Cleaning Bug 2012 (and more Batch Pad pics)

Ok so I was happy to read that I'm not the only one who has had the cleaning bug so far this year. I found this great post on The Secret to Success is Support's blog Friday. I love a good blog post about being organized more than the next girl - but I especially love that Gigi took on her closet clean out with a friend.

When I returned from 8 days away in Indianapolis for Christmas this year, I literally came home and started cleaning. My friend Kayla can testify to this, since she picked me up from the airport and witnessed the beginning of the whirlwind. She came with nothing and left with 2 kinds of dishwasher soap that just didn't work out for me (but I couldn't throw them away, they were practically new!), a tray (that was gifted to me but doesn't go with anything in my house), and a few other randoms.

With my yard sale coming up for Haiti (don't know about Haiti yet? check here) I decided January was the perfect time to go through EVERYTHING in the Batch Pad. And so, it began.

When my Mom was here last spring we did a big overhaul on the garage which included ditch all the boxes and changing what needed to be stored to plastic totes. Did you know that bugs love cardboard? Hince, I won't store any of my stuff in actual boxes anymore. Yuck.

I had an entire tote of office supplies. I believe I've previously confessed my obsession with office supplies? Anyway, they've been in that tote for an entire year without me desperately needing them (or with my buying more because I forgot I had some) - so, I went through them and either, saved, tossed, or relocated them so they would get used up or gone quickly.

Anywho, friday night I came home from work and decided to stay in since I wasn't feeling well. Most people relax when they're sick yes? But not this girl. I go to work.

This is my walk in before (please reserve judgement):

Not hoarders worthy, but certainly not looking awesome.

An hour later when I determined to pull every single thing out, my room looked like this:

My best friend couldn't fly in from Indiana for this - but I did FaceTime her in on my ipad from the floor of my closet for the fun. This cleanup went on way past midnight on Friday night and included finally vacuuming and dusting out my closet before I started returning only the things I wear/use. Whew.

I'm happy to show you that progress was made and my closet now looks like this:

Ta da! I mean, I know there's still alot in there, but honestly, I got rid of ALOT. I made about 8 garage bags of things for my yard sale, too 4 bags of trash out Monday morning from all my bathroom and junk drawer clean outs, etc. I really did good about only keeping what I wear (which obviously is still a pretty decent amount). I will say, however, that another benefit to doing this was figuring out what I still want to add to my wardrobe, or what needs to be replace (like my poor very faded black cardigan).

If you feel like you're in a wardrobe funk this might be the perfect way to remember what you have hiding in your closet, and revamp all at once.

Also, I cleaned the whole rest of the house as well so I thought I'd share at least one picture from the main floor while I'm at it (hopefully more pics to come in the near future!)...

Anyone else caught the cleaning bug in 2012?

Love,
B