Making My Home a Haven Monday

Top Photo: Before
Bottom Photo: After

While my closet isn't nearly as minimalist as Crystal's, I did feel really good after going through it and getting rid of a couple of grocery bags worth of clothing I no longer wear. I still have what looks like a lot of clothes (and that's not even including my fall/winter stuff that's in our storage shed) but the various seasons and occasions of my life demand that right now. I have a maternity wardrobe, a nursing wardrobe, clothes for summer and fall and sweaters for wearing over dresses, clothes for a funeral, casual dresses, church dresses, etc. I also need to have more than a few outfits since I have a little boy notorious for wetting through diapers onto me and due to the fact that we share one washer and dryer with 14 other people in our building, we can't always do laundry when we'd like to.

I bagged up the maternity clothes that no longer fit to store, and pulled out some post-pregnancy clothing so it will be ready when I bring baby home. I finally got rid of some outfits that were emotional burdens (so-and-so gave me this so I need to keep it even though I'd never wear it in a thousand years....) and it felt really good.

CLEANING THE CARS

I've been feeling a zealous kick of organizing everything in our house. Whether this is the supposed "nesting" instinct or just the realization that whenever I have a little energy I'd better get my rear in gear and get my life de-cluttered to make room for a new baby I don't know but I'm loving the way it feels to have these little cluttered areas cleaned up! For instance, I don't know how long it has been since we deep-cleaned our cars, but it's been bugging me so much that I finally determined that they would get cleaned out today. My hubby spent a few hours doing most of the hard stuff and I vacuumed them, washed mats, and hauled a laundry basket worth of toys, missing socks, shoes, and hair clips in from the cars. Since my hubby is a carpenter that spends much of his days sanding, his car was absolutely filthy with a thick coat of dust and woodchips. We are switching cars until our van arrives since his car has A/C and the other car (my Honda) will be sold in a couple of weeks. I did not want to bring Justus home in an inch thick layer of sawdust so it was IMPERATIVE to me that the car get cleaned. What a wonderful feeling to see it all pristine and toy and crumb-free tonight! King Jo estimates it will last about a day since he knows what 2 little ones can do in one outing in one of our vehicles!

Other areas I've been crazily organizing:

The PIT PILE in my bedroom:

What is it about our bedroom that becomes the catch-all for odds and ends and junk? Besides the bassinet and a bag of diapers/hospital bags and stuff for post-birth, there are so many piles of junk in my room. Somehow I ended up with a gallon of window washer fluid in that corner along with some large speakers King Jo wants to sell, and a big stack of photo albums and frames that we aren't using that need taken to the shed. On top of this there is my growing thrift store pile, my hand-wash laundry pile, a basket of children's books, a pile of books to take to the used book store, etc.

I finally got sick of NEVER having that corner of the bedroom clean and organized and madly attacked it. After a trip to our shed and a trip to the thrift store and used book store, that corner will be completely junk-free and I can stash a laundry basket or something there to catch dirty baby laundry.

Our BOOKSHELVES:

I love books, but I'm realizing more every year that I don't need to hold on to all the good books out there. I'm also finding out that books I thought were SO IMPORTANT to keep a few years ago now hold no interest for me, not to mention that I don't have time to read them. So, I trade them in at the used store for credit to buy other books, on subjects like how to get babies to sleep through the night and how to survive toddlerhood, etc.

BATHROOM:

I recently went through and sorted out our entire bathroom cabinet and organized things and took stock of what we have. I forced myself to get around to doing the absolutely easy things I've been meaning to do that I haven't done yet like putting a pretty pottery mug on the bathroom counter to hold our combs and brushes, etc.

KITCHEN

My next task is to do a touch-up re-straightening of the pantry and go through all the kitchen cabinets and throw out utensils or gadgets I never use. I also want to organize my pots and pans in neater fashion because if I don't I know someone who will when she comes to visit and see the new baby!

To top it all off, I have actually dusted my home for the first time in who-know-how-long! Being pregnant causes you to let a lot of things go, but I feel like I'm catching up now all at once!