Brittany is grounded.

All in favor???

I !

Okay Britt. No feeding Baby W, or eating, or sleeping, or going to the bathroom until you have photos of your and Cambrey's hard work.

......Um......excuse me while this hypocrite goes to do some procrastinated organizing.

Where oh where has my weekend gone?

I cannot believe I woke up this morning and it was Monday.  Monday of all things...UGH!  I had such plans for the weekend.  I was going to get help Brittany clean her desk, which I thought would take an hour or so....UM nope, I had forgotten that it had all those stinkin' shelves (I still love you Britt).  5 hours later I headed home...2 hours of an argument later I went to bed....doing nothing in my own space.  Then Sunday came and I spent that with family and now Monday is here and I am getting ready to take Hayden to school, go to the doctor's, and see what else my life brings...which may include a trip to COSTCO for food.  UGH UGH and UGH.  I need to get my space done.  I want so badly to make these great changes in my life, but life keeps getting in the way.

Roadblock

MONEY MONEY MONEY by the pounds.  That is what I need to really get things done.  I want to do this "right", mostly because I don't want to redo it later when I have the money.  This is especially true in my craft room.  This is where I am the most and this is what needs the most work.  So I am stuck.  I want to paint the room, and yes that can wait and I can paint around the desk I want to mount to the wall, but it is the desk and shelves that I NEED to finish....and that takes the one thing I don't have $$$$$.  I know I sound like I am complaining, and I really don't mean to.  I have had a TON of $$$$ help to get as far as I have.  But I am not done.  I am no where near done and I don't want to wait til I get my taxes back to be done (That will be about a month).  UGH.  Besides that my emotional life is falling apart so I have less than NO motivation.

This concludes today's portion of my "PLEASE PITY ME RANT"....Thank you for listening.

Confessions of a messy house...

It's 4:45 AM, and I am unable to sleep. My thoughts have turned to the project of the day: finishing "day 1" and the junk area... moving on to the computer desk. Why have I been so resistant to doing this project? When Summer suggested it, I was TOTALLY ready (and have been for years) to de-clutter and get organized. Why has it not been a priority? During my early morning think session, things have become a little more clear to me.

My belief about life has been that life happens to you- you don't control it... you spend all your time moving from one project to the next- frustrated, tired, out of control. My lifetime wish has always been to be a mother, and children come first. I will gladly drop a day of cleaning to spend a day with nieces & nephews, or any little friends that might come my way. Besides, playing is SO much more fun that cleaning, everyone knows that! It's a "game" I play... what can I do to get out of cleaning today?

3 nights ago, while we were sharing a birthday celebration with a 1 year old nephew, my neighbor passed away. She was nearly 89 and had lived a very full, wonderful life, and I know we are going to miss her dearly. It has been difficult for me to see her family members gather... making plans for the future of her home, etc. It really struck me last night- if I were to pass tonight, what would people find in my home, and what would they have to deal with? I hardly ever invite people in as it is, because I am so embarrased by my home. It's also a reflection of who I am. I hardly ever invite friends to be deep, true friends, because I am so embarrased by the shape my body is in- I have SO many "surface friends" but deep down I know that's all they are, because that's all I allow them to be. I have not really believed I am worth it... another "game" I have played.

It's wonderful when you have these "ah-ha" moments... and what makes the difference is acting on them- not just packing them away somewhere in the back of your mind. I have so much cleaning to do in my house, I am sure I could fill a dumpster with all the excess. The computer desk alone will take the good part of a day. That day is today. Pictures will be posted some time later this evening- and progress will be made- one piece of clutter at a time!

Check List

Hey all,

Just wanted you to know where I am since I haven't posted anything for a bit.

Junk Drawer? Check.
Computer Desk? Check check.
Tupperware Cabinet? Check check check.
Under kitchen sink? Checkedy check.

Then here's where I've come to a hault. The linnen closet stumped me. I had to wait till payday (today) in order to be able to afford some space saver bags. I've also been dealing with 4 children with strep and a first birthday to celebrate. Now that things are on the mend over here (and a paycheck was recieved)  I am going to get busy. I have a lot planned for today but it may not be in order according to "the list".

How is everyone else doing? We are here to motivate and support each other. Britt, if you need Cambrey and/or I to come hold Baby W for an hour each day, we'd be happy to if it means you will get things accomplished. Lets make it a productive day ladies!!! No going idle!!!

Ready? Set. GO!

