Home Base Zone Part II
![Home Base Zone Part II](/content/images/size/w960/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-Put2YDy0I/AAAAAAAAA1w/sW_CF-KqsDg/s2000/DSC02780.jpg)
I'm still on my quest to organize my house. However, I have finally realized after 32 years, that this is not going to happen over night and I'm cutting myself a little slack. Not so much slack that I've abandoned my task, but enough to realize that just getting my Home Base Zone organized may take me more than a day. If it's going to take me 2-3 days to get that small part of my house organized, it's going to take me all year to work on the rest of the house!
Yesterday, as I was wrapping some Mother's Day gifts for the grandmas and the Godmothers, I had to make a concerted effort to put away all of my supplies. Usually I leave them be because I'll get back to them. But I made a conscious effort to put everything away (even my son helped!) even though I wasn't done with my supplies. Then I spent an extra minute putting other things away. As a result, my living room is starting to look a little neater!
Today is my self-designated 30-minute "Clean Sweep." I'm going to go through each of the boxes and just start putting them in piles: trash, keep, donate, Swaptree. (Swaptree is an online swap where I can trade books and music for other ones that I want. I've got a ton of books in great condition that I know that I will not read again. I don't want to donate them, but willing to trade them for books I do want. Saves me money...and if I'm careful to choose books that I really want, maybe I'll swap out more than I swap in???? Is that possible?) My only concern is finding the 30 minutes to do this. I can't do it when my littlest one is awake. So it's either before the kids wake up in the next 2 hours if they don't wake up any earlier or during afternoon naps. Let's hope I don't take one with them ;)
Here is my work in progress in my little corner of the world. It's been Day 2 and my counter has stayed clear!!!! No pics of the counter, but instead pics of my nearly empty drawers. As I needed items from the boxes I slowly and carefully put things back in drawers where I think I'll need them the most. Thoughtfully putting back items is helping me realize what I need on a regular basis.
![](https://www.heatherjauquet.com/content/images/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-Put2YDy0I/AAAAAAAAA1w/sW_CF-KqsDg/s2000/DSC02780.jpg)
Cabine with all of my cookbooks. I've decided to leave the bottom shelf for the cookbooks I use most often. The middle shelf is the for the stationary I use on a regular basis: address books, cards, etc. The top shelf is for cook books that I use, maybe not on a regular basis. I think I'm going to take them back down and go through them again in my 30 minute Clean Sweep.
![](https://www.heatherjauquet.com/content/images/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-PvI6Z_njI/AAAAAAAAA14/Nak811hmCtI/s2000/DSC02781.jpg)
Bottom drawer underneath the printer. My trusty labeler and a phone book. No longer a junk drawer!
![](https://www.heatherjauquet.com/content/images/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-PvSLDrb5I/AAAAAAAAA2A/aLgKj6ANw88/s2000/DSC02784.jpg)
The craft cabinet for the kids. In the tub I have coloring books, crayons, glue sticks, construction paper, stickers, and markers. On the top shelf are the computer supplies: paper, photo paper, ink catridges.
![](https://www.heatherjauquet.com/content/images/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-PvkhYMcbI/AAAAAAAAA2I/YlMeV0oCBeo/s2000/DSC02785.jpg)
My mostly cleaned out drawers. The items that are in the drawers are things that I used in the last 24 hours, so they stay. Just much more organized!
![](https://www.heatherjauquet.com/content/images/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-Pv7XvwBYI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/xU01fFQqfWI/s2000/DSC02786.jpg)
![](https://www.heatherjauquet.com/content/images/_vGiMa2EI3Co/S-Pv-ZgiLwI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/C6q8EMn2IoE/s2000/DSC02787.jpg)
Ah, here is the Heather we know and love. The discomboubulation!!! In case you thought aliens invaded my body, here are the two boxes of shtuff I have to go weed out. Wish me luck. If you know me at all this is going to be the hard part!