As some of you have noticed from the past few years, I have been determined to get Organized !!!! Buying the magazine's, reading blogs, and going to websites. Here are a few I love to read.
My favorite Mag's have been Better Homes and Gardens, and Real Simple.
They have been giving me the stepping stones to get me where I want to be in Life! Some have been very inspirational and encouraging that I CAN DO THIS too !!! Took a while for it all to sink in and I think the Move pushed me to put most into action. Nothing like having your household goods boxed up to re-examine what all you have to reduce it, getting rid of stuff you no longer need or use !!!! You also need to understand I had over 4 years of STUFF I ignored and collected that needed to be sorted and tossed !!
The results have been LIFE Changing for me !!!!
Feels so good to NOT have piles of clutter everywhere for me to Figure out where it belongs. I boxed up extra nicknack's to go through a later day. (only 2 small boxes) And when I have time I will go back through that box and decide what I want, what I need, and What I can live without ! ( I LOVE having a garage.)
So far it has reduced our crap by half. And now our bookshelves are less cluttered and now can display items that are important to our family and use often. ( I also boxed up Ralph's special cookbooks) One day we can display them again. I have noticed also having extra cabinets in this house has help store more of our everyday and other kitchen items. And now my buffet is used to store other things, like the families games, art supplies etc. I also put current projects I am working on inside the large drawer, it keeps it out of site and I feel better it is not staring at me everyday to DO IT.
My mission lately is to simplify my life ! I have been to so many of my friends house and noticed they have less, which gives them more time to do others things, and takes them no time to clean house. Since I have reduced the clutter and found a way to organize my stuff, I see the same thing happening to me Yippee ....
I am now able to spend more time with my kids, and less on the house. And when I wake it nice to walk around and not have as much to do everyday. Feels so good when I walk into the boys room and it's so nice and when they go looking for THAT one toy they don't trash the entire room !!! Also it's so much easier to clean when they do decide to dump ALL the containers !!! It feels great to walk down the hall and NOT see boxes or containers of STUFF to deal with and organize later ( stuff I don't know what to do with). You know the stuff you put in a basket and say you will put away later and NEVER get around to so it sits and your family trips over it for weeks !!!!
I think one of the best things that has helped during this process is that I am reusing what I already have, but just for a different purpose. I took Seb's old chalk board and now use it for my meal planning. What I once bought to store Seb's large toys , is now our laundry room hamper. What I had in my bathroom as the hamper and shelve is now for his large toys and sports equipment in his closet. I also bought us all new closet organizers ( I am a FIRM believer in them.) I also took the larger containers that had lots of similar stuff grouped together and separated the stuff inside got rid of some of it. Then placed the items into smaller ones. It actually takes less space and easier to find items. I LOVE IT !!!! Dont get me wrong, I do have a weakness for Target and I did buy a few (over priced ) decor containers. I also bought a monthly dry-erase board to write everything down and I can read daily to keep me on track.
This process that I am choosing to do is a VERY long process. I am going through EVERYTHING. And each time I empty a box, I either find a home for the stuff or toss it, it feels GREAT.
Now that it feels like I have gotten the nicknacks and toy clutter under control, it's the paper clutter that is killing me !!!!! Stuff to file, manuals, bills, and other paper items. Every time I think I found a way to control it, it explodes again, lol. Well one day I will find a way that works for me.
Ok enough blogging, need to spend more time with my boys !!!