Day 8, The Coat Closet

....Pulled from A bowl full of lemons

Day #8 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The Coat Closet)

I thought today would be the perfect day to conquer a closet... the coat closet if you have one. If you don't, then organize another closet in your home.  My coat closet is used for "junk" cleaners that I no longer use... but refuse to throw away. So, I guess I will continue to store them and hopefully give them away soon (maybe at my garage sale, I can put them in a box and give em away).  Anyways... this is a "hot spot" for me because I dont have a lot of storage in my house so this is where it all goes.  Our coats get hung in the hallway on a coat hook, rack -thingamy bob. PLEASE BEWARE... THIS IS NOT A PRETTY ORGANIZED SPACE.... but it is functional for us.  I'm excited for this challenge. I cant wait to see what you do too.

No step by step instructions today... I think you have all learned my system of organizing a space. Now make me proud!

Day 7, The Pantry

....Pulled from A bowl full of lemons

My challenge for you

1.  Take a picture of this space.

2. Empty your ENTIRE pantry! You heard me girlfriend... ALL of it. ;)

3.  Wipe it clean... mop it if it requires a good cleaning. 

4. Get your trash can and start purging the out dated food.

5.  Get LOTS of organizing bins & your labeler.  You will need them in this space.

6.Have fun!  This is a fun space to organize.  

7. YAY! Your finished.  Take your "after" picture & don't forget to come back to share with us.

Cambrey...Day six: The Dresser Drawers

OK so when I started this I though, well gee this is an easy one....WRONG!!!!!!  It sent me in a spiral to clean the master bedroom since you couldn't even see the floor.  I am not done in there yet, and I am sad to say I didn't take before pictures because I just dove into it while doing the dresser.....but here are the dresser drawer before and after pictures.  My husband, who is the one that uses the dresser, lost over 55 tee shirts when I did this, and still had enough to fill the drawers.

BEFORE

 This is now completely cleared off.

and the after

he has more pants, I just washed them all

Day six: The Dresser Drawers

My challenge for you

1. Take a "before" picture of the contents of your dresser, exactly as it is now.  (We don't have to see the booty drawer, if you dont feel comfy about it!) If you dont have a dresser, find a set of "drawers" somewhere in the house.

2.  Now, empty it all onto your bed.  

3. Get your 3 boxes (keep, toss, donate) and start separating. Try them on if you have to.

4. Okay, now neatly fold all of the clothes and put them back in an organized fashion. 

5. While you are at it,  you can clear the clutter on the top of your dresser too... in the same fashion as the clothing sort.  Remove everything, give it a good cleaning, and toss what you don't need on there.

5. Easy,peasy... Your done!  It was a simple challenge, but gives a great feeling of satisfaction that it was done!  Take your "after" picture and come back & share with us!    

Cambrey: Under the Kitchen Sink

Can I say that I hate my townhouse?  I love it, but I hate it.  The contractors did a crappy job.  Well the kitchen sink is part of that.  The cupboard is soooooo small it doesn't hold anything....WAIT....stop the presses, maybe that is a good thing.  I mean, as long as it holds what I need right?  So without further ado....here is the dreaded before.

 

 

 

What the old shelf liner looked like (On the left)
(barf here)

and then this is what it looked like under the shelf liner.

And since I had to declutter in here, and move some items around I cleaned the cupboard above my fridge to make room for some of the excess items.

This is what the dust on top of the fridge looked like.  I actually went through THREE Swiffer pads to dust it.  YUCK. YUCK. YUCK.

And this is the cupboard.

 Left Side of cupboard

 Right side of cupboard

And under the kitchen sink.

I put all the gallon sized cleaners in the basement and threw away a TON of stuff that was either gross or didn't have enough stuff in it to justify saving.

Day 1... and a half, and a half, and a half...

And the journey begins! This life's philosophy is "Life happens. If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger!" I started out so well working on my junk area (we don't have a junk drawer...) With a 5 month old baby, a husband out of town, and a few little melt downs along the way, Day 1 is still not complete!!! I thought I would start off by posting a picture of the "before" - and when I finish the area, we can all celebrate! My 21 days may not all be "in a row" but they will all come to fruition!!! So, as I said, day 1 and a half....

Summer. Day 5.....Under the Kitchen Sink

Okay. Here's where I blush with embarrassment. This is ugly.

I started by taking e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g out. -All while Baby J was asleep so he wasn't into the chemicals.

 This photo does the left over mess no justice. Whatever this gunk is, I had a rough time getting it off. It took spraying water on it to let it soak then alternating scraping and scrubbing with the brush to the right for a good 15+ minutes. Ick! However, I was left with this beautiful clean slate. Yeah!

