Moved Again... hopefully the last time!

We moved during covid. Sold our lard home and down sized to get ready for retirement in a few months or years.  Since then we have done several projects, I'll see if I have before and after photos. We did purge a lot more stuff. I also happily shared many things with both our daughters who now live near and our youngest daughter was just starting out, so I told her to tell me what she wanted /needed and I'd give it to her and I would get a new one, if I need it. 

Works great, kids starting out don't need new things, they just need things. And it makes me happy to get sparkling new things like a bigger kitchen aid mixer,  food storage containers, plain white dishes, etc. 

I'm also going to be a grandma for the first time soon, so I am over the moon excited. I plan to sort of child proof a few things, but more like rubber bands around kitchen and bathroom cabinets, the majority of my cleaners are in the laundry room anyway. 

Ok so time to get at it. 

Today's project! 

Under the kitchen sink. 

I had organized under the kitchen sink. It's kind of working, but I'm not loving it. So pulling everything out and putting it back better and removing the recycling bin. 

I already put down an under sink mat to wipe up any spills or leaks. 

i have a bin with dish soap that has a tube which feeds to the pump above the sink. 

Uner that is a bin turned on its side to raise the soap, and houses empty jars to repurpose for grease to throw away. (Or if I need to rejar something in the firdge) 

my dust rag wrapped around the van of spray and put into a large plastic drink cup.

did the same with the rag for stainless steel cleaner. The drying mats are rolled and put in a cup. 

Just found this white bin at Walmart I put towels and spray cleaners in it. It's labeled to be for closet shelves for stacks of clothes. I guess that would work too. 

The Fresh and clean caddy eas also from Walmart. 

I clipped rubber gloves with a cloths pin and hung on a command hook. 

Also have the fire extinguisher in front of the dishwasher tables. 

So that's a good organizing morning! 

Heading to Walmart to pick up new garbage and recycling bins... Please Stand by. 

This is Kid's Stuff!

I'm not sure about you, but as a kid I didn't have as much "stuff" to deal with. I didn't have a cell phone, computer, the volume of toys and doodads kids do now days. For the most part, we did homework, went outside and watched TV. We lived without social media... and survived!!! Wow! Our rooms didn't have toys in them, it was clothing, a bed and a few personal items and memories.

Getting back to organizing.... I struggled for a long time knowing what to do with the "stuff" in life because it was new to me. I had to learn how to deal with it one item at a time. The answer to some of the stuff was absolutely nothing. Yep, nothing! Somethings I realized were only going to be temporary ... I could let them bother me or understand it has a purpose and will be gone soon. I focused instead on organizing things that will be here longer and needed a system...So what kinds of things did I ignore organizationally?

Large pieces of baby equipment... I wanted to compartmentalize them so that they could be used and put away, but that is not practical. When you have a baby and all the stuff they have tends to be large and take over your house/life. Instead spend time organizing things that will truly save you time... like the changing table... make it efficient and idiot proof for all the changing that will happen. You will only trip over the swing for a couple months until you lend it to a friend or give it back to the friend that lent it to you. 

I eventually stopped trying to organize or micromanage some one else stuff. It's an uphill battle that just leaves us both feeling underwhelmed. I obviously waited until they are old enough... I mean I didn't let my 2 year old organize or put laundry away. (Mostly because they were older when I decided to change my ways!) Seriously though, have your child in the room helping with organizing putting things where they go at a young age. Then as they mature only offer help occasionally.  If you teach them the skills, (how to do laundry, group like thing together, knowledge that if you put it in the wrong place you'll never find it again) and give them a checklist (on a clipboard, so it won't get lost)  they can then feel independent and a sense of accomplishment. Real life skills!  If they can't find something, that's on them LOL!  If all else fails shut the door!  You will now have much more time for your own organizing.

I also stopped organizing things I didn't want to keep. I got rid of them instead. Easy enough! I've seen organizers use a well marked box in the closet or laundry room. It can say donate, doesn't fit, I hate this, or what ever you want. If that keeps you from keeping things intermingled with the stuff you like great!
However, I just go through the closet when I feel the urge and rip stuff off hangers and throw it in the car. I get inspired when I run out of hangers so instead of buying new hangers ... remove things that you don't wear, doesn't fit, stained, out of style.
Instead of buying rough totes to store things in the attic or basement ... make sure you like it, want it, or need it. Do what works for your sanity!

