Working Slowly to Becoming a Minimalist

I have cleared out so much stuff in my house but I'm working towards becoming a minimalist.  My sister already has it down pat but it's still rocket science for me.  I have been trying and trying to work on it for months.  I still have much clutter in closets and cupboards.  Sigh.  However, if we all work as a team we can get the house cleaned up super fast.  It used to be that it would take much, much longer because of all the clutter.  Have you ever seen any of the shows about gypsy lives? The only reason why I love it is I'm watching how they function with so little stuff and they have large families. Cleaning is so, so, so simple.  However, I can't seem to find a website that actually give a how to, like a guide.  I don't like talking about it.  Just give me the steps.  If anyone wants to enlighten me, I would love to find a website!  :D

Because of Juliet mainly, our walls in the house look horrid.  It's time for us to paint again.  I am terrible about picking out paint because I always do the wrong color.  In fact, I need to just call my sister and ask her.  She's like the beautiful version of Martha Stewart but without the jail time.  We also need a good cleaning of all the carpets.  We need a new couch, a new bed for Charles and I, and now a new 12 passenger van.  It died.  So, yay for us!  :D  Yeah, lots of work needed around here.


Side note:
Oh, my heart hurts.  I would be due soon with baby Genesis if I hadn't miscarried.  I still cry at least every other week.  I can't go near where I buried the baby because I'll bawl.  I have flowers and it's gated off from everything so no one can trample the area.  My baby.  Today I have a 10 week scan to make sure this baby in my stomach is growing properly.  I'm very nervous.

Sick of the Clutter and Throwing it Out- Here We Go Again

Alright.  When I walk into a room, scratch my head because I don't know what to clean first, and walk out, that means it's time to do the red carpet treatment in that room.  It may seem like I do this process all the time but actually it's because I attack one of the 6 rooms of our house throughout the year.  So yeah, if I post about it 6-12 times a year, that's why.  I've been doing this for awhile and it solves all my "woman, get your act together and keep it organized" issues.

Yeah well, my bedroom tends to be the drop off room when everyone does their chores.  Also, The Destroyer goes in there (my toddler) and loooooves pulling anything and everything out of the drawers and off the shelves.  I had it today and emptied my room out into my living room.  Kyle and Ashley volunteered for free and I still paid them hourly.  Yes, I teach my kids about earning money per job.  It's awesome and teaches them fast.  If it's not part of their chores or personal things then I consider it an extra and it makes a good lesson about earning money.  Wow, the kids and I emptied everything out quick!  The hard part is going through it but if you wait to do this process when you are SICK OF THE CLUTTER, it's the best time to do it because you throw out stuff easier.  They sort of just threw it all over the carpet which is fine.  The deal is it has to stay on the carpet.  It used to be a red carpet which is why it's called Red Carpet Treatment.  Ha ha.  Not it's brown but brown would be weird sounding.  I love my corny sayings.  Anyway, this is what my living room looks like right now with my room emptied all over it.  I'm up late organizing!

Simplify Your Life! 40 Bags in 40 Days.

Someone started an idea for 40 bags in 40 days.  Meaning, every day find things to donate and fill up one bad.  Well, that's not hard for me AT ALL.  Nine people in this house means lots of clutter adds up really fast.  Back in my single days I was so simplistic I was probably considered a minimalist.  I get soooo confused when there is just too much stuff in the house.  I don't like figurines or any sort of collectible.  My kids are what I looove to give my time too.  Not things.  So maybe when they're all grown up I'll find something worth collecting.  I don't know.  I was like that when I was single anyway.

 

Our biggest inspiration when we do a house clean out is from the show Clean House.  No matter how many times we've seen all the episodes from every season, we'll watch it again.  I'll have the show playing somewhere on a monitor, streaming through Netflix, so it encourages the kids and I.  I'm not kidding, it works!!  You can get all the seasons on Netflix.  It just is so motivating to see people clear out their house.  Often you'll see people come to the realization that they've attached memories to junk and it's done nothing but take up space in their house and in their mind. 

