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February 29, 2012 · 12 Comments

February Organize-A-Thon: Week Four

Organization & Cleaning

Well, itโ€™s official. Weโ€™ve made it to the last day in February, which means itโ€™s the last week of our Organize-A-Thon. I donโ€™t know about yโ€™all, but this month of organizing has been absolutely huge for me.

For those of you who have no idea what Iโ€™m talking about, way back in the beginning of February I challenged everyone to a โ€œFebruary Organize-A-Thon,โ€ the only rules being that you had to organize SOMETHING each week throughout the month of February. Corey and I started off by tackling our completely out of control office, then we moved on to some stuffed-to-the-brim closets, and cleaned out and organized our garageย so we can actually use it now. And that brings us to this week.

I donโ€™t know if you noticed, but we took on some seriously large organizing projects throughout this month, and once it was time for us to pick our last project we actually had a really hard time coming up with anything. Most of the major areas in our home are now completely organized and clean, so for once (and someone should write this down, because itโ€™s probably the only time it will ever happen) we really didnโ€™t have much to organize!

Of course, just because we didnโ€™t have a large room or space in mind to organize, that doesnโ€™t mean that we didnโ€™t have anything to do. Trust me, we still have plenty of little areas in our home that need help. So, we decided to take on one of the smaller (but painfully annoying) unorganized spots in our home: our entryway console.

First of all, I feel like I should acknowledge that this table is all wrong for this space. Itโ€™s too short, not big enough, and doesnโ€™t provide nearly enough storage for what we use it for. This poor little guy has to work triple duty as a catch-all for keys and loose things we come home with, a place to corral coupons and gift cards, and a place to store our cameras and the cords to connect them to our computers. On top of all that, it ends up being used as a place for us to toss random little items that we donโ€™t use every day but still need to access easily, which means that these three little drawers are usually completely stuffed to the brim.

Wanna see how bad itโ€™s gotten?

Just imagine trying to actually find something in one of those drawers โ€“ itโ€™s impossible! The ideal solution is to replace this guy with something better suited for the space (with a ton more storage), but that isnโ€™t in the cards for us just yet. So, this weekend, we declared war on the junk in these drawers and decided to start from scratch.

Yes, this is how I start any organizing project. I dump everything out onto the floor so Iโ€™m forced to look at each and every item. Luckily (sadly?), in most of our past organizing projects (like the office and garage) this step was already done for us โ€“ we just had to start going through all of the crap that was lying on the floor!

Once we had everything out on the floor where we could see it, we organized it all into piles. We quickly realized that there was an entire pile worth of things that we either didnโ€™t need or didnโ€™t use often enough to need easy access to, so we were able to easily eliminate a good amount of things in this console just by moving it to a different spot (or getting rid of it altogether)

After less than five minutes of organizing (seriously, this project took less than FIVE MINUTES!), we had three little piles left that needed to stay in the console – one for each drawer.

I put everything back into it in a nice, organized manner, and soon enough we were left with something that is much more usable.

We now have a drawer for coupons, important papers, keys, and other things we might need to grab on our way out the door:

A drawer for random dog stuff (collars, leashes, sweaters, and toys):

And a drawer for all of our cameras, cords, and other random electronics:

I’m so excited to have this completed and organized. Out of all the areas we’ve organized over the last month, this is hands down the one we use the most, as we’re constantly grabbing things out of this console. Now that I can actually close the drawers without fighting against everything in them, I think my life will be a lot more streamlined!

And just like that, we’ve got a much more organized home!

Don’t forget, next week I’ll be featuring all of your organizing projects, so if you’re interested in having your project featured, be sure to shoot me an email at [email protected] or comment here with your links.

Do you have an often-used area in your home that’s desperately in need of some organization?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JeeYoung says

    March 2, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    You’ve had so many inspiring home reno/organizing/decor posts that I’ve got a list a mile long to follow! ๐Ÿ™‚ We’re going to attempt our first DIY project (Kitchen backsplash) this weekend! I only hope David and I can do as well as you and Corey have done in home decor/reno! ๐Ÿ™‚ Have a good wknd, Amanda!

    Reply
  2. Catherine says

    March 1, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    I can name more than a few areas that could use organization, I’ve been working on the master bath for weeks. I think the biggest monster is going to be the garage. Once we get some space in there, we’ll be able to move things out of the house.

    Reply
  3. Morgan says

    March 1, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    Ahh, drawer organization, one of my favorite places to get organized. Even though the clutter isn’t as in your face, there’s something about opening a freshly organized drawer, and seeing everything all in it’s own little place! I’ve loved your organization series, I hope you do it again!

    Reply
  4. Bri -- Bricolage says

    February 29, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    In general, I like to think of myself as pretty organized, but this post seriously convicted me to go through our drawers. Every time I organize them it only takes a month or two before they’re out of control all over again! Congratulations on organizing your whole house this month! You guys are so inspirational, it’s crazy!!

    Reply
  5. Ellie says

    February 29, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    I love following your organization adventures! I think you’ll like this tip I’ve seen (and have yet to really start following): every time you leave a room, bring something that doesn’t belong in that room with you. So easy to maintain organization that way…if you can get in the habit haha. I can’t wait to see more organization and home projects ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      February 29, 2012 at 2:13 pm

      Um, I LOVE that tip! I wonder if I can get Corey to start doing this with me….it’s genius! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  6. Jess says

    February 29, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Chris and I can never turn down a good crayon deal, so we have 3 or 4 of those jumbo crayon boxes around the house too! Haha! Great job on the reorganization project!

    Reply
  7. Mandy says

    February 29, 2012 at 8:42 am

    Um, can I just say I love that you had a 96 crayola pack in your entry console?? haha I thought for SURE those would stay, seeing as how I need my crayolas when I’m heading out the door every day. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I love your month of organizing! I think the garage was the biggest improvement!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      February 29, 2012 at 9:33 am

      You never know when the urge to color will strike! Easy access to crayons is vital! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  8. Maddie says

    February 29, 2012 at 8:36 am

    What a good (and quick!) fix! It’s amazing how quick just stuff can accumulate.

    Great job!

    Reply
  9. Sandi says

    February 29, 2012 at 6:20 am

    Drawers drive me crazy! We got a lot of Christmas presents in baskets this year so I have put a lot of stuff into them so at least the junk looks good.

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      February 29, 2012 at 9:34 am

      I need baskets, haha. That would make my life easier!

      Reply

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Overwhelmed by DIY? Let's do it together! I'm Amanda, and I live in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with my husband and two sons. I've taught myself how to make simple updates to help make my house a home, and I want to show you how to do it, too. Click here to learn more about us.

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