Oh boy these are some embarrassing before and after photos… Happy Friday! As a lot of you may know, I currently live in an apartment in my old college town (Lawrence, KS). I go back and forth between my parent’s house and my apartment because I am close to my family and I work with my mom. Because of that, I use my room at my parent’s house a lot, but never have much time to clean before I go back to my place. I pretty much used to use my room at my parent’s house as a storage unit, it drove my mom insane and drove me insane when I was home. I always had clothes thrown everywhere, you could barely walk in to my closet, and most of the stuff I didn’t need.
So I decided to finally buckle down and clean this last week and half! Let me tell you, it has felt amazing! Wait until you see the after photos and the photos of everything I am selling and giving away (the rest of the photos are in color, I had to do some of the before photos in black and white because of lighting).
I want to point out that my room is no where near finished when it comes to decor, as you can probably tell by the one single pillow on my bed haha! I love my apartment decor, but it’s severely lacking at my parent’s house. During this process I decided that I am going to do a full room transformation this year after I move back home – so stay tuned! My bathroom transformation will be up in the next few weeks and my room transformation will be up in May because I need to fully move home first for that one.
Before Photos
I clearly did not pick up at all before taking these. I had NO room in my closet so a lot of clothes ended up flung on my floor or bathroom. I had an abundance of old clothing that I never wore that was taking up space, along with other random crap I help onto for some reason. It was so stressful to work and live in this environment, which is why I spent so much time at my clean apartment instead of here.
The Process + My Tips
First I cleaned my entire room. In my dresser, in my desk, under my bed, etc. After that space was clean I did the Marie Kondo method of pulling EVERYTHING out of my closet. I looked like I lived on an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive during this process haha! I then put everything into tubs labeled “Sell” “Donate” and “Lake” – I ended needing a million more sell and donate tubs because they got so full! The stuff I wanted to keep I just put in a pile. It was crazy to see my closet fully cleaned out, it looked so much bigger without all the clothing hung up and littering the floor! I took this process slow (I would spend a few hours a day cleaning in-between work) so it was a bit annoying to sleep in this room during the process, but worth it.
My Tips
1. Set a Deadline for Yourself
I am the queen of starting projects, then getting tired of them and stopping halfway through. I set a strict deadline for myself with this clean-out and told myself I would not go back to my apartment until it was done! You can set deadlines for yourself by room, but make them realistic!
2. Listen to Something that Entertains or Motivates You
Whether it’s a podcast, TV show, Audiobook, etc. I listened to some YouTube room tours because glancing over at their cute spaces motivated me to keep cleaning! Side note, don’t do this if you are easily distracted, I am good at just listening so it was fine for me. If you get distracted stick to Podcasts or Audiobooks.
3. Get “Sell” & “Donate” Bins
Having the bins right in front of me motivated me to actually get rid of stuff! It also helped me stay organized.
4. Make Sure You are Actually Cleaning too
I made sure to fully dust, Clorox, and vacuum my closet while it was totally cleaned out. Make sure you aren’t just decluttering during this process! If you are like me there are some places you don’t get to on your normal cleaning days (like under your bed) so take this time to deep clean too!
5. Get Things to Help You Organize
Target, World Market, and Amazon have the cutest bins and baskets to help keep you organized! Not to mention drawer dividers and storage bins! Get things that will help you stay organized, but don’t buy things that will just create more clutter.
6. Things to Get Rid of:
• Clothing you don’t wear
• Old electronics, cables, and boxes
• Things that you don’t use
• Things you haven’t used in years
• Things you forgot you had
• Expired Beauty products
7. Reward Yourself
We all know a clean house is a reward in itself, but you can also sent an end reward that motivates you to keep going! My end reward was I am finally starting the process of redoing my room and bathroom (which I love doing), but it can also be a new purse you have been eyeing, a day at the spa, etc!
My Sell Bins and Donation Bags
Look at how much I ended up getting rid of! I am so happy! I am donating everything on the right to a local donation place and everything on the left is being sold (then donated if it doesn’t sell). I have had SO MANY questions about where I am going to sell my clothing. I decided to sell on Poshmark! My username is @LaurenDDOC so give me a follow and I will be adding clothing soon!
The End Result!
Yay! It is SO clean! Like I said above, I am not totally happy with my decor at the moment. However, that is definitely going to change! I hope you guys enjoyed this post and it motivated you to declutter your space too!
Shop my Room Decor
Happy weekend everyone!
xoxo,
Lauren Emily Lindmark
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