Donations: Day 7 ~ Girls Clothing Size 6-10

I have about two kitchen sized trash bags of clothing from purging Kiddo #3's closet.

We got rid of clothing between girls size 6-10 most of it being in the 6-8 size category.

If there is anyone in need, let me know. First dibs to the local blog readers and then it will be sent off to a local charity.

Let me know if you need anything. There is a little of everything in this pile: shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, sweats, swim suits, leotard, pjs...and much more!

Organizing: Day 8 ~ Purging clothing

The one thing that has been the most difficult about blending a large family is laundry. There is always laundry to be done and we just have far too much! Three preteen/teen girls and of course me equals way too many clothes.

This has to change.

This week we decided to do a room swap. We moved the two youngest girls upstairs to share a room and moved our son downstairs. The big problem with this is the room downstairs is much larger, which was why we had the girls sharing it.

Now, my preteen girls have to share a smaller room with a smaller closet. Though it makes sense to have them upstairs for many reasons, the closet alone made the decision seem rather...well to say is simply: stupid!

We needed a new approach to the closet. After spending time with one of my closest friends, who lives in a house with NO clutter (and I really do mean no clutter), I decided to use some of her suggestions to make this work for me.

She never has more than one week of clothes for her boys but for preteen girls, that's a bit extreme. I thought about it for a while and assessed the space and decided on two weeks of clothes and two weeks of uniforms for school. That essentially equals about one load of laundry for uniforms and just over one load of laundry for other clothes.

Not a small job

Living in Colorado Springs, we have experienced seeing around 400 families that have lost everything to the Waldo Canyon Fire. I think it's a great time to go through what we have, purge and donating the unneeded items to the Fire Victims.

I sat down with kiddo #3 (deciding to take it one kid at a time) and talked through how we were going to do this. She brought all her clothes to the living room and then exclaimed, "I'm a little embarrassed at how much I have." Wow! That's a great way to start purging. I think the fire victims having nothing is in the back of all of our minds.

Huge pile 

This is what we did:

1. Folded all the clothing into like items piles
2. Made a list of the items
• Tank Tops
• Short Sleeve Shirts
• Long Sleeve Shirts
• Shorts
• Capris
• Pants
• Sweats
• PJs
• Leggings
• Hoodies
• Underwear
• Socks
• Dresses
3. Came up with a reasonable number for each item without looking at the piles, letting her know that no item could exceed 14 (she came up with the number not me...and was really reasonable)
4. Sorted through all the clothing and only kept the number of items on our list
5. Filled one laundry basket with the keep items

Donation Pile

Viola! I have a kiddo with only one basket of clothes to keep. She has some laundry to do and will have to purge from the those clothes too, but so far so good. One girl down...two more to go.

One basket of keep items

Side by side keep and donate

Hopefully someday, I'll win the laundry wars by getting what we own to a reasonable amount.

Organizing: Day 7 ~ Pantry part 2

I actually have a really large completely useless kitchen. I have cabinets everywhere but not many of them are very functional. I have an entire wall of home-made cabinets. These may be the dumbest cabinets I have every seen. They are all different sizes but only slightly. The drawers are just stuck in a hole. Because of all of that, some things only fit in the cupboard if I put it in on the left side and twists till it's in half way and then twist it again to get it in the space. Then I have to put other things in front of it in the strange leftover space. I am constantly taking things out to get things out or in the cupboards.

Then there's the pantry. It is also completely dumb. Thanks 1983 for your dumb cupboards that make you think you have lots of space but really you just used an entire wall for a tiny little shelf! Welcome to the world of owning a home 30 years old. For some stupid reason, the 80's came up with really great ways to waste space.

Okay, all the ranting to say that I actually have an entire wall of small cabinets for a pantry. I have to reorganized this space on a regular basis. It seems every time I go to the grocery, there isn't room to put what I just purchased and yet I really don't have anything in the cupboards.

If you remember, a few months ago, cleaning the top cupboards of the pantry is what got this whole blog going. Now I've moved to the bottom (one side of the bottom). I think it looks really great now but then again, my kids haven't touched it yet. I may have to reorganize this space again. I didn't get rid of anything (except the trash the kiddos left behind) but I cleaned and reorganized and I feel good about it!

