OrgJunkie's 28 Day Organizing Challenge

Some of you will have seen parts of this post before, but I decided to join in the 28 Day Challenge at OrgJunkie and enter my storage room experience from my Great 500 Pound Declutter in the challenge.

For those of you coming here for the first time.  You can find all of my Decluttering posts here.   But the long and short of it is that just before Christmas I had an "enough is enough" moment and couldn't stand the clutter anymore.  I gave myself a personal challenge to declutter my home.  Little bit by little bit.  With a goal of getting rid of at least 500 pounds of clutter.  I am close to that goal now.

One of my recent, and greatest areas has been my storage room.  So here we go.

The Before Shots

Looking straight on:

The luggage shelves:

 The interior wall:

Along the right wall, immediately as you enter:

On that wall, the wrapping paper and gift bag shelves:

 

The entryway to the storage room (what we called the "food overflow area"):

 

The tool storage area:

There is a floor somewhere in here...

 

The finished results:

 

See, I promised you there was a floor!

 

In total, I purged 80 pounds from the storage room.


Questions from OrgJunkie:


1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
The hardest part...hmmm.  That is hard.  I think the first part is that it was just so daunting.  This room was a disaster.   You couldn't walk in it.  You truly couldn't see the floor.  I forced myself to approach it just like I was approaching other rooms or areas of the house.  Bit by bit.  This whole project was tackled in four stages, on four separate days.

The other hard part is definitely something that has been consistent through all of my decluttering.  Cleaning up and out other people's stuff.  My husband's tools.  My kids' boxes of toys.  I learned in this process to focus on managing what I could manage.  And learn that just because I couldn't "own" it all didn't mean I couldn't do something about it.  I think so often I don't tackle something because I just think that it will get messy again.  Or that other people might tackle it.  I've learned that those excuses just beget more excuses and more mess.


2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
I am the first to call out, "No, no, no, stop.  Don't set that there.  Put it away."  The storage room was our dump and run room.  By taking an extra 15 seconds, we can just put things where they belong.  I have also stopped allowing us to just stash things in that room "to deal with them later."  Better to leave them out in the house to deal with them now than hide them for a non-existent "later."

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Let's just say that if you would like a storage room that looks like mine did, feel free to visit our local Goodwill store.  A big priority for me in my decluttering has been to get rid of as much as possible while wasting as little as possible.  I try to donate first, recycle second and toss third.  I was able to donate the majority of the things down there.  I recycled what I could recycle and tossed the rest.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?
For me it was less about creative storage solutions and more about the fact that I was relying on storage solutions rather than getting to the root of the problem.  I actually went out at one point and bought more storage.  Soon after, I laughed at myself.  Storage wasn't the problem.  I was.  I was simply keeping too much stuff.  With a dramatic decrease in stuff I was able to rely on good storage solutions (a wire drawer system for gift wrap and bags, small drawers for taxes, tubs for hand-me-down clothing storage, horizontal wine racks for special wines), etc. to do the job.  There are defined zones and areas now. 

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?
Because this hasn't just been a challenge for me.  This whole effort has truly been about changing the way I live my life.  How I look at stuff.  How I deal with it.  And how I organize it.  Or better yet, how I let it go.   And I do that by laughing at myself a bit.  (If you want to read more of my decluttering posts, they can be found here...I like to tell the stories behind the stuff).  I have found a solution that is working for me.  I am doing it, bit by bit, and keeping myself accountable for it.

Day 20 of the 500 Pound Declutter - I Don't Own Any Jimmy Choo Shoes

This is what we not-so-lovingly refer to as the "Big Blue Bucket."

Really, it's more of an industrial storage tub.  And it has been sitting on the floor of our master bedroom, well, probably since we finished our basement a few years ago and had to get everything our of the strorage area.


Yeah, you read that right.  A few years ago.


It holds Brian's off season clothes.  And also serves as a lovely resting place for the junk in our lives that doesn't quite get put away.


It used to be more hidden on Brian's side of the bed until I decluttered his dresser.  But it got scooted over to my side (I am guessing my thought was that was "on the way to the basement") nearly two months ago.


I hate it.  I asked Brian what was even in it anymore and he said he thought it was his summer clothes.


So yesterday I decided it was time to tackle it.  Most of the things on the top simply needed to be put away.  But it had turned into quite a hodge podge of stuff, as evidenced by the abacus and costume pearls, accented with an empty Target bag.  Nice.

 I started, again, three piles:


1. Give away
2. Put away
3. Toss


Then I got to the bin itself and opened it.

