Day 7- Coat closet

Are ya still with us? Are your homes immaculate yet? No? Mine either. Guess that's why this is a 31 day challenge and not a weekend project. When my children are having their usual 5pm melt downs and I'm trying to make dinner, I go into my laundry room or pantry and smile. They're my new happy place (don't worry chocolate, you're always gonna be my happy place too). I'm impatient, I want the whole house perfect at once but I'm slowly getting there. Today I tackled my coat closet. It was always a bit exciting opening the door to my coat closet. You would have to quickly dodge items falling on your head and it's about the only adrenaline rush I get as a mother. I'm over it.

You see what I mean? I like to keep games and children's crafts with 10 bazillion pieces up high. This way I can hear them scooting a chair across the floor and maybe divert their attention to another activity. A less messy activity. Preferably outside.....


Here's my newly decluttered closet. Much better don't you think? If I were Martha Stewart my closets would look like these pictures below, with coordinating jackets in a soothing color scheme. We don't do soothing color schemes in this house though. I'm sure you can tell by the bold patterns on the diaper bags and coats....

I love the idea of hooks on the door to hold purses. A girl can never have too many bags and purses. And we have 3 girls in this house with similar purse hoarding skills....

I love the idea of rolling shelves. They would be perfect for holding shoes or games.

So I hope you're off to find your inner sanctuary. This weekend I'm tackling the Master Bedroom, Bathroom & closet. Wish me luck. I need it!

Day 6: Under the Stairs Closet

I'm sure many of you have looked on Pinterest and seen amazing under-the-stairs storage like this.

source

Then you got off the computer and saw this:

Yikes. Is it a wonder that I occasionally avoid decorating for holidays when my decorations are clear in the back of this huge pile? Through all this organization the past several days, I've been trying to think about logical places for things. Is the downstairs closet the best place to put the suitcases that I just have to drag upstairs any time we go on a trip? Probably not. So I moved them to our bedroom closet. What about the humongous baby swing that neither of my children have ever liked- should I really hope that a third child (someday) will absolutely love it? Let's craigslist it. Now keep in mind, my after picture is not so impressive.
See what I mean? But knowing that I purged so many Christmas decorations and camping supplies makes me feel so good. Now instead of pulling out everything in the closet every time I want to find a table runner in the very back of the closet, I only have to pull out the water coolers and I can actually reach everything else. Such a difference. I also moved many of my Christmas decorations to my upstairs bedroom closet where I've already been keeping my nativities.

So, let me go through everything I keep in this closet. In the very back are my outside Christmas lights and Christmas tree decorations. And there's a random guitar that hubby will not let me take to DI even though I'm fairly certain he's never even touched the strings. I also have my fall and other seasonal decorations in here. Then we have two boxes of camping gear with my wreath boxes on top. Then we have our large tent, two sleeping bags, and snowboard gear on top. Oh, and my extra table.

I'm feeling so good about all this organizing going on at my house! Have you organized anything lately?

Day 5- laundry room

I don't know about you, but laundry is my nemesis. It's kind of like a scary movie where the bad guy never dies & he keeps jumping out at you. Yeah, laundry is just like that. Just when I've folded and put the last load away, I turn around to find a HUGE pile of dirty clothes hiding in my kid's closets or under beds or they've had 3 outfit changes since breakfast and are too lazy to put it away. I am so sorry mom that in all my years of growing up, I NEVER once re-used a towel twice. I got a fresh one every morning. If I was too lazy to hang something up, I just threw it down the laundry shoot. Well, don't worry mom, karma's a kicker! My children are doing the exact same thing to me, only worse I'm sure. :) Laundry is never pleasant, but when I have to go into this room, it's down right miserable!


Is this not the most ridiculous site? As if the tile and blue countertops weren't hideous enough?It's madness I tell ya! You practically need a hard hat to go in there!

ahh. SO. Much. Better..... See that window. Apparantly, I have one now. And I can open the blinds! I hesitate to tell you this...... but I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever opened those blinds.! I have hooks behind the door on the wall that hold our beach towels and life jackets. They come in handy in Texas where you can still swim in November.

