Comments on: Back Room Makeover: the Before http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/ Encouragement for a Simple Home Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:29:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Jaydee http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-15946 Jaydee Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:18:44 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-15946 guess every house has one of that kind. I know somebody having every room as messy as that hehehe! nice share! .-= Jaydee´s last blog post ..<a href="http://xpdrivers.com/performance/speed-up-a-slow-or-sluggish-computer/" rel="nofollow">How to speed up a slow or sluggish computer</a> =-. guess every house has one of that kind.
I know somebody having every room as messy as that hehehe!

nice share!
Jaydee´s last blog post ..How to speed up a slow or sluggish computer

]]> By: Laurie http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-13819 Laurie Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:41:23 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-13819 Maybe someone has suggested this already, but here is what I would do: Get 3 big boxes and follow the Sidetracked Sisters/FlyLady routine. Label one Give Away, one Throw Away, and one Keep. Stuff to find a new home for goes in one box, stuff that needs retired goes in the next, and stuff you want to keep and put back in goes in the last box (you may need more than one of each box). When you are done clearing out the area, put back only what you need/want. Then you don't get it all out at once and get overwhelmed. In your case, if you're interrupted, you could probaly just stack you boxes in the doorway, close the door, and pick up later where you left off. Maybe someone has suggested this already, but here is what I would do: Get 3 big boxes and follow the Sidetracked Sisters/FlyLady routine. Label one Give Away, one Throw Away, and one Keep. Stuff to find a new home for goes in one box, stuff that needs retired goes in the next, and stuff you want to keep and put back in goes in the last box (you may need more than one of each box). When you are done clearing out the area, put back only what you need/want. Then you don’t get it all out at once and get overwhelmed. In your case, if you’re interrupted, you could probaly just stack you boxes in the doorway, close the door, and pick up later where you left off.

]]> By: Sharon http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-13309 Sharon Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:09:59 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-13309 Are you ready to shed your guilt? We call our messy spot the 3-car garage! Yep, we have a 3-car garage and not even a mini Cooper would fit in there. Are you ready to shed your guilt? We call our messy spot the 3-car garage! Yep, we have a 3-car garage and not even a mini Cooper would fit in there.

]]> By: Fabulous Friday Fun #4… Link Up GiveAway | se7en http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12717 Fabulous Friday Fun #4… Link Up GiveAway | se7en Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:22:04 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12717 [...] This post from Small NoteBook sent me into a cold sweat, literally. My to-do list swelled way beyond what I could possibly achieve. We have a room like that full of school stuff and computer debris… I have to get on to our corner of chaos and I know with my small babe and a few others, now is not the time. I am just not ready to let that project go!!! I am constantly conspiring to “sort, organize and shuffle” at the cost of time with my kiddos… I know – let it go!!! More realistically instead of a room I did manage a shoebox of little things that collect and collect and collect… on flat surfaces around our house. [...] [...] This post from Small NoteBook sent me into a cold sweat, literally. My to-do list swelled way beyond what I could possibly achieve. We have a room like that full of school stuff and computer debris… I have to get on to our corner of chaos and I know with my small babe and a few others, now is not the time. I am just not ready to let that project go!!! I am constantly conspiring to “sort, organize and shuffle” at the cost of time with my kiddos… I know – let it go!!! More realistically instead of a room I did manage a shoebox of little things that collect and collect and collect… on flat surfaces around our house. [...]

]]> By: Melissa http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12667 Melissa Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:18:21 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12667 Our 'dump' is our guest room and our basement storage room. It is disgraceful. I clean the guest room about once a month and then when we don't have guests, all the crap that we don't know what to do with goes there. It would be nice to get out of that cycle and not have to spend 2 hours every month or so cleaning. :) Our ‘dump’ is our guest room and our basement storage room. It is disgraceful. I clean the guest room about once a month and then when we don’t have guests, all the crap that we don’t know what to do with goes there. It would be nice to get out of that cycle and not have to spend 2 hours every month or so cleaning. :)

]]> By: Simplifying and Reducing: The Final Phase | Move to Portugal http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12608 Simplifying and Reducing: The Final Phase | Move to Portugal Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:55:00 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12608 [...] or donated, but most of it is behind that door in our good old box room. It’s funny as Rachel blogged a similar thing the other day; where do people with organised homes keep their mess? Well [...] [...] or donated, but most of it is behind that door in our good old box room. It’s funny as Rachel blogged a similar thing the other day; where do people with organised homes keep their mess? Well [...]