Whattya know.  It wasn't summer clothes.  It was winter sweaters.  All of it.  And here we are (I am going to be optimistic here) nearing at the end of winter.


So now I had to find a place for them.


I headed into the closet to look around.  I immediately spotted this corner.  And while it's looked like that for a long time, I started to laugh out loud.

Those boxes in the corner?  Each has a pair of party shoes in them.  Beaded.  Strappy.  Dressy.  For the most part, stuff I just don't have the opportunity to wear anymore.


But what was funny is that I had ever thought it a good idea to practically hermetically seal them in boxes.


These are not Jimmy Choo shoes, people.  These are "xhiliration" and "Sam and Libby."  We're talking $29.99 party shoes.  Boxed and labeled like they were something else.


I pulled them all out and sorted them.  There were 8 boxes total (three were down on the floor from an event last weekend).  Of all of them, I kept two pairs.  Cause really, who needs navy blue, chunky heeled satin bridesmaid shoes?


So I'd cleared out a spot for the sweaters.  Which was great.

But I was on a roll and one thing led to another and I decided to tackle my wall of shoes.


Yes, again, you read that right.  My wall of shoes.  When we had our closet done a few years ago, the consultant came to measure everything and assess our needs.  At that point, I believe she discovered the statistic that Brian had 12 pairs of shoes.  I had 68.

 

The wall itself wasn't so much the problem.  It was the space around it.

What, you don't keep a fire truck puzzle in your closet to try and step on everytime you walk in there?

And this.

I decided this was it.  Time to take a good hard look at my shoes.  And share what I learned along the way.

1. If you have shoes in your closet that are dusty, it is their way of trying to tell you something.  They want to leave you.  Let them.

2. If you find shoes that have really pointy, hard heel backs and are really cheap.  There is a reason.  It's because they have really pointy, hard heel backs.  That will hurt you.  Even when they are cute.  They will make you walk like your shoes hurt.  Because they do.  So you won't wear them.  That is why all of the smarter people who tried them on before you didn't buy them.  They need to move on to an owner with pointier heels that you.

3. If you have shoes that every time you put them on you think either:
        a. Will I get fired for wearing these? or
        b. Do I look like a 16-year-old wearing these?
You need to let them go on to a life with someone with a less prescribed work dress code.  Or someone who is actually 16.

4. Purple comes in 4,000 different shades.  Don't keep buying purple shoes because you think you have a perfect outfit that they will match.  They won't.

5. Dogs like Crocs.  Even if you don't have a dog.  Somehow a dog will find your closet and eat them.

But I also learned that it feels really good to have a well-organized wall of shoes I actually do wear.

And it feels even better to just have a carpet dent where the blue bucket once sat.

 

Along the way, I got rid of 15 pairs of shoes, some clothes and toys.  All of it donated.  There wasn't any trash this time.

Adding up to a total of

38 pounds!

Bringing the running total to 375 pounds.

And so I celebrated by going shoe shopping.  Nope, not kidding.

The Teacher's Response

I emailed Noah's teacher about the bullying to seek some perspective about what we might do.  I gave her the background and offered to connect with the bus driver, if there was a way to do so.  Here was her email back:

NOBODY calls my babies "retards."  I'm on it. 

I'll figure out who she is and have a heart to heart with her.

Have I mentioned that I love Noah's teacher?  She is amazing.

Stay tuned...

My Son, the Lorax

Today is the last day of the kids' spirit week at school.  As fun as it's been for them, I have to admit it's been a bit stressful for us.


Inevitably, each day, one of the kids has had a somewhat "off" or downright hair-brained idea for what they want to do.


Today is bring your favorite book and dress like your favorite book character.  Noah, not surprisingly, is Harry Potter.  Love it when you can get more than one wear out of a Halloween costume.


Caleb had a different idea.  An idea he came up with at 7:00 a.m. this morning.  He wanted to be the Lorax.

 

Notice anything about the Lorax?  Other than the fact that he is bearded and bald?  Yeah, he is also naked.  Buck raving hairy naked.

Um yeah, Caleb, not going to happen.  I am neither letting you go to school nude nor do I have a giant hairy naked body costume laying around.

So while it warmed my little green heart that his favorite character was the earth-loving Lorax, we had to veto the idea.  And veto it we did.  Causing great anger and tears along the way.

Instead?  He finally settled on being a super hero from Bob McLeod's "SuperHero ABC." 

The letter T specifically.  Which pretty much means he is wearing a white undershirt with red electrical tape on the front made into the letter T.  So much for creativity 10 minutes before leaving the house.

But then again, he will never be known as the kid who came naked to school in second grade.