Yuck!

Feels so much better.

Donations: Day 6 ~ American Girl Doll Bed

My donating heart has spread...a mother could never be so pleased.

My eldest daughter has been cleaning her room for the past year. I'm really not exaggerating here. She is a "stuff" kiddo and has a room full of stuff. She is constantly cleaning her room. Every day I walk by and can't imagine how she cleaned her room for hours the day before and needs to clean it again.

On one of her recently hour long cleaning sessions, she decided to let a large item go. She's a teen now, so somethings are just not as important to her anymore. She decided to donate her American Girl Doll bed. I set it out in the living room for a couple a days to see if she still felt that way as time passed. Then about two weeks after we put the bed in the living room, the girls had a friend spend the night and she brought her American Girl doll.

Within hours of the friend being over, my eldest daughter asked if she could give the bed to her friend. My heart swooned. I asked her if she was sure she was ready to give it away. She said yes with a huge smile and said she would rather someone use it and love it then it just sit in her room taking up space. That afternoon when the friend's mom came to get her, I made sure she was okay with this transaction being it isn't a small item. Mom said yes and the friend had a wonderful new bed for her doll.

Life is good. We experienced the joys of giving and letting go and freeing up space and purging and cleaning and I'm SO HAPPY for my daughter. She still has a lot of stuff and still always needs to clean...but one thing is gone. Every little step counts!

Organizing: Day 6 ~ Nail Polish Stash

Having three daughters has created quite a nail polish stash. Years ago, I put up a cute little shelf in their bathroom that had three shelves (one for each). They lined all their nail polished on it and wow was there quite a collection.

Recently I went to paint their nails and discovered a few things about the collection. Some where junky little kid nail polishes that rub off in a few hours and where really too young for my pre-teen and teen girls. Then there were ones that were so old they separated or were so crusty you couldn't get the lids off of them.

We went through each nail polish and cleaned out the old. I think we got rid of about 20 nail polishes. Then we did nails (just another thing to do when you have a kid laid up with a broken leg).

I'm hoping that after all of this, my girls will just throw away the ones that are no longer good as they come to them. We'll see...

Donations: Day 5 ~ Decor from my linen closet

I cleaned my linen closet. I decided as I was cleaning, I was going to clean as though I was moving across the country.

I decided to ask myself these questions:

• Would I pay to move this?
• Have I used this in the past year?
• Will I use it in the next year?
• How many do I have/need? 
• Will I miss this?
• Will I pay to replace this in the next year if I get rid of it today.

As I peeled through my closet, I found another pile of things to donate. I'm on a roll.

Items include:

• Tea lights (unscented & vanilla scented)
• Plug in air fresheners (Glade & Bath & Body Works)
• Plastic Bandaid holders (holds about 5, great for the purse)
• Shower curtain rings
• 3 different Bamboo Vases
• Reusable Shelf liner
• Little Vases
• 6 matching candle stick holders
• Apple Cinnamon scented oil
• 1 Glass votive holder
• 1 Glass candle stick holder
• Glass bowl (heavy, I think it is Mikasa but it's not marked)
• 2 Large glass pillar candle holders
• Heart shaped glass bowl (flat bottom)
• Lamp
• 3 tubes of incense & a wooden holder

See anything you want, need, like or would love to give a new home, let me know. I would rather pass on the love than just donate. I didn't wash anything but it's all in great shape & easy to clean.

** Oh, and I don't care why you want it. If you are an avid, detected and organized garage sale extraordinaire and want to just sell these things, or list them on ebay or craigslist that's fine by me...I just want to give them to those who want/need them or need the money they may bring you.

Organizing: Day 5 ~ Cleaning my linen closet

One thing about living in a house built in the 80s is there is a severe lack of closet space. There are no walk-in closets. Almost all the closets are shallow and the built in shelves are almost useless; however, I am blessed to have a big home and I want to live within my space...so the de-cluttering continues.

My linen closet had some sheets, beach towels, first aid, sun screen and miscellaneous decor. When the door is closed, it all fits...

See...it's not bursting open.

