Today marks the second day that I will be Exposing Myself. Fortunately, I’m in good company as we attempt to declutter and get organized. I haven’t exactly set a time frame that we need to complete this process. It’s really up to you and your schedule. Honestly I’m working as fast as possible to get it all done. I’m just over it. The mess that is. We have a garage sale scheduled for July 12th so it all has to be done by then.
A few friends have decided to join me in this venture. If you are feeling the urge to at least tackle one zone in your house, join us! Here is the list of groovy gals that are cleaning out. Check out their sites, they are going to post their progress and tips along the way as well.
You all know that I’ve been doing the kid room tango. Moving them into each others rooms, moving them out, furniture in, furniture out. A little back story for you… We went to Disney world and the kids shared a room. Since Makena’s finger incident we’ve had difficulties with her sleeping in her own room. Almost every night, around midnight, she would sneak into our bed. Maybe it was the crack they handed out at Disney but she slept in her own bed, for seven nights. So we got home and decided that the kids should share a room. Maybe she doesn’t like to be alone. Moved her into Keegan’s room. Furniture and all.
About a week later Keegan began crawling falling out of his crib. For fear for his safety, we needed to move him to a toddler bed. Makena sleeps in her great-grandmother’s full size bed. After a trip to Ikea, the kids room reminded me of the Princess and the Pea. Here is Makena all propped up on this huge bed and little Keegan in his toddler bed. I know they don’t know or care, but it made me sad. Plus the other issue that Makena had become ‘the boss’ when I wasn’t in the room with him. She was laying the smack down on Keegan on a regular basis. Keegan was destroying all of the books on the bookshelf. Makena was getting upset and yelling. A lot of yelling. My solution: move Makena back into her own space. This type of sibling angst should be reserved for the later years. Right?!?
Amongst all of the room rearranging I was able to get new ideas for decorating and organizing. My first problem is that the kids had too much stuff. I cleaned out six bags of toys to throw into the garage sale. After the sale, they can each go and buy one toy. Probably at a garage sale. Zero impact on the environment and zero on my pocketbook. You see, my love for garage sales and thrifting can get me into trouble if I’m not careful. It’s easy to buy too much, just because it is cheap. Then you end up with a house full a clutter. The trick at garage sales is to know what you are looking for. My eyes are always peeled for vintage toys, little people, dolls, trucks, books.
I wanted to show you Makena’s new space.
A place for her princess dresses. Before they were scattered on her closet floor. Now she knows where they go. Organized.
Another picture from my Faux-Toes friend Kristen that hangs above the bed. It’s a picture of Makena and her two girlfriends. Very sweet.
I’ve been wanting to get Chinese lantern’s to hang in her room for quite some time now. I always put a handful in my cart at Ikea and then end up putting them back because my brain can’t figure out how to hang them. Problem solved when I went to Kristen’s house to pick up the kid’s pictures. She had hung the exact lanterns in her daughters room. Aha! Inspiration! I am new to the American Girl scene. I picked up the doll in the high chair at a garage sale for .50 not knowing what she was. I thought she was a beautiful Native American doll. Come to find out, she’s worth $90. Tempting to sell…
Last weekend we picked up this Raggedy Ann doll at a garage sale. I think she’s a great replacement to the tons of other plastic dolls. I was able to bring her in and clean out about ten.
Makena’s bookshelf is now nicely organized and the good books are out of Keegan’s pesky reach. They even have their own piggy bank guard dog.
Speaking of books, if you have books you are looking to sell check out this site. You simply enter the ISBN number and it automatically tells you if they will buy your book and for how much. I have a huge stack of books ready to garage sale. Although they only bought four, and I paid significantly more for them at the bookstore (lesson learned), I was able to make a few extra bucks. My new rule is to either go to the library, garage sales or thrift stores for books.
Overall I think it’s important to simply clean out. I’ve managed to clean out about 3/4 of the kids stuff. Without the guilt involved. When there is too much stuff they don’t play in their rooms. Their spaces are now more manageable… for all of us.
Let me know if you want to join us in our quest for organization and I’ll add you to the list! Happy clutter clearing!