You Can Call Me "Mama Bear"

As you may have read a few weeks ago, I was bullied pretty significantly as a kid.  So I admit I am hyper-sensitive to bullying.


And so thinking about others being bullied brings up feelings and anger and angst in me I didn't really know were there.


Tonight, as I was making dinner (okay, making is a very loose term, I was rewarming leftovers) Noah piped up to ask, "Mom what is does it mean if someone calls you a 'retard'?"


And chills ran down my back.  Not only is that a word I hate.  Hate.  I knew this conversation couldn't be going anywhere good.


I'll step back for a minute.  While Noah is our spitfire, he is also one of the sweetest, most loving, affectionate people you could ever meet.  And he wears his heart and opinions on his sleeve.

Lately, because Eli is addicted to Elmo, Noah has re-adopted his love of the high-pitched, red, furry, I-talk-about-myself-in third-person character.  He loves it because Eli loves it, and he loves being with his brother and having fun.  In fact, while I take a minute to dash this post off, he and Eli are watching one of the Elmo DVDs.

 

 

Yesterday at school, he evidently shared with a friend that he thinks that Elmo is cool.  And that friend responded by teasing him.

As he told me that story I was really torn.  What do you say?  Do you encourage your kid to keep being true to who they are and stand by what they want to do?  Even if that means watching Elmo?  And getting teased along the way?


Or do you give into that wince you felt right away and say, "Well, that was rude of your friend to say, but dude, Elmo is kind of for babies?"  Okay, I wouldn't say it like that, but you get what I am saying.


I kind of did a hybrid of both.  More of the former and less of the latter.


But then he came home tonight and, as we got into the conversation about what it might mean if someone called you a "retard," it came out that a third grade girl on his bus has decided to pick on him.  Daily.  She calls him names.  Including that one.  She singles him out.  She makes up lies about him and tells them to the bus driver.  She is trying to get under his skin.  And today, she finally did.


My first response?  Mama bear.  I want to hunt her down and kick her.  And then some.  I wanted to show her what it felt like to have someone bigger than you pick on you.  What it felt like to have anyone pick on you.  I wanted to share a little bit of the misery.


Well that might be a bit strong, I wouldn't really kick a third grader.  But I definitely had my Mama Bear instincts come out.  Protect or attack?  Protect or attack?  Or both?

I don't know what to do.  But I feel like I need to do something.

Any thoughts?

Grown Ups Need Spirit Week, Too

My kids have spirit week at school this week.


Monday was pajama day.  Tuesday was school colors day. Wednesday was crazy day.  Thursday is twins day.  And Friday they are supposed to dress like their favorite book character.

And, as you would expect, the kids have been thoroughly hopped up on the whole experience.

Noah approached crazy day in a more singular fashion.  He wanted a mohawk and a goatee.

 

Caleb, however, got a bit more into it.  Full out embracing his inner crazy.  

As he explained it to us, Crazy Day meant anything that wouldn't be "sidarcting to the teachers."  (Pretty sure this was a Caleb pronunciation for "distracting.")

Here was his finished result.  Of course, I made them do their facial hair in washable marker.  And Caleb has a horrible cold and runny nose, so when he got home it looked more like he had chocolate milk for lunch. 

  

But the whole thing got me thinking.  What if, as grown ups, we still got to have spirit week? 

 

All I know is that around here we were all pretty geeked out on the first and only jeans day we had last year.  I don't recall the last time I saw a group of grown people, including myself, trotting around the office quite so giddy showing off what they were wearing.


Maybe we should have grown up spirit week.

And I think the school had it about right.

Monday - Who among us doesn't want to roll into work in our pajamas?  So you go with it.  Come as you are.  Same rules apply as they sent home with the first graders:  No spaghetti straps and no sexy pajamas (yes, they actually have to send this home in the school memo.  Who the hell are those parents??).

Tuesday - Alright folks, we let you have your jammie day.  Time to rally around the company.  Let's go crazy and show some company pride by sporting logo colors.

Wednesday - Okay, enough corporate fun. Wear your clothes backwards.  We're being wacky here people.  If you want to be really crazy, wear them inside out.  I know, we're pushing boundaries here!

Thursday - Twins day!  Pick your favorite work friend and dress like them.  Or pick your least favorite work friend and dress like them to mock them.  Or pick your boss to flatter them (but remember not to cross the line from flattery to mocking).  Either way it will get some of those pent up work emotions out.

Friday - Show your true colors.  Are you a Harry Potter lover?  Bodice ripping romance reader?  Sci-fi addict.  Wear it loud and proud colleagues.  Let your guilty pleasures shine.

