PROJECT CLEAN HOUSE: Top of the Fridge

We do not have a lot of storage in this house.  What that means is that all of our junk seems to accumulate on the counters and on top of the refrigerator.  I am guilty of this, as well.  I throw things up there that I don't want the kids to either see or get a hold of. 

Since my kitchen does not have a lot of cabinets, I don't have a designated place for these glasses.  I've had them on top of the fridge for a while and yes, sometimes they get too close to the edge, fall, and shatter. 

So, I took all of this stuff off, wiped down the top and either stored it somewhere else or through it away.

I FINALLY threw away my coffee mug.  Why I held on to it for a whole year is because I'm a hoarder and I really hoped to one day to be able to glue it back together.  That was never going to happen.

This is what it looked like when I was done.  I left just a couple of wine glasses down and then put the rest on top of another cabinet. 

PROJECT CLEAN HOUSE: Toy Room 2012

This room  actually looks a lot better than it normally does.  Usually every Lego is in the middle of the floor along with the all of the train tracks.  

I was so excited when I found this dollhouse for Gracie for Christmas.  It was normally $69 and I got it for $29 from JCPenney online.  Well, as cute as it is, it sure was poorly made.  It could only stand about 1 month with the Boo Boo.  I tried to tape it back together and let her have a little more time to play with it.  Finally, though, I couldn't take it anymore.  In the trash it went.

Here is the sell, trash, and donate pile.

Here is what it looked like after I cleaned. 

Of course, if you want to see what it looks like now . . .

go back to the top of the page and look at the first picture.

PROJECT CLEAN HOUSE-My Closet 2012

Now on to the really bad closet.  Yep, you guessed it.  It's mine.  I really have no excuse other than the fact of after cleaning the rest of the house, I just don't want to do it.  It's tucked away in my room and hardly anyone ever sees it anyway.  I guess if I had one of those cool, custom organized closets then I would try harder. 

There was A LOT to do in this closet.  As you can see, there are tons of movies in the floor.  That is thanks to the Boo Boo.  We brought the movies into our closet because he kept pulling them off of the dvd organizer.  Well, he found them so now he just goes in to the closet to pull them off.  I got tired of picking them up.

Here is how it looked after I picked up all of the movies (that in itself helped a lot).  I pulled everything down off of the upper shelf and folded and sorted it.

I tried to color-coordinate by style.  The purses all started to overlap but I think it looks better. 

I actually took 2 carloads of clothes to consignment/donation.

Notice that I didn't show you Scott's side of the closet . . .

PROJECT CLEAN HOUSE: 40 Bags in 40 Days-Laundry Room

Today I thought I would tackle the laundry room.  I swear this is the hardest room in the entire house to keep clean.  Not only is this the "laundry" room but it is also the room that holds the dog crate/food, vaccuum, and all of our coats and shoes.

I hate winter not only because it is cold and nasty but because of all of the "gear" each person must have during it.  Since we are a family of 5 that means at least 5 coats, gloves, hats, etc.  Add that to the fact that we live in St. Louis and the weather can change as much as 40 degrees in one day . . . I AM NOT joking . . .it was 70 on Thursday and 40 on Friday. . . we all need a variety of coats and jackets.  Then, of course, the kids need snowsuits and boots.  It is all just one big mess.

I actually don't think this looks too bad.  Ignore the slippers.  The Easter Bunny needed an extra storage spot for Easter baskets.

Do you think we have enough cleaning towels?

Here are 3 cameras that I had up in the cabinet.  None of them work.  I don't know why I kept them.  I am a hoarder.

Along with tons of coats comes TONS and TONS of shoes.  2 pairs per person downstairs is 10 pairs and believe me, there were a lot more than that.  4 umbrellas, grocery bags and diaper bags.

