Happy New Years! Its "Do Over time!!!"

So I have been thinking alot about all this resolution stuff I hear going around, and I for one have never really made any solid commitments one way or another on New Years day for doing or not doing anything in particular.. Did you catch that? I hope you did because I think I just confused myself! Basically what this means is I am to chicken to say or commit to something I may regret or break later, so I decided to commit to not making any resolutions I don't think I can keep. Does this mean I will make any resolutions? No, I will not, because as sure as I am that the sun will rise I am sure that as soon as I say I will or wont do something I'm gonna do or not do it. You may be lost by now, if so go back and read it again. I had to read it twice just to make sure I am making some sort of sense. If you are not lost, good for you please take a moment an explain it to us.
In lue of making "resolutions" per say, I have decided that I am going to call this my "Do Over List". Please feel free to use this term as your own. Here are some things I would like to "Do Over" this year:

Decluttering My House:
This is a very big one for me as I am a consummate collector of all things, which results in massive amounts of clutter. I tried some "decluttering" techniques last year and some of it went well, and some of it wasnt so great, therefore decluttering will be on my "Do Over List". I have huge amounts of "stuff" to go through and will depend on the Lord to help me be brutal with clutter.

Organizing my desk area:
This is a constant battle and no matter how many times I say Im going to clean it up it never gets done very well. I suppose I could blame it on the kids and the husband, but that wont fix the problem. Being totally un-organized is a sure sign of insanity, and insanity defined is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. With this in mind I will attempt a new organizational plan..not sure what it is yet, but will give whatever it happens to be a shot.

Husband Attention Time:
This is something I have had alot of trouble with recently, like say for the past couple years. It seems as though I always have time for everything BUT my husband, which should not be. Since I am homeschooling, a good part of the day consists of dealing with the inevitable " Mom, what do I do here?" questions, which is probably the bulk of the time I spend going from child to child. The other thing that tends to take my time and sap my energy is cleaning the house, or coercing the kids to do it, whatever the case may be. My husband needs to have my undivided, non-resentful attention occasionally so this is something I will be "doing Over" during the day. Pray for me.

Servant Hearted:
I really need to work on this, as I am learning I am not as Servant Hearted as I had originally thought I was. Oh I have no problem giving things, but try and volunteer me for something, watch it, your going to get hurt. This year I would like to try to serve my family and friends a bit better than I have, and not be so...so...mean, for lack of a better word, when my husband or a friend "accidentally" volunteers me for something I don't really want to do. Please pray for me..again.

I am sure if I sat and thought about it I could come up with some more things to "Do Over" this year, but I wouldn't want to overwhelm myself, or you with all the prayer requests I would be needing. By the way, I started up my Craft Business again, which without the help and prodding of my daughter,  would not have gotten done, so if you don't mind, you can pray about that also:)

Happy New Years!

It has been a year.....

Since it has been almost a year since I started this blog,  I thought I would do a short update on the projects I started and the ones I am still working on. I have been working on being more organized....... then I started watching a show called Hoarders, and realized my condition will only get worse. I can no longer just call myself a "collector" although I would love to be able to use this definition for my illness. Fortunately for me, I am not a hoarder yet. There is still hope. That being said, I spent several days cleaning and organizing my attic that I started this time last year, and it looks WAY better then it did, you can actually walk around up there now. There is still alot of work to do but it is a start and after watching the show I have been watching, Im even more motivated to get it done than I was before.
(Insert picture here...I was gonna put up a picture but decided against it.)

The other project I was/am working on were containers for seasonal clothes and kids things. Again, my intentions where good, but I lacked motivation. You know when you look around, have no idea where in the world to start, so you just give up? Thats me. The containers are a great idea but I have been using them as a catch all for everything else, which I suppose is okay, at least most of them have made it to the attic at this point, which I did mention is looking more organized every week. I still need to get to the ones in the boys room, which are under like a 2 foot pile of clean clothes. Did I mention my kids are stacker's like me? This does not bode well for their future spouses. Hopefully they wont marry someone like them or they will never be able to walk around their homes!

