Project Simplify Week 4: The Final (Not Really) Push

What a month!  I've gone from, "Wow, this should be fun," to "OMG, are we going to be on 'Hoarders'?"

Now that weeks 1-3 have come and gone, my house has some spots that are truly working well:

• Kitchen: The papers cluttering the counters and refrigerator were out of control and we had no real system for keeping them managed.  After adopting a filing system that included a calendar, my family is now more organized than ever!  We know the day of the week, what is due (and the cost), as well as where the kids need to be and what's for dinner!  Whew! :-)  That alone makes me happy.

• Kids' Things: Not really done, but much more manageable, the "toy room" was a mess and the boys didn't like to play there. What does that mean?  All the toys came out into the living room!  This wasn't pleasant.  So, we put away the toys we wanted to play with, stored some we wanted to keep, and donated [very] few that were not loved.  We also got the labeled tubs back on their shelves and my oldest son's artwork up on the walls for his little brother to admire, which he does all day long with "My brother made me this!" :-)  I also got binders to house their artwork and writing samples so that there was a real place to put the things that would never make it onto a scrapbook page but needed to be kept.  This week's project makes them smile because they can play in the playroom and admire their work in the binders.

• Closet, Cabinet, and Drawers: This week's project took a lot of effort on my part only really.  It was all my stuff!  I like to think that my family makes the messes, but I too had way too much stuff.  I culled my clothing by 4 big bags, emptied some drawers to make room for baby, and down-sized my scrapbooking items to almost half (and organized it in a way that got it out of the over-crowded, catch-all office that should be a baby's nursery in a few months and into the room where I actually do my scrapbooking!) What a great idea.  This not only benefits my family, but also my good friend's Girl Scout troop that loves to do craft projects.  It's a win-win.

Week 4 was supposed to be about the garage.  I planned on spending the whole week hanging shelves and cleaning out tons of stuff we don't really want.  Instead I think I'll spend the time working in the office, turning it into the baby's new room.

I get so excited thinking about this little boy and I want him to actually have a room of his own.  The older boys love sharing a room now, so we are going to wait until this guy is old enough for a twin bed before changing the rooms around.  Ry will be in third grade in two more years, and O will be starting kindergarten the same year, so that may be the time... or we may wait until Ry is in forth grade.  Either way, a baby's schedule would not be nice to the older boys' sleeping and eventually our oldest should have his own room... When the time comes, we will shuffle again, but for now I want to make the office more comfortable for us to spend time with the littlest.  I am so looking forward to this week! :-)

Project Simplify Week 2: Kids' Things (Part 3)

It's going to take me several more days (or another week) to finish, but it will get done.  Eventually I hope to get Ry's computer in there for him so the baby will have his own room in what is now the over-crowded office.  I'm getting excited about nesting!!! :-D

Here are the pictures from today:

Notice the corner shelf is gone?  It's in the driveway trying to attract a buyer, and there is so much more room in here. Both boys came into help clean up, and we actually got some things into the "give away" box!  Amazing...

Here are the BEFORE pictures:

Project Simplify Week 3: Closets, Drawers, and Cabinets... Oh My!

Closet:

So this week has been a looong week for Project Simplify.  Early in the week I started weeding through my clothing and the boys' old clothes to find items for donation.  My goal was 6 bags (including household items) and I am almost there!  I have four bags of just my clothes for donation, but I forgot to get them outside for the free pick-up so now I have to take them to the Salvation Army truck down at Wal-mart.  No problem.  Here is an "after" picture of my closet:

I have all my hanging clothes that I really love, a stack of jeans, a stack of long-sleeve layering tees, and a stack of PJs above that.  On the tp shelf, I have my lesser worn, seasonal clothes (bathing suits, winter gloves, etc.) separated into baskets, and my heating pad... Hey, they come in handy! :-)  To the right of the pants hanger begins my husband's clothes, so I think I did a good job of fitting my wardrobe to the space available.

Here was the "Before" picture:

It was almost empty because I couldn't open the door! :-(

Drawers to Cabinets:

I decided that for drawers I would go through my scrapbooking things to pare down what I had.  My markers, stickers, punches, etc. were in the yellow drawers from the office. (Pictured in my BEFORE pictures)  While I was sitting there looking at it all, I eyed my nemesis "The Paper Bin."  This is a 68 quart plastic tub filled to overflowing with my 12x12 scrapbook paper.  To say the least, it's overwhelming... actually, I should say it WAS overwhelming.  I downsized! :-)  

I know some scrapbook-making friends would say I am crazy for getting rid of so much, but I just lost all desire to make pages when I faced the daunting task of choosing papers from a 3-foot bin.  I went through and ruthlessly pulled all the prints and colors that I knew I wouldn't use.  I went through the big stacks that come bound and pulled out only the papers I really wanted and threw the rest in a stack.  My god friend is a Girl Scout leader, so she has inherited the entire stack, all 7+ inches!  I also added the stickers, stamps, and punches that I no longer used.  It's such a huge stack, I know her girls are going to love it!  

Now that my scrapbooking stash is much smaller, I was able to relocate it to the living room where I actually end up doing my crafts.  I was able to box everything neatly and even had room for my little printer! Those empty cabinets in the living room sure came in handy!  Here is the "after" picture of my scrapbooking stuff:

Ribbons, thread, and embellishments are on the top with the drawers with my remaining markers, adhesives, and colors.  The second shelf down has my craft sewing machine, stamps and chalks, and inspiration notebook along with the picture album from my childhood that I have been converting to a scrapbook for my brother and me.  The bottom shelf holds all my remaining paper.  This cabinet is only 11 inches deep, so you can imagine how much paper those Girl Scouts will have.  The plastic folio in the middle holds all of my remaining stickers, sorted be theme, and those cute quote books.  Now when I want to make a page or two for the boys, I just have this cabinet to look through and not a huge tub plus drawers.  *sigh of relief*

Now I need to get back to the playroom to finish what I started weeks ago...