The 4 Big Organizing Projects I Want to Tackle in 2018

One thing that I’ve always struggled to balance on this blog is wanting to share helpful, inspiring ideas and organized spaces while at the same time being honest about the fact that our home (and our life) is certainly not all pretty pictures and perfect organization all the time. I tend to show more of the pretty stuff because, well, it’s nicer to look at and it’s always really fun to see the “afters” of a space.

Today, though, I thought I’d share more of the “before” shots as I talk about the four biggest organization projects that we are planning to tackle in our home this year. These spaces range from “not so terrible” to “this is so horrendous that I can’t even believe I’m showing a picture of it on the internet” ( 😉 ), but hopefully by the end of 2018, all four of these areas will be super organized and functioning well for our family!

My hope in sharing this post is to hold myself accountable for what I want to accomplish this year (and also be completely honest in that, while I love organizing, I am still kind of a disaster sometimes, lol)!

The 4 Big Organizing Projects I Want to Tackle in 2018

Let’s start with the “not so terrible” so we can ease into the “absolutely horrendous” a little bit at a time, shall we? 🙂

1. The Other Half of My Office

I recently shared the new storage area in my home office, and I am THRILLED with how it turned out! This half of my office may be looking pretty good…

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, organized office

…but the other half still needs some work!

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, organized office, unfinished office

Some of the things I need to find storage solutions for in this space are:

  • My pillow collection (I may be a smidge obsessed with throw pillows…oops!)
  • The printer (This is currently the thing that is stumping me the most! If you have any great tips for hiding a large printer, please please please share them with me in the comments!)
  • Scrapbook paper and printer paper
  • 3 ring binders
  • Books and magazines
  • Baskets and larger decor items
  • Fabric and craft supplies
  • Workout gear (Yes, I use this room to work out too! 🙂 )

I would also like to be able to add a second work surface to the space to supplement my desk that’s in the nook area. I’m thinking maybe some sort of table on casters so I can move it wherever I need it in the room…? Maybe?

I have some ideas for what I want to do to organize this space– now it’s all a matter of nailing down some final details and executing the plan!

2. The Mudroom

I love that we have a mudroom area in our house, but I know we’re not really maximizing the potential of the space. When we moved in we put the bench and shelf with hooks from our previous home’s entryway in here, which has helped, but I know we could have a better organizational system happening.

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, organized mudroom, unfinished mudroom

I would love to be able to add more usable storage to this nook area, perhaps with a built-in bench that has storage underneath and some sort of shelf or cube unit for the wall that has more storage than our current shelf too.

I know we could do a better job with organizing our coat closet as well. We have too many things shoved in there right now and no real system of organization at all…

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, organized mudroom, unfinished mudroom closet

It’s not awful, but I am sort of obsessive about closets, and I can’t wait to make this one more functional and beautiful!

3. The Garage

Okay, now this is where the really scary stuff starts– don’t say I didn’t warn ya! 😉

We have a two car garage in our house, and guess how many cars are parked in it right now? 0!!!

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, unorganized garage

Part of the problem is that we have a basketball hoop (that our boys rarely use!) taking up a big part of the garage. This photo was also taken shortly after Christmas, so we have a bunch of cardboard boxes that we haven’t gotten rid of yet as well.

We left the shelving units from our last garage in our old house, so we don’t have any type of storage pieces in this space. Because of that, many of our garage items like outdoor toys and tools are still in the moving boxes… from 15 months ago! (And many of the toys the boys have used are just thrown in random places on the garage floor.) GAH! Confession: I almost always try to enter our house through the front door these days because I kind of short out when I see this space!

Along with space to actually park our cars and store our outdoor items, I would love our garage to include a “drop zone” for sports equipment. My older son Connor plays hockey, and his gear takes up a ton of space. There’s not a great place for it in the house currently, so we’ve been keeping it in the guest room. It would be awesome if there was built in storage for it in the garage so he could just put it there as he was coming back into the house. (And so the smelly-ness would stay out of the main part of the house… just sayin’. 😉 )

4. The Basement

Y’all, I can’t believe I’m even showing you pictures of this space. You may stop taking any organizing advice from me at all once you see the worst of it. We have so much going on down here. It is a big (unfinished) basement, but I have been shocked at how fast it has gotten filled up!

