Organizing an Unseen Mess

Today I decided to tackle a mess that I don't really see.  My kids have one of those cube set ups in their room.  Before we moved they had 2 and the bins were all cute in a checker board pattern.  Once we got to the new place, we appropriated one for our hallway and the boys were left with one cube shelving unit and all the bins.  Here's how it looked.  Not terrible,  but I knew what it looked like inside.

(Please try to ignore all the cords off to the side.  hehe)

The movers had chosen to just stuff a lot of the small stuff the kids had into these bins and then stuff the over filled bins into a large moving box.  Ugh.  Anyhow, I dealt with a bit of it, but not all of it.  Emptied it out and here's how it looked.

Not very pretty.

We went through and wound up with a full trash bag of stuff that needed to be tossed and a small bag of toys that will be donated.  I also found they had quite the candy stash.

In the end, after about 40 minutes of emptying and sorting, here's what we were left with.

Much better  :)  Yay for getting things done!

Clutter-Free Cabinets!

I've mentioned (and photographed!) my poor closet and cabinet organizational skills before.  It's been a problem for me for as long as I can remember.  Any place I can hide stuff away, I don't bother with organizing.  It's an issue I'm trying to deal with.  Regularly.  *ahem*

I can proudly say, though, that yesterday, during my son's therapy session, I had clutter-free cabinets!  I know, I know.  You're wondering why it is that my cabinets matter to my big guys therapy.  Well, I'll tell you!  At the moment he is working on learning life skills.  Simple things that we all do each day and don't really think too much about.  Yesterday he was learning his way around the kitchen to make a bowl of oatmeal.

Our kitchen was probably the area that took the biggest hit during the move.  I went from a huge kitchen to a tiny one, so I was forced to really take a good hard look at what I needed and what was just extra.  It was tough.  Agonizing, even.  But it got done and boy am I glad it did, because his therapist was giving him cues and clues on how to find things and using deductive reasoning.  I have to admit that when she opened up the first cabinet door, my heart stopped for just the briefest of moments.  I had that second of worry that something would topple out.  But nothing did.  Not from the second one either.  In fact, door after door, she swung open my cabinets to find clean, organized shelves.  Seriously, I wanted to dance.  I can't even imagine what would have happened in the other house.  I had so many cabinets and so much stuff that I just couldn't figure out how to organize it all.  So I didn't.

I worried, before the move, how we were going to manage with so much less space.  How we would fit.  How we would decide what was just clutter and what was truly needed in our lives.  I have to tell you, it was hard, but looking back, not as hard as I'd expected.  This move may have been the best thing to happen to me (as an organizationally challenged pack rat that is)!

Welcome 2013! (And How I Got Here)

Happy New Year!  I bet today there are all sorts of blog posts from folks who had started blogging but got sidetracked away from it during the year (like me!).  I'm not making it a resolution to blog more, but I am going to try to be more on top of it.  

Obviously, the move in November threw me right off track.  It was a struggle in a few ways and so simple in many others.  As we left the house we'd lived in for the last 3 and a half years we worried endlessly about all the things we assumed we'd have to pay for.  Having heard numerous times that the management company was very unforgiving we couldn't help wonder what would be considered normal wear and tear, would we have to pay full price for the carpet replacement (which was certain to be needed in 2 rooms), even though the blinds were ancient when we moved in, would they try and hit us with that charge as well?  It was nerve wracking.  

I'm happy to report that after 4 days of exhausting (over)cleaning (my guys hated how much of a task master I was) we got charged....zero.  Our move out was amazing.  The final walk through took minutes, we turned over our keys and boom.  It was all done.  It's strange, you know, I've never walked away from a place we've lived and still lived in the same city.  When I got to pick Deac up from school (right across the street from the old place) I see it, with new cars in the driveway.  It's kind of trippy.  :)

As for the new place?  It's fantastic.  We lost a TON of space.  We had a little over 1600 square feet in the old house, plus a garage and a gigantic back yard.  Now we're in a 1000 square foot apartment, with a little patio.  You know what I found out?  Decluttering is not so hard when you have no choice but to decide what is worth keeping.  We wound up having 2 yard sales.  The first was a success and the second got me 30 bucks and I wound up giving the rest away.  It was a good deal really, someone hauled off all of my unwanted stuff in a matter of minutes.  That "free" sign is a bit of a miracle worker.  The movers came and packed and moved us and by the time everything was in the new place (boxed) we realized we hadn't gotten rid of enough.  Not wanting to pay for a big storage space we committed to paring down even more.  This was a little harder, since I felt I'd already gotten rid of everything I could.  Guess what, though?  We did it.  Well.  We have very little clutter, very little we don't need here.  Losing the storage space was hard, but we got creative.  