 The bins I have in there will have to do for now but I can tell it's not a completely full functioning cabinet yet. But here's a breakdown of what I've got.

 This is the complete ensemble. 2 bins filled with cleaners, gloves, and anything to do the dirty work.

 I hung our fire extinguisher up so it's easily accessible but out of the way.

 These stackable bins are housing scrubbers and drain plugs (Top) and rags (Bottom).

This bin is filled with the cleaners most used whereas the other bin has things like Goo Gone that doesn't get used all the time. This felt good to get done. It definitely wasn't top of my list ever to do but now that it's done, I'm feeling pretty good!

On a side note: Miss T said the other day that she thinks this is a really good thing for all of us. I couldn't agree more. ♥

Day 5..... Under the Kitchen Sink

.......Pulled from A bowl full of Lemons

A little encouragement to keep you motivated...

This challenge is for YOU! You want your home & life organized.  You're

tired of living in clutter. Thats why you choose to be here this very moment.  You want to be inspired by others. But, what you don't realize is that you are inspiring others. Thats the secret. Make it count! Get up, get dressed, fix your hair, do your make-up & get busy!  YOU are worth it. You are beautiful and an amazing human being. There is only one of you. I'm glad to have you in my life.  Thank you for being here.  I can't wait to see how you inspire me today.

~Toni

My Challenge for you

1. Take a picture of the mess! :)

2. Take everything out of the cabinet... EVERYTHING! (Are you starting to learn the habit? Thats great!)

3.  Wash it down really well & lay some contact paper (if you have some).  Its very inexpensive to purchase... under $6.00 at target and well worth every penny. 

4. Purge, purge, purge!!!  I'm positive that a lot of you have some near empty bottles in there.  Throw them out. They are just taking up space. 

5. Get your organizing bins and place some of them in this space.  They work great here.

6. Now categorize like I did.  Like items with like items.  Cleaning tools, soaps, rags, etc. 

7.  That wasn't hard,was it?  You are finished!  Now take a picture and hurry back to show us all how hard you worked today. Great job!

Cambrey: The Linen Closet

*Disclaimer: I have a horrible head cold and can't take anything for it so if my words are jumbled blame the cold season.*
Ok.  So thankfully my linen closet wasn't that bad (probably because most of it is on the floor in my bedroom waiting to be folded), so it didn't take me long at all.  I did however notice that I had a lot of 1/2 sets of sheets, sets that I thought I had already sent to the DI....hmmmm someone has been messing with my donate piles during previous purges...oh, well they are gone now.  My hardest thing was sticking to the simplicity and trying not to justify keeping stuff I don't need.  For example the towels that don't get used unless the laundry isn't done....well, I soon came to the realization that the less stuff I had the less laundry could accumulate (this came to me as I was loading the washing machine).  Well this may have saved me time, but it may also save me $$$$ since I had considered spending my tax return on a new washer and dryer (I may still do this one day since my washer shakes the entire house (and the neighbors house) when ever the spin cycle starts).

Anyway, I have a little more to put away when laundry is done, and a few refolds on the fitted sheets (I hate those)...but for now here it is. 

Day 4: The Linen Closet

Here's the challenge

1. Take your before picture!

2. Yank EVERYTHING out of there... I mean everything.

3. Now, sweep or vaccuum the floor & wipe down the shelving.

4. Get all of your boxes (keep, toss, donate) & start sorting.  

5. If you have baskets and bins, this is a great place to use them. Place your bins/baskets on the shelving and start organizing. 

6. Categorize everything. ie. Twin, full, queen, king, pillowcases, handtowels, washcloths, etc... Remember to only keep what you USE!  I only kept 2 sets of sheets for each bed.

7. Is your donation box getting full yet?? Remember at the end of this week we will take all donations to goodwill or store them for your spring garage sale.

8. Your finished!!  Now take your after picture and get your tush back here to show us your pretty linen closet.

Summer. Day 3, The Tupperware Drawer.

Hey there! I've been behind on picture taking but I'm still chugging along. This wasn't a difficult one for me at all. I don't have that much tupperware because, 1) This family isn't very big on eating left-overs. 2) Every time we have a family party my siblings always take food home in them and don't bring them back.


BEFORE



....soooo this project took me all of 2 minutes or less. Here are the simple before and after.


AFTER







Day Three: The Tupperware Cupboard.

