Not...gonna...make...it...

Last week was week 3. I was planning on tackling the dining room and adjoining front hall. But, it didn't happen. We packed the car and left town on Wednesday for a few days of fun at the Lake of the Ozarks with Mom and Dad. There were car rides with Mad Libs, sunset boat rides, peach pie, cold beer, and both kids caught fish. It was definitely a nice break. It was a great time. I just had to work my butt off before we left for my actual job(s), so I didn't squeeze in any time to empty out the gift bag closet - yes there is a whole closet of them, or declutter the dining room table. No worries, it'll happen. In the meantime, enjoy the view...

The Stuff is Piling Up!

I have hit a road block. The good news is, things are getting clean. Walking into Violet's tidy and dust free room gives me hope for the rest of my house, and adds to my resolve to keep at it.

But, the kids are now on to me, and I think I might have some challenges ahead. As I sift through the clutter, I have been essentially sorting into three piles: 1. Keep in circulation 2. Keep as a keepsake 3. Garage Sale bound and the rest goes into a trash bag and out of the house as soon as I am done. However, my dear husband is a bit concerned that I am going to throw away something valuable one of these days so we have a deal. If I can't decide if it is for keepsake or garage sale I leave in a pile on his side of the bed, and then he can pick where it goes. He's like the stop gap for making sure my enthusiasm to purge doesn't result in me chucking out a Honus Wagner card or the title to the car.

I thought this would be simple. If I put it on the bed, even if he was tired he'd have to decide before he went nightey-night. But, it's turned into him just MOVING the pile somewhere else until he has time to think through it. And, while I would like for it to be done, that's not really the end of the world. I know he'll get to it, and if not, I'll just put it all in the garage sale and he'll be forced to fight off bargain shoppers to get it back inside the house.

The trouble is the fact that the pile got left in plain view. As in, the kids spotted it, decided everything in it was "the best toy ever" and now won't part with any of it. AND, it made them realize that the pile of things in the corner of my room (the garage sale stash) also housed some of their old things. Now they are trying to go through that as well. Trying to think fast, I lured them away with the promise of Phineas and Ferb in the other room and then covered the stash with the damaged sheets I found cleaning the linen closet. So far that seems to have gotten them off the scent. But, the pile is only going to get bigger.

Honestly, I have convinced myself I can conquer messy drawers, grime, 8 years worth of magazines and window cleaning. But, I am not sure I can win this battle, if every round is followed by a defense of every decision by the jury of other residents. Not sure how I'm gonna over come this one.

Mantooth Fashion: The Early Years

So as I cleaned out Violet's closet, I put aside the clothes that were too small, but too sentimental to sell, into their own tub. Going in, I thought this would only be a few items. Well, I clearly underestimated how many "fashions" had special meaning to me in Vi's closet. And, I can only imagine what I will find in Fletch's stash of stuff when I tackle his room later this summer.

And, the point of all this cleaning wasn't too get rid of things that had meaning, so I felt ok keeping all these hand knit sweaters and dresses, girly ruffly things and the like, but really - really - how often was I really going to look at this stuff? And that's when I got an idea: Mantooth Fashion - The Early Years. Once the kids are back in school, I am gonna pull this tub of memories back out, take a snap shot of each piece, and see if I can assemble some sort of mini coffee table book. If I am feeling super creative, I may even go back and pull some photos of the kids wearing these clothes to drop in. I'm thinking like fashion advice pages; overhead shots (accessories?). Who knows exactly. But, I do think I'll get some enjoyment flipping through that over time more than dragging a tub out of the attic to remember when.

One cute hiney...

And 30 pairs of undies!!! That's what I found when I cleaned out Violet's dresser this week. What 5 year old needs 30 pairs of undies? I guess the one with a mom who can't find any at the end of the laundry week so keeps buying more. Hopefully, now we'll be on top of it (even if the washer is broken for a few weeks, apparently). And, after I got all the clothes that are too small out of there, her drawers all could open and shut easily enough for a 5 year old to pick out her own clothes! Let the fashion disasters begin.

