My Weekend Triumph

Ever have a job that you are just chomping at the bit to do, but every time you start it something else comes up? (By something else, I mean hubby and kids and running of the house). Well, I finally was able to get to organizing my storage closet this weekend.

Off to the side is my before picture. Now, before you judge me to be a totally hopeless housekeeper, let me defend myself.

I love lists, I love organization. While I am by no means a perfect housekeeper, I do strive to do my best in that area. To the extent that I really don't care for unexpected visitors- they never stop by when my house is gleaming and sparkling. Or if they do stop by on a freshly cleaned day, I suddenly notice there is something sticking out from under the couch. But back to the subject.

When we moved to our present home, I thought it would be a great idea to use the heavy duty moving boxes we had bought for the move to store things in my new large (atleast to me) storage closet.

What I didn't count on was the little pest that invaded us last fall. The field behind our house is home to many field mice. And one managed to nibble a hole throught the storage wall. Who would have known such a little thing could cause so much damage?

And we tried to catch that little rodent with every trap available- humane and not. But that little rodent was just too smart.

One day my son walked up to me and said "Mom, there's a mouse sleeping under your treadmill." Sure enough. Problem solved- and no mice were harmed for the writing of this post.

So I pulled everything out of the closet, temporarily depositing it in my bedroom. The bedroom with the Kingsize bed, dresser, several side tables, 2 file cabinets, an office desk, treadmill...you get the general idea. It was just a little bit crowded.

I went through every one of those boxes, hoping I would not catch some disease from the by product it left behind. Sadly I had to throw some items away.

So here is my after picture. I picked up the lovely sterilite containers at Kmart on sale for $3.99 (okay, so maybe they are a dull gray- but what a deal). I also put an organizer on the closet door, front and back.

Every bone ached by Saturday night, but what a lovely sight!

The Clutter that I Hate but can't seem to get rid of

A place for everything, and everything in it's place. I love that saying, it strongly appeals to my inner desire for organization.

So why can't I get rid of all the clutter taking up valuable square footage in my home?

Could it be that there is a conspiracy in my home? Could it be that I am outnumbered 4 to 1? That as quickly as I dispose of said clutter, it is replaced with more items?

I am therefore resolved to do some major decluttering in the next few weeks. Around my regular schedule of homeschooling, church, doctor visits, ect. After all, a womans got to do what a womans got to do.

My "dream" room would be one full of shelves and cubicles and sterilite containers. When I needed something, I would smoothly glide over to the appropriate spot and remove the desired item. My husband and children would sing my praises as the wife/mom who knows exactly where everything is. I would save so much time with said room that I would finally have time to get a hobby (I'm quite certain I once had one of those).

Like I said, that's my dream room. But I'm willing to settle for far less.

Today, while sharpening a pencil for my youngest child, I tripped over a small mound of clutter near our school table. You'll be glad to know that instead of using the schoolroom window to break my fall, I was able to divert myself (just barely) onto the lego table. It still wasn't very pretty.

And if I'm going to throw my back out, could it please be while doing something more enjoyable than this (or atleast more dignified)? And why does the Doctor ask how you did it anyway?

So I am hereby warning my family: there's a new mommy in town. If it really is your favorite toy/picture/unidentifiable object, keep it out of the pile. I'm cleaning up this town.