Before I get into the post, I’d like to say thanks to everyone who left a comment last week and shared your experiences on what I wrote about. I so enjoyed reading about your challenges, victories, and helpful hints.
Saturday, I put on my Brave Hat and launched into cleaning the closet in one of our guest bedrooms. It’s amazing how much stuff can be stuffed into one closet without said stuffed closet exploding.
My goal at this stage of life is to gradually whittle away at our things until, miraculously, the day will come when I will open a closet and see a minimal amount of possessions neatly arranged. Until that day arrives, I have to ask myself, “Where does this all come from? Why have I kept it? Just what is going on here?”
We purged a huge amount of items as we were moving to Charlotte, with load after load being donated. And yet here we are, still living with exploding closets. (This wasn’t all from the closet, by the way. I had a few things stacked behind my easy chair in the corner.)
One comment on this photo: I’ve heard that when you reach a certain age, you begin to collect boxes. You see a box that is sturdy with a good lid and think, “I’m going to keep this. I know I’ll be able to find a use for it.” I have definitely reached that age. I am Becky, the Box Keeper! We recycled several of the boxes I was keeping, and that cleaned up a lot of space right there.
And one last photo.
In the closet cleaning process, there was one storage problem I was particularly stymied by, and that was what to do with rolls of wrapping paper. I know you can buy all sorts of organizing solutions on Amazon that are supposed to transform your storage life, but I thought there must be a cheaper, more immediate answer.
And then suddenly–eureka!–the answer popped into my brain. I could use a tall kitchen garbage with drawstring handles.
I put all the rolls in the bag, tightened the drawstring, and hung the bag on a hanger. No space taken up on the floor, and the paper is immediately accessible. Plus, I didn’t spend any extra money. I was inordinately proud of myself for that discovery.
I dealt with was this pile of padded mailers. I hadn’t realized I had squirreled away about 35 of them.
My first thought (and the easiest thing) was to take them to the dump. However, we try to do our part in recycling, so I decided to see if anyone would want them on the free area of Facebook Marketplace. (In the FB post, I mentioned the trick of turning envelopes inside out to hide the branding/old address labels, etc.) I ended up getting a dozen inquiries!
It was a great feeling to help someone else out while keeping things out of the landfill.
So, it was a good morning of cleaning, although it did require me to take a 2-hour nap when I was done. In my humble opinion, a nap is the perfect use of a Saturday afternoon.
The next two photos always make me laugh because we were all hot and sweaty and were trying to be as unglamorous as possible in the photo.
And I adore Sarah’s laugh here. (Meagan is a very funny person.)
Later that day, we got to demonstrate that we clean up pretty well.
A few more random, favorite photos in no particular order.
Steve (on the right) and a neighbor of ours.
So thankful for the memories made through the years.
If you had to choose a number to describe your closets (1 being neat; 10 being messy), what number would you choose? Currently my overall number is an 8.
Do you enjoy cleaning and organizing your home, or do you dread it? (I enjoy organizing, not so much cleaning.)
Are you a napper?
Are you a box collector and willing to confess to it?
Are you setting any heat records where you live? We’ve been over 90 degrees for at least a month and the coming week is more of the same. I am waiting for fall with the greatest anticipation.
This must be a season for purging! We have taken a pick-up truck load full of clothes to a nearby church, who gives the clothes away to needy families in our community. When I retired from teaching two years ago, I took about 12 trash bags, full of “work clothes” to my school and let the teachers who were my size go through them. I ended up having nothing left to donate elsewhere.How I ended up so many clothes, I’ll never know. But I have been slowly whittling my three closets worth of clothes to half of our shared closet. It sure does feel good to open a closet and have very little inside. Now that both of our children have flown the coop, I am trying to purge and clear out. My daughter joked the other day that I was saving them the trouble after we die. She’s not wrong. There’s a lot to still go through. I’ve saved things through the years thinking the kids might need this or that when they have their own homes. They each have their own home now and it’s time for me to take ours back.
I am also a box collector. You just never know! I am proud to say that I got rid of many boxes in the process of the recent purging and saved two or three really good boxes of different sizes, just in case.