Here's the challenge... (As Taken From A Bowl Full of Lemons)

1.  Take a picture of the chaos!

2.  Empty it out (onto the floor or counter). Grab your favorite cleaner and wipe out the dust and grime.

3.  Stand back and look at all you have accumilated and kiss A LOT of it goodbye, because...

4.  YOU DONT USE HALF OF IT!  So,  start purging into the donation station or trash.

5. Once you have gone through and separated, now you can start categorizing... like items with like items.

6.  Organizing bins or baskets are a great tool in this cabinet to keep the chaos under control. Keep that in mind, so go find some.

7. Now you can put everything back. I'm so proud of you! Look how "neat" it looks.

8. Your finished.  Take a picture and hurry back to show us your beautiful cabinets!

remember if your space is already clean...take a picture and post it, but by all means pick something else to clean today (and post that too.)

Cambrey's computer desk

Cleaning the TOP of the computer desk was not hard at all (now cleaning the top of my craft desk will take us well into the next new year).  And since my desk is soooo tiny I chose to clean the drawers too. Don't you just love being productive?  Anyway, it is really nice to have the desk cleaned off, now I can use it without having to move things around first.  I need to hand that little file thing still, but I need to wait to do that til I can get my IKEA shelf hung (which I need to wait to do since they didn't have it in stock.)

So now the only thing under the desk is the smaller garbage can (which is only there until I make more space in my disaster of a craft room.)  And yes I LOVE my MAC  :)

Happy cleaning to everyone today...I just hope that my sinus' play nice and let me breath.

Summer. Day 2, The computer Desk

This one took me a bit. Not because of the mess, but because of where to store things so that it stays clean. I think that's more what this is about than just cleaning up. So here we go with the BEFORE photos.

This file cabinet is from our old desk. It's there because we don't know where else to put it.



This is where Kumon, and homework and all the other busy work is done.



The printer is functional but those four cubes certainly aren't being put to good use.

Part of the wrap around desk that is just used as a paper graveyard. Look! ...More pencils and crayons. Ugh.

And the last part of the desk that is not used for it's full potential.

 As you can see, I had my work cut out for me. Although we have a VERY large desk space I constructed while The Husband was away for a business trip, it's not being used for the "write" type of  things. A few days before this challenge, Brandon and I hung a couple of shelves from IKEA and were planning on doing the third but it didn't have the hardware with it so we had to wait. So after a trip back to the beloved store I was able to complete this room. Here are the AFTER photos.

Even Brandon got into the cleaning mood and made my heart flutter by hiding all the dangling cords under the desk. ♥

Here's the beautiful clean corner wrap around. Remember we're a house of 7 when you count 4 chairs and 3 computers in here.

Isn't it lovely???? Storage galore!!!



And look at my mini cubby system for the Kumon packets. Matching boxes for paper and photos. And did you notice now we have a place to hang the kumon bags??? YES!!!



Here's the over-all room. Isn't it wonderful?! The kids did great doing their homework in a clean environment last night and it's our family's new favorite hang-out now. I can't wait for our entire home to be clean and organized so we can fall in love with our home all over again. ♥♥♥

Pulled from a bowl full of lemons........Day 2: The Computer Desk

Today my challenge is for you to clear off, clean up, and organize the top of your computer desk... or whatever desk you have. If your computer isn't on a desk, than clear off the area where it lives. If your desk is already cleaned & organized... find another surface.  No matter what, keep organizing.  It takes 21 days to form a habit. Im training you to become an organized person!  ;)

1.  Take a picture of the area.

2. Completely remove everything from the surface. (This challenge is only for the top of the desk).

3.. Now, get your cleaners or polish (of course, I recommend Shaklee) and start scrubbing or dusting it off. I want it to shine!

4. Get your three bins (keep, toss, and donate) & start separating.  This task may seem daunting to those who love the paper clutter! I want you to go through every piece of paper.  If you don't need it, toss it! You dont need to keep utility bills that you paid 6 months ago or 6 weeks ago! Bye bye clutter.

5. You finally have everything separated. Now you can put it all where it goes. If it doesnt go on the desk, please don't put it there.  Remember we are only concentrating on the desk top today. Once your desk is cleared of the clutter, you will feel so much better while you are there. Try your best to keep this area clean.  You spend a lot of time here (if you're a blogger).

6.  If you have them, use as many organizing tools as you can. I purchased some drawers to put all of my office supplies in.  And, use your labeler. Its so easy to find what I need.

