Spring cleaning and purging going on here!

[KrisM]

Last night, I did a quick clean of all the kids' rooms. Not bad, but got rid of a few things and neaten them up a bit. Today, I moved to the purging part. I have 2 bags of stuff to donate and 2 bags of trash so far.

My room is next and I know I'll get more out of there. I recently went through the pile of stuff I want to sell and need to get moving on that. But, there are other piles that I've been making for things to donate. Boxing/bagging that up today, too.

I have 2 boxes of books to go to the library's sale.

I'm planning on giving the kids a bath this afternoon and can then clean the upstairs bathrooms. I sorted and purged the kid bathroom Saturday during DS2's bath and it looks great. Now for ours. It's pretty good, but could use a good cleaning. If the kids are in the tub together, I can get them both done, I'm sure.

Then, onto vacuuming the entire upstairs.

If I have any energy left tonight when the kids are in bed, I'll start on the main floor. I purged a lot already here, but things need some reorganization and the floors need to be scrubbed good.

Next, I'll work on cleaning the windows, getting screens back in, dusting everything, wiping the doors and baseboards.

It's good to get through it all quickly. And, it seems that in the spring is when I get the most done. It was 2 years ago that I started the huge purge and I am so happy how much faster it is now!

[Twoboos]

YAH!! Nice job! :cheerleader1:

I've been purging here too - under the guise of "we might move." So trying to get the house in order for showings. (Although it's not looking good at the moment, but we go on as if we are putting our house on the market.) We have a dumpster due to some home repairs so all the stuff we've been saving for no apparent reason in the basement has a new home. :D I still want to find MORE stuff to dump!!

In the past 2 weeks I've donated probably 10 -15 boxes and bags of stuff, small furniture, books, outgrown toys/games. I love having the Veterans Association just come and GET IT off my front porch. I don't have to think about it - I put it out, they take it away.

I've got three more bags to get rid of, plus a box of books. And I need to do MORE. Having a house with an unfinished basement is a blessing and a curse. "We'll just put it in the basement." ...8 years later it's still there....

I love getting rid of stuff.

[KrisM]

It's addicting, isn't it? I came up with another bag of trash and 2 more bags of donations. Then there is the laundry basket of parts that need to get their rightful home :). I'll get to that later tonight. At least the pieces are out of my bedroom.

Got the vacuuming done upstairs. I love how vacuuming makes the room look so much cleaner!

I've been on DH for us to get on with some of the house projects we keep talking about but not doing. We've been here 5 years and we've done the big maintenance things, but other than painting the first floor and DS1's room, nothing much has happened inside. I'm ready to paint the other kids' rooms, both upstairs bathrooms, change out the carpet for Pergo in the kids' rooms, etc. I'm hoping having things cleaned and picked up helps to get us there.

[KrisM]

I dropped 4 garbage bags of things off at Goodwill today. I have the books in the van and will do that later today. When I clean, I end up with 1-2 laundry baskets of things that live other places. I went through the upstairs basket yesterday and did the downstairs one today. I picked up the playroom and sorted out the kitchen food, etc even. The dining room floor and the bathroom floors did get washed, but not the kitchen or family room. DS1 fell asleep on the couch and I didn't want to wake him up until I brought him up later, so I skipped that. Hopefully, tonight I can work on some more places. My goal is to have gone through all the rooms by this weekend and then I can just get the actual spring cleaning done. Of course, we have 2" of new snow...so much for spring :).

[larig]

I've got 2 bags of kid clothes, 1 box of maternity clothes, and one box of DH's stuff. Now to just get them OUT of the house.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Dang, Kris! I'm so glad I nominated you (and nicci) to be the moderators for this forum. You truly are a leader in this area! :boogie:

eta: I'm not getting anything done in this area... just moving stuff around, trying to pack for our vacation, keep up with the regular stuff... Oh, and that silly idea yesterday that we could put all the toys away and get our house on the market before we go away in 2.5 days, lol. A few friends reigned me in on that one, though, lol. Their eyeballs popped out of their heads when I asked if they thought it was possible.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I cleaned out all of my food cabinets in the kitchen, reorganized/ refilled my spices and cleaned off the top of the fridge. My new reorganization is really working well too- I've gained a counter that I have had cluttered for way too long!

