30 Day Organizational Challenge

I am so excited! I am participating in the Spring Organizational Challenge put on by Laura at Organizing Junkie.

She has two categories: a large room/area and a small room/area.
I am participating in both. My large room/area is my garage and my small room/area is under my kitchen sink.

Here are my before pics of the garage:






And here are my preliminary answers to these questions:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
to be storage and ready access for several different types of items:
a. car (or cars, depending on hubby)
b. tools/ home improvement supplies
c. gardening gear
d. garbage cans
e. kids outside toys
f. winter gear (might move this to the attic, now that I think about it)
g. freezer

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
I need some better storage solutions. Maybe some shelving, some more hooks, some tubs, would like a wireless entry system for when we take walks.

3. What can I remove from the room?
tools I don't use, cleaning items I don't use, old paints, some things can go to the attic

4. What problems do I see with the room?
too many uses for too little space. putting everything that doesn't have a place in the house into the garage. Not a good system in place for kids to use.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Cutting down on the uses (like putting the winter gear in the attic (at least in the summer, maybe I could switch out in the winter and put the kids outside toys in the attic), defining areas of use: a gardening area, tool area, car stuff area, toy area

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
follow up on kids putting toys away when they get in. Put things outside on workbench myself so it gets put away in the right place. Limiting the amount of stuff we keep. Regular purging.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Very limited (maybe $50 or less?)

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
Need a few good days of working on it a few hours at a time. Could start purging it right away, though, in smaller increments.

9. What is my plan of action?
a. purge the unneeded stuff
b. move winter stuff to attic
c. decide on areas in garage for each type of item, make limits on the area
d. put like items together
e. decide what supplies/containers are needed for each area
f. buy items and install
g. put things where they go
h. take pictures and post them! :-)

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
my kids, Sherria (my neice), my hubby, maybe Ashton or my mother in law to hold the baby while I am working.


And here is my before pic of under my kitchen sink:


And my answers to the questions pertaining to under my sink, now:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
cleaning items storage

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
shelves and/or containers. childproof locks.

3. What can I remove from the room?
several cleaners I don't use. who knows what else is down there!

4. What problems do I see with the room?
too much stuff! Not staying in boxes. Boxes not labelled. Too hard to access boxes since it is a corner cabinet.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
shelves and better containers.

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
putting things away in correct box/container. making it friendly for others to know where to put stuff.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Very limited (maybe $20 or less?)

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
just a few hours

9. What is my plan of action?
a. purge the unneeded stuff
b. make categories of items
c. decide if anything can go anywhere else
d. research shelving for corner cabinet with sink
e. buy shelving and/or containers
f. install
g. put to work, label
h. install childproof system

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
Sherria, my mother in law or Ashton to hold Ethan

I am excited about getting those areas done as well as the possibility of winning prizes! WOOHOO! Do you have any areas you want to work on? Come join me and the other people at Organizing Junkie's site!