Slow and...... steady?

I wish I could blame my lack of posts and production on delivering and caring for our new baby, BUT NO! sorry. We are still waiting patiently for our little guy to make his debut. I have hit a small stand still in getting the boys room completed because I wanted to have functional yet cute storage for toys and clothes and such. So, although the major task isn't yet completed, I have made progress. I am really excited about this for 2 reasons. 1) I was able to "de-clutter" or start the de-clutter of 3 areas on my list. and 2) I now have a functional and cute storage. The 3 things I was able to use were, OLD BOXES. I store these for many reasons. you never know when you will need a particular size for shipping, storing or for yard sales. I have a crutch in this too, as I can and have taken loads of boxes from work which doesn't really help the inner hoarder in me. FABRIC is another item that I tend to over buy or hold on to all the little scraps for those "just in case" moments. I know deep down the day is coming where I will have to seriously sort through my fabric, so to help me get a head start, I used some fabric for this project. PAINT is something that I think just accumulates for everyone. However, when your husband is a contractor home improvement supplies really pile up. I know when I come to that particular section on my de clutter list, it won't be pretty or easy getting him to sort through his stuff. Here is my before pictures:

now you wouldn't really look at these boxes and think, Cute Storage right? most people will either burn or trash these beauties. Not I, said the Pintrest addict. Thanks to the awesome creative site, I found an idea for a solution for 3 problems; Clutter, Organization, and Home Decor. See below:

VOILA. Boxes, Paint and Fabric. All you need to make Cute and Functional storage. I got some sewing therapy in, and I got my husband to purge some paint and help me out a little. But don't worry, if you aren't the seamstress ( which I am no pro either) then there is a simple solution. Although for this next bin I DID sew, you can certainly get away with hot glue or fabric glue, or a staple gun if you need :)

I had some old t-shirts and obviously boxes. And midway through sewing liners, I got the bright idea to see if I could make a t-shirt work. I mean the bottom is already hemmed... So..

 I took an old tank and cut right below the arm pits. and stitched the hole shut.

That's all folks, then you just place inside the box and fold over the edges:

This actually works perfect in the boys room, and will serve as a bed side bucket for baby necessities. I like to call this the Triple Threat! I was able to make 8 bins in 1 evening, averaging 5 minuets per bin TOPS!! and my average cost was ZERO!!! using things we already had at home! Spend 20 dollars at Target? or ZERO at home and de cluttering at the same time? HELLO?!  what are you waiting for? I plan to make many more of these. They would also make really cute and CHEAP gifts! Thanks for reading and Happy Dropin'!

Declutter Week 2, Phase 1

First of all, if there is anything I have learned from the past 2 weeks, ESPECIALLY this week is that, when you "de clutter" your home, you must severely clutter your home. You have to pull everything out, spread it out, THEN you can separate keepers and donations... Kind of ironic, and stressful, but necessary I suppose.
This week I chose to embark on the GINORMOUS task of "Kid's Items". My 2 adorable children went with the Grandparent's to visit the Great Grandparents in Texas. They were gone for 5 days, so naturally I thought that it would be the perfect time to get in their stuff and do some major de clutter therapy. It was also a holiday weekend so I knew that I would not spend the entire 5 days working inside.. but still I thought I would get it done..... SIKE!( 80's flashback)!
Crysta, our oldest and only girl is getting the boot from the room she is currently in and getting her own room! Which is another reason why I chose this week to do this section of clutter. I wanted to surprise her with her own room when she returns from Texas. She is moving upstairs into the play room. About a year ago, I renovated their play room. Painted and revamped it, I blogged about it too ( so you can go to past posts and see the before and afters there). It was a large undertaking, and I did quite a bit of organizing and sorting. But I ask 1 person to step forward who keeps their kids playroom always nice and organized. I cry impossible but if I'm wrong please share with me your secrets!
Anyway, I call this post "Phase 1" because, although Crysta's room will be completed tonight, the boys room is a disastrous mess and I will need this week to organize. So the pictures I'm about to post are Before's and where I was 1/2 way through. I took them early Sunday morning. By Sunday night, we had Crystas bed in place and curtains hung. There are a few more things left to do, so I will wait to post those until the boys room is completed. I will run down the list of items I sorted through. I will wait until "Phase 2" is complete to share some of my organization ideas.. So don't judge me on my before pictures. I'm sure we look like SLOBS based on these pictures, and maybe we are to some people, but we aren't :)
Here is what I was able to sort through and accomplish this week.
From list: #'s 90-94, 82,84, 38-44,27,,21
I won't bore you with what every little thing is. let's just say it took me watching Les Miserable 3 times ( a almost 3 hour movie) just to SORT toys! Here's my pics.... hopefully next week you will be WOWED. Thanks for reading and Happy Dropin'.
PLAY ROOM BEFORE:

BEDROOM BEFORE

1/2 WAY THROUGH Crysta's new room

1/2 WAY THROUGH BOYS ROOM

Week 1 of Operation Declutter

I have wrapped up week 1 of my de cluttering process. I think I may have bit off more than I can chew. I chose the easiest area, or so I thought, for my first week to kind of ease me into the process, but I did not think it would take as long as it did. I chose to start off with our bathroom/hall closet because it's the smallest area of our home, with what I thought was the lease amount of clutter. This "small" area took me 3 nights with a total of about 5 hours... Which doesn't seem like a long time, but trust me it is... I couldn't believe just emptying out and sorting a small hall closet could take over 3 hours! I am very happy with the result and it definitely has motivated me to keep moving forward with this plan, but I almost feel like I need more than the time I have allotted myself. We have a busy few weeks coming up, with the biggest event being the birth of our 3rd child, which will take me out of the game for a bit. 

Here is what I was able to sort through and organize from the list I posted last weekend..# 12,13,14,16,17,50,51.( Medicine, Make-Up, Hair accessories, Beauty appliances, Shampoo/Conditioner, Towels, Linens, Nail polish, Perfume, and First Aid). I will tell you one thing I learned, Medicine can and will pile up if you don't keep it organized. I found 5 bottles of sunscreen, ( 2 unopened), maybe 5 bottles of prescription Amoxicillin, and maybe 13 bottles of dried up nail polish that I know I would just push around in the bag. and maybe 100 band aids that were out of boxes. It took a lot to look at each item and decide to keep, pitch or donate. When all was said and done I ended up with a trashcan full of expired, dried up, old and empty items from this little closet. 

Here is my before and after pics. I didn't take any of the bathroom because it's so small and wasn't worth posting....BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

I read somewhere if you roll your towels, you save space.. I think it worked for us. I also nicely folded our sheet sets and folded them together for easier storage and space saving. I gathered random baskets from around the house and separated items accordingly. One thing I am really happy I did, was I bought zip lock bags from Dollar Tree and separated medicine according to purpose and stored and labeled them in the bags. Makes it easier to see what you have for what purpose and if a bottle spills, the mess is contained. ( I discovered a emptied bottle of Pepto under the mess when cleaning... YUCK)

Anyway, that was week 1.. Doesn't look like much, but it was an undertaking. 

For week 2 I have decided to under-go KIDS stuff. They will be gone for 5 days in Texas with the grandparents, so I thought this would be a good week to get in there and pitch a lot of things.. I may need 2 weeks for this one, but operation de clutter KIDS starts tonight! Wish me luck!