Operation De-Clutter

A few of you have asked how my mission to de-clutter has been going. Well, it is going to be a long process. Definitely can't get it done in one day! I did get the kids' rooms done. Collin's room is already pretty clutter free except for his clothes. I don't know what to do about that. I wish there was a way to lock his dresser! The first thing I did do was to put away all the dress-up clothes. I have them hidden in a duffle bag in our closet. Hopefully they won't find them, but they had like 7 or 8 dresses that they would change into every day. Yes, they. Collin too. Claire loves to dress him up like a princess. When you have that many big dresses laying around it really adds to the clutter. I have noticed a big difference already this week. Maybe they won't want to play upstairs as much too, if they know there isn't much to play with up there!

I worked mostly on the girls' room because that is where most of the clutter originates. I had a dollhouse bookshelf in their room. I looked everywhere to find it when Claire was little. I decided to move it to the attic. Since my goal is to have no toys in their room, I needed to get out anything that would actually hold toys! I guess it is more important to me to have less clean up than to have an adorable bookshelf in their room.

I hope to have a different bedding situation by Christmas- maybe bunk beds? But for now Chloe's crib is a toddler bed. We had an issue with her climbing last night (and falling). We had to move it to a location that isn't close enough to anything she would try to climb on. So, it is in front of the windows for now. We took the closet doors off when we first moved in to make the room seem bigger (and they kept coming off the track). I have had the dresser in there at times, but for now it is our reading corner. We all have stories in there together before bed.

I left a small basket of toys for Chloe and the baby crib for the girls to play with. Hopefully they can handle clean up with this small amount of toys. I moved the baskets that used to be in the bookshelf to the top shelf of the closet. There are some doll clothes, and a few choice toys they may ask to play with. I moved 4 boxes to the attic of toys, one bag of throw away and one small bag to the basement.

All in all, the operation is going well. I have noticed much less clutter in all areas of the house! It is much easier to keep up with. My next goal is the office and the kitchen. There are toys in the office too- can you believe it?! I am going to really narrow down the toy selection and only have a few in the basement too. I will do that last. After I decide what I still want out, then I will rotate them in the basement. I will keep you updated on what I get accomplished this next week!

P.S. Chloe has a cold, so I stayed home from church with her. It is amazing how much work you can get done with only one child at home!