I took a bet that we are not going to get snowed in for the rest of the year.  Yes, I know that is a big bet but I took it anyway.  I ended up leaving everyone 1 winter coat, the kids a "play" coat, and each of us a jacket.  On the top shelf I put the bags that we use for snacks when we go to the zoo or park and a container with all of the dog's brushes, leashes, etc.

Cleaned off the shelves and threw away old fabric softener sheets and random laundry supplies that we haven't used in at least a year.  I also took advantage of the space above the shelves and put the extra laundry detergent and a Dippin' Dots kit that Kanin received for Christmas.

I threw away a ton of those work towels, the old cameras and their accompanying equipment.

I bought this broom/mop hanger a few months ago and never hung it up.  Today I asked Scott to finally hang it for me.  No more putting these items by the refrigerator.

Here's the trash:

Here are the donation (right box) items that I can sell at consigment (left box)

Here are all of the coats and winter items that are returning to the basement.

PROJECT CLEAN HOUSE: 40 Bags In 40 Days-2012

It's that time of year again . . . 40 Bags in 40 Days.  I can't take credit for this little bit of genius.  I stole it from Sarah at Clover Lane (love her) but basically you take the Lenten season to not only work on yourself spiritually and clean out all those impure things but you also work on cleaning out your house and all of the junk that has it cluttered over the past year.

I participated in it last year and felt so amazing getting rid of so much stuff that I knew I would do it year after year.  Here are some links to last year's posts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

So, today I am going to start with the linen closet.  This closet has been driving me crazy for months.  There are games with missing pieces, fitted sheets that just won't fold nicely and pretty much just a mess.

Everything was pretty much just thrown in there.  In a not-so-smart Mommy move, I left the games down on the bottom shelves so that the kids could play with them.  Well, I've been picking up game pieces, cards, checkers, etc all over the house.

In true kid fashion, Caleb wanted to "help" me which basically means . . . "Don't throw that away.  That's my favorite toy." 

I was able to distract him enough to finish up.  I moved all of the games that actually had the pieces up to the top shelf.  I then separated the sheets into crib, twin, queen, and king and also divided them up into fitted and normal sheets. 

No, I still cannot fold a fitted sheet.

I also separated pillow cases, covers, and beach towels.

Finally, I put all of upstairs extra blankets down on the bottom shelf, too.

Here's what got pitched:

Here's what I think I can sell:

Let me know if you decide to participate in 40 Bags in 40 Days.  I'd love to see your organization in progress!

PROJECT: CLEAN HOUSE 40 Bags in 40 Days Part III

Today I moved on to the kids' playroom.  I didn't take a "before" picture because it was just really cluttered so you really wouldn't be able to tell what I got rid of and what I didn't. 

Here is the pile of donate, consign, and trash.

A clean playroom.  I'm sure this will last for all of 2.5 seconds.

PROJECT: CLEAN HOUSE 40 Bags in 40 Days part II

I started on the kitchen today in my 40 Bags in 40 Days.  If you've been following for a while, you know that I organized my pantry just a few months ago.  Well, of course, it got away from me again.

I started looking at all of the expiration dates and I saw these two:  20 July 2007 and 21 October 2004.  Ok, now I will own the 20 Jul 2007 even though I don't think it can be possible since we have moved twice since then and I just clean this thing out but the 21 October 2004-there is NO WAY!  That is before I even met Scott and is actually two years to the day of my anniversary in 2006.

Here it is after cleaning out again. 

Here are some of the items that I only use a couple of times a year so I moved them downstairs.  The blender is shot so it went into the trash pile.

After the pantry, I moved on to the seasoning cabinet. 

All of these items were trashed because they were over the expiration date.

We buy a lot of bulk items from Costco so there were several boxes that just had a couple of bags of whatever left in it so I consolidated a lot, threw away old stuff and things we didn't like or didn't eat.  Here's what I ended up with for trash:

I didn't get to the refrigerator today but that will be over the weekend.  Next room, dining room.

Stay tuned.  If you are playing along, let me know!