40 Days of Organization

Recently I was reading this blog and loved her idea of delving deep into her house and organizing things. The idea is called "40 Bags in 40 Days." Last week, I got the itch to make my own list of things that I wanted to get to a good place. So, I sat down, numbered a piece of paper from 1-40 and started writing. I didn't stop - even writing things that were "okay." By making this list, I was committing to [everyday] picking something off of the list to get done. The idea is to get your house deep cleaned and organized without feeling overwhelmed. It's just one thing everyday - and hopefully that one thing won't take you more than an hour. 

Here's my list!

 Now, Brad and I have only been living in our apartment for a little over a year, so it was kind of shocking to me how many spaces needed deep cleaning or serious organization. Some of things I wrote down weren't terrible and to the naked eye may not be a problem, but that's because they don't look close enough. :)

After I made my list, I actually got started and started cleaning and organizing the outside of my fridge. We had a lot of old Christmas pictures and the top of the fridge was pretty dusty...

This is a picture of the THIRD clorox wipe I used to wipe off the top.

Here's the front of the fridge after I wiped it down and organized important pictures, etc. I wish I'd gotten a before picture...it was so disheveled!

I had kind of gotten into the mood to organize after making this list and knew that I wouldn't have the opportunity to clean in the following few days (due to weddings, etc). So, I decided to get a head start and not get behind. I went ahead and organized our medicine cabinet in the main bathroom and our pots and pans cabinet. Then I deep cleaned the microwave. The medicine cabinet is the only place that I got a before picture of...sorry!

Pots and Pans "After" Picture

Medicine Cabinet "Before" Picture

The Medicine Cabinet "After" Picture

The microwave "After" Picture

I saw a post on Pinterest that said to fill a bowl half full of vinegar and the rest of the way with  hot water. Place it in your microwave for 5 minutes on high. Then wipe it down. Our apartment smelled a little bit like vinegar for an hour or so, but all the baked on stains in the microwave wiped away like nothing! It was great!

Here's my list after I finished my first few projects. It is a nice feeling to see some of those red "X's" on that sheet! I have a ways to go, but I'm excited to do it all!

I guess I forgot to mark off the microwave... :)