Yeah, that would be a good week at work.

Alright, back to reality.  I am off to put on my standard black work pants, dress sweater, and high heeled boots just like half of the other women I work with.  Whattya know?  It is twins day.

Win a $10 Gift Card and Grab Your Olay Free Sample

We've kicked off a giveaway over on The Snyder 5 Reviews for a $10 gift card to Walmart.  There is also a link for free samples of Olay Total Effects Body Wash.  Head on over to enter to win.

Wordless Wednesday - Ridiculous

Seriously?  

"Mom, I Had a Bad Dream"

Last night was just one of those nights.


The kind where you wake up in the morning and feel like you never really went to bed.


It started out with me staying up far too late watching ice dancing on the Olympics.  What can I say, I got sucked in and before I knew it, it was 11:15.


A short while later, Noah called out to let me know he had a bad dream.


Lately, they have been about zombies.  That was the case last night, too.  I reminded him that I certainly had never encountered a zombie, reassured him I had the security system on (which is, evidently, zombie-proof in Noah's mind) and that I thought we were pretty good for the night and tucked him back into bed.


And two hours later I was the one jolted awake by my own bad dream.


Brian teases me that I have three kinds of bad dreams.  He only has one.  His nightmares involve spiders.  And result in him smacking me in the middle of the night in an effort to kill them.  Love it.

Mine?  Well the first is the one where I am back in high school or junior high.  Self explanatory, right?  Nightmare.

The second one is that we are back planning our wedding and things are going horribly wrong.


And the third is where Brian leaves me.


The last one is the one I had last night.


Now it makes sense that it would come up in my dreams now as we are in one of those waves of being surrounded by friends having marital issues.  We're good at our house, no worries.  But when you see so many around you going through it, it's hard not to have it at the back of your mind.


So between the "high drama" of ice dance, the fact that I ate a chunk of string cheese and 10 Ritz crackers for dinner, and that the last conversation of the night was with a friend where we reflected on some of the marriages splitting up around us, it makes sense.


But between Noah's bad dream and mine, it made me think about how bad dreams can be such a reflection of your own present view of the world.  Your own fears.  Whether you have even articulated them to yourself or not.

If you are six, you worry about zombies.  If you are my age, you still have strange little areas of your mind that evidently house old stresses or internalize new ones.


We got through the night.  Zombie and divorce-free.


When Eli got up, I asked him how his night was and if he had any dreams.


He nodded and whispered, "Elmo and Cookie."


Gotta think he had the best night of all of us.

Rocking the Skirt Suits

In a few weeks, our whole family is headed to Mexico to celebrate my parents' 40th anniversary.   C.A.N.N.O.T W.A.I.T.

Originally I had great plans to revolutionize my body and suddenly be able to hop into an adorable swimsuit.

Plans.

Not realities.

Just plans.

Let me just own this.

I. Hate. Working. Out.

Period.

I am not one of those people who buys into that "When you start working out you feel so much better" deal.  Yeah.  Cause I don't.  Sure, I like it when after two weeks my pants fit a bit better.  But after three weeks and I am still not Heidi Klum (when she is not perpetually pregnant), I am done.  I am an amazingly impatient person.  I am a work out quitter.  Time and time again.  Just being real.

So no, there will be no miracle body cure for the trip.  And that is okay.   My kids are cuter than I am anyway.  I am going to convince myself that no one is looking at me.

After all, when we go to the community pool during the summer, my hope is that I am in the happy middle.  Not the best, not the worst.  Nothing to see here, people, move along, move along.

Our extended family hung out this weekend and those of us who have had babies have all agree to "Rock the Skirt Suit."

I am done doing the "I am getting out of the water and so throw me a towel fast!" move.  Or the pretending that "I am wearing a cover up in the water because I really love the look of a saggy dress clinging to my body" fakeout move.

Not to mention the "I am just going to lay on my back in the sun, with my legs slightly bent at the knee in a 45-degree angle, because that might be slightly more flattering than any other position, position."

I am done.  I am 35.  I hate working out.  I have had 3 kids.  And I am not using it as an excuse.  I am embracing it.  This is who I am.  On so many levels.

But I am also done punishing myself for it.  I have had the same stupid, ugly, "I am hiding in a plain black suit" suits for, oh, 8 years.  Cut it out, Molly.  No more guilt.

And so I am going to rock two brand new, totally cute, sassy skirt suits.  Which I won't look anything like this in:

P.S. And yes, it's funny they put a size 2 woman in skirt suits.  Cause really, if you were a size 2, would you wear a skirt suit?!



