Tidying Up - Hall Bathroom

Again…not much in here to get rid of.  This is not our primary bathroom, so there's just not much in here.  

The orchid is not usually in here, but sadly I think it's dying (it's really just a stick now) but I'm not giving up on it yet.  My husband thought the loads of natural light in this bathroom might do it some good.

The only thing that I really store in here are plastic bags from Target and other stores (I use them to line the smaller trash cans in the house).  Yes, I fold them into little triangles.  Yes, I am crazy.

Two of my favorite things in here are on the little shelves.  One of them is this cute little print I got in Paris in 2009 when I was there with my sister:

It translates to:  For you, softness and relaxation.  I love it!

And the other one is his little giraffe ring holder I got at Anthropologie a couple of weeks ago.  He's so cute!

And that's another room down!

Tidying Up - Hall Closet

We have just one closet in our house that is not in a bedroom.  It's a closet in the hallway between the bathroom and the office/guest room.  

This closet is a bit more than just coats.  My husband also keeps his jerseys in here (mostly Bears).  Then I went through everything on the shelving.  The top shelf holds my husband's carrying case for his CPAP machine (only used when traveling).  The bottom shelf holds a basket for my husband's hats and gloves, and a basket for mine.  I also store my pink toolbox in here.  It's much more useful to have it inside instead of out in the garage.  And yes, that's a purple tape measure attached to it.  

The only thing on the floor is the vacuum.

Happiness!!!

Tidying Up - Master Bathroom

I didn’t do much here, other than weed out all of the unnecessary products.  I also gathered our old, frayed towels and donated them to our vet’s office.  They can always use towels. 

I cleared off the counter almost completely which makes it so much easier to clean. 

Everything stored beneath the cabinets is organized.  At first I had a different little container for everything (one for razors, one for toothpaste, etc.)  But I was getting frustrated with that, so I tried to condense everything.   There was this super ugly contact paper lining the cabinets.  Instead of replacing it, I went to Dollar Tree and got these dark blue mats (and a few baskets) to cover it up.

I am working on not having such a ‘surplus’ of extra products.  It’s a struggle.  The couponer in me wants to stock up when there’s a great deal, but the Kondo in me wants to just buy things as needed (like most people probably do).  I’m working on it.

The bathroom is organized and easy to clean now!

Tidying Up - Bedroom

Remember my book review of ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ by Marie Kondo?  Well, I am proud to say that I am DONE with tidying.  And is HAS been life-changing.  I’m a ‘Kon’ vert.  Get it?  Ha.  I have NEVER read a book that has had such an impact on me and my household and my life in general.

Now….don’t get me wrong, there are still projects that I need to work on.  Like scanning the envelope full of old pictures.  And making photo books.  But those are kind of ongoing.  

So the next few blog posts will be my completely tidy’d up home, room by room.  Starting with the master bedroom.  

This room has probably been the most ‘life-changing’ room in the house.  Laundry is always caught up. 

Because there’s not as many clothes, there’s just not as much laundry.  You would think it would be backwards, but it’s not.  I do one load per day.  It takes me 5 to 10 minutes to fold and put away that load each day.

Getting rid of a lot of my clothes has made a HUGE impact.  Every single item of clothing I own (with the exception of my wedding dress and my coats) are housed in 4 of my 6 dresser drawers, and my closet.  I have no hidden stashes of off season clothes in bags in the garage, under the bed, etc.  What you see is what I have.

Tights, socks & camis:

Undergarments & swimwear:

 Pajamas and exercise clothes:

Casual shirts & jeans:

 My closet is not jammed full of clothes.  

The bedroom is peaceful.  Calm.  And it stays clean because there is not as many clothes, shoes, bags, etc. that clutter it up.  I got rid of all of my bags except my Coach bags, one Michael Kors, and one bag from New York & Company (and I kept one large bag to take to conventions and assemblies).  These bags are stored inside one another on the shelf inside my closet (above).  This was HUGE for me….I LOVE handbags.  But I was noticing that whenever I would switch bags, I would switch to my high quality ones (Coach).  So why was I hanging onto the others?  I have no idea.  I gave a couple to my mother-in-law and donated the rest to Goodwill.

I also tidied up my jewelry.  My necklaces and bracelets are hanging in the closet in this organizer. 

Necklaces on one side, bracelets on the other.  And my earrings and chunkier bracelets are in the top drawer of my night table.

Every night when I climb into bed I feel so content.  It is just lovely and I swear I sleep better.  I am not surrounded by clothes on the floor, and stuff all over each surface.  It’s such a good feeling!

I've been making the bed every day too.  It's amazing how that can set the tone for the entire house.

Oh, and because I only use 4 of the drawers in my dresser for clothes, the bottom two drawers now house our collections of TV on DVD:

And that is my tidied up bedroom.  Next up?  The Master Bathroom.

2016 Goals

It’s that time of year again!  New goals for the new year.

1.  Continue getting healthy.  I lost 22 pounds in 2015.  I would like to lose 20 more in 2016.

2.  Continue with my daily Bible reading.  This is a goal that I have not been able to achieve in the past.  Mostly because it tends to get forgotten about.  So this is going to be my most important goal of the year.....the one I want to focus on the most.  I want to read my entire Bible in a year.  Technically I started December 6th.  So on December 6, 2016, I WILL have read my entire Bible.  I am determined.

3.  Continue working on my French, especially commenting in my own words.  Even if I have to write everything out beforehand.

4.  Start my little Professional Organizing side project/business/hobby.  I will do a separate blog post about this.

And that’s pretty much it!  

As far as travel goes, we don’t have anything set in stone yet.  I will be traveling to Nebraska in February.  And my husband will be going to Denver a few times I’m sure (for work).

We do want to possibly go to Ecuador to visit some friends of ours.  But we haven’t started planning for that yet.  Hopefully it will work out!