PDA

View Full Version : Massive purge going on!!



hillview
12-31-2010, 02:58 PM
I am through both kids rooms. 8 bags of toys gone. 10 bags of clothes gone. I am in my room now. Who is with me??
/hillary

neeleymartin
12-31-2010, 03:05 PM
I am through both kids rooms. 8 bags of toys gone. 10 bags of clothes gone. I am in my room now. Who is with me??
/hillary

where are you sending your clothes??? i will come by and pick them up!!

we are amidst a purge ourselves. the basement has been a catch-all since we bought our house in 2003...YIKES!! we are planning to finish it in the next month or so. needless to say a lot of stuff is going. most of it is junk. not sure why we had it/kept it int he first place. feels good to clean stuff out.

alirebco
12-31-2010, 03:17 PM
wow! go you! i am so jealous. i did a bunch of purging last weekend in preparation for ds's birthday, but i need to do more.

hillview
12-31-2010, 06:49 PM
Ok I finished both boys rooms and the hall linen closet and hall way bookcase and my entire bedroom including DHs closet. 6 bags of TRASH also went out!

Up tomorrow is the bedroom "office" which is actually more the dumping room and has been full of boxes and junk since we moved here 3 years ago. And a trip to the container store!

Sunday I am hoping to get to the kitchen, playroom, toy closet and entryway (ambitious).

hillview
12-31-2010, 06:50 PM
where are you sending your clothes??? i will come by and pick them up!!


Ha! I am sending them to various folks. You are WELCOME to them, mainly clothes that don't fit the boys and that I've given up on for me!

niccig
12-31-2010, 08:25 PM
Yay you.

I have to do DS's toys this weekend as no space for the presents he received.

I also have some paperwork that needs to be sorted - most will be shredded or into recycling bin. I have old class notes that need to go before I start classes again.

I did my closet and DS's before the holidays and it is so much easier to get dressed in the morning. DH does his own closet or not, but as we do not share it is not my problem.

The garage is horrendous - maybe next weekend.

WatchingThemGrow
12-31-2010, 09:53 PM
How big are these bags? Like Target bags or paper grocery bags or trash bags? Holy cow, that's a lot of stuff!!!

I'm doing the same thing for our big consignment sale coming up. I may need to post some of our Hannas on swap though, just so I know they are going to a good home where they will be appreciated. It feels weird to send them to a megasale where we never know who ends up with them.

If I were home, I'd be doing the same thing. But...I'm at the ILs' beach house where ALL the closets are empty, except for an occasional vacuum, pillow and a blanket. What a weird feeling to know all the closets are empty.

hillview
12-31-2010, 10:12 PM
How big are these bags? Like Target bags or paper grocery bags or trash bags? Holy cow, that's a lot of stuff!!!


The bags of stuff given away (toys and clothes) are whole foods paper bags (wish they were trash bags!). Also about 6 kitchen size garbage bags went to the trash with clothes beyond usable and broken toys, papers, etc.

I have a sore back. I purged from 9 am til 5 pm with one 20 mins break. WHINE.

BUT the rooms look great!

KrisM
12-31-2010, 11:13 PM
The garage is horrendous - maybe next weekend.

Ut Oh. Didn't you get the garage done pretty recently? Will it be easy to get back to where it was?

KrisM
12-31-2010, 11:15 PM
Great job!!

DS1 and I went through toys in his room today and boxed up quite a few things to either sell or put away for DS2. I need to do the same for the other kids and then attack the playroom. Yikes.

Sorry your back is sore!

LD92599
12-31-2010, 11:33 PM
Good job! I need to decide what toys of ds1 to keep for ds2, books etc all need to be purged. I am hoping a neighbor finds out she's due with a boy so that i can pass along clothes of ds2... Same season!

I wantto start 2011 on a clean slate.

gobadgers
01-01-2011, 12:06 AM
Sounds awesome! I aspire to that.

Our problem area is the den, where random boxes and bags have been thrown for many moons. I got a good start on it tonight and feel a little better about it. But I can tell DH is making some popcorn so I'm going to have some now!

niccig
01-01-2011, 03:00 AM
Ut Oh. Didn't you get the garage done pretty recently? Will it be easy to get back to where it was?