So now no more excuses. I'm totally going to keep up with laundry. A load a day. From sorting to washing to folding to putting away. Yep, totally gonna happen. Starting tomorrow.....

Speaking of tomorrow, get ready to see Mandy's camping closet organized!

Day 4: Food Storage

So it looks like Andrea has signed me up to organize my house with her. I saw this coming when she came to my house this summer and saw this:

Yes, this is my food storage closet in our laundry room. Can't believe I'm letting you all see this. You're liking me better already, right? Like most people, when we moved into the house, we just put things wherever they would fit and have left them there for the past three years. So I put our camping junk in here and then I realized I had a place for all my food storage, so I put that in here too. Do you have any idea how many times I've had sleeping bags hit me in the face while I'm grabbing a can of green chilies? WAY too many.

Our local grocery store is having a case lot sale and I'm determined to build up our food storage. So, Saturday morning I came home with a bunch of food and no place to put it. Awesome. So I made a complete mess of my entire downstairs in order to find a place for everything. I moved all the camping gear out and now actually have some room to breathe.

Here is the after:

I'd better get back to that sale and buy some more food! Look at all that room I have left! Next up, I'll show you where I put all our camping gear. I know, hold on to your seats, folks.

Day 3- clean under kitchen sink

We're on Day 3 of our 31 day challenge to a more organized home. It's the blind leading the blind over here! I crave organization but I can't handle too much of it because the upkeep stresses me out. I just need a little more (alot more) before my parents come and watch my children for a week! My momma raised me better than my current cupboard/closet situation! So today I tackled under the kitchen sink.....this is by far the scariest part of my house! There's just something creepy about the cupboard under the sink. It's dark & damp & something has always spilled and it takes a month (or longer) for you to find it. Eww! I tackled this project on and I'm thrilled to say, I escaped without finding a single bug! It wasn't as scary as I thought! There was a can of gun cleaner that had exploded though, it was lovely. Why it was under there, I have no idea? My after pictures aren't impressive but it's far better than what I started with! So instead I'm including some photos of really great storage solutions that one day I'll get around to doing. Because I'm SO GONNA wallpaper under my sink! (insert massive sarcasm)

Image from bhg.com - Wall paper? Seriously? If you have that much time on your hands I'm really impressed and you need to get a hobby.....

Image found on Pinterest- this idea is from Rubbermaid and it's genius. I never know what to do with my crazy long tinfoil boxes! This idea was found on Pinterest with no name. The idea of a drawer seems much more sanitary to me and less arachnaphobic too! Do I see a hint of yellow toile wallpaper in there as well? Seriously, who does that?


photo by bhg.com- there's nothing scary about this kitchen sink cabinet! I think the bright white makes it look so clean and fresh. One day I will have white cabinets like this! Meanwhile, I have a much cleaner, less scary, decluttered kitchen sink cabinet. And I'm one day closer to my.....
Tomorrow, Mandy tackles her food storage closet. I can't wait!

Day 2: Declutter counters

I hate to cook if I start out with a messy kitchen. But then if I spend alot of time cleaning it, I really don't want to cook! Meanwhile, my children head into the kitchen over a dozen times a day between the 3 of them and make little messes. It's a never ending cycle really. So to remain from freaking out all the time, I'm taking a picture of my clean sparkly kitchen and hanging it up next to the fridge. If I can't have clean at least I can look at clean! Here is what my kitchen looks like after 15 minutes of decluttering, mail, coupons, batteries charging, misc tools, crayons, scissors, tape (always with the tape Morgan? she's obsessed!) homework & dishes. I didn't take before pics, because the before was strewn with pantry cleaning left overs & you would've thought you were witnessing a Hoarders episode.