Anyway, we are on our second day and working on our second bag!  For us that would be a large bag but for some people maybe it's just a smaller size bag.  Whatever works! Back to work we go!  :D

How Do Some Moms Do It All?

 

I've been a little frustrated by how quickly the kids mess up the house.  Arghhhhh!!!!  We have such a good chore system in place but the kids wreck it soooo fast!  Even though the rules are no drinks or food back in the rooms, I find stashed dishware.  Today the girls woke up to ants in their room because they spilled a Koolaid drink they snuck in.  Oh my word.  I can't explain the frustration I feel at times.  As hard as I work, I need them to understand how not to trash the house in between chore times.  With one or two kids I can see knowing who makes what mess so I can hold them accountable.  With seven kids it feels impossible to know.  Usually by the time I find the mess they don't remember who did it.  A ghost named "not me" did it.  I'm gonna find that ghost and tell him to please find another home. 

I continually get rid of stuff to make cleaning easier but I don't want to be a freak mom that just has nothing in her house.  Literally, the kids each have maybe one medium size bin of toys.  They've even gotten used to not holding attachment to things because we declutter about every 3 months.  I make sure I never rid of something they really love but if I feel they have an attachment to duplicate items I'll make them pair down. One of my biggest frustrations is understanding how some moms can have a lot of kids and keep a decent house.  HOOOOOW?  Is it they clean all the time?  Their kids go to school and therefore not home to make messes all day?  Does the mom clean too much and ignore kids?  Does mom NEVER just hang out with kids and have fun?  Do they have an awesome gene and I just need to get down on my knees and beg God for it too?  LORD!  Deliver unto me that awesome gene!  Sigh. 

Okay, I know I have to give myself a break.  I homeschool five out of seven children.  I have a close friendship with each one of my kids.  I love to sit on their beds and have discussions of whatever they need to talk about.  I love to take each kid on a date as much as possible.  Sometimes we do group fun and sometimes individual dates.  I need each of my kids to feel they are so special to me.  I love they feel like they can come to me about anything and I'll always make the time.  Just one question....

HOW DO SOME MOMS DO IT ALL???  Please share.  ;)  I need the awesome gene.

A Detailed Chore Chart for Large Families-Works for Us!

I've had some people ask if I would show what kinds of chores each kid does everyday.  So I figured I'd take a picture of the cards and post them here.  I really believe that each child should have a specific chore because if clear lines aren't drawn then the older could end up doing the bulk of the work. Then I'd see the younger trying to get away with a lot.  This way I can see who did their chore and who did not.  It starts every day in the To Do folder and as each chore is done they go down into the Finished folder.  :)



Starting with youngest to oldest.  Here is 3 year old Caleb's card.

 

 

Here are 5 year old Ashley's cards below:

 

 

7 year old Ivy's chore cards below:

 

 

9 year old Kyle's chore cards below:

 

 

11 year old Ryan's chore cards below:

 

 

12 year old Chaz's chore cards below:

 

 

If they don't finish their chores and homeschool by 3:30pm then they get to pick from the Extra Chore list to add to their regular chores:

 

 

Here is another list we have posted.  The two top ones are for me.  I have a schedule for clothes being washed.  They know to have the clothes they need washed in the hamper by their scheduled day or mama doesn't wash it.  The weekly chores is the extra chores I do on top of my regular daily chores.  The bottom is Saturday chores for all of us. :)

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

We have been following this system for five years and absolutely love it. Each kid is held accountable for their own area.  We pay for the chores they do to understand working.  They aren't paid a lot because I really feel these things should be done to be taught responsibility.  The other part of me wants for them to understand the reward of hard work and how someday they'll be working for money.  That's why we don't pay a lot but enough to help them see the reward.  They get paid biweekly like daddy does.  Some kids spend it right away and others save it for bigger things. :)

 



Why I Have a Lot of Kids

My husband's work has been slow so he has not worked at all this week.  Yikes!  I have to say though that I LOOOOOVE having hubby home.  He's my best friend and we have tons of fun with the kids together.  The last couple of days we've taken the van to get worked on and then hung out at fun places together. We FINALLY have our big van back and we are so relieved.  However, we are still looking to take the captain seats out and putting a bench in for the kids.  We need the extra seat belt and we need to separate our Aspergers kids so he is not right next to someone else.  We are gonna have baby Juliet be in between Chaz and Ryan. That should settle the issues we are having.

