Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Eliminate Chaos

Just a couple of responses to comments on my post yesterday:

Nate will be serving in the Canada Edmonton Mission. He enters the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on September 17, where he will spend approximately 3 weeks before going to Canada. He will serve for two years. We will be able to communicate with him only through e-mails and letters. He can call home two times a year -- Christmas Day and Mother's Day.

And thank you, Jen for your nice comment that when you first met me you didn't think I looked old enough to be the mom of a soon-to-be missionary. You made my day!! :)

And on to today's post....


Hi, my name is Margaret and I'm a packrat. Sad, but true. I have a hard time throwing anything away. This is, I believe, an inherited trait that goes back for generations. My sister Jan and I are definitely the recipients of the packrat gene.

There's a great book Jan bought a while back called "Eliminate Chaos". It's all about dejunking your life. It's written in a fun-to-read, non-condescending, you-can-do-this style. I really do want to eliminate chaos from my life, and Jan and I have come up with a plan to do just that. We will switch off doing de-clutter projects...one week at my house, one week at hers. Wednesday is our official day. Today was our first meeting. Our project: My hall closet! Yea! And the best news is, we threw away two big bags of junk and took one more bag to the D.I. By the way, it's amazing what you can fit into one itty bitty hall closet. When we were done, we went out to lunch. This is going to be our Wednesday morning routine now that the kids are in school.

I can't believe I'm actually sharing these photos, but here goes.

The closet before:



The closet after:

I keep opening it to admire our work. :) Can't wait to help Jan next Wednesday. It's so much easier to throw away someone else's stuff than my own! :)

18 comments:

Janae said...

It looks great! I almost like collecting stuff just so I can get rid of it...LOL.

Mindy Evans said...

Can you come to my house? I have a closet, a pantry, a laundry room, a storage room, and countless closets ....
I am so jealous! I am so glad you took pictures! That is a good incentive! Once you have taken the picture, you kind of have to clean it up, because then you have the proof .... I guess that is kind of like the "admitting you have a problem" step, huh? :)

Reds said...

That is great!!! I collect too - you don't want to see my house!! ;) Love the before and after!

Amy said...

i'm so proud of you. I too am a member of packrats anonymous and in the spring will be renting a dumpster for junk and making piles for goodwill. It's amazing to see what we accumulate over time!

For Over 29 Years... said...

Way to go! One down, how many more to go? Closets are on my to do list now that school has started.

Becky said...

Good job! I need to do the same.

Bobbi said...

Oh please tell Jan to come see me! The closet looks great.

Stacey said...

I'm in the process of de-cluttering as well! We just cleaned and organized the kids' rooms today... I can't stop going in there and admiring how nice it is! We just had an enrichment meeting yesterday and it was all about "a house of order" which totally inspired me... I love your idea for you and your sister!
I didn't see yesterday's post until today... great photos of your son getting ready for his mission.

Anonymous said...

WoW, HUGE IMprovement... sigh--now it makes me think of ours:(

Jess said...

Wow, that's gotta be tough, only talking twice a year. But emails and letters are good too, at least you'll have that. I am so proud of him for doing this, it takes a special, strong person to be a missionary and you sure raised one mom! :)

AWESOME closet reorganization.. I have a couple that need straightened up, wanna come over? ;)

Gypsy Girl(Brenda) said...

LOL. Great job declutering. I am the opposite of you, my dh is always asking me where is such and such and I say we weren't using it so its gone.

Mandy said...

Do you want to come to my house and clean my closets. Because that closet looks great! I am not a collector, but have noticed just a general cluttering up lately of kids toys. *sigh* I hate to get rid of those!

Tori said...

I totally need to do this at my own house!

Angela2932 said...

Congrats on the closet! But I wish MY closet looked as good as your "before" closet!!!!!

Jen said...

Wow! Good job!! You know... I really dont like throwing my stuff out- but my husbands stuff... now thats another story!! :D

KRISTIE said...

can you come do my closets :)

Amy said...

Wow, you and Jan did some amazing cleaning! Looks great! What a fabulous plan you both have to get organized, you'll have to post pics to keep us updated. :)

Tracy said...

Just popping in to say Hi from CPR in California!

According to the new "rules" at my house that means if a load went to the DI then you can go but some new props.....but I guess that defeats the purpose of declutter! Come on over if you run out of projects!

Tracy