The winter holidays are just around the corner, and I am C-A-L-M. We are getting ready early this year. We know who is coming over for dinner, and who will be staying with us. I know what the menu will be and who is bringing what dish. I’ve even made a shopping list. Bring it on! I admit it, I was feeling in control. Then, last night, one of the kiddos was feeling congested and he wanted the humidifier in his room. Piece of cake, I knew exactly where to look!
A few minutes later, as I am digging around in the guest bedroom closet, unsuccessfully trying to locate the humidifier, a terrible thought occurred to me. Guests will need to sleep in this very room and it looks like a tornado swept through here long ago! My smug holiday mood evaporated pretty quickly.
The door to the guest room is always closed, and for good reason! The bed hasn’t had sheets on it since the last guests stayed here (over the summer). On top of the bed, there are boxes and bags with various purchases needing to be returned to various stores. The Halloween bin is on the floor, empty.
All the Halloween costumes and decorations are spread out all over the room. Luggage from our last trip is blocking access to the closet. I can’t fit the suitcases in the closet and there is no space in the garage. My craft table is piled high with various abandoned projects and art supplies. On the floor is large garbage bag full of clothes and toys to be donated. The lamp on the nightstand is broken. Rolls of wrapping paper stick out from under the bed.
Where are we going to put all this stuff? This room has needed a serious tidying session for a while, and now that the in-laws are visiting, we have two weeks to get it done.
Step One:
We scheduled time to get it done. It isn’t easy to find free time, but the guest bedroom will need to be ready, so we carved out 3 hours over the weekend. My husband was ecstatic, he just loves doing home projects. That-was-sarcasm-people! He was not ecstatic by any means, but since it is his parents who will be staying in the guest bedroom, he was a little bit more motivated to participate.
Step Two:
On the scheduled day, we turned on a Spotify playlist and dig in. It was time to divide and conquer. He ran to the UPS store to mail online returns. I placed a bag of exchanges and returns on the passenger seat of my car (if it’s in the back, I’ll forget about it.) I will take care of these errands during the week. I returned all Halloween decorations and costumes to their bin. We will put that bin into the attic until next year, but in the meantime, I took the bin to the garage where we access the attic.
Step Three:
Just looking at my craft table made me want to close the door to the guest room, crawl into my own bed, and turn on Netflix. But once I tossed a few old projects, I got inspired to continue until the table was clean and tidy. I used a few clear plastic bins I had around the house to sort all the craft supplies. Pens and Pencils in one bin. Glue gun and glue sticks went in another. Stamps and stamp pads went in their own bin. Fabric and sewing supplies got a bin too. By the time my husband returned from his errands, I was almost done.
Step Four:
The biggest challenge was the closet. Once upon a time our luggage fit in the guest closet, along with other items (like the humidifier!). Somehow, over time, the closet became a repository for anything no longer being used or wanted. We got a large box for donations and we started going through the items on the left side of the closet. We set aside old electronics, coats, games, knick-knacks, all to be donated. We had been working for over two hours and we were exhausted. But, the transformation was amazing. We cleaned out enough space to return the luggage and other small items into the closet. My hubby loaded all the donation bags to take to the Goodwill another day.
Step Five:
The guest room looked amazing! I made up the bed with clean sheets and blankets. I set out guest towels and placed a water carafe on the nightstand. The guest closet even had space for a few hangers, should any of our house guests like to hang up their clothes.
After three hours of hard work we were exhausted, but super excited about the possibility of also organizing our garage. We quickly realized that even if we had the time work on it an entire weekend, we wouldn’t be able to finish the garage on our own. We agreed that it’s time to get help from professional organizers. I have made an appointment, just in time for the holidays.