Operation De-Clutter

School is out for the summer and I am so excited to have some time to not have to think about reading or writing papers. I get a chance to just be home and spend time with my kids doing all the fun things I wanted to do over the last 3 months.

But that also means I finally have time got through my house and make some serious changes.

The biggest change is making this house a livable place. And to do that I need to get rid of  A LOT of stuff!

One thing I have learned is that making changes is easier when you have someone cheering you along the way. I have been fortunate enough over the past few months to begin a wonderful friendship with one of my neighbors here at the seminary. With her encouragement and drive the process of de-cluttering and organizing my home began in the kitchen.

Boxes were sorted though, trash was taken out, and items that I no longer need or use were taken out of the house and on to a place where they can find a better home.

Once all the de-cluttering was done the organization began. I stopped off at Walmart and grabbed up a handful of  $0.94 storage bins.

This isn’t the exact type but they are similar and do the same thing.

And just like that the school and craft cabinets are clean and functional! Just in time for me to start looking at new curriculum for the next year. (But that’s for another post!)

And the last stop on the organization train for the kitchen was the dishes. I can not tell you the number of glasses and cups that we had that we just didn’t need any more. Those are off to a new home as well. And with a little re-organizing I can finally get to everything I need to get to and do everything I need to do.

Drawers and the cabinets under the counter were done last.

I snagged this idea of Facebo we ok. It still needs some work but overall I like how it turned out.

I won this book shelf at “Project Graduation” the nigh I graduated from High School I used it all of 2 months after high school and then moved and had no more room for it. I am excited to finally get to put it to use.

The closet. Everything I need within reach. Now I just need to straighten out the clothes a bit.

The book shelf is on my side of the bed in our bedroom so I tend to sleep facing that wall. Other wise this is what I get to wake up to in the morning:

 

The sanctuary is still a work in progress but at least I can say I am on the right track.

The last thing done was the kids room and the bathrooms. All 3 of those required minimal work since there ins’t much storage to de-clutter from the bathrooms and the kids bedroom was just done at Spring Break. Their toys will be sorted through again in another 2 months or so after their birthdays and then again before Christmas. I will also be going through their clothes on a more regular basis so as to not have that build up like it has been.

So not I can say that, at least for this moment, I have everything that is no longer needed or loved residing in my home. I am sure that the next time I go through my house my feelings will change but this is probably the biggest purge I have done since we moved. 

Now the next step is to develop a functional cleaning schedule. I am looking forward to feeling like my home is lived in but not so out of touch that I can’t have company over at a drop of a hat.

My goal is to begin implementing more of the FLY Lady system (if you don’t know what that is check it out here) just with a few alterations to fit my needs.

The first item on my summer TO DO list is check off!

Do you go on de-cluttering missions?

What type of cleaning systems or schedules do you use in your home?