After a whirlwind 4th quarter, I have really enjoyed coming up for air and focusing on getting my home and farm purged! My family opted to go on a long weekend skiing in North Carolina and it was the perfect time to start from one end of my house and work through one closet at a time. We spent the last year and half on a major renovation and many things got shoved out of sight and out of mind.
After getting all the holiday decorations down and put away, I decided to tackle the biggest projects first to feel that sense of accomplishment. First up was cleaning out the garage and a storage room in our basement. I created four piles as I went: Keep, Donate, Sell on Facebook Marketplace or Toss into the dumpster outside! If I haven’t used or seen an item in over a year, it had to go! Since a lot of the items in the garage or storage room were either furniture or left over construction materials, I got my college age son and his best friend involved. It was a good excuse for them to skip the gym that day and do some productive heavy lifting at home!
Simple steps to take when organizing:
Do a quick sort – put the items into one of these 4 categories:
- Keep – these items stay in this area
- Toss – these items get thrown out or recycled
- Donate/Sell – these items get donated or sold (consignment, Facebook Marketplace, etc.)
- Relocate – these items are in the wrong spot and need to be brought somewhere else in the home
Once the more daunting organizing was complete, I made a list of all the rooms and closets that needed attention. I have set aside one weekend day each week in January to make significant progress on my list. Also, each weeknight I identify one small project to tackle. That could include cleaning out a linen closet, organizing a dresser drawer or sorting through a box or two. Each of the small projects shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to an hour. However, they all add up if you can stay on task during the week!
My end goal after the organization is complete is to go room by room and decide what decorating improvements can be made. Are there any items that I don’t really love that need to find a new home? Should I rearrange anything to improve the room’s layout or just look better? I then plan to make a list of items I still need (or would like to have) in each room. Facebook Marketplace is a terrific resource to find those things, avoid paying retail prices and not waste time in stores! Anything that I make selling on Facebook can easily be repurposed for my improvements. I absolutely love the thrill of the hunt and satisfaction that I got a great deal on something that I can cherish for many years to come!
Here are some of my favorite Facebook finds over the years. I will share anything else I find after my projects are complete!
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