Archive for the ‘Decluttering’ Category

Moving right along on the HGP. Anyone else out there decluttering with me? There wasn’t much work to be done in our living room. It’s one of the rooms that I keep clean so we can welcome drop-in company anytime.

I had mentioned cleaning my back porch, but it rained all weekend here, so I had to change plans. Instead, I tackled my pantry and laundry area. Before, the pantry had food, cleaning tools, recycling, some homeschool supplies (I think those have been there since we moved in 3 years ago), unmatched socks, handed-down cloth diapers and miscellaneous stuff. I took out the school supplies and diapers–putting them where they belong, reorganized everything, threw away a zillion empty boxes and matched up the socks–throwing away the holey ones and the ones with no matches.

Before pics:

After:

I filled up the recycling bin with all those cardboard boxes!

I didn’t get before pics of the laundry area. It’s situated in a pass-through, right across from the pantry. Some of the pantry contents had overflowed there, and it was piled with clean, folded laundry that needed to be put away. It’s all clean for now. Of course, I need to do laundry today . . .

I’m a little behind in posting my Week 1 accomplishments because of the weekend’s camping trip. Week 1 of the HGP is Lists and Front Porch. I’m making great progess on my Christmas lists. I set them up in a MS Excel spreadsheet on my laptop, so that I can add ideas as I think of them, along with links to tutorials, patterns or recipes when I find something that I’d like to make for a gift or a meal.

With our month-long trip in June followed by two months of morning sickness, my front porch had definitely seen some days of neglect.  Note the flag left over from the 4th of July.  It was nice to get out there and do a little work.

Before:

After:

The kids and I bought some nice fall plants and then repotted them so they’ll hopefully keep blooming for a few months. (We do live in Dallas, so it’ll be warm enough here for flowers for some time.) We also swept down the porch and the walls to clear off the dirt and cobwebs. Painting that bench red to match the front door is on my list–we just ran out of time to get it done last week.

This week is Questions and Livingroom. There’s not much to be done in my livingroom, so I may add another space . . . maybe my messy backporch.

I also got my IBOL packages shipped off yesterday right on the deadline.

That third box is for IBOL Guy’s Super Secret Project 3: Operation Old Mother Hubbard. I can’t tell you what’s in it yet . . . it’s super secret!

Okay, first off, a challenge for my lovely readers! Is your fabric (or knitting) stash overwhelming? Does it need some cleaning out? Well, now’s the time to get working on that! You can have a beautiful organized stash, and give to someone else who loves to sew and doesn’t have access to the incredible fabric stores we have here in the US. Iraqi Bundles of Love is an amazing project that will warm your heart! Check it out here:

Yesterday, I went through my wovens stash and put together these two bundles:

(There are some knitting supplies hidden in these, too.) Aren’t they pretty? They’ll be heading out to Iraq this morning!

What did I get out of this, you ask? Of course, I don’t feel like I have to get something back for giving to others, but this time, I was rewarded with neat, clean, organized fabric cabinets . . . well, at least, my wovens and miscellaneous fabric cabinets . . . we’re not discussing the wardrobe that holds my knit fabrics. It’s on my list for next week.

I’m actually a little embarrassed to post my before pictures. Don’t judge me, please. I had terrible morning sickness and a house full of little ones to care for. Okay, here goes:

Cabinet #1-Cotton Quilting Fabrics. Before and After:

Cabinet #2-Flannels, Diaper-making PUL, some misc. fabrics on top shelf. Before and After:

Cabinet #3-Solid Cotton Quilting Fabrics, solid knit scraps for neckbands and such, misc. sewing supplies. Before and After:

In addition to the packages for IBOL, I packed up three paper bags of fabric for my church’s sewing group and a bag of fabric for the local thrift shop.

Now, it’s your turn! Clean up your stash and put together a bundle or two for IBOL and be sure to come back here and comment. If you blog about it, I’d love to see, so be sure to add the link! And, hurry! The deadline for shipping packages for this project is September 7th!

Yes, I know, it may be a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but pregnancy puts me in a cleaning and decluttering mode. I should take some pics of the stuff that we cleaned out of storage closet earlier this week for you. We’ve been in this house for less than three years, and I’m amazed at how much clutter has built up. I feel like I need to get a handle on it before it takes over!

An online friend mentioned The Organized Christmas Holiday Grand Plan to me, and I think it looks awesome. It gives you an area of your house to clean out and organize each week, along with plans to get Christmas gifts, food, etc. done in advance. Next week, August 30th to September 5th, is Front Porch and List Week.

I’ll blog about my progress, and would love to have others join me. Anyone else want to have a clean, clutter-free home by Thanksgiving?

And just to get you in the Christmas mood . . . a sweet picture of my children from last Christmas:

Aren’t they cute? (And, wow, Jamie’s hair was really long!)