Living the Simple Life: Bedside Table

Last week, I introduced y'all to my new Living the Simple Life series. Today, I am going to show y'all my bedside table simplification.

What a mess!!!

As y'all can see, Mt bedside table was a big ol' mess! It had become a catch-all for whatever got laid on top or shoved in one of the drawers. And, believe me, the drawers were stuffed with junk. I could barely get the top drawer open to clean it out.

I started the whole simplification process by clearing everything off the top. As I came across things that I wanted to keep either on the table or in one of the drawers, I organized them on my bed. As I came across items that belonged elsewhere in the house, I immediately took them to their proper location. Trash, I threw that away right then.

Now, let me explain why I took things to their proper location immediately. I know myself. I'm a pile creator. I have a pile for everything! As is evidenced in my house (check out the introductory post for this series). I knew, if I started creating piles of things to be taken elsewhere, they'd never make where they were meant to go. I knew I'd get my bedside table looking all nice and pretty, and then just throw the pile on the floor to deal with another day. Another day waaaaaaaaay down the road. Therefore, I knew I had to take the items as soon as I came across them. It worked perfectly. Well, sort of.

As I began taking things to where they're supposed to be, I came across more and more places that needed to be simplified and organized. My list grows daily. But I will continue to take it one small area at a time. It's pretty much all I can handle with an 11 1/2 month old crawling around, getting into everything!

 

Before and after, so much better!

Anyway, back to my bedside table. Once I'd gotten everything cleared off and out, either put on the bed to go back on/in my bedside table, taken to their home or thrown away, I cleaned my bedside table. And I don't mean I just wiped off the top. I wiped out the drawers too!

Then, I put back what I wanted. And I really thought about how I wanted things to go back. I really thought about what I wanted available on the top, and what could go in the drawers. So far, y'all, I'm so happy with how it turned out! It's so much easier to get to the things I need. Plus, I'm not so stressed out by the mess beside my bed!

So much easier to get what I need. Plus, a place to put my book!

What have you simplified/organized lately? How'd you go about it?