Getting Things Done

I work things out on paper to take much less time than they do.  Like yesterday, I had the afternoon set aside to purge the upstairs (three bedrooms and a bathroom) of clutter and mess.  I had the evening set aside for any possible overflow from that task, allotting an hour for dinner and clean up.

I got half of one room done.

The results are stellar, and I'm beyond motivated to get the other half (and rest of the house) underway, but it's going to take far more time than I realize.

Even still, I present the unveiling of the boys' closet and toy/book area:

The always hideous and shameful "before" picture, complete with 

surrounding flotsam in the bedroom itself, preventing me 

from even opening the doors all the way.

The "after," a sigh of relief and a picture of gleaming delight.

Half of that first picture is in donation bags and I couldn't be happier about it.

The "after" of the toy bins and bookshelf.  I didn't take a "before"

because I completely forgot that I could even take pictures.

Just imagine everything looking like it was throwing up, and everything

that was being thrown up was also throwing up.  Half of that is 

also in donation bags.  Sigh of relief!

The toys will likely have another gleaning today for donations.  We like the kids to have Legos and train tracks to sharpen engineering skills and spatial awareness, but I don't care to keep the rest of it.  I was unable to get rid of the rest of it because their 6th sense about Mommy getting rid of things kicked in and they descended on me like a plague of locusts, determined to crawl through the donation bags and insist that I  allow them to keep the toys they haven't even touched in years.  I bravely fought them off and won what is now an entire van load of donations ready to go to Goodwill and Birthright, but they did prevent me from being as thorough as I wanted.

As I finish each room, I'll post the progress.  Like I said, it's not for bragging rights, but more for posterity: "Look, kids, we don't HAVE to live in total squalor!  Less is more!  Mommy once had control over something."