Getting organized

We have a fair bit of space in our house but lately, mainly thanks to all the kids stuff, it's starting to feel rather full. So, over the last few weekends, that has left just one thing to do -- get organized!

I'll admit, although I like things neat and tidy, I live in the real world. And that world is one with two young kids and a busy lifestyle. So, stuff doesn't always go where it belongs -- or it doesn't even belong anywhere and just gets shuffled from place to place over time. Stuff gets thrown in closets and the door gets slammed shut or put on top of a table or desk because there's no shelf or drawer to put it in.

But, now that Christmas has come and gone, and there's once again a lot of stuff without a home, it was time to get organzied. Two weeks ago, Ryan cleaned out a few of our kitchen cupboards all in the name of making room for two new frying pans. To make room for the pans, he had to clean out the drawer under the stove. To make room for the stuff he cleaned out of the drawer, he had to empty the cupboard above the fridge. To make room for the stuff above the fridge -- well, actually, I think he opened the garbage can for a lot of that stuff. It seemed that that was where we sent things to die in our kitchen.

But the good news is is that he made room for the frying pans and he found a glass baking dish that we forgot we had!

Then we did the unthinkable -- we went to an organzied living store! After all that work to clean up and clean out, we were going to find a way to make the most of the little space we have in our kitchen. We bought racks and storage boxes and even little things like sponge holders. We spent an hour and a half just wondering the store, and I think I fell in love with it.

When we came home, we installed it all and suddenly realized we now need more racks and more storage boxes.

With my kitchen finally feeling a little more organized after four years of living in this house, we moved on to cleaning the basement. I'll admit, we didn't actually buy anything to get organized in the basement -- although we need to. But we cleaned closets, nooks and cranies and suddenly the place doesn't seem so cluttered. We even cleaned out a box that hadn't been unpacked since we moved in.

Yup, we can be that lazy.

This box has been shuffled around for four years with the 'we'll do it later attitude'. After four years, most of the stuff -- which was mainly pictures off the wall in the apartment -- could go in the garbage or Goodwill. Although there was one item in there that I had wondered what happened to (now I know!) and a framed picture from a wedding that was a blast from the past.

After all that work, I took three boxes and two garbage bags full of stuff to Goodwill on Monday. In there were books that I read and didn't like, three or four old winter coats, old winter boots, some toys and dolls that are no longer played with or that seriously drove me crazy, some knick knacks and do-dads and clothes. And, tomorrow, we're going to have to use an extra garbage tag or two to get rid of the other stuff.

But it felt good to clean out. After all, it was either clean out or move out.