Week 1 Progress Report: Emptying Binders and Other Things

Right after I decided to join the challenge to transform the Area of Utter Chaos in my basement into a functional crafting area, I spent some time down there looking after the low hanging fruit.

Then, of course, I didn't do anything at all again until yesterday.

I decided to tackle this area.

These old IKEA pine units (between the filing cabinet and the dresser) have been in my life since they held record albums in my Mom's house when I was in High School. They're great for old scrapbook binders and photo albums.

I unloaded the entire thing, one shelf at a time, and sorted and piled on the bench.

I emptied quite a few binders=--and found a few in categories I've seen before:



"Home Management" --This was chock full of print outs from Fly Lady's site and a few handritten sheets detailing my "ideal" morning and evening routines. Everything went into recycling. I'm pretty sure I may have another just like it (only different) upstairs in my bedroom.

"Garden Inspiration" --full of clippings from magazines and a few notes on various plants. I have another upstairs 3x as big. I tossed 90% of it.

"Scrapbook Idea Book" --sketched layouts, lots and lots of notes about how to assemble albums, etc. I went through it page by page and kept only my own page layout schematics. I'll put the sheets into the binder I have for this upstairs.

To my utter horror, (I have spent a lot of money on page protectors) I found not one, not two, but three binders full of 8 1/2 x 11 page protectors. I knew I had them, too. But I wasn't entirely sure. I'm not sure whether to keep them--not because I'm afraid I'll buy more--but because the thought of filling them up with stuff makes me shudder.

Here's how the cabinet looks now:


I'm not done with it.

I want to go through all that stuff on the top and figure out how to store it better and I have a bunch of punches and some craft paint to go through, today.



The punches will be hard. They were expensive and some were never even used.

But, most importantly, how am I tracking on the plan for week 1?

1. List the punching bag for sale. done.

2. Clear out the area by the lat pull-down machine for a picture and list it for sale. cleared out. Not listed, yet.

3. Decide whether the Rocking chair is repairable.
According to my husband, it is. When I asked him if he could do it in the next few weeks, he didn't anser me. It broke just a few days before Christmas.

4. Decide whether to keep the upholstered platform rocker.
This is it:



I dragged it out of the basement, washed the vinyl and vaccuumed the upholstery. Then I threw a blanket over it. I think I will add recovering it to my long list of things to do.



5. Decide wehther to insulate the wall over by the lat pull down machine this month (my husband has another vacation week coming up)
We talked about this. I can't remember what we decided. My husband did say it will be nice to have a week off "without a big house project." I don't think it will be getting done any time soon.

6. Put up hardware for curtains in the laundry room. done!

7. Talk to my husband about what needs to be done to finish the laundry area. done!

8. Put away items which really do have a home, like these on the bench. done! But of course, it is full of stuff again!



Decisions, decisions!

Check out more fabulous and challenging projects at Org.junkie.

The William Morris Broom Cupboard

Jules, at Pancakes and French Fries hosts the William Morris Project every Thursday. She's been doing this since the new year--and I finally have something to post for it!

I took on a very small project: but one I've been meaning to get to for ages.

My linen cupboard upstairs also has to hold the various odds and bits I use for cleaning the two bedrooms and the powder room up here.

I'd put the back of the door to use:


However, as you can see, it wasn't very convenient. Or beautiful. But it did work. Sort of. Everything was stacked, one on top of the other. Like a pile. A hanging pile. Yuck.

As I was cleaning up the basement (as part of the 29 day challenge) I came across a small towel rod and some hooks. I can't quite remember what I thought I'd do with them--maybe even this very project!

The first task was to remove the old sticky plastic hook.



Have you heard of Goo Gone?



It's amazing stuff.



Just a bit on a tissue and rubbing away at it for several minnutes was enough to get rid of all the residue.


(That's old growth forest from British Columbia you're looking at. Douglas Fir. At first I wanted to paint it, but it has grown on me.)

Nothing left to do but put up the towel bar, the hooks and hang everything up idividually, instead of all together. In a pile.



Ta Da!

(Yes, I did sneak in the water bottle. It occurred to me when I emptied it that it can hang.)

If you'd like some great inspiration to get something done, check out the other participants at Pancakes and French Fries.

The February Budget: done!

Like making the menu plan, it seems that I will now spend the last weekend of every month making up the budget for the following month.
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The budget is only one aspect of Dave Ramsey's financial program. His take on it is a bit different. It's not based on averages, or projections, or anything about what you should do. Instead, you look at your take home pay and spend it on paper before you touch a penny of it.
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The budget, then, is simply a spending plan for that month.

