I spent my Sunday purging and organizing the clothing in Mikey’s dresser and tackling the closet stuffed with toys we planned on selling at the garage sale that never happened. It took a couple of hours, including procrastination time and breaks I didn’t really need. It went faster than I expected, and I was really puffing out my chest about it, too, until I realized he had a hamper full of dirty laundry. Curses.
At least I had a good attitude about it! [False.] I tackled his clothes like I do every project: with confidence and excitement. [Lies.] I pin up my hair, put on something pretty, preferably with poofs, and sing my happy little working song.
I never, never procrastinate. [Uh huh.] Like, ever. [Sure.]
That’s why Sunday was so easy. I clickity-clacked into Mikey’s room in my kitten heals and fingered my pearl necklace. My alabaster brow only slightly furrowed at the dresser’s worth of clothing on Mikey’s bed and the mess in his closet before I admitted out loud for the suburban-woodland creatures to hear, “Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. This just won’t do! ”
Then, I waved my team on (two ancient beagles, three fish, some moths) and got to work.
BIBBITY.
BOBBITY.
BOO!
Wasn’t this fun?
New here? For the next 31 days I�m living according to the famous William Morris quote, �Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.� You can learn more about the project here, and catch sneak peeks of my projects by following me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (I�m @pancakesfries).
Jobs like this are kind of a pain, but they are the ones with big return. They totally pay for themselves because it takes less time to do laundry and put stuff away when there is less. And everyone knows that mess begets mess, so when the closet is already overflowing, the natural thing is to just throw stuff on the pile. But when it’s organized, you take the extra second to hang it up or put it away or whatever.
Your house is going to be amazing when this is all over. Are you working through a list or just choosing as you go along? So far I’m just choosing as I go.
Looks SO much better. I did NINE loads of laundry today. NINE.
I need more slimline hangers.
I bought a bunch of those hangers–did I tell you? I didn’t do nine loads of laundry (!!!YOU WIN!!!) but I did do…five, I think. Honestly, I lost track. Sigh.
Wow! That easy, huh?
I bet it feels great to have that done.
I always revel in that feeling until I remember that sorting and purging kids’ clothes never ends. Until they’re- what- 13, and able to do it on their own? That’s a lifetime away.
Oh well. I sorted through four rubbermaid bins of my daughter’s clothes yesterday. I think I would have preferred to do almost anything else. But it’s done now and someone is coming to pick up several large garbage bags of clothes for one low low price, so that feels good.
Thanks for the inspiration.
It’s done. We can breathe…until spring, I guess. Argh!
Long as they are growing, this task just does not stop!
No, it doesn’t, and that’s what I keep reminding myself. They are happy and healthy growing boys–this is a good thing!
As overwhelming as cleaning out my boys clothes can be, it pales in comparison to my girl’s clothes. They are old enough to sort through their own clothes, and they do that fairly regularly. And yet, it feels like their clothes breed like rabbits. This morning, their room looked like a thrift shop exploded in their bedroom. Thanks for all of the inspiration to tackle these jobs. And thank you for owning that it isn’t all super easy and exciting.
By the way, I almost had a yard sale a year ago. I couldn’t do it. The idea of haggling over an old shirt or toy, just made me anxious. It all went to charity, and I am happy with that.
I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I lucked out with two boys–if only because of the girl clothing and shoes. There is SO much of it, and it all seems so very cute! It’s much easier to resist boy clothes which, let’s be honest, are never all that cute.
OMG that VIDEO! Now I want to watch Enchanted, just to see where they go with this magical sunshine and carefree sing-songy poofy-dressed woman in a real world environment. I kept expecting the next scene to be rat or bird droppings. And when the cockroaches cleaned the scum off the tub I about lost it. It’s so funny, as a cartoon that wouldn’t have bothered me at all but as a portrayal of the real world it completely grossed me out. I may have been grimacing through the whole cleaning scene, lol.
I totally get that the whole concept of cheerily singing along while cleaning was sarcasm, but an upbeat dance-y album will keep me going MUCH better than my (lack of) motivation! That, or a deadline. Like Upstairs, Downstairs is supposed to come on in 2 hours. I’ve got 2 cabinets to purge and a drawer of manuals to put into a binder. Go! (Upstairs, Downstairs is a frequent Sunday motivator, lol)
I actually want to see Enchanted, too!
And truthfully–I don’t do a single William Morris project without blasting the Katy Perry channel on Pandora! It does help to sing while you work, although my happy working song yesterday was “Burn” by Rhianna and Eminem. O_o
I LOVE Enchanted! It’s super cute and really funny. It’s a nice spin on a typical fairy tale.
Hope you stay under the spell for the whole of 27 days left and beyond if need be..
I have a playlist and movie list for ironing, now I need one for cleaning too.
Thank you for the inspiration/motivation/incantation :)
This WAS fun!! you are such a witty girl! (and you need to see ‘Enchanted’ :)