Time for some professional help

I finally bit the bullet and accepted that I can't do it alone.  I've tried.  But I really can't do it. 

So I contacted a professional organizer and had her come in for a consult.  And it turns out I'm not that far gone!  There's still hope!

I have a list now and have already gotten started on it.  Hopefully by Christmas, the upstairs will be more manageable and I can tackle the office *shudder*. 

Time to start at the end

So in all my back and forth, I've realized that the reason why I have so much trouble keeping the house organized is because I don't know how I want it to end up.  Like I want it clean, but I don't have a designated spot for everything.  So as I go through each area and 'clean' it up, I end up having the same items in different areas of the house.

Before I can really start going through everything, I need to start with a plan.  Where do I want to store items for business one or two, where do I want art supplies, or towels, or extra blankets, etc.  I need a central SPOT for everything in the house, and once I know where everything goes, I can start clearing items out.


I guess it's time to go back to square one, by starting at the end.

40 Bags in 40 Days: Days 1 and 2-Entryway Closet and Entryway

I hope everyone had a successful day yesterday cleaning your entryway closets.  There were some great tips on the Facebook Event, including to not only consolidate your reusable bags, but go put some in your car, right now, ok when you're done reading this.  I ALWAYS leave them at home, so this way they'll be there when you need them (thanks Anne!). 

My weakness yesterday was our shoes.  We have too many, well the girl and I do!  So I moved shoes that are too big into the closet, unseasonable shoes (winter boots) into the bench storage, shoes that are too small either went into a donation box or in the garbage, like the boots that had holes in the soles.

I also couldn't just do the closet, since I was organizing our shoes, so I started on our shoe rack.  It's just a cheap one we got at Walmart, but the is shoes are too small to fit on both bars, so I took some cardboard pieces to put on top.  But since the bars are at an angle, the cardboard would just fall off, SO I hot glued some spots on the bottom so it would sit nicely against the lower bar. 

One of our family weaknesses is just putting stuff anywhere.  So we need to find a way to keep the bench clear, and the other surfaces in the entryway.  I DO have a hanging mail organizer that we need to start using more.  Cleaning that out is one of my tasks for today.  And organizing the kids coats on their coat rack.  I'll also do the regular cleaning in that room, so cleaning the window, the mirrored closet doors, dusting, then sweeping and mopping.  I'm so excited to finally have my entryway organized.  I HATE walking into the house and being instantly overwhelmed by the clutter right as I come in.

Feel free to share your tips and struggles as you work through your entryway.  And join the Facebook Event for more conversation!

40 Bags in 40 Days: Days 3 and 4-storage and deep freezer

Our under-the-stair storage area had become a dumping ground for stuff that we didn't need right away.  It's mostly our Christmas decorations and camping gear, so not stuff that we can get rid of, but not stuff we use all the time.  The back of the area is organized, since it's just boxes, but the front, well, we had just shoved stuff in there.

SO-it just took a little bit of organizing and rearranging to tidy up.  For example we keep gift bags, and they had been randomly shoved into two (now broken) bags and were all over the floor.  So I tidied those up and it looks like a whole new room!

Today is the deep freezer.  The reason why I stuck it on the list is because I KNOW we have stuff at the bottom that we won't eat, so why are we keeping it?  Also-the little frost check thingy is TOTALLY covered meaning we need to defrost the freezer.  But we use it regularly and it's fairly full, so moving the stuff upstairs into our (small) freezer won't be easy.  What better way to tidy up the freezer and see what's in there than to clean it out!  It'll give me a good idea of what to make for dinners for the next week or so so we can work through the food in there before shopping again.

And I really feel like I'm making progress!  My whole entryway area is tidy and easier to manage on a daily basis!  Which means it doesn't get messy, and I don't have to clean up.  Mind you it's only been 4 days, but still.  Taking one area at a time and working through it is a LOT easier than just jumping in at random and trying to do it all.  BUT-the rest of my house has become a bit of a mess, so I do need to spend some time tidying up the rest.  It's great to REALLY deep clean these areas, but it kind of defeats the purpose to just let the rest of the house go crazy.

Time to get back at it!