Because of my son’s aforementioned hockey obsession, one big section of the space has been turned into an area where he shoots pucks and practices stick handling. He really does use this space nearly every day, so for this season of our life at least, I’m fine with him having that piece of the basement as his domain.

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, hockey area in basement

Donnie has taken over another section of the basement as his workshop. He has a bunch of tools that he needs space for, and Pennsylvania gets COLD in the winter, so our garage isn’t really a practical place to store his tool stuff if I actually want him to use it (which I definitely DO– so many projects)! So again, I’m fine with his stuff down here, at least for this season of our lives, but we definitely need to get some organization systems in place in his work area!

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, basement workspace

What definitely needs the most help is this final part of our basement that we plan to use as storage space…

The 4 Big Organization Projects That We Want to Complete in 2018, before pictures, get organized, organize your life, organizing, unorganized basement

Yikes!!

One of the things that has surprised me most about moving into a new house is that we have all sorts of things from our old house that simply don’t fit anywhere because the spaces are configured differently. I’ve been holding on to all of the extra pieces (aka throwing them in this crazy messy basement) “in case I need them” as we get the house set up, but what I really need to do is take the time to go through everything in this spot and purge like crazy! I know we don’t need most of this stuff, and it is just causing major clutter!

We also will bring in storage pieces for all of the items that we do plan to keep and organize this space so we can easily access everything.

We may eventually finish the basement (or at least part of it?), but that would be more of a long term plan far down the road– definitely not anytime soon. We have lots of “hang out” space upstairs, so we don’t feel like we need to finish it for that right now, and the functions that it’s currently serving are working well for our family. We just need to declutter and organize!

 

So those are my big organizing priorities for 2018! I will definitely be doing smaller organizing projects around the house as well, but these are the “heavy hitters”– I can’t wait to tackle them!

Update! 2018 has come to a close, and we finished 3 out of the 4 projects on this list! You can see the completed projects in the posts below:

My Organized Home Office

Our Organized Mudroom

Our Organized Garage

Stay tuned for basement organization progress coming in 2019!

What organizing projects do you have planned for 2018? Tell me about them in the comments, and we can all help to hold each other accountable!! 

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

92 Comments

  1. Karen@ a house full of sunshine says:

    This post makes me feel better. 😉 Our garage is my nemesis too!! Thanks for being real – it’s actually a relief to know that even the most organised people still have their “Monica closets” – to use an old Friends reference!! 😀 You’re sure to tackle it all in style – good luck girl! xo

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Haha! Yes, the garage and basement are totally my “Monica closets”!! Hilarious. Thanks so much, sweet friend! Hope you’re having an awesome week!

      ~Abby =)

  2. Sage Gathering says:

    I have a huge all in one printer and a ton of different paper for it. (My husband says that I hate trees.) I found a beautiful armoire with an adjustable shelf. The printer sits at the perfect height to use all it’s functions and I can store all the supplies in it as well.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Ooo, love that idea! Thanks so much for the suggestion, Sage! <3

      ~Abby =)

    2. I have something similar for my printer–I think it’s supposed to be a TV/media stand, but it fits the printer in the bottom cabinet and paper/supplies on the shelf above, and the doors close to cover it. I did have to cut holes in the back for cords though.

  3. Tiffany @ Lake Life State of Mind says:

    Abby, this is definitely one of my favorite posts from you. I am constantly struggling with my blog content as well because I want to help others but at the same time I want to be “real” and share my struggles! Good for you on sharing this post and setting goals for yourself! Now that you’ve told the whole internet your goals we have to hold you accountable 🙂 What area do you think you’ll tackle first?

