Closet Cleanout and Reorganization

I was sort of sad to have to clear out most of Boston's newborn-3 month clothing and restock with his 3-6 month stuff. About 1/4 of his 0-3 month outfits still fit him. Of the ones that didn't most were just wayyy too short for him and he looked like he was wearing Simon Cowell V-necks! He's a long boy! I kept a gift bag in the closet to put his outgrown clothes in. As you can see in the picture below, it was starting to really overflow, so I just decided to get a tote and tackle this closet. I want to keep everything as neat and organized as I can so it will be easier to go through and use for future kids.

Here is the closet before the restock:



And with the new clothes (and some old that still fit):



I can't believe my baby has grown so much already! It really does go by too fast!

Taking Time

Ryan went to Costco this morning and got me lots of fruit. Apples, oranges, bananas and my favorite, strawberries! I thought I'd take a moment to stop and just enjoy the little things.



Then I snapped back to reality and rolled up my sleeves. I haven't been working in here long today, this is pretty much just what I'd done the other day. I'm a ROCKSTAR at getting things into piles and moving them from place to place around the room. Haha! Seriously, I have a motivation problem these days.



I figured Boston could supervise, but he's been sleeping on the job. He sure is cute though.

Spring Cleaning

Not too long ago I posted about how badly my office needed cleaned and organized. Do you think it's done? Ha! Hardly! I went through a bunch of papers on the desk and put them into piles and that's about as far as I've gotten. I haven't been particularly busy or anything, but I've just been spent. My get up and go, has gotten up and went. I've been feeling down about my grandpa the past few weeks.



Just today I fed Boston and said to myself "Self, just DO SOMETHING!" So I did. I vacuumed. We have a bagless vacuum and thank goodness for that because the garbage can had about 25 puppies in it. There is SO.MUCH.DOG.HAIR.IN.THIS.HOUSE!!! I'm constantly picking dog hair off of Boston and his clothes and blankets. Out of his mouth even! Ugh! I gave Judy a bath a few weeks ago. Walters bath is still pending. Ryan and I tried for about an hour one night to get him in the tub. We got him in a few times, but he'd struggle right back out. I don't know what his deal is! Once he's in the bath and getting scrubbed he loves it, but he always makes a huge production out of getting in. I've been brushing both dogs daily and that seems to be helping with the shedding. I don't know if this is a weird year and they're shedding more, or if I just never really noticed how bad it was before? Weird.

Another thing I want to get to very soon is raking the yard. Not just the leaves, oh no, I have lots of dog poop to rake up too. It's seriously a dog poop graveyard in the back side yard. So gross! I have all sorts of cleaning, purging and organizing plans to fill my weekend. Let's just see if I can actually find the motivation that seems to be hiding from me lately.

Motivation? Yes Please!

Lately I've had no problem keeping up with day to day housework and laundry. I've actually never been more caught up on laundry in my life. Weird. I spent the third trimester of my pregnancy trying to organize things around here but there was one place that became a major dumping ground and storage area: the office. I thought that if I posted these embarrassing pictures of the state it's in, I'd have to clean up my act and show some after shots. Now how's that for motivation? I need to show I can redeem myself, haha.

It all started when I started storing all of Boston's stuff in there before getting his room. Even now, there's just a path to the computer and back out there door, it's ridiculous! We bought a new TV back in January that is still in the box and shoved just to the side of the walkway. Why explain it, let me just SHOW you the mess.

WARNING: It took great courage for me to show the state of this disaster area. I'm extremely ashamed and totally embarrassed by how it looks. This door is the first one to get closed anytime we have anyone over, look below and you'll see why.


No, you're not looking at images from Hoarders, this is my office!

Where do I even start. Embarrassed yet? Yes I am! See, you can barely get in the door these days. Picture frames, clothes and books are stacked on and behind the ginormous TV that's still in the box and blocking the way. Do you SEE any space available to even set a pen on the desk area? Nope.



Oh good, there's some of the painting supplies from some of my nursery projects! Even my keyboard is getting in on some of the stacking action!