I’ve always told my husband that we need to move every three years just for the opportunity of the purging that happens when you move. My sister and brother-in-law were in ministry and he later joined the Navy and they moved quite often and have very little now in retirement. They are regular purgers and it shows. when you never move, things just get stored away and then pretty soon. You have no space. I had a whole box of curling ribbon in one of the closets I was cleaning out. It had multiple spools of the same color as I kept buying more because I couldn’t remember that I had it. And then I threw it in the box when I was done with it. I’m coming up with a better system to keep up with stuff like that so I’m not constantly re-buying.
Our church was the benefactor of all of my craft stuff.
Happy organizing! I am one of those weird people who loves to organize my stuff and anyone who will let me help them. I love to see the before and after.
Lisa,
What a great idea to take your work clothes to school and let the teachers get what they wanted. There are few things more fun than nice, free clothes. Very generous and what a great feeling to clear out more space.
Yes, moving is definitely an eye-opener. It’s like you said–you forgot what all you have and many times, there are multiples of things because we forgot what’s already there. My goal till the day I die is to keep on purging and cleaning out. Definitely a process.
The before and after is so much fun. I’ll go open a clean closet and just stand there and stare at it. 🙂
Great post! I thought I was inspired by it on Monday morning, when I read your post with my breakfast, and was sure I’d get at least one of my closets organized. As I type, it’s Friday, and I have yet to start! Neat wise, my husband and I are about a 4 as far as closets go – they aren’t messy. As for stuff, we are a 10 as for TOO MUCH STUFF! Thing is, I don’t mind organizing and getting rid of stuff. My spouse, though, not so much AT ALL! He has purchased plastic tubs and organizers of all sorts over the decades. They sit empty. I think he believes if he buys these items, somehow they’ll organize his stuff – sort of like the Elves and the Shoemaker, minus the shoes – and the elves. Oh wait…. He has shoes that need to be organized. Like you, I enjoy organizing. Cleaning? Not so much, but I do dust my husband’s empty organizing tubs maybe once a year. Organizing feels more satisfying and permanent. When it comes to cleaning, like dusting and mopping, stuff just gets dirty again, so I find it not so rewarding.
As always, I love your photos! One item I am currently trying to organize are boxes and boxes of old photos of mine and past generations, and papers and memorabilia from my kids’ growing up years. One thing I love about online photos is that I look through them frequently as they are easily accessible, and take up no physical space. Like you, I like writing about life, and sharing photos, old and new, within my writing. The best photos to me are the unposed ones. Phone cameras with no film/developing costs make life captures so much easier!
Ok. Monday is approaching. I vow to get a little organizing done before the weekend is over!
Ann,
Wouldn’t it be nice if the elves filled our storage containers while we slept? Super-organized elves who could read our minds and know exactly where everything should go? 🙂
You’re so right about digital photos as opposed to printed photos; you can glance through them waiting at a doctor’s office or sitting on the couch or while on vacation. No need to lug huge boxes of photos. And I am ever so grateful I live at a time when taking photos doesn’t cost a thing beyond the cost of the camera. What a luxury to just be able to snap away and get all of those unposed photos, like you mentioned.
Here’s to really wonderful organizing happening–in your house and mine!
All lovely pics of you family! Well one may not be quite as lovely as all the others! LOL
I would go with a solid 3 on my closets. I try to keep them neat. It helps to keep up with what is in there HAHA
I like to organize and do not mind cleaning – finding time to do everything is not always easy. I love the satisfaction that comes from my cleaning/organizing accomplishments. I wish my husband was on board 🙁 he doesn’t like to purge. I do tend to hold on to more items that hold special memories. He tends to hold on to everything. I tell my daughters when we are gone and they have the clean out task of our home to remember to repeat over and over “momma tried”. LOL!
I do enjoy a good afternoon nap but it doesn’t happen often. I do not sleep well at night so if I nap I tend to have a harder time getting to sleep.
I do love a good sturdy box! 🙂 I do not collect the mailers – reuse if I can or pass on to others.
It is hot hot hot in VA! 90s/100s too hot for me. I am looking forward to cooler days & nights!
Eswim,
A closet that is a 3. Impressive! Steve and I also tend to disagree on what to purge and what to keep. If it were up to me I’d just get rid of stuff all over the place but he has to think it through a lot more. By the time we are 90, our closets should be a 1.
I love your “momma tried” line. That’s great!