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It is a scarey thing to do because, now that I've done it, I can clearly see there is no money for painting the bathroom, for example. (Not unless I take it from my personal "blow" money allocation). I can live with that this month. But next month? This could get oppressive fairly quickly. But the goal is to avoid the credit cards --no matter what.
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That's why it's really important to have set up what Ramsey calls the "baby" emergency fund of $1,000.00. We will actually have to use ours this month to help pay for some dental work. In the past, I wouldn't have touched that fund--but simply used the credit card. We have a dental plan which will reemburse most of the cost: so our Emergency fund won't be depleted for long. My husband says he likes the idea of being his own lending institution. The rates are certainly better!
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The best part of the budget, for me at least, is the Allocated Spending Plan. Each expense is listed down the side as before: but the sheet is divided into four columns, each representing a pay period. It's perfect for us as my husband is paid weekly and one of my biggest challenges was keeping track of what to pay when.
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Here's an example from the book:




I don't know how well you can see it, but basically, when the first expense is deducted from the pay cheque the amount remaining is written beside the expense--separated by a slash. Keep doing that down the column and you have a running total of how much money is left from that pay cheque after paying each expense.

From doing ours, for example, I realised that I have even less money available for groceries in week two than I thought I'd have.

Good to know.

If you are interested in these forms, there's a collection of them here in both word and pdf format at the Byrd's Nest.

The Big Shop: The Frugal Edition

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I shop the first Tuesday of every month for all the meat and pantry items we need in a month. Grocery stores here offer consumers 10 % off the entire grocery bill. I've been making monthly menu plans and shopping this way for years. It's supposed to save us money.

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But for the past few months, this has been costing us money--not saving it.

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That's because I've been stupid and using my credit card to pay for them. If we're "a little short," it's no biggie, right? My husband gets paid on Thursday--every Thursday--so we'll just transfer the money right over.

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Except I forget.

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Or there isn't quite as much as I'd thought would be there.

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Or something.

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So, as part of this whole Dave Ramsey thing we're doing, we decided that though I would do up the menus and go shopping as usual, I would check my bank balance and not spend any more than we had available. (Novel concept.)

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I usually spend about $350.00 after the discount.

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Today, I had a little over $200.00 to work with.

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I came in under--far enough under, actually, that I could have purchased those two cans of coffee I left behind because I was a bit anxious. (I really wish I'd got them, actually. But, I do have enough to last until the next shopping trip on Sunday.)

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I also left behind the lovely hams: we usually have at least one in a month--and use the left overs for another meal--but I couldn't do it.

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I also found that I didn't pick up any extra. I bought one bottle of ketchup--not two. I got just one can of tomatoes even though they were on sale and "I can always use tomatoes." I have some in my pantry. I didn't buy the pre-shredded or the pre-sliced cheese.

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I have no idea how the rest of the month is going to go. But we seem to be off to a good start.

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The next thing I need to do is write up our budget for the month based on Ramsey's method.

Day 4: 29 day Basement Organization Challenge

Today was mostly spent doing the obvious: or as Aby Garvey of Organizing 101 likes to say, I spent the day picking off the low hanging fruit. Most satisfying it was, too.
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First, I took the time to find a nail and bang it into the wall so I could hang the curtain rod and put up my curtains.
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Ta Da!

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I wasn't just waiting on a nail, though. I had to try these out in the bright! shiny! white! bathroom first.
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I love these curtains, but when my hand hit them for the upteenth time while trying to get at the toilet paper, I had to admit defeat: they were just too big for this spot.
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They are cheery, here, though, aren't they?
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(Please don't mind the mid-laundry day mess.)
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I actually started clearing this bench yesterday.
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I had to clear out some old coil bound work books to find some room on the shelves behind the sheet curtains to the left: so my daughter and I worked out the coils last night while watching TV to get the pages ready for recycling.
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Ta da two!
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Remember this mess?
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Well, I unearthed the "home gym" buried beneath. I really don't know if we're going to get much for it at all. I've a mind to let it go for free.

Ta da three!

But then, I didn't pay for it.
It gets a bit tougher, now, but I'm feeling good.

Basement: Planning

Org Junkie is hosting the 29 Day Organizational Challenge. Just like Maxwell of AT, she recommends starting with answering a bunch of questions. I found these here.
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Here they are:
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1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
Tricky, really. In the past it has merely been the place here things go to die. It's also the place here my son exercises on the recumbent bike, and lately I've been painting the ceiling planks for the bathroom.
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I set up our old kitchen table for spray painting.

