Tuesday, April 1, 2008

I Confess: I'm a Little OCD

I think I mentioned previously that last week, I engaged in spring cleaning in a ginormous way.

My proudest organizing achievement was the linen closet in the upstairs hallway. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Here are the before pictures:


Here are the after pictures:


Four words:
Container Store Plastic Shoeboxes.
Love 'em.
LOVE.THEM.
Love them so much, if they were sentient, I'd marry them.

And here's a picture of the clutter-free countertops in my kitchen (meaning, drink mixes, teas, extraneous stuff has been put away) and my spic-and-span fridge. It positively glows!



Happy House!

17 comments:

Jess said...

Your fridge's clean, shiny organization hurts me in its beauty. Go you!

Anonymous said...

Ooo -- there's something about a neat stack of folded sheets that makes me feel warm all over.

Hey -- what a co-ink-a-dink; my dryer just buzzed. Gotta go fold sheets!

- phoebe

NG said...

I love love love organization like that. But I hate hate hate when I do organize and no one in the house respects and fears the organization I created. That's when I have to give up because I will spend all day going behind everyone and putting things back.

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

Jess: Yeah me!

Phoebe: I LOVE sheets that are folded properly. It's one of my favorite things ever.

NG: I hear you. I, too, love organization and I'm often upset by the lack of respect for the effort and desire to keep things in order. I hate continually picking up after others, but I can't bear the alternative.

And my word verification for this comment is jmkclgtt. Hm. The first three letters are my actual initials. The second two I'm interpreting as "clean" and the last three are German--"gott"--for god. Hence: Jay, Cleaning Goddess! Oh, yeah!

Mary Ellen said...

You are the Goddess of Org and Cleanliness for sure.

I need some of that OCD to get our house in shape. Hmmm, maybe a mental health day is in order?

Anonymous said...

Wow. I will never be an organiser like that. Seriously. Are you that organised with your desk, work stuff, project management approach, etc.? Because you, in addition to your mad resume skillz, could TOTALLY MARKET YOUR ORGANISATIONAL SKILLZ! No kidding. People like, um, me would be more than happy to have someone help me figure out to organise ANYTHING -- work, home, play.

For a peek into my disorganised life in toto: to me, the before picture looks pretty organised. D'oh.

Anonymous said...

ME: Getting everything in order has been such a boost to my mental health, I can't even tell you! It's amazing what decluttering will do for one's psyche!


Di: I think my organizing skillz are a little over the top at times. I could probably lighten up a bit, except when I do, the dreaded clutter creep begins. That said, though, I have had friends and siblings ask me to help them organize their spaces in the past, so I guess I could market myself in that manner...

Cele said...

God I read your post Friday or Saturday, and spent all of Saturday cleaning to the point of exhaustion. I still have cleaning to do. So sad. But worse I've got a crap load of crap to throw away, give away, but not stash away anymore.

Okay, what is this guilty pleasure of spying in a person's cupboard? How many people clicked on the pictures to see the enlarged view?

Yep, voyeurism at it's finest

Wicked H said...

There are pills for that you know....

I thoroughly enjoyed the bowl perched upon the popcorn machine. Very Zen!!

Great job, if there is any energy left after your place, plenty to do over here ;-)

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

Cele: I'd like to think I inspire people, but I'm not sure it was spring cleaning I had in mind as my point of inspiration! ;-)

Still, that said, don't you just love the look of clean of tidy?


Wicked H: I could use some of those pills! As for the popcorn bowl, that's the only place it fits. Besides, when one wants popcorn, one does not want to hunt for one's bowl, does one?

:-D

Mary Ellen said...

We're shooting to list our house next week, so the decluttering has begun in earnest.

I've started going through closets and boxes and piling up things for donation. Determined NOT to schlep unused, unsorted stuff to the next destination.

No Container Store in these parts, but I may see what Dollar General has in the way of plastic bins...

Anonymous said...

Doesn't it feel good!

I've been enjoying my spring cleaning as well -- inspired for a feng shui book. It helps that I haven't had any freelance assignments lately.

Living in a small space has forced me to be way more OCD than I've never been before. Now I actually get off on throwing old stuff out and re-organizing.

We should compare notes sometime.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE before and after pictures. Bee-yoo-ti-ful.

Anonymous said...

p.s. how the hellz do you fold fitted sheets so they don't come out a wrinkly mess? HALP.

LG said...

Embrace the OCD. The OCD is good.

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

ME: Decluttering is good. Now, if I could just sort through the three boxes of stuff I didn't put in the "throw" or "keep" piles, I'd be all done! Good luck with listing your place!


Adriana: I know what you mean about small spaces and getting rid of stuff. There's only so much stuff a body needs, right? One day we should definitely compare notes!

Liz: I am the sheet folding queen! Maybe one day, I'll do a play-by-play video or photo series and post it here. Actually, the trick to the fitted sheet is to drape and fit the corners of the sheet into each other, then lay it out flat, fold in thirds and fold into a square. Hm. I doubt that helped any, right? Yeah. I think I need to make a video of this... Note to self: Weekend project--Folding Sheets 101: The Action Flick.


LG: I'm embracing the OCD... :)

Mary Ellen said...

I concur--Tewkes is the goddess of folding fitted sheets. She showed me how a few years back. I'm better at it than I was before, but I have not quite mastered the art.