On my way to Clutter Free Living

Do you suffer from CHAOS like me? That's Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome, by the way for those of you not familiar with the Flylady. I have the book Sink Reflections and can't recommend it enough for those who struggle in this area.

For me, the desire to be clutter free has always been there. I just hold on to too many things for way too long. I used to keep every single piece of clothing that my little girl wore. EVERYTHING. I finally started to really go through it and decided what to keep and sell/donate within the last 3 or so years. It was hard for me because I held an emotional attachment to those things, like many of my other things. It has been a process for me throughout the last 3 years or so that I would occasionally go through and purge items. It was something I didn't do all at once.

I have been watching those shows lately, like Hoarders, on tv. I realize I have some of those tendencies. Not to keep everything little thing, but that emotional attachment to stuff. While moving in March, I was determined to rid us of anything we don't need. I took a look at everything. Some of it was not by choice as we had a mold issue in our apartment. It was worse than we had thought and some items just had to be thrown away. But it was my opportunity to purge in a major way. Some things I donated, others I sold so that we would move with only what we truly wanted to keep.

The results were wonderful! We now have so much less clutter! It's been an amazing transformation and I am so happy about it. Even after we moved I took a second look at things and was able to come up with 10 totes worth of items to get rid of as well as a large trash bag full of stuff. I recently had a yard sale with one of my best friends, Wendy, and was able to sell everything but two totes worth! To say I was excited is an understatement!

This move was just the push I needed to be clutter free. And while, there may always be a little clutter here and there I plan on never letting it go to where I feel we just have too much stuff. It can really do a number on your mood when you just feel surrounded by stuff. I didn't think to take any before pictures but I do have a few pictures on how I have organized a few things.

I have an armoire which we are now using in the living room. I'm using it to store our family games as well as craft type items. These type of things can easily become cluttered and this is how I organized them.



Here's a closer look at my organization of the smaller things. I got several of those plastic shoebox type containers and labeled them with the contents. Now instead of digging through a drawer for 10 minutes trying to find the tape, I'll know exactly where it is.



If your kids are like mine, they'll have all of those small toys. Action figures, legos, leapsters, and so on that can really clutter a room fast. We got this cube organizer about a year ago or so and love it. I use baskets to put the toys in. This helps tremendously in their room. I got this one at Target and can't recommend it enough.



Then I have several spices and didn't want to use a cabinet for them. So I found these cute baskets at TJ Maxx and three of them contain spices, vanilla, sprinkles and things like that. Then I got one to roll up a few washcloths and hand towels for kitchen use. That way they are close at hand without having to use a drawer up for those items.



Organizing things can make such a difference with how clutter can look. Try thinking of ways you can organize your clutter and purge items you just don't need anymore. It can be a great way to earn extra money if you hold a yard sale or bless someone else with an item they may need.

I'm still hoping to get back to new recipes here very soon. Since we have still been finishing up our new place it has been things that are quick and easy. Hope you all are having a great week!

God bless!