Still Cleaning and Organizing

This task of cleaning and organizing seems to be getting bigger and bigger.  Good news is that my bedroom after almost a month is still clean and Dalton's is going on two weeks still clean.  The problem areas lie in the living room, kitchen and my office. 

 

 

Dalton's writing/drawing supplies organized

 

So I started cleaning my living room last week.  Got everything picked up off the floor, re-organized all of Dalton's writing/drawing supplies and even exchanged Dalton's 3 drawer organizer for the old 7 drawer bathroom organizer so I could separate more things and he could easily find what he needed.  I even vacuumed the floor, which I used to be religious about and vacuumed almost every evening.  The living room was clean and now after a week it's back to being messy because I started cleaning more out of Dalton's room which is now on the living room floor.  I cleaned off my kitchen table which has now resulted in stuff lying on the floor in my living room and my couch now houses the plethora of magazines that I still need to go through.  So what is my thought process.  Get one room clean, start on another one, everything moves to that clean room resulting in it being messy again, start over on that room and clean, then move on to another one, everything moves to... wait STOP, you get the picture.  So how do I fix this?

Sewing table I made back in April

This morning I started my day in a very angry mood, and I either clean or eat when I'm angry.  Since I'm trying to lose weight, cleaning was my only option.  My office is the worst room in the house, but my new checks are missing and they have to be in there, so I started in on it.  I also really miss sewing because that was one of my stress relievers and I haven't seen my sewing table since I put it together back in April.  I'm not exaggerating either!  So my first intention is to clean off my table and re-organize things because I bought some nifty little lock together boxes and now I have places to store things.  Presto, 40 minutes later, sewing table is clean, but at the price of a stack of papers in the living room to go through, and a hallway cluttered with stuff that was on the desk.  Man, I'm going about this the wrong way.


I am getting rid of things as I go, but for instance the stack of papers; I didn't feel like sitting there going through all the papers at that moment, so they were stacked and put on the living room floor to go through later.  I didn't have anywhere to put them in my office.  Many of them need to be filed, many of them I'm sure can be thrown away, but I just didn't want to go through them right then and there.  Big mistake! That's why other places in my house get messy again; I put it off. 

Oh wise ones, my strategies are all wrong.  I'm almost beginning to wonder if I do this to myself on purpose because I always feel the need to clean.  If I have a clean house what will I do with my time?  Reading this back to myself makes me sound like I have a sickness.  So, is there really a disease called Cleaningfreakatotis, because if so I have it, most definitely. 

Now that I've declared I have a sickness, I must go back and clean!!!! :)

Cleaning House

One of my biggest problems with my house is that I have too much stuff for the space I have available.  I've had to get creative with how I organize things, but really what I need to do is purge stuff.  With my best friend Courtney's help and my mothers help I have been able to start getting rid of stuff. 

First there are 7 rooms in my house (my bedroom, Dalton's room, bathroom, my office, living room, kitchen/dining area and laundry room).  So I want to go through each room, purge stuff and literally just clean the whole room. (I'm starting with my bedroom, however Dalton's room and my office will be last.)

I've now been home for 2 full weeks and I haven't gotten much done.  So I was thankful today that my mom came over and pretty much forced/helped me clean.  My best friend Courtney came over the other day after I had gone through my clothes once and took stuff so I couldn't put it back in my dresser and then today if it didn't fit or have a spot it either got donated or thrown away.  I will admit that I am a clothes/shoes hoarder, but in my defense I don't like wearing the same thing within a 2 week span and I don't wear the same pair of shoes everyday.  (I don't do laundry very often, I actually hate putting it away so it just sits in the dryer or worse I've accidentally left clothes in the washing machine).  I was able to get the shoe rack off the back of my bedroom door and if the shoes didn't fit my foot or fit in the space I had shoes, then it got donated. 

Then I went through my Armoire and my mother couldn't believe the amount of jeans I had.  I don't wear shorts so it's either capris or jeans.  I did give up 2 pairs of jeans and about 10 pairs of dress pants, which still leaves me with enough to probably go 2 weeks without washing.  Then we went through my under-the-bed storage boxes and found more t-shirts that I wanted to keep to add to my t-shirt quilt.  However, we also found a ton of pants and capris that I had saved from before I got pregnant.  Got rid of all but 4 pairs and they are my motivation pants to fit in to, but that's another blog post. 

I went through every drawer and put things back where they belonged.  I need to keep it clean because my sanity depends on it.  I hate clutter and like things organized, but I can't seem to get motivated to get things done that will reduce my stress level and anxiety.  Plus, during the school year I am not home much except for at night and I'm too exhausted to do anything!!!  

 From the doorway, you can kind of see my new dresser on the right.  It's a lot taller than I expected.

 From the doorway again, but just my bed and bedside table.

 My new dresser and old Armoire.  I do wish that they were the same color, but my Armoire is 9 years old so it's also faded a little. I also finally hung my jewelry bag up on the wall, so Twiztid will stop eating my earrings.  It's been hanging from the closet blocking clothes, so very happy that I could move it.

My neat and organized closet now.  Very happy that everything fit and has a spot.  I made sure that my hangar box was where I would use it the most. Tempted to put pretty curtains in front of the closet, but the reason the doors are gone is because I ended up never putting my clothes away because it was closed off.

Now the question my mom posed was "how long could I keep it that way?"  My response, everything now has a place, and if it doesn't have a place, it no longer gets to be in there.

Room #1- My bedroom = COMPLETE!!!!!