2013 Organizational Challenge

It's funny how you can move into a brand-new house and still have a ton of projects to do. Although we aren't ripping up floors and painting like the folks over at Young House Love, we still have a whole host of projects to undertake. Some of these projects fall into Phase 1, which means they need to get done quickly so we can feel more settled, while others fall into Phase 2 (and 3, 4, and beyond!), which require that we save up more money. 

When I last talked about our house, I mentioned that we had put everything in a spot (for example, everything was assigned a closet), but within all of those spots, there is little to no organization. That means whenever we open any closet or drawer we are bombarded with chaos. For those of you who are sensitive to order (or lack thereof) like I am, you can imagine how unsettling this situation is! 

When I'm experiencing stress in my external orbits (e.g., with work), then I especially appreciate calm and serenity within my internal orbits (e.g., home). That's why I want to commit to completing some of these projects before January 1. 

Here are my priorities: 

1. Get stairs built off the deck (right now it's completely enclosed, which means we can only access the backyard by going out the front and around--very annoying when trying to let the bloodhound out!)
2. Landscape the front yard (right now it's just a big mud pit, which means we are constantly bringing in large amounts of dirt)
3. Add iron railings to the front deck (this was part of the original plan but we ran out of money so it had to be postponed)
4. Purchase a door mat
5. Purchase pillows for the couch
6. Install curtains
7. Hang something above the couch
8. Install spice racks
9. Organize junk drawer
10. Organize utensil drawer
11. Install Tate's closet
12. Install outdoor closet
13. Plan bathroom closets
14. Fix window
15. Fix dry wall
16. Replace dead plants

I'm not gonna lie--it's a little overwhelming to look at these 16 major things and imagine how to get them finished alongside Matt's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but I know I will feel so, so much better going into the new year if we can get these done.

To kick off this list of projects, I decided to tackle one of the easier items: I organized our cooking utensil drawer. Here's how I did it: 

1. Took out everything and organized it into groups of like items. During that process, I purged a couple of things that were repeats.
2. I laid everything out on the counter in groups to create a draft arrangement.
3. I used these drawer dividers from The Container Store to create different compartments. 
4. I used my label maker to label each section in order to make maintaining the system easier. 

Is there anything you want to get organized before the end of the year? Feel free to declare your intentions here for a little accountability! 

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