Brown paper packages tied up with strings...

Wow! I've gotten more response from my latest post than I have for any other posts so far- Thank you everyone for your kind words! It means so much to hear that my simple home cleaning project has inspired so many of you!

On the heels of that post and the positive reactions it stirred, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite finds that were useful to me in the process of organizing my home. I’ve already done all the leg work- I might as well share my info and give you guys a head start on your home clean-out projects!

My first “helpful hint” is actually advice rather than a product find…. and who doesn’t like unsolicited advice, right? Well, if you’ve ever been pregnant, you should be used to it already, so a little more won’t hurt. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell you that you shouldn’t eat lunchmeat or lift heavy boxes. In fact, I want you to lift lots of heavy boxes--- of books. If you’re like most people I know, you have many books in your home that you’ve maybe read once and will never read again. Get rid of ‘em! Unless you DO read your books more than once, what is the reasoning in keeping all that extra weight? Many of us feel that the books we own somehow define us. A perfect example of this is my interaction with Dave one day about 2 months ago. In my frenzy of excited cleaning out, I got on a book-ditching kick, and I feverishly tried to convince Dave to get rid of his large collection of Stephen King novels. He said, “But if I get rid of them all, how will Anna know what I was into?” This was a poignant statement, and so I didn’t push the issue. If you feel truly attached to your books, please, go ahead and hold on to those little treasures. I’m just asking you to take a serious look at all this paperback poundage and see it for the heavy empty space in your home it truly is. Here is just one small pile of books I donated to my library…

Do you see how much square footage these few items take up? I’m not saying get rid of it all- in fact, I held on to my college Art History books (yea, yea, I was seriously an Art History major. Talk about cliché). But trust me, it feels good to get your space back- PLUS there’s totally a feel-good bonus if you donate them. So fill up some boxes of books and dump them off at your local library! Unless you’re pregnant- If that’s the case, don’t you know you’re not supposed to be lifting heavy boxes?!?!

P.S. Dave totally relented and got rid of his collection. In the end, I think he couldn’t help but recognize how much lighter the house felt without all this extra stuff. I mean, really? This was only like one tenth of his collection:

When I get on an organizing kick, I tend to be anal. I’ll play with one set-up, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll start rearranging everything over and over again until I finally come up with some kind of system I like. My problem is that I want to have the freedom to drag stuff around without the help of my husband. Therefore, I found these super heavy-duty, yet super lightweight, snap-together shelves made by Sterilite.

At around $25, this is a great deal for the functionality. I can easily drag or carry them around my basement with very little effort. They’re a cinch to clean and look nice enough to set up in a mudroom or pantry. I slowly bought several as I was organizing my basement, and as you can see, they hold a ton of stuff. Plus, they won’t rust over time like those outdated metal shelving units.

Like I said before, I’m a crafter with a ton of supplies, so I needed some boxes to help organize everything. I actually found these a couple of years ago back when I was organizing the children’s supplies at the Art Center.

I love these boxes because

-They are clear, so I can easily see the contents;

-They are a nice size and two fit perfectly when stacked on my handy new shelves;

-The top is a flip lid, which means I never have to worry about losing a lid. This is great for both kiddie supplies and messy crafters such as myself!

These boxes are also Sterilite brand (those guys should really be paying me for the endorsements, hmm?).

Do you have a shelf in your basement or garage that looks like this?:

Random half-empty cans of paint from projects past just rusting away in a dark corner? I absolutely LOVE this simple find that was right under my nose for years! Home Depot and Lowes sell these awesomely handy (and absolutely adorable!) quart sized empty paint cans!

It’s the perfect way to condense that awful clutter. If you ever need to touch up a wall, these little buddies make it a quick and easy project without the clumsy mess of a large, paint-splattered gallon can. Plus, you can label the sides with a sharpie marker, so you’ll always have the details should you need to buy more at a later time!

Just as a side note, you should check with your township to find out the rules for disposing of your old paint cans. My township requires that all paint remnants be completely dry; then I can throw them in with the regular trash. I just left the cans open for a few days in my basement (high up where the dog can’t get to it, because yes, he is definitely dumb enough to lap up paint) before I tossed them.

Ok, are you ready for me to totally dork out? Er, perhaps I’ve already done that anyway, so this next find shouldn’t surprise you… If you are a mom of a young baby, you probably have these tiny organizers in your cabinet right now:

Baby food containers! Are these not the cutest little boxes ever?? They are made of a nice, solid plastic construction and even have handy little lids! Plus, clear is always good so you can find exactly what you’re looking for. I have these little buggers all over the house (just ask my husband- he’s tired of hearing me talk about them. Seriously. But whatevs, you knew what I was when you married me). Toothpicks, hairbands, office supplies…. I even have one in the middle console of my car to hold cough drops! Not to mention, they make a fun stacking toy for babies- these totally keep my munchkin occupied! Plus, it’s helping to foster her future OCD organizational habits that she will inevitably learn from her crazy mother!

