The January Cure

Second to spending time with friends and family, my favorite thing about the holidays is the purge of belongings that comes right after. This year we really went for it, organizing and cleaning like never before. We also signed up for Apartment Therapy's January Cure , so each day we will get a task to get our house in better working order between January 2 and February 1st. We'll update the blog each week to show our progress. So far the tasks were simple: set up an outbox, buy flowers (we always do this), create a needs assessment list for the whole house, buy green cleaners (didn't do this because it seems more green to use the rest of what we have + I clean everything with vinegar), and clean the floors.

Here's our needs assessment list as it stands after week 1:

Living room
Clean out cabinet

Broken drop ceiling tile
clean behind couch

Bedroom
Mending box
Clean out closet
Organize drawers
Dusty chandelier
Burnt out bulbs
Broken drop ceiling tile

Dining room
Old computers
Broken drop ceiling tile
Christians closet
Christians drawers

Kitchen
Clean out fridge
Clean behind fridge
Pantry
Organize utensil drawers
Fix broken drawer

Bathroom
Clean out chest
Organize under sink
Replace shower curtain
Move medicine out

Laundry room
Organize side wall
Organize shelves
Vacuum
Spray paint lamp

Outside
Get furniture
Compost
Move spool to front

I wish there were before photos. Actually, it's probably best that there aren't. Trust me, behind the closet and cabinet doors, we were messy. The end of the day resulted in three boxes and one garbage bag full of stuff ready to be donated. And with the help of a gift card to The Container Store, we can all sleep a little easier.

The Closets: hers and his 

 The Kitchen Drawers 

organized hardware drawer

just forks, spoons, knives, and bottle openers :)

medicine moved to the kitchen

utensil drawer now holds only the most frequently used 

this drawer has everything else

The Pantry 

love from the container store

The Bathroom

Also with the help of the container store

Happy cat in a clean home :)