I’ve been a bit slow on getting my 4 box challenge underway, though I did actually use the system I was sent a couple of months back. Annoyingly though, I forgot to take my before and after photos.
As you can see though, the 4 boxes came in very handy when I did a speedy declutter of my bedroom to try it out and then, having focused the old brain box on getting shot of some rubbish, I managed to totally forget to take the ‘after photo’. Oops.
What they did do rather brilliantly though was hold my fairly frugal collection of gifts for Christmas in the newly tidied cupboard. The boxes stack, so I had everything nicely contained in three of them, while rather brilliantly refilling the said cupboard with clutter all over again. The fourth box stayed full of all the “store it” stuff that I needed to deal with but got too busy to manage in the run up to Xmas.
We can call it multi-tasking 🙄
We’ve got some big changes planned for the middle floor of our house this month and part of it is dumping a big desk and moving a computer into the wardrobe in our room that is so often the dumping ground of doom. This means the desk and the cupboard need redoing and this time the cupboard needs an even more thorough decluttering than normal because Max cannot cope with sitting in mess and it will be him who uses the new computer cubbyhole most (I’m getting a grown up bureau!)
The plan for box use, courtesy of the Plastic Box Shop, goes like this…. PBS_4box_challenge and you can read about it here.
So here we go. New Year is always time for a speedy declutter, even if I am rather late!
From a cupboard I couldn’t even open and a wardrobe full of mess, so an organised space ready for a computer to move in.
The Red box is now storing clothes that will be grown into over the next few months and the yellow box is full of things that do have homes but I don’t have time to sort out properly today. Or in the case of some of it, needs other decluttering projects to occur first! The craft cupboard is about to have a firm fist waved at it.
I also took the boxes upstairs last night after the girls room showed an ugly face at me in the form of a floor I couldn’t see. *rage face* I also forgot to take a before thanks to the *rage face*
I gave them from 5.38pm to 6.08pm and I kid you not, it looked like this.
This morning I told them to make it messy again so I could do a before shot 😉
I suspect the 4 boxes will become storage for a while now, but I’m pleased with the results it gave us. It worked for me but REALLY worked for the kids, who need focus.
Impressed with getting them to tidy. I haven’t mastered that trick yet other than the denying-a-film threat which usually ends up with all stuff shoved in wardrobe or under bed and a claim that the floor is then tidy!
How to get children to part with junk or grown-out-of-but-they’re-mine-and-younger-sibling-can’t-have-them would be a good trick – what’s the secret? (Other than sneaking in when they’re at school and removing aforementioned junk which they then never notice has disappeared?)
They do have finite space I suppose and I just get ranty. No secret trick.
I really love this idea – definitely worth a go for us, I want to do lots of de-cluttering this year 🙂
I was surprised by the success of it. Whether I’ll manage not to end up with 4 boxes full of clutter, I don’t know!
Hello. I’ve just found your blog and look forward to visiting again. The story of Baby Freddie made me weep for you and your family. May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
I love this idea, it really is about systems and routines I am sadly admitting (always a rebel me). I always forget the before shots too, just too keen to get on with it! You have to strike while the iron is hot.