Dad, it is Time Move

Dad fell on the icy back porch 2 years ago, and this Thanksgiving, he had another fall. With a gash in his forehead and 4 broken ribs, he spent time in a rehab nursing home before being released to go home. Now that he's back to driving, he's still going around trying to get things done. God love him, he's an ornery 80 year old man and I would swear he is still a little kid at heart. He would do anything for anyone, but trying to get him to settle down now that he's feeling more like himself is a challenge. He volunteered at a food pantry every Monday, but helped unload the truck on Fridays and set up the coffee Sunday evenings so it could just be plugged in, he had silver sneakers program on 2 days a week, Wednesday night a planned meal with his group, lunches certain days of the week and he visited my mom everyday... I teased he needed to go back to work so he could relax!

My Mom is going on 4 years living in a local Alzheimers care Facility.  My sister and brother and their families still live in our home town, I also have a sister and her family are 2 1/2 hours away and we are 12 hours by car. Which leaves my Dad living alone in a large 2 story home, that once lovingly housed our family of 6. My family moved to this house in November of 1969 before I was born. It's the only house I lived in until I got married. Mom and Dad stripped every piece of wood work, rewired, replaced cracked plaster walls and ceilings with drywall, built a garage, and so many more projects along the way. They made that house of theirs a home. The neighborhood was once a better situation. Living near a college campus, in the older area of town, is sometimes like that. The house is  too big, too hard to keep clean and too dangerous as well. If only we could get dad out of that big house!

We had him convinced he needed to move to a smaller home without a basement to fall into and realization of how convenient having a bedroom, laundry and a shower on the first floor would be. My sister found the perfect house for him that was just a bit to high priced for its condition and location. He really liked it and did offer a low bid but it wasn't accepted right away With too much time passing, he changed his mind about moving all together. He said he's getting along just fine there. He decided that there are too many things on his current home to do list that needed to be taken care of first before he could think of selling. To much stuff in the attic the 4 bedrooms, office, closets, garage and basement.

When I was just there 2 weeks ago, we tried to make a dent in things... we went through 2 bedroom closets and a few piles of things he wanted me to see. At least a little progress has been made. I took home a Quilt mom made so I have 3 for my kids now. I also identified a few things for them not to sell or give away that I would like.

My son stayed an extra week and helped my sister take a whole wall stacked with boxes full of papers from the attic. My brother took a full filing cabinet and a dresser that was full of odds and ends out of there. She said they still owned every utility bill they ever had. There was even a box of paperwork under a bed that had check statements and cashed checks from 1968 before they moved to that house. Mom probably didn't know what to do with them before or after the move. My sister has access to a big shredder... thank you sister!! The attic is still full.

She has also been organizing her own home for a while now. She said that she learned if something that her family decided to get rid of sits around too long it gets drug back in. So knowing this, she said if something is not worth selling or keeping, it has to leave dads house right away. She also has given him an assignment to fill the garbage and recycling bin each week. His cans are not a very big, so if you don't fill it up it was missed opportunity to get rid of things.

Everyone is identifying things that they will like someday and if he doesn't need it he's letting them have it now rather than later. I'm sure there will be a smile on his face with each item he tells of where it came from and the story behind it. Other things that are from the family that the 4 off us don't plan to keep, he plans to send photos to family (cousins) and allow them to come get them too... all is good.

Dad is willing to have a garage sale in the summer so I guess every extra minute they all have will be spent getting things rounded up that dad is ready to part with. He doesn't want things just thrown away if there still good use to get out of it. If someone can use it he wants it to go to someone who could use it. Commendable, however with this much stuff and having a time line... some things will have to go! My brother plans to host the garage sale at his house so things that don't sell won't go back in the house. they will just go to goodwill or salvation army. Great plan!

He's making a list of things he needs to get done around the house and my brother and sisters and their families are helping cross them off. My sister's plan is that when the next home that hits the market and is perfect for him... nothing will be left to hold him back.

The moral of the story is to not hold onto paper work and things that are no longer needed. Shread or recycle unnecessary papers, give things away or sell them while they are still useful and don't build up and become such a burden later. Sure you will have keep sakes and treasures, but if they are buried in junk... how can they shine?

Just Thinking ... I know it's dangerous!!

I have come to one conclusion, organizing not only a process, but a perpetual journey that has no end .... Are we truly EVER totally organized? We as humans are always changing... getting new things, moving, children get older, even technology can change things... so every now and then we will need to organize to evolve with the changes.

Moved

Yep! We moved before I could get a chance to get organized at the last house.

This is our new one. So exciting being in a new location! It's been about a year since we have moved... so time to get back to pretending to be organized:)

As we thought about the move I couldn't decide what to do with many things, so my husband told me they were going to go. Going to go? I couldn't think about getting rid of so much stuff! I was a home daycare provider in but planned to find a new job, so all the daycare equipment and toys went. We purged clothing, garage stuff we kept just because there was room for it, really anything sitting around that I didn't have a good reason for keeping it... WENT! We donated most things to family and friends or Goodwill. The rest went in the trash or on the curb. I should have taken photos of the big purge... but it happened so fast I could hardly keep up with holding the door for all of it to go. I'm sure things were removed while I wasn't looking too.

