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The POSTABLE challenge-- join me! Update #62 - Page 3

post #41 of 74
4/3/08 at 10:12am
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone, how's it going? I was offline for a week, and my digital camera wasn't working either. In that time I got my apartment almost perfect and then it got messy again. Well, we all got a little cold too, so that didn't help. Now I have to start shopping and packing for our vacation-- we are leaving Saturday-- so I don't think I will have time to post before I go. I'd like to feel a little more relaxed than that.

I will definitely post my "tour" when I get back. It'll be fun.

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post #42 of 74
4/3/08 at 12:30pm
I am so in! My DH and I are working all this weekend on purging. I'll post my horribly embarrassing before pics tonight.
post #43 of 74
4/3/08 at 9:57pm
We were all sick last week and I was completely useless. But! I'm feeling all better now (and I was SICK of not doing anything) so the decluttering continues. I had another one of those insane energy days yesterday and did tons. I was so insane that I scrubbed the kitchen floor with a rag (although I was in a really crabby mood all day). I went through my yarn and did a bunch of laundry. I organized the puzzles and games and art supplies in the hall on a bookshelf and a small cabinet, which are sitting on top of a credenza.

My problem is getting all the crap actually OUT of my house. Before decluttering I had a basically empty closet, now it's completely full of stuff to be donated. The only donate center here is a Salvation Army that makes you wait while they look through the stuff. And I'm sorry, but I have a toddler, and that is not an option for me. I'd have to take it to the next town over, one trunkload at a time... and I can't afford the gas, as sad and lame as that is.

There's promise of a yard sale in the future. Although that's SUCH a headache, I really need some cash. My little one is saving up for something special (an American Girl doll) and I told her she could have a table with her own clothes and toys. She's actually really getting into the decluttering-- even deciding to get rid of some Barbies (very unusual for my girly girl!)

I would much rather just dump it so I didn't have to think about it. I have no more room to put anything else that I want to get rid of at this point. Our apartment is TINY. We have basically no money to spend on the house other than food, so I have had to get creative with storage. I'm planning on sewing up some cloth shelves to hang in the closets, and getting rid of the shabby drawers that my girl's clothes are in. Thus reducing the fabric stash while also freeing up some floor space.

Also, I've been throwing stuff away and not feeling guilty about it. Any sock that my smallest has outgrown, I'm tossing. I'm not waiting for the matches to suddenly appear anymore. These socks have been under my feet all over the house for MONTHS. They keep finding their way back into the laundry pile and get washed over and over. Enough already!!!!!
post #44 of 74
4/14/08 at 8:35pm
Thread Starter 
We just got back from vacation.

Today has been really stressful. My apartment sucks compared to the one at the resort. Lightbulb moment-- we really do have too much junk.

I am trying to fix that today.

I realized this while we were on vacation because I packed what we needed for one week-- a small fraction of our clothes and other belongings-- and it was still more than we needed. I mostly wore one pair of capris and one skirt the whole time. I wore four different tee shirts and four different sweaters. Three pairs of shoes (crocs, ballet flats, and flip-flops!) That was all I needed, it was enough. The other stuff I packed could have been eliminated completely. And it was only a portion of my wardrobe. I feel guilty because I just bought this stuff recently. Some of it was expensive for us. WHY do I do this????? Guilt guilt guilt. Uggh. (BTW, anyone size extra small? I'm getting rid of a couple things in size small too, but mostly size XS/2. Lol!)

Same for the boys-- they could have used just a couple of pairs of shorts and tees, and one sweatshirt hoodie each. I purposely had them wear more stuff top make myself feel better about packing it all. :P But it wasn't at all necessary! Why do they have so many clothes?

DH brought two pairs of shorts, and a pair of jeans, and he only wound up wearing the jeans and one pair of shorts. He never wore the other pair. Every evening I did laundry and it never got into piles like it does at home. It was so simple and easy and liberating.

Sigh. So here I am at home looking at all of this junk that I paid money for and am attached too and it's all too much and what do I do?

I am dedicated to making my space simple and clean and lovely like the resort. It will get there eventually, but I will blog it before it's perfect-- when it's decent. That should be soon.

Today, I am decluttering, AGAIN, and my back laundry room/mud room is full of ten + shopping bags full of things that are going out, mostly clothes.
post #45 of 74
4/14/08 at 9:50pm
Thread Starter 
Yay! I made a lot of progress today! I went ahead and took phtoos of the whole apartment to help me see it in a new light and see where it needs improvement. Seeing it in a photo helps me see it the way others might see it.

I'm starting to feel better and get really excited about this project again! I strongly recommend taking before pictures, not necessarily to share, but to help motivate you and help pinpoint problem areas.