It shouldn't be too bad,mostly it's the work table...but there are a few boxes that never get sorted. I get everything put away and those same boxes sit there. I also need to sort through the cabinets and toss what is no longer needed and make space for the stuff on the worktable!

ett
01-01-2011, 03:14 AM
I need to purge as soon as the kids go back to school next week. I've got toys, books, and clothes to go through.

citymama
01-01-2011, 04:27 AM
I've purged all my maternity stuff :yay: and have 3 paper shopping bags bags of 0-6 month stuff to give away (one each to friends expecting babies) and a Rubbermaid bin of nicer stuff to sell or save. (ok, so not entirely purging yet!) I have 3 garbage bags of girls and baby clothing for a local shelter. Toys - sigh. Need to work on that next, as well as my (pretty modest, but rarely used) closet!

hillview
01-01-2011, 08:54 AM
I've purged all my maternity stuff :yay: and have 3 paper shopping bags bags of 0-6 month stuff to give away (one each to friends expecting babies) and a Rubbermaid bin of nicer stuff to sell or save. (ok, so not entirely purging yet!) I have 3 garbage bags of girls and baby clothing for a local shelter. Toys - sigh. Need to work on that next, as well as my (pretty modest, but rarely used) closet!
Go you!! That rocks. Doesn't it feel great!?
/hillary

Melaine
01-01-2011, 08:56 AM
I'll be right there with you starting next week. Although I'm hoping it won't be too bad, because I really purged a LOT last year.
My main concern right now is my closet, where I am just unsure how to proceed. I barely fit into anything in it, but I am NOT going to buy bigger clothes, ykwim? So I feel a bit stuck there. Plus, even if I could wear most of this stuff, it really needs to go a lot of it. I am hoping getting off Prozac will start to let me lose some of this weight soon.

wimama
01-01-2011, 02:53 PM
I am working on toys this weekend. Purging and reorganizing everything in the playroom and DS's bedroom. Yesterday I took a bunch of pictures so I could make photo labels for his toy bins.

This year I am totally focusing on decluttering and simplifying our home and lives!

brittone2
01-01-2011, 03:04 PM
Purging and packing all day here. Moving in 4 weeks and taking advantage of the urge to purge while packing ;) Oh, and found some more Christmas dresses, etc. to give to a friend who is expecting a girl soon. Need to post some hanna fleece baby jackets on CL along with a few other things worth selling.

threw away at least one huge trash bag of stuff, have two huge trash bags to donate so far. And still working...

Getting DS2 down for a nap and hoping DH continues purging/packing in the meantime.

hannah
01-01-2011, 10:53 PM
DH and I spent most of the day purging papers (old documents that we had filed and old letters) and toys. We have 2 garbage bags of shredded papers and the recycle bins are overflowing. I also have 2 huge boxes of toys and outgrown shoes to take to Goodwill sometime this week.

I hope that I can get a lot of house cleaning/purging done in 2011. We have a fairly big house but there are lots of problem areas where clutter collects and there isn't much place to stow anything since closets and cabinets are full!

egoldber
01-01-2011, 11:08 PM
Good for you! You inspired me and I've dealt with a few things today I have put off for FAR too long! :o

elephantmeg
01-02-2011, 12:34 AM
I got rid of a laundry basket full of my books plus a large reusable shopping bag of books of the kids. I think there might be some more of them upstairs so I haven't sent them off yet. We seem to be past the "green leaf, blue butterfly" type of books thankfully! DD got some big girl books (fancy Nancy and pinkalicious) for Christmas and loves them so I think it's time to move on! I'm sitting at work trying to work though how to declutter our whole upstairs so we can have it finished by Thanksgiving. I really, really, really want to get this done! We've lived here for 5 years and still have 1/2 of the unfinished second floor of a cape cod unfinished. DH dumped all his stuff there and there it sits..

DebbieJ
01-02-2011, 01:43 AM
Today I did DS1's room. I took the too small clothes out of his closet and rearranged the furniture. It looks great. We still have to go through his toys so there is room for his b-day and Christmas gifts, but this was a great start.

DH and I have also been working on our bedroom. We got rid of some clothes and I gave it a good cleaning. It was so dusty in there!

Tondi G
01-02-2011, 02:17 AM
DH and I got busy today doing some purging.... cleared out one closet rod of unworn stuff and old jackets etc. Managed to get all my wrapping paper etc reorganized and the bin put into this particular closet rather than hiding behind the bedroom door. The Christmas tree and all the trimming came down today and it is all back into bins and in the hall closet. Felling pretty good about it.

I really need to get into my boys room and purge toys and clothing. Their drawers are overflowing and most of it is outgrown stuff. Gotta pass on my little guys stuff and put away some of DS1's stuff to hand down to DS2.

