Packrat be gone…

by Sarah | Jul 11, 2009 | All About Family, All About Home

**This is not my actual house, just one similar to it I found online. Ours is like this, small, one floor, no landscaping, tree in the front yard…but our is more rectangle than square ;)**

When we moved into this house 7 years ago it was as a ‘starter’ house.  It was perfect for our ‘small’ family of three.  3 bedrooms, the largest of which was 13X12, the smallest 9X9. The kitchen and living room were a good size and there were two bathrooms (unique for this neighborhood).

Since them our ‘starter’ house has become our permanent home.  We’ve made mistakes financially, which we are now trying to correct, but the end result is we are here and likely not going anywhere for a long time. 

In a way, that’s okay with us.  The neighborhood is amazing.  Our neighbors are wonderful.  The street has no outlet-which means no through traffic, only 95% residential traffic-so the kids (and there are a LOT of them) can run and play up and down the street with only minimal chance of danger.  Brandon can go out and play and I know that if he’s up to no good where I can’t see him a neighbor will call and let me know.  We all watch out for each other-and I couldn’t ask for a better place to live.

But the house is SMALL.  When we first moved in we took the biggest room, put Brandon in the next biggest and turned the tiny box into an office. For the two of us packrats, the office became the catchall and by the time I became pregnant with Riley it was packed full of junk.  We cleaned it out and somehow turned it into a nursery, putting much of the junk in the garage. When Angel came along we made another switch, putting the two girls in the big room and squeezing poor Brandon into the 9X9 room.

Guess what, the packrats that are us still needed a catchall.  It became our bedroom.  Every other room would be ‘clean’ (but filled with clutter), and our room would be the pit.  It was the last room I would touch, and was so packed that I was overwhelmed.   We needed Clean House in the worst way.  But in the absence of ‘reality’ television…I finally had to bite the bullet and DO something.

This week I’ve started.  Our house is way too small for 5 people and the amount of clutter we had.  I don’t have the money for clever storage plans (oh, but I wish I do) so I have to cleanout completely.

I started in our bedroom.  From top to bottom I cleaned I rearranged and the room is now the cleanest in the house for a change.  It needs a coat of paint and some nice curtains, a new bedspread (Indy Girls, I’ll take offers 😉 )… but it’s CLEAN. 

Since then I’ve moved onto the living room – clutter central in a way I never realized…I’ve been finding clutter everywhere. 

But clutter is slowly taking it’s exit of my house.  I’ve thrown away probably 20 trash bags in the past week, and that’s just in two rooms.  I’m sure some of the items we could have done in a garage sale, but I’m just getting rid of everything. If I hold it for a garage sale, I’ll never have the sale.  I’m being realistic and aware of my own lethargy/procrastination on some matters.

Over the weekend I’ll finish the living room and move onto the kitchen next week (be afraid. Be VERY afraid).  I would love for the boys (my husband and neighbor) to just cut out the wall separating the living room from the kitchen while I’m working on this (we have talked about doing this, just not actually done it)…but for now I’ll just be happy to clean.  I hope to get paint and paint the rooms that need it (living room needs fresh coat; hallway, bedroom, and kitchen desperately need paint)…once everything is clean.  The last two rooms I’ll do is the boys room (I got started, didn’t finish) and the bathroom (hubs asked me to wait until he and Moe finish up the remodel…hopefully that will happen SOON).  The girls room is the closest to already clean that there is…as I regularly clean it out when they outgrow clothes. 

So now that this is being done I’m trying to shed my packrat ways…and the spending habits that came with her.  It won’t be easy – but I’m going to try!!