Day 6: 40 Bag Challenge

The Coat Closet........

         It is amazing the junk one can pile in a closet that they rarely use!!!  I found baby stuff in my closet, and Tristan is 4 years old now.  The kids had shoes stashed in it that they haven't been able to wear for years.  Prom dresses and I graduated high school 10 years ago.  So all in all I was able to pull about 3 1/2 bags of stuff out of the coat closet!!  Can you tell I come from a long line of hoarders ;) I call my self a pack rat but the truth is I would almost qualify to be on that TV show about hoarders, and me kids are following closely in my footsteps.  At least I can recognize the problem and fix it before it gets too out of hand. 
       I hold too much meaning into material items.  My husband has been a major help in learning to let go.  Mostly because I would rather have him and my children than all of the "stuff" or money in this world!  And my in-laws being hit by a tornado a year ago was a major eye-opener too.  As they say "He who dies with the most stuff, still dies".  Why hold on to a t-shirt that I no longer fit into, but has sentimental meaning that is really kind of dumb.  There is no reason! I can either make it into a t-shirt quilt with some of my other "old" shirts or give it to Goodwill.  At least if I turn it into a quilt it becomes useful again, instead of wasting space.  Some stuff I realized that I have a picture of me with or wearing that item so no need to keep the item.  As long as I don't end up with 500 million photographs I am doing okay ;) I also don't mean a random meaning less picture of that item, I am talking about the ones that are of a special moment,t like prom pictures of me and my friend dancing in our dresses.  It reminds me of a Sponge Bob Square Pants episode where Sponge Bob became one of those strange hoarders that was keeping every piece of garbage, and when forced to get rid of the garbage ended up taking pictures of everything and ended up with just as many pictures as he had garbage ;)
       So anyway back to the closet...... I made room for the adult coats that get used and room for the kids to put coats that are for a different season in.  Then we have a crate in the bottom to hold ball gloves, and bike helmets.  The top for now has extra blankets in it, and I made room for my vacuum in the bottom.  It has gone from a closet that I never use, to one I will use almost every day.
      I can't even begin to tell people how good it feels to have gotten rid of so much junk already. I have 10 days worth of tasks done leaving me with 30 tasks left, but I already feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.  I have also noticed day to day changes as well.  While sewing tiny scrapes are no longer stashed in a box with the idea that I might use them.  I keep ones that I know I can use somewhere, but some of the small ones I find a use and use it right away or I pitch it.  The kids' school papers have not piled up yet, and usually by this time I have a stack started and I wait to go through it till the next summer.  So far I have looked them over and if they are not ones I deem important I get rid of them. 
     I also look at the fact that some day my time on this earth will end and whatever I leave behind, my kids will have to go through and divide amongst them.  So why leave them a mountain of junk they didn't want in the first place!!  The older I get the more I have to take my turn going through relatives stuff and the more I realize how much of a pain it can be.   I really didn't want their stuff, I wanted them.  Since I couldn't have them I realized I already had something that they had given me in the past for a birthday or whatever, so I really didn't need something of theirs to remember them by.  Moral of the story don't leave your mess for someone else to clean up ;)

Secrets of My Beauty Kit

    Beauty Kits........
        Ladies we all have them even if they don't have much in them.  I consider mine about the average size.  I love eye make-up, I don't use it all the time, and I don't use it because I feel like I need it to be beautiful.  I use it to express my artisticness.  The rest  is mostly all-natural products to help keep my skin and such healthy.  I figured I would share them with you.

