31 Day Challenge ... One Year Later

Hard to believe it's been a full year since I participated in the 31 Day Challenge. If you weren't following along way back when, I wrote about organizing my home over the course of a month.  You can see a full list and links of every post here and I wrote a wrap up of the whole experience here.

I'm not going to participate again this year for various reasons. I didn't have a clear subject I wanted to write about and we have so much going on with the preparations for the Badd Baby. But I thought it would be fun to look back a year later and reflect on the experience.

One year ago when I started the challenge our lives looked a great deal different. I had a full time job and we had no idea we were going to be expanding our family. We've had to make a bunch of changes around the house to make room for baby. Some of the rooms we worked so hard on last year have been totally changed again. I'll be revealing these rooms over the next few weeks.

At the end of the challenge I felt so much better about the state of the house. I had gone through every cabinet, drawer, and closet to purge what we weren't using. Amazing, things accumulated again and we had enough to purge into a full yard sale.  I swear our things are multiplying some how. For the yard sale we actually went into the attic and pulled out some things. Last year I didn't even get a chance to go up there and work. It was needed and still needs to be organized.

Some areas I worked on pretty much stayed the same and were easy to maintain (laundry room). Other areas fell back into chaos (pantry, I'm looking at you). Overall it was a great use of time and I went into the holiday season knowing exactly what I had and feeling confident about my house.  I even enjoyed the challenge of having to post every single day. I need to figure out a routine that ensures more regular posts here. Maybe not every day, but at least several a week.

I am excited about a new challenge I'm taking on this year.... the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda of Calling It Home.  I've followed along with several bloggers over the years who have participated and always been in awe of their talent and stamina to complete the challenge. Their rooms are always stunning.

Tomorrow I'll have my first post up regarding the One Room Challenge so check back in to see what space we are tackling.