, too!
Oh you motivate me to clean things out! I read once, don’t remember where, about getting new pizza boxes and putting your child’s important, savable art projects in there. Then you can label the outside by year, etc. and store neatly under their bed. It works great!
Happy cleaning!
OK, this is totally OT but I made a batch of your gingersnap cookies (I mean your gradmother’s!) and I totally went off my diet right then and there. Three weeks of doing so well and it all ended quite tastily with a baker’s dozen of these insanely good cookies (straight from the oven no less). I have a few left. I seriously ate that many yesterday afternoon/evening–it’s a true confession! Um…thanks?
melissa
You are an organizing goddess. I can’t believe your MIL is coming again so soon. We have barely recovered from the last visit!
Here is what I did about child art – I get each kid a document box each school year and label it and they stash their own art, projects, assorted school crap in there. If the box isn’t full at the end of the school year I just label it with another school year and they keep it. Full boxes go in the attic.
Tonie
i totally HATE when i forget to take a before picture that will REALLY show what i did. i feel your pain. :)
looking good – it feels awesome to tackle projects doesn’t it? i’ve been doing the same thing. oh, and i would save the living room until like the HOUR before – lol!
Awesome!
I have that very same furniture item – I am glad to see that mine isn’t the only one that collects ten tons of stuff. I have framed pictures on the top shelf of mine…although normally you can’t see them with all the other crap I pile on there!
I feel your pain about the before picture . . . one of the times my closet rail collapsed in my old apartment (THREE TIMES this happened), I forgot to take a photo . . . so after I’d spent a whole freakin day folding and hanging and organizing and my closet STILL looked too full ergo kinda messy I had no basis for comparison so no way to prove I’d done all that work :P
Your furniture looks grand, I bet you’re glad to be done!
So . . . these pay it forwards . . . can I still do one? I’d like to give away a pair of handmade pearl and sterling earrings.
I think you did a great job but I understand the feeling of working so hard on something and then thinking that it doesn’t look much better. Photos for the top shelf maybe? I am ALWAYS looking for places to display pictures. If you could mail me some of your motivation, that would be great. I have been trying to put out some Halloween stuff for a week now. PS: I found your blog via MO Mommy.
HollyLynne- Definitely you can! When you’ve posted it, email me (swistle at gmail dot com) the url of the post. I post a list of pay-it-forwards each weekend.
because you didn’t really ask…
i vote you spread out the stuff on the bottom shelf onto two shelves. i know that sounds kind of…counterproductive BUT if all your stationery is in one place and your writing implements are in another (for example) it might be easier to squeeze in one or two photos with them.
AND most importantly, it might be harder to clutter them up again if both shelves have a “real” purpose?
maybe?
I have two suggestions for making it look less cluttered:
1) Boxes, boxes, boxes, boxes, boxes. Get a few pretty boxes or baskets to fit on the shelf and hide all the unattractive things in them. Photo boxes are usually the right size to fit on shelves, and TJX stores (Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Home Goods) usually have an assortment of pretty boxes and/or baskets that coordinate or sometimes even match. Pretty boxes can be pricey, but The Furniture’s shelves look small enough that you’d only need two or three. You can put all the – for example – envelopes in one and the piles of note paper in another and then you’d have two boxes and some pen jars on that one shelf and it will look so tidy! And it can be as messy as you want INSIDE the boxes, because that doesn’t matter! And any time you need note paper, you will know exactly where to go! Seriously, boxes are THE ANSWER to keeping shelves tidy.
2) I have learned from magazines that you should sort of break up shelves by not stuffing one shelf with tons of books or whatever; instead, spread them out. So even if you don’t get boxes, you could put half of the stuff on the top shelf and then put a picture frame or something on each shelf’s empty half.
