Update on Missy's room

As you may know, we've been fixing up our daughter's room. Even though we did a major declutter last year, and with regular 'sort throughs', it needed a lot of work. You can find last years declutter post's here and here.

Here's a couple of pics of her room before we started on this journey last year.

Ok...yep...that's how her room looked... on a regular basis.

It never gets that bad anymore, we've decluttered to a point that it's controllable even when it's a mess. If that makes sense... :)

This is how it looks now. It's not completely finished. There's still holes in the wall that need filling and painting over, scribbles to clean off... But the main thing is her room is tidy and organised.

It's such a great feeling to look back on the pics from last year. 

We've gotten rid of so much stuff not only from her room but the whole house.

Here's what we do that helps with the toy clutter:

• I often get the kids to pick toys to give to charity. 
• If they double up on a toy, 1 needs to be passed on.
• If an inside toy goes outside and they don't bring it back in/look after it, it goes.
• If the toy box overflows, it's time for a clear out
• If they don't use/play with it, it goes.
• If it's broken/missing parts, it goes.
• If family and friends ask what to get them, we'll suggest money towards something big (this year possibly a cubby house), get something that they're really interested in, or clothes.
• We don't buy many toys for them throughout the year, toys are left for Birthdays/Christmas.
  
  

Before starting this journey, we did pretty much the opposite to the above. It definitely shows.

Boys and their toys!

Today was the first day in a long time that I let my guard down with the kids and their toys... and it showed!

We've got a rule that the kids have to pack away their toys before they move onto something else, whether it's to play with another toy, have something to eat, have a nap etc. The kids are usually pretty good at remembering this, with an exception for Mr 2, but most of the time he follows suit with what the others are doing.

Mr 3 in particular, is a clean freak. He helps his sister tidy her room, and then tidies his own. He asked me today to check how tidy his room was and if I was proud of him. He's so cute. Yes his room was tidy and yes I was proud of him. But then the cheeky monkey walked into MY room and said,

"Mummy your room is a pigsty! Look at all this stuff  next to the fan! Clean it up so it looks like mine!"

Lol. He's a funny boy!! Yep, there was stuff by the fan, which was 2 bags of stuff for the Op Shop (Charity Store), a bag of maternity wear/baby stuff for my cousin that I no longer need, and bub's vaporiser. But the rest of the room was tidy.. I guess not to his standards :)

Anywho, the hubby is doing another double shift today, so wasn't home. The boys have a serious case of cabin fever because of all this rain and the weather reflects my moods, if it's raining, all I feel like doing is nothing.. 

So one boy had the Thomas The Tank Engine play set out, and the other had the blocks. This was all good, then they went outside for a bit while the sun was out. I tidied up the toys, as I was happy they were actually burning off some energy outside. This was short lived as it started raining again, so in they came and started playing with the toys again. Slowly other toys started creeping out.

By dinner time, they had almost all their toys spread throughout the house, and weren't really playing with any of it. So I told them to start tidying up before dinner, and Mr 3 (almost 4) started straight away, but Mr 2 decided he wanted to play. I had had enough of the toys, and it was time to start winding down, so I had a race with him to see who could pack away the most toys before dinner was ready and he was more than willing to clean up.

Even though we have a strict rule in place, I'm happy to see that if/when we let our guard down and things get out of hand, that it isn't a matter of one step forward and two steps back, as it took about 5 minutes to have it all tidied up and put away properly :)

Today's chores

I was supposed have a Drs appointment today, but have rescheduled due to my husband working night shift. He has been covering for the night shift superviser on and off for the past month as he has been on leave.

The extra money has been great and we've been putting extra onto the car loan. The downside of the night shift is not having hubby around. I'm used to doing the afternoons on my own and have got a routine in place, but I'm not used to having hubby not here during the day.. Well he is here but he's asleep :) So I've been trying to keep in control.

I've also taken the boys out of preschool due to the constant sickness and also to save a bit of money. I'm really gonna miss my Fridays being just bubs and I, but it's not forever and once the debts are paid off it'll be worth it.