...but open the door and all hell broke loose. Another fallen Jenga pile that needed sorting and cleaning and purging, oh my.

I get the feeling some kiddos have been in here.

I embraced this venture and found myself in a mess. The thing about organizing is it almost always gets worse before it gets better.

Getting a little claustrophobic...need to take a break.

When I finished, I introduced the family to the new linen closet and gave them each a tour. Hopefully they will know where things are when they need them and know where to put things away when they are finished...hopefully was the key word there.

Ahh..my OCD friends are lovin' this.

In the end, things are cleaner, organized and there is a nice pile for donation.

Detailed list of donations post coming tomorrow ;)

Okay, I'm going to be honest here: I really decided to take pictures of things after I cleaned so I could remember. I am the "odd" one in my bunch of friends. I'm the one that isn't OCD & doesn't have perfect closets, drawers, cabinets or shelves. In fact, the only reason the mess bothers me is because we have too much stuff! 

Donations: Day 4 ~ Dog Stuff

Cleaning: Day 4 ~ Dog Cabinet

Yes, my doggie has her very own cabinet in our home. She has quite a collection of all sorts of things in there. I cleaned it out and got rid of the things she doesn't like or we won't use (I'm not a fan of the choke collars).

All off to different doggie friends of ours

The doggie cookies and the brush found new homes but I still have the choke chain and the bones.

Donations: Day 3 ~ Cookbooks

Cleaning: Day 3 ~ Above the Fridge

I do love to cook and over the years I have gained several cook books. There are several in this pile I've never even opened. I'm the type of cook that just hops online and looks for several different recipes for what I am trying to make and then use those as a guide to my cooking. So out with the cookbooks. I just don't use them. I kept a few that are good for reference (being you never know when your internet could just go out).

This is quite a stack.

If anyone needs or wants some cook books, let me know. There are some great ones in this pile for the beginning cook.

Donations: Day 2 ~ Lace Linens

Cleaning: Day 2 ~ My Hutch

After cleaning out my hutch, I discovered in one of my drawers I had several different lace items I had inherited from my mom. I think I kept them in the beginning just because they were my mom's; however, years later, I've never used them so it's time to let them go.

Lace Linens

Table cloths, table runners and doilies oh my!

If anyone has use for some lace...just let me know ;)

Donations: Day 1 ~ Baking Pans

Each cleaning project so has produced items to be donated. Not only are my spaces clean, but there is also less stuff in my spaces! Here's a little post about these donations. Some will be given to friends, family and then to the DAV.

Cleaning: Day 1 ~ My Pantry

I had two different heart shaped baking pans...never used still in the packaging. I'm really not a baker so it's time to get rid of them. I think I've had them for at least three years, not a good sign that they are still the package.

Baking Pans

Organizing: Day 4 ~ The Dog Cabinet

My beautiful dog, Lola, has her very own cabinet full of things just for her. I opened the door to get her a treat and noticed once again a place that had gone array. I blame the kids because there is no way hubby or I would ever leave it this way.

What?!?! I'm sure this is not the way I left it.

So I cleaned, organized and got rid of things we didn't need or she doesn't like.

This is it now. Ahhh, feels good.

Clean & organized.

Organizing: Day 3 ~ Above the Fridge

So I went to get something off the top of my fridge and EWWW is all I can say. It was D I R T Y up there so that was the next place to clean.

See that dirt...ewww!

My cookbook cabinet...a mess

Needed to go through the cookbooks to see what I wanted to keep.

I just pulled everything out, wiped everything down and then went through items before putting them back.

I spent a couple hours on a Saturday morning going through all my cookbooks to see what I wanted to keep. I ended up with more cookbooks than I thought I had. I kept the tried & true cookbooks, the two 3-ring binders: Better Crocker & Better Homes and Gardens. These books have all sorts of good information regarding cooking. I know you can find it all on the internet, but just incase there is ever an outage while I'm cooking, I want to know I can find the information I need.

I kept my mom's cookbooks. She marked dates and notes on recipes she had tried. I think I may just try some of them based on her little notes. She marked things like "dad's favorite" or "great for company" as well as substitutions.

Then I paged through what I had left and if there were more than 5 recipes in which I was interested I kept the book and tabbed the pages I wanted to try. The rest went into the donation pile.

