Showing posts with label Spring cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spring cleaning. Show all posts

Monday, April 2, 2012

Cleaning The Murphy Closet

I was watching the original version of Cheaper By the Dozen the other night.  (I think I'm getting through Netflix too fast, I'll watch about anything these days, LOL).  When the father stops the car he asks if anyone needs to visit Mrs. Murphy, and they all say no.  I was thinking "Boy this Mrs. Murphy must be an unpleasant lady."  But then later on in their trip they all say they need to visit her, and I got the little joke.


The challenge is still is going on till April 5th.  I had three interviews, two dental appointments, my daughter's events and my parents came in to town last week so I didn't get a lot done.  I was determined to get something done today.  The bathrooms really needed cleaning so I started there and organized under the sink in each bathroom.
Before in the full bath.

After in the full bath.

Before in the half bath.

After in the full bath.
Now under the sinks I just have a waste basket, and cleaning supplies.  The full bath is also holding extra toilet paper, and the scale.  In the half bath we have the plunger since it fits better and is hiding.  In the half bath I put the extra toilet paper in the cabinet next to the dental supplies since it fit best here.  

With a couple of days left I still have the laundry room to do, which I am going to tackle tomorrow.  I have a few trips to make to donate and sell items and I hope to get that done this week as well before Easter.

See more of the Spring Cleaning Challenge at:

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Spring Cleaning Challenge- Day 5

Today I was week with motivation.  Day 1 of the challenge I started with the toy room in the basement, and had worked on it a lot day one and a little the following days.  I really wanted to get the kids bedrooms done today too, which they worked on a little bit, but they are not finished.  Around noon I finally got the motivation to finish it to 98%.
The second shot really shows how much open the space has become.  I need to get rid of the electronics on the desk and move the pillows to the couch from under the TV, but I hung out down here today and it was great.  We got the bean bag chairs for the kids for Christmas from Gordman's and they are really comfortable.  It is nice to have a basement to relax in during the summer because I don't like to keep the air conditioner running all day.  (It was getting hot today, and I refuse to turn on the air conditioner in March.)
This is now the dress up area.  I need to get pegs for this board to hang up the hats and necklaces and some other misc. items.  (I will update this picture when I do.)

This is my daughter's toy shelf.  I didn't want to spend a lot of containers so I used Girl Scout cookie boxes (Note: we didn't buy all those cookies, I was the cookie mom so I had stashes from booths and doling them out).  The top is barbie dolls and little toy girly dolls.  If you can believe this: all those thin mint boxes are littlest pet shop items mixed in with a few small my little ponies and Squinkies (plus I didn't take the game of littlest pet shop they were playing on the train table).  The other cookie box is for piano books for the keyboard to the left, and to the right is her craft table (too messy to show, I didn't want to mess up her constant work in progress).


This is my son's toy area.  I really like how the peg board weapon display turned out.  I am going to take a picture of how it looks when everything is put away and hang it above so he know what to do.  The shelf on the left holds superheros, box of balls, tool sets, smaller toy cars and the white box holds ammo.


This is still a work in progress but I am happy with what was done today.  I am going to call this good for this challenge and try to work on other projects.  

On a side note: We rarely have people over and then my husband came home and asked if it was OK if his friend and girlfriend came over.  I had been so busy with the basement, that the upstairs wasn't good-enough-for-me ready for company.  I was able to get the home clean in half an hour, and then they didn't come (but now I can relax for tonight :0).  I can say I am getting better at cleaning, and noticing things.  My goal is to be able to keep this up even after I start a new job some day.

See more who are working on the challenge at:


Amy’s Finer Things : Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
Home-EC 101 Facebook : Twitter
Tidy Mom Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
Untrained Housewife : Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
Live Renewed : Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
Biblical Homemaking : Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
Living Well Spending Less : Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
The Greenbacks Gal : Facebook : Pinterest : Twitter
Warrior Mama : Facebook : Twitter 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Spring Cleaning Challenge- Day 4

Yesterday I started work on the hall closet, but wasn't able to get done.  I wanted to get packing tape to tape boxes together to use instead of buying all new containers to put things into.  I was able to get out today and buy tape, plus I did end up buy two containers fore $3.67 each.  I really like the containers that Walmart has where the top latches to the container.  I also picked up packs of bins that were on clearance for $1 each.  They would be good for organizing desk drawers or for my kitchen drawers.  I also looked at bins to store toys inside, but they were $3.50/2, and seems smaller and more flimsy than the ones I already have.  I also put up the peg board in the toy room, but I want to move 1/2 of it to another space because I don't like how it looks.
I worked by pulling things out and placing them on a table in the living room.  My hallway it too tight to have the table in there so there was more leg work, but I didn't want to put things on the floor since the kids were home running around.


At the top I have my cleaning supplies, sorted by air & fabric refresher; spray cleaners, scrub brushes, and carpet cleaners.  The second 1: medicine, sunblock, hair care, and lotions.  Shelf 2:  lady's time of the month supplies, vaseline, wash cloths, cotton balls, and bars of soap.  Shelf 3:  hair accessories and brushes (3 ball jars for bands and clips, brushes, headbands and other in boxes), box for nail care, box for face care, box for body space and etc.  Shelf 4: bag of cologne sample and lotions, hair cutting, extra shower curtain.  The bottom I am keeping open for buckets for cleaning (right now they are helping me clean fish tanks).
In the end I had a box partially full of things that have other places to go, a cardboard box that has been following me around full of bathroom supplies since I got home from college in '03, and lots of garbage.


