52 Spaces in 52 Weeks: January Update

At the beginning of this year, I embarked on a challenge to organize 52 different spaces in my home in 52 weeks. Read the full post here. Today I'm finally giving my first month update along with sharing some progress from a friend who has decided to join me on the challenge!

WEEK 1

Space: Bedroom Closet

This was a massive space & a massive project.  I actually started this space right before I decided to do this challenge, but take it from me, it was BAD. Because this was such a big space, I decided to break it up into 3 categories: Clothes/Shoes, Bags & Jewelry.  So far, I've only tackled the clothes & shoes, but 5 large garbage bags later, things are coming together around here! (Sorry no pics of this one)

WEEK 2

Space: Middle Shelf in the Kitchen Table

Since the first week was such a big project, I decided to tackle a smaller space this week. This shelf has become a bit of a storage unit for crap.  When you sit on the couch in our dining room, you have a full view of the space & having so much stuff piled up always made me anxious & made our house feel so cluttered, even though it was hiding under the top of the table.  Of course I fucking forgot to take a before picture (I swear, I will remember from now on) but the after...feels SO good!

AFTER

Someone was insistent on being in the photo

WEEK 3

Space: Basket under the Kitchen Table

Since I tackled the middle shelf of the table last week, this week I took a stab at the giant wicker basket on the bottom shelf. This basket is the perfect hiding place for more crap! Since I don't have a set office space in the house, anything that would go in a desk has a tendency to float around in piles in different rooms.  My computer lives on a side table next to our couch,  all my office supplies are scattered everywhere, my camera mainly hangs out either in the kitchen or on this table...it's not good. So I decided to get rid of all the junk I didn't need & turn this basket into my own little office!

BEFORE

All this crap was inside this basket.  That Bloomingdales bag is FULL of stuff I got rid of.
AFTER

WEEK 4

Drawers in the Bar
Since I had tackled the table, it just made sense to stay in the dinning room for Week #4. We have an unconventional bar in our dining room that is actually part of a media console, but given that we have no place for a TV besides above our fireplace, we decided to turn this piece into storage for alcohol. It works out really well, except the drawers just became a another dumping ground for things we didn't need.

BEFORE

(I won't admit how long I've had that 2 Buck Chuck)

       

AFTER:

     

LOOK! You can actually see drawer! There is empty space!!!

 I broke the drawers up into categories: Wine Items, Liquor Items, Party Items & Canisters & Candles. Everything in the drawers now has a purpose & space to live.

Since most of these spaces were smaller, I didn't feel they warranted their own post. However, next weekend I'm tackling one of my top 5 BIGGEST projects. Be sure to tune in here & on Instagram as I'll be sharing my steps along the way! (insert shameless plug to find me on Instagram here: rachelalyse120)

My college sorority sister & good friend, Lindsay, is also embarking on this challenge with me. While this may not look like much in terms of a pretty pics to share on a blog, it is SUPER IMPORTANT to acknowledge her achievement of her first space! She's struggling to come up with 52, but at least she's trying!

Lindsay:

I have an accordion file to keep important documents organized, and well...it hasn't been organized in quite some time.  With tax season rearing it's ugly head, I decided now is as good a time as any.  I had the file in a closet, along with a whole bunch of loose stuff that I was too lazy to actually put IN the file and was just piled on the shelf next to it.  The first picture is the folder and the additional stack of things that needed to be sorted.  

Then, I went through each compartment one by one, discarding anything that was no longer relevant to me.  (My favorite item was a doctor bill from 2009. Runner up was a letter telling me about my new debit card PIN from a bank that no longer exists.)  

Literally ALL THAT JUNK was in that file folder.  It filled almost an entire trash bag.  

It was actually really nice to get everything in order.  Looking forward to the rest of the challenge...think it will be fun! 

OK Linds, that's ONE space. Time to continue to tackle!!!