I'm just glad we handled what we did today... only took a couple of hours. It is so much easier to do when you have another person to talk to while you work!

hillview
01-02-2011, 10:15 AM
Ok yesterday I did all my jewelry, put up shelves for kids new tooth brushes (electric), organized a book shelf, sorted 5 boxes in the dumping room office, did the bulk of the toy closed (one more shelf to go). Still about 5 more boxes in the dumping room and have to then get the filing complete. I "found" both boys SS cards, found DH's birth certificate which I ordered to get the kids their British passports (DOH!) which still has not been done. BUT I am making progress! From 5 boxes, ended up with half a box of stuff to keep.
/hillary

niccig
01-02-2011, 08:04 PM
You've gotten so much done.
I did some paperwork today - I'm sick and DH took DS out of the house, but I didn't have the energy to do more than sort, shred and file a few things. But it's been on my to do list for a while, so I feel good about getting on more thing crossed off the list.

I really need to get DS's toys done though.

hillview
01-02-2011, 08:26 PM
I almost finished the office/dumping room. All boxes gone except the box of CDs and the top of the desk needs to be ordered. I still have some filing to do.
/hillary

niccig
01-02-2011, 08:28 PM
I almost finished the office/dumping room. All boxes gone except the box of CDs and the top of the desk needs to be ordered. I still have some filing to do.
/hillary

:bowdown: you have gotten so much done. Definitely motivation for me to get going..

Twoboos
01-02-2011, 08:32 PM
:bowdown: you have gotten so much done. Definitely motivation for me to get going..

:yeahthat: Have you even slept in the past few days?! This is awesome!

I need to get started. Step one: disassemble Christmas starting tomorrow. Eh, maybe starting tonight!! (We did manage to throw out the gingerbread houses. And that took a lot of convincing for the 7/5 year olds.)

I think I am going to assign myself a room/area for a couple of days to stay focused.

hillview
01-02-2011, 08:41 PM
Huge credit to DH who took the boys most of yesterday and today. Also my parents helped me.

The tree went down today so all that is put away (my parents did this while I did the office, we live in a 2 family so it was a shared tree so I feel bad but not too bad!).

Left on the list:
Finish up office/dumping room
Hang some found pictures from my trip to Africa (so cool to find them)!
Then upstairs is officially done
Downstairs, have to do playroom (YUCK), small storage closet, entryway coat closet, and the mantle and bookcases, and a few cabinets in the kitchen (most of kitchen is in good shape). The playroom will be the worst, the rest of it is small spaces which takes a lot less time.

zag95
01-03-2011, 03:50 AM
On Friday DH and I cleaned the marmoleum floors in the kitchen/FR/Laundry rm; we also washed all of our bedding, including boxspring cover, mattress pad, blankets and quilt; while everything was drying, we vacuumed and dusted under our bed (had to remove the mattress and box springs for our KING) and then also tackled the blinds. Can't remember when we last did this:innocent:the dust was nasty!

We also cleaned out some things for our year end contributions...... and put all the christmas presents away. DD's clothes were placed up in attic for possible future DC to wear!

Whew! What a day!

niccig
01-03-2011, 03:57 AM
You motivated me to tackle a few more areas

The drawer full of chargers, cables and miscellaneous gadgets. It was a rats nets of cords and junk. I asked DH what each one was, and then labelled them - wrapped address label around the cord and wrote on the label. DH says I'm OCD with my labels, but now I know which cord is for the video camera and which is for the DVD player. I'll label new cords as we get them. I need to get more velcro wrap ties, and then the cords can't get tangled up. I purged as we went, "Oh, that's for the camera that broke 4 years ago." I wanted a better place to store them, and in our family room we have a book case with 2 rows of small drawers at the bottom that are empty. One drawer is now for cameras, one is remotes (we have several, but use a universal remote as our daily one), one is Apple accessories etc. Of course, I labelled the drawers :D

I can now find the cord that lets us plug the ipod into the TV or recharge the light that hooks onto our patio umbrella :jammin: I know I'm dorky, but it feels good to be able to find things again.

I still have a box of computer cables, but DH was too tired to look through it, I'll do those tomorrow night.

Still left to do

Armoire with notes and textbooks for old classes - need to make space for new class material.
Toys
Top shelf in my closet
Hallway closet - but it has so many boxes of photos, this will take a while to sort through, but I can do the other shelves
DS's art work from this year
Garage

hillview
01-03-2011, 08:27 AM
You motivated me to tackle a few more areas

The drawer full of chargers, cables and miscellaneous gadgets. It was a rats nets of cords and junk. I asked DH what each one was, and then labelled them - wrapped address label around the cord and wrote on the label. DH says I'm OCD with my labels, but now I know which cord is for the video camera and which is for the DVD player. I'll label new cords as we get them. I need to get more velcro wrap ties, and then the cords can't get tangled up. I purged as we went, "Oh, that's for the camera that broke 4 years ago." I wanted a better place to store them, and in our family room we have a book case with 2 rows of small drawers at the bottom that are empty. One drawer is now for cameras, one is remotes (we have several, but use a universal remote as our daily one), one is Apple accessories etc. Of course, I labelled the drawers :D

I can now find the cord that lets us plug the ipod into the TV or recharge the light that hooks onto our patio umbrella :jammin: I know I'm dorky, but it feels good to be able to find things again.