I also organized the cabinets in the bathrooms.  I put all the tooth care items in the half bath because this is where we all brush our teeth most of the time.  In the fake wood cabinet in the full bath, I kept the top shelf for my husbands shaving, the middle is for me which has my face cleaning cloth from Norwex, and the bottom is my daughter's with her hair brush and earrings.  In the metal medicine cabinet: tooth care on bottom, medicine and maintenance kit on top with my multivitamin and tweezers.  The wooden cabinet in the half bath: my women's needs (makeup, deodorant, perfume) and first aid and medicine on top, middle shelf has extra mouth wash and cups, my husbands deodorant and Q-tips, the bottom shelf is all tooth care.

I dream at night to be rich and be able to have a remodeled bathroom, with matching baskets to hold items.  I also wish to go through my hair care and lotion stash to get that down to a few and open up more space.  I think the latter is more likely to happen in the future, but I am super happy to know where things are and how much I have.  I am constantly buying things over and over because I don't know if I have them or not.  It is getting easier and easier for my to organize these days.  Before I would clean an area and get frustrated when I couldn't find something I had just seen while I was cleaning.  Now with the help of this blog as motivation and picture proof, it is helping me to find lost items and keep my sanity.

Next up: cleaning the bedrooms.

See more who linked up at the Spring Cleaning Challenge:

Spring Clean : The Why :: Home-EC 101 
Spring Clean: Floors and Windows :: Amy’s Finer Things
Spring Clean: The Kitchen :: Tidy Mom  
Spring Clean: Home Office :: Untrained Housewife
Spring Clean: Declutter Around the House ::  Live Renewed
Spring Clean : Main Living Area :: Biblical Homemaking
Spring Clean: Conquering the Kids’ Room :: Living Well Spending Less
Spring Clean: Outdoor Living Spaces :: The Greenbacks Gal
Spring Clean: Garage and Cars ::  Organize365


I'm also linking this up to Project Simplify '12.


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Spring Cleaning Challenge- Day 2


Last night I was able to go out and buy some baskets from Dollar Tree for my wall shelf I'm going to put in the dress up area in the toy room.  I also went out and bought peg board from Menards.  It was there that I found out a '4x4' sheet won't fit in a Jetta, so I bought two 2'x4' sheets.  I will need my husband's help, but he is getting his oil changed at Walmart which takes about 3 hours when you don't make an appointment.  
Meanwhile, I was trying to put up the shelf and I thought my wall hanging supplies were in the junk drawer, but couldn't find them.  I figured this was the best time to tackles this project.  Above is the before picture.

Here is a shot of what I sorted from the drawer.  16 different categories, all of which had other homes.
This shot is what I put back inside.  My husband's checkbook (because I know he will question why I had to move it), a notepad, and my screwdriver kit that I am always needing.  I vacuumed and wiped down the drawer but it looks like it needs a new liner.  It didn't take me that long and with all the work I have been doing in the other areas of my home I was able to put things away in no time, and with little thought.  I just wonder how long this drawer will stay this clean.

To see more about the Spring Cleaning challenge check out these sites:


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring Cleaning Challenge Day 1

The right corner shows the totes I moved from the other room.

I started the challenge yesterday with cleaning my kid's toy area.  From the February cleaning challenge, I moved all the toys that I took out of the toy room from last year's Spring cleaning.   My sister also gave me an air hockey table that I would really like to set up and we got a keyboard for my daughter for Christmas.

I started with moving all the bins that I already have sorted to one side of the space. I was making sure nothing out of place was mixed into the bin (the top picture), while moving them to this space.  Then I also lined up empty bins to hold anything that didn't match or was too big for the sorted containers.
These are the after shots, which still looks messy but there is a lot of floor space that opened up.  I still have to dig under the tables to pick up the toys on the floor but I have only two small boxes of things that didn't get sorted because I wasn't really sure what there are or where to sort them into so I'm going to get my kids involved tonight.
Here are my current categories for toys:
  • zhu zhu box
  • lego books
  • tool box
  • tools and screws, small wood for foam wood
  • baby doll items
  • plastic animals
  • plates, cups, etc for house play
  • play-doh toys
  • barbie, misc dolls for girls
  • balls/ outdoor play
  • train set
  • weapons
  • vehicles
  • dressup



  •  balls, bats, ect (yes more play balls)
  • Lil pet shop bin (more on the table
  • stuffed animals
  • big toys
  • wagon with rollar skates
  • cardboard box with foam wood and projects from lowes

  • top shelf is items to sort still
  • stuffed animals
  • blue bin is super hero
  • pink bin in empty
  • garbage can
  • outdoor toys

Some thoughts at this point:
This video has great ideas on labeling toy bins.
I have a wall shelf that has a dowel under it, that I will hang on the wall for a dress up area.
I need to organize a space in the garage for kids toys, and move some of the balls out there.
I want to set up an area for my son's train set, cars, and tools, and another separate area for my daughter's Lil Pet Shop, barbie, doll, stuffed animal, plastic animals
I'm going to store the food and plates because I haven't seen them play with any of these things for awhile.
I'm going to put the play-doh with the board games.
I want to buy a peg board to have my son's weapons hung on the wall.  
The big TV in the middle of the floor is going on Craig's list for free because it is a really old 32".
I will also donate another TV to Goodwill since they only take good condition TVs with remotes.

I hope to have more updates for tomorrow.

See more who linked up at: i Dream of Clean