• Pumice Stone:   We all hate shaving, and some have even made the choice not to shave at all.  I shave because I like how my skin feels when it's smooth.  Reality is, shaving is very damaging to the skin, and doesn't always leave us so smooth.  We cut it leaving scars, it drys out our skin, and it also leads to the one thing I hate most; ingrown hairs.  They are painful at times and they look horrible.  There are tons of exfoliating products on the market and I have tried several with much disappointment.  While using a pumice stone on my callused hippie feet, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it on my legs.  I was shocked with my results!! the ingrown hairs were gone, and so was all the dead yucky skin.  In about a month of using it on my legs I saw huge improvement.  I usually shave in the tub, so I would soak for a few minutes allowing my skin and hair to soften.  Then I simply rub the pumice stone in a small circular motion all over my legs, and shaved as normal.
• Hair Conditioner:  I am sure you are thinking I am going to tell you to use this on your hair, nope ;)  I use it as shaving cream!  When I first learned to shave I did what my mom did and used my dad's shaving cream.  Sure it is cheap enough, but I broke out all over my legs when I used it, so I switched to the women's variety with little success.  First I was having issues with certain kinds clogging my razor and this lead to nicks, and cuts :( I also broke out from using it.  So for a very long time I used body wash, I didn't break out but it didn't help the condition of my legs much.  I know now there are several kinds of body wash that would work better for this on the market today, but I grew up in a frugal family, and we didn't have as much selection on the market in my early teens.  One day while in the shower I had washed and conditioned my hair first to allow my leg hair to soften, and I dumped conditioner on my leg by accident. While trying to wash it off my leg it dawned on me!  Shaving cream!! So I gave it a shot and it worked great! I didn't have tons of nicks, and cuts, and it helped moisturize my skin!  Now don't go out and buy the expensive moisturizing conditioner, you can but it can really make a dent in the pocket book.  I usually just buy VO5 for dry hair it's less than a dollar a bottle and it will do the trick.
• Coconut Oil:  I have seen the posts with 160 uses for this stuff, truth is, the uses for it are endless.  I use it as a night cream, lotion for my whole body, lip balm,  and many other things.  It even works great as a make-up remover.   http://wakeup-world.com/2012/03/02/160-uses-for-coconut-oil/   This link takes you to the post I read that kick-started my usage of coconut oil.  There are tons of sites and recipes for more uses, do a little research try a few out, and maybe you will invent a few of your own uses.  In my opinion you can't go wrong with coconut oil;)
• Baby Wipes:  They work awesome as make-up remover! Plus I am not always in places with running water when camping so they are great for keeping hands and feet clean.  In high school I was in every musical and play as possible, and I had horrible acne problems from all of the make-up.  My mom didn't have any babies in the house anymore, but we always had baby wipes for trips and so on.  I was very tired after a dress rehearsal and didn't want to take away from my time sleeping grabbed a baby wipe and scrubbed off my face.  They light bulb turned on and I carried a travel sized package of baby wipes in my make-up kit from then on.  The best part being, I can get the mascara off and I am not getting soap in my eyes. Not to mention they are way cheaper than the make-up remover pads you can buy, and gentle on your skin.
• Tea Tree Oil: I use this on blemishes and minor cuts.  The smell can be a little over-powering so I use it right before bed or days where I don't have to go anywhere.  It also tends to make my eyes burn a little so the zits that are close to my eyes I try to avoid.  It also works well for bug bites that itch or burn.  Dab on a tiny amount with a q-tip to the pimple, bug bite, or abrasion.
• Aloe:  This helps with under eye bags, I would go with an organic variety 100% pure variety with no additives.  Now it won't zap away under eye bags but it can help when you stay up to late the night before around the campfire ;)

               *One thing I want to add..... massage is very good for a lot of things!  I learned this in my CNA classes ;) It helps increase circulation, which helps your skin stay healthy and stretchy.  Plus it helps relax you

Day 5: 40 bags Challenge

      It is the 5th day of my 40 bag challenge.  35 more days to go and I am doing awesome!  I am 4 days ahead of schedule!!
     Today's task was my kids' coat closet, and it was a MESS!!!  I usually go through and reorganize it every couple of months if not sooner and within a week of cleaning it, it is back to is usual state of disaster :(  This time I went through found a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit or that they have worn holes in giving me another bag to add to my total.  After cleaning out the stuff that is not staying at my house, I went through and pulled out the surplus that still fits or that was missing it's mate.  I came up with some new rules for the closet and tonight when my husband gets home he is going to do a little remodeling in it for me so I can better organize it.
     
      The new coat closet rules

1. Each child will have one of each item/pair in the closet at a time.
2. Each child will have a designated section.
3. Items will be placed back in closet in an orderly fashion. NO MORE THROW AND GO!
4. If it doesn't fit, don't throw it back in the closet. Take it to Mom!
5. Dirty clothes do not belong in the closet. THIS MEANS SOCKS!
6. The closet is only for Shoes/boots/sandals, no slippers; coats/jackets/snow pants, no sweat shirts; stocking caps/mittens/ski masks, no ball caps or gardening gloves.
7. Chore clothes will have a designated spot in the basement, not in closet stinking up good coats and such.

    I am going to make a poster and put the rules up somewhere around the closet and hopefully they will follow them!   I am also going to get a color coded bin for each child to keep hats, mittens, and stuff like that in them. 
     The shoes is kind of an issue too, but I have a solution for that as well.  I figure they can keep their play shoes and cowboy boots in the closet and dress shoes they will keep in their rooms.  We also narrowed down the kids' shoes to one pair of cowboy boots each, one pair of sneakers each, and one pair of sandals each.  They don't need anymore than that plus shoes are not cheap! I just don't see the point in them having 20 pairs of shoes each that they will grow out of in a year or less.  My daughter does have some other shoes, but she keeps them in her closet in her room, and most of them are goodwill shoes or hand-me-downs. Slippers are a whole other conundrum with her, but I have a slipper fetish so I have no room to talk ;)