I still have a box of computer cables, but DH was too tired to look through it, I'll do those tomorrow night.

Still left to do

Armoire with notes and textbooks for old classes - need to make space for new class material.
Toys
Top shelf in my closet
Hallway closet - but it has so many boxes of photos, this will take a while to sort through, but I can do the other shelves
DS's art work from this year
Garage

Awesome job! I love my labeler!
/hillary

KrisM
01-03-2011, 09:00 AM
So much purging!

I'm starting today. DH is no help at all, and trying to do it with him home is not fun as I feel like I'm doing all the work. I did go through the playroom and pull some stuff out. DS1 and I got rid of a few of his toys from his room, too.

Today:
Finish taking down Christmas stuff and put it away in the garage
Get the final toys out of the kitchen and into their new home
Clean off my desk

The decorations will help a ton. They go in a back corner of the garage and both cars need to be out of the garage. DH is back to work today, so that's much easier.

My big thing is to figure out where to store the stuff for next year's shop at school. I am running it for 2011 for the kids to buy presents for family. I have about 600 items already and need to sort, organize, and find a place to store them until December. Plus, I'll need another 1000 or so.

Melaine
01-03-2011, 09:03 AM
My big thing is to figure out where to store the stuff for next year's shop at school. I am running it for 2011 for the kids to buy presents for family. I have about 600 items already and need to sort, organize, and find a place to store them until December. Plus, I'll need another 1000 or so.

Whoa!!! That sounds like so much fun and a whole lot of work. Good for you!

niccig
01-03-2011, 01:25 PM
Whoa!!! That sounds like so much fun and a whole lot of work. Good for you!

:yeahthat:

Is there a section of the basement that you could put up temporary shelving and then stack totes there?

elephantmeg
01-03-2011, 04:00 PM
I dropped off 3 laundry baskets at goodwill today! One full of my books, one with kids books and misc items. It's on the way to the gym so I'm hoping to drop off 2 laundry baskets 3 x a week this month and then at least once a week after that. Hopefully I and my house will be a lot lighter at the end of it!

wimama
01-03-2011, 04:01 PM
My big thing is to figure out where to store the stuff for next year's shop at school. I am running it for 2011 for the kids to buy presents for family. I have about 600 items already and need to sort, organize, and find a place to store them until December. Plus, I'll need another 1000 or so.

That is quite the undertaking. You are awesome for stepping up to volunteer for that.:thumbsup:

As for me - I spent most the weekend reorganizing my DS's toys and books. I purged a few things and took some toys out of rotation. I am finally pleased with how everything is organized.

KrisM
01-03-2011, 05:42 PM
:yeahthat:

Is there a section of the basement that you could put up temporary shelving and then stack totes there?

Maybe for some of the totes. But, I helped this year and I helped get the stuff from last year's coordinator's house to the school and it was 2 mini vans full, to give an idea of what 1800 or so items in totes looks like :). We also need things like wrapping paper, tape, bows, tags, so I have a bin of those too.

Right now, it's all in a corner of the basement waiting to be organized. I need to at least count how many of each category I have. I think I want to actually know what items I have so I know what sells, but we'll see if I'm that motivated or not.

Bought about 20 more things today, too. I enjoy bargain shopping, so it's fun. I have a friend helping to organize the organization of it - volunteers that day, etc, which will help.

elephantmeg
01-04-2011, 03:01 PM
Today I'm planning on tackling:
-coat closet
-our room
-above the china closet and other freestanding cabinet

But first I guess I'd better fold laundry so I have laundry baskets to declutter into!

I have a housecleaner comming Friday pm for a deep clean and then a monthly cleaning so I can be freed up to spend more time on the decluttering! She is someone we have used occasionally before so I know and trust her.

elephantmeg
01-05-2011, 01:29 PM
so far I have gotten to:
my catch all basket
my closet
my dresser top and drawers
the tops of cabinets
DH's dresser (somehow had a bunch of my stuff on it-it's right inside the door so I think I just drop stuff there-oops!)
I organized the wrapping paper/gift bags and got them put away and seperated the Christmas from the b-day etc. And realized we are out of regular wrapping paper!

we worked on his magazines and books in our room-books are on the bookshelf and magazines are better. I'd love to finish getting our room cleared up so that she can clean better in there.

