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*. 

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!

Playing Catch Up-almost at one year!

Being sick sucks. Having sick kids sucks. Being sick and having a sick three year old and a healthy 8 month old sucks even more. And then there's a sick husband, housework, dirty laundry, dirty diapers, clean laundry, dishes, ugh. And of course, you can't keep on top of all this while you're sick, so instead of being able to enjoy feeling better, you get to deal with the house first.

So we're finally feeling better, it's safe to say we are no longer sick, but the house definitely needs some love. Clutter-EVERYWHERE. And I just remembered that the end of February marks one year since we moved. And I've always said, it takes a year to get settled into a new house. So not only does this house need a good solid cleaning, I have just under two weeks to finish up any 'move in' type of things that I had wanted to do. More artwork on the walls, just a general sense of feeling settled in the house.


So today, Day 1 of Operation Overhaul, I'm going to re-de-clutter the house. Major tidying up to do. Will go along and dust while I'm at it. I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm sure I'll figure that out as I go along cleaning today.

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....