get the crap out of my house party

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well did you do it? did you gain a little more control on the clutter and crap?
this last week the kids and i tackled their closets, drawers, toys, and "treasure" drawers.

this time i want to talk about how to get the kids to help.

one way to get my kids to help with the process is to let them know that no "new things" can enter our home, or toy bins without getting rid of something that has seen better days or things that are no longer used. we've been doing this process for a few years. i want to say 5 to 7 years. they have essentially grown up knowing that this is how our house works.
they also know that mom is on a weekly/daily cleaning schedule and this summer we've been working on getting everyone involved so they can learn to be able to do it as well if need be do it on their own as well. hopefully not but i'm trying to set them up for the future. next in the next few weeks i'll talk about that said schedule. it's been tweaked here and there and it works great for our family. of course it will have to be tweaked again once school starts next month.
but we'll talk about that later on.
so now, are you ready to link up your success posts?
please add your button somewhere in the post!

get the crap out of my house challenge

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alrighty. you have spoken so we are going to do a link party this friday and you can link up your progress or your success story.

here are the official rules:

here's the post that started it all

**starting friday you can link up to the post where you talk about with a picture of the area you have tackled or are tackling.

**place this badge in the post (either beginning or end) or on your sidebar to show you are actively trying to get the crap out of your house!

that's it.
no before and afters are necessary,
you can just do the after if you want to.

this is here for motivation or support. please no nastiness or else i'll have to unleash my colombian mother on you and she can put you back in your place.
we'll see you on friday so until then get the crap out of your house!

and then we'll talk more about schedules and how to get your kids to help.

my cupeth runeth overeth

happy monday!

so many of you are on board in the get rid of crap process! good for you! it's contagious and let me tell you...
you guys motivated me to organize a little more than what i anticipated on doing in the first place. we went through and organized all three boy's dresser drawers, and closet, we went through and organized little miss katie's drawers and closet, and i went through a few of my drawers as well. we're going to work on katie's toys this week sometime and then i'll try to tackle that mess of a craft area i have.
ew hives.
now some of you have commited and some of you have already left comments saying you tackled basements, and drawers and closets!! YAY! see this is what i'm talking about. this is why i blog. just that whole awesome encouragement that goes on and all the help we give to each other! fabulous!

so here's the next question:

do you want a show and tell? like say come this friday we do a link party of before and afters?

or would you like to move on to the next post of organizing and cleaning and schedules?

it's up to you guys. i'm here for whatever.
let me know and we'll move in the direction of the most popular suggestion.
okay...

did you have a nice weekend? we roasted marshmallows to celebrate two full days of working hard on the sewer. yeah you read it right...the husband dug up our pooper (well the leach line and made sure it was running right. he found a few problems and fixed them. i was his trusty sidekick.
and let me tell you, having to spend umpteenth hours together in a trench and working on crap (literally) really makes you appreciate the other things in life you work on together.

my cupeth runeth overeth on the love i have for that man, and the crap he's willing to work on.

:)

first step to organizing and cleaning your home

so i don't care if you have never been in the game or if you are trying to get back in the game (as i am) or have never left the game and are interested in hearing other ideas (and sharing your own!). i have this organizing/cleaning schedule that works for me and my family.

is my house perfect?
HAHAHAhaha...ha...hmmm
no.
can you find occasional dust bunnies under my couch?
yes.
do i spend all day every day cleaning?
no.
can my house look somewhat put together in 20 minutes if someone were to come and drop by?
most often yes.

see nobody's house is ever completely clean. i don't care who you are, it just isn't going to happen. because guess what...
everyone poops and takes showers in your bathroom, and everyone makes dirty laundry and dishes in your house.
if you never have those things get dirty in between cleanings then you must be pooping and eating at someone else's house every single day. (and btw that's not very nice. i'm just sayin.)

nope a rotating cleaning schedule wont make your house completely clean all the time but it will keep it somewhat tidy and look clean enough that if by some chance your mother in law calls you from en-route to your house for a surprise visit you can get that baby looking spic and span within 20 minutes just in time for her arrival.
are you ready to gain control?

okay first things first:

GET RID OF STUFF.

that's right before you can be on a cleaning schedule that will work you have to get rid of the extra crap lying around in hidden places.

ever feel like you are just moving one pile of crap to another section so you can clean off one surface only to make the other surface now cluttered?

yeah you have too much stuff.

GET RID OF THE EXTRA STUFF YOU DON'T USE.

here's where to start: inside your drawers, closets, and under the beds.

get three boxes label them:
*throw away
*give away
*store away

empty out completely all the contents of your drawer, closet, or under the bed.

now start placing in the boxes where things go.
if you are keeping that particular item in that drawer or area then keep it and place it aside for it to be placed nicely back in the area you are working on.

***here's a few tips for you people having a hard time getting rid of your glory days jeans...yeah i know you are out there.

if you haven't fit in your glory day jeans in say a year. GET RID OF THEM.
if you can still fit in them...good for you, you should be proud that you still can, but ask yourself this...when was the last time you wore them?
if its more than one year.
GET RID OF THEM!

now do that with all your clothes and all the stupid nicknaks and junk that is clogging up your closets, and drawers and make room for the stuff that is all over your house being pushed around from surface to surface.

