Progress & Giveaway

I really am on a tangent here.

It consumes my thoughts and conversations and has completely taken over my blog.

The House That Cleans Itself. Good book. Very good book. Gonna give-away a copy for anyone interested ;)

But first, I must force you to look at pictures of my progress. Because my friends...I have earned it. Organizing...it's hard work. HARD.

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big fat mess that comes when you start going through stuff has pretty much disappeared...except for the attic storage room, which I don't want to talk about now...I'm pretending it doesn't exist for at least a few weeks. A girl can only take so much, ya know?!?

Pictures. I promised them.

I'm trying to use the principals that I talked about here.

Let's start in my mud room. I LOVE my mud room. Before the book, I had thought that it was fairly organized, yet I was ALWAYS frustrated with the boys coats and shoes left all over the place. After all, there were hooks! After taking a different view of the room, I realized that the hooks were actually too high for the boys to reach, so they didn't bother. Easy fix. We moved the top hooks higher and then placed 3 hooks at little boy level. Each boy has their own hook and boots go underneath their hook.

Next was the kitchen rug. It was a cute red one that looked adorable...only RIGHT after being vacuumed, otherwise it always looked dirty. Drove me nuts. I figured that I needed a rug that cleaned itself, so to speak. So I got this little number.It's woven bamboo and it hides all the junk. Looks clean even when it's not. Perfection.

The next project is painting the kitchen. I love the current shade of green, but I think I'll love a deep bright yellow even more!

Plus, the kitchen is the easiest room in my house to paint. It wins.

On to the bedrooms. Yikes. I have currently hauled 6 garbage bags of stuff to Goodwill. After cleaning out my closet to just the stuff I actually like, I also have two containers to go to consignment (which I've never done before)

Oh yeah, I labeled them. Little trick I like to use: Clear packing tape over the label, helps it stay better. Genius, I know. *cough*

Noah and Eli share a room. It normally looks like this:

Now, it looks like this:I know...miraculous. They actually gasped and jumped up and down when they saw it...mostly because they could actually get in the room now. In the far back corner you'll see the plastic drawers (with labels) that became their entertainment/Lego center. These had been in Jake's room, but he didn't really need them. Now they actually KNOW where stuff should go. I thought they did before...but really, how could they?!? I was expecting too much.

Simplified. That's all. These hooks are behind their bedroom door. It used to be stuffed full of sweatshirts that neither one knew whose was whose (thanks to hand-me-downs) I hung up the ones they didn't like as well and then gave them each 2 hooks.

My closet. Yesterday I mentioned my excessive amount of clothes mixed with my lack of closet space. Something had to give. The clothes I don't really love had to go. And it feels GREAT! I forgot to take before pictures, but here's the after:

The best thing is...I can actually see what I've got now, and it makes it a lot easier to put outfits together.

*PHEW*

Now, if you're like me and you want some PRACTICAL help with organizing...leave me a comment and let me know and you'll be registered in The House That Cleans Itself giveaway (and an email to reach you if you're not a blogger.)  It's only the book. I can't come help you. I've got my own mess.

Oh, and even if you don't want/need the book, you can still totally leave me a comment, just let me know :)

Happy organizing friends...A winner will be randomly generated tomorrow!

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It Makes Sense

So, I've been throwing around the title of a certain little book that has now become my newest friend.

The House That Cleans Itself. It does not, in fact, mean that it will clean itself (disappointing, I know.) But it is a sort of system for setting up/organizing rooms in your home in a way that helps them to stay more clean more easily.

The author, Mindy, who I like to refer to as Mindy, since the book and I are friends and all says it like this...

By adapting the environment to compensate for and/or eliminate the behavior, you house will stay clean longer and with less effort than you ever imagined.

Makes sense to me. I have no idea yet if this will work because I'm still in the stage of making and even HUGER mess while I try to sort/organize/clean/purge etc. It's a big fat mess around here right now.

Now, I'll be honest with you...I'm not a very messy person. I like stuff picked up and fairly organized, because when it's not, it makes me feel CRAZY inside. It just does. But the way I had mine set up, it was completely wearing me out trying to keep it looking somewhat neat. A clean house is relative for everyone. Mine was feeling VERY cluttered and out of control, thus the need for the book ;)

Two things in it have really helped me in this process.

1. The whole organizing each room so that everything has a place that is EASY to put stuff away.
2. Everything in my home, no matter how tiny or big takes my time. This was HUGE for me. If I have to keep touching something to move it, haul it, pick it up, clean it, etc then that is MY time. Only stuff that is worth it should stay. This seriously was a revelation for me. Why do I keep moving stuff season after season and even day after day that I don't really even like?!?

New perspective. I love that.

