Organizing makes me SO happy!

I have to start taking more before pictures! I've done two small little projects over the last week, and every time I see those spaces it makes me smile a little:). Last week I cleaned the laundry room, and that included totally reorganizing the closet in there, since it sort of doubles as a mudroom that leads out to the garage. Time and time again I've seen an over-the-door shoe organizer suggested for organizing anything and everything. Well winter is right around the corner, so I bought one and hung it up in the laundry room closet to keep hats and mittens easy to find:). I also hung up the girls' snowsuits. I'm so excited for winter!

The other little project was just a little moving of shelves in the refrigerator. From the work I did in my bedroom closet, I really learned firsthand how much adjusting shelves can maximize the usefulness of your space. So I lowered a shelf to take advantage of  the space above our jugs of milk and juice. This made space for bottled water, which had previously been laying on it's side stacked on the top shelf. I raised the shelf next to it, with the drawer underneath, so that our milk and juice would have more room horizontally.

Some other minor things...

I moved my hospital grade breast pump, (that has been sitting on my kitchen table,) into my bedroom closet.

Took one of my boxes upstairs, and brought another box to my closet. The dining room is almost completely done! Only a few boxes left, and I mostly just have to put them somewhere, don't really have to go through anymore.

I think I'm going to tackle all of the paper out on the kitchen counter! That is my weakness, lol, I have to get better about keeping it under control.

Closet Overhaul: Getting Started

My closet has not been functioning well for me. There was stuff everywhere. Stuff that didn't belong in there, and the space just wasn't being used optimally. I am by no means done, but I just thought I would show the progress I've made so far.

The pictures below are of the right closet before and after some organizing. 

Before

After

Before

After

You can see on the floor I had two comforters that barely fit. Now I have a space saver bag with both of those comforters, the sheets that go with them that were in a box and on one of the side shelves in this closet, plus two pillows and a few decorative pillows! And I was able to lower the shelf down a bit to make more room for my box of wraps. I don't know if that file box will stay next to the wraps, but it fit there nicely and I couldn't think of anything else I needed to put in there. My yoga shelf stayed as it was, because I really like how things are there and it's the perfect size. 

On the next shelf up I had so much random stuff! I moved the picture frames over to the right of the closet where there's space for shoes. The beach towels were put in a beach bag I found in one of my previously unpacked boxes, and I put it on the top shelf along with the bunny basket. Now on the shelf is a bag of yarn I need to sort through and a pair of shoes I'm going to sell on a FB garage sale page. I think I'm going to use that shelf for things I'm going to sell. Left untouched is the medicine/first aid box and a few small things that need homes. I also moved some of my girls' dresses that were folded up over to the right side on the closet. I'm going to buy hangers for them and then move them to the closet in the girls' room.

Now for the second to top shelf. That diaper box had been full of electronics that need to be recycled, but now it's full of random cords and things we need to keep and the recycling was moved to a bigger diaper box which is now on the top shelf and now also holds the broken xbox. The stack of magazines were moved over to the right and now I have my big bins full of yarn there. I'm planning on going through everything, and only keeping what will fit in those two bins! My very top shelf was stuff that belonged to my mom, so those were moved over to the left closet, and I've already gone over what's up there now:).

Now for the left side!

Before

After

Before

After

A bunch of my mom's stuff got moved from the right closet over to this closet, to the top shelf that had previously been empty, and also on the floor where Rock Band instruments had been, which I moved to the girls' closet. I moved all of the formal dresses to the girls' closet because it has room for them to hang without hitting the shelf and now I can use that shelf to store my laundry baskets that are normally just on the floor of my bedroom. I moved the yarn bins over to the other side, and the diaper box that is there now is full of office supplies and was previously on the top of my desk.The box on the floor is full of movies and got shifted to the center of the closets, the stack of books is now pushed up against the center wall between the two closets' doors.

I'm really happy with how things are going so far. I think I'm going to bring some of the stuff that's sitting out in the dining room into the closet now. I really want to find a new storage solution for the movies as well, because I hate just having a big box full; they never stay orderly. And I'm going to buy some adorable paper to wrap up those diaper boxes:). There's definitely more I need to do, but I feel like I'm halfway there!

I'm making great progress:).

I need to start taking before and after pictures! I did some major work in my bedroom today and earlier this week. I totally decluttered the top of my dresser and my desk. There are still a few things around my room that need to find a home, but I think the next time I work on my room I'll be reorganizing my closet and I'll probably find places for the last few random items then. I'm really tempted to work on it right now, but I've done so much today, I really have to stop myself, haha. I read tips on organization and staying motivated and one of the tips was to stop when you feel like you could do a little more, to make it easier to get started the next time.

I've also been making progress in the dining room where all of my boxes are sitting, lol. I'm hoping to get done with it by the time my mom gets here next week. Once again, there are just some things that I really don't know where to put, so it's just a matter of finding a home for those last few things. There's also a ton of stuff that I have to run by Michael to see if he even needs it. I really want to get rid of things that we don't need. No sense in having boxes full of things that we never use and never look at.

Earlier this week there was a post on iHeart Organizing about DIY storage containers, and I've decided that I'm totally going to embrace that! I'm going to buy some wrapping paper to wrap up some diaper boxes and use  them instead of buying cheap storage that I don't like, or spending a lot on things that I do like. I figure this is better, because I'll save money, but can still make it cute. I've already wrapped up one box that is holding my baby carriers on a shelf in my closet! After I've redone the whole closet I will post a picture of it:).

Here are some recent pics of my room. That diaper box on the top shelf of my desk is full of office supplies and will soon be covered with pretty paper!



Check out my new pillow on the bed! And I love having that other pillow on my chair. It contrasts so nicely with the blanket.



Hopefully, I'll have a closet update soon!

Our plans are forever changing

Things are potentially changing again. Last week my grandmother died. My mother's side of the family is pretty big and almost everyone made it back for the funeral. Being with family and celebrating my grandma's life really made me reflect on what's important. So I told Michael that if he can get his orders changed to somewhere stateside, then we would move to live with him, no matter where it is. If he still has to go to Germany, then we'll go through with our plan to buy a house and settle down here in my hometown. He's going through the process of trying to get things changed, and I really hope he can because the girls need their dad and I need my husband. 

I think part of what has made me change my mind is that I feel really stable on my anti-depressants and I think that I'll better be able to handle the move than I was before meds. I'm still thinking about all of the major concerns I had about moving, because I still think a lot of those things will be an issue. Hopefully if I can make a plan to lessen those things, then it won't be as bad as I imagine it will be. 

Finances is a big worry of mine. I started trying to get us out of debt in the fall of 2008. Here we are four years later and we've merely managed to tread water! We've gotten rid of some debts and added others, so we're pretty much in the same exact spot we were four years ago. I thought that settling here would be the change and motivation we need to really get out of debt so that Michael can get out of the Army. I'm still worried that us moving to live with Michael will lead us back to the same ol' same ol' and that when it's time for his next ETS date, we won't be in the financial position for him to get out of the Army. With my anti-depressants I've felt much more stable, so maybe it will also help me resist spending and take this all more seriously. Part of me feels that I have spent money in the past to deal with my depression, although I'm definitely only one half of the problem, because Michael is about as far away from frugal as can be, haha.

Another of my concerns was stability for the girls. If we move this should be the last time before Michael's next ETS date. Michael will get out of the Army when McKaleigh is going into 2nd grade and Adelaide is starting Kindergarten. So I don't think that will be the worst. Hopefully we can get them into dance classes where ever we move, if we end up moving.

Overall things are still going really well. I'll keep you posted!