How I Cleared Out Clutter to Make Room for Fun

Today is day 5 of completely decluttering my house.  It has been so tiring because I'm working about 12 hours a day on it. Usually from 10am to 10pm.  I won't let myself stop at all except to take care of kids needs and get right back to work.  The results have been amazing!  Each day I declutter one room completely.  The boys room took two days.  

You would think that it shouldn't take anyone that long to declutter but I just didn't know how much stuff I had.  Usually it's tucked away somewhere.  The problem is it gets dragged out all over after we've already cleaned and it's like we were working in an exhausting circle.  Why not just get rid of the excess?

So yesterday was Ivy and Ashley's room to declutter.  Once again the girls and I removed every item out of their room as if we were gonna move.  I moved the furniture over to sweep, mop, and wipe down the walls.  Once the floor was clean I put the basics in their room like the dollhouse, kitchen, and bed.  Then we worked from there to decide what goes back in.  We didn't need sooo many extra blankets and pillows so we only kept 2 blankets and 2 pillows.  I let them each pick ONE stuffed animal.  They kept about four dolls total and one stroller and one kid shopping cart.  Then I put all the play dishes in the dishwasher to clean them really good. Basically, we got rid of about 2 extra large black bag fulls of excess stuff in there.  They still have a small box of toys left but its the only stuff they were really playing with so they are really happy.  Mommy's happy too.

I know it seems like stuff like that shouldn't take all day but it really is a lot of work emptying out an entire room and then going through each tiny little thing.  I had a Keep Bin, Donate Bin, and Put Away Bin all next to me while I worked.  Plus, sanitizing each room takes time.  I'm staying extremely focused and I'm not stopping all this week till each room is done.  I want my life to be about God and my family.  Not about "Mommy is cleaning all day again".  If you saw our patio right now of all the stuff we got rid of, it's shocking.  We had to make a small pathway for our dog to go through so he can go out the yard.  Yet, I'm so proud every time I look out the window and see everything that used to be in my house is going bye-bye.

Today is my room and I'm a major clothes hoarder.  I love clothes.  That has to change so I'm going in with my goggles and snorkel.  If I'm not back by tomorrow to blog, call for help.