Simplifying life
Since our 2nd baby was born, I have been looking for more ways to make life more simple. The 2nd baby came with more stuff, more responsibility, and more chaos. I'm doing my best to lessen the chaos, and I've found one thing that has helped tremendously....getting rid of clutter! I have literally gone through so much stuff and started to get rid of everything that hasn't been used in awhile. It's amazing how nice it feels to have empty spaces in the closets, empty cabinets in the bathrooms, and having the tops of dressers and tables nice and clutter free. I'm not talking about going through and getting rid of a few things here....I'm talking everything! Seriously, how many shirts do I need in my closets? How many pairs of underwear do we need? How have we collected so many random pieces of furniture? Where did all of the toys come from...I know the kids can't possibly play with them all? How many decor items do we really need sitting around? More stuff means more to clean, more to go through, more to store, and I feel like it just makes our house look messy. I'm still on a mission to clear away the clutter from every square inch of our home, and attempt to make like a bit more simple!
What's the clutter situation in your house? Do you have lots of stuff? Are your closets and dressers busting at the seams? Can you even see the top of your counters or tables? Is your basement jam packed with things you don't even know you have? Or do you prefer to keep things more simple? Do you have any ideas on how to help keep life more simple?
Time to clean
Before we moved here... I did a "Power Clean All"! It was hard work and took some time, but in the end I felt great! I went through each closet and asked myself "Did he (meaning the kids and the hubby) wear it in the last 6 months?" ... "Did he use it in the last 6 months?" and last question "Will he miss it if it's gone?". After I answered them questions I started to really clean. I threw out, gave away, and donated items for one full month. In the end I knew it was right. My suggestion to you unless you are moving soon. Is take one 4 hour day each week and tackle one room or closet each time. This way you don't feel like you are just spending the whole time doing it. Get some plastic containers to put things in. For example for your one child's closet for "winter closes", label the container and nothing but winter closes go in there. The toys I suggest doing when the kids are busy in the other room or in preschool or regular school. But don't worry they will not even know how much you donate. When my oldest was 5 years old I had him help me with his toys. It took awhile and some patience but in the end he learned that his toys that we were giving away was going to a good cause (we gave them to our local womans chapter) and I told him how he was going to make some little boy happy due to that little boy did not have any toys to play with. And since then we started the rule at Christmas, before Christmas Day we have to give away some items out of their room before Christmas Day comes and new toys come along. It's a great way to teach the children the word "giving" and the wonderful feeling it can give you.
Joni Lochtefeld
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power clean
I know it sounds crazy but I've said that I would love to completely empty our entire house, put everything in storage, and only bring back the things we need. After 6 months, anything left is gone!
The kids rooms actually need cleaned thoroughly about once a month. They grow out of clothes so fast, and when Luke is in charge of cleaning his own room, let just say someone needs to come in and fix it periodically :) Actually, Luke is really good about getting rid of toys he doesn't play with. He actually tells me what toys I can give away! And Shawn only wants to play with Luke's stuff, so I may as well get rid of all the baby stuff...hehe!
My goal is to get rid of giant tupperwares of stuff, other than the seasonal or holiday items. I "organized" years ago with those things, and I got rid of most of it at my last garage sale because the boxes got shoved to corner never to be opened again. I just had a huge garage sale in May, and I have more than enough stuff for another one next month! Today I went through my bathroom cabinet and drawers, and only kept the things I use.
Clearing out the clutter is addicting...the kids and my husband better watch out :)
Jessica
~ Mommy to Luke and Shawn
addicting indeed : )
I cleaned my house couple months ago inside/out and still keep it clutter less (I am not crazy to dush every week so less better!); it's a wonderful feeling. Daily routine helps a lot even if it's only 5 minutes. After reading the book "the house that clean himself" I create some "stations"(per example- at the phone we have paper, pencils, yellow pages in drawer) and now I know where everything goes and everything as a place so nothing out. The only issue I have is the toys in the living room that goes out from the toy room on the second floor- but I am still looking for a small antique armoire type to put them in. Clearing out the clutter is addicting indeed and I spend less also : )
spending less
Good point Annie-Michele, since we've taken the clutter-free approach to simplifying life, I've notived several things that I would normally have bought, but I said no because it would just be more "stuff" to put away or sitting around.
Toys are also an issue in our house, so I've basically cleared the living room of excess furniture. We have the TV armoire, a sofa and loveseat....no end tables, nothing. I know while the kids are little that toy clutter is inevitable, so I've tried to at least get rid of other unnecessary clutter, so toy clutter isn't as noticable. I have one small basket (and a couple of toys that don't fit in the basket) in the corner that we keep in the living room. At the end of the day, what doesnt' fit in the basket gets put back where it belongs in the kid's rooms. :)
I still need to get that book you mentioned " the House that Cleans Itself." From what you described before, it really seems like exactly what I'm trying to accomplish in our house, so I need to check it out next time I'm at the library! Thanks for reminding me about it.
Jessica
~ Mommy to Luke and Shawn
Flylady
Hi, I just kind of happened upon this website and noticed your post. I don't know if anyone on here has ever mentioned Flylady before, but it is a great website for helping you de-clutter and set up routines for keeping your house clean and clutter-free. The website is www.flylady.net. It is kind of for more severe cases of clutter and choas, but I have picked up some great tips from it and it has helped cut down on clutter in our house.
I, too, have recently been talking myself out of purchases that I would normally make b/c I don't really need it and don't want to have to deal with more stuff. It is hard with all the great clearance sales going on, but it makes a huge difference.