I Live in Too Much-ville! 20 Days to an Organized Home + A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party # 34

I used to be so organized!

I seriously lament this admirable character trait of mine that has fallen by the wayside amidst birthing two active, crazy boys in the space of 22 months.

And if you've followed R & R for a while, you know how many times I have written about being organized, getting organized...and "Oh! I'm getting back to getting back to being organized....again!"

I finally just stopped writing about because it was seriously getting ridiculous. Not to mention redundant.


Another aspect to my organization frustration is the fact that this family of 4 lives in a 75 sq ft renovation project. Too much stuff quickly becomes mountainous piles of stuff that almost makes me feel as if I live in an episode of Hoarders. Okay - I exaggerate. A little.

This became all too clear whenfollowing a "de-stressor" tactic I came up with some time ago. I went over to my children's bookshelf to pick out a book to read and suddenly felt this sinking feeling of being overwhelmed with waaaaaay too many books. Now, I do consider this a good aspect of "too many" - being a book lover myself, I hope my children develop a love of reading. However, this bookshelf haphazardly (shall we say barely) holding mounds and mounds of books - some which have not managed to survive my 2nd born's tendency to love everything to death...literally -  is not in any danger of inspiring anyone to do anything but grab the whole blasted pile and pitch it out the window.

Honestly - this is not the best method of organizing one's home - but it is threatening to become MINE soon, if something is not done!

This wouldn't even be so bad if the frustration was limited to my kids' books, but alas it extends to their clothes (they seriously could never hope to wear all of the clothes they have) and toys; our books and CDs...among odds and ends that have sat so long, we simply don't see them any longer.


It's time to simplify, organize, weed out, and toss the too-much!

Each Wednesday for the remainder of January I will outline 5 ways I am decluttering an area of my house, so that by February our homes are weeded out, organized, and clean for the New Year!

Are you with me??

Here are the first 5 areas - Bedrooms

Day 1. Clothes - weed out clothes. If you don't wear it, if it's too small or big, or if it's worn out or stained - toss it!  I will be sharing some of my kids' clothes with friends. Seriously, there is no reason to have a dozen pairs of jeans or just as many dress shirts. I will be limiting their jeans and "church pants" to 3 pairs of each and 2 dress shirts - at the most. Enough for one laundry cycle.

Day 2. Clutter in the Closets. If it's not a clothing item, pile it on the bed. Once you have rid your closet of non-clothing items sort out the clutter. If you can't define it - toss it. If it's useful, find it a home. If it belongs to someone else, return it to them. Bedroom closets are for clothes, but mine have become catch-alls for things that don't have a regular home. That will change. This week. I am reclaiming my closets.  

Day 3. Shelves. Books, knic-nacs, and clutter. Evaluate the books. Do you need them? Do you want them? Would you read them again? If you answered "no", get rid of them. Keep knic-nacs to a bare minimum to make dusting easier and take all the clutter and pile it on the bed. Then repeat the steps in #2.

Day 4. Jewelry. Do you wear it? Is it a keepsake? If you answered "no", toss it! I seriously have earrings that date back to my teens. Time to toss!

Day 5. Kid's Toys. Is it broken or does it have missing pieces? Toss it. Do they play with it, or just throw it around the room? Toss what should be tossed, then, sort the toys by types: I have sorted my kids' toys by: cars, musical instruments, trains (because my kids have a major love affair with trains), stuffed animals (which will be seriously weeded down to like 2 or 3), legos and other  manipulative toys, educational toys (shaped blocks, etc), and "other". The "other" is what I will mostly deal with. Once you have sorted the toys, choose two or three options to have out and store th rest. After 1-2 months you can rotate the toys.




One more tip with the toys, before each birthday and Christmas, weed out their toys to make room for new ones.

Once you are done organizing the bedrooms, dust, vacuum, change linens and get all the cobwebs out. Don't forget to get under the beds and in the corners.

To make it more fun, take before and after pictures!


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 And now for the party!!!!
Here are the "rules"

1. Link up as many posts as you'd like (even giveaways!)
2. Link up old posts you wish would have received more attention!
3. Link back here by posting my button in your post or sidebar - or with a link
4. Visit the post just before yours

The party runs through next Tuesday evening!
So have FUN!

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