Declutter Along! Master Bedroom - Part One

Yesterday I spent somewhere around 30 minutes working on decluttering our bedroom. As you will see by the pictures, it was hideous to start with.

Believe it or not, it used to be considerably worse. That big pile at the foot of the bed used to be at least five times the size it is now. A few months ago, my husband and I took a weekend and tackled it, but that's as far as it went.

Oh, and don't let his side of the bed fool you! The floor is only that clean because I just did his laundry. ;-)

I cheated and worked on this little project while the toddler was napping. My preschooler helped with the first two steps but eventually got bored and wandered off.

Step One
Take BEFORE pictures. -- 3 minutes
This might sound silly, but it is a really great motivator. When you're halfway through and feel like you've gotten nowhere, you can look back and see evidence to the contrary.

Step Two
Remove all trash. -- 7 minutes
Such a simple task, but it can have an amazing effect. I gave my preschooler a plastic grocery sack and set her to gathering everything from broken hangers to discarded clothing tags. Meanwhile, I went to work consolidating and gathering all of the water bottles on my nightstand. Yes, I'll admit, I have a water bottle problem. After I was finished, I went back over the room to get any trash she might have missed. We ended up with a full sack of trash and another full sack of water bottles. Our time even includes taking them outside to their proper bins.

Step Three
Remove all items that do not belong. -- 20 minutes

This step took a little longer than my ideal time limit but it was well worth having all that stuff out of there! I began by designating a laundry basket to collect all of the random items: kids' toys and books, two of my husband's lunch boxes, medicines and hair items. Next, I gathered things that needed to go to the basement: formal dresses, extra coats, and the extra fan. Once these items were taken downstairs and put away, I went to work on things that belonged in the closet: some out of season shoes and purses, and a few backpacks and such. Once put away, I moved on to the bit of dirty laundry. It was mostly things that belong in the giveaway pile or had fallen out of laundry baskets and therefore needed to be rewashed. Into the laundry hamper in the bathroom they went! Now back to that laundry basket full of randomness. It only took a few minutes to go room-to-room and restore the items to their proper places.

Only 30 minutes spent on the project yesterday and I am still amazed at the difference it made. I'm pretty sure I slept better in there than normal last night. And what a weird feeling not to step on things when I get out of bed in the middle of the night.

Wonder what I can get done in 30 minutes tonight after the kids go to bed?

So there you have it: our first Declutter Along! Did you work along with me? Share your progress by leaving a comment below!

<3 Danielle

Declutter Along!

One way I define a successful SAHM is the state of her house.  It doesn’t have to be spotless, but it does need to make her family feel safe, comfortable and happy.  

My house isn’t the worst.  (Ever seen that TV show Clean House?)  I’m not afraid to let my 18 month old run around freely, but neither my husband nor I feel comforted or cheered by out surroundings.  And let’s just say that I’m glad we never have company over.  Certain rooms even overwhelm me when I spend too much time in them. 

This is now how I want to live.  I love to entertain and want to be able to host play-dates, group cooking sessions, and other fun little get-togethers. 

But my BIGGEST motivation to declutter and get organized?  We’ll be moving to a new city 40 miles away in just 10 short weeks.  In normal moving time, two and  a half months is a long time, but we’re not talking normal moving time.  We’re talking doing this 85% on my own with two small children underfoot while pregnant with twins.  That’s right, folks, on moving day I’ll be approximately 30 weeks pregnant with twins!  The only help I’m counting on is to actually do all the lifting and moving on moving day and my mother-in-law and a generous friend have volunteered to help with the actual packing during the month of January. 

My goal is to have as little as possible to pack and unpack.  I want to do as much as I can to keep these little buns baking and be fully unpacked and settled in time for their arrival.  I have a long ways to go.  As my husband says, I have a lot of “stuff.”  

What is my plan of attack?  I’m 19 weeks with twins and have two small children….there will be no marathon cleaning/decluttering/packing sessions in this house!

Do you know how to eat an elephant?  One. Bite. At. A. Time.

Now that I have the day-to-day stuff like laundry and dishes down to a system, I’m going to start decluttering the easiest to maintain rooms first.  I’ve chosen to start with the master bedroom.  It sees the least amount of traffic from little hands and feet that unintentionally destroy all of my hard work.  And I’m going to tackle it 15 minutes at a time.

Feel free to Declutter Along!