Today while I was holding baby Juliet, Charles and I were just commenting on how far we've come with how we think of babies.  It USED to be that babies were a ton of work and we couldn't wait till they got a bit bigger.  You know, like wanting them to hold their own bottle (if they can't nurse), be potty trained, dress themselves, make their own sandwich.  Ohhhhh, how things have changed.  Before having Juliet people were asking me if I was nervous at all.  I was nervous.  I was worried about the work of a baby again till I had her and then realized how truly easy it's become.  It gets easy when you've learned to put others above yourself.  When you've been changing diapers for 12 years without any breaks in between.  It gets easy when you realize that it actually gets harder in other ways as they grow older.  I wish I could take Chaz and Ryan back down to their baby years and just be happy with cuddling them and not wishing for them to grow up.  It's easier than having to correct issues of the heart.  I guess maybe simpler is the right word.  Ahhh... I love my babies.  People wonder why I have so many.  Well, when you love (almost) every day of your life because you are surrounded by cute and funny kids, it makes it hard to imagine being DONE.  Now, if I complain tomorrow about how hard life is, know that it's probably because the house got messy. AGAIN.  

Actually, I'll just get the complaining out now.  Oh my gosh, the kids just had a hay day in this house.  We have been in and out so much that I can hardly keep up.  The boys got back from their 3 day camping trip and mama has to clean and put away all the clothes. It stinks like mud, smoke, and sweat.  Guys are just so sweet smelling, huh?  Don't ask if you can come over my house right now. I'll just say no.  Well, last night I went in the girl's room and asked them to just pick out the stuff they want to keep and I'll throw out the rest.  They literally picked only five items to keep.  I insisted we keep all costumes because I KNOW they love to play in them even though it wasn't the items they picked. The rest went into the donation bag.  This is gonna be done in every room.

38 Weeks Pregnant and Organizing

Cervical Ripening Balloon
Read about it HERE

At my 38 week appointment yesterday they stripped my membranes.  I wasn't dilated but she did make me a one.  I told her I'm seriously not in a hurry to go into labor (still can't believe I'm saying that.)  I'm not having any contractions at all or even braxton hicks.  Juliet is not even in a hurry.  We knew stripping my membranes wouldn't put me in labor, it would just help my body start to get ready (which is good).  So then my doctor asked if I wanted to get the balloon again sometime next week right before my due date.  Sigh.  I really want to go on my own so I haven't really wanted to think about it.  I told her for sure I don't want to go into labor on my sister's birthday and also it would be a Monday.  I picked Thursday which is 4 days before my due date (to get the balloon).  Forget Pitocin, the balloon puts you into labor SO FAST.  I really didn't believe the doctor last time when she told me to go straight home and get ready.  Yeeeeah..... that thing works.  I was completely unprepared and started serious labor while driving.  In fact, by the time I got to the hospital I had one from a 1 cm dilated to a 5.  Anyway, I told her I would think about it.

I'm about to start a semi-big project in the house to organize a bit more than I did last time. We even took this week off from homeschooling so we could focus on it. The kids thought it meant video games all day.  Daddy quickly caught on and told the boys it's to work with mommy on organizing their areas in the house.  Thank you, daddy.  :D  I really don't want to worry about much housework when Juliet comes.  

I'm dealing with a poopy puppy and being I've never been great at house training animals, he's giving me work for sure.  Since he's my dog I have to take care of his mess.  Usually after I throw up for about 15 minutes then I'm able to handle cleaning it up.  LOL.  Well, a friend gave me some fantastic pointers yesterday on training Max (full name Maximus) so I'm implementing them today. Max is such a cuddly dog and he's worth the extra work for sure.  He favors Ivy a lot and always wants to sleep next to her.