I have 3 laundry baskets of stuff ready for drop off and I'm planning on getting one more together today! And I've taken out 3 bags of trash!

joules
01-10-2011, 12:07 AM
We got our carpets cleaned on Saturday and it finally gave me the push to start throwing out/donating some old clothes. I am FINALLY able to let go of the fact that I'll never be a size XS or 0 again.

I counted a relatively small pile (compared to the other several piles of clothes) of clothes I sorted out to donate - 100 items!!!

Together DH and I estimated that we are donating at least 250-300 items!! And I think that's a pretty conservative estimate.

It feels sooooo good. For years, I've been saying that I don't have anything to wear even tho all our closets are full of clothes. DH never understood it. Today after our purge, he looked at my closet and started to understand where I'm coming from. But what a pain ($$ wise) it'll be to fill up my closet again. I am done with buying cheap tshirts/clothes.

Next project: cleaning out the shoes!!!

hillview
01-10-2011, 10:00 AM
Ok I am back. My scheduled pick up didn't work out (I didn't label the bags on the porch!) so they are coming today. I was out of town last week but am back this week and have the playroom to do. I got 2 drawer bins for legos which will take FOREVER to sort. I have to say it feels SO great to have my room sort of put together. Still some more work to do but 80% there!

/hillary

KrisM
01-10-2011, 10:24 AM
Great to have you back in it!

And, joules, great job on the clothes!

I'm reorganizing and purging as I go. I've moved DD's dress up to her closet, which meant finally moving the bookcase with DH's books out. The bookcase is in the basement, but I can't carry the bins of books, so DH will have to do that still. Today, I moved our toy box from DS2's room to the play room to hold ?? I don't know what to do with it and that might be another post.

I'm hoping that DS2 will nap while DD is at school and I can work on getting rid of some more things.

DebbieJ
01-10-2011, 12:11 PM
Our family has been fighting a nasty cold for a week, so the purging/organizing has been on hold.

However, this week I'm going through old photos and sending them in to be scanned. I bought a deal on YouSwoop (like Groupon and Mamapedia) and it expires this month so I have to choose 500 photos to send in ASAP! I just pulled my bins of old photos out of storage this morning, so that's what I'll be doing the next few days.

We also have to get our household budget and calendar together for the month, so that is taking priority.

We also have to do some finishing touches on our kitchen. It was finally painted in November. We need to switch out the outlets and switches, put on new plates, and change out the light fixtures and then we'll be done with the kitchen. Woohoo! Unfortunately, I am waiting on DH to do the electrical things. I asked him to give me a deadline so we'll see.

elephantmeg
01-10-2011, 11:25 PM
DH worked on our bedroom and cleared out a bunch of stuff :) I'm still working my way through some stuff too. Took the weekend off since the kids were home and today was busy since I had to take DD to the Dr. Hoping to do some more tomorrow!

hillview
01-11-2011, 10:41 PM
Wahoo -- we are back!!

I did the ENTIRE play room. I tossed 2 kitchen size garbage bags and have about half a lawn garbage bag (HUGE) with give aways. I labeled every bin and sorted every last lego, playmobil, and game piece.

Next up. Add the stuff from the kids room (2 new shelves opened up in the playroom) to the playroom. And add the stuff that was in the playroom that belongs in the kids rooms (largely legos, stuffed animals etc). That should be pretty easy. I still need to finish my office -- filing! Then it is time for the kitchen and storage closet (small).

WAHOO!!
/hillary

KrisM
01-11-2011, 10:54 PM
Our family has been fighting a nasty cold for a week, so the purging/organizing has been on hold.

However, this week I'm going through old photos and sending them in to be scanned. I bought a deal on YouSwoop (like Groupon and Mamapedia) and it expires this month so I have to choose 500 photos to send in ASAP! I just pulled my bins of old photos out of storage this morning, so that's what I'll be doing the next few days.



Where do you send them?

hillview
01-11-2011, 10:58 PM
Where do you send them?

:yeahthat:

KrisM
01-11-2011, 11:01 PM
Hillary, you are awesome! I'd love to see pictures of all you've done. I am working, but not nearly as fast as you. Some spaces look good and others are less than good :).

niccig
01-11-2011, 11:29 PM
I'm doing the toy closet tonight and I have 2 cubes on the expedit shelves and then the toys are done. Having the container store sweater boxes has really kept that area tidy.

