Spring Cleaning - Day 8

I reorganized the mud room again. I had tossed some things in here from the van when I cleaned it out and clearly it wasn't working. So I took the travel chairs and put them in the basement along with the bag I keep in the van (with blankets, extra letterboxing supplies and snacks - it will go back in the van real soon) and the snow cleaner-off thing and snow boots. I put the kid's shoes back i nthe bins and hung up the coats. And bags were emptied and hung up as well. The shelves did not need t be organized again, they have stayed nice since I did them last. I need to find a home for a few more items in there, I'd like to use the back door to the deck this year if possible.

Spring Cleaning - Day 7

Today was a quick day- I went through the magazine racks and other locations they were stacked and ended up tossing most out to be recycled, keeping just the National Geographic and LEGO magazines. It did clean up quite bit though!

Spring Cleaning - Day 6

Today I tackled the master bed room. It was a haven for messiness. I swept the floors, put all the clothes stacked on the cedar chest away and organized the closet. I cleaned off the book shelf and the top of the Big Kid's dresser. I cleaned out the closet - getting rid of clothes that I haven't worn in years. I need to get the Big Kid to do the same as there are clothes in there he hasn't worn since we moved in. I realized two things while cleaning - the Big Kid, despite his protests, has enough work shirts to last a month if I didn't clean them and there are so many work notes and study guides laying around, I could heat my house for a year or insulate the attic with them. The only places I haven't found any are the girls rooms and the playrooms. There are stacks EVERYWHERE - I'm at a loss of how to organize them!

I only finished 1/2 the room - the Big Kid's 1/2 so the rest will wait.

Spring Cleaning - Day 5

Today I cleaned the upstairs bathroom. I organized the kids toys, and cleaned out under the sink - restocking as needed. I went through the medicine cabinet organizing and tossing old items. I cleaned out the cabinet drawers and rearranged things on the shelves. I then cleaned off the sink and put everything stacked on the counter back where it went. Then I washed down everything.

Spring Cleaning - day of rest

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had 129 cases of girl scout cookies arriving. Sunday morning, we woke up early and celebrated Girl Scout Sunday with our church. We had a great turnout - 32 girl and boy scouts (up from 12 last year). After that, I went to pick up my cases of cookies and then spent time sorting through them for the troop. I had lunch and then it was off to our first cookie booth of the month. While I'd like to count 129 cases of GS cookies as cleaning, not all of them ever truly entered my house.....

Spring Cleaning - Day 4

Today I needed to clean out the van. After a long, cold winter, and the major occupants being under 10 - it was a disaster. lacking a garage, basically anything that got brought out to the van for any reason, got left in it. I needed the van to pick up the 129 cases of girl scout cookies my Brownie troop sold. At first, I was just going to remove the big things (bags and totes and chairs) and leave it as is until it was drier, warmer and less muddy. Plus the girls penance this spring is to wash and clean the inside and outside of the van for always trashing it. However, after cleaning out the big items, I quickly realized it was just really, really gross and needed to be vacuumed. So a small job quickly turned into a bigger job. But my van is really clean now (once it does get warmer, drier and less muddy, we will take the seats out and fully clean it. And by "we" I mean "them").

One bag of trash was the total removed from the van.

Spring Cleaning - Day 3

Day three I cleaned out Moe's clothes. As the youngest of three, she gets many, many hand-me-downs. And as a result, never has any room for her clothes. She has also recently went through a growth spurt. With her help, I told her to help me bag up what doesn't fit anymore AND what she doesn't like. No use in me keeping things she'll never wear. This did end up with me telling her she cannot just empty her whole dresser into the "get rid of pile". In the end, we ended up with TWO full garbage bags of clothes. To be given to a friend for her daughter. And her clothes STILL do not all fit in her dresser....

Spring Cleaning - Day 2

The mess

I know technically that I should be on day 3. I have a perfectly good excuse for missing yesterday. The Big Kid had surgery yesterday morning, which meant we had to wake up waaaay before the sun to leave for the hour long drive to the hospital. Once there, we were admitted, he was worked on and we headed home. After having lunch, I slept for a good 3 hours, in which it was time to collect the kids from art club and a friend's house, do homework, eat dinner and bring the kids to theater. After watching Survivor, we both crashed. The Big Kid is sore, but feeling better.

After cleaning the 1st time

Today I tackled the closet in the upstairs hallway. Being an old house, closet space is very sparse. This particular closet is in the center of the house, easily accessible and thus a collection spot for all sorts of junk. Initially, I cleaned it out, organizing the toiletries all on the top shelf. Then I thought of the unused closet that Moe was using as stairs in the previous post. being that it is ACTUALLY in the bathroom (although a tad of a tight squeeze to reach) all we use if for is towels. the top two shelves were essential empty. So I moved all the toiletries into there - so that when one wants soap or tooth paste or deodorant, they don't have to walk across the house.

End result (That large cream comforter set was given to us on our wedding day 11 years ago. We've never used it. As soon as I can find a home for it, it is going)

So I organized TWO closets and had one more bag of trash to toss. Tossed were old toiletry items given to use but never used, empty bags, plastic covers to containers no longer owned and some fake flowers (the same flowers we brought for Einey's flower boxes in her room waaay back when she was a wee toddler. The same flowers that she decided to shove up her nose which resulted in a trip to the emergency room and nasal extraction after being put under).

Bathroom closet before (ignore the ugly 70s wall paper)

Towels section re-folded

Newly organized toiletries

The trash

What did you clean today???

Little monkey

The other day, The Big Kid asked me if I knew that Meenie was locking the door when she used the bathroom. I replied that I did know and also thought the Moe was doing the same.

"How the heck can Moe lock the door?" came his reply. *

"I'm not sure, but I've heard her do it" I told him.

Evidence: The lock. See it waaaay up at the top?

See Moe.

See Moe reach the lock? Yeah, that's how.

It seems like we have a monkey on our hands.

*Prior to catching Moe in action, The Big Kid did say, I bet she's climbing into the linen closet.

Spring Cleaning - Day 1

Today is the first day of March. Spring is just around the corner and there are many, many little things around the house that need to be done. Things that have been ignored and forgotten all winter long. Debris that has grown into piles shoved in corners and closets.

Today is day 1 that I am attempting to tackle and organize.


Here is what I accomplished in a very short amount of time. The area was a small area at the base of the basement stairs. Out of sight to many, but a space I pass many times a day. Throughout the holiday season, empty boxes and bags got tossed here. Empty dog food bags got tossed down the stairwell, awaiting the next garbage day and forgotten. See the before and after pictures? Much cleaner!







This is what I got rid of - two bags full of garbage and a bunch of boxes sent to recycling!








Another small area in the basement - more garbage tossed before and after!

So what are you cleaning to get ready for spring? My goal is to toss and de-clutter for the whole month of March - posting as I go. Wish me luck!