Clean Sweep Part 1

OK so my friend Alisha asked me months ago to blog about organization since I guess she thinks I'm so good at it:) This first post is just an overview. I will get into specifics in a later post this week.

I confess I do enjoy organizing and have done it for other people in our church when I was in high school. Kinda nerdy you might think for a high school girl to organize people's game closets, but it was my hobby of sorts. It is therapy for me to organize a cabinet, toss some toys, label bins, alphabetize our movie cabinet. You catch my drift. By now I guess you have me pegged. I am Type A, perfectionistic, clean, and sometimes OCD (I have it balanced.)

When I am on a mission to organize anything (books, toys, clothes) I first rid out of the obvious things first, i.e., outdated clothes, broken toys, toys with missing pieces, novels I don't wish to read again, clothing with stains, etc. Those go into the dump pile.

I then begin to sort the remaining items. Clothes or shoes that I haven't worn in a year or two go.

My not-so-favorite purses go (Most of us have our favorites that we carry all the time so toss the ones that are too small to hold your stuff.)

Toys that Libby is no longer interested is or that she has too many of go (babies, barbies, balls.)

When ridding through magazines, keep your favorite issues that you will refer back to, but then dump or give away the rest.

Instead of continuing to buy fiction books that you probably won't ever read again, check them out at the library or borrow them from a friend. I do have my stash of Janette Oke books that I loved reading as a teenager that I want to pass on to Libby. Those type of books are ok to keep, just don't go overboard.

If you have board games that are missing pieces, get rid of them. If you haven't tried buying replacement parts (if they are available) you probably won't now.

I will always get new clothes. The kids will always get new toys.Don't be afraid to throw away, give to charity, take to consignment. You can earn some extra money on those items that are still in good condition.

Immediately put those items into trash bags or boxes and load them up into the car so you won't be tempted to go through the pile again and keep the things you really didn't want to get rid of. Plus by loading them into the car it keeps the clutter down in the house from having bags and boxes piling up.

So your assignment for the next two days is to pick one closet/room in your house and rid out of one particular item or group of items (games, magazines, clothes, shoes, books, toys.)

Be ready for part 2 on Wednesday.

Happy ridding!

*Not happy organizing because we're not there yet...we're only in the ridding stage*