We need to move some furniture around in DS's room, but I need DH for that. I do need to box up something he has in there. Planning for it to be done this week as MIL comes on Friday night - not that she'll say anything, but she shouldn't die by stuffed toys falling out of the closet and hitting her on the head.

hillview
01-12-2011, 09:00 AM
I'm doing the toy closet tonight and I have 2 cubes on the expedit shelves and then the toys are done. Having the container store sweater boxes has really kept that area tidy.

Way to go!!

I need to get some of these boxes for our expedit. The expedit plastic bins that slide out seem to suck.
/hillary

sewarsh
01-12-2011, 09:44 AM
awesome!! don't you feel GREAT! i love to purge and organize!!! :banana:

hillview
01-12-2011, 09:50 AM
Ok here are some photos
The playroom used to be a jumble of stuff stuffed into bins. The bookcase is from Pottery Barn Kids.
Playroom
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5128/5348546809_784bc03ae1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5348546809/)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5163/5349173462_eab1f17ac1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349173462/)

Playroom kitchen
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5089/5349155848_53ca544af2.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349155848/)

/hillary

hillview
01-12-2011, 09:56 AM
Toy closet
Again was a jumble of things. Top shelves are mostly birthday gifts from Amazon sale. Down below is the new art cart.
/hillary
Toy closet top
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5349155806_3711630908.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349155806/)

Below
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/5349155792_686b120a1f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349155792/)


Art cart (labeled)
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5288/5349155780_3c193a4828.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349155780/)

WatchingThemGrow
01-12-2011, 10:02 AM
Wow. I'm impressed by the pages and pages of purge reports. You guys are REALLY making headway!!!

My housecleaner can't make it today (icy roads, no school) so I'm going to put my DC in separate rooms, put my hair up in a pony tail, have some Pepsi Max for motivation (got it by mistake, then DH told me what it was!), then tackle:

1. The piles of clothes to be ironed/hung up for the consignment sale
2. straightening my own clothes that have piled up because boxes are blocking the closet
3. the contents of said boxes (some drycleaning, need to wash our snugtuck bumpers)

oh...I didn't report it, but I did go through most of the stuff in the kids' drawers/closets for the upcoming sale.

hillview
01-12-2011, 10:05 AM
DS1's room
New Ikea Lack shelves for Legos (once put together) not the best quality photo also the bakugan units which need to be attached but are AWESOME
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5087/5348546729_f32df29d75.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5348546729/)

Bookcase newly organized
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5207/5348546709_7ffb08e595.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5348546709/)

Ikea outside of wardrobe
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5121/5348546685_91d08ff4f1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5348546685/)

Ikea inside wardrobe (labeled)
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/5349142714_09ae161fdb.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349142714/)


Labeled dresser
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/5349155630_74ebb03b3d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349155630/)

WatchingThemGrow
01-12-2011, 10:07 AM
OMGosh Hillary!!! You were posting while I was. Wow. Funny, but we have a lot of the same stuff. The PBK bookshelves- I have the Cameron cubby and bases, the same KidKraft kitchen and I just sorted a bunch of little parts of things into the Lego storage sorter that looks just like your art cart - including my labels, lol. I need to go get a plain one for art stuff.

hillview
01-12-2011, 10:08 AM
Finally misc photos

The upstairs hallway bookcase which was a dumping zone
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5242/5348546737_5c170644ae.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5348546737/)

My jewelry (used to take up a whole drawer in my dresser
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5048/5349142690_4f86cab83f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5349142690/)

The office that used to have 20 boxes in it -- not much to see but it was FULL of boxes (you couldn't walk into it)
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5081/5348546669_9101b56944.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58219798@N06/5348546669/)

WatchingThemGrow
01-12-2011, 10:11 AM
Hillary, tell me about the shelving in your toy closet. Is that the Closetmaid stuff from Lowe's. We have the shelf-track system, but the wider shelves that would reach to the front of the closet would be great!

Also...where did you get that bookcase?

hillview
01-12-2011, 10:12 AM
WTG so funny -- almost like seeing your own place :)

Great effort all!
/hillary

hillview
01-12-2011, 10:14 AM
Hillary, tell me about the shelving in your toy closet. Is that the Closetmaid stuff from Lowe's. We have the shelf-track system, but the wider shelves that would reach to the front of the closet would be great!

Also...where did you get that bookcase?

