Day #20 - Organization Challenge - I'm Back!!! What Happened to My Pretty Laundry Room?

Hey Organizing Buddies!! I'm back! Where have you been, you ask? Well, I went on a European trip for 3 weeks, got sick for 3 weeks after I returned from my trip, and basically, went downhill from there. I'm re-emerging from my "denial" phase and I "think" I'm ready to tackle the mess that I call my home.

Honestly, I'm not sure what happened. It's funny how starting off on the wrong foot at the start of the new year can really kill your spirits. Well, after being in a state of denial, I decided that life is too damn short to be wasting it on being indecisive and feeling deflated.

I want to live my life being happy and well, I can't be if I let things that are so insignificant bother me. I decided that tackling my laundry is first and foremost. Above is how my laundry room looks right now and below is what it looked liked prior to leaving for my European trip. How sad that I did not maintain it. I would have maintained if I didn't end up catching a nasty cold after my trip and feeling sorry for myself afterwards. Just silliness!!! I really can annoy myself sometimes! LOL!


This photo is how I want my laundry room to look. I'm in the process of washing all the laundry, folding them, and putting them away in the proper drawers, shelves, and closet. How is your laundry room looking? Is it nice and neat or is it like my laundry room? Well, if it's a mess like mine, then this challenge is for you!!!

Today's challenge is to wash all your laundry, fold them, and put all of them away before you tackle any other chore! Got it?

Let me know how you did when you're done. . .come on. . .let's get going! Play along with me so I don't feel so alone in this process!! LOL!

Today

Day #17 - Organization Challenge - Computer Files Organization

Hi Organizing Buddies!!! Where have you been, Maria? Well, I've been busy. . .:) I recently bought a new computer. .. actually, my husband bought it for me. I've been busy reloading my programs and applications, transferring files, and basically, setting up the new computer. I've had my old computer for over 4 years and my husband has been wanting to get me a new computer for a while now. I've had an older version of Windows on my computer . . .I think 2003 or something like that. I don't like to mess with my computer because I hate having to figure out a new version of anything. It worked fine for me up until recently so I really didn't want a new computer.

Unfortunately, lately my old computer had been running really slow, had very little hard drive space left and I've been transferring all my files to a data drive just to have room for new stuff. For the past month or so, my old computer was beginning to flake out on me. . .primarily due to low memory and my CD/DVD drive stopped working. It was driving me crazy so I finally agreed to get a new computer! I'm now on Windows 7! Yay! I LOVE IT!!!! And I now have a 500 GB memory as well as a 500 GB data drive. Holy Cow! That's a 1000 GB of memory! Can you imagine how many photos I can upload on both drives!!!! That's NUTZ! LOL!

Anyway. . .because I'm on the subject of computers. . .I realized how messed up all my files are. I have at least 4 different "My Picture" folders, 3 different "My Documents" folders and everything is just all over the place. I can't even remember what folder I filed a photo in because I have so many of them! It's ridiculous! It's because this is my 3rd computer in about 8 years and each time, I've had to transfer all my files from one computer to another and rather than cleaning them up when I switched computers, I just transferred ALL of them. . .junk files and all!

Now that I'm on a new computer, I am totally confused. Seriously! I don't know what folder I filed a particular picture or document and I have to sort through all these files to figure it out! Do you have a problem with your computer files? Do you have photos that you should have deleted because they're duplicate photos of one subject? LOL! Are your files disorganized? Well, today is the day you will organize your computer files!!!

Today's challenge is to delete photos that are duplicates or just plain ole' junk photos, delete old documents that you either downloaded or created and no longer need, organize all of your photos in appropriate folders, and delete old unwanted files.

This may take a few days so. . .do the best you can! When you're done, your computer will have more memory, run smoother, and you will be less confused and frustrated. . .:)

Before I go, I wanted to let you know that I am COMPLETELY done with organizing my linen closet. I washed ALL of the towels, blankets, sheets, comforters . ..everything, folded all of them nicely, and organized them by categories and colors. My linen closet now looks fabulous! How are you doing with your linen closet?

I washed all of the comforter sets and put them back in their packages. They really didn't need to be washed but they have been sitting on the shelves for some time now and was exposed to dust and lint so I decided to wash them and put them in plastic bags to keep them free of dust so I don't have to do this again! LOL!


My laundry room is now free of clothes. They are all hung up in the bedroom closets. Hey, did you know. .. my laundry room is upstairs next to my craft room. It is so convenient to have a laundry room upstairs but at the same time, it can be bad because there's a tendency to treat the laundry room as a closet because it is located upstairs. But, nonetheless, I love having it upstairs. . .it's easier to transfer the laundry from the laundry room to the bedroom closets.

Look. . .no clothes hanging on the rods or folded on the shelf. I can actually fold down the shelf now. LOL! Previously there were clothes hanging on the rod and sitting on the shelf. Now, it's all clean! I am so happy about it!

If you want to send in a photo of your organized linen closet or what ever else you organized, feel free to email it to me at cardinspired@gmail.com and I'll post it on this blog. I haven't had much response but I'm figuring you are still organizing your stuff. . .:) Come on, play along!! Share your photos. . .it's fun to see other people's organization!!

Hope you all have a wonderful organizing day!!

Day #8 Organization Challenge - Darn, That's A Lot of Towels!

No kidding! That is a lot of towels. Blame it on the department store Marshalls. LOL! Really! When they were closing down, their towels were 50 to 75% off so I went nuts and bought a whole bunch of them. The problem is . . .knowing we have a lot of towels, I don't wash all of them on a regular basis. I'll wait until there's two basket full of towels before I wash them.