My days are spent chasing my tail when Hubby is on night shift, I drop Missy off at school, come back try and do as much as I can of what needs to be done, then it's time to pick Missy up from school again.

So today I want to set myself some To Do's which hopefully will keep me on track.

• a load of washing  done
• run dishwasher done
• fold yesterdays washing done
• put away yesterdays washing - done
• general tidy morning done
• wipe over bathroom done
• check Missy's bed is made and room is clean done
• general tidy after lunch - done
• Get washing off line - done
• fold washing - done
• put away washing - done
• get dinner ready - done
• sweep kitchen floor done
• sweep loungeroom floor
• fill washing machine ready for tomorrows load done
• make Missys lunch for tomorrow
• lay out clothes for tomorrow - done
• read with Missy - done
• pay phone bill - done
• Catch up on Missy's baby record book, 5 y/o page  done
• have 5 glasses of water had - done
• take time out for self
• exercise - walk to pick up Missy - done
• general tidy night - done
• unload dishwasher
• load dishwasher
• fill out Missy's Take home reading journal - done

Update on my journey

My two older kids are at preschool, and both the younger ones are having their naps. As much as I'm enjoying it, I'm a little lost lol.

As I stated in my post yesterday, the past couple of months have been rush rush and have quickly blurred past me.

For the first few weeks after having bub, I didn't continue with anything to do with my journey to regain control of my house and finances, in fact it was quite the opposite. My plan of being strict with money and paying out that car went out the window, the house seemed to return to the state it was when I was working and the clutter seemed to breed like crazy...

I wasn't too concerned with the house and clutter as I know life can be crazy with the arrival of a new bub and would soon be dealt with once things settle down, but I was really concerned about the money side of things, as with the arrival of bubs, we're even more desperate for extra space and another room.

We can in no way afford an extension on the house, or to move to a bigger place at the moment, so we decided to get built ins in the kids rooms to free up some storage space. This has been heaven sent. Miss 4's room is tiny, but since having the built ins has made her room look larger. We've also put some shelves up, and by doing so we were able to get rid of her little table which housed her pretty things. She has so much more floor space now.

We haven't yet removed the old wardrobes from the boys room yet, so I can't comment on how much space it has free'd up. But I do love the built in :)

Over the past few weeks, I've started getting back into decluttering. I've managed to get rid of about 7 bags from home. We also held a garage sale, and with the promise of not bringing the left over stuff back into the house, I filled more bags and actually got my mum, aunties and cousin into the decluttering spirit. Between us, we managed to fill bags and boxes the length and width of a massive 8 seater dining table (It was stored there until dad could take it to the op shop. He's the only one with a car big enough to fit it all lol). That's great considering my mum and aunties hold onto things until they finally sell. Which in one case was 8 years lol.

Even with the house looking like a bomb hit it, it's so much quicker and easier to return it to a state of order. So those months of decluttering and organising has definitely paid off :)

We're still paying extra onto the car, with a minimum of $50 a week. Most weeks we put a lot more on it, but I found when we pumped so much money into the loan, we'd fall off the wagon. We're now under the $20000 mark on our loan :)

Slipping back into old habits

We've been so busy since Saturday, that all new routines that had been put into place flew straight out the window.

Last Friday, I set myself a To Do List.

I'm pretty happy with what I was able to get done in the time I had, as I completely forgot about Grocery Shopping, and having to walk to pick up the kids (DH had the car), so I lost almost 2 hrs of precious cleaning time (I added Grocery Shopping to the list later in the day).
I've been really wanting to get in there and give the bathroom a good scrub, so I promised myself I'd get it done over the weekend.

Saturday came, My Husband got called into work, and head off at 6am (I'm used to having him here in the mornings and off to work in the afternoon) People popped in and a very disobedient almost 3 yr old made it impossible to complete the task.

