Saturday, July 12, 2008

Clean Sweep - Part One

I am not a pack rat, but I live with two, my husband and my daughter. Each year when spring arrives, I'll start feeling claustrophobic with all of our stuff everywhere (cause, of course, I am also not much of a house cleaner - read: lazy). So I'll organize, gather items for garage sale or goodwill, and de-clutter parts of the house. I normally do an area or piece of furniture but never a whole room. But I was inspired by the show Clean Sweep on TLC, even though I have only seen it a few times.

My daughter has not met a piece of paper, a magazine, a stuffed animal that she didn't have to have. Each year we go through her room and get rid of bags of trash (old school papers, newspapers, toys she doesn't have all the part for) and bags for goodwill. But this year, my annual sit-down in her room was too overwhelming. Her stuff had grown out of control! On Thursday I grabbed a big bin and a laundry basket and had her bring ALL of her stuff (except her clothes) down to me in the garage. It took over 2 hours for her to empty her closet, 2 bookshelves, a desk and all the stuff she had in piles around her room. I wish I had a picture of the "before" because it was such a sight, but I think I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to even attempt a picture. LOL

Here are a few pictures to showcase the work we have embarked on.
The beginning
My daughter's things encompass the entire ping pong table, the stand next to it, the card table behind it, and the pile of stuffed animals and bags underneath the card table.
Stuffed animals and bags IMG_3213
IMG_3216

Since Thursday, I have had to stop my husband from 'shopping' the ping-pong table. Sample conversation:
DH: "Ooo, we can't get rid of this..it's one of my favorites!"
Me: "She chooses what goes back in her room and it will be no more than 1/4 of this stuff."
DH: "That's okay, I'll put this downstairs with my stuff."
Me: "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Her room is clean now. It's so amazing to walk into there and not be bombarded or feel claustrophobic. I'll go quickly through her clothes in the closet before taking things back up. My plan is to have a friend come over early next week to be a mediator between my daughter and I as we filter through her things. I'll let you know how it turns out.

4 comments:

Lisa Clarke said...

This is a FANTASTIC idea. My kids' room is so full of stuff that going through it is entirely too overwhelming. I like the idea of putting it somewhere else to go through it (preferably somewhere like the garage where you can easily dispose of what's left).

Marie Cloutier said...

Wow, good for you for doing that clear out and putting it in one place to sort through is a great idea. :-) good luck with it! :-)

Anonymous said...

LOLOL! I get crazy if there's too much junk in the house. I do a Clean Sweep every quarter. :)

I am fortunate my hubby feels the same way. In fact, he's the one who converted me...lol!

Julie said...

We did this with my son's room last fall when we painted it. SO.MUCH.JUNK! Hard to believe it all came out of his room!!!