THE GREAT REORGANIZATION!

So earlier in the week I mentioned that I had stumbled over a blog called IHeart Organizing. This blog has been such a wake-up call to me.

When I lived in the apartment before I was married, I remember that everything had a place. If I needed to put away the Scrubbing Bubbles, or a rubber band that came off a bunch of mail, or a spare tube of toothpaste I had just bought with a coupon - it didn't matter, I knew where it all went. Not really not just where, but where specifically. But I never really got that far in the house we live in now, and when I had Nora the organization progress that I had already made went out the window when suddenly we had much more STUFF in the house. (Who knew babies take up so much space? They are so little!)

I was reading through IHeart Organizing and remembering how awesome it was to just know where everything in your house goes. And have extra space for the new stuff that doesn't have a spot yet. Freedom from your stuff is a glorious thing (as my pastor tells me all the time) but it is NOT easy, and it won't get done in a day.

My process is four-fold:
1.) Clean out, purge, and reorganize every cabinet and closet in my house. (April)
2.) Clean out, purge, and reorganize the basement. (May)
3.) Clean out, purge, and reorganize the guest room. (May)
4.) Yard Sale and Goodwill Donation (First week in June)

I started this past week on the kitchen. I didn't take any before pictures, but the after pictures are nice:



I haven't labeled the bins and such just yet, but I am still deciding how I would like to do it. Mostly, the kitchen organization is DONE!

I worked this past Thursday and Friday on the closets while Nora was gone at my mom's. I didn't get all of them done, but I got the toughest three done - the mud room closet, my closet, and most of the guest room closet:



All that closet organizing left me with three big tubs of clothes that get stored downstairs, and a lot of Goodwill donations already as well:

Also a TON of hangers! (Anyone need some hangers??????????? This isn't even all of them!)

Now . . . the basement. This will be tricky because I have to work around the construction going on down there, plus the wet spots from the water that came in. But - I can't sell anything in the yard sale unless I get it out to sell it! So it must be done. It will be tough. Especially when my guest room already looks like this:


Now you see why it's the last thing on the list. It's also "Yard Sale Central" until June. Hopefully the one or two guests that I am expecting between now and then won't freak out . . . or get lost.

IHeart Organizing was having a "green challenge" this past week for Earth Day. The way that I am going green is by starting to use these little babies:



Have you seen these in stores??!! They are fabric, reusable snack bags! You know I am going to try and make some . . . someday! Maybe next Earth Day. :)

So that's that! I am so pleased with the progress I have made so far - I just FEEL better. Life functions better. Still plenty to do, but I feel I am on my way. What do you think?

Until next time . . .