Original post from Jan. 2019
I guess its guaranteed to see resolutions or goals for people around this time of year, to get organized! Some of us are okay in mass amounts of clutter and chaos, others are a little in the middle. Some of us are super organized but stack things here and there (where my stacker girls at!) and others, can't rest until everything is super tidy, put away and in its home. Where do you fall on the organization spectrum?
We are blessed with a big home, and you are probably thinking, wow, how awesome for storage! It's great, I just think that its more room for crap, which means more crap, which means I am always purging. I love purging. I will arrange a pick up from our local veterans organization most of the time (awesome because you don't even need to go anywhere), and just grab some bags or boxes, zone in on my target location and go to town. It is pretty funny though, I usually have two main triggers that will set me off in crazy Amber-mama organizing mode.
Me, I have always been super into organizing! However, I have some stacks around the house in various hidie-holes which drives my husband bonkers. He then "helps" by moving said stack and stacking it somewhere else, where I can never find it. And then he can't remember where he put it, so ya. "Helping", ha. He is great really. We are both pretty tidy, biggest pet peeve is things on the counter and having clean counters for me. Oh and the sink. I really kinda have to have that clean and cleared out before I go to bed! But, lemme tell you, a pile of laundry can sit there for evvvvaaaa! As much as I try to stay neat, tidy and organized, it is SO stinking hard sometimes with two little ones and working full time. So, I do my best, try to have great organized systems in place and try to use and implement them in the home as much as possible. Does it always happen or work? Nah. But we try, and I am okay with that!
First, usually is there is a stack somewhere that we have been staring at for awhile and it just keeps staring at me like it wants to fight. Oh yea pile of crap, I do wanna fight you! But, it is like fight club, we don't talk about it, you dirty little stack. So, not today Satan stack. Not today.
That's what builds it up most of the time. Just staring me up and down, giving me the dirty dirty. And then I usually just drop what ever it was that I was doing, or should be doing, and start purging. Hard core. Because one area usually leads to the next. I will tell my husband, hey I am gonna go through this box or stack, or closet or bin or whatever. Next thing he sees is me going on to another area next. Just always, always, purging. I hate hoarding stuff and not using it when someone else could use it or I can sell it than lusting over the idea that one day I may need it. The sentimental connection to items is pretty easy for me to get over. Even with the girls clothes! Donated 99% of it. Kept anything that I made or someone else made for them, the rest is gone. It truly makes your life feel lighter! Mari Kondo eat your heart out bae! If you haven't read her book on ultimate, mindful organization check it out here .
The second thing that gets my gears going, is my husband. He always, always seems to know what and how to get me to go through that crazy purge mode! I mean, he will try and be sneaky, but ohhh I know what you are doing dude! He will come see me in my craft room, or where ever, and say, "hey babe, you don't have to do it right now, BUT...." then he goes on to say, "whatcha gonna do with this?" Or "where can I put this". That is the key, he gets my gears rolling and then I just get started on a crazy purge, usually making a bigger mess in the process before getting to the end result.
So. Blah. Maybe a tad neurotic with a splash OCD? Whatevs. It works for me and I embrace it! So for January. My first goal was to get my new craft space 100% organized. No stacks, everything labeled, organized, and in its home. During one of my husbands fueled crazy organizing tirades, we totally tore apart half the house and moved three rooms. This was supposed to be our late anniversary stay-cation. We had left the prior day to go car test driving and had a great time, and the second day kid free was just to chill at home, meet back up in the evening and have a yummy kid free lots of wine dinner. Well, he walked in covered in garage goo while I was sewing, and he saw a look on my face that made him ask, you ok? I said yea, just this craft room was busting at the seams and I felt super claustrophobic in there and I need a bigger room! Being the awesome supportive guy he is (and not criticizing me for all the crap that I have!) he said well you could use the loft! I said whhhat really? We pow-wowed (what we call chatting about whatever) and then turned into the 8 year old most of us probably were. Like hey, lets switch rooms and beds or reorganize our furniture! He grabbed a tape measure and we kinda just tore the entire house apart! We moved the long arm which was in our former guest room, up to the loft. All fabric got moved in there too, along with some other random stuff.
We moved all the kid stuff and toys and couches, TV etc into the guest room downstairs. Which works so much better! The kids wouldn't play up in the loft because if we were down stairs they didn't want to be up there by themselves. So this works so much better since they new play room is right off the kitchen!
My Otto boy with those big, sweet Bostie ears!
We did more switcharoos too. I moved my youngest out of her small room and flip flopped with her for my craft room. She has a bigger room now with a walk in closet. I have a second craft room, which we call the sewing room now. You may think that smaller, what is the point if you were bursting at the seams before?! I have a smaller room, but it is less cluttered, much brighter and way more efficient, now that all my fabric isn't in that room! Basically the new space is all for working and not as much for storage. And, it is awesome. I really think (and hope!) we won't be moving crap around. All that switching and room moving was exhausting but fun and I am glad we did it, but man, it took me a few weeks to move everything to its new home and find the best spots for it. I really took care to not use anything I didn't need, or store anything that I wasn't going to use.
I got rid of a ton of random things and a lot of storage boxes, tins, baskets etc. I always kept them because I thought that I would use them, but I hadn't. So I kept what I needed, was able to return a few back to Target, donated a bunch of rando's, and sold a few. So my stacks are limited now, hiding under the long arm and a few under my cutting table, but that's it! So close to getting to that goal! I took my time, made thoughtful decisions and just let it go. Some things I could have even sold, but ya know what? I don't wanna wait for weeks going back and forth to sell a $4 item and having people flake and just, ugh. No thanks. So I just took a little loss in the pocket, but gained a lot more in piece of mind.