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much for your kind words, Tiffany! It definitely is a balancing act for sure! I am itching to finish my office, so I’m hoping to tackle it first. Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  4. I love how honest you are! Thank you for sharing these! I have several projects on my agenda this year too. My master bedroom closet is huuuuuge but in its current state, well, you can’t tell. It looks a lot like your basement. My office is coming together ever so slowly but like you, I can’t figure out what to do with the printer. I’d like to hide it and be able to open a door of some sort when I need to use it but I don’t have too much functional space in there. My garage isn’t too bad. I just need to some better organization in there. Finally, is like to finish organizing my boys’ room. It’s been a work in progress for a few years but at least now, the toys are mostly organized and their clothes storage makes sense ? Overall, it’s not completely terrible ? As a side note, I started folding my kid’s clothes using the Konmari method you talked about a little while back. Now I wonder why I didn’t start that sooner. It’s been a miracle for organizing their clothes!!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes! I’m so glad you are loving KonMari! It was a complete game changer for us, too! Wishing you the best on your projects this year! <3

      ~Abby =)

  5. Can’t wait to see what you implement in these spaces!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Kim! Looking forward to it! Hope you’re having a great week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  6. Abby —

    I say this with all due respect but I had to laugh when I saw the picture of your closet after you described it as “too many things shoved in there”. I expected to see a closet crammed with coats, clothes and boxes (like mine!). As my dad liked to say, you can fit a family of four in there with room to spare. But I completely understand your point of no organization system in place…your closet is a hodgepodge of stuff, a repository for items placed there “for now” that end up staying there permanently. We have a room like that. This is the year that those items that are still there a year after being placed there “for now” will find a permanent home, be it in the house, garage, Goodwill or trash.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes, the closet was one of the “not so bad” areas! 🙂 Nothing like the garage! Haha! Hope you have a great weekend, Soni!

      ~Abby =)

  7. Caroline L says:

    Thanks for sharing, Abby! I will DEFINITELY keep taking organization advice from you, since now you’re even more relatable to my current basement situation! 🙂 And for the record, I’d be happy to get to your “before” coat closet! 🙂 Good luck on these projects and I can’t wait to see what you come up with! I am adamant about parking our cars in the garage, but I just got a bigger car and now I can’t access anything that’s stored around it. Yesterday my son wanted to play on his bike and I couldn’t reach it (it’s hanging from the wall in front of my car) without moving my car so he didn’t get to play. Oops!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Oh, no! Haha! I’m looking forward to tackling these projects this year. Thanks for following along, Caroline! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  8. Laura Gutshall says:

    My Garage and basement look the same way. Such big spaces to sort and organize that I just have a hard time finding a place to start! Good luck!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes! They are definitely tricky spaces to organize. I am looking forward to tackling them this year! Have a great weekend, Laura! <3

      ~Abby =)

  9. Oh my goodness. Even the disaster areas of your home look nicer than the regular spots in my home! 🙂

    I have big goals of decluttering and organizing all the storage in our basement. I want to get rid of 1000 items, and then I will obviously need to organize what is left.

    Your organizing projects always provide so much inspiration! I’m looking forward to seeing how you work on these projects this year! 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Oh, wow! That’s awesome, Jena! Thanks so much for following along, Happy organizing! <3

      ~Abby =)

  10. Oh yes, how I can relate! Since moving to our current home and having a baby all in the first year here, our basement and garage became a “catch all” and cause me SO MUCH STRESS every time I am brave enough to go in those spaces – I can’t stand clutter! Looking forward to following in your steps this year for a good PURGE of these spaces for us as well and learn what organizational systems work well in these spaces!!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Oh, wow! That is definitely a lot of excitement for one year! Thanks so much for following along, Kelly! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  11. Lauren@thechocolatesunflower says:

    Thank you for this post. I am excited to see what you do! I really want to get all of our closets organized they are terrifying! My husband and I have a large walk-in closet and our two kids each have small walk-ins. Ours has all sorts of stuff piled on one side so we can still get to what we need and our kids we can’t even walk into anymore because of all the stuff I have stuffed in them like all the clothes they don’t fit into anymore. I haven’t had a chance to look around very much do you have a post about organizing closet spaces?

  12. Julie Briones says:

    Your scariness does not look as scary as it could be… It’s such CLEAN scary! 😉 I definitely need to organize my main closet… it’s just PACKED (for the same reasons as your basement area)! Also, I want to re-organize my baker’s cabinet (aka Hoosier), but I want to repaint it and haven’t found the time. So both the organizing and painting should be done this year!

