Hello Cleanliness! My, how I have missed you!

Watch out! I am on a serious roll here cleaning & de-cluttering at our house - if it gets in my way, I may just toss it! My newest motto is "If you are unsure, GIVE IT AWAY." After my fourth & final drop off at the local Salvation Army yesterday, I joked with an employee that I wouldn't be able to shop there for months, because the entire store could quite possibly be filled with all of my old goodies - and knowing me, I would repurchase them in a moment of weakness. In fact, each time I have driven past the store this week, I have looked to see if one of the manikins in the window is wearing one of the new, with tags, suits that I donated.

You see, our house seems to be constantly filled with stuff, and having a toddler has only made the problem worse - toys, clothes, baby gear - there simply isn't room for it all. Add to that a family with a fondness for the great outdoors & all the activities one could do outdoors (and need gear for) & we simply must purge. Of course I have been nagging my husband for years to help me clean our crap out of the attic, only to get up there this week & realize that the one box up there that is his is neatly organized. I kid you not when I tell you there were 6 large moving boxes filled with my #$%@. Rolling Stones & Entertainment Weekly's from 1999? Glad I moved with those, TWICE - what? I simply have an avoidance issue when it comes to these things - if I open a box filled with crap, I promptly shut the lid & tuck it away (PS - Don't ever look under my bathroom cabinets).

The past two weeks I have met my issue head on & have tackled some great projects. As cheesy as it sounds, at the end of the day I really have a great feeling of accomplishment. There is something about throwing things away that is simply liberating; Not to mention helping stock the local Salvation Army in time for the holidays. For those that have visited my house & always wondered what was behind door #5 in the upstairs hallway, allow me to introduce to you my guest bedroom:

This room used to be filled with unpacked bags from travel & all sorts of other useless things that would get shoved into a corner when a guest would stay. I would find myself apologizing each time, and promising it would be cleaned up for the next visit. When I tell you that I literally gave away everything in this room, I mean it - took the prints from the walls, the bed skirts & comforters from the beds, the mirror from above the dresser - It was awesome! After the organizing, I headed to Target with some cash I had tucked away for a project such as this & purchased some new bedding. The print on the wall & the mirror above the dresser, which I made several years ago, were already at our house. So I may not have the ultimate decorator's eye, but for a gal on a budget with simplicity & cleanliness in mind, I think I did pretty well.

The next thing I wanted to tackle was organizing our Playroom/Office. After sorting through the toys to put away what was no longer age appropriate, I picked up a few fun items at Target & the like to decorate the walls - I even got Wyatt's help with a few of them:

I am still working on the attic - it has been a HUGE one to tackle, but actually a great "escape" from my day-to-day routine. I have found countless boxes filled with old high school & college memories and it has become a daily trip down memory lane that I truly look forward to. Sometimes in all of the hustle & bustle of being a mother, I tend to forget my old self - looking through pictures & reading old journals has sort of reminded me of where I came from & reflect on where I am now - I am thankful that where I am now has put me in a more fashion forward place than I was whenever I was wearing the shimmery halter & crystal body art tattoos that I found, but that's beside the point. So, I may not be clutter-free for long, but for now it feels great to clean, organize & redecorate.