What great pictures and yes, you ladies do clean up very well. Almost didn’t recognize Steve. Hilarious!!!! When I was younger I put a quarter in myself and cleaned up the kitchen, took stuff off the counters and cleaned them – cleaned the oven and the refrigerator. Oh, where have those days gone??? Not sure if it’s my age but find that I am lazier than I was a couple years ago. I do take many naps – almost every day. I have a problem with my eyes in that they burn and get very tired – probably would help if I would stay off my phone and/or my Ipad and laptop. I have the blue screen on 2 of the items – sometimes helps but then again – No. But very thankful that I still can see!
Sharyn,
Hmmm. I should try putting a quarter in myself, too! 🙂
I think as we age, naps aren’t lazy but necessary. We are just embracing the season we have arrived at.
I’m glad the blue screens are somewhat helpful for you. And yes, I’m grateful every day for my sight. Such a blessing!
It’s actually kind of amazing what people will pick up or buy from the FB marketplace! People have uses for all kinds of things that I never thought of! I have given away all sorts of things that way that I assumed would be unwanted, but were eagerly picked up for creative purposes! A friend found an old billboard dumped on his property years ago advertising a local restaurant that is now defunct. He thought the billboard looked cool and hung onto it in his garage for quite a long time. Recently on a whim he put it on the marketplace and someone offered him $500 for it – they wanted to put it in their Airbnb, which is decorated with local memorabilia! And to think it was originally left for trash in his woods!
I’ve been stumped by wrapping paper organization for years as well. Funny, I never thought to check Amazon to see if the problem had been solved. Well, good for you for solving it yourself for just about free!
Ellen,
I love that your friend got $500 for the old billboard. I can definitely see a vintage type place loving an item like that. I bet he was astounded to get that much money!
Yes, Amazon has a ton of paper roll storage solutions. Some of them are meant to be set on the floor and some hung up. I am so jealous of my floor space, I was glad to get my paper rolls up on a hanger.
Good luck in finding a solution!
What a clever idea for storing wrapping paper rolls. On closet neatness I’d score myself a 7.5. It could be neater, but could also be worse (including some empty shoe boxes that MIGHT be needed in the future). So yes, I am a box collector. You never know when you night need one to wrap a gift in or to mail something. I do not enjoy cleaning or organizing although I DO enjoy the results and the older I ger, the more I enjoy a good nap! Texas is ALWAYS too hot in the summer in my opinion and this year is no exception, so I just wait not so patiently for October or November to get here. I enjoyed your pictures (as always) and hope you have a wonderful week!
Sue Ellen,
So true. The results of cleaning and organizing are so rewarding. I always want to sit and stare at the area I just organized. 🙂
Yes, it sounds like you may have turned into a Box Collector. Welcome to the club.
Waiting for cooler weather right along with you.
Great job with the wrapping paper. I remember when you originally posted most of those photos 🙂 The grands are really growing, especially Noah. Wow, and so handsome too.
My closets are a 1, very organized. I LOVE getting rid of stuff. I would be very good at helping others with it. About once a year or so I do each closet over a couple of weeks and purge. Best feeling ever!
I read that as we age we should start getting rid of stuff so our kids dont have to be burdened with it all. It is said that they wont want any of it. Well, other than cleaning out the obvious trash and junk, I have decided not to do it. They can hire a dumpster for all I care. I am keeping my ‘stuff’ that makes me happy. My collections, my decorations, my photos, all of it. I like my things lol. I am rebelling against the latest fad.
Upon reflection though, there are clothes that I should toss but am not willing to give up the dream that one day I may lose enough weight to fit into them again, so there’s that issue hahaha.
No boxes, no naps. I cannot nap to save my life, and if I happen to then I wake very cranky. We are not a good mix. Everyone suffers.
Very hot here outside of DC but its the mugginess that is the real problem.
Lesley,
If you remember most of those photos that means you have been around here for a very long time! You are a card-carrying Smithellaneous old-timer!
I can’t imagine not being able to nap. Getting up as early as I do, two or three naps throughout the week keep me going. But if you wake up cranky? Probably a good idea to NOT be a napper.
Yes, I have more clothes than I care to admit that are waiting for the magical day when I can fit back into them. Someday . . .
