The Great Clean Out/Up/Order of 2013

Okay, I used to be pretty OCD.

It had tamped down before I had the kids and then things went all a kilter.

I mean, I could have run a massive military effort with my schedule from the triplets first year.  I’ll post pictures.  It was insane.  Meds, doctor visits, bathroom doings, feedings, etc, all on this master spreadsheet.  Down to the minute.  Pretty much from the day they came home (at four weeks) until right around 12 months.  Hard. Core.

But the house.  Oh mercy.  The house went topsy-turvy.

First, it was all the baby crap.

Then it was toys.

It’s still toys.  They’re not as large.  But there are more of them.  And a LOT of broken pieces.

And God love my nanny, she is a saint and a rock star and a warlord all rolled into one, and she tries to make order out of the chaos.  The bills and papers and coupons and toys and hair barrettes and miscellaneous toy tires and CDs and socks (lord help us, the socks).  So she puts things in shelves.  And cabinets.  And drawers.  And garbage bags inside of shelves and cabinets and drawers.

When I get home, it doesn’t look like we’re in the middle of a war-torn country or an episode of Hoarders, but it’s sort of hard to find stuff.  A lot of stuff has gone missing.  Seriously. Like I can’t find the trumpet that Santa brought the eldest last year.  It’s not a sock.  It’s a trumpet.  And it’s missing.  I think I would have noticed accidentally tossing it in the trash.

So whenever someone asked me what I was most excited about when taking off both Christmas and New Year’s weeks, I told them: The Great Clean Out of 2013.    They looked at me like I had a third eye, but I was serious.  You need DAYS to undertake an effort such as this.  And since it would be broken up with holidays so that entire days were killed in the process, it would take the entire two weeks.

I’m a week in, friends.  I’m feeling good.  It turned out to be more than a clean out though.  It was a clean out.  To date I have packed up three boxes and eight bags of items for Goodwill and already deposited one car full on their doorstep.

More so, it was finding things, tossing things, and organizing things.

Take for example, the hall linen closet.  I love linens.  I used to entertain.  So I collected napkin rings and table cloths and placemats.  I no longer entertain.  Or entertain an audience that requires more than goldfish and apple juice.  Therefore, the linen closet was collecting a lot of dust and a lot of non-linen items.  The door came off the hinges it was billowing out with so many things.  While I retained my favorite linens, I do plan to entertain again in say five or six years, I eliminated some and gutted everything that wasn’t a linen in the linen closet.  Waalaa:

 

Our kitchen table room had become our art room too.  We have a cast off sideboard that towered with so many coloring books and art supplies that they collapsed.  We lost a globe to the art avalanche of the summer.  Thanks to a little elbow grease, a large trash can, and a too big credit card bill to Target (the store that can do anything for you), our kitchenette now looks like this:

(Individual totes for each kids crayons, glue and scissors, and then shelves dedicated to color books, activity books, games, and additional art supplies. And yes, I’m putting on new pulls, but they didn’t all get “pulled” before this post.)

The kids play room, while certainly not at the end goal yet, hey we have four year old triplets, is so much better because things have a place.  Cars in one spot.  Musical instruments in another.  Balls here and farm play here.  Play kitchen items actually are in the play kitchen.  The bookshelf was edited, yes we read A LOT, and books organized by size with the help of the kids:

Y’all, I feel like a new person.  Next up, I’m painting my laundry room (later this week) and setting up my permanent office on the side of the guest bedroom (it’s been in pretty sad transition since it was evicted from what’s now the little lady’s room).  Wish me luck!

{Oh and friends, I am SO EXCITED to share about a new website I’m a part of that launches TODAY – God-sized Dreams!  My post tomorrow and Friday will share more, but for now, head over there!  And enter the give away! And subscribe!}