So, we had our dreaded yearly mouse. And I got really sick around the same time with asthma and a virus. So I went on this cleaning mission. Or journey or better yet quest. I can’t tell you how completely obsessed I have been about cleaning starting around President’s Day. So almost a month, I have been getting rid of dust and grime and clothes and books and cd’s and purses and papers and magazines and anything that I have not emotional attachment to!

My carpet is now professionally cleaned, I have an amazing new air purifier, I have scrubbed every surface, thrice. I have given away what is equivalent to 10 garbage bags of material things. I have recycled at least 100 things. I bought a canister set yesterday in an effort to have our baking goods stored in a way that we can see our inventory since my kid loves to bakes, and so that we can eliminate the tons of jars and containers that we attempted to use to be organized.

And I am not getting rid of all of the containers. Under my sink for example, I just shifted things from one container to another that was actually a better fit and now it looks like a new and uncluttered space. And I am upcycling things as well. My daughter makes this awesome sugar scrub, so some of the jars that we used for candy from her Harry Potter party, and then for baking goods, we will use to gift sugar scrub to people instead of buying more Mason Jars.

So, I feel accomplished, renewed, lighter and freer. It has been really hard to go through the 6 gigantic and stuffed containers of my kid’s baby clothes though. I have only been through one and got rid of like 3 things because I have such sweet memories of her wearing these items. For some reason I find it terrbily hard to get rid of pjs and caridgans that she wore. Maybe one day I will be able to let some of that go, but it holds more value to me personally than all of the things I own.

Baby steps for now. And I will keep upcycling and storing things in cool ways like using a leaking glass water dispenser to store cloth napkins and napkin rings. Or Mason Jars for teas and Stevia and other condiments. And even though I feel all Martha Stewart, I don’t have her money or can’t come close to her mad skills, but I will keep pretending I do. My house and my guests will benefit at least.:)

simply~

Dee