My Home Will Not Be "Hoarders"

The cleaned-out spice cabinet.
Yes, those are labels. I love my label maker.
I like the bins because the shelves are high,
so reaching up and pulling out a bin keeps the whole thing neater.

Today is Martin Luther King Day, which is a day off from school for Big Girl. We are in the midst of a major decluttering of our house, or at least an attempt to declutter the house, and she is working on her room. She is starting to not care if her dolls are around as much, at least so many of them. So I don't mind packing away the better things, like American Girl items, to save for Bunny Twin.

But I'm not going to save everything. I'm determined to get rid of as much as possible from our house this year. I'm decluttering, decluttering, decluttering, because we don't need so much "stuff" to live. It's more of a hindrance than a help. I feel the need to "breathe" more. While our home does not look too messy on the surface-- unless the twins left a toy disaster in their wake -- it's the storage spaces that are bursting, bursting, bursting at the seams.

So I am cleaning out and decluttering and purging and trying to use all those words. Of course, it's still hard to do this, for so many reasons. The twins get in the way, of course. Big Girl has a hard time parting with things, so I will have a tendency to declutter when she is not around.

And I am frugal, which I have determined, through discussions with other frugal friends, is a hindrance to decluttering. Why? Because you don't want to part with things that you may need in the future, because you don't want to spend money on those things. (But having so much stuff hinders you from finding things.) Or you think about re-purposing things, so you hold on to them. (But can't find the time to repurpose anythng with little ones around.) Or you save things to pass along, or hand down, either to your own kids or other families. (But no one needs them for a while, so they collect dust and take up space.) Or you are going to have a tag sale or go to a consignment shop to sell. (And then those thing take up space.) But the thing about me is that I CRAVE organization. I love it. I am always striving for it and in some areas, I succeed. The problem which hinders me keeping it that way is "the stuff" gets in the way!

So I am doing a somewhat bad thing. I am flinging things. Just putting stuff in the garbage. Not everything, of course, but more than I normally would. I am throwing out and getting rid of stuff. Last week I couldn't take the state of our office anymore. I can't work in there anymore, because I can't monitor the twins if I'm in there. So, as a result, it has just gotten out of hand. It was the catch-all space. I just put anything in there related to paper, crafts, memories, Scouts, work, etc. etc. It was just completely horrible. Big Girl is the only one who has been hanging out in there, and I feel bad that she is on the computer in such a messy space, with my unattended piles on the desk and bins on the floor. My mom came over to help watch the kids last week and I just dove in and filled two garbage bags in two hours. I actually joked on Facebook that I was going to call "Hoarders" on myself. It was ridiculous. But it felt good. I'm not done in there, but it's a start.

I saw this video of this homeschool room at Confessions of a Homeschooler and I was completely mesmerized. Now, I don't homeschool, but sometimes secretly in my heart I wish I did. I could "play school" all day long with my kids in this room (Links to the two-part tour: Part One and Part Two.) It is a my dream to have my tiny home office as organized and pretty as this, with our craft supplies and office supplies, and my work storage. I'm holding it up as a goal, because as the twins grow and can play in the playroom on their own nearby, I want to have a peaceful work space again instead of typing on my laptop at the kitchen table with chaos all around.

And the kitchen.... Well, that was my "Hoarders Pt. 2" episode yesterday. I hunkered down and went through every cabinet. By the time I was done, I had basically filled four trash bags with miscellenous stuff: old plastic cups, kiddie dishes, sippy cups, Tupperware-type things, old glasses, food items, old pans, utensils and gadgets, etc. etc. etc. It took all day, but boy, did I feel good getting rid of stuff, moving stuff and rearranging cabinets. The goal now is to keep it all that way.

While I was cleaning the kitchen, Big Girl was really working on her room, packing up stuff, throwing out stuff and reorganizing. She was able to get more than a trash bag of items to throw out from her room. We rearranged her furniture, pulling her bed away from the wall and arranging it in the center of the room. The change freed up more wall space and created room for her keyboard so she can practice piano in the calm of her room instead of in the chaos of the main household. She still has a few spaces in her room to clean and sort, but I'm hoping that today she finishes that and has a peaceful space in which to relax, do homework, and just feel at home.

We are getting there, slowly, but if I can keep the motivation going (and find the time to keep going with cooperating twins) I feel that our lives will just be easier. I have many de-cluttering challenges ahead: The toy situation is the major one. But eventually we will get there. Yes, we will.