7.  Your finished!  Now, get the camera and take a picture of your hard work & come back here to this post and share. Way to go!

http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-2-getting-organized-challenge.html

Summer. Day 1: The Junk Drawer

I'm not gonna lie. I was NOT looking forward to this challenge. In a family of 7, you don't just have a "junk" drawer. You have 2.....AND part of a cupboard. It was a mess and I've been dreading re-organizing it for about 6 months now. I wasn't even planning on starting today but after seeing Cambrey's photos, I caught her contageous enthusiasm and decided procrastinating wasn't going to do me any good. Here's what I had to deal with:

What a mess! Who knows what type of paperwork I would find in there! The bin on the right is SUPPOSED to be for scissors, tape, permanent markers, and other items I really don't want to have easily accessible to 3 year olds but within reach for the rest of the family. Does it look like anything is easily obtainable in there? I think not.

Then there is the true "junk" drawer.

Multiplied by 2. Can you believe we have one complete drawer dedicated to drawing, coloring, & art? Crayons and markers and pencils; OH MY! I didn't get a picture of it, but buried underneath the crayola graveyard is a wooden drawer organizer. R.I.P. little guy. Sorry you weren't made for such a large creative tribe.

After staring at this for a good 30 minutes (NEVER a good idea) and finding just about anything else I could do for another 30. I decided to dive in starting with the drawer on the right. Emptying this drawer and wiping it clean took all of about 2 minutes which was quite motivating. So it only took me 5 more minutes of staring at the colorful drawer before I decided to empty it into a plastic bin. Emptying took about 10 minutes. Scrubbing ink, crayon markings mysteriously looking like a bunch of T's, and something that had helped a purple marker to be stuck to the bottom of the drawer took another 5 minutes.

Then we had a little something that looked like the picture below on the left. Which after another 10 minutes or so of sorting crayons from pencils and markers , turned into the overwhelming picture on the right.  

 Miss T came in and saw my project and showed interest so I put her to work offering her to either purge the broken crayons or to check which markers and pens still worked. She chose the latter so I got to work on the crayons. I don't think I'll go through and talk about the time each step took because this was a time consuming project on it's own. Add the fact that I had to stop and feed the clan and you've got an all night project. Here's a little shot of what Miss T took from the side of the plastic bin from my fruits of labor. Kinda pretty, isn't it? Now imagine this picture tripled and you've got the idea of how many crayons we were hiding in that drawer.There was a whole lotta crayons! ....Not to mention the amount of pencils, markers, and pens.

So now it's time for the reveal of our 2 not-so-junky drawers..... Cue the angelic choir and spotlight:

Enough admiring. Onto the dreaded cabinet.

Which looked like this:

Notice the papers stuck to the doors? That would be our phone number system. The kids bring home a number from a friend and we'd tape it to the door. It was like playing Where's Waldo? each time you needed to call a pal. To save the details, here's the after pic of our "junk" cabinet.

 That would be the new phone number list on the left categorized into Miss T's friends and Big Mak's friends. My list of contacts is now housed into my cell along with a paper version in a file folder on the right of those nifty drawers. Speaking of those drawers; the top drawer is odd-n-ends like garage drawer openers, keys and camera chargers. The middle is housing anything to stick one object to another (ie: tape, glue, staples) The bottom drawer is full of  all sorts and sizes of scissors and hole punchers. There are two of those cute little cans one houses dry erase markers and chalk for those days we'd rather practice spelling or art on something other than paper (the kids get a hoot out of spelling on the windows). The other can is holding/hiding the permanent markers. What's that underneath the cans you ask? Oh just another bin of crayons. The lovely wire basket on the left is keeping envelopes, flash cards, and other school needed items handy but in their place. Wheeew! Day one is complete and I'm only a few minutes shy of hitting midnight. It feels good to have this monster tamed. On to the next dragon in day two's battle! GO!

Day one: The Junk Drawer

OMG! I don't think I had looked in this drawer in months.  I couldn't believe how disgusting it was.  It took me a good 20 minutes to just empty it, and then scrub out the bottom...but at least I will now be able to tell if the cats are doing there job (ick yes I found mouse poop in the drawer).  And I honestly can't tell you what I was thinking the last time that I cleaned out this drawer...I still had those cassette tape things that you plug into your "disk-man" and then into your car so you can play cds.  I hadn't used those in YEARS.  UGH.  Well another few mins and 90% trash later I have this.....

The only things I kept that I hadn't technically used in the last 3 months were the tire pump and the light timer thing...well and the batteries that were still good. It is amazing how good you can feel after cleaning out one little drawer and now I just need to clean out the junk cupboard and I am GOLDEN :P  LOL.  One step at a time...Right?!?


I think someone needs to come up with one of these 21 day things for cleaning up your emotional self...hmmmmm that gives me an idea.

Love you all and good luck with your de-junk!