My failed “purge post”

I started this post last week. Sorry for the delay. See the addendum below. Happy Wednesday!

Well. I spent 5 hours decluttering 2 rooms today while my housekeeping fairy cleaned the rest of the house. Did I take any pictures? No. Why? Because I am a bit forgetful. If it’s any consolation, I also missed my eye appointment today…

 

No really I did. I’m afraid to call them and admit my stupidity. I was too busy cleaning to go find out why my eyes are blurry. Really? Duh. 

 

My original plan today was to tackle our basement. However, I figured that I see our mud room and our twins’ room a lot more and thought they deserved attention first. 

 

I stripped beds and eliminated clothing they’ve grown out of or that I dislike. I got rid of toys and they only each have 1or 2 stuffed animals in their room now. They each have 2 blankets only: there were about 5 on each bed! I left the books but put them all on the bookshelf. Eventually I will weed some of them out too. My husband doesn’t like to read the same books every night so we keep a lot for variety.the fairy helped wipe everything down when I was done.

Our mud room is the entrance we use most often and it really does funnel a lot of mud. It is also our canned goods overflow room, laundry room, cleaning supply/dog supply/paper good supply room. It works HARD. I am so grateful for this room.

Really I have been verging on being a “prepper” based on the volume of canned goods I have been hoarding. I am sorry to say that I ditched a bunched of seriously outdated food today. Like, 2-5 years past it’s “best buy” date. When you are dealing with canned meats, you adhere closely to this date or live in fear of poisoning. At least, if you’re me. I’m sure my husband could eat them and live. Me? Not so hardy.

Anyway…

I did some pantry rearranging and eliminated one can organizer and made the shelves more user friendly. Now I can see what’s there. This means less risk of food spoiling before I remember it exists. That’s a good thing.

This was my first experience with a cleaning fairy outside of hotel stays. I have to say it is well worth the cost. We accomplished more in 5 hours than it probably would have (or have) in 5 days. I highly recommend this.

So 2 rooms down. Basement is next. Then the “office”/spare bedroom.

** addendum: I wrote this last week after having hired a housekeeper to surprise my husband. I must say that the effect has been lasting. I have further cleared the mudroom. I haven’t allowed toys to re-accumulate in the girls bedroom and I have finally gotten back in the saddle getting rid of excess. Yay! Yay! I know that hiring someone is not exactly in everyone’s budget (although it was a lot less than I thought it would be) but perhaps if you and a friend team up, you could help each other do a major clean up. Say you do one person’s house one week and the other’s the next. Buddy time AND a clean house! Sounds like a deal to me 🙂

Here’s to a clean house!

Liz