A Slow and Painful Death by Clutter

Slightly over dramatic? Maybe BUT now that I'm home full-time with the Rockstar and we are into a routine I am beginning to feel like the clutter in our home is slowly suffocating me. I'm not an overly neat person and neither is Mike, this means we don't argue about the mess which is wonderful but we both contribute to it which isn't wonderful at all. Our home is clean (usually) but rarely looks tidy. It's hard to keep a home tidy when you have STUFF everywhere.

I've wasted a ridiculous amount of time recently looking for things because they don't have a place of their own. Previously I don't think this bothered me as much because I had time to waste: since the Rockstar arrived every moment feels full (in a good way) so wasting time looking for things frustrates me to no end. I spent 20 minutes wandering around the house with the Rockstar on my hip last week hunting for his nail clippers; this was after spending a good 15 minutes the day before doing the same thing. We could have been playing but instead we were on fruitless mission. I knew I had put them down somewhere a couple days before in a spot that I thought made sense at the time but for the life of me I couldn't remember where that spot was. Of course once I gave up in frustration I walked over to the sink to fill the kettle and TA DA there they were sitting on the windowsill because - well obviously - the windowsill is a sensible place to store a tiny pair of nail clippers. Silly, silly.

I am promising myself that I am going to make a serious attempt to declutter the house AND organize things so that I feel less stressed when I move around our space. Obviously I want this not only for myself but for the Rockstar and Mike as well.

This is where Megan's Organised Home Challenge of 2011 comes into play. I'm hoping that by joining the challenge I'll be more motivated to stick with my mission. The timing really couldn't be any better. Coincidentally last week I listed a handful of items on Kijiji (most of them have sold already) and I organized a few kitchen cupboards last week that were driving me mental. No longer do the spices look like a game of Jenga, nor are you risking a concussion by reaching for a mug. The Rockstar and I stopped mid-job to run to Walmart where we purchased a few expandable shelves which made a world of difference. By no means is the kitchen finished but I have made a good dent in sorting it out and when I open the three newly organized cupboards I can't help but smile. Funny how the very little things in life (like an organized cupboard) can make you feel good, isn't it? Is that ridiculous?

I have to figure out how I want to deal with the remainder of the kitchen before I work any further in there. I have been going over possible arrangements in my head but haven't found a plan that I'm in love with just yet. I'm setting the goal of completing the kitchen by the end of February. Fingers crossed!

Today after I read about Megan's challenge I cleaned out the linen cupboard: rolled up towels, tucked sheet sets into matching pillowcases (thank you Martha Stewart for that idea), tossed a bunch of useless bits in the garbage and a threw a pile of random things in the giveaway box. I should have taken a before and after photo: less than 30 minutes of work and the closet looks completely revamped.

I intend to post about my organizing/decluttering so that I can look back and remind myself of what I've accomplished and I may share some photos of the completed projects. Sorry there's no pictures today (I know you are deeply saddened by this - note the sarcasm) but I didn't have the time or the energy to take photos of the linen cupboard.

Wow this is a really wordy post; hopefully you don't feel like you're dying a slow and painful death by Jaime's jabbering. I feel like I should end with something that doesn't involve me blabbering on and on so here's a random photo of my Rockstar which shows off his stunning little eyeballs quite nicely. Unbelievably cute and definitely clutter free.