Sunday came, we had a birthday party to go to which was smack bang in the middle of the day, so apart from getting up, doing the bare basics and getting everyone ready, there wasn't much time to do it in the morning. So I thought I'd do it when we got back. Well, we stayed at the party 2 hrs longer then planned (we wanted to stay for an hr but the kids were having a ball and it was a fantastic party). We got home and all had some hot chocolate and I was all ready to tackle the bathroom and my brother and his fiance showed up. They had a lot of things they wanted to sort out and seeked our thoughts and opinions (They're wanting to buy a house and get married in the next couple of years). So they were here for a few hrs. Once they left I pretty much had time to get dinner, bath the kids, shower and head off to bed.

Monday and Tuesday (today) were the same - Swimming lessons, Antenatal appts, Top up Grocery shop (hubby decided he wanted to stretch Fridays big shop over 2 weeks, but in order to do that we needed some things. Numerous phone calls to finalise things... amongst all the chaos I didn't really get my daily must do's done.

My kids have been really clingy the past 2 days (Probably cause we've been so busy), so yesterday I took them outside for a play and they helped me weed the garden and transfer some plants. I know I could've easily got the bathroom done in that time and caught up on my daily must do's but I also need to spend time with my kids and give them plenty of options to know they're 'helping' and spending time with mummy.

Today however, I did get more done then I expected, as along with having a busy morning, I really felt like doing nothing as I was annoyed and overwhelmed by all the mess and by how I was slipping back into old ways. This is where I came up with my 'Total Chaos Recovery' (Will add details in another post). I followed the steps in my TCR and within an hr, I was satisfied with my house.

As that had got me in the mood, I ended up scrubbing the bath, vanity and over toilet storage, and now all I have left to do in the bathroom, is to clean the mirror, shower screen, vac and mop the floor. HOPEFULLY I can do that tomorrow :)

Day 4 of Bedroom make over - 30 minutes a day

I've finished the room :) I can't be happier! It's amazing how big, free and airy the room feels. I spent a little longer then 30 minutes in here today, but once I saw the end was near I couldn't stop :)

Here's the end result:

I absolutely love it :)

The first post on the challenge with the before pics can be found here

I'd like to say a BIG thankyou to Sam at I love organising for starting this challenge and keeping me motivated :)

What I've learnt along the way:

•  Only buy things you absolutely need to avoid ending up with overwhelming clutter.
• Do a regular clean to stay on top of things.
• Don't leave things for tomorrow.
• Don't let it get to that point, where you'll need to endure this pain again lol.
• Allowing things to get that messy isn't setting a good example for my kids.
• How happy I am with the room once it's clean :)
 

Day 3 of Bedroom make over - 30 minutes a day

Today would probably have to be the day where I have made the most progress. I think I'll leave the pics til the end where we can see the end result :)

Today I have accomplished:

• Threw out more rubbish
• boxed up more things for garage sale and op shop
• Removed all garage sale and op shop items from the room (will be going in garage)
• sorted though the majorly over flowing box of cards that was stashed under the bed, into boxes for each child, hubby and I will share.
• sorted through another box of 'stuff' and put in rightful home
• stripped bed and changed sheets
• found more of my friends baby shower pressies and placed with the rest (3 of my friends are preggers :))
• rounded up linen and put back in linen closet
• found more of bubs clothes and put away
• recycled more paper
• sorted out box which should be holding books, but instead had baby stuff like silver photo frames and the like. But now has books (We have no book case lol)
• General tidy
• Put clothes away

Apart from a few things I'm yet to find homes for, I'm almost done with this room. The main problem is all those silver baby things... I really need to get some shelves...

Once the room is nice and tidy, I want to give it a good wash over with sugar soap (walls, fans etc) as this is on my list of things to do before baby arrives, which you can view here

I hope everyone else is doing well with their organising :)

Day 2 of Bedroom make over - 30 minutes a day

I'm making slow progress in my room. I'm finding I'm going through more and more boxes that I dig out along the way. Normally I'd get overwhelmed and just want to get the room clean and ignore all the boxes full of stuff... But one thing I've learnt along the way, I can't just sweep it all under a rug.

