When Tommy and Binky left for California, I vowed to start cleaning out the house. Not just dusting and moping floors... cleaning out the house. Every nook and cranny was getting organized and I was in full de-cluttering mode. I turned to one of my buddies to help me with the entire process, which I now know, is really not going to be as quick as I thought.
I do not have the attention span to stick with one room for hours upon hours. Nor do I have the free time to do that either so I am using one trick I learned from Jax's preschool teacher. She called it the "20" rule. 20 minutes to find 20 items to throw away and 20 items to donate. I did this repeatedly in every room. Jax promised to watch and play with Pudgie as I bounced room to room and filled giant garbage bag after giant garbage bag. It is taking me a lot longer since I promised play time to the boys and didn't want to make the entire weekend together consist of mommy cleaning and the boys being 100% bored. (WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE FOR 3 DAYS WITHOUT MY KIDS TO KICK THIS HOUSE INTO TIP TOP SHAPE)
On Friday night I had to go up and down our street to find empty garbage cans since mine was filled by Thursday morning. After texting my friends and letting them know it was my pink garbage bags overflowing their cans I had to finally give in and go to a dumpster around the corner, as well. It was an awesome feeling throwing away this stuff. What is really sad is that I could not tell you what is now gone. Kitchen cabinets are empty, bathroom drawers are empty, shelves in the linen closet and laundry room...empty and I have no idea what the heck the garbage was.
I had not even started with the, "to donate," items yet. By Sunday morning I was amazed at how much stuff I had amassed in my own closet. I took two brand new sweaters, that still had tags on them, over to Trish's house and left them on her doorstep in a little secret Santa bag knowing that she would look so cute in them at church. I could not bear the thought of giving them to someone I did not know... and they were so pretty with the beads and sequins so I knew she would like them. Enjoy them Trish.. and if you were just being nice.. I know you will find someone to love them!!! Ok... onward I trudged.
I found all the baby room items that I had tucked deep into corners of my closet, lamps and boxes and trinkets alone filled a giant Christmas box. Nine 32 gallon garbage bags filled with clothes that I have not worn in years. Seriously, more clothes in those bags to donate than some people even own.
When I told Brinkley I had cleaned out all her drawers, closet and armoir, she panicked and begged me to tell her what I got rid of. I told her if she didn't know what was gone, she would never miss it. The poor girl has not grown in size in 3+ years so most of the clothes are just completely worn out. Others are just from when she was 4. Time to let it go.
As for my closet. I am still on a mission. I told Tommy that every time I walk into it now, I have to walk the aisles, which are more like a Macy's department store than a closet in a home, and I have to part with at least one thing. Each time I have done it over the past 4 days, I have walked out with a minimum of 7 items. This does not even include the three hours I spent in there cleaning it out. Unfortunately I have only been willing to kiss one pair of shoes good-bye. One pair of never-worn 9 year old shoes. STUPID I tell you. I am working on it though. Gotta let it go.
This is my year to down-size and get back to the basics. I have worked on my kitchen cabinets and have huge plans for them. My garage is coming along, the linen closet and laundry room are all getting organized and my shoulders are feeling lightened. It doesn't seem so daunting now.
My friend Val told me that when she moved, the hardest part was the emotional tie to the, "stuff." Once the tie is cut it is so much easier. It was amazing how quick I was cutting ties this weekend.
Why I thought I was attached to some of this stuff is beyond me. I can rationalize the old yearbooks and some old letterman jacket but I really don't think I need to keep paperwork with a signature from high school that I can not even read. Ugggh I can not believe I moved this stuff... TWICE. What was I thinking?
I have to admit, de-cluttering is a messy job. It is not easy and when I thought I had done it in the past... I was seriously wrong. I have a feeling I will be filling the neighbors garbage cans again this week.... since I won't have Jaxi home watching what gets tossed from the toy closet and begging me to let it stay.
In my mind I am picturing an Ikea or Pottery barn-esque organized house. I have come up with some great ideas for towels and kitchen organizing but I need more. More for the kids rooms and the toy closet and just all around organizing. The more books and magazines I read, the more I am just teeter-tottering back and forth about what will and will not work for us. I love the look of my storage shelf cubes from Ikea but they are out of view to everyone except for the ones in Jax's room. I am worried if I do more of these shelves with baskets I will just shove stuff in them to get it out of view. Does anyone do this besides me? How do you people that have immaculate houses (ahem Leslie) keep everything in its place? I feel like once I get one room organized and move onto the next, hurricane, "Jensen family," runs through it and I am back at square one.
If anyone has any suggestions, I am up for it because I am gonna have one clean-mean-shining-machine kinda house this year. I am just hoping it only takes a few more weeks to get there!!!!!!!!
