Women Living Well Blog: Tidy Tuesday - Spring Cleaning has Begun!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tidy Tuesday - Spring Cleaning has Begun!

Let me just say for the record - I am not the Queen of Clean! I am an average homemaker who dreams of making my home a beautiful haven for my family, yet I struggle with my messy tendencies! I have learned to discipline myself to do the things that must be done in order to find order, peace and more free time for fun things.

At the beginning of March, I blogged on my desire to find personal order. For me, personal order comes through making a weekly schedule, daily schedule and having a menu plan . In the fall, I cleaned out my entire closet but due to my lack of maintenance - the closet is a mess once again! So yesterday I spent the day taking every single thing out of the closet, sorting the clothes in piles: keep, giveaway, sell and trash (and I also moved fall items out to a spare closet) and then I put everything back into the closet.

Sorry I am not posting a before shot (that would be too embarrassing) - I am only showing pictures as evidence.

The closet almost empty.

The Master Bathroom filled with my clothes!

The finished product.

Proverbs 31:17 says "She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks."

Is your world a little out of control? Part of finding personal order, comes by getting junk out of your house! We Americans have A LOT of junk! Decluttering will give you time - your stuff is holding you back from living well! I must say that I feel so much better now that my closet is in order. For me, this was another piece in the puzzle of creating personal order. How does your closet look? If it's a mess - you may be feeling a little out of order like I was.

I must be honest - I have many more closets in my home that are out of order. So together let's get busy today - it's spring cleaning time. Many of the "self help" books suggest you set a timer for 15 minutes - I use the alarm on my cell phone as a timer. I use it to limit my time on the computer, to time my laundry in the washer or dryer or to speed clean! It works! Are you ready? On your mark, get set, GO!!!!

Remember our first priority is to ...Walk with the King! We cannot live well without drinking from the living well which is Jesus Christ!

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10 Comments:

Clare said...: I just did this a few months ago while prepping for maternity clothes--unfortunately I'll return to it much sooner than you guys since I'll have to get OUT of those maternity clothes. Oh the challenges of being a woman. haha! (It is a refreshing feeling though!); March 24, 2009 at 7:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Well you know how I feel about decluttering so your pics were so exciting to me! I love the before and then how it looks so much better afterwards!! Great job!!! Makes me want to go declutter now!; March 24, 2009 at 7:42 AM
Courtney (Women Living Well) said...: Thanks girlies - just 10 more closets in the house to go argh!! I want so badly to not live a cluttered life - but the piles of papers and junk come into the house so quickly! Thank goodness for spring, spring cleaning and the kid's spring break! There's lots more to do today!; March 24, 2009 at 7:51 AM
Regina Coblentz said...: Thanks Courtney for the blog. Yesterday I ended up shampooing all 3 bedroom carpets & along with cleaning out the master bedroom closet. I even shampooed the carpet in the closet. It's embarrassing but it was very dusty. I don't get in the closet that much & dust the baseboards,etc. When Mark got home from work, I asked him to go through his clothes & get rid of what he doesn't wear anymore. I could tell, when I moved his clothes out of my, way while cleaning the carpet,that there is a lot of clothes I have not ever seen him wear. We discussed how we tend to keep clothes even though we have no intentions to wear them again. Wow... we both got rid of a lot of clothes. We have 3 large (30 gal.) black bags to give away. I felt so good last night after we got done. My upstairs also felt & seemed a little more "dust free" than it was before. I also got rid of purses since I am not one who likes to switch purses often. I will buy one & use it for 2 yrs before getting another one. So, why keep them when somebody else could use them & same with the clothes.; March 24, 2009 at 7:59 AM
Regina Coblentz said...: Also, one more thing. Mark said, "I forget what's all in the closet when there is a lot of clothes hanging there." He tends to just stick with the clothes he is use to wearing.
I made the comment, "See, a little is actually a lot." You really don't need a lot of clothes & you have proof. You had a lot but did not wear half of them. You only wore the other half & it was a lot already. I try to remind myself that more is usually not a good thing. It just clutters my house & that creates work!!!; March 24, 2009 at 8:05 AM
Anonymous said...: i REALLY like the idea of setting a timer. i am so good at getting side tracked when doing something around the house. thanks for the idea.
i feel like i do the kids closet all the time- for the sake of them growing so fast. but its time for mike and i to do the same! that will be a goal this week :) thanks
-liz; March 24, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Anonymous said...: There are benefits to having a smaller home! I only have FOUR closets in my house! Two clothes closets, a small coat closet and a closet we use as a pantry/linen closet! To save space we keep our off season clothes in rubbermaid boxes in the basement which means we sort through all of our clothes at least twice a year. I have a rule when I rotate my clothes that helps me be more objective about what I keep (rather than sentimental): "If I didn't wear it this year, I won't wear it next year! Get rid of it!"; March 24, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Kristi Stephens said...: We're cleaning closets and cabinets in our neck of the woods this week, too... how true that our stuff holds us back!; March 24, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Courtney (Women Living Well) said...: Thanks for all the comments chicks!

Gina - you go girl - shampooing all the rooms! That can't be easy with all the little ones around! And it's true - we generally wear the same things over and over and the rest just take up space!

Liz - the timer thing really does work - it's amazing! It seems so wierd - but if it works I'm willing to be wierd haha!

Kristen (sis!) - you have an amazing system of organizing and purchasing your kids clothes - you should be the one writing this blog! You know how messy marvin I really am!!! I've learned so much off of you!

Kristi - thanks for stopping by - all I have to say is you peeps need to check out Kristi's blog - it rocks - go to http://runwatchplaywait.blogspot.com/; March 24, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Kelly said...: You are not a messy marvin at all...at least I have never seen that side of you..lol I am Spring cleaning in the kitchen this week and thankfully my lil sis is coming over to help me declutter on Friday, which means I need to get all the other stuff done by then! Happy Cleaning!!!; March 24, 2009 at 9:05 PM

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Women Living Well Blog

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tidy Tuesday - Spring Cleaning has Begun!

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