***this is what i'm doing right now. i used to do this every 6 months and weed out broken things and papers and just junk that collects because we have 6 people that live in my house.
6 people can break and create a lot of junk in 6 months. it feels liberating once your house is under control and you can open up closets and not have things stuffed in there falling out and know what is in every closet in your house. no really i dare you. do it.

if you are having a hard time getting rid of things even if you know you haven't worn or used something for the last year...put it in your store it away box. and then seal it up with duck tape and then put a date of 6 months from that day's date. if you haven't touched that box or needed anything from that box in 6 months...GIVE IT TO GOODWILL!

so here's my challenge.
for one week your challenge is to tackle one closet or drawer or heck go nuts and do a ROOM. go around every single corner of that or closet or drawer and then room, and get rid of things you are not using and get rid of junk that's just taking up space.
and watch how your clutter on surfaces disappear.

i'm going to do it too.
my craft closet is on the list, and it gives me hives just thinking of tackling it. i may just try something easier first but i don't know...

are you ready to regain simplicity of your house with me?
who's with me?
anyone?

getaways and hair "issues"

this last weekend we went on an adventure.
as our summer continues, we are seeing some pretty fantastic weather (our summers aren't really hot so when we get into the 90's we're pretty excited.)
not too far from us we have a little reservoir big enough for people to go boating or fishing, and the shores make for a good mock up of a beach. (not really says this southern cal girl but it was good enough for the day)

the boys had a blast skipping rocks and got pretty darn good at it, the 10 year old could get up to like 7 skips by the end of it.
there were a ton of rocks to explore...
and dragon flies that were interested in using us as landing strips.
it was kind of cool.

the water was great and basically just a good 'ol time was had.
so the kids and the husband tell me.
i have a bunch of water dogs in my family.
i blame it on the high school swim team/water polo playing of a father they have. i on the other hand... had to stay on the sidelines.
well because i forgot my swimsuit...

but i should also mention that i have some major issues stemmed from a childhood trauma.
it has to do with my HAIR. yeah, i know.
stupid.
no really it's a serious issue like as in i don't ever get my hair wet unless i know there's a hair dryer, de-frizzing serum, and a hair straightener within reach...or a really good baseball hat to wear and rubber bands made of steal to hold it all in.
yes...i know, you could say i have bahama monica hair:
when left un-managed or if left in humidity for too long, or when it gets wet and don't have any way to bridal it. it starts having a mind of its own.
nope not kidding.
just insert my face and add a few pounds on that monica body and hair and that's me.
but see all this stress over my hair stems back to one pivotal day. i was 8 or 9 and still living in los angeles, and we would go to the santa monica beach a lot. normally i would wear a pony tail but for some reason this one day i forgot to or didn't. who knows who cares. so naturally when my hair had dried after i had gone in the water, it got a little on the ginormous side. i mean i could poke somebody's eye out with my hair that's how bad it was. and well, you have to remember my mom is a little on the over cautious side so i had on (addition to the large hair) a big white shirt over my bathing suit and i had desitin ointment on my nose and cheeks (yeah that white heavy cream stuff...why in the heck she didn't just put sunblock on me i don't know but water under a bridge people water under the bridge) anyways as you can gather, i was kind of looking...um...a little bit like a freak. well two boys, probably around my age (and probably some male child actors just to add sting to the story)...passed by as i was on all fours building a pretty sick sand castle. they stopped to look at the sand castle, and that's when i looked up...

they jumped back 10 feet and probably peed their designer swim trunks. but that wasn't the worst part... look on their faces and what they said is still burned in my brain and self esteem to this day.
as they kept walking i don't know if they meant for me to hear it but they said:
"oh my gosh she's so ugly! look at her hair!"
tears welled up in my eyes and i probably swore to myself that i would never ever let anyone see me like that again.

and that my friends is what started the whole issue/obsession with the hair.
in high school (before straightening irons) i used to have a whole routine. wash hair at 5 pm, put in frizz serum, place in pony tail for about 20 minutes. release hair while still somewhat damp, lay down on one side with hair all under head, then flip and do same with other side. rotate back and forth till dry. then get a curling iron and smooth it down by using the heat from the barrel to make it just right. avoid fog and humidity at all costs, and if necessary to be in it...wear a baseball hat. yes when i said "i can't because i have to wash my hair tonight" it wasn't an excuse it was my reality.
flash forward 20 somewhat years from that day at the beach, and i can honestly say only a handful of people have seen my hair in its true form right after i blow dry it. two being those stupid boys on the beach, and my husband who bless his heart, tells me time and time again he could learn to love me with that beast of a hair and just to embrace it. the kids aren't fazed any more, well katie still calls it "mommy crazy hair" when she sees it, but i'm okay with that.

all is well in my hair land. all i have to say is thank heavens for the invention of the straightening iron and thank heavens we moved to utah. because there's no humidity here. utah is like give you nose bleeds dry kind of weather.
and well, it's absolutely perfect for my hair.
but the most exciting and happiest thing is that my daughter got straight hair, just like her dad.

and she'll probably wish she had curly hair.
C'est la vie

off to the pool later today...with a baseball hat, just in case.
we'll talk soon.