I'd like to say that moving forward I'm going to (for sure) have cute projects to work on, but it's uncertain for now.  The hubs is on terminal leave (wow!  so hard to believe his military career is done) and will be looking for full time work soon and I will have to start looking for something part time as well.  2013 is both scary and full of promise.  I do have a few goals in mind, though, so I'll be here, typing away, updating, decluttering (if it becomes an issue), thrifting, reviewing and planning.  

Welcome 2013!

2 Weeks Plus a Few Days

That's how long until we move to the new apartment. Every time we move I forget. I forget that no matter how ready you think you are to move, you just aren't. Financially, emotionally, physically. At least I'm not. Ever. It's funny, because I always believe that I've got everything under control. And then along comes that moment when I realize I was just kidding myself. I had that moment a couple of days ago. Even though everything is moving forward, I'm just not ready. This move is the same as all of the others in many ways and it's so different in others. This move signifies the end Dave's military career. 20 years and now it's done. It signifies a choice that we made, not the Navy, to decide where we live. There's unlikely to be an opportunity in a few years for us to pick up and start again. This. Is. It. I'm terrified. Fortunately, he's not. Which is good, because one of us needs to be able to remain rational. It can't be my job, I can't handle it. He's going back to school and will be looking for work. I, too, will have to look for work. I've been a stay at home mom for 11 years. I didn't work during my pregnancy either. 12 years since I've worked. I worry. My oldest is autistic and being available to him, the school, his teachers has always been my goal. This will be difficult now. Not impossible, of course, but more difficult just the same. Both kids will (next year) have the same schedule, but for the remainder of this year it's different and neither gets bused. Right now we live close enough to walk one and drive the other. At the new apartment we will drive both to different schools, next year to the same school with the same hours. This will hopefully make it easier to find work. Not having to work around the hours of 2 different school schedules. I hope. On the plus side, I think I'll be having another yard sale. I need to get rid of a few more things that just won't fit at the new place and I really don't want to get a storage locker. So, I think maybe the weekend after this one coming I'll give another one a try. It's also giving me a really great opportunity to really purge the house. Closets, garage, everything! This is good because I can certainly tend to be a bit of a pack rat. I want the new place to be as free from clutter as possible. That would be ideal, so going in with less is the best way to start. Frugality is going to be a necessary part of every day life now, which is good. Having everyone on board with that is really exciting to me. In the past, I've felt like I've been only half on board with being as frugal and thrifty as I want to be, so that will be a nice change of pace. That will also make it easier for me to blog about being thrifty (and organized!) since it will be necessary, not just kind of a hobby. The one thing that breaks my heart the most though, is that the move is costing way more, up front, than we realized. It's pretty much going to eat through everything we have and that means the holidays are going to be very, very rough. :( I'm hoping the kids can enjoy the spirit of the holiday (which they always have) even when they know presents will be lean. It's tough, but they're good boys and I have faith that they'll understand.

A Little Weekend Decluttering

Since I had some free time today I decided to tackle a couple of cabinets and drawers.  It wasn't a whole lot of work and I only remembered to take pics after I was done with the hall closets, but I still feel good about doing something.

After playing Munchkin with the kids, I enlisted their help to clear out some books from one of the cabinets in the hall.  We filled two large bags we purchased for Costco trips(nice sturdy bags!).  Oddly, the cabinet is still totally full.  I think everything we fit into those bags was just overflow.  I'll have the hubs sort through his.  I know he'll give me the freedom to get rid of most, if not all of his books.  Since he got his Kindle and then replaced it with his Kindle Fire the books are just collecting dust.  I think I'll be the one with the most difficulty, I parted with a lot, but I can't bring myself to get rid of my cookbooks.  And I have a lot more than I remember.  Not too long ago, I forced myself to whittle down my collection of cooking magazines.  Dating back to 2005.  I spent a week looking through them, pulling out the ones I couldn't imagine getting rid of and ripping out recipes I wanted for the rest.  Then I scanned all of those.  I keep telling myself I'll be happy when we move and I don't have all of this stuff (junk) weighing me down.  It may not surprise you to find out that when the hubs saw the pile I was keeping he was shocked.  That I was keeping so many.  *wince*  I pared it down a bit more, but I still have plenty.

