Clutter, Clutter Go Away...and don't come back!

Busy day today. Rick and I both got the cleaning bug.

We are trying to reduce the clutter around the house and get ready for a tag sale. Rick decided to tackle the garage where we have already started to pile a bunch of crap stuff (things we hope people might actually pay us to take away!). We really should have cleaned first, then started to put stuff out there, but it didn't happen for a number of reasons - not the least of which was a pile of stuff we were holding for Rick's parents during the course of their moving expedition. Now that they have retrieved that stuff we have more room in which to work. Or rather - for Rick to work - as he was handling the lion's share of that space reorganization today. He spent a few hours out there and made some decent progress clearing out trash and moving things to their new homes, more or less.

My job today was the basement storage closet. It's one of those places where things that have no home were starting to pile up. It is also where I store the bulk of the hand-me-down clothing and toys. Last week I tried to tackle some of the insanity but I only made it through about half the boxes of clothing - only the ones that were labeled in a half-assed sort of way that only scratched the surface of describing what the heck was in them ("mixed season 4t-5t")...and which seemed to indicate that there might possibly be something in them that would fit one of the girls this fall. Right now I have a small mountain of clothing on the bed in the basement awaiting the arrival of cooler weather when I can then bring the clothing up and switch them for the summer togs in the drawers. Then the summery items can make their way to the basement to be sorted, boxed, and labeled as best as I can at the given moment.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

It's a never-ending process. My system is not perfect but it does save us a few bucks here and there. If I can remember to actually go looking for the right sized clothes at the right season...and actually find anything seasonally-appropriate that actually fits someone. Thus, we are back to the nightmarish storage closet and its lack of organization which makes it difficult to find what I need (and for whom) when I need it. After E went down for her nap I brought the older girls to the basement and for a while they helped me ferry a bunch of small, lightweight boxes from the closet to the basement playroom. After about 15 minutes they got bored and were soon engrossed in playing with something or other downstairs and I was free to do what needed to be done. (You see, it was all part of the master plan - if I didn't ask/let them help they would've been seeking me out to whine and complain that they were bored and asking me to play with them or read to them or...or...or... But if I started off having them help and they realized what a dull and chaotic task I was undertaking they would quickly find something they wanted to do for a while. And the plan worked just as I hoped it would! Am I clever or what?)

I pulled everything out of that damn closet - I threw quite a few things away, ferried a bunch of stuff to the garage for the tag sale, and reorganized a lot of the clothing items. I consolidated many a box because there were so many down there that were only partially filled with clothing or knick-knacks. I spent more than a few precious minutes looking at a box that was actually labeled 'Huge Box O' Pictures.' It is filled with a ton of pictures of which the bulk are probably from the early to mid nineties. A ton of pictures that have never made it to any kind of album because I wasn't really into keeping photo albums back then. I didn't really start filling albums until I became a mother and felt the need to capture all those 'firsts' and organize them neatly into books so I can always be reminded of those sweet baby cheeks, fuzzy heads, tiny toes and toothless grins. I put the box away but I left it on the top of a stack of boxes so that I can pull it out again when I have more than a few moments to walk down memory lane. I pointed the box out to Rick and told him that we need to do that some night after the girls are in bed. Just in the few sets of photos I went through I saw quite a few pictures of the Pre-Marital, Pre-Kids Rick and Jeanne. I can barely remember them now. It will be fun to see them again, even just in a few snapshots. Wow. Time sure does fly by. If I find any noteworthy pictures I'll scan them and share them here someday. They should be good for a laugh or two, I would imagine.

The storage closet project is pretty much done. I was impressed that I managed to get it done in only a few hours. It just so happened that E took a nice long nap during the process and the girls played amazingly well with each other. Otherwise, I don't think I would've been able to finish the task this morning. There are still a few minor odds and ends sitting in the basement hallway but other than that I have a newly organized closet with a whole lot more shelf space than I ever thought possible. It feels good.

My next project is the second storage area in the basement which doubles as our laundry room. It's another area that is a disorganized mess - proabably not as bad as the storage closet but in definite need of some help. But, I was not about to tackle that project today. I had enough organization for one day, thank you very much.

So, instead, I went shopping! Yeah, I know - I just decluttered and now I'm out shopping again? Geesh. The cycle never ends, does it? I decided that I wanted to go to the Labor Day weekend sale at JoAnn's and I'm quite glad I did. I found a few great fabrics on clearance and a few patterns that were on sale for $1.99 each! I also got some thread on sale and the notions I needed for the patterns. I came home with stuff enough to make the girls about 5 skirts, inlcuding the right color thread and the zippers for each as well as some accessories for R's halloween costume (she wants to be a devil - there are days when I find this quite appropriate for her) -- all for less than $40! I really liked the fabrics I found -- if I can get decent pictures of them I'll post them, otherwise I'll wait until I can post pics of the finished projects. I'm just hoping the girls like the fabric and skirt styles that I picked out as much as I do. I decided to work on them while they are in school and surprise them with the finished products. I don't want my little bubble to be burst by any complaints because I really like what I picked out. So there.

All in all a very productive day - and it's not even nearly over yet. Off to make some grub for the troops!