School Room Update

Is anyone curious about the progress in my little school room?  I’ll give you an update today on the clean up then we will get to the fun stuff! The next articles will be all about the projects that I am putting together to organize the room for learning for him, year long manageability for me.

Beginning to Organize

Just a reminder. This is what the ‘school room’ looked like when I started (due to the lingering remodel to the craft room elsewhere in the house):

It’s time to clean it up! I went through my list of basic starter tools. I gathered everything on hand and set it up ready to go. Luckily there was enough room to move the table for extra working room.

In the picture you can see where a clear pocketed shoe organizer is over the door, the laundry baskets set out for sorting, a small trashcan, and a couple of boxes of baggies. You can not see the laundry basket in the floor below the shoe organizer temporarily holding everything that was on the table before I started. Or the CD player plugged up ready to go in the next room. You also can not see the notebook and pen ready to catch all of the mind leaks and ideas, but they were there. The majority of the containers in the floor against the walls are full.

Finding A Starting Point

Even after the ideas, the planning, the preparation, considering hazards and bottlenecks, sometimes the hardest part about a bigger job like this is just actually digging in. Where do you start? Do you pick something safe that you feel indifferent about? Do you pick something big? Something small? It varies from person to person.

When you work on your spaces, don’t over think this part. Just reach in and go for something. Anything. Let your gut lead you. If you hit a proverbial wall, take a second and write it down in your notebook. It may help you to decipher your personal mine fields. What was your wall? Lack of energy? Getting emotional? Something you physically could not tackle alone? All of the above? If you can discover your strengths, your weaknesses, things that work, the things that do not -  let’s call it your decluttering style – you can become more confident for the next job.

I am one of those that prefers to work in a spatial pattern on big jobs. My normal pattern starts at the door, works forward into the center of the room, and radiates in widening circles until I reach the walls, a stopping block, or run out of time. The standard rule of thumb is to touch everything as few times as possible. When I am in doubt, I break that rule. I move the thing over into the clutter a few feet to reconsider later. If I sit there staring at it, I can come up with a million alternatives. To keep moving on to the next thing saves me time, keeps up the momentum, and makes it easier to let go next time if the reason has still not come to mind.

In this case, after I cleaned off the table everything except my tools were against the walls. I picked the spot next to the entry door as my starting point. I could work my way around the room working top to bottom with the things directly in front of me, make a step to the right, then repeat.

Presorting

I’m sure you have frequently seen the recommendation to set up three (sometimes more) boxes. One for things to keep. One for things to trash. One for things to donate/giveaway. In this room, I needed to do some presorting before I could get to that point.  There was so much going on in this room. I needed to sort like things with like things first.

The breakdown of categories for my circumstance:

• Craft stuff
• Containers
• Office/school supplies
• Decorations to go into the craft room
• Fixtures/decorations that came out of what will be the craft room
• Weird, odd things that should be elsewhere that had been dumped by various people during the transition (See, it happens to everyone. Once a space is in disarray it becomes a magnet for the misplaced.)

After completing the presort (sorry about the horrible pictures):

In the baskets – All of the craft supplies, including fabric, patterns, notions, tools, etc.

The file carts underneath is the result of organizing all of the scattered paperwork that was originally in the room my grand parents left behind.

Against the wall – A huge stack of now emptied containers.

In the corner – The shelf holds the same books it held before plus a few decorative odds and ends. These are the ones I have not decided for sure to use in my new space.

On the table- A notebook with four new pages of notes to be transferred to project pages, the to do list, and people to call. One full basket of items that should be elsewhere and the removed fixtures from the other room.

Under the table – The decorative items I know I want to use in the craft space.

The school/office supplies on the last wall over filled one more laundry basket. That bookshelf is now empty. I still did not mess with Hubby’s computers and his shelf.  I offered to help him. He was not interested. There is not a picture of this wall because Hubby was camera shy and busy.

There were two chairs old straight back chairs that did not go with this table. We kept them for his space. They were taken to the garage for now. The chairs that do go with this table were stacked in the hall for now.

I also ended up with half a bag of trash.

Over all, even with emptying all of those containers, almost everything that was in there when I started is still there in these pictures. Yet look how much extra room there appears to be just from getting it all together.

The Real Assessment Of All The Stuff

Once sorting everything into like with like, each group was much easier to evaluate. I am taking action on each category one at a time.

Odd things and the stuff that goes elsewhere basket. – Two light fixtures and an Easter basket were put in the car for donation. There were a couple of Hubby’s things I turned over to him. Everything else was taken to the rooms where they really belonged and put away. The laundry basket was put away.

The decorative items. -  Once I had these all together, I realized there were fewer things than I had previously thought. There was room for most of it with the still boxed up from the move craft supplies that were in a makeshift closet waiting for the remodeled room. The basket of flower stuff (The black looking blob) was made into an actual arrangement. They are temporarily on top of our refrigerator.   I left the handful of knick knacks on the top of the book shelf in the corner. I’m still not sure about them. As we continue to finish the other room, I will be seeing them everyday to further make up my mind.

The craft stuff. – About half was actually new fabric purchases. Yes, it is a weakness. I can resist for so long, then the fat quarters start calling. I am pretty good about purchasing with a purpose, though. When I was done, I had one laundry basket of non-project ready stash. I took the rest and spent a couple of hours making up project kits using various sizes of zip top baggies. Sewing or not, each one had all of the notions needed to complete a specific project.

I started to put the kits into some of those empty containers. Then changed my mind. I decided they would be very handy as I transition back out of being a full-time Mom as my little guy starts school.  I had the three laundry baskets empty. I sorted all of the kits into three piles by an approximate range of hours it would take to complete. Productive distractions for the few weeks it will take to adjust to the quiet days, before moving on to my own next venture. Having them arranged in kits by approximate completion time will make it possible for me to use the room during the day without being in his way in the afternoon. The laundry baskets will disappear as crafts come together.  They are still stacked on top of the file boxes in the corner. The non project stash went into a couple of the sadder looking containers.

The container pile. -  I really do not have anywhere to put these until the other room is finished. Not yet sure which ones I might use and which ones I will let go. I have designs to use a couple in the school room. Those were set aside.  A couple were used for the non-kit crafts. The rest were better nested within one another to reduce the size of the pile.

The office/school suplies. – I haven’t quite finished with these yet.  I am sorting everything into ‘His’, ‘Mine’, and ‘Ours’, trash, and donate. I do not want him to mistake my permanent markers for his washables. I do not want him to cut himself on my sharper scissors. These things will need to be put up out of his reach. The supplies only he will use need to be most convenient to his reach.

Ready To Learn

The school room is not perfect. It is still a multi-function space. There are still several things in there I would rather have out of the way. Somewhere elese. But I have to work with what I’ve got. Everything in the room is not prettily organized. It is organized so anything can be found as it is needed. The main work space is clutter free. It does not fit our style, but it will function for its intended purpose. There is plenty of room for both of us to do our activities when we will need to. I will put a check in the goal met box. Besides, all rooms are works in progress just like we are. Right?