40 Bags in 40 Days-Days 5, 6 and 7: Laundry room cupboards, Laundry room and Living room

The laundry room in our house has been, well, a dumping ground recently.  If we had to move stuff out of the entryway, it ended up in either the laundry room or the office.  So one task was to go through some boxes and get rid of stuff we don't need.  Or move stuff that we had out back into the storage area.  Clean the floor, etc.

But one task that's going to take longer than I thought is disposing of the stuff in the laundry room cupboards.  That's where we store most of our cleaning supplies.  So we have old laundry detergents, bleach, and more.  So I've done some research on how to safely dispose of these items.

Most of our cleaning supplies are water-soluble, which means they are mixed with water for use, and washed down the drain.  The best way to dispose of these items is to use them up, or give them away so they can be used up.  If they can't be used, our water treatment facilities can handle these items, so they can be poured down the drain.  Solid cleaning products can be safely disposed of in the garbage, as can aerosol cans that still have products in them.  Empty aerosol cans can be recycled at most facilities, be sure to check with your local recycling depots.

For more information, CLICK HERE.  If you have any questions, phone your local recycling and garbage facilities.

So now I can go through those cleaning supplies again and either use them up, give them away, or dispose of them.

My living room shouldn't be too hard, since I clean it on what feels like a daily basis.  I do have some piles of stuff on the stairs to go through, and today would be a good day to go through all the socks we leave at the bottom of the laundry baskets, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Don't forget to go through your cupboards/drawers while you work through your areas.  We have a lot of drawers that we just shove things into and it would make life so much easier if we had certain spots for certain items, and just threw our junk in the garbage/recycling.

I hope this is getting easier for everyone.  It's almost therapeutic to go through items and get rid of so much stuff that we don't need.  The house will be MUCH easier to keep tidy once we're done!

40 Bags in 40 Days-Preparation

So my 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge starts this Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013.  Here is the schedule:

Not every area will apply to everyone, so adapt it to your own house.  If you don't have an area, then either take a day off, spend more time on an area that needs it, or work on an area in your house that isn't listed on the schedule.  

I also did the schedule strategically, starting when we walk in the front door and working our way around the areas we use most.  I find nothing more overwhelming than walking in the house and being hit with a huge mess.  So gradually, that mess will get farther and farther away from when we walk in.  The areas should also be relatively small, so that you don't have to spend a ton of time on them.  

Here are some tips:

• your bags don't have to be huge black garbage bags, mine will probably just be small grocery bags.  The whole idea is to go through each area carefully and get rid of the items that you don't really need.
• with each item you go through, ask yourself if you need it.  No, do you REALLY need it?  If you're debating on something, chances are you don't need it.  If you don't have a home for it, and are keeping it 'just in case', chances are, you don't need it.  
• you don't have to throw everything in the garbage.  If you have spare boxes, label them 'DONATE' and 'SELL' and have your garbage bags.  If you don't have boxes, just use extra bags.  At the end of the 40 days, you can go through your boxes/bags and decide further what to do with your items.  Drop off some stuff at a local thrift store.  Visit a local consignment shop or sell on Craigslist, or a local buy/sell/swap group.  
• have your Norwex Enviro cloths, or other cleaning supplies handy, since this could be a great way to get some deep cleaning done.
• get your kids involved.  In their rooms, they can put on a fashion show to see what clothes don't fit anymore.  Or it could just be a really good exercise in deep cleaning, and getting rid of clutter.  

Any questions?  Feel free to ask.  And follow along each day, comment with your successes, struggles and tips.  Let's do this together!

I just need the accountability

Well, I haven't posted in a bit.  And my house shows it.

I have no idea why my cleaning habits seem to correlate to how often I post on the blog, but I'm using this Monday to get myself back on track.  Especially since the hubby is home sick today so I can have {some} help with the kids.

I've also noticed that for the most part, I'm pretty good at getting the daily and weekly stuff done, but I haven't ventured into the monthly stuff.  So this week, I'm going to just focus on the normal tasks and hopefully I can start adding the bigger stuff soon.

One plan is to get up earlier.  I was up at 4am this morning to go line up for kindergarten registration, so hopefully I can start getting up before the kids, at around 6am and get a head start.  I'll see how it works!

