*Disclaimer – I’m stepping out on a limb posting these before pictures. I want to make it clear that all the important areas of the cabin are very clean including dishes, bathroom, and laundry. I do those things on a daily basis, as well as cleaning the girls’ room. With small children, and the healing that I’ve gone through the past year it has made big projects a slow go. Please don’t judge me harshly.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day decluttering the two most troublesome spots of our cabin – the girls’ room and our little faux closet spot.
After a day of play... I clean this mess.
Here is the room after one full day of play. There is simply too much stuff for the girls to manage in play and in picking up. Deladis is going on 4 and should be able to help somewhat in clean-up, but the sheer amount of picking up makes her stall and eventually turn away from it. I spent three hours cleaning and sorting. I got several bags of clothes and two large boxes of toys to take to Goodwill. This is even after doing this very thing a few months before.
Better, but needs more work...
Then, I dared pull out the stuff that has been quietly sitting in our little cubby in our tiny hall for a year now, mostly untouched.
Who knows what these bags and boxes might hold?
This area didn’t take me nearly as long. I was done with it in two thirty minute sessions. Most of it got to go to Goodwill. 🙂
Much better, and still more to do here.
Along with these areas, I went through the Christmas decorations being stored in the kitchen of all places and parred them down to one Rubbermaid container and the Christmas tree (being stored in my bedroom). I also went through one of our 3 CD storage areas and moved the CDs from the jewel cases and into an album type case with the inserts. The jewel cases go to recycling. The CD tower goes to Goodwill.
We got a whole truckload of stuff and donated it at the closest Goodwill in Hazard. I’m on a roll here folks. I’m improving. I’ve taken pictures of all the troublesome areas and will post them as I finish flushing them out. I still want to work on the two areas I worked yesterday. My trouble is what to do with things like the quilted crib set that my mother-in-law handmade for Deladis (bumper pads, quilt, and pillow). We no longer need them, but it is hard to say “get rid of it” because it is something special that Deladis might want someday. Storage for those types of things are a real problem for us. I’m trying to get ideas.
This is definitely a release. 🙂
A Mountain Mama - East Kentucky Gal 
10 comments
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July 9, 2009 at 1:07 am
tipper
We all collect clutter-I know I do. And with kids I think it’s worse. You touched on the problem I have-there are things we no longer use-things we’ll never use again-but they have memories tied into them. Granny made them or someone special gave them to us. Those are the items I have a hard time finding a place to store-or finding the will to donate.
Congrats on your accomplishment! It always makes me feel so good to purge out our closets and shelves.
July 9, 2009 at 1:57 am
Ren
Awesome, Kelli! Hurray for you!!
I suspect that you and my daughter Aimée are kindred spirits..
http://bit.ly/WtMkN
🙂
July 9, 2009 at 3:42 am
Leesie
Believe you me, I only have one child and by the tons of toys (we) had and the messes (we) made – you would have thought there was a gang of us! Oh, and you should come and see my basement and attic – it might make you feel better, lol. ;o) The bigger the space, the more junk you seem to accumulate.
July 9, 2009 at 9:47 am
thriftysouthernmama
Bug’s room used to look like this after a day of play. I haven’t gotten around to decluttering in there yet, but I think the poor child has just given up on finding the toys he wants in the mess now, so he never drags it all out. He grabs one or two things off the top of the toybox and brings them to the livingroom and if he’s looking for something specific he asks me to find it for him. We are moving this weekend and I plan on getting rid of a ton of toys while he’s not here to have a meltdown about it. Don’t feel bad, I think it’s typical of many families now because everyone buys kids way more than is necessary.
July 9, 2009 at 10:02 am
Annie
I look around the rooms in my house I see a lot of stuff. My grandchildren from Oklahoma have come to visit me for the summer. I know it looks cluttered, books, drawing paper, pencils, bats, balls…I seem to be cleaning all the time now, but I love it. Too soon they will be back home and my house will be back in order. There will be a tug in my heart to have the corners of my home cluttered again.
July 9, 2009 at 12:29 pm
lesleehorner
For the past few nights I have literally had to clear a path from Callee’s bed to her door in case she has to go potty in the middle of the night, so I can relate in a big way to picture number one. Also, we just went through one of our closets and I saved a bunch of baby blankets that my friend’s mom made for the girls. I don’t know if or how I’ll ever part with them since they were made just for my girls by someone special.
July 9, 2009 at 3:01 pm
eastkentuckygal
Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I’ve been dreading doing this for a year, and somehow I don’t anymore. There is something good happening within me. Ren – I definitely think your daughter and I are kindred spirits. I enjoy both your blogs. They are beautiful! I’m working on the kitchen today. Flush… flush…
July 9, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Deb
Good work! Don’t feel embarrassed, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have at LEAST one area in their house like that. In my case, it’s multiple areas, but I’m getting there.
July 9, 2009 at 6:37 pm
lyneya
Never never never look in my bedroom. 🙂 It’s got everything we’ve wanted to get out of our son’s way (or rare company) for the past three years. SO SCARY. And now I want to move, which means we have to let strangers see the nooks and crannies. Terrifying.
Decluttering toys: I did it hard-core last year. I started by putting the things I thought would get Good-will-ed in a bin in his room. And discovered he completely ignored them. Out they went. Filled up the bin again. Same thing. I saved a big pile of them for a kids consignment sale this past spring. That was awesome!
But we’ve still got a long long ways to go.
One of the most useful things for me is that where we live now, charities call and pick up things that I’d normally bring to goodwill. Every couple of months, some organization or another calls to say they’ll be in the area. I ALWAYS say yes, and somehow I ALWAYS manage to find a decent size box worth of stuff to donate. It seems that no matter how much I de-clutter, there’s another layer of stuff I finally admit we’re not using.
July 9, 2009 at 7:06 pm
happywoman
I think most people do have at least one room/closet/ basement like this. Some people just have more places to hide all their stuff. 😉 Exhibit A looks very much like 3 (sometimes 4) rooms of my house. One of these rooms needs to be cleared out soon to eventually make a bedroom for my new son. My procrastination needs to end.
One of my problems in trying to declutter is that, every time I get rid of a few bags of stuff, a grandparent or great-aunt will bring over a bag of kid stuff that they found at a yard sale, and then I am right back at Square One. Two steps forward, one step back, it seems. I find it so hard to focus when my environment is often so cluttered, so I keep trying to gradually clear out all but the necessary stuff.