As with any good collector, we need to have several projects going all at once, and no one can accuse me of being a bad collector! At this time I have no fewer than 5 projects I have started, maybe even more, if you count the attic and the containers. But for now I am only going to mention 2 that I actually finished. Yes you heard me I FINISHED a project! Dont ask me how, but I did. The first one was a set of placements, and the second one was re-covering an old chair I bought at a yard sale. I also have 2 rag quilts in the process of being done..hopefully I will finish them this year!

Yes I know the picture is sideways...I cant figure out how to get it to go right side up..On the funny side of this everyone who looking at it has their head tilted to the right making everyone in the room wonder what in the world are they looking at.

The biggest thing that has happened this year, for me anyway, is the installation of a Iron filter and water softener. For the past 5 years we have been unable to drink the water, do laundry, use the dishwasher, have an icemaker, and any number of things I took for granted when I lived on the city water system. This past month we were able to get a grant to pay for the installation of the filters and in the space of 3 days I was able to do all the above things . Have you ever heard of someone being actually happy to be able to do laundry??? Just ask someone who has been doing it at a laundry mat for years, being able to do it at home is awesome! You can get up in the middle of the night and get a glass of water, from the faucet not a jug. My tubs and sinks will no longer look like someone has been bludgeoned in them! This is even better than when I got my dryer, which was pretty awesome in itself. It is truly a blessing from God!

Well thats it for this years update, I have alot more to do to become organized, and I will probably NEVER be as organized as most,  but at least now I have a little more motivation to do it. Oh, did I mention that after nearly 25 years of marriage I have finally started a weekly menu? My husband just about had a heart attack!

Now we are getting somewhere.

After having a couple rough days with no motivation, I got back into the swing of things yesterday by finishing up my closet, clothes and room for the most part. I still have my containers stacked everywhere, because I cant really put them in the attic as its not clean yet. I was up there the other day and for some reason it seemed worse then before. I think when you are un-motivated everything looks worse than it is. Unfortunately it is still to hot up there during the day to do any real work so I spent the rest of the day yesterday trying to get a walking path in my living room and finally succeeded and was able to get dinner done, the kitchen clean and my bathroom clean. Thank goodness for grilled cheese sandwiches, Im not sure I had energy left for anything else!
I can now get to my pile of yard sale items and get them over to my storage shed, and I have enough stuff to have a sizable yard sale this next Friday and Saturday also. I have to make sure that when I am done I am willing to take whatever is left to the thrift store and resist the urge to put it back in the storage and have another one.(BTW I have gobs and gobs of childrens books so I am willing to let my friends get first chance at picking some up before the yard sale)
So I have the girls pink and red totes stacked by their bedroom door and the boys blue totes against the wall in their room for easy sorting. Everyone now has a memorabilia box for things they do not have hanging on their walls, but want to keep. I think that was the funnest part of this, getting to see things Ive kept for sentimental reasons, but its still mostly birthday cards.

The overly stuffed hall closet.

My next project for today is working on my hall closets. They are so stuffed, sometimes I cant even get the doors shut! I have no idea whats even in there. When I open the door it all usually falls into a pile on the ground and I have to push it all back in. That can not be good for the door hinges I'm sure. And that's only the small closet. I want to bring my new dryer home so the laundry closet needs some work to. It has everything in it but laundry stuff.  I have actually worked on it a couple times, but it one of those things that I had to many projects going at once and it didn't get all the way done. Some advice I received recently was to pick one thing at a time and finish it before you start something else, but like my husband says, women are like spaghetti, they are all over the place :)

The laundry room closet

 Now that I have my projects picked, I need to finish my coffee, get dressed, get the kids up, and make a decision that this is what Im going to finish today. The fact that I really really want my dryer over here should help me with getting the laundry closet done sometime today, but if I don't get it all done, that will be okay to, I cant expect to be completely organized in just one week when it took years to get this way. But like my life with Jesus, I am a work in progress, not completed until he takes me home. I hope it doesn't take that long to finish my house.

Lessons learned....