There is actually another computer hiding on this desk...somewhere. There really just are no words for this. I don't even want to come into this room!



To the right we have a huge pile of things to go to Goodwill and empty boxes and packing supplies. I can't even get to the closet to see what all is going on in there. I'm sure what's behind door number 2 is just as bad. Ugh!

So, now that I have this hot mess posted, I'll have to work on it and get it organized so that I can show some afters. Good motivation? I think so!

The Big Checklist: Even Though He's Here...

Even though Boston has been here for almost three weeks (has it really been that long already?!) I am still not done with everything in his room! We are really getting there though. Here's my ongoing big checklist. Not much left to cross off!



- Cut and hem curtains and add elephants
- Install curtain rod and hang curtains
- Put crib together
- Paint all picture frames, frame art and hang.
- Make crib skirt
- Make crib quilt (contingent on crib measurements once it's set up)
- Make pillows
- Put up shelves (this one might be awhile, I got the wrong brackets at Ikea)

Here is the list of things still to get:

- Crib Mattress pad
- Moby wrap
- Burp Rags
- Wet bags for diapers
- Newborn grooming supplies
- Non-baby looking diaper bag
- Night light

I've been working on cutting out the quilt blocks every week when we go to my in-laws for dinner. It seems that when I'm at home I don't want to work on it for some reason. Maybe I'll get a fire lit under me and get them all cut out so that I can just start sewing, that's the fun/easy part. Cutting them out sucks! I've worn a horrible line into my cutting mat. It means I have to run the rotary cutter over and over and over the fabric to cut it. I only have about 6 different prints (6 blocks per print) left to cut out, so I got that going for me.

Ryan's mom finished the crib skirt. I have to iron it and get it "installed" in the crib and then that's finished. I can't wait to see the crib all put together with the bedding! I guess the only hang up now is my getting that quilt done!

As for his shelves. I realllly want to get this done. I have 2 options. Either have Ryan's brother's family that's coming up from Astoria sometime in May make an Ikea run and get the right sized shelf, or have Ryan custom make something. Either way, it will be nice to get them up! There is a lot of stuff hiding in drawers ready to be put out!

Closet and Drawerganization

I've had this post ready to go for quite some time, I just forgot to post it. So here is the before and after of Boston's closet.



Here's the closet before any painting or shelves.


After painting and having the shelving installed.


Chock full of 0-3month clothing! The stuff in the tote drawers will go on his shelves when those are done.


A few more views:






Also, here's a peek into a few of his dresser drawers. I just love little baby shoes and socks!


I still have a long way to go to get enough cloth diapers! He should be able to start wearing them in about a month, I can't wait!

Closet Divider Project

This was a quick little project. This was more for Ryan than for me. I wanted to be able to hang a lot of the clothes in the closet and it seemed like a good idea to have dividers between the different sizes. Nothing fancy, but it works.

I just got some closet dividers pretty cheaply on ebay, 4/$1 scrapbook paper, and used my Mod Podge that I already had.

Off the Deep End: Deep Cleaning Fun

Not. Okay, there's every day cleaning and DEEP cleaning. I've been doing a lot of the latter the past few days and it is NOT fun. I think Ryan must think I've gone crazy, but I'm cleaning and re-cleaning cupboards, corners, nooks and crannies. It's so hard with a big ol' belly in the way. There's still so much clutter all around and I just want to get rid of everything!




I've been pretty exhausted this past week, so that doesn't help my "need to clean" at all. Saturday I took a five hour nap. I didn't even know I was capable of doing that! Normally I can get tired in the middle of the day, but when it comes to actually shutting my eyes, forget it. Just talking about napping is making me tired. I still have a lot to do around here, I haven't even really touched the tip of the iceberg. I feel like time is running out so fast and I just want to at least be able to have a clean house before the baby is born. Only 19 days till my due date, and I know it's going to fly by.

Let the Nesting Begin!

