the boys' closet

Again I forgot to take before pics, but here is my after...

The top shelf was a JOKE. Things were just thrown up there with no rhyme or reason. Piles of underwear too small, baby toys, blankets, art work, ugh, it was just a mess. The clothes hanging were of multiple sizes and always a pain to go through and find a nice shirt for Sundays. Then on the lower shelf, there were again piles of clothes that needed to be put away either too small now or too big or hang ups that weren't hung, ect. Under those piles were a heaping mound of shoes again-- zero organization. The floor kind of rinse and repeat for the shelf. Clothes with tags, clothes in bags, clothes too small, the next size waiting for Matthew needing to go in the dresser... ugh. It was awful.

NOW It is nice a neat!
-The top shelf is very friendly with their baby books/memory boxes then comes baby toys, and a wipes container with pacifiers in it. The brown sack has two different size opened partially used packs of diapers. Next to the brown sack, you can't see is a small tub labeled of two different sizes of too small underwear for Matthew that I didn't want to put up in the attic not knowing when Mark was going to begin potty training.
-Then the hanging stuff on the far left is special jackets/outfits, then extra hangers, the middle is Matthew's and the right is Mark's.
-The lower shelf while in the picture doesn't look very organized, I'm actually most pleased about! ALLLL the shoes are now labeled and bagged and will be very easy to find as they grow size to size. Here's a closer look at the shoes:
-Then the floor... that is a little dark in the picture but the far left is the next size for Matthew (things that have been handed down from cousins), next to that is a bag for my BFF, then the box you can actually see is Mark's current size but summer clothes and next to that last box is the comforter/bumper for the crib.

It looks so nice in there! I keep opening the doors to see it all straightened up! It took two hours last night and about two plus hours this morning to go through all the clothes and all. I got Matthew's dresser emptied of all small clothes and filled with the now size. ( I forget what a huge chore size changing is for them). I boxed three boxes of Matthew's smaller size (goodness, slacker!) and one box from even the size before that (super slacker). Jamie took them up to the attic. I also ended up with a PILE of trash: random papers from the hospital from Mark (eeee!), art work, tags, wrappers... Also I made a give pile (for a friend who's recently had a boy) of some really cute things but my boys just haven't worn. And lastly, I made a small pile of goodwill stuff. LOVE IT!

Shoe Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!

Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you!!

Today's victims came from my closet. Eight pairs of shoes, two necklaces, and two bracelets. While I really like most of these shoes and pieces of jewelry, they have either never been worn or worn to death. So, in my pursuit to clean house, they are out the door!

I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly.......

My name is Kate and I'm a Stuffaholic

I like stuff. I have tons of stuff. I waste my money on more stuff. Then I bitch to my husband that the walls of our 1200 square foot house are closing in on me. After years of saving for a new, bigger house, we got a cruel reality check when a realtor came to our house and proclaimed us upside down on the mortgage. So now we are stuck here - two adults, two dogs, one two year old, and something needs to change.

We're in the midst of a redecorating/decluttering that has to happen before someone goes crazy. We got new living room furniture and a new kitchen table. We are waiting for the table to be delivered so the kitchen is, um, "empty."

My husband doesn't have a lot of stuff that he needs, but he likes junk. You'll see. His biggest bone of contention with my stuff is my shoes. I have too many (but but but, I like them!) and I take them off as soon as I come in the house. That means at any given time there are like... 25 pairs of shoes in our kitchen.

So, my kitchen isn't actually "empty," it is filled with shoes.

Including shoes with heels like this. Heels that cause me to walk lopsided and tilting backwards weirdly.

You know where else there are shoes? In our "guest room." As if anyone would want to sleep in there with shelves upon shelves of dirty old shoes! Since we can't move, and want to have another baby, this room will end up being Q's sooner rather than later so cleaning it out is necessary. Did I mention my tiny house has one closet? I'm serious. It has one closet and it is tiny. So Jackie? I'm way jealous of yours.

So here they are, the shoes I decided to get rid of. Getting rid of the two single sneakers was a given (where are the matches?!). I got those red shoes and wore them once (awful). Those Sketchers, navy and yellow shoes, and Adidas shell tops I haven't worn in at least five years. Those glittery black shoes and those pewter pointy toed shoes I LOVE, but they are beat to crap. The other sneakers have lost their bounce. I know I need to get rid of at least 10 more pairs of shoes, but this is a jumping off point for me.

PS: if anyone likes to throw stuff away, please come over. PLEASE.

Closet Castaways

This was/is a tough one. I ventured into my closet today. Our master is on the first floor and it inevitably becomes a dumping ground when we are cleaning. Most often, last minute clean up items end up in here.

Before photos:

Some of the most interesting items:

My Wonder Woman Costume complete with boots and cape. Doesn't everyone have one of these?

My string bikini purchased in France 50 pounds ago. I don't think I'll be needing it this summer. Just a guess.

Items tossed (this is just a sampling):

I'm not sure if you can see that there is actually dust on these shoes. I wore the black boots on the right for my Beth and Dog Bounty Hunter costume for Halloween last year.

And then..........

............the Heavens parted and angels sang!
CLEAN CLOSET!!!!

I'm kind of proud of this one. I used a 60 spool holder to hang my necklaces.

I still have the rest of my room to clean. There is a lot more that will have to go in the closet since I have a tendency to wash, dry, and fold my laundry....but never put it away. Hopefully I can still keep it in order with the new additions.

To be continued.....