Overall, Vi's room was a bit tougher than the bathroom last week. First off, there was just a ton more stuff. Secondly, it was sentimental stuff. Clearly we didn't need 45 board books taking up shelf space anymore, but which ones are keepers? Which for garage sale? How many Little People sets do we keep? That kind of stuff. But, I have already felt my success, in that she's already chosen to play in her room 3 times this week. Yay!

Here are some shots of the "after"...

Week 2: Violet's Room

Feeling emboldened by the success of Week 1, (and knowing that I would have to get around to all the rooms eventually), I decided to tackle Violet's room this week. Violet just turned 5, and not only does this room hold 5 years worth of girl baby and toddler stuff, but also 2 years worth of boy baby stuff from when this was the nursery and Fletch was the resident. The big things to tackle are the dresser - especially the overstuffed top drawer, the bins in the toy chest, and the closet. Oh, the closet. On top of the "oh, I'll put this here for safe keeping" piles of stuff, it also has a GINORMOUS trash bag full of mystery toys from the remodel of 2009. I think there might be some baby shower gift stash and hand-me-downs in future sizes in there too, but lately, I have been too afraid to look very closely. Here is the bag when I busted it out for cleaning...

Other little stuff around the room: dusting the blinds and cleaning the windows, and reattaching the backing board on the book case. It's just a simple one from Ikea, but years of putting away oversized kid books has made the back fall off. It will mean taking everything out of it so I can lay it on it's back to pop it back on.

Hopefully, by the end of this week, there will be logical places for all the stuff worth keeping, enough floor space to actually play on, and drawers that a 5 year old can go through herself to get dressed every day.

May I show you my bathtub?

The first week is behind me, and I would say it was a success. I got the closets and cabinets inthe bathroom emptied, sorted, and refilled. The jets in the bathtub have been cleaned out (and for the first time since we've lived in this house - 7 years - someone could actually take a bath with thejacuzzi feature). Even better, 2 grocery sacks of baby bathtub toys have been kicked to the garage sale pile - so a trip to the tub doesn't mean swimming in plastic-kid-toy stew. The sheets and towels have been sorted and put back in neat piles: who knew we had 20 twin size pillow cases? And, about half of a trash bag was dedicated to expired medicines and sticky hotel toiletries that had been sitting there far too long.

As for the hall closet - it wasn't too tough. There were two bags of random old toy parts that went into the trash. I also got a chance to go through a big bag of sewing things that came from Kevin's grandma's house when she died. Anyone have a project idea for a TON of old buttons? Mostly plain ol' white shirt buttons, but some other colors in there too. I didn't have the heart to pitch those, or the great old cigar boxes they were stored in.

So, I am happy. A little piece of the house is cleaned up. From the cabinets to the baseboards, the medicine cabinet to the light switches. If someone stepped foot in that few small square feet of my house, I wouldn't cringe in worry at what they might see. And, if they were really nosy, they might even notice I labeled the stacks of sheets, so that I can keep them neat (that is - if I ever used the sheets in the cabinet rather than the ones coming out of the dryer).

Week 1: Kid Bathroom and Hall Closet

So the first week of summer is upon the Mantooths. Swim team practice is kicking into full gear. Swim lessons (to make sure we're ready for swim team) are wrapping up, and best of all, the summer sitter starts this week. As for the cleaning, I figured that it was best to start with something small. The kid's bathroom fit the bill: not too big, and lots of things that could use a little help.

