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.

The Countdown Begins

After thinking for  a few months that we knew where we were planning to move, this past weekend we decided to take a look at a couple of other places.  One of them we looked at intentionally and the other was one we'd been intentionally avoiding.  I don't have to tell you that the one we'd been avoiding is the one we fell in love with.  All four of us, actually.  I think it winds up being slightly more expensive than what we'd looked at previously but it feels very comfortable and has some pretty good reviews.  The parking situation seems a bit better than at the other place, too, which is nice.  I'd love to get it at a slightly lower price, but I'm not going to bank on that happening.  The leasing agent tells us (as did all of the leasing agents at all of the different apartments) that the pricing changes every 24 hours.  I will keep my fingers crossed that it will wind up working in our favor.

What does all this mean?  Well, it means that Dave would like to move as soon as we can.  My timeline for...everything just got moved up.  I've been moving slow on the whole yard sale thing.  I think now I'm committed to having it this Saturday.  I'm going to need to spend my entire week preparing for it.  I'm totally not ready.

It also means I have to find a new commitment to decluttering.  Fast!  After getting a glimpse of these gorgeous apartments I feel like I have WAY too much stuff.  Doen't get me wrong, I know that they're made up perfectly for viewing and that no family of 4 has closets with nothing but fancy hat boxes in them, but still.  I want to go in with as little excess as possible.  The less I drag over there with me the less I have to look at when we're moved in.  My biggest challenge in all of this will be to release a lot of the paperwork and to not allow it to accumulate again.  I have piles of papers everywhere.  It's the most difficult thing for me to deal with. 

I'll be losing a large laundry room when we leave this house, so staying on top of the laundry as each load is done will be so important to making sure things stay looking good in the apt.  The new place has a room for the washer and dryer but nothing else, no table, cabinets, etc.  One wash in , dried and folded.  Period.

*Sigh*  I really need to get a move on!