We worried going from a house in Illinois with a 3 car garage and basement to a house in Texas with undersized 2 car garage and no basement was going to be a problem. It really wasn't, garage isn't deep enough to pull my van in, so 1 car is in the garage and 2 park outside... Now the extra car-bay is where our son creates pallet furniture.  There is also a game room and a media room upstairs that acts as the space we had in the basement... just exposed storage.

Still... what we did keep, needed new homes and an organized way of keeping it. I've been working on things for the past 9 months... progress, but things aren't totally there yet.

I'll have to agree my craft stuff (that I had not touched for years before the move...that I said I had to keep) still has not been touched for almost a year now. My son and I have created a few pallet projects an needed some of the acrylic paint. I sewed a nap-mat for my Nephew.. other than that... no stamping, no scrapbooking, no crafting.

The closet under the stairs contains: Christmas decor and craft materials.
#1 sell/purge stamps and stamp pads
#2 sell/purge Scrapbook stuff

Our guest room closet houses our oldest daughters memories and other things I don't know what to do with (decorations, empty storage totes, empty boxes, organizing stuff, air mattresses).
#3 define what should be in guest closet and remove/sell the rest.

Game Room has shelving from the playroom at the last house. It is repurposed to hold the books from the office, cords, fabric and scrapbook paper .

Media room has shelving from the last garage, holding Blackhawks collectables and extra blankets & pillows. We have movies in bins, games systems  and games to deal with as well. This room has a large couch that can sleep a few extra guests.

Laundry room holds washer, dryer, ironing board, step stool, vacuum, carpet cleaner, floor steamer, TP, tissues and too many cleaning products. Needs help in there!!

First floor office has a single bed for when his mom comes to visit, a shelf that needs to be reworked and a desk with 2 filing cabinets. My husband uses the office to work from home on Friday.

Coat closet (strange location) holds coats, hats, gloves, pool towels and pool misc. Need to tidy it up.

Bedroom has an Ikea expedit shelving with cubbies full of photo albums, photos in boxes, genealogy info and memories from the kids.
#4 I still need to scan photos and upload them:)

Those are the problems to start with... hopefully I'll get them under control quicker than the last house.

Happy Spring!!

Cords Be Gone!

Behind the dark recesses of our TV, was a mess of cords and cables that may have given one nightmares of being strangled! Hopefully, in the not so distant future, there will be electronics without cords. But until then, it's a challenge to make sense of all those cords!
I tackled the mess thanks to a few tips I saw on Pinterest, and  I was successfully able to tame our cord clutter behind the TV.

Before

After

 Better!  Ahhhhh:)

A little hard to see the after photo. I mounted the 2 power strips to the back of the entertainment center. Labeled all plugs, removed cords that were not being used, and after plugging in each item I looped the excess cord with a twist tie. Now I don't dread looking back there or fear a fire!

Don't let organizing tools become clutter!

On an episode of Hoarders, a lady's a room had stuff piled to the ceiling.  Much of her stuff was junk, however, she also had WAY too much ORGANIZING stuff. She couldn't even organize the stuff because the organizing stuff was in the way. Crazy! It's been a long time since I saw that episode, however I think of it every time I go to our basement to see my stock pile of organizing bins.

Why do I hoard storage containers?
1. They didn't work for that situation but they might for the next.
2. They are great tools to sort with
3. You never know when you will need to grab a stack of containers to empty a room.
4. If I get rid of it I will need it tomorrow.
5. I think I am an addict....

How to make the decision  ... how many is too many to keep?
This is a personal decision, and really depends on how close to the end of your organizational journey you are, I suppose.  If I was completely organized and our household was just my husband and I... we probably wouldn't need as many empty containers. Who am I kidding, I'd still try to find a way to keep them.

What I can do to encourage me to let a few go?
Our daughter is moving again, and will need containers for long term storage. Many of these can go to help her.
I want my storage room to be nice looking, so any containers that are not the same size and shape take up more space on the shelves/floor so those can go.
As I send things to good will or salvation army, donate the container with the stuff.

If they do not stack/nest they do not stay:)

TIP
How to not have too many in the first place? Follow the advice of the organizers... don't organize until you purge. After you purge, group like things together, plan the space, then purchase containers or re-purpose old ones for the space.

Here is my start:
A contained area of stacked/nested containers, and a pile to go:) Its a start... but a few more should go!