Are you dealing with any guilt (or pushing yourself skirt suit style though it) today?  Check our my friend Cop Mama to link up. 

Also check out Musings of a Housewife's What I Learned This Week.

My brother

This is my brother, Josh.

And when he isn't busy being my brother (which frankly takes less time than I would like it to, but hey that's okay) he is a director.

He's been picked as one of five finalists in a filmmakers competition through Vimeo and Canon.

Job Security from Runner Runner on Vimeo.

You can vote for him in the competition by going here.  You can only vote once.  But you can pass it on.  Thanks.  Brotherly shamless plug over.

(P.S. Probably not a video for the kids to watch with you.  More of a PG-13 variety.)

Day 19 of the 500 Pound Declutter - Finding Hat Pins and Pretty Painted Trays

(linky at the end)

Have I ever mentioned the pretty painted tray I got in Florence, Italy and my grandmother's hat pin collection?


No?


That's probably because two of my favorite decorative things were buried in clutter in our master bathroom.

 

They are in there, I promise.  Need a closer look?

So I tackled this project this morning.  I started off by digging into the jewelry box on the edge of the counter.  I uncovered this box when I was doing the bathroom closet last weekend.  But knew then I didn't have the energy to deal with it then.

Why?  Because all of the jewelry I actually wear is in another drawer.  So this is, for the most part, the random sentimental stuff.  Pins from my great grandmother.  Bead necklaces Brian made for me when he was more prone to wear Birkenstocks and tie-dyed t-shirts (yes, there was that phase).  My graduation tassel. 

In that little box, I found these things.

 

Sorority pins.  Alumni pin from college.  Baby ring (mine).  And my NFL pin.  Nope, not that kind of NFL.  NFL as in delightfully geeky competitive speech "National Forensic League" pin.  And as proud as I once was to earn it, I don't see myself sporting it anytime soon.

After going through all of this, I decided I would limit myself to that one box above.  I could fill it with sentimental stuff I actually wanted to keep.  And the rest would go.

That left us with this.  Toy cars and Legos.  Piles of jewelry.  Nail polish. Dead lightbulbs that need to be recycled.  All sorted and either dealt with or put away.

Then I noticed this.  A class picture from daycare.  That has been sitting there, for who knows what reason, since 2004.  That is Noah in the front row, second from the left.  Yes, he had a scratched up nose.  Something my kids seem to regularly do the day before any school picture.  Okay, that was fun.  I put it in Noah's keepsake box.

While I continued to dig, I stumbled across this purple bead.  No big deal, right?  But this silly bead is so indicative of my problem.  I keep stuff that has a story.  And this is the bead that, then 4-year-old Noah put up his nose when we were driving home one day.  We're driving along and Noah suddenly starts freaking out and screaming, "Ahhhh, the bead is stuck in my nose!  The bead is stuck in my nose!"

Me: [Trying not to start freaking out]: Why in the world is the bead up your nose?

Noah: Because I stuck it there!

Caleb: [Sobbing (see, they really do love each other!)] Oh nooo, Noah is going to die!

Noah: I am going to die?!

Me: NO YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!  JUST DON'T BLOW YOUR NOSE!

You see, Noah was at that stage where when he tried to blow his nose, he would suck in.  And I had to figure a bead in the brain wasn't a good idea.

We went to urgent care.  They didn't know what to do, so we drove to the emergency room.  And I decided, at the last minute, to try to coach Noah through how to really blow his nose in the parking lot in an effort to save us a $100 copay.

He succeeded.  The bead flew across the car.  We all cheered like he had scored a touchdown.  The kids told me I had to save it to show Dad.  And I did.  For nearly three years.

Alright, that was fun.  Moving on.

Are you kidding me?  Another stacking doll.  Between these and high school photos of my brother, I think I have found one just about every time I have cleaned.

Which left me with this.  It was all filthy.  So I took the time to clean and sort the pins.  Some were my grandmother's.  And some I had picked up along the way from eBay or antique sales. 

I decided I would just keep the ones I actually liked and let go of the rest.

Leaving me with this.

 

I now have a pretty bathroom corner.

 

One with a hand painted tray that reminds me of our trip to Florence.  It displays a lovely collection of antique hat pins that reminds me of my grandmother.  Best of all, none of it makes me think about clutter that needs to be cleaned.

I got rid of another 4 pounds of clutter bringing the grand total to:

337 pounds!

If you want to link up your decluttering or organizing efforts, please do.  Please link back to The Snyder 5 and feel free to grab the button at the top of the post.    The linky will be up all week.