Back to work!
post #46 of 74
4/15/08 at 3:26am
I'm a bit late to this, but I am very interested in it. I am in the middle of a purge and have posted some not very flattering pictures of my current piles of crap on my blog.
You can see it here. I can't wait to get to point of being able to post pics of my apartment being light and airy and wonderful. When it starts feel cavelike and oppressive it starts to make me kinda nuts.

http://anythingbloggable.blogspot.co...rge-of-08.html
post #47 of 74
4/15/08 at 1:08pm
Thread Starter 
Making great progress today! I just want to stop and just sit down, ya know? But I am plunging on anyway-- no one's going to do this for me! So I took a little break to nurse my toddler, study scriptures on contentment, and view some inspiration from Apartment Therapy. Now, back to work!
post #48 of 74
4/15/08 at 6:08pm
Thread Starter 
Okay, got all of my pictures hung, still have two empty walls in the bedroom. Oh well! the living room and the kitchen look much homier now. I feel great because I've been meaning to hang pictures for over a year and putting off because I don't have the "right" pictures and frames for the space. Well, today I just used what I had, and it certainly isn't perfect, in fact, some might find it laughable, but I like it and dh thought it looked great. So I feel good about it.

Now I just feel frustrated by how things just can't seem to STAY clean! Lol! Now the couch slipcover is dirty again and I just washed the whole thing-- maybe I will spot clean it this time-- and I just had to scrub the carpet where the boys spilled smoothie on it, and by now the sink is full of dishes again even though it seems like I just washed them. Sigh. And the floors constantly need to be swept or scrubbed or vaccummed somewhere, they can't all be clean at the same time, of course not . . .

But bit by bit it IS all coming together!
post #49 of 74
4/15/08 at 9:52pm
Is it too late to join? Becasue I really want my home to be postable! :LOL
post #50 of 74
4/16/08 at 8:54am
Thread Starter 
Never too late to join! Feel free to jump in!
post #51 of 74
4/17/08 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
Ugh! I can't keep up! I'm about ready to give up . . .
post #52 of 74
4/17/08 at 4:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LionTigerBear View Post
Ugh! I can't keep up! I'm about ready to give up . . .
hey don't give up! you are doing a fabulous job each small job you do makes a big difference toward your goal.

The way I look at it is that this will be an ongoing project that I just have to keep up with. I've done my decluttering and now I'm working toward keeping my house clean and put away. and teaching my kids (and DH) to clean and put away also

keep your chin up~ you are an awesome mama for wanting and working toward a peaceful place for your family
post #53 of 74
4/17/08 at 6:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by chlorita View Post
hey don't give up! you are doing a fabulous job each small job you do makes a big difference toward your goal.

The way I look at it is that this will be an ongoing project that I just have to keep up with. I've done my decluttering and now I'm working toward keeping my house clean and put away. and teaching my kids (and DH) to clean and put away also

keep your chin up~ you are an awesome mama for wanting and working toward a peaceful place for your family
Aw, you're so sweet! Thank you. I'm doing my best.
post #54 of 74
4/19/08 at 12:13pm
Yay! Ok today I'm working on my living room! It's not really cluttered per se it just feels dusty from not being able to really get in and clean. I want to work on my computer/craft area and get that organized and really purge what I don't want. (I'm sure there's tons I don't need if I really look!) I will post pictures when I'm done before and afters poss!
post #55 of 74
4/20/08 at 12:14pm
Ok my living room is pretty much complete! It looks so good! I cleaned out my sewing machine draws. I had so much stuff in those draws that I never even used! Why was I holding onto it? Maybe someone else could use it. So I boxed it all up ready to bring to my sisters yard sale! Today I'm working on my garage! All the stuff thats in there is going to the yard sale today! I'm so excited! I'm doing happy dance!
post #56 of 74
4/22/08 at 11:11am
Have I killed the thread? The living rom is still clean! The dining room is getting better. The garage looks awsome! I cleaned out the kids summer clothes and have a box to donate to my friends little girl! It feels so good!
post #57 of 74
4/23/08 at 12:57am
Gah. Today was my first day of getting stuff really done. Ha ha.

I did two loads of laundry (don't have a w/d in my apt so this involves bringing it to the laundry room, ugh). And I reorganized and cleaned out kitchen cabinets today.
Not a whole lot.
post #58 of 74
4/29/08 at 2:17am
Knock Knock!! You guys still out there?

So, I made a definite dent in some things over the weekend, but of course MDC was down so I didn't get to post it.

So, starting out, here is a before of the baby stuff, and here is an after.
It's not perfect, but the furniture in our room is rearranged, it feel so much bigger in there and I feel like we have plenty of room for us and the baby now. We had the new frame for Miles' bed in there while we were measuring it, but it's out of the now.

And also, I tackled the front bathroom yesterday. It was pretty darn bad. and here is after. Of course I tried to put the tp on the roll, hoping the cat would not mess with it. Hahaha. It had to come right back off.

How are you all doing with this?
post #59 of 74
4/29/08 at 5:51pm
I did really well! My sister came over Saturday and helped me Clean the kitchen I will post pictures as soon as I change the curtains! The living room is a little messy I may just do a quick pick up before I take pics of that room. Well off to change the curtains!
post #60 of 74
4/29/08 at 7:28pm
Ugh. Not getting as much done as I like, I need to post on Craigslist and Freecycle, but I have not been able to deal with the sorting yet.

I decided instead to go over to my best friend's and help her purge as her 3rd party objective person. I hate and despise clutter so I am about the best person to have help get rid of crap.

I figure if I'm not being as productive here I can go over there and lay on her bed and dictate to her what to get rid off!

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › The POSTABLE challenge-- join me! Update #62