New Year's Resolution

Yes, I said New Year's Resolution. I don't make New Year's Resolutions. That would just be setting myself up for failure, so, I'm going to call this my mid-year resolution....I can't take it anymore. My house is so disorganized and packed with crap. I just don't know where to start.

So, I'm going to give myself till the end of June to clean out our entry closet and organize the basement, again. I think if I pick two projects and give myself a month to do them, it will help me not get so overwhelmed and maybe, just maybe, I'll actually do them and get them done.

Who lives like this?

I don't think half of these shoes even fit anyone in our house anymore.

And obviously, we stuff everything on the shelves.

In January, I bought this neat little shelving system (Closetmaid Cubicle), with different colored fabric baskets for each type of toy. Unfortunately, the shelf was ruined in the flood in March. Lucky for me, I bought a new shelf 2 weeks later...it's still in the box, unassembled.

We also bought a new black t.v. stand (to the left), which has more shelves than the old one and two drawers...unfortunately, the kids have just shoved stuff on the shelves.

Also, we bought a black book case to match the t.v. stand, for the stereo, some books and maybe more organizing baskets, it also has two drawers for storage...and yet, it also still sits in the box, unassembled.

I am having an itch to make our house look and feel more homey, for instance, our family room still does not have curtains, nor does our dining room (don't worry, there are blinds up, so the neighbors are not getting any free shows). I have yet to hang anything on the walls of the dining room or either bathroom. Since money is tight these days, I figure if I can clean out some areas (see above pictures) and organize them...maybe I'll find some things to sell and make some money to help me finish our home.

I'm also a pack-rat. I don't smoke, I rarely drink, I don't gamble...my bad habit? Saving EVERYTHING. I don't know why I do this. I always think "Maybe someday I'll need this" or "Someday, I'll have somewhere to put this". Luckily, I saved a lot of baby clothes; Mason is getting the benefit of this. But, do I really need to save every toy? Or save every piece of artwork from the kids? Or, save every pair of old shoes? No...and since I'm running out of room to "save" things, I need to start eliminating some of the clutter. Anyone have any tips on how to do this?

I will post pictures of these two spaces when I'm done...and hopefully have two new spaces picked out by then.

For now, I'm going to bed; instead of blogging or blog-stalking, I should have been working on the closet!

Until next time...