What Have You Done All Day, Woman?

This picture is soooo funny... I just had to share this with you!  Ha ha.

Click on picture to enlarge

A man came home from work and found his 3 children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn around garden, The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and no sign of the dog, walking in the door, he found ...an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, the throw rug was against one wall, In the front room the TV was on loudly with the cartoon channel, the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pyjamas, reading a novel... She looked up at him, smiled and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?...

''Yes," was his incredulous reply..
She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

Four Foot Tornadoes Loose in My House

I did a clean sweep through the house a few months ago and looooved the result.  However, I've learned that my kids can make a mess with anything.  ANYTHING.  I told my husband we are doing another sweep and getting rid of more.  I didn't even know it was possible but it is.  My girls can easily fit all their toys in one bin in their bedroom but when I go in there, I see toys mixed in with clothes all over the floor.  Then I'm wondering if they were just trying on clothes and now it's mixed in with dirty clothes.  I end up just putting them in the hamper and I really dislike wasting my time washing already clean clothes.  Argh.  Also, I've been mopping much more than I've ever had to.  I've always dreamed up owning one of those Scuba floor cleaners and also the Roombas.  Where is a product review when I need one?  I would love to just go to bed at night and let those things go at it cleaning my floor.  If one pops on Groupon I'm snatching it like a crazy mad lady.  I save so much money using Groupon it's crazy.  It's actually made going out with my large family more affordable because I save anywhere from 50-90%.

Last night I went to a baby shower and got the cutest little church outfit for my friend's son. It's her second baby.  She has a boy and girl.  :)  Some people were asking me if I wanted a baby shower for Juliet but I said no because I should have clothes from the girls already.  Not only that but having all these people come just for me seems really scary.  I'm done it 10 times already and I should already have the stuff I need.  I think.  I'm gonna look in the attic these week and see what I have.  

I was having a talk (me on the left) with some first time moms in the other room and it looks like we were having a really serious conversation.  LOL. We weren't though.  We were just telling stories of what it was like having a baby the first time around and laughing at things we had to learn from.  It's always so fun getting together with the girls from church and just hanging out.

Schooling: Knowing What Works for Each Kid

Recently I took the boys to get their new glasses and they look so good and they can see better.  One question I have though for all doctors and dentists.  Why do you schedule people for 10am but don't even call them back till 11am?  Just wondering because I think it's kinda rude.  I know you like to cram in as many people as you can but you also lose quality of service by doing that.  Thankfully, there were other moms sitting there I could talk to and keep each other company.

Yesterday I finally broke down and bought an electric griddle.  I'm always standing over the stove just to cook one hamburger at a time or one cheese sandwich at a time.  It was normally $30 but on sale for $20, then I used a coupon for $6 off so I paid only $14.  :)  Good deal, eh?  I was able to grill eight hot ham and cheese sandwiches at the same time.  Yes!!!

I washed all the girl clothes yesterday but this time instead of putting it away, I went through and got rid of a ton.  They just got two more bags of clothes from a friend and right away I went through it to see what we wanted to keep and what would go.  Also, I needed to get rid of a lot that they already had like the faded, stained, outgrown, or just what was excess.  Here is the pile I got rid of and that's only half of it!  I had already donated another pile the day before.  I'll be doing this for all the boy's clothes today.  It's a big job but needs to be done because I'm tired of washing anything that is excess and mediocre.  Only the best of it should be kept.  Not only that but they need to have a limit of clothes.  Basically each kid gets 10 shirts but with four boys that's 40 shirts.  So yes, there is gonna be a lot of laundry in this house but that's why I need to keep a limit.  My poor washing machine deserves a hug.  I collapsed in bed at midnight last night after finishing the girl clothes.  

