No more clutter for this mudder.

So I went on a cleaning rampage this weekend.

Well, I started one, anyway.

I’m not done.

One of the problems is that there is so much for me to do, I didn’t know where to even begin.

The enormity of the issue made me want to just avoid it altogether.

Which only made it worse.

But this past week, the amount of time I spent looking for stuff pretty much drove me over the edge.

I don’t have enough time to do what I want to do, so when I am wasting the little time that I do have looking for the same things over and over, it’s infuriating.

Then I lose my patience, and I am snapping at everyone.

Being disorganized does not help me to be a better mom, or a better anything, for that matter.

Now there are reasons for this… 7 kids, 5 of them eight and under is tough.

And all the kids help out.

A lot, actually.

But sometimes things just get away from you.

Or you have a billion places to be one night and you are out late and everything just doesn’t get done.

Just one night like that can lead to a snowball effect, which is where I found myself this weekend.

Everything is a mess.

So yesterday, I started to chip away.

I refuse to spend another week running around like a lunatic.

Now don’t worry. I’m not going to become totally neat.

But I’ve got some pretty big plans for myself, and I can’t even think about getting to them when I am literally spending hours each week looking for stuff that I could easily locate in seconds if everything was just put away.

How am I going to build an empire when I can’t even find a matching pair of fucking socks for myself?

So to keep myself from getting overwhelmed, I broke everything down into manageable tasks.

I posted them on Facebook to hold myself accountable.

I decided to tackle one a day until they are all done.

I started with the dining room.

We always have Thanksgiving at our house. And I love my dining room.

But it’s a disaster.

I really didn’t want to have another year of throwing all the shit that was piled everywhere into a bunch of Rubbermaid containers and then shoving those in my room.

Because then my room is (more of) a mess, and I never get to those containers. They just sit there for months. Taunting me.

I wanted to get everything put in its proper spot.

I started with the hutch.

My dad made it for me, and I really love it, and I feel bad that it doesn’t get the spotlight it deserves.

Plus, it’s easy to decorate it for the holidays.

I did absolutely zero decorating for Halloween this year.

It kind of bummed me out.

Mostly because I know the kids really like that, and I feel like I let them down.

 

Well, no more.

They love it.

Number 7 saw candles and spent the whole day singing Happy Birthday.

They all love the lights.

So do I.

I may just keep them up all year long now.

Just because.

And it lasted all day today without any of the kids dismantling it, so I’m psyched.

Today I moved onto the opposite corner of the dining room.

Our house was built in 1787. It’s got lots of cool built in cabinets.

You’d never know how cute they are because they are always covered in total crap.

It’s amazing how clutter really destroys the potential of a room!

NOT ANYMORE!!!

And I put more lights in there.

Just because.

And I may leave them in there forever.

Just because.

They’re pretty.

 

It’s not just about it looking nice though.

The chaos is expensive.

I cleaned that built-in and found 5 Christmas ornaments I bought last year and totally forgot I even had.

I never even gave them to the kids.

On the bright side, I’ve started my Christmas shopping already this year 🙂

But more disturbing than the ornaments is the fact that I found this:

I found $190 in cash and checks.

I didn’t even know I had it.

Scary.

Being disorganized is not helping my financial situation at all.

I just can’t afford to be such a mess anymore.

I’m not naturally a disorganized person either.

Like I said, things just snowballed to the point that I felt totally overwhelmed.

That’s why I was so frustrated. I actually have a couple decent systems in place, but couldn’t even use them because of the mess.

So once I checked off that corner of the dining room from the list, I moved to the mudroom.

I really wanted to get to that one today too. It looked like this:

The number of shoes in there was impressive.

And scary.

Every day I’ve been sifting through that fucking pile, trying to find just one matching pair of shoes.

It was so maddening.

And those shelves on the left? I had my husband build those a few years ago.

I bought the baskets and I stenciled the kids’ initials on them with fabric paint.

I love them.

But the baskets were pretty much empty.

And the kids had a hard time even getting to them because of that sea of shoes.

So, I took care of that today.

No more frantic mornings looking for shoes or mittens or hats.

No. More.

Each of those baskets now has at least one pair of mittens or gloves, a hat, and a scarf in it.

The kids all have one pair of shoes on the floor.

Everyone has a hook for their jackets and book bags on the other wall.

Instead of 47 coats on each hook, there is one. Maybe two.

I put away about 20 raincoats and other jackets in the hall closet so the jackets the kids actually want and need are easily accessible.

The baskets in the bench hold everyone’s boots.

The mat in the corner is where the wet or muddy shoes go until they dry.

 The kids went outside this afternoon.

When they came back in, the mudroom was all picked up.

Number 5, who is 4 years old, walked right to her basket and put her hat and mittens inside of it.

She hung her jacket on her hook, and she put her dirty boots right on the mat.

I didn’t have to ask her or remind her.

She just did it.

She wanted to put her stuff where it belonged.

They all did.

They just couldn’t get to it.

I feel really good about what I did today.

I literally feel lighter, and much less stressed.

I am going to go to sleep tonight feeling a little more peaceful.

Sure, my house will still get messy, but I’m not letting it get to the extent that it has gotten anymore.

How about you?

What one little job can you do to get rid of that clutter in your house?

Because if it’s cluttering your house,

I promise you, it’s cluttering your brain too.

Pick something small for tomorrow.

Even if it’s a 5 minute task.

Decide on what it is right now, and then take care of it tomorrow.

I promise, you’ll be glad you did.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!!!

All you need to do is click on the banner above to register a vote for me! 

You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Check out and “like” the not-your-average-mom.com facebook page!

Follow me on Twitter @mom_not_average