Well, I decided to gather all of our towels and wash all of them! Look at that pile! LOL! No, I'm not going to keep it that way. After the towels were dried, I folded them immediately but come back tomorrow and we'll re-haul our linen closet. We'll even fold them nicely.

The organization challenge today is to simply wash the towels and dry them. If you want to quickly fold them just to get them out of the dryer, you may do so. Tomorrow, we'll fold them nicely and we'll work on making our linen closet pretty, okay!

Hope you'll participate in today's challenge. Comment this post if you plan on playing along. Come on. . .let's get the towels out of the way! Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Day#4 Organization Challenge - Where Are My Socks

Yeah, that is what my daughter and husband are always asking me. . .. "where are my socks?". How the heck would I know??? Actually, I do know. . .it's in that laundry basket! That's where they are and none of them are matched.

You're saying. . ."I thought you were moving on and was going to post a different type of challenge, Maria?" Well, I was going to move on to something else but after my last load of laundry yesterday, I noticed I had a ton of socks that I gathered in the basket and needed to put them away into the drawer. I decided to surf the Internet to find a great organizer to hold all the socks. I did find one but I didn't like the tutorial so guess what! Yup, I created my own tutorial! LOL!

The video below shows how to create this great sock organizer! Whoohoo. Look at all my socks! They are all organized and pretty inside the drawers. Not only that. . .but they're all matched and easily accessible! Boy, I just love it!

What's today's challenge? Well today's organization challenge is to match all your socks and organize them nicely into your sock drawer!

Simple, huh? You can do it while you're organizing your closet. Any of you working on the last 3 challenges? Let me know. . .tell me your progress or. . .non-progress! If you've completed any of the challenges, take a picture and email me with the picture and I'll post it on the blog. My email address is cardinspired@gmail.com!

Hope y'all have a wonderful Friday. . .organizing! LOL! Have a great weekend too. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a new challenge. To comment this post, the comment link is at the top of this post.

Day #2 Organization Challenge - Yikes, My Washing Machine is my Underwear Drawer

Happy Wednesday, Friends! Remember yesterday's challenge? Well, the challenge was to clear out your laundry room of clean clothing and to put the clothing away in your closet. Did you have the chance to complete the task?

I have a confession to make. What motivates me to do the laundry is when I'm running out of underwear! Seriously!! When I notice I have only a few left, it'll prompt me to do the laundry. Okay, I can handle reusing my jeans or a t-shirt but there is no way I can reuse my underwear. LOL!!!!

Well, I'll do a few loads of clothes and usually, wash my underwear last. . . .. and it sort of stays in the dryer. Why? Because it's easy to find and when there's only one or two underwear left in the dryer, I know it's time to wash the clothes again! Too funny!!

I know. . .it's weird! I do have some sort of system of organization and unfortunately, this is it.


Do you see the drawer? Well, it's my underwear drawer. It's empty, you say. . . . .ugggh, yeah! It's because my underwear are in the dryer. After completing the challenge yesterday, I decided to create a handmade organizer for my underwear. I probably could buy a few plastic containers at the dollar store but who looks in my drawer anyway? I mean, it don't have to be fancy or anything like that.

Today's organization challenge is to fold your underwear nicely and create some sort of organization so your underwear are easily accessible and organized.

Here are my bras. . .I can't believe I'm posting my underwear for all the world to see! LOL! But, hey . . .you want credibility, right? I organized my bra by color and by type. . .you know, strapless, padded, etc.

Here is a tutorial on how to create a super cheap underwear organizer:

Measure you drawer. . .both depth, length and width. Using card boards (use a cereal box or poster board), measure and cut the card board based on your drawer measurement into 4 pieces (3 for the length and 1 for the width).


If the card boards are too short, tape two pieces together



With 3 of the card boards that measures the length of your drawer, cut a notch at the center of the cardboard about 3/4" of the width of the cardboard. Do not cut the cardboard completely in half.

Using the cardboard that measures the width of your drawer, cut 3 notches in equal distance between each notch. Start with cutting a notch at the center of the cardboard then cut one notch to the left and right of the center notch.

Interlock the card boards by inserting the cardboard through the notches. This will create a total of 8 compartments.


Here is the picture of the completed cardboard organizer . . .simple and cheap! Gotta love it!

Okay, gang. . .are you up for today's challenge? If you have any ideas for a great underwear organizer. . .share it with us by commenting this post! I'll do some research and see what I can find to share with all of you. Hope you all have a wonderful day organizing your underwear drawer!!! ***the comment link is at the top of this post***

Day #1 Organization Challenge - My Laundry Room Has Turned into a Closet

Yes, my laundry room has turned into a closet. LOL! Due to sheer busy-ness or maybe, laziness. . .not sure which one right now. . .rather than putting away the folded and hung clothing, I'll leave them in the laundry basket and and on the clothing rack. Sadly, whenever we need clothes, rather than walking into our closets, we walk into our laundry room. LOL!!

Oh I'm embarrassed to admit this but there are days when I would leave the clothing in the dryer and worse, leave the clothing in the washer.

Has that happened to you? Have you left the wet laundry in the washer and forgot to dry them. I'm guilty of doing this and I have to rewash them because they have that yucky, moldy smell. Am I terrible or what???









Here is one of the laundry basket and it's piled high ready to tip over. It annoys the heck out of my husband to have to look for his shorts in the basket rather than in the drawers.

Today's challenge is to fold and hang all your clothes after they've been washed and put them away in your "bedroom" closet. Clear out your laundry room of clean clothing!

Are you up for the challenge? Comment this post if you want to play along! The comment button is up at the top of each post, not at the bottom.