My Laundry Room

The 30 Day Organizational Challenge is over today! This is the first of my two entries; my small space...my laundry room. My post from the beginning of the challenge is here. Below are my before and after pictures.

Before After

With this sink area, most of what I did was put the things away that were sitting around the sink. The bulk of the time I spent on it was scrubbing the sink, though. Notice the brilliant white shine :D It had layers and layers of paint in it. I'm not sure it had EVER been cleaned! I used a lot of all-purpose cleaner as well as some acetone for the paint. Steel Wool helped a lot, too, to scrub off some of the chunks of paint.

Before

After

For this portion of the room, I put things away in the containers we purchased and cleaned the washer and drier with all-purpose cleaner.

Before

After

One word: containerize! One problem we had was that a lot of bottles of cleaner we had were partially used. I combined the ones that were the same, and got rid of a lot of bottles. Then, we bouht containers for the rest of the things. They are labeled. The ones in the container up there are our extras. The cleaners in current use are now happily hanging on the back of the door:So, there you have it...my newly organized laundry room! :o) Now, to answer the questions Laura posted:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge and were you able to overcome it?
The challenge wasn't that difficult in and of itself. Probably getting motivated. The first few times I worked on it, it was easy, but after that I "lost interest" to a certain extent. I'm so glad I was able to do it though! One challenge was that life around the house changed considerably mid-challenge. My Mom took a substitute teaching position for four weeks and I started Bible college. Those were both pretty big changes that gave me less time to work on it and also got me distracted.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order.
One habit I've gotten into is putting the cleaners back on the back of the door when I finish my chores instead of just tossing them on the washing machine or up on the shelf. Also, I've developed the habit of putting the dog treats back up on the shelf after I give them a treat. Same with the laundry detergent.

3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
I recycled a LOT of bottles once I combined like cleaners into one bottle. That got rid of a lot of clutter. I also threw away old stuff that was no longer good. Getting rid of junk feels good. :o)

4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
I learned that just putting things back where they go, even in a room that is seemingly unimportant, is a great habit to get into, and prevents you from having hours of cleaning to do. Really, there's NO cleaning to do in there if I just put things where they belong after using them!

5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
I think it will be really nice to have the room continually remain clean. It's usually the first room we come into when we come in the house since it's just inside from the garage. Hopefully it will be nice for my Dad when he comes home from work to have the first room he sees not be chaotic. :o)