I think a little thing called nesting has hit me! I've been trying to get the nursery together and plan out what else we need for it, but it's been a slow process. I've been EXHAUSTED the past three days. Exhausted and in massive amounts of late third trimester pain. Anytime I have a moment of energy I try and take advantage of it.

I was looking for a pair of nail clippers this morning and after rummaging through a bathroom drawer for at least 5 minutes I finally found some, sweet. Not so sweet: Not being able to close the drawer afterward. I opened a few other drawers and realized, I never use most of this stuff, yet there is so much of it. I better get on top of this NOW. Time to get drawerganized!I emptied every drawer and cleared out under the sink and took everything out to the living room to sort it.

It was a huge wake up call to realize that I had perfumes and lotions from 2001 in that stuff! Why was I holding onto these things? It's not like they carried any emotional attachment. I realized it was because every time I'd move, I'd just pack everything and then unpack everything. Not really realizing that DUH, I don't need it AND it would probably give me some sort of illness because it had rolled past it's expiration date at least 30 times over by now.


Image courtesy of Google

It feels SO good to start out with a new garbage bag in the can and just start chucking. I also had a small box set aside for jewelry and other small odds and ends to donate to Goodwill. The thing that contained the most items bye far was the garbage can, which was good because that's less to haul back into the bathroom and find a new home for.

I know that no one really ever sees inside my drawers and under the sink, but just MY knowing that they are neat and orderly and free of now toxic (because of the whole expiration date thing) substances feels great.

Getting Organized

When trying to organize closets, my biggest problem is that I get overwhelmed just looking at the large task at hand. I try to break the job up into smaller parts. These days it's really hard for me to get motivated. I have all these ideas of things I want to do, but even thinking about them exhausts me. I'd really like an organized house before the baby comes, because everyone knows that once the baby is there, it's hard to start a project!


Photo from RealSimple

Last week I saw a few shirts falling off hangers in my closet and I thought to myself 'Why do I even still have this? I haven't worn it in ages.' That jump started a mass closet clean out. I accumulated 2 large black lawn bags of clothing and shoes to take to Goodwill. This jump started a frenzy in me. I want to get everything organized everywhere in my home!

The main space I need to go through and organize is our garage. It became the dumping ground when we bought our house. Everything is mostly in totes and boxes stacked on shelves. The problem is, I couldn't tell you what is in all those totes and boxes. We've been here over 2 1/2 years, I think it's about time to get organized! I think I'll have to start with all the closets in the house and attempt to tackle the garage sometime this spring after Little Man is born.

For those that know me well, I'm the person everyone gives things to when they don't want them anymore. I'm the hand me down queen. Seeing a few episodes of Hoarders, I realized maybe I have a slight problem. I don't openly seek out things, though, which is good. I slowly accumulate and then I don't get rid of things. I'm pretty sentimental, so holding onto things that remind me of this or that has been a small problem for me. I have pretty much everything from high school through college sitting in totes under Ryan's parents house that I need to go through too! I'm just itching to finally get rid of things.



One of my big problems is trying to decide if I'm going to need something in the future. I know there is the old rule of thumb that if you haven't used something in the past X amount of months, chances are you can live without it. I realize Ryan and I have a lot of electronics and computer components, wires, and gadgets that are archaic and 99% of which we'll never use again, but we hold onto them regardless. I think it's time to really evaluate what needs to go! The downside is that Ryan is pretty sentimental like I am; so we both are sitting at Pack Rat status.

A tip I've learned is that if something means a lot to you, and it really has no use to you. You can take a picture of it and then get rid of it. That way you'll still have the memory of what it looked like without it taking up precious real estate in your home! I'm sure this won't work for the things that really mean a LOT to you, but for some things it would be fine. Now to start following my own advice. I want 2011 to be a year of personal growth, not material growth. For every new thing I bring home, I want to get rid of 2 or more. With the baby, that might be difficult as he needs his own things.

I have a feeling that I will be visiting the Goodwill store a lot in the coming weeks/months, and not as a shopper this time!