Back in the land of the vertical

Almost.  I've been in bed for 4 days straight, but I'm definitely more upright today.  Why on earth am I so sick??  I don't remember ever losing 4 straight days before.  What a waste!  Thankfully, Mark has been great with the girls so I've been able to rest.  Here's looking forward to a more upright tomorrow...

Project Simplify - Week 2 - Paper Clutter

Yes, you may have noticed it has been many more than one week since my last Project Simplify post.  I completed the work that week, but I didn't get it online.  Oops!
To recap, Simplemom.net is doing an organizing project each week for five weeks.  It's great to have a little voice telling you what to clean each week.

Week 2 was paper clutter.  All forms.

I thought we didn't have too much paper clutter.  I mean, we do - it comes in every day.  Newspaper, mail, kids' papers from school (why are there so many???), etc.  But I am fairly ruthless.  I just can't take the mess.  The kids' papers get thrown out daily unless there is an action item or I want to scan/save it.  (New plan is to scan things rather than keeping them.  Although I think I'll keep a handful from each year.  That's enough!)   So, I thought it wasn't too bad.

But then I got to my office.  Otherwise known as "the place everything goes that no one wants to deal with".  My desk was fairly clean, but the filing cabinet was bursting at the seams.  Every time I try to get a new piece of paper in there, it's a battle.  So, that had to be cleaned out.  Along with my work files.  I realized I've been paper-free (no physical files) for 6 years or so, but I had a drawer full of old files.  Why??

So, the inital pile, after pulling everything out that I could think of looked something like this:

We had pretty much every house document packet from every new loan and refinance.  This house and prior houses.  There is no reason I needed all of those (and they're huge!).  The oddest find was all of my bills from 2007.  I must have set them aside at some point in 2008, waiting to shred them until I was sure I wouldn't need anything - and then they got buried and forgotten.  Oops!

After dealing with all of that (shredding most, recycling some), I realized I had a couple years worth of issues of the one magazine I subscribe to (Creating Keepsakes).  I never go back and look at old issues, so I'm not sure why I was keeping them.  Time to go!

I did thumb through and pulled out just a few things I might like to reference again.  But for that huge stack of magazines, I pulled out maybe 10 pages or so.  That's it!

One of the best parts of this was walking past Mark's "office" (otherwise known as "the place where everything that I won't allow into my office ends up" or "the place where things that might someday be sold, donated, or thrown out if I could just get in there when he's not looking") and seeing HIM going through all of his paperwork, too.  Maybe I inspired him!  (I'm not sure why he has paperwork, because I feel like I have everything in my filing cabinet.  But, whatever.  He does seem to have paperwork.)

Just today, I happened to remember that I had an entire file box full of work papers.  Manuals, old calculations, etc.  I haven't referenced these in at least 10 years, and most of the systems are no longer being used.  Time for ALL of it to go!

The result of all of this is a much roomier file cabinet.  Plus several bags of recycled papers.  And a pile of recycled magazines.  And a few bags of shredded paperwork.

And a mess.  (Am I the only one who can't get stuff out of my shredder without making a big mess????)

Time to vacuum!

Anyone else need to clean up their paper piles?  It sure is nice to have all that extra space and less paper clutter!

Two weeks???

Hmmm....somehow the requirements of preparing for vacation, taking a vacation, and recuperating from vacation have caused a two week lapse in posts!  Oops!

We took a nice trip to Florida and Georgia for Spring Break (plus a few extra days).  More later.  Once I can see straight...

This week, plus The Lost Project!

Last week's project is still going well.  I am much more aware of when I'm not speaking as nicely as I can to my husband.  This will definitely be an ongoing area of improvement for me!  I really want to show him support with my words and just need to keep practicing.

I have a project this week, too, but it's too personal/embarrassing to write up.  Just know that I'm working on it. 

Somewhere near the beginning of the year, I had a project to organize my pots/pans that seems to have never been reported.  So, the exciting catch-up comes now!

We have tons of pots and pans.  And while I should be able to cut back, we're just getting into cooking, so I can't definitively say at this point which are keepers and which we can just as easily do without.  So, hopefully as we progress with our cooking skills (and just making time to cook at home), we'll have a better idea.

Here is a picture of all of my pots and pans, just after we remodeled the kitchen.  Don't they look so sad there, just looking for a home?

(And, seriously, can anyone use that many casserole dishes in a lifetime???  They were hand-me-downs from my grandparents.  They're really too small for casseroles for 4 people.  I should get rid of them...)

This is how I originally organized my pans.  It is how they have been stored for years - just piled on top of one another.  The problem is that the pans get scratched (especially the pots) by the smaller sized ones resting inside them.

I didn't take a picture of my bakeware as it was originally stored.  The pans were all in a pile, so to get one pan, I'd have to lift off the pile on top, grab the pan I needed, then put the rest back.  Hardly efficient.