Beth

[WatchingThemGrow]

I cleaned out all of my food cabinets in the kitchen
Oh, wait. I did that last week! Maybe I'm not as much of a slacker as I thought!!! And I am taking a break from cleaning my van and strollers right now. Maybe I am being slightly productive. Did you guys read about my 2008 Stroller Strides BOB Revolution single I scored for $75 last week? I need to go spray the footwell with Tough Stuff and make it the rest of it look as good as the tires that still have the nubby things on them!!! Stroller maintenance counts as Spring Cleaning right? I mean, we do LIVE in ours.

[carolinamama]

Dang, Kris! I'm so glad I nominated you (and nicci) to be the moderators for this forum. You truly are a leader in this area! :boogie:

eta: I'm not getting anything done in this area... just moving stuff around, trying to pack for our vacation, keep up with the regular stuff... Oh, and that silly idea yesterday that we could put all the toys away and get our house on the market before we go away in 2.5 days, lol. A few friends reigned me in on that one, though, lol. Their eyeballs popped out of their heads when I asked if they thought it was possible.

Complete aside about selling your house - we moved from a small house a few years ago. Toys and kid stuff had taken over everywhere since there wasn't anywhere else for it to go. One of the best things we did was rent a storage unit and put about 75% of the toys and stuff into storage until we sold and moved. We no longer had a train table for a coffee table and got our normal one out of the attic. It was alot of work but I think it made a huge difference in selling. Not to mention it was better than Christmas when we got it all back out in the new house!! Seriously, I don't think I had to occupy DS1 for atleast a week while he rediscovered everything!

[carolinamama]

Kris, I think you are starting to motivate me to get some of the stuff out of our house. Most of it is probably in my closet - clothes from 5+ years ago that I haven't worn in years. And I need to sell or donate lots of toys that I have socked away on our 3rd floor waiting for a consignment sale that I've never gotten organized enough to do. Okay, I'm off to do some cleaning and organizing. Next - purge!

[WatchingThemGrow]

K And I need to sell or donate lots of toys that I have socked away on our 3rd floor waiting for a consignment sale that I've never gotten organized enough to do.
In 2 weeks the new tagging system for our huge consignment sale should be online. Just make a huge pile and wait a little bit longer. The small sale I did the other day after our playdate :) has an online tagging system. It is SO easy to do it online!!!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Complete aside about selling your house - we moved from a small house a few years ago. Toys and kid stuff had taken over everywhere since there wasn't anywhere else for it to go. One of the best things we did was rent a storage unit and put about 75% of the toys and stuff into storage until we sold and moved. We no longer had a train table for a coffee table and got our normal one out of the attic. It was alot of work but I think it made a huge difference in selling. Not to mention it was better than Christmas when we got it all back out in the new house!! Seriously, I don't think I had to occupy DS1 for atleast a week while he rediscovered everything!
That was the first plan, but I feel like DS1's soul will melt if I put our LT pickup truck in storage. Seriously, he LIVES for playing delivery man up and down the hallway.

What do you think...POD or storage unit or pull-down attic? A friend (who lives in our target neighborhood) says we can put stuff at her house. So...we could do it for free...which is likely not the best option, right?

[KrisM]

I cleaned out all of my food cabinets in the kitchen, reorganized/ refilled my spices and cleaned off the top of the fridge. My new reorganization is really working well too- I've gained a counter that I have had cluttered for way too long!

Beth

I need to do the top of the fridge! I keep thinking of how to improve my cabinets and pantry, but have no ideas yet.

Nice to gain counter space!

[KrisM]

Dang, Kris! I'm so glad I nominated you (and nicci) to be the moderators for this forum. You truly are a leader in this area! :boogie:

eta: I'm not getting anything done in this area... just moving stuff around, trying to pack for our vacation, keep up with the regular stuff... Oh, and that silly idea yesterday that we could put all the toys away and get our house on the market before we go away in 2.5 days, lol. A few friends reigned me in on that one, though, lol. Their eyeballs popped out of their heads when I asked if they thought it was possible.

You're so nice!

I can't imagine selling my house with kids living in it. Wait, that doesn't sound quite right :). We were lucky when we moved, we only had DS1 and we were able to move first and then sell. Good luck!