Long Time...

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted, over 9 months. I have made great strides in that time, though. Lots of changes have been made. I have gotten rid of MOST everything we own. I have gone back to school, too. I have now completed two semesters. Monday starts the new semester (Summer). I am not currently at home, the kids and I have been staying at my mom's. Starting maybe Tuesday, the kids and I are going to be living back at the house, while dh lives elsewhere. It's a long story, but it's what's gonna have to be for now.

So, I have the house MOSTLY emptied, other than furniture. I need to get rid of even more though. I am not going to live in clutter anymore....not physical, mental, emotional, verbal, etc.

I will not rest until our home is completely uncluttered. In addition to this, I will have 18 hours of classes (in onlly 10 weeks, rather than the normal 16). The kids are almost out of school...so it will be an interesting, BUSY summer. Wish me luck, and I hope to get back here starting Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday

5 Minutes for Mom hosts something called Tackle it Tuesday, which from what I get is to basically tackle something you have been putting off.

So, I decided to "tackle" the top of my desk. It is an absolute mess (things just piled on it randomly).

BEFORE:


AFTER:


I took everything down. I dusted & put back the things that did belong (with a little rearranging).

So sorry!

I am so sorry I have been MIA!! Things have been so crazy with the kids, decluttering, etc, that I have not had the time for blogging. I hope to be able to make time again, though.

I did get through my 31 days of babysteps, and could probably stand to do them again, but not going to bite off too much right now.....or I will get overwhelmed and quit.

I have been decluttering EVERY day. I got the shed finished!!! Over 100 boxes down to 8!!! I have been doing at least 15 minutes every day, just not posting my results :( I hope to get back to that, though!

I have also been reading Organizing Junkie's blog (from start to....well, I'm only about 1/2way through), and have been getting inspired :)

Hopefully I will post more often. With all 5 kids home for the summer, and Caity homeschooling, I will not promise a daily post, though.

Decluttering, Days 78-81 (3/19-3/22)

3/19 (thursday)....I decluttered paper from my desk...tossed about 1 wal-mart bag full
3/20 (friday)...decluttered 1 bag clothes and 1 bag of things my mom left here (over the past few months) returned back to her
3/21 (saturday)...decluttered bottles. condensed cleaners together and tossed extra bottles
3/22 (sunday)...decluttered clothes...got rid of 3 trash bags full

Decluttering Day 77 (3/18/09) Round 4

Top of computer armoire, homeschool cubbies...

Top of computer armoire BEFORE:



Top of computer armoire AFTER:



Top of cubbies BEFORE:



Top of cubbies AFTER:



1st Row BEFORE:



2nd Row BEFORE:



3rd Row BEFORE:



Cubbies AFTER (yes that is 4 cubbies empty)

Decluttering Day 77 (3/18/09) Round 3

I decluttered, wiped, organized the back counter, did a massive load of dishes that I'd found from other "tops" (most were dusty, not dirty), decluttered & wiped front counter.

Dishes BEFORE:


Dishes washed this round:



Dishes in Sink AFTER:



Right counter BEFORE:



Right counter AFTER:



Left counter BEFORE:



Left counter AFTER:

Decluttering Day 77 (3/18/09) Round 2

2nd round:
I decluttered, wiped, decorated the top of the armoire; decluttered, wiped & organized top of the small buffet; decluttered, wiped top of stove; washed breakfast dishes.

Armoire BEFORE:



Armoire AFTER:


Small Buffet BEFORE:


Small Buffet AFTER:


Stovetop BEFORE:


Stovetop AFTER:


Breakfast dishes:

Decluttering Day 77 (3/18/09) Round 1

I cleaned my buffet & can pantry. It was a horrible mess (cluttered top). This is a major hotspot for me, so I am hoping I can keep it this way. I decorated it to help motivate me to keep it this way. I know everyone else will just come dump everything there, but hopefully I can keep it clean.


Buffet & Can Cabinet BEFORE:



Can Cabinet Inside AFTER:



Can Cabinet, Buffet AFTER:

Decluttering Day 76 (3/17/09)

Yesterday I decluttered 2 bags of misc. stuff from around the house. I went from room to room just tossing things that either had no home or that I didn't feel like putting away (they must not have been that important, huh?)

Decluttering Days 69-75 (3/10-3/16)

Sorry I am behind on my posting again :( But, in my defense, I have been working hard. I have been decluttering kids' clothes (as I bring out the spring clothes and slowly put away the winter clothes).

I have freecycled about 20 bags of clothes, and tossed about 10 bags of clothes.

I have also been getting rid of toys that aren't played with anymore. Probably about 10 bags of those gone. I have also been scanning my pics, so that I have them in case something happens to the actual picture.

Decluttering Days 65-68 (3/6-3/9)

I have been decluttering my shed for the past 4 days. I have filled 4 truckloads full of trash (my dh really loves me for making him go to the dump daily, lol). The truck is full again, just waiting for him to get off work...

