Purging, Organizing, and Basic Housekeeping Routines That Make Me Happy

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all the work that needs to be done? You work all day, or are with the kids all day, and come home to a messy house, dinner that needs cooking, dishes that need done, baths that need to be taken, floors need swept, laundry, and the list goes on. Oh, and let's not a child/children and significant other who require your constant attention. I have been feeling overwhelmed quite a bit lately; I look around my house and I just want to cry because nothing is perfect.

But here's what I have learned: It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to look like all of those beautiful homes we see photos of on blogs every day. No one's home looks like that all of the time. It's called STAGING.

I need to start learning to be happy with my home just like it is. There are a few things I can do to make that happen.

Here are my goals:
1. Purge: I've read a few suggestions on ways to go about this-
- Throw out (trash, donate or garage sale) five things each day.
- Spend 30 minutes going room to room filling a large trash bag. This is for trash only. You can set aside items to donate, but focus mainly on items that won't be reusable. The hardest part - don't think about it, just do it! Set a timer for 30 minutes to help keep you going. Then go back in a week or so and do the same with donations.
- Just go for it. Go room to room, spend hours, or days if you need to.
I think the first two sound pretty doable. I think I'm going to shoot for the second.

2. Organize
Work on one room per week, sorting, organizing, planning each room out. This may require purchasing tools such as boxes and bags, but I'm aiming to keep this a no cost activity. It doesn't have to look "cute" just organized!

I'm giving myself one month to get organized.

I already have several ideas for certain spaces, like the laundry room and pantry, to help keep them organized, but first the purging!

I also have daily goals. There are a few basic housekeeping routines I do each day to help keep my house lookng neat, even when I feel like it's a mess. Alltogether it takes about 30 minutes. And that's something I can live with.

1. Tidy up the Living Room - 5 minutes
Because in order for it to look like this,

I must do this:

I love the idea of having a large basket hidden away that I can toss all of my son's crap beloved toys in. We have a rather large playroom, but somehow toys always make their way into the common areas. Hmmmm...

I also fluff up the pillows.

2. Tidy up the kitchen - 15 minutes
I love waking up to a clean kitchen. It helps give me a fresh start each day. I make sure the dishes are done, dishwasher loaded, counter and stove wiped down, and the sink is clean. I also attempt to declutter the countertops, because it's amazing what accumulates there in a day!

3. Make the Bed - 2 minutes
This should be a no brainer! Having a freshly made bed makes walking into the bedroom so much more inviting and pleasant.

4. Room by room cleaning frenzy (adapted form the Inspired Room) - 10 minutes
I go room to room, picking up dirty clothes, and random misc. items and either returning them to the spot or at least the room they belong in.

Just spending 30 minutes doing these few things each night helps to make my home feel less cluttered and messy, and just makes me happier in general.

Do you have any basic housekeeping routines that help keep you sane?

I've got my evening routines down, and next week starts the purging...wish me luck!
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The Big Boy Room Reveal

Cooper moved into a big boy bed in February, and I *FINALLY* finished it!!

Here's what we started with:

 A not so eclectic mix of whatever.

And woods that didn't really match.

I decided I would start with the bedding.

After much, much blog and web surfing I settled on bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. This was definitely a splurge, but so worth it. Their coordinating "Morgan" bedding made it easy to mix and match a quilt for Cooper, and a duvet for the guest bed, since I already had a comforter. The sheets are PBK "Bedtime Stories" with animals reading story books - too cute!

And here's the finished space!

(Sorry I had to leave the railing on the bed...it's just too much of a pain to put back up!!)

The curtains behind the beds add great texture and height. Doesn't hurt that they were on 80% clearance at JCPenney! Yup, that's right, the curtains were under $10 per set! They also help to cover up the ugly blinds. Thanks to Wendy at The Shabby Nest for the great ideas!

The artwork above the beds is from Tiddliwink Designs, where you can find affordable PBK coordinating artwork. It was just $20 for four 8x10 prints! She designed it specifically at my request, since she didn't have the Bedtime Stories line on her website.

I made the headboards myself with fabric and batting from Joann's (love that 40% off coupon!) and pieces of plywood that I had cut at Home Depot.

The dresser was a Country Roads find, from my friend Kate's space. I love the element of shabbiness it adds to all of the new pieces in the room.

The lamp is another PBK piece, purchased with a gift card after Cooper arrived.

All you Mommies know how much artwork comes home with your kids. Well, I've seen many ideas for how to display them out there in the bloggy world, but I decided to work with what I had on hand.

Nails, twine and clothespins. Works for me!

I also found these cute hooks at Ikea for $4. Perfect for hats and backpacks.

Now, for the best part of the room.

I present...

The reading corner!

This is my absolute favorite part of the room!!!

I wanted to keep with the Bedtime Stories theme, and since we have so many books (this is only half of our stash) I wanted a reading corner.

The shelving unit is from Ikea, and was incredibly easy to put together. The green chair was a gift card purchase from PBK. The Stitch artwork was a splurge from Disneyland right after Cooper came home...it has special meaning to me with the adoption theme. And of course since Stitch is reading a book, it fits in with my room theme as well!

The rocking chair was mine when I was little, made by my grandfather when I was just a year old.

And the tree, oh yes, the tree.

I work for a church, and last week was VBS. The African theme was "Under the Baobab Tree" and our fantastic youth group created these amazing trees to decorate our campus. I called dibs on a few of the branches and part of a trunk on the first day! It's just crumpled brown kraft paper, a little brown paint and strips of green tulle tied to the branches.

Cooper was beyond excited. As I was stapling the branches up (yup, staple gunned to the walls and the ceiling), he was running up and down the hall yelling "Thank you! Thank you!" Not bad - an unpromted thank you from my three year old!

So there it is, Cooper's Big Boy Room! What do you think?

Before:

After!

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