I do not have the attention span to stick with one room for hours upon hours. Nor do I have the free time to do that either so I am using one trick I learned from Jax's preschool teacher. She called it the "20" rule. 20 minutes to find 20 items to throw away and 20 items to donate. I did this repeatedly in every room. Jax promised to watch and play with Pudgie as I bounced room to room and filled giant garbage bag after giant garbage bag. It is taking me a lot longer since I promised play time to the boys and didn't want to make the entire weekend together consist of mommy cleaning and the boys being 100% bored. (WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE FOR 3 DAYS WITHOUT MY KIDS TO KICK THIS HOUSE INTO TIP TOP SHAPE)
On Friday night I had to go up and down our street to find empty garbage cans since mine was filled by Thursday morning. After texting my friends and letting them know it was my pink garbage bags overflowing their cans I had to finally give in and go to a dumpster around the corner, as well. It was an awesome feeling throwing away this stuff. What is really sad is that I could not tell you what is now gone. Kitchen cabinets are empty, bathroom drawers are empty, shelves in the linen closet and laundry room...empty and I have no idea what the heck the garbage was.
I had not even started with the, "to donate," items yet. By Sunday morning I was amazed at how much stuff I had amassed in my own closet. I took two brand new sweaters, that still had tags on them, over to Trish's house and left them on her doorstep in a little secret Santa bag knowing that she would look so cute in them at church. I could not bear the thought of giving them to someone I did not know... and they were so pretty with the beads and sequins so I knew she would like them. Enjoy them Trish.. and if you were just being nice.. I know you will find someone to love them!!! Ok... onward I trudged.
I found all the baby room items that I had tucked deep into corners of my closet, lamps and boxes and trinkets alone filled a giant Christmas box. Nine 32 gallon garbage bags filled with clothes that I have not worn in years. Seriously, more clothes in those bags to donate than some people even own.
When I told Brinkley I had cleaned out all her drawers, closet and armoir, she panicked and begged me to tell her what I got rid of. I told her if she didn't know what was gone, she would never miss it. The poor girl has not grown in size in 3+ years so most of the clothes are just completely worn out. Others are just from when she was 4. Time to let it go.
As for my closet. I am still on a mission. I told Tommy that every time I walk into it now, I have to walk the aisles, which are more like a Macy's department store than a closet in a home, and I have to part with at least one thing. Each time I have done it over the past 4 days, I have walked out with a minimum of 7 items. This does not even include the three hours I spent in there cleaning it out. Unfortunately I have only been willing to kiss one pair of shoes good-bye. One pair of never-worn 9 year old shoes. STUPID I tell you. I am working on it though. Gotta let it go.
This is my year to down-size and get back to the basics. I have worked on my kitchen cabinets and have huge plans for them. My garage is coming along, the linen closet and laundry room are all getting organized and my shoulders are feeling lightened. It doesn't seem so daunting now.
My friend Val told me that when she moved, the hardest part was the emotional tie to the, "stuff." Once the tie is cut it is so much easier. It was amazing how quick I was cutting ties this weekend.
Why I thought I was attached to some of this stuff is beyond me. I can rationalize the old yearbooks and some old letterman jacket but I really don't think I need to keep paperwork with a signature from high school that I can not even read. Ugggh I can not believe I moved this stuff... TWICE. What was I thinking?
I have to admit, de-cluttering is a messy job. It is not easy and when I thought I had done it in the past... I was seriously wrong. I have a feeling I will be filling the neighbors garbage cans again this week.... since I won't have Jaxi home watching what gets tossed from the toy closet and begging me to let it stay.
In my mind I am picturing an Ikea or Pottery barn-esque organized house. I have come up with some great ideas for towels and kitchen organizing but I need more. More for the kids rooms and the toy closet and just all around organizing. The more books and magazines I read, the more I am just teeter-tottering back and forth about what will and will not work for us. I love the look of my storage shelf cubes from Ikea but they are out of view to everyone except for the ones in Jax's room. I am worried if I do more of these shelves with baskets I will just shove stuff in them to get it out of view. Does anyone do this besides me? How do you people that have immaculate houses (ahem Leslie) keep everything in its place? I feel like once I get one room organized and move onto the next, hurricane, "Jensen family," runs through it and I am back at square one.
If anyone has any suggestions, I am up for it because I am gonna have one clean-mean-shining-machine kinda house this year. I am just hoping it only takes a few more weeks to get there!!!!!!!!
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2 Lightbulb moments:
Ah, yes! I'm feeling the bug, too. It must be the weather. I've been in the kids closets for hours. My friend told me of a family that just adopted 3 more children and who needs clothes, so off to the "clothes pantry" and I came out with 4 massive garbage bags overflowing with nighties, shoes, and shirts. Mine's next, but not today. I'm off to D.I. and Grandma's house.
I really think it must be the weather...an early "spring cleaning" bug. I've got it too. I'm with you though, I just drool over those ikea and pottery barn organizational helps and convince myself that if I just had those I would lose all the clutter.
It's my goal to declutter, organize and just simplify everything this year. If you come up with ways to find a place for everything and keep everything in its place, let me know. With two toddlers running around, I find it's oftentimes a losing battle.
Good luck!
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