Starting the Spring Cleaning Early

Christmas is great.  Mad rush to organize the house, lots of food, family and fun.  Lots of gifts.  And then the aftermath.  Cleaning everything up.  Finding room for all the new clothes, toys and more.  Figuring out how you got all the decorations in the boxes last year.  We decided to get some new shelves for the kids rooms, so they can have some books, toys and stuff in there, and keep the playroom less cluttered.  I also wanted to get some hooks for the entryway so the kids could hang up their own coats, instead of throwing them all over the place.

Well, today was the start of the Spring Cleaning.  Some other friends are doing mass organizing in their homes and I decided to follow suit.  I got the hooks for the entryway and tidied that up. Will have to wait for the hubs to do that though.  I don't want to risk missing a stud or damaging the drywall.

Next step is to get the shelves for the kids rooms and organize all the toys, books, puzzles, games, cars, trains, AND MORE!

Well, I should put away the laundry first.  And then the groceries.  Then the Christmas decorations.  Then.....

Keeping Christmas Clean

Well we've put up the tree and some decorations.  And of course, I love it!  I love everything that has anything to do with Christmas.  In fact, as I type this, I can see my neighbor stringing the lights on his tree.  Tomorrow I'll make my husband put up the outdoor lights, while I clean up the inside and put up more decorations.  I just love it all.  Love it so much I'm hosting Christmas dinner this year.  I want to create a Winter Wonderland inside my house and just stay here, all cozy, and have everyone come over.

 

If I'm making a huge effort to clean up and decorate the house, I might as well have lots of people over to enjoy it, right?


Now I get to spend the next few days figuring out how to keep the 4 year old and 18 month old from getting into everything.

Re-Visiting Baskets

I was recently chatting with a good friend, and complaining about the organization (or lack thereof) of my work stuff around the house.  This consists of mostly fabrics, some half completed orders and projects, and some notions.  Scissors, pins and pinned projects found their home on higher surfaces, like the TV stand, hanging over railings, etc.  Folded piles of fabric are mostly in various bins around the house, with some stuff on chairs, the arms of the couch, etc.  In trying to explain the mess to my friend, I took some pics and was almost embarrassed.  It didn't seem so messy in person.  And a lot of it is stuff I'm working on for current orders, or a craft fair I'm attending this weekend, so I overlooked it since I was almost done it all.  *sigh*

So I decided, in looking at the messy picture of the TV stand, that I could just get a basket and throw the stuff in there, and it would look more tidy.

I even dusted the TV stand.  My bank account might not appreciate the large number of baskets and storage containers I'm about to invest in but my visitors sure will!

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!

Maybe it's because I blog about cleaning, but after I found a system that worked, I felt compelled to find another system that worked better. But now I'm realizing that in the process, I just lost my groove. I haven't found another system that worked, so I'm going back to my schedule.

As I'm preparing each meal, I put away dry dishes and clean the new ones. This makes sure we never have an overflowing sink of dishes. In the morning, I put a load of laundry in the wash, in the afternoon, I move it to the dryer and in the evening, I fold and put away. Throughout the day, I'll tidy the house up and during nap time, I'll do one deep clean task per day. These are:
Monday: Bathrooms
Tuesday: car/downstairs
Wednesday: windows
Thursday: dust
Friday: floors

I was doing so well with this system that I'm wondering why I tried changing it! I have 4 days left until the 1 year anniversary of us getting possession of the house and it's almost where I want it. I'm actually quite proud of myself in the last two days. I really can do this stay at home mom thing!

The curse of 'I'll deal with that later'

I think one of the reasons why I have so much stuff is because when I don't know what to do with something immediately, I put it aside to figure out later and of course I never get around to doing that. So I end up with piles and boxes of stuff that I tell myself that I'll deal with later and just never get around to. And when I finally do, all I end up doing is reorganizing the mess so it isn't as overwhelming in the moment.

So it's a little late but I'm adding a new years resolution to my list. When cleaning up and organizing stuff, if I come across something that I can't put away in the moment, I get rid of it. If I really do need to keep it then it should have a permanent home already. And if it isn't worth finding one for, then it probably isn't worth keeping.