First off, it is disgusting in there. Between really long girl hair, a boy who makes nightly visits to pee without waking up, and a counter with 2 sinks full of kid toothpaste spit, it is just kinda gross. But, whenever I do get that stuff cleaned up, it still looks messy. That leads to reason 2: The messy ambiance is because of the mountain of bath toys that have accumulated for the past 8 years, 5 years worth of clippies and hair bands, and any number of other random things the kids drag in there. Not to mention the house's linen closet is in there. And clean linens don't get put away so much as shoved into the front with a prayer that they won't all tumble out the next time someone goes looking for a washcloth.

As for the hall closet - it is right outside the bathroom, and it has to be done sometime, so why not now? This is the closet that holds winter coats, other winter accessories like hats and scarves, and the vacuum. Not too bad, right? Except for that we used this closet as one of our "hiding places" for toys and other domestic flotsam when we had our sunroom torn down and rebuilt a couple years ago. That's right - a couple. Still a few bags of stuff in there from 2 years ago. It is tempting to blindly give them to good will, but I am not sure what's in there, and would be bummed if I later remembered that was the box containing my kid's baby blankets or some such memory.

So, in the scope of my house, not too much floor space for this week's work. But, there are 4 cabinets, 4 drawers, 3 shelves, a medicine cabinet, a hanging shelf unit, a clothes bar, and a bathtub that need attention. Should be a good warm up exercise for what's to come...

Enough Already!

Ok, so the summer of 2011 is upon us, and I have decided that enough is enough already with the clutter around the house. But, when I look around at all the piles of paperwork on the counter, trip over the old toys in the play room closet, or rake my knuckles on a trying to close a too-full drawer, I feel overwhelmed. Between work and kids and husband and activities and puppy....you get the idea, it is always easier just to pretend it's not that bad and go do something I enjoy, like making pie. People don't seem to notice clutter as much if they have a slice of pie in front of them.

But, now it has taken on a life of it's own. I have laundry baskets, stashed in various corners of the house, full of clutter from the emergency clean up of past events. There's the one from Thanksgiving, another from Christmas, Easter, Mother's day. You get the idea. I just keep thinking that if I got rid of all the stuff I don't need, that when it came time to put away the stuff I actually do use and need, that there would be a better place for it than perched on top of that stack of old cooking magazines I've been meaning to go through.

Over the past few weeks I began to formulate a plan. Summer was coming, and I figured that if I could get this done by the end of August, then we'd be all set when school and crazy activities started back up in the fall. Kind of like actually starting a summer diet in February, so that you actually did look good when bathing suit season got here.

And, this is what I came up with: We have 11 rooms in this house, and taking out the weeks we will be gone on vacation, about 11 weeks this summer. So, I will tackle one room a week. That means going through drawers and closets; cleaning off shelves and tables. And, it's not just the clutter - it's the heaving cleaning too - dusting the blinds and washing the windows; cleaning out grout and scrubbing the baseboards. Some weeks should be easier than others. There's not nearly the work to do in the dining room that there is the kitchen or laundry room or kids' rooms (so many shelves and drawers!), but at least I'll have it blocked off in measurable pieces.

For sure there will be piles: Trash - big trash comes to the curb monthly. Donate - already seeking out candidates for hand me downs and the "good" baby stuff, and sell - bigger items or things that others might find valuable will go in a summer's end garage sale. Profits will be used to buy me something nice for all my troubles - maybe new bedding!

And, why blog about it? It is not like I want to world to see my messes. Ok, maybe a little bit, if that also means that they also get to see why I am so excited about a linen closet with labels, or a closet where a bowling ball doesn't fall on my head when I open it. I do hope the blog will help with a few things. First off, it will keep me honest. By writing about it, it is like I am making it true. Putting it out there means I have to do it. Secondly - I am hoping that people can chime in with tips and tricks to organization and cleaning that make that week's projects easier to slog through or more simple to maintain. And third - so that I can look back when I am done and see truly how far I have come. So, in the fall, when I am headed out to walk my kiddos over to school (they will finally be at the same school - yay!), know that the smile on my face will be not (only) because my kids are out of the house, but also because all the clutter is gone too.