Scary right? This is not typical of us! Ok, it's sorta typical.....
(Sigh) So much better! Here's a woven cutlery tray that would look so cute here. But I'd fill it to the rim and it would be unrecognizable as a divider



I love counter space. There's a minimalist inside me somewhere!




I used to have items above my cabinets, but then I got pregnant and felt like nesting. I'd love to have a funky assortment of vintage globes or old fans or busts or something. But collections this size would require years of flea market shopping..... and I'd lose interest in whatever I was collecting by the time I got a decent collection!


Imagine gray walls, white cabinets and modern knobs. That's my future kitchen. It's there somewhere....



My children are destroying the kitchen as I typ this. I'm tempted to stay in the office and avoid seeing the mess from whatever just crashed. It was loud. Didn't sound like glass though. Yay for the small miracles! Get ready for tomorrow. I'm cleaning under neath the kitchen sink. It's scary down there. I've got my spider spray & vacuum ready!

31 Days of Organized Bliss

DISCLAIMER: I am not organized. I probably will never be. A little mess is ok with me. But I am a declutter-er. I throw everything away, including cell phones, keys and cash. My husband & I have dumpster dived so many times we should enter the Olympics. If you're like me, then we'll be good friends. If you're already crazy awesome at this, then go away, I hate you. Just kidding (not really). A few of my friends and I have been craving more organized homes. We thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves to small projects each day and report to each other. I noticed the Nester was starting a 31 day challenge and the timing couldn't be more perfect. Right before the chaos of the holidays I'm going to completely overhaul every cupboard, closet and junk drawer in my home! (That's the plan anyway) My family is the ultimate clutter collectors and I'm pretty sure if I weren't around they'd end up on the show "Hoarders". This is also an oportune time to teach my girls how to work! Clean house and helping children- WIN, WIN! So being October 1st, today will start my 31 day challenge. Follow along and let me know if you have any suggestions or success.

Day 1: Organize Pantry

This quote did not quite match what I felt when I opened my pantry this morning to find this:


Now, I should disclose that it looks like I intentionally made it REALLY messy just so the AFTER shots would look better. But I assure you....... um, yeah, never mind, let's go with that. We're not really this messy........ :)


My husband tore apart the bottom of the pantry looking for a lizard I swear I saw. The lizard escaped. I now wear shoes, everywhere! Hence, I really needed to clean this pantry out!

This is what 40 minutes of cleaning looks like: (sigh) SO MUCH BETTER!


I finally figured out what to do with my Pepsi crates. They're perfect for snacks!



I bought the door organizer at Walmart and it was the best purchase I ever made. You technically don't have to screw it into the door, you could just hang it. But you know how much my husband loves his power tools! I spent so much time searching for ziplocs & plastic utensils everyday. Making the kids' lunches is so much easier now!



This pantry is definitely NOT Nate Berkus worthy, but I'm happy with my small success today. Crossing fingers it stays this nice til atleast tomorrow..... wish I was kidding.

Here are some definite Nate Berkus worthy pantries that I adore. Pretty wall paper and glass jars? Are you kidding me? Amazing

image found here:


image found here:

image from bhg.com

But my dream home would have a pantry door just like this. With matching heads & chalk board. I just fell in love...... with everything about this room!



image found on Pinterest.com-wish I could find the original author and get their autograph!

So if you're a little/alot messy like me, then we'll be good friends and you can follow along and declutter with us. There's just something about seeing another friend's messy home that makes me like them a little more. I like real. So if a friend stops by today and they see the mounds of toys from my toddler, craft projects from my 9yr old, tape on every surface (from my child who likes tape as much as glitter) and strewn clothes from everyone, well...... I'll proudly walk you (stepping carefully over our piles of stuff) to my newly organized pantry. Then, I'll pick your socks up off the ground and hand them to you. Because this pantry will knock your socks off when you know the insanely messy family I'm up against!

As for tomorrow- get ready to declutter the counters!