    Thanks for sharing, Abby. Your real-ness is was we like to read… along with your fantastic tips and tricks!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much, Julie! I’m glad I didn’t scare you away! 🙂 Haha! Have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  13. Amy Royce says:

    I appreciate that you show the bad with the good!
    And how even you too are constantly having to go through the organization process also. I too am The abscess with organizing! And I too have spots that need some serious help! Lol it’s a Constant work in progress. And it always feels amazing when you get a space done!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Doesn’t it? Such a great feeling! Happy organizing! <3

      ~Abby =)

  14. We bought SafeRacks overhead garage storage racks and it was life changing!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Oh, I’ll check that out! Thank you!

      ~Abby =)

  15. Thanks so much for the pics of your garage. You give me hope for conquering mine! My husband and I are both pack rats, so getting rid of anything is a real chore but I feel it I can get rid of some of my stuff and organize what I keep, he will quickly get on board. After all, who doesn’t want a garage where you can actually find stuff :-).

    So glad I discovered your blog.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much for reading, Shelly! I’m glad it was helpful for you! Have a great weekend and happy organizing! <3

      ~Abby =)

  16. Tiffany Bush says:

    My garage and my craft room are on the hit list for 2018. I made a dent in them last year by cleaning out the excess, but now it’s time to make it cute and super functional. It’ll be interesting to see what you do with your spaces. 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Tiffany! I’m glad you’ll be following along! Have fun with your projects this year, too! <3

      ~Abby =)

  17. Katelin @ Drop by Drop Essentials says:

    Thanks for sharing the “behind the scenes” looks!! This definitely makes me feel like there is hope for our garage and our basement. I was admittedly surprised to see these spaces in your home, but I’m even more excited for the transformations!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Katelin! I’m excited, too! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  18. Wow this makes me feel better too! Abby has anything disorganized in her house? Unbelievable! It makes me feel you are more like me than I thought, with all the typical problems that come with organizing our home spaces. I will be following your progress … especially the basement, which is my biggest problem zone!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Oh, yes! No perfection over here! 🙂 Thanks so much for following along, Tess! Happy weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  19. Thank you for sharing everything and showing real life! I get frustrated sometimes with my spaces and these definitely keep it real!
    We are just wrapping up a huge home renovation and just wanted to share- my husband helped me build 2 cabinets in my part of the office with bottom drawers that are customized to hold all my scrapbook paper in a vertical fashion as a lot of it is stored and sorted by color and type. I can’t figure out how to load a picture on here or I would show you.
    Can’t wait to see what you come up with for these spaces!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Hi, Lynn! Feel free to send the picture to hello {at} justagirlandherblog {dot} com. I’d love to see it! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  20. Our basement storage room is long , we lined both sides with heavy duty wooden shelves. My husband built them in his basement workshop (hmm great idea, sound familiar ) !! Lots of our storage goes into big plastic storage bins, but you could use boxes. They are numbered and each number has a card with whats in it, or you could just write on said box or bin. It has successfully worked for us for 12 years now. But, unfortunately, I too have an area or two of “Monica”s Closet”. They are on my to do list as we speak. Good luck to all of us who are working on getting our lives organized!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Ooo, sounds like you have a great system, Barbi! Thanks for sharing! I think we all have an area similar to “Monica’s closet”. Haha! Good luck to you on your projects this year! <3

      ~Abby =)

  21. I love that you’re “real” too! Can’t wait to see how you will organize your spaces! I also love that you give your son a “space of his own” to do his hockey thing. We have built-in shelves in our garage all along the sidewalls just higher than the doors so it doesn’t interfere with getting in and out of the cars or the opener. It works great, just need a ladder to get the stuff down.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much, Amy! I appreciate you following along! Have a wonderful weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  22. Annabelle says:

    It will be so great to watch each space evolve into exactly what you want!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      I’m looking forward to it, Annabelle! Thanks for following along! <3

      ~Abby =)

  23. Michelle Jones says:

    Thank you for sharing the real “problem” areas of your home. I can’t tell you what a relief it is for someone like me who would like everything to be perfect all of the time. I know that’s not realistic, but when I see so many beautiful homes on social media it can make me feel overwhelmed and a little defeated. Kudos to you for putting yourself out there and being relatable! I really enjoy reading your blog!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Michelle! No perfection over here… very normal! 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  24. Gwynne B Holder says:

    Hi Abby!