Homeschooling has been going so well!  The kids are really soaring and working at their own pace.  Kyle is really flying and surprising me by wanting to always work ahead.  He's so self motivated and rarely needs my help on anything.  Chaz is really smart but he gets overwhelmed easy and I have to calm him down a lot.  It takes him twice as long as it should just because I have to keep telling him he can do it and it's okay.  He KNOWS what to do and he does well at it but he tends to want to give up before trying.  He comes in thinking something is going to be more difficult and it takes a long time to calm him down to see he can do it. Once he gets started he goes really fast.  Ryan and Ivy have major ADD issues and always have.  It's very, very hard to keep them focused. They have no problem wanting to do their work but I have to snap them back into reality every 10 minutes and remind them what they were working on.  It's funny how each kid has their own personality and issues.  Once I can figure out what works best for each of them I'm sure our days will go smoother.  They really are hard workers.  We are generally homeschooling between 10am-3pm.  We fit lunch time in the middle and once they are done they go straight into chore time.  Work before play is my motto.  We all wake up at 8:30am and I feel like a lucky woman!  I know, I have it soooo good.

I'm fairly new to schooling at home so I feel like I'm constantly having to watch out and experience what does and doesn't work for each kid.  I want to take the time to really understand them and not rush them through their schooling.  I don't care about getting them way ahead, just that they'll learn well at what we do.  It doesn't matter if they are ahead or behind other kids, just that each kid GETS what they are learning.

Living a Life Without Clutter

We have a new tire on our car again so now we're not stuck!  By tomorrow we should have our van's tire replaced. Whew! Just in time for church and my kids going to school on Friday.  I don't mind being stuck in my lovely home so much.  Just simple errands and missing out on church is what bugs me the most.  I love my home and enjoy it just as much as when we first moved in but getting out is nice too.  :D

Oh my gosh. This is such a funny cartoon.

I was expressing to my mom of my frustrations of only having two computers for schooling the kids.  They have book work and online work so it's been tough sharing it between four kids, a blogging mommy, and a daddy who loves computers too.  Some days I'm not able to get on the computer till way later which is fine, but I have to check for reviews and adjustments sometimes.  Regardless, their homeschool comes absolutely first.  Well, my mom took one of our older laptops home with her to do some work on it.  It's a good laptop but just had some problems and would constantly disconnect from the internet.  I eventually gave up on it and put it away.  She fixed it up so now we'll have 3 working computers.  Yeehaw!  Thank yewwww!

My sister that just came back from South Africa for 6 years, her family is being stationed here in the states.  I'm glad that now she isn't so far and we can visit.  They are a super cute family and a joy to be around.  Jodee was the one that taught me how to declutter fast and if it wasn't for her I'd still be pulling my hair out right now.  I spent a couple of days with her at her house they were staying at temporarily.  It's pretty much emptied out because it's being sold.  Well, I loved it!  I love the feeling of just a quick and easy cleanup every day an so when I went back to my home after staying there, I went right to work.  I'm super grateful and have truly woken up each day with peace knowing I have more time for my kids and husband now that I've ever had before.  Now, I've had so many friends ask me how I did it so I'll just put it here.  I know this is so simple for some but all the other ways I tried just wasn't working. :D

1. Empty out one room completely as if you are moving except for major furniture you know is staying.  I moved everything into the living room.  

2. Get a bag or box labeled "Giveaway" and "Throwaway".  Then I put back what was obvious of what was going back into the room and I would put it back immediately.  As I was filling up the room with my favorites and for sure staying, I knew quickly when to stop because I loved how nice it looked.  I didn't want to reclutter it because the room looked so beautiful without all that stuff!  It made it sooo easy to throw all the rest out.

3.  At the end of the day take a break and go donate the stuff.  If you want to do a yard sale make sure to take the stuff OUT of the house completely.  I put everything onto our back patio.  

4.  Each day I did one room and I did not stop for 8 days.  I made sure each room was completely and totally done with all the messes cleaned up from it before starting the next room.  We ate very, very simple that week because I didn't need to be making bigger messes that would make me feel discouraged.  

5.  If you blog, blog your successes!  After my whole house was finished, since I didn't want to do a yard sale but my friend did, she came and picked up all the stuff off my patio.  