]]> By: Sarah http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12588 Sarah Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:50:48 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12588 For us it's our garage. In the last 3 years we've never been able to park in our garage. Usually it is just because when we don't have a place for something we just throw it in the garage; and by "throw" I do actually mean throw in most cases, so long as it is small enough and not breakable. This past summer I spent a weekend cleaning out our garage. When we had moved into our new house in May 2008, several weeks afterwards we had a heavy rainstorm and water and mud got into our garage. So, this past summer, I organized, put up shelves, labeled boxes, threw away old, ruined, and/or unnecessary items and old files then cleaned all the mud out of the garage. It was a major job but I was so happy when it was done because we could actually get a car in there! That didn't last long though. There were a few things that ended up out there again but when my dad downsized his apartment I got several large pieces of furniture and a ton of miscellaneous boxes of family items and such. Now, I can barely get from the door from the house to the garage door. I am anxious for it to get warm again so I can get out there and have another go at it. My advice to you would be to take everything out of the room/closet first. Then divide things into groups/piles of importance. Put the most important items back first and then stop when it is as full as you want it to be. Then either sell, give away or throw away the things that are left (or put in storage if you have to). .-= Sarah´s last blog post ..<a href="http://anythingittakes.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-will-start-making-report-every-two.html" rel="nofollow">Financial Update #1</a> =-. For us it’s our garage. In the last 3 years we’ve never been able to park in our garage. Usually it is just because when we don’t have a place for something we just throw it in the garage; and by “throw” I do actually mean throw in most cases, so long as it is small enough and not breakable.

This past summer I spent a weekend cleaning out our garage. When we had moved into our new house in May 2008, several weeks afterwards we had a heavy rainstorm and water and mud got into our garage. So, this past summer, I organized, put up shelves, labeled boxes, threw away old, ruined, and/or unnecessary items and old files then cleaned all the mud out of the garage. It was a major job but I was so happy when it was done because we could actually get a car in there!

That didn’t last long though. There were a few things that ended up out there again but when my dad downsized his apartment I got several large pieces of furniture and a ton of miscellaneous boxes of family items and such. Now, I can barely get from the door from the house to the garage door. I am anxious for it to get warm again so I can get out there and have another go at it.

My advice to you would be to take everything out of the room/closet first. Then divide things into groups/piles of importance. Put the most important items back first and then stop when it is as full as you want it to be. Then either sell, give away or throw away the things that are left (or put in storage if you have to).
Sarah´s last blog post ..Financial Update #1

]]> By: Shannon http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12514 Shannon Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:21:10 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12514 GREAT post! We are currently in the process of trying to sell our townhome which we are quickly growing out of, so we have had to be very creative on areas we can stash clutter since our house has to remain staged! Our son's closet and garage have been the main sources - great read! GREAT post! We are currently in the process of trying to sell our townhome which we are quickly growing out of, so we have had to be very creative on areas we can stash clutter since our house has to remain staged! Our son’s closet and garage have been the main sources – great read!

]]> By: Jen in KS http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12512 Jen in KS Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:43:51 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12512 Right now the basement wins the clutter contest. To be fair, it has been worse. My husband has been chiseling away at the disorder. As for your back room, perhaps my husband's method with our old tool shed help: He took out everything. Ev-ry-thing. He laid it all out so he could see it all at once. Then he began to group things into to keep, toss, give away. He organized the Keep pile into subgroups and then assigned spaces to them in the shed. It was so much better after he was done. I would have dissolved into a pool of sobs by such a task. .-= Jen in KS´s last blog post ..<a href="http://scrapdash.blogspot.com/2010/01/project-365-week-3.html" rel="nofollow">Project 365, Week 3</a> =-. Right now the basement wins the clutter contest. To be fair, it has been worse. My husband has been chiseling away at the disorder. As for your back room, perhaps my husband’s method with our old tool shed help: He took out everything. Ev-ry-thing. He laid it all out so he could see it all at once. Then he began to group things into to keep, toss, give away. He organized the Keep pile into subgroups and then assigned spaces to them in the shed. It was so much better after he was done. I would have dissolved into a pool of sobs by such a task.
Jen in KS´s last blog post ..Project 365, Week 3

]]> By: Diana http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/22/back-room-makeover-the-before/#comment-12511 Diana Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:59:15 +0000 http://smallnotebook.org/?p=1735#comment-12511 HI, this is KATS sister in law! I love you blog. We are in the process of cleaning out our back room (a.k.a OUR ENTIRE HOUSE!) We were amazed that it took us 3 hours to do one room! BUt we press on. If it really had to be one room, I would say "the office" is the worst. It really is only called the office because it has a desk in there! Good luck and and look forward to pictures! HI, this is KATS sister in law! I love you blog. We are in the process of cleaning out our back room (a.k.a OUR ENTIRE HOUSE!) We were amazed that it took us 3 hours to do one room! BUt we press on. If it really had to be one room, I would say “the office” is the worst. It really is only called the office because it has a desk in there! Good luck and and look forward to pictures!

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