Redoing My Bedroom - Phase 1: Cleanup and Shift

Not gonna lie, I'm an insanely messy person. I find it incredibly difficult to keep my own living space clean and tidy, and the main reason for that is that I do pretty much everything in the same tiny bedroom.  It's basically a tiny apartment of my own, except that I do walk out to the kitchen and bathroom every now and then.

....And that's how clutter starts to accumulate. I don't really do it consciously, but I often let dishes and food packaging pile up in there, along with clothes I forgot to take out to the laundry basket (I sometimes end up bringing out a two full loads of clothes when I decide that I need to clean my room), books I didn't bother to put back on the shelves, papers stacked and strewn everywhere. It was a mess.

I would never show what my room looks like when it's in a mess, but here's a picture of what it looked like when it was clean(ish) (I apologise for the crappy quality of the photos; I had lost my camera amongst the clutter under my bed at the time and used my phone):

This is what the room first looked like when we moved here a little over 4 years ago. It made the most sense at the time to set it up that way because you tend to just place everything facing away from the door, which is in the corner. Within a week, my room was already cluttered with things I didn't even realise were in my room. I had to do a massive cleanup every month or so, and it just got really tiring.

Then one day, I got bored, and I had time. I also didn't like that everyone in the house completely ignores closed-door policy, and just barges in...yes, I'm still in that state of mind where I feel guilty for procrastinating if my parents are at home. So I moved the desk to face away from the window. I did figure it was a bit of a problem to have that ratty plastic chest of drawers blocking the window, though.

Clutter rose again, and I couldn't figure out why. It's not even that I consciously do it. But the arrangement of my room was causing me to clutter up my entire room without even realising. When you live in such a tiny space, it's hard to recognise that allocation of space according to it purpose matters a lot, too.

I kept it this way for about 1 year before I finally got fed up with doing a massive clean up every month or so that I wasn't living in a garbage dump, basically. 

This is how my room looks now:

It's kind of hard to see everything in one go, especially with my cork board in the way, but I'll elaborate.

STEP ONE: DE-CLUTTER

I took the week that I had off from school to rearrange my room. That involved:

• Throwing out everything I didn't need anymore. 
• I had boxes and boxes of papers and old school materials that I honestly don't need anymore. The process is actually kind of fun (well, not really, what with all the dust, but) because it's like taking a trip down memory lane. I went through cases and cases of paper consisting of Maths, Bio, Chemistry and Physics quizzes that I failed miserably in high school; old handwritten essays that I wrote for English Lit; sheet music that I had multiple copies of from when I lost mine all the time after choir rehearsals. 
• I threw out things that I never use or are already not of use to me anymore. Pens that ran out of ink, empy makeup packaging, paper used on both sides, expired shoe polish and random knick-knacks that nobody in the family even recognises. 
• I still have to go through my clothes and the top shelf of my epoxy shelving system to see what else I can clear out, but it was so satisfying to clear out so much more space. Difficult to let go of some things, but definitely worth it.

The mindset I kept when I was picking and choosing what to keep and what to throw out was pretty systematic:

       
Do I know what it even is?
          No --> Throw it out
          Yes --> Proceed to question 2

         
Have I used it in the past year?
          No --> If you don't have any use for it in the forseeable future, throw it out.
          Yes--> Proceed to question 3

         
Would your world come crashing down if you didn't have it anymore?/Does it have a significant  amount of sentimental value?
          No--> Get rid of it
                    Yes--> Okay, you can keep it.

STEP TWO: REARRANGE

Because I cleared out a lot of stuff, I now had a ton of space to put actually useful items. So much space, in fact, that I decided that I should get rid of my desk, because it was unnecessarily taking up too much space. That desk was way too big considering that I only use it to put my laptop and a few other things on. 

Slightly blurry photos, but this what my desk setup looks like right now. It still looks a little cluttered, but I'm still in Phase 1 of re-arranging my room. I'm not really done de-cluttering yet. What I did, basically, was clear out the bottom two sections of my Epoxy shelving system and adjusted the height of the bottom shelf to table height. I put a painted wooden board on top of it, lined the back with card, and this has become my makeshift desk. 

I now have immediate access to my books right above my desk, making it easier to focus on working. The head of my bed is nowhere near my desk chair, so I don't feel the incentive to just sprawl onto my bed and take a nap, nor to put used dishes on the mattress. I'm not sure if you can see it so clearly, but there's a short table underneath the 'desk' where I keep things that I use, but not on a regular basis. I find that if I keep everything on a surface that I can see, it's less likely to fall behind something and be forgotten or lost until I move things around to do some hoovering.

Next to my desk is what used to be the bookshelf-type-thing that was attached to my old desk. Again, a little cluttered, but I still needed a piece of furniture to put my things on before I move into Phase 2, so this is what I'm using. And yes, that is a jar of Nutella in the corner. 

I plan to get a 4-level bookshelf to put my...well, books on. I'll leave one shelf for my makeup/hair/skincare stuff though, because I clearly have an insane amount of it. The reason I didn't chuck out a lot of my makeup is because I did work hard to earn money to buy that stuff, and until I use it all up, I don't see a reason I should throw out a perfectly good product just yet. I'm contemplating whether I should get one with doors. I like the polished look of furniture that doesn't expose what's on it, but at the same time, the open shelves make it so much easier for me to reach things easily. 

I now even have space to put my guitars the foot of my bed! I keep my banjo, ukulele and recording mic between the 'desk' and the bed; it saves me a ton of space. 

I've still got a ton to do, this has just been the first part. 

What I still need to do:

Finish clearing out any unnecessary clutter, especially on the top of the epoxy shelf, and my clothes.

Get a new bookshelf and chest of drawers. The plastic one I use to keep my clothes in right now is extremely unstable and is falling apart. When I use the printer that sits on top of it, the entire thing sways violently from side to side! Time for something more sturdy. Speaking of the printer, it's completely broken now, so I should probably get rid of that. 

Take down anything that's stuck to the wall and find a way to organise the various bits and pieces. I'll probably need to repaint the parts that have peeled off, too. Or I'll get some wallpaper.

Move the epoxy shelves upwards once I've de-cluttered it, because the shelf above my 'desk' is at forehead level, and I keep bumping into it. 

I'll probably keep doing more to it as I go along, but for now, I'm satisfied with this plan. I wish I could make more permanent changes to my room, but I do live with my parents, after all, and we rent this place, so I need to keep it simple. 

If you read this far, well done! You are very patient with my wordiness! Haha I'll eventually learn to keep it short and sweet, but for now, you get word vomit...

Llamas and rainbows,

Evelyn