Toy closet is elfa from Container Store
Bookcase is from Lakeshore learning
/hillary

KrisM
01-12-2011, 10:42 AM
Wow! It all looks really great! Thanks for the pictures. The playroom shelves look great being so tall. We need to go up in there.

zag95
01-12-2011, 01:03 PM
Ladies thanks for sharing your efforts- it all looks fabulous!!!

elephantmeg
01-12-2011, 05:21 PM
spent another 5 hours on the upstairs room tonight which I will regret tonight (12 hour night shift!) if I don't wind down and take a nap quickly! It look a ton better though-I got a lot of stuff put away, a laundry basket and a huge tote in the car for donation plus a huge cradle that was made for my brother that mom gave us when DS was born. We had a family meeting and my brother doesn't want it, I don't want it (DS never used it-it was right at dog level, lol), mom doesn't want it so we agreed to donate it. DH of course wants to keep it for DD to put her dolls in but we have a nice wooden doll crib for that which takes up a lot less room and has storage! I also have a box of crayons and coloring books to take to work (hospital) and a box of art stuff to give to the kids preschool/daycare. Lots of foam letter type stuff that they do a lot of there so I don't feel I need to do it here! Plus 2 bags of trash. And 3 boxes of canning stuff that I took down to the crawl space under the house where it belongs....

In the process I found out that a couple pepsis from a box my parents had left here had sprung a leak and soaked our new carpet. It seems to have dried in. I cleaned it with the bissell little green and we'll see how it looks once it's dry!

DebbieJ
01-12-2011, 05:49 PM
Where do you send them?

I am going through Memento Scanning. We'll see how good they are.

http://www.mementoscanning.com/

DebbieJ
01-12-2011, 05:56 PM
What I've done so far (a recap):
1. Our bedroom--went through closet, jewelry box, nightstands. Got rid of trash, purged a fair amount of clothes, put things where they belonged. We're now making the bed everyday and it is looking pretty good!
2. DS1's room--rearranged furniture, took outgrown clothes out of the closet, put his small table back in to play Legos, threw out trash.
3. Garage--this has been our catch all, so I'm slowly going through things. You can now walk through to get in and out! It's just a one car garage, so it may be a while before we get a car back in there.
4. Basement--we just remodeled (brand new drywall), so I primed and painted everything. We're still in process here. My office has now been pulled out into the open area so I can clean out and paint it, so it will be a little while til everything is back to normal here.
5. Kitchen was painted and cleaned/reorganized. We're going to put in new receptacles & switches, new faceplates, new lighting, and some window treatments and the kitchen will be done!

Whew! It feels SOOOO good to make progress! I am caught up on dishes and laundry too, so I need to STAY caught up!

I brought two boxes and three 13 gal trash bags to Goodwill today.

hillview
01-12-2011, 09:09 PM
spent another 5 hours on the upstairs room tonight which I will regret tonight (12 hour night shift!) if I don't wind down and take a nap quickly! It look a ton better though-I got a lot of stuff put away, a laundry basket and a huge tote in the car for donation plus a huge cradle that was made for my brother that mom gave us when DS was born. We had a family meeting and my brother doesn't want it, I don't want it (DS never used it-it was right at dog level, lol), mom doesn't want it so we agreed to donate it. DH of course wants to keep it for DD to put her dolls in but we have a nice wooden doll crib for that which takes up a lot less room and has storage! I also have a box of crayons and coloring books to take to work (hospital) and a box of art stuff to give to the kids preschool/daycare. Lots of foam letter type stuff that they do a lot of there so I don't feel I need to do it here! Plus 2 bags of trash. And 3 boxes of canning stuff that I took down to the crawl space under the house where it belongs....

In the process I found out that a couple pepsis from a box my parents had left here had sprung a leak and soaked our new carpet. It seems to have dried in. I cleaned it with the bissell little green and we'll see how it looks once it's dry!

WOW excellent -- 5 hrs is hard core! Doesn't it feel great? :) Way to go!!
/hillary

hillview
01-12-2011, 09:10 PM
What I've done so far (a recap):
1. Our bedroom--went through closet, jewelry box, nightstands. Got rid of trash, purged a fair amount of clothes, put things where they belonged. We're now making the bed everyday and it is looking pretty good!
2. DS1's room--rearranged furniture, took outgrown clothes out of the closet, put his small table back in to play Legos, threw out trash.
3. Garage--this has been our catch all, so I'm slowly going through things. You can now walk through to get in and out! It's just a one car garage, so it may be a while before we get a car back in there.
4. Basement--we just remodeled (brand new drywall), so I primed and painted everything. We're still in process here. My office has now been pulled out into the open area so I can clean out and paint it, so it will be a little while til everything is back to normal here.
5. Kitchen was painted and cleaned/reorganized. We're going to put in new receptacles & switches, new faceplates, new lighting, and some window treatments and the kitchen will be done!