I hope this helps, my friends!  :D  I so wish I had known to declutter like this waaaaay long ago.  I did our household clothes as a whole separate project with washing everything and laying them all out to see what we'd keep.  I gave each boy a bin and only let the toys in there that fit.  They are getting older so they really wanted their own bins of their belongs rather than all mixed in like when they were little. They each have their names on their bins.  The girls were easier so they share one bin and only the toys that fit in there stay.  They each kept only 2 stuffed animals.  :)  If you do go shopping for a new clothing item, make sure to go home and throw that many out so the clutter doesn't build back up again.  :D

Lacking the Character Quality of Hospitality

I had a get together at my house and made dinner for everyone.  I purposefully had it yesterday because I wanted a goal of finishing my project.  Technically I'm not done because I still have the office, but just knowing that every other room was done in the house was good enough for now.  I needed a boost to make me want to finish decluttering the bathrooms (under the sinks) and to do some detail work.  Sometimes when you've been working on a project every single day for 9 days, you can feel worn out mentally.  Not so much physically for  me because my energy level is oddly always so high.  Just a hyper person in general.  The past few days I've woken up with a smile on my face knowing that my work load has been 80% lightened because of a decluttered house.  I haven't been waking up with a sigh of heaviness having to think about the huge workload ahead.  I even had a party last night at my house so there was 5 adults and 8 kids.  Normally the cleanup is huge but this time it took me about a half hour to get everything back together again.  Whooooa, maybe I can have more of a social life again.  :)

Some things I've been doing lately have also helped.  My kids were constantly going through cups throughout the day.  I got an idea from the Duggars to just use paper stuff to throw away.  I've been buying paper plates and plastic cups. At the beginning of each day I get out 8 cups, put their name on it, and that's their cup for the entire day.  They stay in the kitchen in one spot and they get thrown away when everyone goes to bed.  Even if we had a different cup for each meal of the day per person, that would be 24 cups a day I would have to wash.  I just get them in bulk from Costco or Sam's Club so it'll last awhile.  Of course in the picture there are 9 cups because Ivy's friend was over.  :)

Another reason I wanted to declutter was I knew I was lacking in a certain character quality.

Hospitality

vs.

Loneliness

Cheerfully sharing food, shelter, and spiritual refreshment with those God brings into my life.

Hebrews 13:2

How could I do that if my house was never in order?  I mean, I had really busy days.  Waking up with the kids, feeding them breakfast, getting the little ones dressed, having everyone do their chores, clean, homeschool, make lunch, clean, throw clothes in the wash, homeschool, lay baby down for nap, homeschool, clean till Charles comes home, make dinner, clean up mess, get kids in bad, throw another load in the wash, deal with phone calls, lay kids down.  I mean, the process can be pretty heavy the larger your family is.  If someone called and said, "Hey, I'm in the area, do you mind if I stop by?"  That would normally throw me in a panic.  I'd either have to make up some excuse and turn them down, or stop everything my family is doing and clean really fast.  90% of the time I couldn't have them come because it wasn't enough cleaning time.  Is that hospitality?  No way.  In the middle of my Declutter One Room a Day project, my sister called.  She and her daughter wanted to stop by since they were in the area.  I paused and looked around me.  I had torn the whole house apart and literally, it looked like we were moving.  You couldn't even see the floor.  We were taking each room at a time and dragging it all out to the living room to go through.  I desperately wanted to tell them yes but I was too embarrassed and said no.  After I hung up I cried while I worked and then I was angry.  That was the last time I was gonna have to say no because my house was messy.  Even though I was so angry at myself for it, it motivated me even more to continue my daily project till I was finished.  These days people can be so exclusive and my grandma amazes me because she always has an open door.  I want to be that person too.  I don't mean allll the time, but in reality, how often does that really happen?  But when someone does call me, I can finally say, "Sure, I'll see you soon."

