OK I just invested over an hour in cleaning the bedroom. It had gotten really, really cluttered. We had an air conditioner on the floor in there from last summer still. I found that we don't have enough space in our drawers to put our clothes. We have too many clothes. Part of the problem is that for example I have probably 6 sweatshirts plus 6 normal shirts, and they don't fit into the drawer I have for "shirts". Similarly I have probably 10 pairs of "sweats" now - some thin, some thick - and my one "pants" drawer barely holds them. Maybe most people have more than one drawer for tops and one drawer for bottoms.

It's a start, at least, to take stock of what we have and where we are trying to put it. Then the next step is to figure out some solutions.

More progress, step by step. I sprinkled cat-arm-and-hammer and vacuumed, changed the sheets and top anti-cat-fur sheet over the blanket, and ran the air filter. It feels much cleaner in there at least.

The main dresser is still covered with stuff so that's the next step. I rarely if ever wear makeup so the makeup I have in my top drawer must be 10+ years old. I think it's time to throw it all out. Even if I did want to wear makeup at some point, it's probably not hygienic to put this stuff on my skin any more.

So that comes next. I hate to throw things away ... but sometimes it's safer to do that.

the eye stuff is the main hygiene concern. Toss anything that has touched your eyelids or lashes.

Things like lipsticks, makeup brushes, powder, foundation and blush can be donated to battered women's shelters, if they are clean and mostly unused.

ALso I think one drawer for tops and one for bottoms is a great goal!

With all the diseases spread through lip / mouth, I think it's probably best to throw away all lipstick types of items.

I had too many misc things by my bedside - lotions, meds, eyeglass case, perfume oils, back scratcher, and so on. Everything kept knocking over and the cats were batting things around. Finally last night i tossed them all in a basket and placed them on the floor near the head of my bed. So much better! It's all in one place now and looks a ton neater. I don't know why i didn't think to do this sooner.

OK here it is September and I still haven't thrown out the makeup. I don't wear it at ALL either. I am so bad about throwing things away. I have to accept that the stuff is undoubtedly unsafe at this point and needs to go. I can't even give it to someone else safely.

And Bob has a pile of clothes all over the floor too. At least they're clean clothes.

The BigBrother BigSister is coming by on Tuesday for a pick-up. So maybe I can convince him to go through them and at least tell me what is good. Then I will bite the bullet and put them away for him. After all he doesn't care about the mess apparently, but I do.

Hopefully I can report back soon that the bedroom is at least reasonably clean.

The forum helped! I did it! I threw away all the makeup. I felt guilty about putting it into the trash stream, but keeping it wasn't doing any better.

I wish they made make-up in recyclable containers.

So the BigBrother BigSister has come and gone, the bedroom is in much better shape, and life gets better, little by little, every day .

How are you guys doing with bedroom cleaning?

I had a number of jewelry items that I no longer wear and I'm posting them one by one on my Facebook page for friends to claim. This is quite a nice process, to give gifts to my friends and to clear out my drawers so they only have things I absolutely love.

Do you guys have jewelry items that you rarely wear?

Luckily for me, I have the bed above my man cave and don't have much to worry when it comes to normal bedside cleaning... its just awkward waking 12ft from the floor every morning hehe.

I suppose technically my bedroom is above my office, which could be considered my cave. I'm in here all day long . So I just wake up, come down the stairs, and I'm in my office. And then at night the process reverses!

Cargo sells their makeup in recyclable, compostable, and sometimes plantable, containers. And I love their colors.

Bare Minerals has handy reusable containers.

Dear Jilly -

That is great to hear that some makeup companies are creating plantable makeup containers! I love that idea .

Burt's bees makeup also has some makeup in recyclable tins.

All my Paula's Choice stuff is made from recycled plastic that i can again recycle.

Speaking of organizing bedrooms, I only get to sleep on half my bed. The other half I use as a table for storing things. Sloppy!

Jilly -

In Japan they would consider it "wasted space" to have a bed out all day long taking up space. They roll up / put away the bed so that space can be used functionally during daytime hours. So you're being efficient!

Can you maybe put a board on the bed so that it's a table in the day and then move the board at night?

Interesting idea, Lisa. That is not the direction i want to go in inside Serenity, but for other people i could see it working nicely.

I finally cleaned off the other half of my bed last night and am luxuriating in having an entire bed to stretch out on! It's easier to sleep around these cats now, too.

That's great news, Jilly! I'm so glad you are feeling serene!

It's interesting how little we need to live with when we come down to it. I am traveling for a month, quite easily, with my one suitcase. I don't even feel deprived of options for shoes or clothes. You just kind of get more use out of what you have.

Food for thought, at least. We don't need as many choices in all things as we think we do.

That is very true Jilly. Once we have gathered up things we adore, and passed along the rest to others, then each choice we have is a great one.