Whew! It feels SOOOO good to make progress! I am caught up on dishes and laundry too, so I need to STAY caught up!

I brought two boxes and three 13 gal trash bags to Goodwill today.

Wahoo go you! Excellent work!
/hillary

hillview
01-12-2011, 09:14 PM
I am going through Memento Scanning. We'll see how good they are.

http://www.mementoscanning.com/

Please report back!
/hillary

DebbieJ
01-12-2011, 09:17 PM
Please report back!
/hillary

Will do! My goal for tonight is to sort through and send in my 500 photos while watching last night's Biggest Loser.

elephantmeg
01-14-2011, 05:34 PM
I had a housecleaner come in and work for a few hours so my main work is done so I spent the time I would have done on that to clean out the fridge (it was soo nasty!), freezer and under the 3 sinks (kitchen, bath and 1/2 bath!). I also cleaned out the laundry area (she wiped down the machines), washed the sheets and rugs and now I'm doing a load of cleaning rags. The house looks sooooooo nice!

DebbieJ
01-14-2011, 07:15 PM
Will do! My goal for tonight is to sort through and send in my 500 photos while watching last night's Biggest Loser.

Initial sort & toss is done. Threw out a whole bunch of photos that were duplicates, out of focus, looked bad, contained ex-husbands, etc. They are sorted by year and now I have to do a second pass and count them. My deal is for 500 photos and I have no idea if I'm over or under or anywhere close to that many.

It was kind of bittersweet to look through them. These were all photos of our courtship, wedding, years of marriage before kids, trips we took, family weddings (two of which ended in divorce already!). Wow. We used to have a lot of fun.

hillview
01-14-2011, 07:26 PM
Great work Meg and Deb!!
/hillary

Multimama
01-14-2011, 08:12 PM
I just clicked on this thread for the first time because I'm trying to declutter our house. The photos are very inspiring.

Hillary, what kind of fire engine is that on the far right of the bookshelf in the playroom? It looks like something DS would love. (Not declutter-related, but oh well.)

hillview
01-14-2011, 09:10 PM
I just clicked on this thread for the first time because I'm trying to declutter our house. The photos are very inspiring.

Hillary, what kind of fire engine is that on the far right of the bookshelf in the playroom? It looks like something DS would love. (Not declutter-related, but oh well.)

It is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Tonka-Mighty-Motorized-Vehicle-Engine/dp/B003Z5MGD6
They had them at Costco 2 year ago for Christmas. I think I paid maybe $30?
/hillary

KrisM
01-17-2011, 12:16 PM
I'm finally getting into this. I moved bookcases to the basement this weekend and DH filled them with his books. I have 1 shelf down there for books I want to keep. I have a small bookcase upstairs for books I haven't yet read. I have a huge pile to sell to Barnes and Noble and will take them on Wednesday.

I did our closet this morning. I have bins of craft stuff that I have purged and purged and this is stuff I want/need to keep. Yarn that is for Christmas stockings not yet done and stuff like that. I found a spot in my closet for it and it's nicely stacked and I'm happy with that.

I need to sort through toys I pulled out last week and put some in the attic for DS2 and get some ready to sell or donate.

Multimama
01-17-2011, 01:10 PM
It is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Tonka-Mighty-Motorized-Vehicle-Engine/dp/B003Z5MGD6
They had them at Costco 2 year ago for Christmas. I think I paid maybe $30?
/hillary

Cool. It looks nice. i want a big fire engine for DS's 3rd birthday so I have some time to look for bargains. :)

I donated three bags of clothes I had outgrown yesterday. I am feeling both good and bad about it. I love my clothes, even when they don't fit me anymore. Maybe even *especially* when they don't fit me anymore!

elephantmeg
01-19-2011, 12:24 AM
we went through the VHS and CD's tonight. I've got a huge stack of VHS tapes to go and the CD's are listed and ready to go upstairs (we pull them off onto the computer and listen that way). The DVD area (that was overflowing with VHS tapes and CD cases looks so much better! I also turned 6 gallon bags of tomatoes that I froze over the summer into spag sauce! I just need to decide now whether to get the canning stuff out or to freeze it. I prob should can it.

DebbieJ
01-19-2011, 01:30 AM
My photo project is dragging on. I am determined to get it done tomorrow. I have 7 years of snapshots that I am going through. This was just the loose photos! Haven't even touched the albums. Yet.

elephantmeg
01-19-2011, 09:43 AM
keep going deb!