All clean & shiny & organized!

Having less cookbooks had made it so I use the ones I have more often. I know what I have & what recipes I want to use in the ones I saved.

Organizing: Day 2 ~ My Hutch

I inherited a beautiful dark cherry wood hutch from my mom. It isn't really my style but it holds all my beautiful dishes (that I also inherited) on display. The problem with that is that is also displays the dust the gathers being that these beautiful dishes are only used on a few occasions throughout the year.

Recently, I packed up lots of my dishes and carted them to Denver to throw a wonderful wedding shower for my step brother's beautiful wife. My step-mom and I joined forces and got all our china out for this event. When I pulled everything out I became aware of how dirty the hutch was. Before putting all the dishes back into the hutch, I decided it was time to clean the hutch. I dusted and windexed and went through all the items in the hutch. I was able to get rid of a few things I can't imagine ever using. After everything was clean, I put all my dishes back.

When the glasses where there you couldn't see all this dust.

It feels great to have a nice clean space. I'm sure I'll have to do it again the next time I use the china, but for now it looks great.

Crystal clear to display my crystal.

All clean now!

Organizing: Day 1 ~ My Pantry

I started my first cleaning challenge with my pantry. In fact, my whole idea for this challenge started from my pantry. Once I got going it started a sequence of events and by the end, though I didn't do anything I needed to that day, I had a list of challenges for 2012.

Around the holidays I use all those pretty serving dishes and baking dishes that I never use any other time. This year I had to run around several place to even find what I needed. All of this got started because of deviled eggs I never ended up making.

I have this deviled egg plate. I only use it a couple times a year, so of course last year I thought I would store it somewhere other than my pantry. That way it wouldn't be taking up space with things I use much more regularly. Here's the flaw in that: I didn't remember I did that.

I look in my pantry...no egg plate. Then I look in other cupboards in my kitchen...no egg plate. I look on top of my fridge...no egg plate. I look in my hutch...and you guessed it...no egg plate. OH NO...did I donate that on my one of my "purging the clutter" benders? Where could I have put an egg plate? Then it hits me it is in the garage on my pantry shelves.

So I dig it out, wash it off and have it sitting with my stack of pretty plates then continue to make three thousand appetizers for our Annual Christmas Eve Open House. Then, hours later I run out of steam and scrap the deviled eggs, but of course only after I've already boiled the eggs. Whatever, my family likes boiled eggs.

Then after our party I start to clean up a little. We commence with our family tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve (which is always PJs). We get kids off to bed and then go, go, go for several days on end. Next thing I know it's just after the New Year and I have a stack of my pretty plates to put away. I open one cupboard in my pantry and stare. How on earth did this happen? My pantry looks like a Jenga tower that fell over. I'm actually going to have to take everything out of this cupboard to put anything away. Then I notice the shelves need to be wiped out.

Emptying the pantry...trash can on hand.

All the things that will need to go back into the cupboard.

So I just do it. I take everything out. I wipe everything down and I start to reorganize, purge items I've never used and probably never will and put everything else back nicely. Then I look at my counter full of new products that arrived after Christmas from a Tastefully Simple party I hosted. I open that side of the pantry and what do I discover...another toppled Jenga tower. OK, I'm all in. The kitchen needs to be attacked.

Back in...stacked, organized and wiped off!

Look at all that Tastefully Simple stuff nicely put away!

I take care of a couple cupboards and start to do the dishes. Then what happens? I open the dishwasher and there are all the new plastic food storage pieces I got for Christmas. I open the drawers to put them away and decide I'm probably going to need to get rid of all the mismatched pieces if any of the new stuff is going to fit and so I pull everything out. I match all the pieces and actually mark them with letters with a Sharpie marker: "A" lid with "A" bottom & "B" lid with "B" bottom and so on.

The lid & bottom sorting begins

All matched up!

So there you have it...I was going to make deviled eggs and instead a week later I cleaned my pantry and organized my plastic food storage pieces. That's how things get done around here...and actually nothing much else got done that I had planned for the day. So now I still have a "To Do" list but I put away my egg plate and hopefully I'll remember where it is next year.