Thursday, May 31, 2007

Frustration

Frustration hit an all-time high today and yesterday as I fumbled around the house looking for things I needed and could not find. Thankfully I found two items I need in a box in the garage today when I finally got back to unpacking boxes. However, they were items I needed earlier and it's too late now! The third missing item is still MIA and I'll have to replace it if it's not found by next week.
Sigh.
But the good news is that I did make it into the garage twice today to unpack boxes and seperate the unwanted stuff into four boxes of yard sale stuff. I collected items that need to go in the house and have made a mess with these things as they waiting to be filed away in their rightful home. Robert seemed confused about why I was emptying out the boxes and I explained that I want to go through as many boxes as possible before the yard sale so we don't have to have another one for a very long time. I have a week from this Saturday to get it all (or most it) all together!!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Kitchen - Before&After

Flashback to the 1960sThe kitchen in its gutted state!

The (almost) finished product
There's still work to be done including the crown moulding and trim around the floor. It's been left unfinished for now to work on other important areas of the house including our second bathroom which is in progress now.
Pulling out the counter top really opened the kitchen up and made the whole area feel bigger. Our snack bar chairs are from jcpenney.com and we got the appliances (minus the fridge) at Fortino's Total Home in Hollister, CA. They were great to work with!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

More Party Planning

I haven't had much time this week for deep cleaning and organizing... just cleaning and doing the work for the upcoming birthday party. I planned the menu and did half of my shopping today and will do the rest tomorrow. I cleaned the baby's room so that was a bonus. My new fireplace screen came in and looks great. I will post photos later but right now I can't even find my camera! How funny, if I were more organized, I'd probably know where it was!!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Preparing for a Party

Preparing for a party is always a good reason to clean! But in this situation, it feels a little overwhelming. We worked in the backyard today sweeping the patio, mowing, and trimming. I worked on getting my scrapbook table cleaned off so we can use it for the party and it's almost done. I cleared the garage floor a little more as well. Things are slowly coming together and I think once this party is over, I'll really be able to focus more on unpacking the boxes and getting things ready for the yard sale and getting things more organized.

I got my photos in today that I ordered from our Disneyland trip! They are so great. I've got to get them filed in an album before this weekend because I want everyone to be able to enjoy them. I designed an 8x8 photo book on Shutterfly. It came out so cute and I can't wait to get that in the mail... busy busy busy!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Creating a Path

I created a path in the garage. It's a pretty big deal. I've started my collection of yard sale boxes. Robert has made a lot of progress in the spare bathroom which needs to be mostly completed by the end of this week. With the organized closet and progress in the garage, I am feeling more and more motivated. We had company this weekend and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so unfortunately today I haven't gotten much accomplished. But we're getting there...

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Keep On Keepin' On

Trying to stay motivated... I actually made a dent in the garage tonight. I decided to continue with the closet. I got it cleaned but the upper shelves were still a mess and full of things I knew were going in the yard sale. I didn't want to buy plastic bins just to hold everything and I don't have anywhere to put extra stuff anyway! So I dove into the garage and cleaned off my old dresser. It got damaged when we moved and it will not go with the vision I have for our bedroom so I have decided to get rid of that even though it has been in my family for YEARS. (just let it go!!) I decided to put the dresser in the closet and fill it with all the clothes that are going in the yard sale. So when the yard sale comes, all I have to do is move the dresser outside. It's a perfect solution and I'm so pleased that I came up with this. It eliminates something from the garage and tidies up the closet too. It's not done... I could have kept working on it, but we had a lot of company this evening.... mother/father-in-law, uncle-in-law, and two of our friends all stopped by. So I had to cut my cleaning short, but I got some good progress done today and I'm happy with that!! I need to take some photos of the garage for before/after photos.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Unpacking

Unpacking has always been a dreaded task but today I forced myself to do it. I almost finished. I also cleaned the closet. I didn't organize it 100%, but it is clean and it is a start. There's a lot of stuff in there that is going up and out for yard sale so there will be a lot of free space when that stuff goes. I'm not sure if I should move stuff out and store it somewhere different before the yard sale or just leave it there. I think leaving it there might prevent a bigger mess elsewhere in the house. The day-to-day cleaning is what kills me and my motivation to look at the bigger picture!! Dishes, cleaning up after dinner, laundry, interuptions like unpacking... they all slow me down! But I need to stay focused. I think I'll goal myself to "go the extra mile" at least once each day I'm home. In addition to my normal cleaning, I'll do something extra. Like today unpacking was my normal drudge but cleaning the closet was an added something. More to come later!!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Later that Same Day

I decided to take on a small project. I didn't want to get discouraged and I knew I couldn't get anything done outside this late in the evening. Joseph gets increasingly fussy as the evening plays out and evenings are not a good time to start something drastic.

I started in a kitchen cabinet where I had been throwing all things baby-kitchen-plastic related. I was taking up two shelves for bottles, nipples, breast pump paraphernalia, cups, lids, straws, plastic bowls and plates. I whittled it all down to one organized shelf and dropped the higher shelf down a notch giving me more organizing space for something else (like all those unpacked kitchen boxes in the garage!!) I bagged up the Medela breast pump accessories and put them in my Metro bag I plan to keep that is stored in my closet appropriately next to my boxed up wedding dress.

In addition to clearing a shelf, I emptied out the dish strainer that was also full of baby goodies. And once that was empty, I just store it under the sink and made the counter top clear. Here's a photo of some beautiful Salinas fresh Romaine lettuce on my lovely clear counter.
Hopefully I'll be posting more photos of my progress. With party coming up at the end of this month, I definitely want to get the kitchen as organized as possible. I think I should start with what I have inside the house and then start worrying about the boxes outside. Baby steps... it will all be about baby steps...

Day One: Mustering Motivation

I've been saying it for such a long time... I want to get rid of my clutter. I wanted to get organized. I want everything to have its place.

I'm tired of talking and ready for some action! I've watched too many people on Oprah and Home&Garden TV cleaning up their clutter and I know I can do it too. I have gotten motivated at a challenging time but I won't let these challenges be my excuse anymore. So what if I have a baby that can destroy the whole house as quickly as I can load the dishwasher! So what if we just downsized and my garage is stacked with boxes and boxes of STUFF I haven't seen in over six months. I can't let these be my excuses. If I wait any longer, the excuses will just keep building and building.

So why are you still writing about it...?? You might be asking... Well.... I want to get focused and organize my thoughts... have a plan and set a goal! I feel like if I write it all down and document my clutter cleaning journey, I'll be held to some kind of accountability. Sounds good in theory right?

Now that I have that out of the way, let's think about my method of removal.

Step One: Yard Sale
Step Two: Freecycle

I also need to think of WHY am I holding onto so much of this STUFF?? and then start to let things go!!

Progress so far? Yes... Today I went through my closet and took down things I know I won't wear anymore. If I don't feel good in it, then it's GONE. There are things that are too small so if I know I won't wear it when I get skinnier, then it's gone too! I took down a ton of stuff but just folded it into the shelving for the yard sale.

I think I need to organize a safe area where all of this yard sale stuff is going to go. But where? It will have to be the patio room!!

Let's see how I can get through this... or if I even can....