The Clutter Challange - Day 4

Today was a wash, as far as my war against clutter goes.  I was getting some computer work done when I noticed that the kids had been eerily quiet.  You know the feeling that you get right before something VERY BAD happens?  I had that feeling then.  Before I could investigate I heard shrieks of laughter.

As a mommy, I knew whatever it was, it would be bad.  Very bad.

When I went to my son's room, I discovered that it was worse than I thought.  My lovely, adorable, amazingly good, 23 month old daughter had taken an entire bag of cat food... and dumped it on my son's bedroom floor.  She was happily eating said cat food.

So, long story short, the time I was going to spend on the kitchen counter/breadbox/junk magnet was spent sweeping, vacuuming, and hand picking tiny round pellets of cat food up.  I'm still finding cat food.  I will be finding cat food for the foreseeable future.  It's entirely possible that the people who buy our house from us, years down the road, will be finding cat food.

The Clutter Challange - Day 3

I've survived two days of the clutter challenge, and I haven't burst into flames.  Hell hasn't frozen over yet, either (I've been checking the weather forecast, just to make sure).  While I'm still not brave enough to tackle my front closet - which may take a torch and a backhoe - I'm ready to start on a major eyesore in the kitchen: the top of the refrigerator.

Like so many things, I don't actually "see" things that are in front of me every day.  It's easy to see the coffee stains in someone else's kitchen sink, but I just don't notice the pile precariously perched on top of my nice stainless steel fridge.


That changes today.  Look out, expired spices and dusty baskets... I'm coming, I have Pledge, and I'm not afraid to use it!


Before:

After:

SUCCESS!
I'm still itchy from all the dust bunnies that I vanquished, but that's just the most vengeful of them getting their last revenge.  Yet again, I threw out quite a bit of outdated medication (an entire bag's worth).  I have no idea why I've had trouble getting rid of half used boxes of cold medicine, but it was almost cathartic to hear the rattle of bottles and crinkle of boxes as I tossed them away.  Just to be safe I threw it in with some used coffee grounds as per Walgreens instructions.  It gave me an excuse to drink more coffee.  Too bad one isn't supposed to throw out medication with limes - after all this cleaning I could use a good Cuba Libre.


I feel like a new me is being formed - and a new house that I'll be able to invite people in to see is emerging.  (But I'm still scared of my front closet)


And now tall people can be in my kitchen without getting dust in their noses.

The Clutter Challange - Day 2

This might be harder than I thought.  While I was successful with the front bookshelf, when I woke up today I had no idea where to go next.  There's just so darn much stuff in here!  I need a battle plan!

Here's my plan so far: I will work on a project in a different room each day.  That way I feel like the whole house is getting attention instead of having one room all nice and pretty and the rest of the place looking like strange combination of a bulimic toy store and the day after mardi gras.




Day 2:
Here's my itinerary for today: My bathroom cabinets, 2 loads of laundry (the load of cloth diapers I currently have in the washer don't count) both washed AND folded AND put away, and 20 minutes of picking up the day's detritus when the kids go to bed.  I'll have to throw out some of my hair product collection... but I'm sure my husband will appreciate my sacrifice.  He had better...


Here are my oh-so-embarrassing bathroom cabinets.  It's a good thing that we don't have people over for parties, because they might open a cabinet and be mauled by hydrocortizone cream that's past it's expiration date. I'll have to throw out some of my hair product collection too... but I'm sure my husband will appreciate my sacrifice.  He had better...


Before:

  

After:

My cabinets look so much better!  While I probably didn't get rid of as many hair products and various lotions/body sprays as my husband would have liked (he brags that he only needs four things to get ready - body wash, shaving cream, a razor, and deodorant), I'm a girl and can't get by without my arsenal of beauty products.

However, I did throw out a disturbing amount of old medication, some of which had expired in 2007.  Pretty <insert explective here> bad.

All in all - Day 2 was a success!

A Call to Arms (Or Elbow grease)

21 Day Cleaning Challenge 

I'm a good mother, really.  I'm creative, loving, and can cook up a mean étouffée.  What I am NOT is a good housekeeper.  I'll admit it... I'm a clutterer.  For some reason, if I think I can find a use for it later, I want to keep it.  Nevermind that "later" may never come, I have a hard time throwing stuff away.  Add the clutter to a small house, three kids (four if you count my husband), and me preferring to play with the kids over emptying the dishwasher and you get....

A Royal Mess.

I blame it on my mother and grandmother.  My mother lives in a nest of papers and things she hasn't gotten around to putting away, and my grandmother used to wash and reuse Ziplock bags and Cool Whip containers.  She grew up during the Depression, so she learned not to waste anything.  I'm not sure what my mother's excuse is.  All I know is that I think there may be a "I've got to save _____ because I might need it" gene.  Scientists should search for it and develop gene therapy.  Until then, I'm going to have to find a different way to deal with my mess.

So I'm putting up a call to arms.  I am going to battle my clutter.  I will vanquish the dust bunnies.  My junk closet will quake in fear of my cleansing powers!  Here's my battle plan:

• I swear to pick up for 20 minutes every night.  I will set an egg timer so I can't cheat and stop after a measly 15 minutes.  Going over 20 minutes is okay.
• I will tackle a project every day.  (That junk closet, my linen closet, and (shudder) my laundry room are prime examples of my enemies)  

I've heard that it takes 21 days to replace an old habit with a new one.  Well, I'm hoping that at the end of my Cleaning Challenge I'll have learned how to keep my house nice enough to not be embarrassed when the Peapod delivery guy comes by, and actually let him carry my groceries to the kitchen.  (He always offers, and I always say "Just put them by the door.")

Feel free, my cyber friends, to join me in the challenge.  We can wage war together, and maybe win a few battles against the junk.  At best we'll have a house to be proud of.  At worst we'll be able to have the in-laws stop by without feeling shame.

Day One:
The bookshelf by my front door is my first project.  It has become a catch-all for stuff that comes in the house, and this eyesore is in my sights...

Before:




After:



Day one, Mission One:  Complete!

It took me 2 1/2 hours - remember, I have 3 little ones that need to be wrangled.  If I don't watch them closely World War III just might break out; at the very least the cat would be scarred for life.  So it took me longer than it might have if I were childless, but it did get done.

It's amazing how looking at a photo gives me perspective.  Now that I actually see a picture of my finished project I realize that my coat rack is an eyesore.  I would put my coats in the front closet, but that closet is also known as our "junk closet" and there simply isn't room for four more coats (sad, isn't it?).  The junk closet will have to be a project for another day.

After all that work I think it's time for a cup of coffee.  Or maybe a cocktail.