    I saw a picture in a magazine (BHG maybe?) of a shelf/desk that might solve your printer issue. Install a long work surface to the wall at desk height. Put shelves underneath. In the picture I saw, the printer was stored under the work surface on a pull-out shelf. You could also store your paper underneath. Then hang a pretty curtain around the edge of the work surface to conceal the storage.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Ooo, thanks so much for the suggestion, Gwynne! <3

      ~Abby =)

  25. Thanks for this post! We, too, have a very overwhelming project this year in our basement. We’ve owned this house for 11 years, and our previous one we were in for 10. We still have items in boxes from our previous move on shelves! Our kids are also in need of some space in the basement for Lego’s and ping pong. Now that the house is officially ours (we paid off our mortgage last year – Yay!), we’re finally tackling some improvements, and the basement is one of them. I have boxes & boxes of memories, too, that need to be put in scrapbooks. I am farthest in my daughter’s books….she’s our oldest. Her books are done up to age 1. Did I mention that she started driving this year?!? Sigh. I’m more than a little overwhelmed with it, but I know once I dig in I’ll enjoy the process and hopefully the results!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, it will be fun (yes, overwhelming too I’m sure!) to look through all those boxes of memories of when they were tiny! Enjoy, Jeanette! <3

      ~Abby =)

  26. Kelly in GA says:

    I live in a very small house that doesn’t have any extra space for an office. So my desk with my computer in is our family room, and the printer (along with all the paper and any other office supplies) is in the little coat closet in the hall. My husband built a shelf that rolls out, so we can access the printer better. I like that it’s all hidden, and the coat closet is used for something more functional that hanging coats. (We live in Georgia, so ‘coat weather’ isn’t nearly as brutal as it is in PA :0)

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes, I would love for it to be hidden! I may have to have Donnie build me something, too! 🙂 Have a great weekend, Kelly!

      ~Abby =)

  27. Grandma Gail says:

    I love this! I’m a “Messy” and my entire life (I’m a grandma now) I have struggled to learn habits that are totally foreign to me—and to try to teach my children who are both messies too! It’s so demoralizing to constantly feel like a failure because life is so busy there is no energy left to learn and put into practice things that don’t come naturally, at all. Helps to see even organized people still have messy areas. Thanks so much for normalizing the struggle!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It can certainly be a challenge, Gail! I think we all have those things that we struggle with. Baby steps. Get a little better each day. Put in a new system, declutter a drawer, a room! Just make progress! Hugs, my friend! <3

      ~Abby =)

      1. Grandma Gail says:

        Thank you! I love your site and all the practical ideas you share.

  28. Thank you for sharing! It’s great to see that even organized people have room to grow. I can relate to a lot of this. I moved 18 months ago, and still have stuff “stored” in moving boxes and have a whole section of my kitchen filled with stuff that doesn’t really fit in how the new space is configured. We lost a lot of storage space, because we did used to have an unfinished basement that was collecting a lot of junk like you’re struggling with, but it’s been a mixed blessing because I’m less likely to hold onto things just in case.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes, sometimes it can be nice having less space (has it’s own challenges of course!). Thanks so much for following along, Lynn! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  29. A suggestion for your bike storage in your garage….there is an awesome bike rack from Australia called Steadyrack. It allows you to roll your bike into the rack easily and then it swivels the bikes out of the way and almost flat against the wall. You can store a lot of bikes in a small area. You should look into it! You can buy them on Amazon or Steadyrack.com. I don’t sell them FYI…they are just awesome. Good luck with all of your projects! You’re awesome and I have no doubt you’ll get them all done this year.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Ooo, thanks so much for the suggestion, Patti! We will look into it! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  30. Patrice Young says:

    My basement is a disaster. Now that the kids have all moved out I am working on it. I’m so glad you shared your garage. It makes me feel not so alone in my neglected mess. ONWARD we all go together sweet Abby.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      You are certainly not alone! No perfection over here! 🙂 Have a great weekend, Patrice! <3

      ~Abby =)

  31. Thanks for keeping it real! We have been in our house for 35 years and I have a home based custom drapery business. Lots of fabrics, fabric books, and then all our collections – antique dishes, my husband’s vinyl records, etc. It’s overwhelming! Working on it bit by bit, but it gets very discouraging at times.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It definitely can get overwhelming sometimes! Most often, starting is the hardest part! A little bit at a time is a great way to do it! Wishing you the best, Jodi! <3

