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!