These suggestions are not meant to criticize, though, because believe you me, most of my shelves look like crap and are full of random junk, so I am duly impressed by your efforts. Isn’t the feeling you have after getting rid of clutter the BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
(Don’t try to get wire mesh CD storage boxes from Target, though, because they don’t exist. ;) )
The Furniture looks really nice. Don’t worry, I can imagine what the top shelf looked like before. I do think something nice-looking on the shelf would be a good idea; otherwise, it will collect more clutter. Papers tend to accumulate on any flat surface, at least in my house.
I love that you call it The Furniture. You are right that there is just not a name for that type of thing. When you described it I thought it was maybe a desk with a hutch, but now I see that the shelves are more than just a hutch while the desk is less than a normal desk. It’s a strange hybrid.
I would have totally made a mess to add to that shelf before taking a photo. You know, the kind of mess that you can immediately dump back into a trash can.
This theory is kind of like the other one I have; whenever I make a list of things to do I ALWAYS put 2 or 3 completed tasks on that list just so I can cross them off and take a break before doing anything.
Also I make little chores seem big; like DISHWASHER becomes wash dishes, empty dishwasher, put away dishes, close dishwasher. SEE? 4 things done all at once.
Much more productive.
Thanks, Swistleness :) I will email you later today or early tomorrow!
I’ve been having a similar couple of weeks, as my best friend and her daughter are coming to visit Thursday for the first time since we moved here from FL. You would think a best friend wouldn’t be someone you have to really clean for, but she’s the type that will make fun of me for stuff. With that in mind, I decided it was finally time to get rid of the country blue 80’s stenciled sea shells that some fool had painted on the top perimeter of our master bathroom. It took THREE COATS of primer just to cover those evil shells before starting to paint, but I’m happy with the result – the color I picked was something Khaki. But I too am so freaking mad at myself – I too did not take “before” and “after” pictures. The camera was in the next room. I hate myself sometimes.
I absolutely LOVE your blog. I was super bored the other day during nap time and read some of your older posts. BRILLIANT and hilarious, the best combination.
Ok, so here’s a Q: when do you decide it’s time to throw away some of that kid art? I mean, of COURSE we want to save some of it, but not ALL of it, not every single little thing, RIGHT? How do you decide what to save and what to toss? And THEN what happens with the stuff you keep?
Sara- I know!! One thing I do is not save much to begin with. I try to save only the things I think are particularly great in some way: particularly funny or particularly representative of the child or particularly representative of a newly-learned skill (the first time he wrote his name, for example). That stack I cleared from The Furniture was ALL of it I had so far, starting with my 4th grader’s first crayon scribble at age 1 and including things like standardized test scores from school, and there’s still plenty of room in the diaper box for more. I’m hoping to keep it under two diaper boxes total, but probably at some point I’ll have to go through and start weeding things out.
I need to do to my house what you’ve done to mine. A little at a time. Instead of thinking: house? Clean it? I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!!! A good start would be for me to get off of the computer and do something.
Nah.
Congratulations! That’s actually really inspiring. One of these days (soon?) I’ll have to do the same. Our office is our catchall, too. And between the desk and the entertainment center (sans tv) and the file cabinet… well, they’re all overfull. And the two boxes in front of them. Now I’m depressed. I need to go re-read that and get inspired again!
Nice! I love projects like that, because they can involve a lot of throwing away and a minimum of running here and there.
I would move the lesser-used stuff from the bottom shelf up there, like the white drawer things, and call it a day. I mean, if you put knick-knacks up there, more will follow, and it will just get crapped up again. If you move those white shelves up there, there won’t be room for anything else, and you can push back the pencil things, which are just begging to be knocked over by a cat at the moment.
Are you asking for permission to buy large decorative items? Permission granted.
I have been digging out the surface of my computer desk all day – a few moments at a time. It is so satisfying. Now if only I could manage to do it to the rest of the house.
I won’t tell you the embarrassing number of times I had to look between your two photos to figure out that the “desk” portion was closed in the second photo. . . even though you mentioned it in your post!!! Must be a signal that it’s time for bed.