Getting Started

I will turn 30 years old in 30 days.  I usually don't get too worked up about milestone birthdays because my birthday is pretty late in the year and almost all of my friends hit that milestone a few months in advance of me.  It just doesn't seem like a big deal.  However, 30 feels a little different.  If I were going through a checklist, I've got the husband, a house, and the baby.  Check, check, check.  But, I'm not nearly as settled or organized as I'd like.  I have tons of paperwork that isn't filed away properly, I never know what to do with receipts so I just tuck them in different places, and my house is filled with clutter.  Most of that clutter is from items I find sentimental that really shouldn't be, like the first laptop that I ever had because my dad passed it on to me when he was done with it, or from stuff that I think will be useful in the future even though it hasn't been for the last 5 years.

Right now, the most urgent place on my list to declutter and organize is my son's room.  He recently started crawling with a purpose and he is showing interest in walking so I want him to have his own space where he can play and explore without hearing "no, don't touch that".  My husband is doing some home improvement projects in other parts of the house so my son can't explore elsewhere these days.

The problem with my son's room is that I'm storing all sorts of his, and my, stuff in the room.  Bins of old clothes, old toys, and the old car seat are all piled on one side of the room and I've got lots of my (sentimental) things on his bookshelf, where they don't belong.  Another issue is that it is not child proofed at all.  Medicine and lotions and soaps are all stored at just the right level for him to grab them while standing.

So, what to do about it  I read about a 30 Day Organizational Challenge (that was going on in 2007) and decided that's what I need.  I'm going to take the next 30 days to get his room 100% cleaned out, organized, and baby proofed.  If this goes well, I'll give myself a break and then start a new 30 day project.  Check back often because my goal is to get something done every day and I plan to post "before" pictures soon!