This next one is pretty simple, and I’ve had it for a few years. But since so many friends and family have commented on this simple organizational wonder upon opening my junk drawer, I thought I should share it here:

You can find these in the sewing section of any craft store, and even at pretty much any large shopping chain whose name ends with “-mart”. ‘Nuf said.

My final find is actually a secret obsession of mine. There are few things I like better than finding a pretty box to put things in. When I was doing The Big Cleanout, I came across many of these lovely shoeboxes that I’ve collected over the years, but they had become junk collectors stowed away in my basement. I freed them of their junk and started to put them to good use. If I haven’t officially dorked out to yet, it’s totally about to happen for real this time…. I give you the beginning of my grown-up shoe storage!

My shoes were in piles on my closet floor scratching one another up, and one day it hit me like a ton of bricks: Why not use these pretty SHOEBOXES to hold my actual SHOES!? Plus, most of these boxes have neat tag holders, so I can label them with descriptions of the shoes inside. I know it’s a super cheesey idea, and you may say, “Oh, but I don’t have the space in my closet to stack a bunch of boxes.” My (unsolicited) advice to you is that you should take the time to make the space for something like this. I can honestly tell you that when I look up at these charming little boxes on my closet shelf, I get a *Warm & Fuzzy* feeling.

And this find also leads to my final tip. We all end up with missing socks on laundry day, and there’s nothing quite as annoying as a single sock messing up your room while it waits patiently for its mate to resurface in a future load of whites. I have found a way to attractively store all these floaters while simultaneously satisfying my shoebox obsession:

Ahhh…… *Warm & Fuzzy* feelings all around.

Explanation of My Absence

Forgive me, Readers, for I have lapsed... it has been 4 months since my last posting.

I promise you that my decision to put the blog on hold was entirely intentional and well-meaning. In fact, the creation of this blog is probably one of the main reasons for my much needed break from all activities in general. I came to realize how much I enjoy writing- I always had this urge to share my latest escapades and pointless shenanigans with anyone who would listen, and this blog has finally given me the forum to do so. My problem, however, was that every time I sat down to write, I faced a mountain of clutter on my desk. I would shift the junk around, stack it into piles, sort through the papers and make to-do lists. But like horny little bunny rabbits, the stuff always multiplied. And it wasn't just my desk--- When I swiveled my chair to the right, I was faced with an 8-foot high bookcase spilling over with books, magazines, outdated picture frames, and newspaper articles I cut out and meant to read “someday”. My china cabinet in the dining room wasn't exactly adorned with fine dinnerware.... rather, it became a holding place for old VHS tapes, dozens of half-burned candles and wax-caked candleholders. And the basement had become a veritable Island of Misfit Crap. It was, quite simply, the dumping ground for items that didn't have a place in our home. Plus, when we bought this house nearly 7 years ago, Dave and I came with all of our earthly possessions- meaning, not just the stuff we owned, but also all the stuff our parents wanted out of their own houses (you can get away with that when you have an apartment, but once you buy a home that ride is officially over). Of course, most of that crap remained boxed up in the basement.

I decided the time had come for some serious cleaning out.

I felt so weighed down by my possessions that I couldn't move forward- physically, mentally, emotionally and all those other "ally' adverbs. I needed to launch a massive--- no, EPIC cleanout…

It would be The Big Cleanout- a mass exodus of junk from our house.

The Big Cleanout happened to coincide with another life-changing event in our family. Dave's work had announced The Big Shutdown. While many are sadly going to be without jobs at the end of the summer, Dave is fortunate to still have his position for a couple-of-months-to-a-year longer--- working FROM HOME. Eek! We had an "office" per se, but like I said before, it was more of a mess than a useful space. The Big Cleanout would also facilitate making this room into a real workspace (with grown-up desks and everything!!)

So I put everything on hold until most of The Big Cleanout was complete. I needed to focus all of my energy on this project because, you see, I'm a bit of a packrat. I’m one of these women who scours sale bins, picking up neat objects for “future gifts”. Yes, that’s right- I have a box of random gifts-to-no-one-in-particular in my basement. This is a good idea in theory, but there are some items that have been in that box for a couple of years! One would think that if I went through an entire calendar year of holidays and birthdays and did not find use for the “future gift”, I would get rid of it, but no. I’ve also always been a crafter, so I will learn how to do a new craft, buy tons of elements to do said craft, then lose interest and move on to learning another new craft. Hence the boxes of beads, and buttons, the gaggle of glue, glitter, and glass, and the stacks of scrapbook paper (sidebar- scrapbooking is a horrible addiction. There are so many beautifully designed papers, and it’s always fairly inexpensive, so it never seems like a big deal to buy 5 sheets of paper, priced at 49 cents per sheet, to use for “future craft”--- that is, until one day you find yourself with reams of unused paper waiting patiently with bated breath in your basement for “future craft” to commence!)