I decided to go back through my blog and see if I had learned anything at all from the past week, and if so share it here. Being a Christian, I think the biggest lesson I learned this week is that I can do nothing without Jesus. The overwhelming amount of organizing I started last week is just that, overwhelming. But according to Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.
This is the scripture verse I need for right now, actually I need it for everyday, but it rings of hope that the task before me can be completed with Christs help. As I look at the piles of assorted boxes, bags and containers my motivation to be organized wanes. If I depend upon myself to do this it will NOT get done, so this is a verse I really really need to keep at the forefront of my mind.

Unfortunately I totally forgot this on Monday at Silverwood. I depended upon my own power to get through the day and forgot to pray and give everything to Him. As a result, things did not go as well as planned. Any time you plan something without including Jesus in the decision its bound to be a problem. It is a lesson I'm sure will take the rest of my mortal life to learn. Hopefully it wont be anything major.
The past week has been long, I'm still trying to pack and sort, my house is a wreck (I'm really hoping no one decides to come over), the kids are still bickering for some reason known only to them, and my lack of motivation is a sure sign that I stayed up wayyyy to late last night. I think I will need to go have a quiet moment with God before I try to do anything else. I am so glad for Jesus in my life. I know my life doesn't always look pretty, but that's OK. I know there is hope for me and my family yet !

Let the games begin.....

As with any project you need a place to begin, soooo I decided that my room would be the start point as it didn't really seem fair to be harassing the kids about cleaning their rooms if mine was a wreck. I got out my handy dandy 18 gallon tote containers and went to work. Starting with my dresser, I proceeded to start sorting clothing that I hadn't seen in a while and found some things I didn't realize I had. I was in awe. I had been looking for shorts in my drawers (which are usually crammed to the top and overflowing so that I can't get them shut) and I found like 5 pairs! To bad summer is almost over, those would have been nice to have when the weather was warmer. The other thing I found was that I couldn't fit in most of it anymore. This is due to me not being able to find them for so long I'm sure. Being the clothing fanatic that I am, I decided if it didn't fit me then it might fit my girls next year, thus allowing me to not have to get rid of it! I promptly labeled another container "Girls Summer Clothes 2011", and began filling it. I did manage to let go of some things but only after determining that the girls wouldn't wear it and I couldn't ever fit in it again.

clothes that don't fit anymore that were to cute to get rid of.

I think my friend would be proud of the sacrifices I am making. This is rough stuff,  I dont know how I will get through it, as I can hardly bare to give things up. But alas I will survive ! I have been assured that I will feel much lighter when I am done. I know this is true because when I finished my dresser I could actually shut the drawers! After my dresser, which was hard enough, I started on my closet. I wish I would've remembered to get before and after pictures. The closet was even harder than the drawers. I couldn't believe all the things I couldnt fit in anymore. There were so many clothes in it, like my dresser, I found things I hadn't seen in a long long time. Im only supposed to be packing and sorting winter type clothing, but 3/4 of my hanging clothes didn't fit me anymore so I figured I would pack them to. Again, I looked for anything the girls might like for summer next year, and then I packed all the clothes they might like to have 10 years from now in a separate container that I have yet to label! I didn't have to get rid of but 1 or 2 things that time! By the way, color coordinating by season went out the window, its now blue and orange for boys and pink and red for girls, unfortunately the green ones were out of stock.

Stack of yard sale items

I am actually finished with the closet for the most part, I decided not to pack winter sweaters as I have them on a shelf out of the way, but will instead just sort them into things to give the girls for winter, and things to put in my yard sale stacks (which seems to be getting bigger and bigger as the days go by). I'm thinking that by the time I get through packing all the winter type clothing, ( I still have all the kids rooms and the attic to sort) it will almost be time to unpack it and start packing summer clothes. At least I will have a good start on next year and then I can move onto a different project. I think it will probably be the desk area next, as I cant seem to find anything anymore, and when I cant find it there is a definite problem. I think I might want to get a bulletin board of some type and some more of those little plastic containers for supplies, and maybe even another shelf unit, but I digress. I probably should do just one project at a time, because when I get overwhelmed everything comes to a screeching halt and nothing gets done.