Why Game Systems Don't Last Long In Our House

Our Craigslist picture

Yesterday I was super busy getting our Xbox 360 Kinect ready to sell.  We had gotten rid of video games in the past but as time went on we had thought we'd give the a try again.  I regretted it almost immediately when we bought this system.  Before we got it, we were out doing a lot of adventures, homeschooling was much easier, getting them to do their chores wasn't so hard, and they got along better.  I hated all the negative changes and started to pray about how to fix it.  My family was just way too game crazy to easily get rid of it.  I started praying that God would just move on Charles' heart about it rather than me nag him.  Nagging never works and only drives guys crazy.  Not only that but I hated the one eyed TV sitting right in our living room.  It didn't stream TV but it just felt like it was the focus of the whole room.  Last week, 7 months from the time we bought it, Charles talked to me about getting rid of the system.  Whoa, really?  I couldn't believe it.  He loved it just as much as everyone else.  I wasn't gonna play around with that decision so I immediately posted it up on Craigslist and got a buyer for $400.  We sold the system with 30 games and lots of accessories.  It's gone and I feel free.  What surprised me more was the kids reaction to us selling it.  No one had a bad attitude about it at all and we immediately saw a positive chance in their behavior.  They were playing together again, being creative, riding bikes outside.

Almost as soon as the buyers came over our house I had to lay down from another massive headache.  I was so frustrated because I hate having to lay around in the middle of the day and do nothing.  I was excited about finishing up my Declutter One Room a Day project.  After my husband gave me some Tylenol, an hour later I was back on my feet and got right to work on the kitchen.  I took lots of stuff out of the cupboards and put in a donation bin.  Got rid of the all the miscellaneous donation bags that I had on the floor from working in other rooms.  It just got so late by the time I was finished I couldn't really do the extra work I wanted to do.  I still would like to wash down the cupboards and clean out the fridge but that's not so much my worry right now since it's about decluttering.  I did that so I went to bed happy knowing my cupboards weren't so full of unnecessary clutter.

Boys being boys and outside

I still have the bathrooms to declutter (under the sinks and reorganizing), the office, and then going to all the kids clothes to get rid of the excess.  I'm so close to finishing.  Waking up in the morning to a clean house has meant so much to me.  It's so easy to keep clean I'm crying as I type this.  I hated that my life was so centered around cleaning. Why did we need so much stuff?  Why wasn't I taking out the old as the new was brought it over the years?  It was like one day I woke up (two Saturdays ago) and saw how much stuff there really was.  The house wasn't dirty, just over cluttered and I was the one paying the price for it.  I was the one cleaning and cleaning every day to keep things put away.  Now, I can straighten up the whole house in a half hour.  OH MY GOSH.  That...is....wonderful.

Making Our Living Space More Livable: Organization

I'm getting so excited seeing my house transform.  It's amazing!  Yesterday I was debating on whether to declutter the kitchen or the living room.  I decided to go with the living room because that's where everyone was mostly hanging out and I didn't want anything to get drug around the house that I wanted to get rid of.

While I was doing all the work in the other rooms, the living room was where we brought everything to sort.  So, I had lots of miscellaneous stuff in there.  Then my son Ryan decided to move the couch from where it was before because he wanted everyone to have more play room.  It originally faced the window.  At first I wasn't for it but I figured since we had to move the couch to clean under it, it was fine.  Well, it ended up staying because everyone was big fans of the new space.  So we uncluttered the piano and took the big plant off of it.  Then took the 2 big trees out to the front to wash down and spray.  Cleaned under the couch.  Oh my gosh, stuff majorly got pushed under there over time.  Oh, does any of my bloggy friends recognize something different in my living room?  No game system or monitor!  Right in front of the window used to be our Xbox 360 kinect.  Boom, it's gone.  Not just in another room.  Alllll the game systems are GONE.  Even the Wii out of the boys room.   -->  :)  <--

I cleaned out the black armoir.  There was an old computer that was no good so we tossed it and the old printer.  Took the nice printer off the top of the armoir and put inside. The only stuff I have in there is my review things for my blog.  I threw away tons of paperwork that was just shoved in there over time.  Do you see that wall with the curtain in the second picture?  That's our patio and all it needs is one wall put up and it's our fifth bedroom.  We'll be doing that soon and making that the homeschool room so baby Juliet can have her own room.  They designed the patio that way so it was an optional bedroom.  It's just awesome.  Actually, homeschooling the kids will be easier since the kitchen would be directly across it.

