Monday, July 25, 2016

Creating Space Only for Things I Love

What a week! I can't tell you how wonderfully, exhausting this past week was. I went through my entire house and decluttered! I also went back through and reorganized. It's not perfect yet but it feels so great to finally have a start. I wanted to post for you my before and afters. Maybe you can get a feel for how much this changed me. 


First, I want to start with the 'Why?' Some of you might be questioning why would I do this for myself. Another part of you might be asking 'How?!' Luckily you are getting the answer to both those questions. Why I started... So I became a stay at home mom a couple months ago. I was not loving it because I couldn't keep my house clean. Isn't that my whole identity now? Aren't I supposed to have a beautiful home? What else would I do all day if it's not clean? Yet not matter the rotations (Monday-Bedrooms, Tuesday-Kitchen, etc.) I could not seem to manage to make that big of a dent. All I did was clean all day... I felt like I never had time to play with my son because I had to clean. I knew that I had to make a change. 




I read the book The Art of Tidying Up . It really helped me to see how to let go of things I don't need and live life to the fullest. You need to touch everything and decide, "Does it spark joy?" I was amazed at how many things I thought I loved but I really didn't. It is an amazing concept. I am so grateful my friend offered to let me borrow it. I read it in a couple days and was ready to go. I am the type of person that when I find something that would make my life easier I want to do it right away. Unfortunately I had to wait about a week until I had a day free. I sent my child to grandma's and had a couple of great friends come over and I was ready to start. The whole house in one day. No big deal... 

Even with two wonderful extra hands we were not finished. I felt kinda of frustrated. Did I really have that much stuff that it took that long? My living space looked like a mess even though my closets and upstairs were beautiful. The next day I decided to just tackle my kitchen. I HIGHLY suggest you do not attempt to declutter with children around. My child was not helping my stress or the mess. So that day I finished a majority of the kitchen but my living space still looked like a bomb went off. The next day I got a babysitter and cleaned my living space so I felt accomplished. Then I worked on my pantry/laundry room and basement. I am not finished with the basement since it will be a preschool and I am figuring out the set up still. However I would say a majority of it was finished. So it took me a total of three days. I bet it could have been taken down to two if you still had help and sitters.


It has been completely worth it. Every thing now has a home. It's not crammed with other things and I don't have to store clutter anymore! I actually feel a huge weight lifted off me. I will talk a little about each space in the links below. I can't wait to show you my space! It's super vulnerable but here its goes! That includes all the "hiding spaces!"

My Bedroom Makeover

Porter's Bedroom 

Bathrooms 

Pantry & Laundry  

Kitchen


Here's the pile of things I was able to give up and let go. I can't believe how freeing it is! A lot of these things I really liked but they didn't spark joy. I would love to see who else decides to take this challenge. Let go and finally live! 


4 comments:

  1. Tess, I love what you've done in every single room. I am soooooo proud of you, and inspired by you! I can't wait to share this post to inspire others in their journey of creating more order and joy!

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  2. Wow! Looks great! I may have to do some downsizing myself. I have more stuff in my cabinets that never use

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    1. It feels really good to be free of things that just take up space. Tonight it only took me 15 minutes to clean. That was after hours of working on this and Porter wrecking things. It has given me back my life.

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