I love your philosophy about not getting rid of stuff, just your kids have less to go through. You enjoy every single minute and every single item and rebel away! 🙂
I just had to take the time to respond right away….as I just loaded my car with bags for the dump and boxes of things to donate. 🙂 I thought it was so funny to then read your blog! Today’s load is mostly things from the two large cupboards in the laundry room. My closets are probably where yours are — about an 8. I am working on them, though! I am determined to get things under control. If you came into our home you’d think it was neat and tidy….until you opened a closet.
It has been so hot here!!! I went to Michigan (our home state) a few weeks ago when my husband went for work. I love sitting outside reading or crocheting in the comfortable temps when at home in GA it’s too hot to do so. I only got to do it one evening as it was hot there then, too!
It’s always a pleasure to read what you write!
DeLynn,
That is so funny that you were in cleaning out mode, too. Isn’t it a great feeling to get unused, unloved thing removed from your home? It is definitely a process (especially for those of us with closets that are 8 or above) but we’ll get there if we keep at it.
Glad you got to experience a little Michigan weather for at least an evening of sitting outdoors. Today it’s only 89 in Charlotte so we are feeling downright cold!
Thank you so much for your encouraging words about my writing; it means a lot.
I love your wrapping paper solution! I swore off wrapping paper entirely. I have a big roll of brown paper and just add a fun ribbon. My closets are maybe a 4. Everything is visible and accessible, which for me is all I strive for. Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures!
Robin,
Brown paper is a great idea because it’s a neutral background for adding pretty stuff.
I’m jealous you have 4 closets! It is so true what you said–having everything visible and accessible is the goal to reach for.
Love the wrapping paper solution. I inherited one of the storage boxes for paper but find it bulky, and very hard to open. Your solution is much better and love the no extra cost bit.
I would say my closets (and some have exploded so the room is crowded as well) are mostly a 9.
I also like organizing but not cleaning. I usually clean for company coming and not much in between.
The only time I nap is when I am sick. I sometimes try, but can’t get to sleep.
I was a box collector, padded envelope collector, and empty glass jar collector. I am trying my best to smash each box, look under the sink and if I see 2 empty jars I don’t save more (use it to collect grease from pans and then toss out) and padded envelopes I only save when needed right away (I use for storing frames with glass). I never thought of turning the envelope inside out to hide label, great idea! I usually put a wet rag over the label and then it scraps off when wet.
We have had several very hot and humid days, but thankfully our AC is keeping up. I too am looking forward to fall and winter.
Patti,
With closets at a 9, you may be in need of an intervention! But since you’re making huge progress in the box, envelope and glass jar areas, we’ll let it go. 🙂
I’m like you; the best way to get our house clean is to invite company over. Otherwise, it’s neat-ish but not great.
Who knew you could put a wet rag over a label to remove it. Learn something every day!
My closets are probably a 2 right now because I’m in the middle of getting rid of some of my more “desirable” clothing and accessories so stuff is listed on Marketplace. As it sells, I move it from the back shelf in our main bedroom closet.
Honestly, I love cleaning since I finally found a system that works for me. Monday: bathrooms. Tuesday: dust. Wednesday: vacuum. Thursday: mop. Friday: change bed linens. Of course, there are the 5-10 minute daily tasks that also get thrown in there, and I love having my weekends free of “big” chores! I unload the dishwasher every morning while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil, then we add dirty dishes all day long – and I start it as we are going to bed. I do laundry on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The only reason this works for me is because I am full-time WFH. When I worked in an office, it was much more challenging!
I love a good Power Nap! (My phone capitalized that and I don’t know why?) I can lie down and snooze for 20-25 minutes and wake up “raring to go” – if I sleep any longer than that, I wake up addlepated and stay that way. Haha
I just have to say: the throwback pics of your grands make me really see the passage of time! They are so grown up!!
Stefanie,
I haven’t seen the word “addlepated” used in many years. That was a real treat to see!
I love your cleaning schedule and the fact that it gives you weekends without any big chores to handle. I’m like you when it comes to boiling water or running the microwave; I’m looking for something else in the kitchen to get done while I wait. Gotta grab those moments.
How exciting to have closets that are a 2! You’re going to make the rest of us jealous. Good luck on selling your stuff; a good feeling to move them along.