The messy archives of my life

So this outer wall of the fridge used to be completely without function. The products on it now are all from the Container Store: the Urbio line of super strong magnetically lined plastics and a few magnetic mesh boxes, all in white. These products are not on sale, so tthere no rush, and we can talk about them later.

Ooh those are gorgeous! You know, i simply bought black enamel drip pans for my stove and they looked so much better than chrome. Its an electric stove, so the wire element just kinda disappears. Just a small thing but it improves the esthetic so much. I take pictures and show my t, so i really appreciate your pics here.

This is on sale until March 2nd. Elfa - the Container Store's flagship line of products. Made in Sweden. Has been made for decades, but this product, called a utility board, is the most recent addition. It may be similar to the pegboard mentioned earlier by Hankster.

So now I have only 3 items on the countertop on the sink's side - my xylitol gum in a jar, my ginger candy in another jar, and a new plastic knife block.

Allie, please see Elfa products on the Container Store's website and measure your space, and then we can figure out what can be stored vertically. Is the washer inside or do you go to a laundry room?

Mine was black plastic from ace hardware and the hooks are horrible tiny metal things that flip out when you remove the utensil. Those are nice hooks!

That organizer above your sink is amazing. How did you hang it up? With adhesives or nails? I'm not allowed to use nails or adhesives that might make marks on the walls of my dorm, but I think an organizer like that would generally be super helpful.

I have to go to a laundry room. The fact that it's two flights of stairs up makes me super lazy, and since there are only three washers and four driers means that I get discouraged if I go up and all of them are taken. Last night I actually did some laundry in my sink because I was running out of lingerie.

Thanks so much for helping! I'm going to check out the Elfa products right now. Is it possible to order online from the Container Store? I usually buy from Amazon because there are no reasonably-priced stores in my college town (living here is really expensive. The town's inhabitants are upper-middle-class/rich, and most of the stores are "designer").

My room is L-shaped and 143 sq. feet. There's not much floor space for putting in organizers (my wardrobe, closet, fridge, bookshelf, desk, bed, trash bins, etc. take up a ton of space) but my walls are completely bare.

My bed is also floor-level, so I can't store anything under that. I'm a really restless sleeper, so when my bed was normal height I kept falling off and hurting myself (concussions, bruises, etc.). So I had to bring it down to floor level.

I have been thinking about your predicament - dorm rules disallow adhesives and screws - and here are my thoughts.

1. Almost 20 years ago, I was vacating a student housing apartment in a college town in the middle of nowhere in order to move to California. I scrubbed and scrubbed... and scrubbed some more. Spent many hours cleaning. A victory - I got my deposit back. You will laugh - the deposit was 50 Bucks.

2. Of course, your deposit is larger, but still it makes sense to find out just how much they would charge you for a few screws.

3. Further, adhesive can be removed by a product called, if I am not mistaken, goo-be-gone.

4. Holes from screws can easily be patched up by a skilled handyman.

To sum pay, either paying for adhesive removal and hole patching, or paying the student housing office for minor damage, whichever is cheaper, seems a reasonable price to pay in order to use those bare walls for storing your belongings vertically. What do you think?

Yes, the Container Store sells online. So does Target, if you have no Target in the area.

I've got to watch those silent auctions at fundraisers. I get caught up in all the bright and shiny things.

I'm a sucker for a sale and every so often come home with 10 of a 2 for one grocery store item. I have 13 cans of corn and 9 of green beans sitting in my pantry.

It feels great to lighten up. I got rid of all my knick knacks and silk plants. My house looks much neater and cleaner since i don't have to move anything to sweep the dust off with my sleeve.

I can see why - I looked at silk plants at Michaels and after reading the instructions for cleaning, realized that I would not be able to carry them out so they would collect dust.

Here is my kitchenette.

It looks lovely! I wish i could clear my counters. I feel naked if my elbows arent crowded. What is the psychological term for that??

I went to the dayworker center and brought a charming, hard working young woman of a very interesting ethnic background - east indian and French - to clean. She beat my expectations by much! Since then, I have been wiping the counters with a lavender cleaning solution at least once daily. Also, I just bought a mop with microfiber cleaning cloths (and extra cloths since I do laundry infrequently) from the Container Store, and starting tomorrow I plan to mop the floor (mind you, it is a kitchenette, so the surface area is small) every morning while listening to music. Exercise+productivity, and the reason the floor gets dirtybis my feeding my two cats wet food in the kitchen.

As I expected, cleaning the counters has been easy - when everything is clean around, a bit of spilled coffee or a few crumbs literally scream asking me to remove them. Back when I lived in a place that was overall cluttered, chaotic, and messy, more crumbs or fewer crumbs, or spills, literally made no difference.

I went to my pdoc, showed her these pictures and a picture of the little garden I now have on my balcony, and told her what I have written here. To my surprise, she was more than delighted - she said that I am intuitively doing what I need to be doing by making my environment orderly as the environment around us reflects what is going on in our brains, on the one hand, and positively impacts our brains on the other hand. She gave me an appointment in 2 months, saying that she had been seeing me monthly fearing mania or depression, but now is convinced that I can keep myself stable. Of course, I was happy to hear that.

I forgot to say that the kitchen is colorful (a green spatula, an orange ladle, etc., mostly from Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond) on purpose - bright colors cheer me up.

The balcony.

I saw silk plants at Michaels. And, read the care instructions . So I didn't get the plants because I pictured all the dust they'd collect as the instructions are way, way more than I can expect of myself in the long term.

I have numerous cans of beans and tomato sauce. I bought them on sale, too, but, I figure, since I get this impulse to buy in quantity every once in a while, canned goods are the least of possible evils - they don't rot, spawning colonies of fruit flies .

This reminds me of something, my moms third husband, did, on their kitchen wall. With pots and pans, instead. Really kept her cabinets better organized.


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Inspiration!
Yes!!!
Hammy you rock.
The local senior’s centre is having a huge garage sale this weekend. Our healthcare system will pay for the “must needs”, but not for things like computers, sports equipment…etc
I am having Clean Out day on Saturday.
Out goes things like the pants that I will “fit into one day”, the five sets of dishes that I bought when manic, the two sets of pots and pans…and so on…
I am excited about doing this!!!

Hamster-bamster, you have done such a fantastic job. I wish I could get the energy to tackle mine. Most of my problem is my husbands stuff. He collects things. I've threatened to throw him and his **** out. But he's the only person that puts up with me.

Hamsterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!

It looks wonderful I am so happy for you !

The ultimate praise from the Queen of Housekeeping!

Christina, I do honestly think of you every time I wipe the counters. I am thinking that what you do on the 2000 sq ft of your house, I do on a few sq ft of my kitchen, and that it is a good start.

I got pictures framed at Michaels - thanks goes to Hanky for recommending Michaels, as all framing specialists who have worked with me are great, and the discounts cannot be beat. Bob, my handyman, has just finished hanging the pictures. I will post photos this evening.

Oh, and of course while decluttering I have found some random but interesting stuff including a flagpole for the garden. I would stick it into a big planter, but didn't have a flag. Luckily, there is a Hallmark store next to our grocery store, and they sell flags. I chose a colorful one that says: "Enjoy life" and made a new avatar out of it, too.

This is the flag on the balcony

Beautiful