20 Weeks: New Year Organizing Revival

Since I’ve been talking about goals lately, I thought I better address something that I left as a loose end last year.  Remember, back when I was half-way through my pregnancy with Cora,  my goal of organizing a list of 20 things in 20 weeks?

Well, I got all behind, and then I had my baby, and cleaning with a newborn, a toddler and a preschooler during the harvest season… forget it!

So the day before Christmas eve, I went on a frenzy in the bathroom.  And I redid the storage in there.  And then I remembered it was on the list of 20 things I wanted to get organized!  Woohoo!

So here’s the before…

Ok, this cool shelf thing that hangs on the wall holds our towels and a bunch of other stuff.  Q-tips, nail clippers, Rick’s beard trimmer.  Extra soap is up there in a brown box, a ton of random things are in that basket, some bubble bath and a low-flow shower head that’s not going to be installed in the shower anytime soon is up there too.

Under that shelf thing, we have the potty chair and a basket of bath toys.

Then, lastly, in front of the toilet we have a little storage bench full of our extra towels and wash cloths, and on top; my many, many magazine subscriptions (yes, I’m a magazine junkie).  Hey, everyone reads in the bathroom, I need variety.  And it’s my only place without the kids.  It’s peaceful.  Just like every mom.

And here’s the after…

First I moved the bench.  Lots more space here now in front of the toilet.

Then I emptied and reorganized the extra towels (got rid of a couple oldies that were worn out) and recycled or filed old magazines.  Now just the most current ones are out… and stacked nicely.  Went through the bath toys and tossed any that were too icky.  Cleaned any that needed cleaning and washed the basket liner.  The potty chair is used for emergency trips in the boys room – been saving E’s sheets this way.  Thinking of skipping the potty chair all together for C if we can, by the way.

And the biggie – the shelf.  Cleaned out that basket, tossing anything expired or irrelevant (yes, irrelevant).  That basket in the bedroom closet caught the extra soap and the shower head until we are ready to use them.  We used the bubble bath up and the bottle is now a soap dispenser in the kitchen.  Hair ties were corralled in the blue jar, and lotion is up high so it doesn’t end up in the two-year old’s hair again.  After all that, there was room for my apothecary jar of bath salts that used to live on the tank of the toilet.  Not like I ever have time for a bath, let alone many baths to necessitate an apothecary jar full of salts – HA!  But it’s pretty and the kids enjoy them, I guess.  😉

Anyway.  It looks much nicer in there and I’m really loving it.  We desperately need a remodel in there, but I’m holding off until C is potty trained.  Hopefully by then, the boys won’t be missing the toilet any more either.  😉  In the mean time, this is working great so far and it feels a lot more relaxing in there.

What about that list of 20 (which I later cut to only 18)?   I’m gonna finish it this year if it kills me.  Click this link to see what I’ve already done, and below is what’s left:

1. Bathroom cabinet
2. Boys closet shelf and clothing
3. Boys toys and bedding storage
4. Desktop/drawers and move desk out of office
5. Office corners
6. Office closet upper shelf
7. Junk drawers
8. Buffet
9. Our bedroom closet
10. Seed Storage
11. Make a place for table linens
12. Canned goods/canning and food storage supplies
13. Find a place for Rick’s work clothes and my business supplies
14. Kitchen glasses cupboard
15. Bathroom linens/storage
16. Scrapbooking table
17. My sewing items
18. Lower kitchen appliance cabinet

Not too bad, eh? So what if it’s late.  It’s still getting done!  Yippee!  This whole thing was inspired by Organizing Junkie’s 52 Weeks project.  Check it out to be inspired.

Is reorganizing anything on your list of resolutions this year?