Anyway, today is the one room I've been dreading.  The kitchen.  I have to drag out everything under the cupboards and sort through it. Plus clean behind things that have to be pulled out to do a better job.  I can't wait till this is all over with since it's been my 8th straight day working on this all hours of the day.  Sigh.  Have to keep going.  I forgot to tell you that I am 20 weeks pregnant!  I'm half way there!!!  Whoo hoo!  To be honest though, I'm not in a huge rush.  I've learned to enjoy every stage (except maybe the heaving first trimester).  I want to enjoy every bit of my kids without rushing the years by.  I don't understand it when people say, "Oh, you just wait, it'll get easier when they get older."  I'm in no rush at all for them to grow up and I don't really think the teen years are easy.  :D  I remember my teens.  Whoooey.  Lord, have mercy on me even though I gave my parents none.

Clearing the Clutter Clears the Mind

Today is day 7 of decluttering our house.  I'm super excited about the progress of everything.  However, the rooms that aren't done are in disarray because I'm hyper focusing on only one room at a time.  If I spent my time worrying about the rooms the kids are bringing their toys into, I wouldn't get anything done.  So far I have decluttered the boys room, the girls room, my room, my closet, and the garage.  Today will be the kitchen.  My camera is being sent out for repair so please forgive all the low quality pictures.

After my 20 week ultrasound yesterday, when I got back home I got straight to work finishing my room project.  I finished around 11pm last night and collapsed into bed happily.  Literally, when I removed everything from the entire room I only put back what I wanted.  Whoaaaa, the results were amazing.  My vacuum decided to break so my mom lent me one so I can finish my projects.  My room now looks like it did when we first moved in.  

I was so frustrated because no matter how much I cleaned, it just felt sooo cluttered in my room. I never had anywhere to put my laundry.  Well, duh, it was because I had too much.  My closets were so crammed with shoes and clothing that there just was nowhere to put anything.  Between Charles and I we donated about 4 xlarge black bags of clothing.  That black long table you see in the picture is where I would have dumped all the excess clothing.  It's nice to see it cleared.

My closet was completely cleared out and between Charles and I we got rid of about 15 pairs of shoes.  I had already gone through my shoes before and gotten rid of another 20 pairs.  This time I really had to think about it to get rid of more. In reality, I only wear so many and have my favorite. Why am I holding on to the shoes that I might wear someday? 

My side of the closet was so crammed that I would have to shove just one more shirt and find a tiny miracle place to fit it.  Now, with my dresses on the left and shirts on the right, I have tons of space.  That doesn't mean I can go shopping.  :D  If I buy anything I want to take one item out. That way it doesn't slowly fill up.

My daily project that I didn't get to blog about the other day was the garage.  We cleared out all the clutter in the garage in one day. Thankfully, my husband helped me with this one.  The wall you see we had boxes and old computers lining all across it.  On the other side I had bags of kid clothes.  While my husband hauled all the heavy stuff to the garbage, I was going through the clothes and donating lots of it. Now, there are no boxes in the garage and the only thing we have is two shelves to hold auto stuff.  It's so cleared out that the kids have been riding their tricycles and scooters in there since it has so much space.  I would really like to get some carpet that I can roll out during the day and roll back up at night so we can pull our vehicles in.

So, that's been my busy life the past 6 days!  I just have to keep working till I'm completely done.  I still have the kitchen, living room, bathrooms (under counters), and backyard and then we'll be done.  That's when I'll jump for joy.  The experience has been so freeing.  Emptying out the entire room and only putting back what I want in it is hard work but actually makes it so simple to know what to let go of.

By the way, I still have a contest going on over HERE if you have a little girl.  :D