happy new year to me.

there is no time like the new year to make me feel like i'm going to lose my mind if i see one more piece of clutter/junk/toy we haven't played with in a year/etc in my way.  you start out a pretty organized person,  you have kids, you have no time, blah, blah, blah, your priorities shift (with good reason), and you find yourself up to your ears thinking you should just move instead of deal with it all.  well, since we aren't going to do that (yet), as soon as the boys were back in school (the hallelujah chorus blaring on the pretend blog speakers), we started purging.  not that kind, although i wouldn't mind a quick weight loss plan - kidding!  we started at the top: our closet.  disclaimer: what you are about to see isn't pretty.  i'm not proud of it, and yes, it made me a bit nauseated too.  

holy hell!  we put some tunes on, and were done in a little over an hour.
whoa.  and this is the result:

SEVEN bags full of our clothes to take to good will.  how does it get to be that bad, you ask?  well, i'm one of those people who finds a good shirt and buys one in every color.  i know, i know.  resolving not to be that person anymore.  wasteful.  and although there is still some organizing to do, i thought i'd give you a little relief from the before to the after:

we moved onto the boys' closet, which actually wasn't bad.  i had just thrown all their smaller clothes into a laundry basket in the corner to be put away at a later date.  that being yesterday.  we filled a couple of big bins and moved those into storage.  i won't bore you with the rest (kitchen today, toys/playroom tomorrow), but while we're on the subject of organization, this was my christmas present from bryan:

i've since cut the lower dowel in two and spread out the ribbon,

if you're concerned about the bowing.

which, i'm sure you are.

i'd seen this in martha (of course), and elise just did something similar in her workspace.  my main goal was to have my desk completely clear of clutter.  i saved a few essentials - laptop, picture of my babes when they were brand new, my favorite sharpies, and this anthro candle that will never get old.  in my last post, i wrote that my bf's version of heaven was chocolate and classic movies:  mine would include that candle.  can't get enough.  moving on, i cleared everything else off, including my desk calendar that i love, but was too much to have in front of me all the time.  and the board needs more organizing and adding to, but it's totally working for now.

seven trash bags full of clothes and shoes, two or three boxes of various household appliances/knick-knacks, basically everything but the kitchen sink.  it's a good feeling. resolving to simplify our lives; first step, de-clutter. check.