Well, I cleaned my room. All it took was about a month of work and my life savings. But it was worth it! Behold:
To start, I got a super-basic-with-ads Netflix subscription so I could watch The Home Edit. That was so inspirational that I watched a couple episodes of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo as well, and ordered all three of the The Home Edit books on second hand thrift sites. I had a ton of index cards in a gift bag, so I got an index card carry case and some index card divider tabs and sorted them out. That was a huge process in itself, because my memories of my life are more like index cards than a narrative. Sorting the index cards into chronological order felt like a major accomplishment.
Organizing the closet started with socks and underwear. I had all my socks, underwear, and winter accessories in a plastic bag on the shelf in my closet. I looked around online and finally found organizers, and then started matching up my socks into pairs. I also got a hanger with clips so I could hang up my winter hats. I got dividers that hang on the rack in my closet so I could divide hanging clothes into sections, and labeled the dividers. I found a lot of clothes in my closet that don’t fit me anymore, so I gave those to the woman whose bedroom is two doors down from mine. Whatever she couldn’t use, I sent along to a company called Retold Recycling.
The toiletries area was another project. I had all my toiletries in large bins, so I had to take them out and organize them according to category. I took out any extras from each category and put them in backstock in my closet. I got another wire shelving unit and some small baskets, so I’m off to a good start with the “bathroom cabinet.” I still need more baskets, which are on their way from Etsy, but everything is divided into categories and easily accessible. I already had one shower caddy so I ordered two more (one big and one small) for supplies that I frequently have to carry back and forth to the bathroom. I had a weirdly difficult time finding a toothbrush holder, but eBay had me covered. As for linens, I learned how to fold a fitted sheet on YouTube, and folded up all my sheets into sets. Previously they were mixed together at random, but now I have exactly one top sheet, one bottom sheet, and two pillows per set. I got a linen organizer and put the sets in there. Thanks to YouTube, I also learned how to fold towels spa-style.
The “office” is divided in half by the walkway. First I have a desk, so I got a charging station and put it on the desk rather than leaving everything on the floor or in a cardboard box to charge. I made another half of the office at the foot of my bed by buying and assembling a bookcase. I even purchased a hammer for the occasion. I already had a Lisa Frank set of drawers that was perfect for small office supplies, and I got a pen holder for the many pens that had found their way into my inventory. We have a vermin problem where I live, so I got an airtight pet food container to use as a trash so mice and bugs aren’t tempted to come into my room.
The pantry was the hardest part. My wire shelving was improperly assembled, so I had to get a rubber mallet and disassemble it so I could reassemble it. While I was doing that, I noticed that my floor was covered in mouse droppings, so I used several types of cleaner and a scraper to clean it. I had to move my furniture several times and work in sections to get the whole floor clean. Unfortunately the smell of the cleaners got so intense that I was afraid they had interacted with each other to create mustard gas, which resulted in a very unpleasant ordeal and a trip to the emergency room. My poor turtle had to spend the night in his carry case in staff’s office, which he was not pleased about one bit.
However, even with the tangential floor cleaning, I eventually got the wire shelving assembled correctly. I put liners on the shelves so I could actually set things on them without everything falling over, and I got a wooden spice rack to organize my spices. Unfortunately, the Amazon reviews were accurate and the pre-drilled holes in the spice rack were too small for the screws, so I had to make a trip to my storage unit to get my drill. While I was there, I got my collapsible step stool because the top shelf of the wire shelving was way too high for me to reach safely.
Once the shelving was assembled, I dedicated five shelves to food and one shelf to kitchen utensils. For the food, I ordered shelf dividers so I could separate everything into categories. I ended up with more dividers than I needed, so some of the remaining ones will eventually be implemented in my bookcase. I put all my food in vermin-proof canisters and got 3-tier shelf inserts to organize everything. For the kitchen utensils, I got a dish tub for dirty dishes and drain boards to dry clean dishes.
In miscellaneous organization, I have a tiny nightstand now that fits between my bed and my turtle’s tank, so I’m not piling things onto the edge of the turtle stand. I also got pill planners for vitamins and medication. I found hangers for my wall art that won’t damage the pretty peach paint in my room. I also went through what may have been a slightly obsessive episode with my mattress. I wanted to clean it but I couldn’t afford an upholstery vac so I bought cleaner and a spray bottle and went to town. I considered other ways to make it smell fresh but they were expensive so I decided that it was good enough.
Now I mostly have to wait for more baskets. As I mentioned, I found some baskets on Etsy that will hold my toiletries instead of the unattractive Ziploc bags that they’re in right now. I also found a few bigger baskets on Amazon to hold categories of toiletries that need a more spacious home. I got an empty toolbox to put my tools in, and bookends to hold up the books that are lucky enough to have a spot on my actual bookshelf rather than being relegated to the bin under the bed. Finally, I’m waiting for a second bag from Retold Recycling so I can send in extra sheets that weren’t part of a complete set.
I’ve asked myself several times throughout this process if this was worth the money and I would say it was. I’m in my room almost all the time when I’m home because the rest of the house is chaotic and stressful, so it feels really good for my room to be a safe and calming space. Usually I don’t get a chance to nest anywhere because I don’t have money, I’m not emotionally stable, and/or I have to move so often that I literally don’t have a chance to unpack. Finally I feel attached to a space for the first time since the apartment I lived in for the first half of 2014. I’m hoping this will be the start of a new chapter. It feels like now that I can clean and organize, I can do anything!
I’m going to attach some cleaning resources that have helped me. I haven’t read through all the books yet or watched every episode in the two Netflix series (I just looked it up and apparently the plural of “series” is “series”? How can that be right?) but I feel like I’m familiar enough with them to be able to recommend them!
ButFirstCoffee. (2022, July 6). TOWEL FOLDING HACK YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS SUMMER [YouTube video]. Retrieved from https://youtube.com/shorts/UyBfB7_Jr5o?feature=share
JamesTantonMath. (2016, October 8). How to Fold a Fitted Sheet – from a Math Guy [YouTube video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/DEwConOQmWM
Aurikatariina. [YouTube Channel]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtube.com/@Aurikatariina
Shearer, C. & Teplin, J. (2020–). Get Organized with The Home Edit [Netflix series]. Netflix. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com
Kondo, M. (2019). Tidying Up with Marie Kondo [Netflix series]. Netflix. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com
Shearer, C. & Teplin, J. (2019). The home edit: A guide to organizing and realizing your house goals. Clarkson Potter Publishers. ISBN 978-0-525-57264-0
Shearer, C. & Teplin, J. (2020). The home edit life: The no-guilt guide to owning what you want and organizing everything. Clarkson Potter Publishers. ISBN 978-0-593-13830-4
Shearer, C. & Teplin, J. (2021). The home edit workbook: Prompts, activities, and gold stars to help you contain the chaos. Clarkson Potter Publishers. ISBN 978-0-593-13982-0
Davis, K. (2020). How to Keep House While Drowning: 31 Days of compassionate help. Independently Published. ISBN 9798564362962
