FRESH START 2012 Part one: BATHROOM

So, it has been a long time since I updated this blog. A lot of stuff kind of collided at once making blog worthy cleaning and purging difficult. One, I started to panic about a big deadline, which took up probably more time than it warranted but c'est la vie. Two, there was a apartment drama involving my chimney, which left me without heat for a few days out of fear of risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and workers going in and out my apartment for several weeks. Three, the holidays hit which is always a ball full of chaos.

However, now I am back and more ready than ever to tackle this problem. I had the week between Christmas and New Years off, and I used it to take care of errands, clean and organize to get a nice fresh start to the new year. I also had the generous help of my parents to get more done this week than if I was to tackle this project alone. So let us review the improvements.

Enough chit chat! On to the bathroom!

Why? Just why did they choose that color?

GOAL WEEK 4: KITCHEN PART 1

This weeks goal was to start working on my kitchen, which I knew from the get go, was probably going to take me at least two weeks if not three.

Yup... this is my kitchen... 

Goal Week 3: Coat/Hall Closet

So this week I picked a smaller project as I was away this weekend. I decided to clean out and organize my coat/hall closet. This closet, like so many places in my apartment, became a catch all place to shove things during rush cleanings and the home to odd objects I just didn't know where to put. Everything from paint rollers and trays from when I first moved in, to my decorative vintage skies were residing in there, along with a pile of coats, shoes and clothes. 

Oh My!

Week 2- 1/2: Closet, dresser and bedroom overall

Running a little late I know. However, not because I have not been purging and cleaning. This goal was just a bit bigger than I realized. This week and a half I cleaned out my bedroom closet, dresser, under the bed drawers, under the bed in general, night stand, and cleared out just general clutter that should not be there.

Dear Gods! How have I been living like this?!!

Bonus Post: Junk at my Parent's Place

My parents asked me to come by their house yesterday to look at a box that had some old stuff of mine. I still have some of my things at their house, mostly old art projects from high school and college I haven't had the time or heart to ween through. I figured I would just get there toss the box into the car, get some dinner with them and heard home. Then deal with it when I dealt with the rest of the art I am unsure what to do with (a goal I will be eventually tackling after the main living space in my apartment is finished.)

I was wrong. It turned out to be four boxes and an odd array of things. Some of it art, but a lot of it very old paperwork, weird bric-a-brac from old hobbies and interests I had such as gemstones, anime pins and keychains, incense burners, convention passes, concert tickets. There were also old gift cards, notebooks from school, flash cards, and even more old books! They also had a bag of clothing for me to look at.  Basically a whole array of old history I had forgotten about or thought was lost among the stuf in my apt here.

I managed to consolidate the four boxes into one. Some of the stuff in the box was kept because I know people who would want some of them items, not because I necessarily wanted to keep it. The books and clothes will be donated with a few other odd items. The box itself will stay with my parents for now while I work on the purging project here.

Goal Week 1: Books

The most annoying thing to move last year to the new apartment was my sofa, which got stuck within the angled doorway to my living room blocking both the doorway and the hallway and the stairwell. (Getting it through, was like giving birth to upholstery.) The second most annoying were the books. So this week's goal was to go through all of my books, and significantly pare them down.

THE GREAT PURGE

I am not really a neat, clean, organized person. In fact I am down right messy, forgetfully and frequently frazzled.  I don't entirely mind it. Its part of who I am. And no matter what, there will always be a part of me who is that girl with pastel on her cheeks, mud on her knees and who manages to somehow get frosting on the ceiling while baking a cake. I would like to be neater, less cluttered and a little more organized however, as the way I am living right now, is frustrating and stressful. 

My last move a little over a year ago, really taught me how much stuff I actually own. How I managed to fit the amount of stuff I have into approximately 700 square feet is astounding. It fills up much of the living space in my current one bedroom apt and a large portion of the small attic above. I am frankly tired it. I am tired of not being able to find what I am looking for, I am tired of tripping over things, and I am tired of frantically trying to clean and hide the mess when friends and family come over and tired of being embarrassed and apologetic when I fail at doing so.

This blog was created to keep me honest. I have tried several times in the past year, particularly over the summer, to start purging and simplifying to no avail. Like all good procrastinators, the call of instant streaming TV, facebook, skiing, rock climbing, flying to the moon, inventing a time machine, riding a dinosaur, getting bit by a radioactive turnip and turning into a super villain, and futile attempts to dance like a peacock spider are too much to actually do something as productive as throwing useless things away and organizing what I keep. 

So once a week, I will update this blog with pictures on the progress and set goals for the following week and hopefully be able to share the purging and organizing tips I learn along way.