TSABD at Home: Getting Rid of Clutter + New Home Office Purchases!

(A screenshot from an upcoming video I filmed in my home office)

Listen, for a good chunk of my life I thought my Virgo wasn’t working right because I was one clutter-ful sucker. Like, how was I really a Virgo—a sign known for being super organized to the point where people roll their eyes about how anal Virgos can be about order—when things like where I live and the car I drive were mostly not in order. Then some years back I read something that talked about how there are “messy” Virgos who rationalize that if they can’t get something to look the way they want, they just won’t do it at all. YO—that was me for years. Still kinda me now.

But see, clutter runs in my blood line. My mama cluttered, her mama cluttered, and shoot—I bet her mama’s mama’s house would have been in the 1800s version of Hoarders…lol. On the contrast my daddy is super neat—like pleats in everything including his “knockabout” clothes. I took after my mama :/

And man, it sure doesn’t help that as a beauty blogger I can get anywhere from 10-15 packages of beauty products each week. Sometimes my workload would be so overwhelming during the week that I’d pick up my packages and leave them in the living room until the weekend and then I would open them all at once. But then I’d take forever to break down the boxes and would be walking over them. CHILE, I WAS FOUL.

I mean, I’d never leave food garbage around or anything like that (see, because the way my fear of mice is set up) and I’m HUGE on purging regularly, but I’d have a way of not having a regular enough routine of putting everything back in its place that things would become mountains in no time flat. FOUL, YO. F-O-U-L.

Then a while back I bought books on decluttering and began to read them—who am I kidding, I bought ONE book and read the first five pages…lol. But in those first five pages I learned what I needed to know then that got me turned around. I have an attention problem—or maybe more that I try to do too many things at once, get sidetracked and forget about the first 2-3 tasks and then start new tasks and repeat the process over and over. I had to teach myself to get it done NOW and put things back as soon as I was done. I had to constantly be in the motions of clearing stuff out. So instead of checking the mail everyday and letting the junk letters pile up on the table until you couldn’t even see the poor table, I started to rip my address off catalogs and stuff and would put them in the recycling bin before I even got to my apartment. When I get 50 million packages I open them as soon as I get them and make a process of putting bubble wrap and confetti into a garbage bag, breaking down the boxes, and putting items I know I won’t ever use into my donation box—all in one sitting.

(This isn’t a new purchase—I got it maybe 2-3 years ago but isn’t it cute? I got it at Brownstone Closets)

Do I get it right every time? No. Right now as I type this in my home office, I have all the contents of my IKEA Kallak shelfing thingy in garbage bags on the floor. I had to clear it out because I was filming in here and couldn’t have the stuff showing. Now I don’t even want to put the stuff back because I like how the shelf looks without anything in it. My bedroom which I’m in the process of making over looks like a laundry room exploded and don’t get me started on the rest of the place. But I’m doing better and using what little down time I have to get things in order. I’m on a budget so the changes I want to make have to happen in phases. I’m even lucky to be able to have this office somewhat together.

I’ve been really good about not buying new stuff until I absolutely know I want it. I save a bunch of inspo pics on my Pinterest and once I know I’m in love with a particular style AND I have it in the budget, I’ll go to look for it. I stalk my local Homegoods as well as Burlington at least twice a month. I usually don’t find anything that’s on my visual wishlist—even though I do see a lot of great pieces in there but since I’m undecided on the decor for certain parts of the apartment and because I’m on a budget, I’ve held back. I do not want to get into the trap of getting overzealous and buying things only to wind up not liking them anymore a year from now. But I did happen to catch my Homegoods on what seemed like a really good new stock day and found some things I loved for my office and bought them. Ditto Target. I ALWAYS see things I want to get when I’m in Target (I go at least once a week for groceries and I have to pass the home section to get to the grocery section) but I use SO MUCH RESTRAINT so I don’t wind up with stuff I don’t need.

LAMP | SMALL PLANT | LARGE PLANT
(you can order these items online and pick up in store where available)

So growing up Caribbean where my mom would have all kinds of huge Jurassic Park-looking REAL plants in the house, I never thought I had it in me to buy artificial plants, but here I am…lol. I didn’t even really see me as a real plant person (I did put on a list somewhere that I wanted some real succulents but that phase passed) but trust Target to tell you that you need things you didn’t know you needed…lol.

SMALL PLANT | LARGE PLANT
(you can order these items online and pick up in store where available)

These artificial plants looked so legit that I stuck my finger in the “dirt” part when I was in the store to see if it was real…lol.

I got the white mini shelf from Homegoods. I had something like it on my wishlist for the longest because I needed something next to my desk (my desk is also white) that could hold my external hard drives, cameras, and other equipment and this is perfect. My friend Nas told me it looks too country and that I should return it but I really like it so I’m keeping it…lol. Although I do still have the tag on it just in case.

P.S. The plugs aren’t connected to the external drives solely for picture taking purposes. This corner isn’t even where I keep it—I was able to get better light for the photo at the time in this spot.

This gold geometric wall figure was also a Homegoods find. It was $24.99 and I have no clue where I’ll finally end up putting it, but it’s cool so I’ll figure it out.

CALENDAR

(My office fashion closet needs a makeover—working on it!)

I bought this custom-made banner from a really fun shop on Etsy because I wanted to have something on the inside door of my closet and REALLY wanted a neon sign like DJ Kiss has here but those neon signs are expensive! I didn’t measure properly so I’ll have to order these letters again in a bigger size. I’ll find a use for these smaller ones.

I showed you my office fashion closet which is in need of a makeover in this post. I still haven’t done anything in there yet :/ But once it’s done I’ll update you with a reveal. Ditto on the rest of the office once it’s completely done. I’m not in any rush because like I said a few times—I’m on a budget and sometimes the pieces I envision aren’t always available within my reach.

I also ordered a new office chair from Kohl’s that should get here by next week. I’ll take pics of it and update you in a future TSABD at Home post. Make sure you’re subscribed to the blog so you don’t miss that or any other blog post updates!

Are you into home decor? What’s your style? Where do you like to shop? Tell me in the comments!