I'm also eagerly anticipating getting organized so that this system can start working. Right now, it's just a big disaster that's making me crazy.

More on Monday... :)

Have a great weekend, friends!

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Bring On the Comments...

It's been about a month since I began my cleaning/organizational tangent.

That little tangent began after picking up this cute little book at the local Christian bookstore.

A month later I can still say that I really love the principals this book lays out. It has motivated me and helped me to tweak areas of my home and areas of my own thinking in order to make things run more smoothly.

I'm not talking perfection, here. After all, the book is not called The House That Cleans Itself and Stays Perfect Without You Doing Anything Ever Again...although I would have totally bought it if that were indeed the title.

Organization requires maintenance. Dang it, but it's true. I have to make a point to put stuff back in it's newly labeled place. I have to remind my boys, pretty much every day, to hang up their coats. But at least we all know where the stuff now belongs, and that is huge!

Is everything perfect? No way. Perfection is not my goal. My kids would hate me if I required perfection...I would hate me too.

The key to an organized house is not that it looks super clean all the time...the key is that when you pick up, it goes QUICKLY, because

1. There's not a ton of extra junk around that you just don't know what to do with (because you've sorted, pitched, and donated)


2. Everything has a place...basically.

I love this book. I have picked it up dozens of times to re-read certain sections. There is still many ideas that I haven't implemented yet...baby steps.

I'm telling you, no matter how neat and organized you think you already are, this book has more ideas. For real. And if you're feeling overwhelmed, this book has ideas. Really good ideas.

The author Mindy Starns Clark sent me three autographed copies...all her idea, I didn't ask her to do it, she's just generous like that :)

Leave me a comment, about anything you'd like and you'll be entered! I'll pick THREE random winners tomorrow! Leave me different comments and enter yourself as many times as you like...why not?!?

Happy Organizing and Thanks Mindy! :)

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Two Things...

So the title of my post yesterday was sneaky, I'll admit. Shame on me ;)

I think I could start a new blog series called "Why it's better to have a pretend teenage daughter than a real one" For example, yesterday was our first day we were able to communicate and one of the first things Julie wrote was, "You are so young." I'm pretty much positive this is not something a real teenage girl tells her mother.

It made me love her even more. Of course.

And I think when she gets here, we should all talk her into doing a regular guest post on Life in the Parsonage: The teenager from Norway version...good stuff.

Here's some stuff I learned about her already:

• Her English vocabulary may be better than mine. She used the word flabbergasted. Which impresses me beyond belief. Nice that I need to have a foreign exchange student in order to expand my own English. By the time she lives with me for a year, she'll be using made up words and improper grammar like no one's business. :)


• She is not a "pink person" which is good, because I'm not either. No pink bedroom walls in this house. But I've got a girlie plan that is cute as all get out, and I'll share it with you when it's complete in its perfection.


• She is sweet. And charming. I can tell she's charming already...I just can. And witty! Go check out the comments on my post yesterday, she commented at the end.

I have one picture of her that I got from our exchange student coordinator...wanna see her?!?

Bloggy friends, meet Julie:

In other news: Remember that book The House That Cleans Itself that I went on and on about?!? Well, the lovely author of that book, Mindy Starns Clark sent me THREE autographed copies to give away to ya'll! Thanks Mindy!

Two things:

1. The give away is not until TOMORROW! So you have time to tell your bloggy friends OR be selfish and keep the news to yourself in hopes of increasing your odds of winning. It's between you and the Lord ;)


2. Comment on the post tomorrow and then on Thursday I will randomly choose THREE winners!

See ya tomorrow!

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Too Random for a Title

Today I Am...

• realizing that I have not left the house since Sunday...except on Tues. when I took the kids to school...about 4 blocks away. I'll try to refrain from whining about the weather today, but seriously, it's -45 here...school is cancelled because pretty much everything is FROZEN. Waaaaah. There. Done.
• working on the Beth Moore Study, Living Beyond Yourself. It is kicking me in the tail...right where I need to be kicked. Good, good stuff.
• excited to tell you that the author, Mindy Starns Clark, of my favorite little book right now...The House That Cleans Itself, emailed me to say she'd be sending me THREE more copies of the book to GIVEAWAY to you wonderful people! YAY! (and even if you've bought it already, you can still totally enter to win it as a gift to pass along!) I'll do that giveaway as soon as the books are here. You can also check out her blog here...it has lots of great tips from the book...and MAYBE you could let her know I sent ya ;)
• wishing my sweet friend Heth a super-happy-frozen tundra-kids home from school-birthday today! When it thaws out a little, Starbucks is on me :)

Happy Thursday my friends....and if you live down south and it is warm there...go outside and enjoy it it...for me :)

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