Simplify

I hate clutter. I know I have mentioned that recently, but it is true. You would not know it by looking at certain areas of our apartment, but the clutter has started to take over. It doesn't help that our apartment is small and there is no storage space to speak of. However, today I decided that I would fight back. The kids are at camp, I am caught up on work and there is no better time than today. I identified several problem areas and using the Flylady's principles, set the timer in each room and worked for 15 minutes only!

By the way, my kids would kill me if they knew I was posting this, but what they don't know won't hurt them. I have tried to let them have responsibility for their room and their stuff, but there comes a point when I literally can't take it anymore. I also identified two spots in my room, so it's not just them. I also had the intention of working on the playroom, but it truly overwhelmed me today and I didn't do much there. They are really going to have to help with that one.

So, this is little man's room and closets before I touched anything:

 See that beautiful football toybox? Yeah, it's pretty much empty...

After I worked for 15 minutes:

The Princess's room before:

After my 15 minutes, obviously not perfect, but so much better:

 The bookshelf in my room and my closet before:

After 15 minutes...

 The Living Room bookshelf before and after:

 

                    Okay, so true confessions. When I was cleaning off my bookshelf I came across something I wanted to put in my nightstand drawer...I happened to see this in the drawer (below). Since I wasn't working on that area, I was going to leave it there. I don't remember when I picked up this workout video,(or if Matt got it) my best guess is after my trip to Turkey, where we saw a belly dancing show (when I lived in Kenya, so a million years ago), and thought it would be great exercise. I have since moved this from country to country and never used it. I might have used it one time, but who am I kidding? I will never be a belly dancer, but it's good for a laugh and you just learned something about me you didn't know ;).

Below are the toys and games that I picked up from the playroom that the kids will need to decide if they want to keep or not.

  

 These are the three bags of clothes I pulled out of our closets.

 This row of books is three deep, also to be gotten rid of. In an hour that is a lot of clutter going out of our apartment.

 We are extremely blessed, but sometimes I just want to throw up. We have too much stuff. We don't try to, but it just accumulates. I have tried another Flylady principle, where when you buy a new toy, you get rid of one, but I don't always remember this. It would certainly help to keep the clutter under control.

I was feeling a bit down and very grumpy this morning. After decluttering, or simplifying, I feel SO much better. I truly think less is more, although it is so hard getting rid of stuff. We get rid of stuff every single move, but always seem to accumulate more. The funny thing is Matt took two garbage bags of clothes to work to donate just this morning! I now have 3 more for him to take. Accumulate much? Good grief. 

At least I know that what I am did today helps to simplify for our upcoming move.

Do you have areas in your home where you need to simplify?? I encourage you to set the timer for 15 minutes and get started. You really can do anything for 15 mintues!! And, you will feel good about the progress you have made :)