Organise my house

Summer is here, school is out and this year as in the past we begin the summer vacation by cleaning their rooms. I try to be tidy and organised, and although I have never considered my house finished, I do manage to have it clean and tidy every Friday so that it looks good for the weekend. I am still working on what is behind the scenes, but at least on the surface things are clean and organised.

My children have caught the bug from me and keep their rooms tidy, they are 7 and 10 and know that their rooms need to be picked up every Friday so that they can be vacuumed. On a school day I make their beds but on the weekends and vacations they do it themsleves.

Today we tackled my sons closet. Together we sorted out 1 bag of clothes that no longer fit, two bags of dress up clothes and toys that we can give away and 3 bags of trash. We found one of his favorite DS games, which he is now happily playing with and his cub scout handbook. We have been looking for both of these items for about 4 months and had given up hope that they would ever be found. I’m not sure who is happier right now, but I have a feeling he will stop throwing things in his closet on a Friday night! We still need to organise his drawers but I’ll save that for another day. His closet looks amazing,his room is tidy and he is feeling very proud of himself – lets not spoil the moment.

I have just discovered this great show on BBC America called Perfect Housewives. These women live like slobs and then have 7 days to transform their houses. I love watching it! I have been organising my house since November and am not yet finished – this show taught me to get a move on.

One drawer a day is just not enough.

Yesterday I did my closet, I threw out 4 trash bags full of clothes and love everything that is left.

Today I organised 3 drawers.

I now have one drawer for sunglasses, one drawer for swimwear and an empty drawer. Everything else was either moved somewhere else or thrown away.

We have 2 children and a lot of things, so this goal will take me a while but everyday I make progress in the right direction.

This morning I organised my underwear drawer and threw away 30 items. I now have two clean tidy drawers with items in little piles, it will be so easy to find what I want to wear.

I had 6 sets of bras and panties that were in good condition but no longer fit. I’m going to save them and try them on again after I lose another 10 pounds.

This task helped me to organise my house and motivated me to stay on my diet, so I’m feeling great right now.

Kitchen
I took everything out of the cabinets, cleaned them and then put things back in a more organised manner. I replaced my everyday dishes, threw out ALL of my plastic containers and bought disposable gladware.
I spent a week on the kitchen, and am thrilled with the results.

Desk
I continue to tackle this, make progress but never quite get to where I want to be. So far I have organised my stationary, my junk drawer, and the homework supplies drawer. I have a good system for paperwork and bills. Today I bought a sorter for the mud room for the mail and a fireproof, waterproof box for documents.
I will keep revisiting my desk until I am happy with it.

Master Bathroom
I have organised everything. It is beautiful and so easy to find things. I bought drawer organisers, and now I have a place for nail polish, a place for manicure & pedicure items, a place for skin care, a place for tooth care, a place for everything I need. I even have a basket for hair styling tools and products.

This week I want to sort through scrapbooking items and have another go at my desk.

It takes me everyday to get better at this goal, especially with two small children under two. However, i find to throw out stuff helps with de-cluttering.

Organising my house is a precurser to organising my head /my life. I’ve had a lot of things to sort out in other peoples lives (curse of the mummy) and now I can’t think properly until the clutter is gone.
Its not something I am enthusiastic about – just looking at some of it saps my energy because I don’t know where to start, but thats all the more reason that it needs doing, firmly, even brutally.
I don’t care if the kids and husband look at me askance like I’m having some sort of Fanny Craddock episode. They will though, because organising this place is going to involve organising them, however this means its not a matter of putting on the pinny and gracefully deciding what stays and what goes (and if it stays, where it goes), but putting on the hard hat and the face that says ‘don’t even try it’.
I’m buggered if we are going to make space to breathe here by discarding my stuff and no other blighter’s.