So I've been sorting out these boxes and putting the 'stuff' in it's rightful home. I'm amazed at how much space I've freed up...and hopefully not to be filled with other 'stuff'

Things I've accomplished today:

• gathered up a friends baby shower gifts and put them in gift bag ready for her party.
• found some craft stuff and ended up cleaning out the craft cupboard (not in bedroom lol).
• boxed up garage sale items.
• Put pack of newborn nappies in hospital bag, ready to go
• sorted through paper
• shredded unwanted paper (i bought a shredder today FINALLY :) I've been wanting one for ages and I absolutely love it )
• rounded up recipes and placed in recipe folder
• placed all Dr referrals and prescriptions in a zip lock bag on our cork board

I really need to find a place to put all the garage sale stuff...we usually put it in the garage but it tends to get forgotten about...

There's still so much to do, but I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel :)

Bedroom make over - 30 minutes a day

Sam over at My endless to do's and Sherrie at Simple Living are doing a daily 30 minute cleaning/organising task in a room or area of their choice. Sam has chosen to do a different area each day, and spend 30 minutes getting it organised. Sherrie has chosen an area to focus on for the week.

I love both these ideas, but will also stick to one room for the week, as I've started so many things without finishing and would LOVE to actually get something completely finished.

So the area I have chosen for this task is the main bedroom. Why? It's an abdolute pigsty! There's garage sale stuff, stuff to be donated, baby stuff, boxes to be sorted through, things to be put away, things to be thrown away, things to be filed and a whole lot of other junk which needs to be organised!

When we bought this house, my mum and my sister did a wonderful job in decorating the room for us as a house warming/christmas gift, so when I look around and see this mess, I feel absolutely terrible in more ways then one.

Here's what seems to be the 'storage area' in our house.

I feel so ashamed about these photo's but I guess it's gonna keep me motivated to get rid of it all :)

Here's some more pics of the rest of the room.
Please note, the first pics were taken on Saturday and I have spent some time since then organising and cleaning it up.

Things I have done already are;

• boxed up gifts
• sorted all bubs clothes into plastic tub ready for soaking once it's time
• boxed up easter eggs
• bagged up stuff for Op Shop
• boxed up all loose coat hangers
• thrown out rubbish

I will do more posts as I go along.
I can't wait til this room is finally organised and (relatively) clutter free :)

Miss 4's Bomb site AKA her bedroom

They say a picture's worth 1000 words...

So I'll show you these pictures...

Now, as you know, I've been trying to gain some control over my house... and with this room, I thought I had achieved that... It was freshly painted, gone through, organised you name it I did it...

So when I saw that, I was not at all impressed (I was already a bit stressed, cause Mr 2 has to see a pediatric surgeon, so I'm a little worried with that, plus I had the worst headache).

I was not in the mood to clean but I figured since the mess was adding to my mood, I'd do something about it...

So I put away all clothing, clean ones in their rightful homes and dirty ones in the dirty wash pile. Opened the curtain, and made the bed....

Ohh and somewhere along the way I gained some strange little beings :)

Definitely looks a lot better with the bed made, clothes gone, strange beings gone and bigger junk cleared

Then it was rest time.

I had a nice hot milo and the kiddies had hot choccie milk and rock cakes

And here's the end result :)

Ahhh if only it stays like that :) :)

I've still got to replace that ripped pic and put up her wall pics, but as long as its clean I'm happy :)

Coming Back from Crazyness - Kitchen and Boys Bedroom

Last week I posted pictures about my boys disaster zone AKA their bedroom. I got a chance to go through it on Friday while Miss 4 and Mr 2 were at school. Here's the end result :)

I've still got to go through the stuff on top of the wardrobes. Most of it is Miss 4's from when she shared the room with Mr 2. I'm so happy with the end result. I'ts such an airy room, I just wish they'd keep it like that.. :)

As you know my husband and kids caught a cold and our bub had a pretty rough night with it Saturday night. Poor little man. He's on the mend now which is great :)

Here's the Disaster zone AKA Kitchen Sunday morning:

After a bit of TLC:

Ahh much better :)

And my dirty washing dumping area (usually we have the basket there to put dirty stuff in through out the day but not yesterday)

From this:

To this: