Do you ever look around your house and completely look over the fact that you have Christmas cards from 6 months ago on your refrigerator?

No??  Well, then lucky you!

Artful dust…which gives me a reason not to dust.  They look much better all dusty.  It’s true.

I used to be a person with a house that was always clean and picked up.  Then I had kids.  Granted…the trade off is pretty good, but occassionally you just need to go through a major clean up and giveaway.  Then, when you do need to clean the house quickly you can actually do it without a major undertaking.

Plus, I feel like we have so much “stuff” that never gets used and just takes up space.  We’ve lived in this house for 8 years now, so we just pile stuff on top of stuff and that needs to get sorted out.  I think we have stuff from our wedding that we have never used.

Here’s a few areas I tidied up…

The pantry – laundry area:

The kids tended to hang their bags on the pantry doorknobs, which is right inside the door from the garage and probably isn’t the best for the bi-fold doors.  Plus it was messy looking because the doors are always open, and everything was just piled on some little shelves that were off the floor.  Plus, stuff was just piled on the floor.  It was very, very messy.

First, I got a Closetmaid shelving unit from Target and a few cloth bins to store their snacks.  That cleaned up the area pretty good.  They have to bring two snacks with to school each day, and oh, the decisions!  Maybe if everything is sorted better they will be able to choose faster.  Maybe.

Then, I had Brian put some hooks on the wall next to the door, so they can put their bags there when they get home at night instead of leaving them on the floor or on the door knobs.  They also have their bags for their swimming lessons, so this is 4 less bags on the floor.

Next, I want to move the kitty stuff into the basement, but that must wait.  We need to get our mice problem under control, then we can move her mess down there.  Otherwise, her cat food will just prove to be another temptation to the little varmits.

Then, I think I want to repaint this area.  It will probably just be a softer yellow instead of the current CENTER OF THE SUN color we have had since we moved in.

Our closet:

Basically, I just needed to tidy up a few areas.  Yes, I am the messy one in here.  Brian doesn’t have enough stuff to get it messy.  I needed to get rid of shoes/clothes that I just wasn’t wearing.  There were several things that never made it into my rotation for various reasons and so they went bye-bye.  I picked out the best to go to a consignment store or gave away to friends/family and the rest went to Goodwill.  The consignment store didn’t take many items, so it mostly went to Goodwill.

I put hooks on the wall to sort some of the messier belts/scarves/big heavy necklaces.  Yes, it is still messy, but at least I can get to stuff now.

I also spent a few hours trying on clothes over vacation and putting together outfits.  This helps me to get ready much faster in the morning.  I was trying to put some clothes I rarely wear into the rotation instead of wearing the same things over and over again.  Yes, this is a girl problem.  Men don’t seem to have these issues.

There are shoes in all those boxes, and this is only a quarter view of the closet.  There are more boxes on the shelves.  I love shoes.

Outfits all nicely put together.  A Type A personality at work.

Then there was the rest of the house…

The kids (and us, to a smaller degree) have not been very good at picking up after themselves.  The house is left a wreckage, especially after the weekend.  My solution?  Everything that doesn’t get picked up at the end of the day goes into a big ole’ tub and is not to be seen for a month.  If we hear complaining, whining, moaning and any otherwise canterkerous behavior upon being asked…their stuff will go into the tub.  If they are playing electronics that they do not wish to leave upon being asked to pick up their stuff, they lose said electronics, as well.

To start out this process I bought 2 of those small fabric bins (one pink and one blue) and they sit at the stair landing.  If I see something laying around I will throw it in the appropriate child’s box and at the end of the night, they need to bring it up to their room, empty it and put it back.

We’ll see how it goes.

We may need more than one tub.

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Cleaning Tip:  If you leave your laundry on your dining room table in a big giant pile, a few things may happen.

#1 – Your cat may decide that the nice sunny and soft spot is a perfect place for her afternoon siestas.

#2 – Your son may decide that the “mountain” is the perfect spot to play with his tiny little Lego men.

Result:  You find hair and small bodies in amongst the linens.  That was a clue that I needed to get my laundry put away a bit faster.