111 in 1/11: week two

How's your 111 going?

My second week of the purge started off pretty slow.  I did quite a bit of work last weekend in the office, but about halfway through I hit a barrier.  I was tired, frustrated, and growing overwhelmed.  It just seemed like the mess was growing and the room was getting smaller around me.

I love organizing, and I think an organized home can really help make a small space more livable-- but my small space was making me feel a little claustrophobic.  So I took a break.

I realized that what was so overwhelming was that I wanted an end result that just isn't possible right now.  I wanted my office to have a clear and defined identity-- but I couldn't quite figure out what that should be.   I'll talk more about that later.  In the meantime, I had to settle on a "good enough for now" space and try to make it a little less cluttered.  Back to the purge...

I decided that will all this declutterization and inspiration from other bloggers, I would host a yard sale sometime when the weather is better.  So far, I've got 112 items in my yard sale pile.  That's not counting the 2 garbage bags of research, two broken vases, and a host of other things I dumped that weren't quite yard-sale worthy.

In the office I am eliminating:

• a few books
•  tons of empty binders
• a wobbly plant stand
•  some iron scrollwork from my apartment
• a cool barnwood framed bird print from a yardsale
• some empty plastic bins without lids, a few lids without bins
• a basket (gasp!)
• a memo board from my old kitchen
• a chalk line
• a few glass jars
•  and the slipcover bag that I swore I would use for something. 

Spillover into the living room (from the hall closet, 3rd bedroom, and my purgatory include:

• About 15 candles of various sizes
• two sets of curtains
• a blue toile shower curtain
• a full bedskirt
• two giant vases
• picture frames
• curtain rods
• lightbulbs and cleaning supplies
• another box of books!

I still have a long way to go-- I'd like to tackle a few of my purge-atory drawers in the bedroom (hello clothes that haven't been worn since highschool!), my excessive handsoaps in the bathroom, and maybe a few undisovered areas of hoarding over the next few weeks.  

For now, I am going to try to celebrate the progress so far.  I'm not at my ideal, but I'm getting there.

The linen closet before:

The top half was full of cleaning supplies I rarely used.

The bottom had more cleaning supplies, a few unpacked boxes, and other things just stashed in the free spaces.

 During (the disaster zone and a helper):

 After:

Empty bins for growth! And cleaning supplies I'll actually use.

The bottom shelves hold my favorite frames, empty gift boxes, a few tall candle holders, and my gifting bins: cards, ribbons, bags and gifts.

The office closet before:

And for now (with room to grow):

The office before: 

 Soo much stuff!!!

The office (for now).  If nothing else, it's not as cluttered!

And now, for hanging in there through a terribly picture heavy post, I give you:

"fat cat in a little basket"

You're welcome.