It's been a great day in my world! I just work better with deadlines. The floors in our basement are supposed to be put in in a couple of weeks.  This means, I have to clean and paint very fast.  It's pretty rough down there. I had to get rid of things that we don't use anymore or the kids don't play with. I had to get rid of the toys that I was sentimentally attached to.  I give my son's clothes to a friend. I went through all of the costumes that he used to wear and gave them to her as well.  I kept a a special few.  I know there are the usual questions, "Do I love it?" or, "Have we used it in the past year?"  Well yes, I love lots of things, and I always go back to the thought that I might use it.  But, the morbid questions I've been pondering lately are, "Would anyone else love this or want it after I'm gone?"  I know- kinda creepy.  I repurpose furniture and go to estate sales to find good deals.  There it is-  all the items these people were attached to or thought they loved strewn out on card tables at cheap prices.  I want to leave my kids with things they will cherish, and not with things they have to figure out what to do with.  I saved the toys that I knew they would want when they were older or

toys I could use for my future grandkids.  The items I can't bless my friend with, I sale.  There are several sites on Facebook where you can sell your items for much better prices than you would get from a garage sell.  I also participate in the Rhea Lana sale in my area. It is a consigning sale where I am able to set the prices and keep 70%.  They accept toys and clothes that are in good shape.  It feels so good to have gotten so much accomplished today and to continue on this journey of change.

We'll, here are my piles I'm combining.  Multitasking is great!! I just brought them up while my daughter was baking because I wanted to be with her when there was not a mood swing involved.  I loved it! She baked- I sorted. The meat is cooking now, so I can sort and stir occasionally.  Taking baby steps

Yes, it really did get this bad! That cart was purchased to hold all of the scrap booking supplies I was one day going to use to create beautiful albums.  I completed 1.5 albums and it's not looking good for my youngest.  I have been taking a small stack of pictures every day and putting them in order.  The next opportunity I get, I take another stack and combine them.  It has been fun looking through the older pictures. Baby steps will get me there...eventually.

I enjoyed being a room mom. I enjoyed my kids this afternoon, and I blocked off some time to mess with my basement.  I'm getting the basement in order because we are getting new floors. It's like moving out because everything has to be... moved out.

I was subbing the other day in the most organized room. She has these labels that are precious! You can get them for free!!  You can also label them with the font you want. That's why you can't see my "Romance and Drama" and "Family and Kids".  Instead of returning our DVDs to the shelf, I opted for plastic shoe boxes.  It's awesome because the kids can just flip through their subject.  Each box was $1 at Dollar Tree, and each one holds 20 DVDs.

This is the season when clutter gets you.  Its not just the 5,000 projects at home, its the gift buying, school functions and Christmas commitments.  They will chew you up and spit you out!  I have to continually remind myself of the reason for the season.  God sent His one and only Son for me!  Relax, it will get done because it always does.  Today, just focus on the things that must get done today and not the endless to do list. I'm going to enjoy being a room mom today (seriously).  I'm going to enjoy being with my kids this afternoon (for real).   And, I will find a 30 minute time block to work on my storage room that looks like its about to get someone (not kidding).
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28

Could it be that things are a little disheveled because I sit around and try to think of of ideas for the Elf on the Shelf? FOCUS! But, before I do, just a sweet little picture of our Mari with the organized binder I showed you in a previous post.  We have found Mari hanging out with the Barbies doing the YMCA on the mantle,

 and drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.  She also enjoys writing with my lipstick on everyone's mirror but mine.  My all time favorite is the mustache she drew on the picture of our older more mature son with a dry erase marker.  Well, just slipping some ideas...

This clutter blog is going to take a billion years! Instead of saying, "They didn't build Rome in a day", they should say, "Gwen didn't organize her house and get rid of clutter in a day."  WOW!  Now, all of it comes out, the good, the bad and the ugly.  It is rough, but day by day I can do it.  Just take baby steps.  I think Fly Lady and Dave Ramsey use that saying, and they seem to be doing alright.  Another great idea from a wise friend has come to my rescue.  Every year for the past lots of years I have been putting the kids' school stuff in tubs.  This makes for a lot of tubs because each year I have three tubs to find a place for in  a shrinking storage room.  My friend told me to get a binder for each child.  My youngest is in 1st grade, so I got her a big fat one.  The other two are middleschoolers, so they have 1 inchers.  This has been an incredible space saver!  They can decorate the paper in the front however they want.  We didn't get too fancy this year, but the sky's the limit next year!

Everyday, I take out my youngest's items, punch the holes, and stick it in the binder.  For the older two, I save special things that have written or items they are proud of.  FYI:  In the picture on the floor by tub is in fact a band suit from the 80's tossed on the floor.

Christmas presents are wrapped and under the tree. I have three kids so I picked a different wrapping paper for each personality.  This makes Christmas morning simple with handing out (grabbing) the gifts. These gifts are for other friends, so they have tags. Otherwise, if a gift doesn't have a tag, the kids know which ones are coming their way!

When organization isn't your strong suit, it's a good idea to kick in your other awesome qualities. One of mine is listening. I have a lot of family and friends around me that are wise. This idea came from my sister-in-law. I was telling her about my huge clutter mess and sentimental problem, and she suggested I start with just something.  So, I started with my sentimental clothes box which includes   My outfit from our first date, the dress he proposed to me in, the outfit I wore leaving our wedding reception, some of my maternity clothes and the list goes on and on (look, I put a preposition at the end of a sentence, and I know it's wrong).  She proposed that I get rid of that huge tub by making all of those clothes into something special like a quilt.  Yes!!! I found a local lady that does it, and look what I have! It is a beautiful quilt that tells a story. It is a story that my kids are grossed out by at the moment, but I think they will eventually appreciate it.

I wish there were more of me. Then I could get the boring stuff done along with all of the fun stuff I want to do. Just this morning Chris said I made him dizzy. I'm always thinking about what project, hobby or job I want to do. Focus does not come naturally to me (or organization or self-discipline or consistency). I could probably write five million blogs because I dabble in most everything. I'm also a web-md in case you have some strange symptoms. My baby went to kindergarten last year, and I began the process of being a stay at home mom with no kids at home. Now, I'm on a roll with all the things I want to do.  What stands in my way is a big fat mess of clutter. I would feel much better and a lot less guilty about enjoying myself if my house was in order.  I save everything! I've been sentimentally attached to a gum wrapper.  So, there is sentimental clutter in my basement.  Just use your imagination on how much after 18 years...  The kids have put a whole new spin on my clutter challenge with "baby memory clothes", a tub a child for each grade, and so on and so on.  So, this is my clutter cleanse journey.  I hope this journey lasts a little longer than most of my trips because I have a whole lot to de-clutter.