Day 4: 40 Bag Challenge

         I know I completed day 4's task yesterday on day three but I figured I would stay in number sequence for the title ;)    Since I finished day 4's task already I decided to go through my list and take care of other tasks that are in my kitchen.  My goal is to get my whole kitchen done first, and then move on.  I don't think I will do an entire room again only because some of the other rooms in my house are bigger and it is nice sometimes to space things out and work on something else for a change.
       Anyway, I finished 2 tasks and got two more bags out today!! So my bag total is 8 bags for 8 tasks done :D 
       If I do this again I will probably make a rough draft list first and reorganize things before I make a decision on my list.  Really though, it doesn't much matter in what order I get them done just that I get them done and stick with the challenge.  Who knows I could end up adding to my task list since some of my tasks aren't taking me as long as I thought they would.
       It is so very relieving to have so much progress made in my kitchen.  With it being the first room in the house that we come into, it becomes a dumping station for every one's junk.  The living room being the next worst on the list ;) I am hoping with some of the new organizing I have done that things will be a little easier to keep clean.  It will also help now that the kids are getting older they can start helping with the chores.

Kitchen Organization Quick Tip

Just had to share this quick tip.......
          Since we live in the country we occasionally have a mouse or two that like to visit inside the house :S, so we have a lot of our dry goods in plastic containers.  Plus I like the way the plastic containers fit better in my cabinets.  For the longest time I would get so angry when I would forget to keep certain cooking instructions to the items I was filling the containers with.  I started cutting the side of the box off and I would stick it in the cabinet next to the container with the corresponding item in it.  This only worked with things like Bisquick, most everything else comes in plastic bags or a cylinder(oatmeal, corn meal).  So I came up with this idea.........

I took a Sharpie marker and wrote the instructions right on the side of the container.  A Magic Eraser will take the marker off if you need to remove it, a pencil eraser works well too.

After a while I will have cooking instructions memorized, but this comes in handy if my husband has to do the cooking.  Great to help out baby sitters as well, and when my kids are old enough to use the stove or microwave they will be able to read and follow the instructions if I'm not there to help.

Day 4,5, and 6 knocked off my list on day 3!!!

     Well I got ambitious and kept working on things in my kitchen ;) I finished they next 3 days worth of tasks on my 40 Bag Challenge, and got 1 1/2 more bags so, lets see, that makes 6 bags total.  Right on track ;) I think for sanity's sake I am going to move around a couple of things on my list and just finish my kitchen tomorrow, that way I can have that room in my house completely done.
      I'll post again tomorrow, but for now I am gonna leave this one short and sweet ;)

Day 3: 40 Bag Challenge

       I am still keepin' on ;) and doing rather well I might add!  I have even worked ahead a little here an there, while I still have the cleaning buzz ;)
       Day 3 was my upper kitchen cabinets, and wow! did they really need cleaned out!  I haven't majorly reorganized and cleaned them out in probably about 2 years.  I reorganized them when I painted my kitchen and cleared out a lot of stuff then, but now my youngest has grown out of a lot of the "baby" stuff.
        I also should have done it sooner, because 2 years ago we had a massive snow storm on Christmas Day.  When this storm hit we lost power about half way through the day and couldn't get out of our farm.  That didn't bother us so bad because we figured the power would be back on and the storm would stop at some point.  At 9 pm we still had no power so we all huddled in the living room with blankets and candles.  By 10 pm my daughter and I came down with the tummy flu (not a fun night and I will probably never forget it) so blankets and towels started to become scarce.  Thankfully by 8 am the next morning, my father-in-law was able to get to us with his tractor and we headed for a hotel.  Before we left my youngest who was 2 at the time came down with the flu and my husband followed suit after we had settled into the hotel.  After 2 weeks of no power in the house, the electric company was finally able to get the power back on.  Because of the state we left the house in, my husband and I returned first and cleaned!  We had to make sure no pipes were frozen, we lost everything in our fridge and freezer, and disinfected like the entire worlds germs were in our house.  When we cleaned we were only targeting things that had been handled during the flu epidemic, we later realized that everything in the house was also covered in soot.  When we had the candles burning(yes we put then out before we left for the hotel) as the temperature in the house dropped the soot from the candles stuck to everything.  I gradually got the most of the soot mess cleaned up, but when I went to clean my cabinets this morning I found out lines of soot on the backs of the cabinets, and my top shelves that I rarely have to use still had a thick soot film on them :(
         So anyway.... enough of the story telling ;)
         It took me a little longer to accomplish this task.  I ended up rearranging my cabinets which was awesome!  I can find things a little better now.  I mean it wasn't bad before but now certain things are closer together, and I should have put them that way to begin with!  Not to mention while completing this task I got a head start on the next days tasks!
          Last but not least I cleaned out 1 1/2 bags worth of stuff.  That puts me a bag and half ahead of schedule :D