My next project!

Organization 101 (Better known as Ask Tracy, she will know what to do)

I am a stacker. Just ask my husband he will tell you. So not only do I collect things I manage to stack them in piles precariously perched throughout the house. That being said I immediately stacked the 3 HUGE boxes of organizational tools I received this afternoon courtesy of our local FedEx Guy and Walmart. I had to move some things over, so I stacked those also. As I was looking around the living room I noticed that there were stacks everywhere! Clothes, videos, books, bags, you name it it was stacked somewhere in my living room. I finally managed a nice size spot for my new containers.

Stack of organizational tools (this is Alyssa, shes almost as bad a stacker as I am)

You cant see it from the front, but there is a huge stack of yard sale items right behind the huge stack of boxed containers. I have been collecting and sorting to have a yard sale also(for several years actually). As I have been sorting and organizing, I have been taking my friends advice to heart, If you haven't worn it in a year get rid of it, if you never plan on wearing, it get rid of it, and finally if it doesn't fit get rid of it ( I hope I got all those right). These are excellent principles to use when organizing. As a result I have a trailer full of things, a storage area semi full (not all of it is things Im getting rid of ) and an attic ( that I have yet to even look at for fear of panic setting in) all for a yard sale that I have been planning for a year or more. Now granted not everything is for a yard sale, after all I must stay true to my collector roots and preserve some clutter for myself. I would like to think that I may be blessing someone else with the things I'm not using anymore ( if I could actually find anything like that).


So this is the beginning of my organizational journey. I will be sharing my struggles and triumphs, and the things I will learn along the way over the coming weeks (mostly from my friend as I know none of this on my own!). Hopefully this will be as pain free as possible with minimal emotional or physical damage to myself or others ( my children in particular).

Help! Im not Organized!

This will be my first attempt at any type of Blogging.
It seemed that organization would be a good topic for my first post, as I am probably the most unorganized person I know, and this seems to be the problem I am dealing with at the moment.
Oh I have friends that are really good at it, but for some reason I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Coming from a long line of collectors has been a severe damper to any type of organizational skills I may have at one time been able to cultivate. My mother is a collector, my Grandmother was a collector, and her mother before her, and so on. With those type of odds, I would be surprised if  I ever accomplish any organization at all.
Fortunately for me, I have a close friend that LOVES to be organized. She is a source of inspiration to me (even though I tend to zone out whenever anyone says anything about getting rid of my considerable amount of STUFF.) I always manage to come back to earth and listen at some point, but I'm sure she can remember seeing a glazed look in my eye a time or two when talking about seasonal clothing or getting rid of stuff in my attic.

My Attic

She did come over once to help with my attic. It was brutal! I haven't been able to go up there since to organize, as I'm afraid I may find things that I know I should just get rid of.
With all that being said, I finally came to the realization the other day, that I cant take it with me, and after I'm gone no one will want it. It was very hard for me to think my things may not be important to anyone but myself. I asked my kids for 2 things each that they would want from my considerable amount of stuff (since I have 6 kids that adds up to at least 12 things I wouldn't have to get rid of, which helps the appease collector in me). Surprisingly, they all mentioned things that were actually practical. I was amazed that not one of my girls asked for my sewing things. One of them did ask for my clown collection.
Right now I am working on organizing Winter clothing. I ordered 24,  18 gallon containers in a variety of colors hoping for inspiration. I thought red and orange for summer and fall, pink and green for spring and blue for winter. I will be surprised if I manage to get it all the containers, let alone color coordinated to a specific season.

Pink Containers

Right now I only have the pink ones (the boys are not happy) and I'm trying to decide how to use my 24 containers to organize the large amount of clothing I have scattered throughout the house and I think I may try to use them for other things also, like my sons baseball memorabilia, or things I got them while I was in Australia, or years and years of accumulated birthday cards. The possibilities are endless! Actually, maybe I wont have to get rid of anything! I can organize it ALL In my new containers! Cool!