40 Bags in 40 Days

I am in the midst of another clean-out of our house. Sarah at Clover Lane has done this for three years and I started last year. It's scheduled to correspond with Lent and the idea is to list 40 small areas in your house and clean one out each day getting rid of excess and junk [or a bag a day]. It's such a great time of year for me to be doing this project since I always get the cleaning bug after the holidays and it makes the lingering winter months fly by. 

Last year I made the mistake of getting overly enthusiastic the first week and burning out by the middle. I tried to do multiple areas on each of the first days. This time I am only doing one area each day [except Sundays].  

So far I've done the kitchen drawers, upper kitchen cabinets, lower kitchen cabinets, freezer/fridge, pantry, and food storage closet. My list goes on like that throughout the house taking it in small chunks a day at a time. I also use this time to clean each of those areas out so it's decluttering and spring cleaning all in one.

I just love the days when I am in the decluttering zone. My mind is clear, my resolve is set, and I'm able to make decisions quickly. If I'm not, it's awful since I hem and haw for way too long and then just end up putting the item[s] in question in a different location to collect dust for another year. 

I find this is also a great time to make lists of things to accomplish or things that I need to be on the lookout for. For example, I need to make new white, cloth napkins [and find that awesome tutorial on creating the mitred corners so easily], I see items I missed that we need to pick up to have on hand for food storage or cooking, and it's a great time to see what clothing items the kids will be needing soon.

So I'm off to discover the treasures that await in the coat closet and toy cabinets. And even though I agree with our second who said it would be awesome to have a robot you could program to clean your house for you, it's not too bad and the results are definitely worth the work!

Wrapping Paper and File Folders

After finishing this project I needed to add some finishing touches. I took some hanging folders just like these and cut off just the top hanging portion, used a glue stick and some wrapping paper from Target's dollar section, and recovered them. I found this site that has some free printable labels [thank you!]. I laminated them then glued magnets to the back. Done.

P.S. This is the site that inspired the project first.

A $2 Fix

This was the state of my jewelry drawer: old jewelry gift boxes like this with items messily tossed in. I can't remember the reference, but saw the idea to keep jewelry in a medicine container - the plastic kind with the days of the week on the top where you put all your pills in corresponding boxes. I looked and found a couple but I never could get over the price [it's cheap plastic certainly not worth more than $5!], days of the week [It made it look like I was planning out my jewelry by day], and the limited amount of space [there were anywhere from 5- 14 boxes within each container].
 

So I was very happy to find this while perusing the aisles of Hobby Lobby. It's meant to store jewelry-making supplies, but I knew it would just fit the bill.

So for $4 (I bought two), my jewelry drawer, is looking much neater and, of course, there's more room. No more tangled earrings and chains for me!