I got an idea from Amanda's blog to use the dividers you see below.  These work great!  The pans aren't touching one another, so I can pull out the one I need without disturbing the others.  (We have pans to fill most of the empty holes.  They're in the dishwasher right now.)  As you can see, the dividers can hold pans on top, even if ones in the middle (or even ALL the ones below) are missing.  They don't fall over!

The pots aren't overly organized, but they're no longer on top of one another, so they aren't getting scratched.

The bakeware is in similar dividers to the frying pans.  It makes it easier to grab what I need without moving other pans in the process.



Overall, I'm fairly happy with the organization.  I still wish I had stuck to my guns and gotten pan drawers when we purchased new cabinetry, though.  I REALLY love deep pan drawers and don't find lower cabinets to be very useful at all.

Next time I'll know.  (Not that I ever really want to remodel a kitchen again!)

Project Simplify

I had an "accidental" project this week that wasn't on my list.  Simplemom.net is doing an organizing project each week for the next few weeks.  I decided to join in.

Last week's project was to declutter your OWN wardrobe.  I kind of like that it was something I could do for myself.  To make my own area more peaceful.  It seems like I'm always battling toys or other people's paper clutter.  So dealing with something that's completely mine was a pleasant change of pace.

Now, that being said, I'm still carrying extra "baby" weight. 
(Can I still call it baby weight when my "baby" is 4??)
Which means I have clothes that are smaller that still don't fit.  But I like them and don't want to get rid of them.  So, yes, even after this clean-out, I have way too many clothes.  I have committed to getting rid of anything that doesn't fit by the time my "baby" is 5.  One more year.  That's the limit.

So, some before pictures...

My side of the closet

My shoes

My dresser (plus, I use two of my hubby's drawers)

After - okay, granted, it looks mostly the same, but I did get all my shoes ON the shoe shelves (got rid of 5 pairs), and the shirts section is thinned out some.

Some of my favorite "finds"...

These are the jog bras to be given away.  The six on the left

 still have tags on them!  (They were all free, so no money lost.)

My jean jacket from HIGH SCHOOL!

(Can I pretend that it's not over 20 years old??)

My flannels and Doc Martens from the mid 90s.  I loved these. 

I've kept them so long "just in case".  But, let's face it - the shoes

are a bit tight, the flannels are large and unflattering. 

I don't need to keep them!

And this is my give-away pile!  Yay!

It's very satisfying to clear out clothes I don't actually wear and have more space and a more peaceful place.  I do look forward to getting rid of even more items, as I lose weight.  Both the things that are now too large (yay!!!), as well as those that I find I don't really like so well, even once they fit again.

How do your closets look?  Could you bring yourself some peace with a bit of decluttering?

Recap and my latest area of focus

Exercise went well this week.  Five days out of seven.  Of course, some mean-spirited imp who is against me exercising (ah - I wonder if I'm actually sabotaging myself???) allowed me to bang my toe on a pile of tile this afternoon.  But I still worked out today.  Hopefully I can keep it up, as it does really hurt still (mid-foot).

This week's project is to....
Speak Nicely (especially to my husband)

I seem to be realizing that I speak negatively a lot.  I don't think it's intended to be mean-spirited, but more of a habit at this point.  Like maybe it moved from sarcasm to a vent for any negative feelings I have.  But that's not fair to him.  Especially when I speak negatively about him in front of other people.  We're a team, and if I have issues with him, I need to speak to him directly (and in love!!!).  In front of others, we should be a united front of people who love each other and want to show each other support.

So, I intend to catch myself BEFORE saying anything negative this week.  But if I don't, I need to apologize for it (if it's hurtful to others).  And really be more careful with my speaking.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."    Ephesians 4:29

Exercise - take 97

So, this week's project is, once again, exercise.  My ankle is in good-enough shape now.  Not 100%, but I can exercise just fine.  I need to get back in the habit.  Last night's workout showed me that I have become horribly out of shape.

It's funny that I consider myself an athletic person but I have become quite the couch potato.  Other than playing hockey every Monday night, I haven't done much moving over the past several months.  How did I get so far away from that??

I also switched to low-carb eating a couple of weeks ago.  I had been "eating better" for a month, and I had only lost one pound.  The only two times I have lost significant weight were when I was eating low carb.  I know my body is happier that way, but all the foods I love are high carb (pizza and potatoes in any form, especially).  So it's hard to give that up.  But I'm really tired of carrying around this extra weight.  Literally tired.  I hate when I see pictures of myself and think, "Do I really look that bad??"  So, truth is, I do.  I need to get this weight off.  And I'm committed this time.

I've also been feeling the need to start running again.  I think it's a spring thing.  (Yes, I realize it's not quite spring yet.)  I just want to get out, after being cooped up all winter.  I'm not sure if my ankle is up to that yet.  Or the rest of my body.  Maybe after a few workouts to get me on the road to being more in shape.

Hopefully this week's attempt at exercise will be more successful than my past attempts.  Knocking wood now.