Project Simplify Week 3

For the month of April, I've been working on Simple Mom's Project Simplify.  I've already done shelves and drawers and that "pesky" closet.  This week the assignment was piles, and boy did I have them in our bedroom - partly as a result of the clean-out in the office and closet the weeks before.  

Before: Here's the corner of the bedroom beyond my side of the bed.  None of that stuff belongs there, and some of it went to Goodwill this week..

After.  Ahhhhh.

Before: My vanity table had a bunch of receipts and Matt's swim goggles in addition to a mess of jewelry.

After.  Again, ahhhh.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Project Simplify, Week 2

I'm working on decluttering and cleaning out our house this month with Simple Mom's Project Simplify.  You can read about Week 1 here.  Week 2's task was "that pesky closet."  Well, ALL the closets in my house are pesky (ahem), but I had to choose mine.  Well, technically, mine and Matt's but his side didn't need any work.  Mine was a mess.

See?  What in the world?

Our closet was added during the renovation before we moved into this house.  There were no closets upstairs before, and ours fits into an alcove under the roof slope.  So it's a walk-in - no, maybe we could call it a step-in.  Because if you stepped further you'd hit the ceiling.  Anyway, I couldn't walk in at all because of all this stuff on the floor!

After!  I got rid of 6 purses/totes, still leaving me with 10, which is probably too many still.  At least now they all sit or lay nicely.  I had the brilliant idea to put my little clutch size ones in that magazine holder (emptied during last week's desk cleaning) in the middle.  I moved jackets and sweaters from the other wall shelf to this side so I could put my plastic shelf drawer thing-y where I could access it straight on when I opened the closet door.

I got rid of a decent amount of clothing and took the opportunity to switch out seasonal stuff.  The heavy sweaters and boots went into a rubbermaid tub for their summer hiatus.  And I got out the sandals and shorts.  Not that I've needed them this week.

If you look closely you'll see evidence of my 3/4 sleeve cardigan addiction.  And 4 pairs of colored ballet flats up on the shelf - the brown, black, and grey ones are on the rack on the floor - totaling 7! So clearly I have a problem there too.  

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Project Simplify, Week 1

Simple Mom is one of the blogs I enjoy reading regularly.  There's a spring cleaning series going on there now called Project Simplify.  Now, I totally believe in decluttering.  One of my favorite aspects of my library career is what librarians call "weeding" or "deselecting" - basically getting rid of out of date, unused, or, especially with children's items, ripped or otherwise trashed books and other stuff from the shelves.  I also believe that my stress level goes up exponentially when I'm surrounded by clutter and too. much. stuff.  

That said, in this house I've had a lot of trouble with clutter and things being out of place or having no place at all.  Matt would say we also have too much stuff.  I agree!  I don't think we adequately downsized when we moved from the 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath house in NC to the first house here in GA or to this house, which I estimate is half the size of the aforementioned suburban dream house.  And we've since added a kid and about a bazillion more toys and clothes.

I'm so happy to be living in a small house now.  But a good spring cleaning and decluttering has been long overdue - I know we have been holding on to things that need to go, and that could do someone else good.  So I'm doing the Project Simplify task with joy.  This first week's task was shelves and drawers.  I decided to work on our office/craft space upstairs.  It was a disaster, partly because I'd just switched a bookcase that was up there for a cabinet that had been in our dining area and nothing had found a home there yet.

Before - the cabinet at the top of the stairs and a lot of junk on the floor 

After - just the cabinet - no junk!

The desk/shelving unit in the center of the space.  Yikes!

The desk/shelving unit after.  Much better. 

 I did not have adequate time to go through these boxes and sort and get rid of stuff.  

Thankfully, they were fairly organized to begin with, and I can go through them later.

My sewing area before.  

Matt had just added the black shelf above the sewing machine.

Sewing area after.  

Cadence sorted my buttons by color and I put them in old baby food jars.  

I spray painted the jar lids white.

This is the random leftover stuff that still needs action.  The blue box in the front with the pictures on it?  That's the working pile for the girls' baby books.  I've been trying to finish them FOREVER.  I think that will be my task for week 4 of Project Simplify: That put-off project.

Just playin' with rocks in the driveway

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

They talked me into filling up the kiddie pool

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

first day april