      ~Abby =)

  32. Oh my, how wonderful to have such a large basement! I re-organised my craft room last year and it looked great …… for 5 minutes – until I started getting the paints etc out again, now it’s a mess once more and I’m getting frustrated with it. I’ve overspilled into the 2 guest rooms so I really need to sort out my organisation a bit better and maybe let some stuff go. That’s so hard! The Utility is my other ‘problem’ place, especially over winter when we always have a couple of bags of logs in there ready to move into the lounge – just so we don’t have to go outside in the cold and wet to collect more from the garage (yep, our garage is messy too, but we do keep one car in it, as well as logs!). Looking forward to some helpful tips 🙂 Thanks.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much for following along, Lyn! Have a wonderful weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  33. Abby
    My project for this year is to find a WORKING solution for all of school and arts and crafts stuff. I keep trying to organize the art stuff in the basement, but nobody likes to work down there as it is cold and no pretty work areas. So….as soon as I get it cleaned up again, everyone gets creative and little by little project stuff gets brought upstairs and worked on in the dining room or the play room behind the living room. Then we have a cleaning day and everything kind of gets thrown back in the basement in boxes and baskets and stays there until we clean the basement again. REPEAT every month or so… I do have a long wall in the playroom behind the living room and I want to get tall shelving units with some open shelves, some cabinet doors, and some drawers or storage bins. I am trying to get everything stored at point of use. That seems big with 6 school aged children and all of their stuff, but maybe.. I like the built in idea that you did in your living room. Thanks for sharing.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes, it does seem like a shelving unit would be helpful in your playroom! I’m sure you’ll find an awesome solution that works for your family. Thanks for stopping by, Jeanine! <3

      ~Abby =)

  34. Real life is definitely messy! 🙂

    We don’t have basements in Australia but I can guarantee, if we did, mine would look exactly like yours.

    I have a garage that’s full of my dad’s tools and stuff which was supposed to be temporary but he got sick (pancreatic cancer) and it never got sorted, plus renovation materials, boxes of my daughter’s soft toys, etc… Every time I go out there to start working on it – I decide it must be time for a coffee instead. It’s been like that for YEARS!!!

    So, Abby, you’re not alone!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much for the encouragement, Diane! I think we all have those places in our homes that we struggle to tackle. And yes, real life is messy! I think that’s ok, though. Makes us human! 🙂 Have a great day!

      ~Abby =)

  35. I just love your YouTube channel, your blog, and the update emails I receive from you! Our biggest eyesores are also the basement and the garage. I’m still working on other areas of the house, but things are coming along nicely. Thank you for all of the helpful suggestions and recommendations. 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Sherry! Thanks so much for following along with us! Hope you’re having a great week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  36. Jane Mason says:

    Thank you for posting those pictures. I was thinking of unsubscribing from your blog because I thought, ” This lady is too perfect. We have nothing in common. I am such a disaster!” every time i looked at your pictures I felt like a failure. I now see my messes are just organization waiting to happen and I need to set a few goals. Again, thank you.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      We all have parts of our lives and homes that are a disaster. Certainly no perfection over here! I love your new midset— Just organization waiting to happen! That’s awesome! Hugs to you, Jane! <3

      ~Abby =)

  37. I love your REAL photos! It’s really hard to put those photos out there as a blogger for sure so GOOD for you! My art studio started out a big like your garage recently after a home remodel it was the dumping ground. I DID take before pictures and shared them in the Konmari group but I don’t know that I’d be brave enough to share on any public social media!! lol Good luck in your adventure. I adore the side of your office you have finished and I’m obsessed with teal right now so the wall color is just luscious.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much for the encouragement, Chrissy! It does seem like people have really enjoyed seeing the before pictures… I’m sure they would enjoy seeing yours, as well! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  38. Thanks for showing that you are not a fantasy supermom ! It makes it so much easier to relate to your organized posts knowing you are a real human ! From personal experience, we suggest (1) moving Donnie’s workshop to the garage — much better than carrying everything up and down all the time, able to open the door and enjoy fresh air during good weather, maybe even expand really big projects to the driveway. Insulate it, add supplementary heat for winter use, and if at all possible add running water and a sink area. There should be plenty of room even if you don’t purge yet, and just reverse storage and workshop stuff. and (2) Realize that hockey can become a years-long 4-season sport that may last until the youngest child finishes high school !