While I was in the area, I took a moment and pulled a couple of holiday plates out of another cabinet.  I think getting rid of a lot of the holiday stuff is going to be key in making this move work.

Moving on to the junk drawer.  Every kitchen has one.  Sometimes more.  I cleaned one of 2 and took on one of the lower cabinets.

Before:  As you can see, my junk drawer, is very junky.  Tangled wires, picture hangers, batteries, fast food condiment packets (loads of those >.<), paperwork and more.  Pretty much, a nightmare.

After:  I brought all the paperwork together and bound it with a rubber band I found in there.  There was also a bag of zip ties floating around so I used a few of those for the cords.  Birthday candles found their way into a sandwich bag and I neatened the rest of it up.  All of the collected condiments got rolled in the bag and stuck on top of a spare kitchen towel.  It's not perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was!

Looking at the two picures now, I wonder why I didn't take the first one from a slightly wider angle...shame, most likely.  hehe.

 Since that took just a few minutes I went ahead and did another cabinet.

Before:  In this spot are all of my cake pans and cookie cutters, icing tips, cake plate and other baking miscellany.  I also have some spare plates, magic bullet and other crap stored away.  What a mess.  You want a little bit of truth on this one?  When I opened the cabinet, that round cake pan came crashing out.  D'oh!

After:  I made a couple of cuts.  Two Wilton pans will be landing in the yardsale bin, I tossed a try that was chipped, but mostly I just took a few minutes to neaten it up.  Much better!

That's about all the hard work I think I'm willing to put in today.  Haha!

First Real Declutter

I decided to make the hall closet my first decluttering project.  I took some pictures of the before. They're scary and I'm ashamed! 

That closet is literally right beside the front door when you walk in.  Every time one of us walks in, we close the front door and open that one.  Shoes get kicked off, yoga mat gets tossed in, sometimes the boys throw their socks in.  Gross!  I'm just tickled that all of the coats get hung up.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but under that pile of shoes is an actual shoe shelf.  Fat lot of good it's done.  On the left side of the closet, a hanging shoe bag.  Empty.  Completely empty.  *sigh*

After about an hour or sorting and cleaning, I can happily say, it's nice and tidy.  Ta Da!

Obviously, you can see in the pictures, I didn't add anything.  No cute baskets or tags.  My guys won't notice or use that stuff, so basic is best around here.  I took advantage of the hanging shoe bag and put everyone's flip flops, my ballet flats and lawn mowing shoes in there.  That cleared up a TON of floor space.  The remaining shoes are those that are being worn at least a couple of times a week.  Yoga mats and blocks made it up to the top shelf, dumb bells tucked away on the floor to the left, easy to access, stretch bands on hooks above the weights.  My coats on the left, his on the right, the boys keep theirs hung up in their room.


This decluttering resulted in some trash (as I'm sure you guessed from those before pics).  I pulled both of my sons ponchos.  Both were ripped at the neck enough that it was kind of a waste to keep them(that's the blue and beige you see in the pic).   To the pile of things headed for the trash, I added a pair of my youngest sons ripped jeans and a stained shirt belonging to my oldest.  Sadly, last week our Keurig died after more than 2 years of dedicated service to us.  That, too, joined the pile of things to go. 

It felt great to get this done and I'm pretty happy overall with the accomplishment.  It's small, but it's a start.

After all was said and done, I did some laundry and found a few items that, while in great condition, just don't fit my kids anymore.  I pulled those aside for either consigning or donating.  When I cleaned the closet  I also pulled a small tote bag that had a Happy Bunny graphic on it.  It was cute, but I never used it.  Not once.  In 4+ years.   That was also added to this pile.

So, there you have it.  My first decluttering!