This doesn't just apply to physical things, but also to tasks. Once I've made my 'I'll organize that later' pile, I actually have to find time to organize it. Instead, every time I walk by, I tell myself 'oh yeah, can't forget to clean that up' and of course what do I do? FORGET.

So instead of procrastinating, I need to follow Nike's catch phrase and 'Just Do It'. Or add my own, and 'Just Do It NOW'. And instead of dealing with junk later, I need to ask myself, 'Do I REALLY need to keep this?' and do something with it (NOW) based on my answer to that.

Time for an intervention-and some before and after pictures

Today, the kids were sleeping, I was wasting time online and I decided to do something pretty extreme for me-turn the computer off. This was at 2pm. Sometimes my computer addiction gets pretty bad and I felt like it was time for an intervention. So I flipped the switch. Well, actually I powered down safely, but I did it.

So then I wandered around the living room and did some tidying up. Picked up the last of the Christmas clutter, threw some laundry in the wash, did some dishes, and then thought, now what? So in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to re-organize my extra kitchen pantry. It's been a great place to store all our extra small appliances, kids dishes, baby bottles and food and other random stuff. But the shelves weren't organized anymore and everything was just getting shoved in there, so I fixed it all up. As I've said before, I'm horrible at taking before pictures, but here's the after. It even has more room if we need it!

While I'm sharing pictures, here's the locked cabinet in the toy room that I'm very proud of. Again, no before picture, although I should have taken one, it was brutal.

All the art supplies are organized, along with toy bins at the bottom with baby toys, puzzles, books, etc.

And finally, my ensuite. This was a huge source of stress for me in the townhouse. We lived there for five and a half years, knowing the whole time that both bathrooms would have to be redone. First came the wedding, then money and time issues, then the baby, then an injury and finally, we decided to move, and HAD to get it done. When we moved in here, and the inspection showed possible water damage behind the ensuite shower, I swore it was the first thing to get done. And it was. The tile has been done since the spring. And just in the past two months, we chose a paint color for the wall. The holidays in there kind of put a slight delay on the job, but we haven't even been here for a year and now it's done!

Bathroom before (and my preggo belly):

Close up of wall color and tile before:

After looking in from the door (with my new towels on the counter):

Looking towards the door from the shower:

Ok, that's it for pictures for now. I've said before it takes one year to really move into a house. We have about 2.5 months left, and I really feel like we're almost there. I just have to finish organizing the office, and get some wall decor/pictures put up and we'll be done.


Until we look at the rest of the renovations we want to do...new flooring, new kitchen, new roof....

Christmas Clean Up!

Now let me preface this post with saying that just because I'm thinking about the clean up, doesn't mean that I'm doing it yet.

The first thing I need to do is make a trip to Walmart to invest in some Christmas organizing gear. We have the tree box and cardboard boxes for all the decorations etc, but I really want to organize my Christmas gear. So I'm going to invest in some plastic bins, and separate the decorations based on tree, and then rooms of the house, so living room, outdoor, and then other. I'm also going to organize different budgets and ideas. So I'm going to get a cheque envelope organizer thing and separate money by category. One for cards, decorations, gifts and other. And while I'm at it, I'm going to add a section for each of the kids birthdays. Hopefully starting this year, I won't have to worry about how we're paying for each occasion as they get closer. I'm also going to get a notebook and binder and keep all my ideas organized. So any ideas I have now I'll make note of in the book, and throughout the year I'll add to it as I have more ideas. Then I'll pull it out next fall and get to work.

The other thing I need to do is organize all the toys. With a birthday and Christmas so close together, it's like our toy collection has doubled in size, if not more, now that we have two kids. So I need to invest in more boxes/bins and organize the toys, books, puzzles, etc. I'm not quite sure yet how to organize it all but I'm sure that some bins will go into storage and will get rotated every month or so. I almost feel like a toy store with the amount of things I have. It's impressive, really. And now I need to find a way to store them all that is equally as impressive! We might be donating some toys after it's all organized, since we have just that many!

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season and aren't too overwhelmed with cleaning it all up!