Organize your Stuff (round 6): Week 2&3: Brainstorming & Cleaning

Wow, it looks like we survived Week 1 of Round 6 of the Organize your Stuff Challenge at Two Peas in a Bucket pretty well. The POW is so happy that so many of you have decided to take this journey with us! Creative Me is on the equivalent of a sugar high, as she did more creating in the last 8 days, than she has done in the last 6 weeks! So, space audit complete!

Housekeeping: We are going to try and post a layout and a card every week to keep you motivated, and challenge you to create something…anything… as well. Here is our layout for this week:

Well, it is time for the first tweak to the patented Zen Master Wookiemouse 29 Step Program. In the first 5 Rounds, the POW has noticed a few trends. First, that before Week 1, there are 40-60 people who will post their need to Organize. About half will show up for Week 1…figure out your problem areas, and Week 2…brainstorming. But, when it came time to actually start cleaning, suddenly the thread was dead. Everyone’s Inner Hoarder and PA Me suddenly found hall closets in need of cleaning and errands that needed running.

By virtue of your making it to Week 2, your inner cleaner (OCD Me in our case) has at least some control at this point. Before our Inner Hoarder and PA Me get too organized themselves and realize that we are going to put them to work, it is time to distract them with thinking up their dream space while The POW and OCD Me start straitening up.

Say what?! Week 2 is traditionally called Brainstorming week. In the past, that has meant that now we have our list of what works and what doesn’t, we now picture our perfect place and savor it so that we have direction to move forward. Channel your inner Martha Stewart, and plan your scrap space just like you plan the way that you are going to spend that winning Power Ball ticket… oh and take a picture of your space.

The picture is for you to realize how far you have come…when you are frustrated because you have realized that you have been Jedi mind tricked for 3 of the last 5 weeks and you are not sure that you have made ANY progress, and it might be just easier to give up. Do not give up! Pop in your copy of The Princess Bride (and if you don’t have it, you really need to rent it) and remember that you can be mostly dead all day, and still come back and save the day. Break out that picture and rejoice. At least one pile is missing.

Our Scrap Space:

Now, we told you that we were going to show you the good, the bad, and the UGLY. Here is our UGLY. Now, OCD Me really, really, really wanted to pick up before we shot this, but as we tell our kids… we will never lie to you (intentionally).

In our defense, PA Me LOVES the TLC show “Hoarders: Buried Alive” and this is her attempt to get a professional to come in and clean it for her. Really though, it is the downward spiral of having Fabulous Spouse activate and leave for Afghanistan the day after Christmas and then having very well trained children “saving” everything for their Dad. Lesson Learned: Do not let your Inner Hoarder in charge of the kids…. OCD Me is not blameless. When we cleaned any other part of the house, what we had no place for came in here… Since the POW was too busy keeping the house going, Creative Me barely had time to slip inside, except to make a card for The Front to send to Fabulous Spouse. Literally, it has been 9 months since we did a layout!

Week 3 is time to start cleaning. There is two versions of cleaning in the School of Wookiemouse Organization: Start Small/ Spot Clean and Go for Broke/ Clean Sweep. In Round 2 (our first round) we Went for Broke. If you can do that, it really does make the process easier. Your OCD Me will feel like she has conquered our Flat-surface-it is (thank you Barbara for that term!), and your PA Me will be able to ignore the boxes , and the Inner Hoarder will not get too upset because nothing has been purged yet.

We are Spot cleaning this time around…This is harder, because PA Me and the Inner Hoarder keep reminding OCD Me that there are SO many piles, and so much more to do, that she might as well give up now. Again, do not give up. That is why we are doing this as a group. If nobody else does, we have your back! The only consolation with the clean as you go method is that Creative Me knows where everything is, and with the Clean Sweep method she tends to get more frustrated.

Review:
1.Think of your perfect Scrap Space (ours has a full service bar, a maid, and a nanny on staff)
2.Take a picture (you can link it in below)
3.Decide if you are going small or going big (and start to box up if going big)
4.Create something…always remember to keep Creative Me happy…she has the immunity idol and is essential to not getting OCD Me voted off the island!

Link in for anything Week 2/3 you want to share :)