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Grace Finale! Part VI: The Guest Room

This room was saved for last because it was the most dreaded by Grace. We tackled it in 10 hours... yes TEN. They donated a TiVo, TV, printer/fax, large shelving unit, tons of picture frames, over 50 books & VHS tapes- when I took the items to Goodwill in Point Loma, the employees were very happy to receive everything! We also threw away at least 5 kitchen size bags of trash including lots of worn out wire hangers, old paperwork, defunct chargers/power sources, and empty electronic item boxes. The behemoth shelving unit in this spare bedroom was definitely an eyesore. Grace's goal was to condense the items on that shelving unit into the closet and get rid of the shelving unit entirely. She wants to be able to have overnight guests stay in the room. The bookshelf was also a bit out of control with the vast amount of  CDs, VHS tapes, DVDs, Blu-Rays, video games, and (of course) books. Many were donated and this freed up space to make sure everything can fit now. A little dusting, vacuuming, filing, and straightening went a long way. ♥

Yes there were office supplies in this drawer before, but hey, now Grace can actually see them!

Behemoth shelving unit- GONE!

Organizing the books and VHS tapes- oh yes!

Things aren't on the floor now- everything has a home & there's even a little space to grow the collection (:

      

Where was the office paper and photo paper in this junk drawer? At the very bottom covered in clutter! Now it is easily accessible.

      

This defunct filing system was set up in 2003. How did I know that? That is when the filing of bills stopped! Now instead of using it for financial records, I've designated it to be the spot in the home for all user manuals (the TV, PSP, Xbox, Wii, DVD player, BluRay player, cable box, laptops, computers, ipods, ipads, cell phones, cameras, and various other items!).

   

   

Thanks Grace for a wonderful 6 sessions! I hope to be back for a few touch-up sessions in the future. Since I have finished my last 5 clients' jobs I am now taking new clients. Here's to 2012!!

Grace Part V: Bathroom, Closet, AND Bedroom!

The bathroom just needed a little sprucing up with some bins, some tossing of old products, and some cleaning up. Here are the results!

    

     

And voila, some simple organization has gone a long way. Now it's on to the hall closet...

    

By throwing out almost-empty bottles, lining everything up & frontfacing, and sorting like with like we were able to tackle this hidden mess in just 1 hour. Last stop of the day is the bedroom:

Do you see this drawer? Talk about stuffed to the max! Most of the paperwork was not needed , products, keys, electronic parts, business cards, and batteries were sorted into easy-to-access bins. Now the drawer is actually able to close! Let's keep it this way :)

I'll be back to complete Grace's space with one last bedroom and then she'll be in top top shape for the holidays. Stay tuned...

Grace Part IV: The Office

On to room 4 of the house. What is something I have seen in my work many, many times? Unopened mail! Credit card offers, grocery store inserts, magazine subscription reminders, car & health insurance, phone & electric bills, you name it and they send it! I highly recommend signing up for the do-not-send-junk-mail list, just as you would the do-not-call list. One site to check out would be ecocycle.org.  Another great tip is to utilize automatic online bill pay services. By paying most of your bills online, you will save paper and also save space in your home.

The sort consisted of many categories and piles. 2 large black trash bags full of mail to be shredded went out of the house and into the shredder. This cleared up much more space for the desk to be an efficient workstation again.

  

After sorting for 4.5 hours we whittled down the massive amounts of mail to small bins like this one. Everything has a home here in the office space and I'll be back next time to work on some more closets and shelves. Keep it comin!

Grace Part III: The Kitchen

Back to Grace! Here's a kitchen with lots of expired food items and bulky appliances that go unused. The counterspace was cleared and the deep dark cabinet corners were cleaned out. Everything seems a lot fresher now!

Ahh yes, the junk drawer. Don't we all have one?? Now this drawer is not so junky, it has instead been organized to perfection!

We all love our Costco hauls... but when buying in bulk you must be careful of losing precious space. I recommend stacking things like paper towels, toilet paper, ziploc baggies, trash bags, etc. and removing the outerwrap so that it is easier to find things. We donated a large George Foreman grill, as well as a large wok, a few dishes/pans, and a broiler. These were unused items in Grace's home and now there is definitely more space here in this little cabinet.

Cleaning supplies bogging you down? I suggest sorting like with like and condensing half-used or semi-used products into one bottle to save space.

Quick! Think about how many bowls and cups you really use. Chances are there are some grimy ones in the back of your cabinets that don't get any love. Why not donate em and clear up some space??

    

    

You may ask, how did the cabinets end up looking like that? As you can see in the above picture, Grace's countertop collected many uneaten and expired items, which we of course threw away . The winner of the day? A soup can which expired in early 2007. As Grace's husband so eloquently put, "Say hello to botchu and his friend lism."


And that about does it for the kitchen! 5 hours was the perfect amount of time to declutter and refresh the space.