Tuesday, February 21, 2012

More Decluttering

So I am hoping if I keep talking about it I will stay motivated to getting our house to be a place we love and just the right amount of stuff.

A problem I am running into is what to do with the stuff I am ready to get rid of.  Some we could probably sale and wouldn't be helpful to a thrift store, but is it worth the time.  Some stuff I just keep moving around in boxes until I decide, but I think I would feel so much better if it was just gone.

I have even taken to decluttering my desktop, favorites, e-mail folders and blogs I follow.  I am hoping it will help me to stop procrastinating and getting things done.  If they are not easy access I probably won't go searching for them again.

Anybody else going through this?

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Minimalist-ish

So I know we could never be people that could only live with 50 or 100 or probably even 500 things, but one thing I can say for certain is we have way to many things in our house.  We have sorta decent storage and in some areas we just need better organization, but I do feel overwhelmed by our things fairly often.

Maybe one of the wisest things I have ever done was get a house cleaner to come in every other week.  Ironically, I had to clean the house before she came to give me a bid because the state of things depended on a lower price.  If I am anything, it would be frugal.  She did a deep clean the first time and we have been doing our best to keep things tidy.  Starting January 1, I have been making a conscious effort to make our beds, even if Willa and I are running late.  Not having to do the "yucky" things like floors and bathrooms has allowed me to concentrate more on purging and organizing.

Brandon and I have both gone through our clothes and purged (me twice!) and I have condensed my book collection.  We have been going through the kitchen as well and downsized the amount of plates and cups we have in easy reach and put a few sets away.  We do dishes and laundry (these are our high points) that we don't need as many things.  Some of Willa's stuff has just gone to storage, but it's at least not under foot.  I have purged some of my crafting supplies and fabric.  One load off to St. Vincents and another to the Children's Receiving Home.  The more I have gone through, the more I realize we don't need or use as much stuff has we have.  Some areas, like our bathroom drawers, just needed all the trash cleaned out.  I truly started there doing a drawer or cabinet a night.

My frugal self has also taken to wrapping diaper boxes in brown postal paper to hold things in closets.  I think they are pretty fantastic and sturdy.  They are perfect for yarn, hats, craft supplies, etc. We still have stockpile of stuff from couponing but at least now I have things arranged so I can see what we have and what we will need soon.  Anybody else think guys must secretly eat deodorant?

I feel like we still have a little ways to go and I am trying to be more "decorative" too to make things more use around here.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Sleeplessness

I had this wonderful post all planned out about how I have been decluttering and organizing the house, but for the last several nights we have been battling a small person.  What happened to our little girl that went happily to bed each night? Can she fight?  At least two rounds, it seems like she gives it enough time for us to think she is going sleep and then she gets a second wind.  It leaves me exhausted.  We know she is tired and that she loses control, but no matter what we try to head it off each night, she just fights it. AGGHHHH!

I can deal with most of her stalling, kicking, but its the screaming that sets my teeth on edge.  I am just lost.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Crayon Melts

I have been having issues with Blogger, I am sure this post will be lovely.  But I am giving up and posting as is. 




Last summer Willa and I scored a cookie tin full of crayons at a garage sale for 50 cents. She uses them all the time so we are forever picking them up at the end of the day. Mimi this week was tired of picking up broken crayons so immediately I began Operation Melt Crayons. The hardest part was taking them all out of their wrappers. I have the coolest silicon shapes so we used those instead of the muffin tins. Set the oven at 250 and wait patiently for 15 minutes. It took about 15 more minutes for them to cool. We were pretty impressed but Willa wasn't willing to share with Mimi so that she could take some home with her.