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The area also stores furniture awaiting repair and scrapbook supplies.
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Honestly? I want the area to be a place here I can work on my scrapbooks and crafting/decorating projects for the house. Really.
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I know we need a place for the bike: but maybe this isn't it. There is the area over by the furnace which has the lat pull down machine and bench. If we got rid of that....and cleaned it out...
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There's a lat pull down machine in there. That stuff? Mostly my daughter's. No, she hasn't left home--she's eleven. It's going to be a bear to make her go through this stuff, but it's got to be done.
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We could move the bike over here. You know what else would be cool? A dvd player and a TV, or a place to set up audio cd's or an mp3 player--or something to help pass the time on the bike. Oh--and I'd love to replace the bike with a treadmill and free weights.
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Oh well.
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I feel like that's selfish. Maybe I'll talk to the family. It's hard to make truly functional plans for the basement. We need more light and more heat to truly make this area useable.
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2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
Well, as I said...we need light.
and heat.
A table, a comfy office-type chair.
I need my supplies organized in various containers.
Drawers. I have lots.
In fact, I have everything I need (except the heat and light): I just need to utilize it better.
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3. What can I remove from the room?
punching bag
recumbent bike
broken furniture
unused furniture and decor items.
kids' boxes of artwork.
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4. What problems do I see with the room?
Storage needs change: and I haven't been keeping up. For example, though I am loathe to deal with the all of shelves, there's old school ork and stuff there I don't need to store. I need a place for the skates now on the floor, though.
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5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Again, I'm pretty sure I have all I need: I just have too much stuff in too small a space.
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6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
I need to stop waiting for my husband to fix the broken furniture and just chuck it immediately?
Um. No. I don't think that will work.
This is a tough question to answer because e don't really use this "room."
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7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Easy--nothing.
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8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
The true deadline is however long it takes us to save up for an electrician to come and rewire and install increased amperage for the house as a whole. Include in that time frame the time it ill take to go through all the old art ork and school ork and decide what to keep and what to toss. I've no idea, really. Longer than a month anyway.
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9. What is my plan of action?
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Week 1:
Do the obvious.
1. List the punching bag for sale.
2. Clear out the area by the lat pull-down machine for a picture and list it for sale.
3. Decide whether the Rocking chair is repairable.
4. Decide whether to keep the upholstered platform rocker.
5. Decide wehther to insulate the wall over by the lat pull down machine this month (my husband has another vacation week coming up)
6. Put up hardware for curtains in the laundry room.
7. Talk to my husband about what needs to be done to finish the laundry area.
8. Put away items which really do have a home, like these on the bench.
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Week 2:
Purge.
1. Look through the shelves and get rid of anything obvious.
2. Start collecting items for homeschool conference sale.
3. Go through Emma's things with her--goal: to consolidate and clean out two storage boxes.
4. Go through the scrapbooking supplies and discard little used tools and items.
5. Go through the drawers in the pine dresser.
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Week 3:
Organize.
Hopefully, the punching bag and the lat pull don machine will be gone and I'll be able to move the bike. Then Ill be able to think about how I ant to arrange things down there.
Wow--can this really be done?
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Week 4: The home stretch.
Don't call me crazy but I would love, love, love to paint this pine wall white.
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I'll have a progress report for Week One next Friday.

29 Day Organizing Challenge

One room. One month.
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Org Junkie is hosting a challenge to transform one room in your home from chaotic and cluttered to organized and, even better, functional. Beautiful is not a goal. Thank goodness.
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It's not really a room, per se, but it is badly in need of organization, clarification and intention. Yes, once again, I'm talking about the basement. Fortunately, it isn't as bad as it as it as when I did the grand purge in 2008. I just spent about 1/2 an hour reading back through the blog entries. Man, I hope the basement isn't as bad. I don't want to work anyhere near that hard!
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It's a crazy time to do it as the weather is unreliable (and it gets darn cold down there when the temperature dips) --but I've decided to do it. Not only is it on my Winter Project List but I love encouraging others and watching them transform their spaces as I do mine.
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It's like a mini one room cure and I'm delighted to be able to tackle the dungeon with others doing the same. I'll also have a topic to blog about, too, and most importantly, a deadline.
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So, ready? Here's a sketch of the floorplan down there:

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My focus will be on the part labelled "Area of Utter Chaos" though I will spend some time on the other areas, too.
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This is it: (Believe it or not, I spent a few hours last week cleaning up, too.)
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Behind that makeshift all to the right is my husband's workshop. It badly needs cleaning out, too.
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My husband has agreed we can sell the punching bag. We're off to a great start!