Beat me to it

Yesterday, while cooking Easter dinner, Husband went on a cleaning binge. This happens when he gets it in his head to clean everything he sees. It started with vacuuming the floors (which needed to be done) then moved onto washing door frames, starting laundry, tackling the cork board and ledge in from of it and attempting to figure out how to clean the stove (which if you remember, we were USING!). I had to tell him to knock it off and help me.

Anyway, earlier in the day, I had been thinking of clearing of the cork board and ledge in front. The ledge, is actually the back of the fireplace and gets grimy due to it's proximity to the stove. On it were old bottles some one thought were neat, some odd knickknacks given to us somewhere along the line and a few kids projects. Husband and I decided some of the knickknacks there were just too battered could go, along with the bottles. The cork board, we organized and tossed about 8 takeout menus (from places that are no longer operational, we've been to once, or that are just too far of a drive to call and get takeout - they followed us from out old home 7 years ago!). We also threw away a handful of business cards from a furniture store no longer open and various landscapers who wanted to charge us an arm in a leg for work (I've finally found one in our price range which will probably be out go-to guy!). It now contains a few menus of places we actually visit and some real recent children's artwork.

Unfortunately, it happened to fast, and I couldn't get any before pictures. I'll post an after picture later, along with most of the missing pictures from my other threads (sorry!).

They did it for me

Today, I didn't have to purge anything myself. I came home from Brownies with Einey and there was a barn sitting on the side (of the REALLY clean) playroom with an assortment of animals and little people inside. Apparently Meenie and Moe decided they didn't need two barns or doubles of the things they put inside. Husband said they did it all themselves. Now if I can just get them to decide which stuffed animals they didn't want...

Total for today: a dozen

Not where I started

I started at the computer desk, which has become the dumping ground for the kids. I clean it constantly, but it always has papers, projects, cups, and toys on it. However, i got sidetracked by kids arguing. Then when I picked up Einey from school, I was told my Tupperware was in. Perfect! One of the things I ordered was a set of measuring spoons because I could never find any. As I started to put them away, I decided at the that time, to clean out the drawer.
I am completely flabbergasted that I could never find any measuring spoons due to the quantity that I found. I tossed them all and left just the new ones. I also threw out a few assorted straws that I hate to clean, extra potato peelers because I had like five, ditto on pizza cutters that we never use, and a cake decorating kit (that I brought a new one of yet never use).


Here is the finished drawer:

Notice the important things towards the front (my ice cream scoops, cork screw and wine stopper?) . Priorities!

Total for today: Lets say a dozen - it was small.

Tuesday's Work

Ughh, I stink at updating this everyday.

Anyway, yesterday, I tackled my plasticware cabinet. Everyone has them. Unfortunately, we got to the point where we would grab a container, but then search and search for a cover. I finally narrowed it down to a reasonable amount of platicware- tossing the never used, the cracked, the stained and the 1/2 pieces (the pieces that were either missing a cover, or missing a container).

Before

After

What was tossed

Total - 2 dozen or so

Today - I did nothing. Well not nothing because I went to a class Easter party, made cookies for a party tomorrow, did some grocery shopping, took the girls to the in laws to try on their Easter Dresses and played some games with Moe during our together time. In short, unless I grab a quick cabinet before bed, I probably will not get anything done today.

Basement Busting

Todays was quick and easy. As I was starting the laundry, I took a quick look at the coat rack in the basement where we hang out jackets for different seasons. There wasn't much on it, but what was there was items we haven't worn in a long, long time and no longer fit. So, tomorrow morning, on the way to school, the Salvation Army is getting 3 adult coats (2 male winter and one male wind breaker), a kids in between weather coat and a pair of snow pants. They will also get a bag of toys I found stored in a bin under my laundry table (one long forgotten now) and another bag of assorted toys that were pulled from a closet last week and deposited in the basement. Unfortunately, no pictures tonight, I have to let the camera battery charge. I'll put some up in the morning before I drop the stuff off.

Total for today: 7 ish

Weekend Recap

I didn't mean to take the weekend off, but I had a few things come up and didn't have time to sit and post. So, here's the weekend in one post.