And then there is the simple hoarding issue. I had so many baskets- small baskets, big baskets, wicker baskets, easter baskets…. And also, The Vase Situation. I had more vases than a banquet hall! I’m really not sure why I felt the need to keep all these- if I get flowers, I pretty much use the same two vases, so why I needed to keep another 20 is a mystery to me. Looking at my basement, you would think I was a post-depression era grandmother stowing away sugar packets and tin foil.

I needed to come to grips with the fact that one family does not need all this STUFF. Not to mention, now that we have one baby and will someday have more, it will only get worse if I can’t learn to let go of things. So, the day I started The Big Cleanout, I walked into the basement and stood in the middle of the mess and I gave myself a stern lecture.

“This is ridiculous, Jeanne. What have you gotten yourself into? You can’t even do any of the crafts that you want to do because you have no workspace left down here to craft!”

“Dude, you’re so right,” I replied (to myself). “I need to make some changes. It’s time.”

I decided that I would choose 3 crafts, and 3 crafts only, to pursue- mosaics, painting and scrapbooking (what can I say? That beautiful paper is like crack!). Everything else had to go. I had already narrowed my vases down to the 2 I use, so the rest were outta here, too. As for the baskets- what am I, Holly friggin’ Hobby? It’s time to part ways with it all.

So I had gotten through the Denial-then-Acceptance portion of my project, but my other problem with The Big Cleanout is my notion that every object is useful to someone, somehow, somewhere out there (cue Fievel), and so I can’t just toss things in the trash. You see, I used to be the Education Coordinator at a small, nonprofit art center, and since money was a constant issue, we would accept donations of any kind for our children’s program (which is why we often had classes titled “Recycled Art!”). Neighborhood people would bring in half empty paint bottles, old paintbrushes, toilet paper rolls, pom poms, pipe cleaners- you name it, we took it. So the process of getting rid of my items took way longer than it may have for some others. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful thrift store right here in my town (Impact Thrift- they donate the net proceeds to financially support local charities- Bonus!), so I could drop off pretty much any item I had. But with a baby under 1 year old, this can be a long and arduous process. I would pack my trunk full of donations, strap the baby in, drive down to the store, drop off, and come back home again to fill my trunk. Anna only had patience for 2, maybe 3 trips at a time.

Of course, there was still a lot of junk that was worthy of trashing, but my township doesn’t let you just throw out a bunch of big items at once without a permit. Therefore, I vowed to myself that I would throw out at least one large item or one large bag of smaller items every trash day.

Plus, The Big Cleanout revolved around Anna’s schedule. Sure, I’m home all day, but that kid needs to be entertained- I can’t just park her in the living room while I clean out my basement. Most of my work was done while she napped, and this was tricky because we live in a rancher, so wherever you are in the house, her room is RightThere. I would have to tip toe around the basement, quietly haul big items up the basement steps and carefully open our squeaky screen door to fill my car up with junk to drop off.

Overall, the process has been slow and painful. At one point about 2 weeks in, I proudly dragged Dave into the basement to show off my painstaking labor efforts… I was crushed when he didn’t notice a dent at all! Now, after 4 slow months of sweat (and sometimes tears) there’s a noticeable difference, and the benefits of The Big Cleanout have been amazing. I have a full sized table that is cleared off entirely so I can work on my crafts. I was able to actually set up a gift-wrapping center in the back corner of my basement (Eeee!). Plus, when I’m out shopping, I may do a quick scan of the clearance bins, but I rarely buy anything unless it is for an immediate project, not “future craft”. And the best thing is that I have come to understand that The Big Cleanout is not really one big project anymore--- I’m inspired to always be cleaning out. Just this morning as I was drinking my coffee I looked at all my cookbooks and thought to myself “I’m not really a cookbook person … I really just use that copy of “The Joy of Cooking” my mom gave me when I got married, I have a handful of recipe cards for dishes I make often, and if I need a new recipe, I usually look it up online.” All at once an itch came over me and I found myself pulling books off the shelf to drop off at the thrift store this afternoon. I also revisit stuff that I already sorted through, and I often find that what I thought was a necessity a month ago is usually lackluster to me now.

So I have a new, and much lighter, lease on life. The Big Cleanout is still going on, but I’m okay with that. There’s no deadline and I’m not in any rush anyway. I’m so proud of our new office, too! We have brand new matching desks, a spiffy new filing cabinet, and my workspace is clutter-free (almost) so I can write until the cows come home (or at least until Anna wakes up from her nap). I promise you’ll see more regular posts from me, and with less Stuff holding me back, I should have more Time to have those adventures I’ll want to write about.