Hot Spot #5--piano stuff

Well, I started to work on the office, but that is going to take another whole weekend to get done.  So, I decided to work on organizing my piano materials.  Being a piano teacher, I've accumulated a lot of materials. This has a been a project I've needed to do for quite a while.  I got quite a bit done before our trip out of town this weekend.

Before:

 Piles of notes and piano music

Going through my music cabinet

After:

The stack of music that's leaving my house.

My mom and I are planning a BIG garage sale during memorial weekend.  I'm so excited to put all this junk great stuff out that I've been putting aside all year since we moved and see if it sells.  Tom's looking forward to getting it all out of the house too. 

Hot Spot #4--pantry and refrigerator

I cleaned out the frig and wiped it down.  Thankfully I had thoroughly cleaned it out not too long ago, so it wasn't too bad.  But I did have quite a few things that needed to be thrown out.  Here are the before and after.

Before:

After:

I worked on my cupboards too since there was pantry food in a few of them.  We really don't have one great place to put everything as far as a pantry goes.  Tom did put some shelves in a closet for me and that is working for the time being.  Here are some pictures of my re-arranged cupboards.

Before:

After:

Tomorrow I hope to post the last project hot spot which was anything I wanted to work on.  I chose my office since that is the last room to settle in our house.  I'm hoping to get that done...we'll see.

Project Hot Spot #3

Last week the hot spot was B's toys and clothes.  It was quite a task, but I got her room organized...again.  It seems like every time she enters a new stage, I need to go through and organize her room again.  Take out the baby toys and re-think what's best for her at this stage of life.  And of course, the never ending clothes rotation can add up quickly to a huge amount of items to store.  While I didn't get to the clothes storage issue in my basement, I did get to b's toys and closet.  So here are the before and after photos.

Before:

After:

 I took out b's little peoples and put her baby doll stuff in here instead.  She is really in to babies right now.

 I went through the other bin too and kept only the things she really likes and plays with in there.

At Christmas time was received a lot of books from Tom's co-worker whose kids are older now.  So, I went through all the books and only kept the age appropriate ones out for now.  I stored the rest for later.

Before:

After:

 Games on one side and craft bin and coloring book bin on the other side.

 Basket with painting supplies and Sticker/Pasting/Drawing etc. books

 Toys at eye level for B to get out for herself.

New crayon bin

Before:
 

After:

I only worked on the little shelf in her closet this time.  I put a new bin in there to hold her 4t clothes that should probably fit by winter.  Then I left a few blankets and her fan that we use in the summertime.  I was able to go through the 2 upper  cupboards.  I took down all the diapers (since she's potty trained now) and took down all of the other baby things that were up there.

Whew....glad to be done with that.  On to Hot spot #4 this week...Pantry and Refrigerator.

Project Simplifiy--Hot Spot #2

I tackled my paper clutter with my recipes!  This has been piling up for...well...about a year now.  I usually rip out recipes out of my magazines before throwing the magazines out.  So, I actually hole-punched all those recipes and put in them in the binder that was sitting underneath the pile.

Before:

After:

I also tackled loose papers around the house.  Here's the pile:

Here is another before and after of my piano stuff on top of my filing cabinet.  I just recently started teaching piano again.  Unfortunately, the pile builds up quickly.

Before:

After:

Love to get the small projects done that make the house look less cluttered!!  (oh...and my husband loves it too.)

Project Hot Spot #1 is organized!

Before:

After:

Clothes to donate:

Hoo and Ray (can you tell I watch a lot of word world with B?) for getting organized!  Wardrobe and Closet are now done.  There are some good tips in this post.  I liked the idea of flipping the hangers backwards and then flipping them the right way after you've worn the item.  That way you really know what you're wearing and what is just hanging in your closet.  I also, started writing down the items that I need for my wardrobe.  I always forget what I really need.  On to hot spot #2 on Monday.  You can read about this contest on Simple Mom here.

It's Time to Organize!!

So today starts the beginning of Project Simplify on Simple Mom and the first week's hot spot is....
the wardrobe and closet!  I've been wanting to go through this for a while now....

We already have the closet organizers put up, but I need to go through all these clothes!!  If you want to participate and get some cleaning projects done in the next 5 weeks, head over to simple mom and read about the first hot spot.  Everyone who participates in this week’s hot spot — and then links to the before-and-after photos on her blog or the Flickr pool — is automatically entered to win this week’s giveaway!   You have until Sunday.  You'll be seeing projects from my house for the next 5 weeks.  Check back later this week to see the finished project!