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much for the tips, Sandee! Those are great things to consider. And yes, I think we may be in it for the long haul with hockey! My oldest son LOVES it! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  39. I pretty much have the same problem as you. I have moved into a new home and many of the systems I used in our last place just do not work here. We don’t have a basement so everything ends up in the garage. I was excited to have a garage again but unfortunately we can’t use it. Yet

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Wishing you the best figuring out new systems for your home! I know how tricky it can be. I’m sure you’ll come up with great ideas! <3

      ~Abby =)

  40. Dakota Lynn Goch says:

    Thank you so much for posting this! When you read most bloggers posts, everything is spic and span and perfect…and it makes you feel overwhelmed like you’ll never be able to attain that kind of perfection. Thank you for showing real, raw honesty! I think it makes us all feel like we can tackle our problem areas too!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      I’m so glad it was helpful for you, Dakota! No perfection over here… I promise! 🙂 Have a great day!

      ~Abby =)

  41. Thanks for your blog. I would love to hear the solution for the 3-ring binders. I use them to file, but they never fit on the shelf very well, aargh!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Hi, Kathy! I will definitely share what I come up with when we tackle the other side of my office! Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  42. Patricia Hidalgo says:

    Bless you for posting these “before” shots! We’re in the middle of restoring our home from Harvey damage and it’s so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Being reminded that “after” doesn’t always happen within a couple of weeks – or months! – help shore up my courage for this long-haul work!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      I am sending you hugs, Patricia! I can’t imagine how hard that must have been to go through. I’m sure it will be a journey but I am praying for strength and courage for you along the way! <3

      ~Abby =)

  43. Oh my goodness! I loved this! Thanks for your honesty with the upcoming projects. Seriously, I laughed looking at them! We are also a smelly hockey home with a practice space in the basement. You will have great before and after pictures!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      How are they SO smelly?!? Haha! Glad it’s not just us! Thanks for following along, Julie! <3

      ~Abby =)

  44. Karen Hobson says:

    I can totally relate. We moved into our home 6 years ago on Jan. 20 and still have rooms that I haven’t tackled. I get so hung up on the ‘what do I want to do’ that I do nothing. We do not have a basement or garage, but we have knee-walls upstairs that hold all of our stuff that needs a home. We also have a mudroom that needs major help to be more functional (my husband and I do not see that the same way), and my downstairs spare bedroom needs some personality. I’ve not hung anything on the walls yet in there and the closet needs an overhaul (it quickly became a mess). Upstairs – one bedroom was used as my granddaughter’s playroom, but she’s 12 now and doesn’t really use it. My son has taken over most of it as his music room but the kid stuff is still in there – needs reorganizing. And, I have a “scrapbooking” room upstairs that hasn’t been touched in 6 years. It houses lots of stuff that I need to go through and weed out. There is ALWAYS something to be done.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes, I agree! I think it’s easy to try to finish everything right when you move in, but taking your time and making everything exactly how you want it I think is very worth it! As tempting as it is to just be done! Here’s to a productive 2018! <3

      ~Abby =)

  45. My organizing challenges for this year are a hall closet, coat closet, garage, and our barn. We moved to an acreage eight years ago, and between getting an acreage set up, children sports, showing livestock, and just all the hassle of moving, I never got the barn organized like it should be. So my biggest organization challenge is finding a place for all the tools, veterinary supplies, livestock equipment, feed, bedding etc as well as having the challenge of keeping things clean.

    My youngest left for college in the fall and now I have time to put into getting my home and acreage the way I want it. I look forward to meeting these challenges in 2018 as well as starting a new blog thanks to your Building Framework tutorial, which is awesome by the way! ?I’m learning that life kind of startsover at 50.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Sounds like you have such a fun year ahead, Kay! So glad you’re enjoying Building a Framework. Love to hear that! Wishing you a fabulous and organized 2018! <3

      ~Abby =)

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