FRIDAY: Friday I really did take the day off. The weather was beautiful up here and I for one took advantage of it. As a result, the girls and I spent numerous consecutive hours outside. We played, we worked and we had fun. And most importantly, I cleaned my van. I also worked on organizing the closet that is in Einey and Meenie's room. Other than moving a window fan to the now cleaned linen closet and actually putting blankets on a shelf, there wasn't much to get rid of in the closet. I know, it doesn't look neat. But we'll be seperating the girls in the summer, so the shoe rack and blu thing will move to the other room, while Meenie's bureau gets put in this closet. The blankets and most of the stuff will also probably get moved to the other bedroom at that point.





















SATURDAY: Here, I tackled a closet in Moe's room. It contains Meenie's bureau as well as a few odds and ends. I found a plethora of objects pertaining to car seats - how-to videos, head supports, bases for the infant seats, straps for the car seat parts (we now use them as booster seats). All of it got tossed, except for the straps, we'll hang onto them for a bit longer, even though I doubt we'll need them again. I also found wheels to some old containers which I tossed, and straps to the changing table. There were empty store bags and broken clothes hangers. All of which got tossed. So while I made plenty of space in the closet, it was all trash that I got rid of.

SUNDAY: Today I tackled the other closet in Moe's room.

Yeah, it was a mess. I found an empty toy box (which was perfect for the menagerie of stuffed animals laying on her floor), a pack and play complete with changing table, outdoor netting and sheets (which I'll see if anyone needs, I'd hate to toss it), a box of receiving blankets which I plan on dropping off at the pregnancy center in town, diapers and a big stuffed teddy bear (which Moe claimed).

In the end, the closet now looks like this:

Did you know babies actually DO come with manuals? Yup, I found two of them in the bottom of the closet. These I just tossed since we are way past the baby and breast feeding stage.

And lastly, the follow items are looking for homes. If you know anyone who would like them, please leave a message in the comment section:



They are a Christmas hand print kit, a hating pad/ice pack bear and a Noah's Ark hanging growth chart.

Total stuff cleaned out - 3 closets.

Coffee Anyone?

It's amazing just how many coffee cups non-coffee drinkers can amass. Yes, I know, I am now a coffee drinker, but many of these cups have been sitting in my cabinet prior to the start of my addiction. Many go unused until we have a party and everyone wants coffee. And when I have friends over, I used the set of matching cups. So here's whats going today, 10 coffee cups. I'm not sure where they are going, they will be going.

I forgot to grab a before shot, but here is the finished cabinet. Coffee cups on the first two shelves, baking supplies on the second. I had to toss about 7 Crisco strips, 2 bags of baking raisins, some baking chocolate and some mini cupcake liners - I don't even have a pan for those and some colored sugar because I have a ton of them. Note to self, next year when I host the cookie decorating party, don't have anyone bring sprinkles and toppings, I still have a ton! That bin on the top holds all of the instruction manuals for everything. Note to self, that should be the next thing to go through and purge from.



Total items today: ~12 items.

The beginning

Stimey over at The Junk Pyramid inspired me to start this blog. Basically it's a way for me to visualize just how much unused stuff is lying around. Why would I want to blog about it? It's more so I can see just how much stuff I can live without.

Since I started reading The Junk Pyramid, I've been inspired to de-clutter. I don't know if she intended to inspire others, but just reading about her quest to dispose of six items a day has inspired me. I've already cleaned out under a sink, three closets, part of the mud room, a cup cabinet, a nightstand and a kitchen drawer. I'm not going to share those since they were prior to starting this blog.

So where did I start today? I went through my clothes, shoes and towels. All in all, I got rid of 3 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of jeans, 3 other pants, 4 shorts, 19 shirts! and 9 towels (four of them were baby towels with hoods that haven't been used in years. That filled up 2 large bags. And to keep myself motivated, they are already gone. On my way out this morning, I grabbed the bags (and threw in an extra pair of kids rain boots that were laying by the door and I knew were too small) and dropped them all of at a clothing and shoes box in town. Quick and easy and not out of my way. And now they are not sitting in my basement where many items I decided to de-clutter end up.

Total for day one: 30! Not bad for my first day.