Weekend Reorg Project: Gym Clothes

So this weekend I have to tackle my wardrobe. I have been saying I need to switch my summer clothes for fall clothes for a couple of weeks now and procrastination has reared its ugly head.

One of my projects has to be sorting through my gym clothes. If you are like me, you have every free tee shirt you were ever handed at a charity or marketing event. In my case, most of them are stained and also now too big. Recently on the treadmill I was being choked by my tee shirt which, heavy with sweat and excess material, was tugging against my throat. This can't be good for the workouts.

I know I have some slimmer workout clothes, bought in anticipation of looking good in them, somewhere in my dresser or the big box of clothes that didn't fit me a few months ago in my closet.

So there will be a purging and a reorg of my workout wear, complete with before and after pics for you to see next week!

Look How Pretty!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to swap my dinner plates for smaller (prettier) ones that I had stored in a hard to reach cabinet. This turned into a huge overhaul of the biggest cabinet in my kitchen. Here is what it looked like before:

I did a massive purge, took everything out and debated whether to keep it or not. Things that were not kept and in decent condition went down to the laundry room where tenants of my building swap things and I am happy to report that everything I left down there has gone to a happy home here in the Fenway.

The remaining items and the smaller dishes were returned to the cabinet in an orderly fashion:

No more reaching over things to get to what I need, risking breakage and major annoyance. Everything is where it should be.

I cannot tell if using the smaller plates is making any difference in the amount of food that I am eating, but the more organized cabinet is definitely more relaxing to deal with.

There is much left to organize around here, stay tuned!

Before and After

So a couple days ago I suggested in the Tip of the Day Column to the right to clean out your space. I can't expect people to adopt my tips if I don't follow through myself. So I took 3 spaces in my apartment and emptied them out and organized.

I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, storage is at a premium, but I have managed to find cabinet and drawer space to keep a nice supply of non-perishable items on hand so I am never running out and paying full price for something in a moment of hair care-related panic.

First, my bottom dresser drawer where I keep all my personal care products. On Tuesday it looked like this:


Now, after 10 minutes of sorting and organizing, it looks like this:



And in the process I found brand new bottles of conditioner, shampoo and really high end face wash I forgot I had!

I have a big cabinet in the kitchen, that looked like this:



And now...


Look at all those reusable containers (with lids!) perfect for saving healthy left overs, good for both the budget and the diet! Although I must admit for someone on a diet I own an awful lot of muffin tins, but I am not willing to throw them out just yet, baby steps...

Finally, my desk was a disaster. What girl on a budget can be expected to manager her finances when her desk looks like this:



While watching DVD episodes of Party of Five (having Matthew Fox withdrawal post-Lost) I fixed this mess up to resemble a grown-up person's desk:



Found almost a whole book of stamps, with current postage even!

Total this project took less than an hour. I was able to take an inventory of what I had on hand for personal care products and what I need to buy right away and what can wait until I find it on sale. I have tons of useful kitchen items at hand to facilitate a more healthful cooking and eating environment and I have a calm organized work space to handle all my bills.

Don't get me wrong there is still tons to clean and organize around here (do not open the hall closet it will kill you), but just having these 3 spaces organized has made me calmer.