I honestly have not even really been sorting things....I've mainly been just tossing. I think I may have save 4 bins worth of stuff out of maybe 50 or so, so far.

Decluttering Day 64, 3/5/09

Yesterday I decluttered a shelf on my homeschool cubby. It was full of stuff just waiting to be put away (yes, a hotspot). So I took a few minutes to do that.

Decluttering Days 53-63 (2/22-3/4)

I need to start at least posting every 2-3 days so I don't get this far behind again. I have been working on my Living Room and Shed the past 2 weeks. I have completely decluttered my Living Room (except my cookbook shelves...don't know that I am ready to do that yet), and I have made a small dent in my shed. I did fill 6 truck loads to be carried to the dump (but a lot of that was BIG items such as furniture). I also freecycled a ton of kids' clothes.

I have also been working on painting the living room, and I started my seeds, too. The seeds were supposed to take weeks (like 6) to germinate, and in only 10 days, there are some that are about 8" tall already. So, hoping it will warm up soon & stay that way, so I am not gardening in my living room. At this rate, we will have vegetables in about another 10 days, lol. Won't it be fun to go no further than my living room to harvest a pumpkin????

Decluttering, Days 41 (2/10)-52 (2/21)...My LR almost completed

Here are pix of my LR...please don't mind the pink & green walls...that's why I am decluttering, so I can repaint (the Liv Room used to be my girls' bedroom...and my dh painted it pink. He paints "around" things, so you may even see some white in there. The little bit of like sage green you see is what I picked out and it ended up NOT being what I thought it would be...hence the reason I didn't keep painting. Sorry the pics are so dark, it was bright outside (and I need another curtain). I will try to take close ups later.

Ok, here's the wall my couch is on. Don't mind the clean clothes to be folded:


Cuz here's the couch after I folded & put the clothes away:


This is the wall for my loveseat & nursing chair. Yes the chair is facing the opposite way...towards my desk. But when not in use, it has to be slid back so the girls can get to their bedroom. The clothes on the rod are for all 4 girls....see drawer note below:


This is my entertainment center (I love that you can close the doors) and my girls' (minus Chey) "drawers"...they are in here, because if not, the girls toss clean clothes that I've put awy in the floor, don't ask why... You can see how close my kitchen is. I like the armoire here, though, so it puts kind of a barrier in between the two...




This is my office/homeschool area. I need to go through the books on the bookshelf (hence not being done decluttering). Mostly all of them are cookbooks, with most of the gooseberry patch books on the top 2 shelves...no, I do NOT have a problem...that's my story & I'm sticking to it. The shelves in the white cube organizer are mostly empty or full of stuff that will have to find homes elsewhere, b/c that is for my homeschool books, which I have not ordered yet.


Hope I have not scared you...this has been what I have been working on decluttering since my last decluttering post. That and the shed outside (for a later post). Wish I'd have taken before pics...I forgot. They weren't bad, just everything was arranged differently.

Decluttering, Day 40 2/9/09

I decluttered 2 more bags of kids' clothes. I sorted through them as they came out of the dryer.

It's amazing, but I still can't see a difference in the amount of clothes my kids' have, so I am going to have to keep going ;)

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA the past few days. I was gone most of Friday and this weekend. I am now up to date on my blog posts. Sorry, I didn't take as many pics, but I'll make up for it ;)

I am home all day and have a ton of work to do. The master bedroom & bathroom are done, so I just have to focus on: Laundry, dishes (as they are dirtied), kitchen (finish declutter/organize project), laundry room, living room, girls' bedroom for today.

Decluttering, Days 37-39

Friday 2/6 (day 37) I cleaned out my purse. Tossed all the receipts I didn't need to keep.

Saturday 2/7 (day 38) I cleaned out the truck again. All trash, clothes/coats/gloves, etc got put where they belong.

Sunday 2/8 (day 39) cleaned out a craft bin & freecycled most of what was in it.

Decluttering, Day 36 Paper

HAHA...It never ends does it? Well, I was awakened at 2am by 2 of my girls playing LOUDly, so now they are separated and one is back asleep. The other is reading quietly.

I couldn't go back to sleep, so I started tackling paper. I tossed a regular trash bag full of papers, catalogs. My desk still looks like a tornado went off on it, but I do have more room :)

Decluttering, Day 35 My Kitchen

I know I just decluttered my tupperware cabinet last week. But it wasn't working (lids were in front, bowls behind). So, I re did it. I also did the microwave cabinet & my medicine/first aid cabinet.

Here's my tupperware cabinet before:


The "back" of the cabinet after (back row)


The "back" of the cabinet after (front row)


Microwave cabinet before:


Microwave cabinet after:


Medicine/First Aid cabinet before (it was already organized inside the basket...did it last week):


Medicine/First Aid cabinet after:

Day 34, decluttering...my inbox :)

I went from over 1700 emails down to 259. I wish my household clutter would be able to be gone with just a delete button,lol.