Day 49 & 50 - Silly Bands and Toys

I can't believe I missed posting yesterday and almost missed today! Here it is at 11:30pm and I'm hastily tossing this post up (two days worth).

29 Silly Bands
9 Silly Rings
7 Car Keys
2 Bracelets
2 Broken hair things
1 Fake Flower
1 Figurine
1 Chapstick

- Katie

Day 48 - Books

Further inspired by The Joy of Less, I am parting with this shelf of 26 books. While I have enjoying reading most of these, I wouldn't re-buy any of them so why keep them?

1 to 19. Sue Grafton alphabet books
20. Accounting textbook
21. What to Expect When You're Expecting
22. Exile
23. Footprints (story behind the famous poem)
24. The Captain's Wife
25. Nightmare Academy - Peretti
26. A fake book designed to hold a VHS tape. This has been a treasure of mine for years! Ever since I read about Claudia Kishi's clever candy stash for Babysitter's Club meetings I've thought a fake book was the coolest thing ever. I even tried to hollow out a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped when I was a teenager. Alas, I haven't ever used this gem and it just sits on my shelf looking like I have two copies of Little Women. *sigh

Katie

p.s. Yes, I know book titles should be underlined. I just can't figure out how to underline in blogger. Grr. Maybe DH can help me out tomorrow.

DH: I added the underlines. It wasn't "tomorrow", but in my defense she never asked me or she never asked me when I was listening. Hmm. That's not a very good defense.

Day 47 - Toy Bits

1 to 4. Care Bears - old, from DH's childhood
5 to 8. Barbie cards from a deck I already got rid of
9. Toy makeup wand with the sponge ripped off
10. Tiny Hello Kitty figurine with pen all over it
11 to 15. Shape erasers
16. Some Tinkerbell toy with no purpose
17 to 19. Magnets to a Belle toy we already got rid of
20 to 22. Magnets to a counting book we already got rid of
23. Random comb
24. Baby linky - got rid of others already
25. Lego guide
26. Orange seaweed shape to a toy we got rid of at last year's garage sale

Today's just a bunch of random little toys that have been accumulating in the corner of my room.

Katie

Day 46 - Kitchen

I'm reading a new book called The Joy of Less and the first chapter suggested looking critically at the items in your home asking a variety of questions. I was inspired to head to my kitchen with the question "Would I replace you if you were broken or gone?" in mind.

1 to 3. Shape pancake makers - more trouble than they're worth. I kept two hearts for Valentine's Day and because they aren't as much of a pain with their open shape.
4. Bear cookie cutter
5. Plastic lid with no container
6. Foil pan with a slice in it
7. My very favorite serving plate, accidentally broken by DD#2 when she was unloading the dishwasher. Poor, sweet girl was devastated and kept apologizing through her tears. After making sure SHE was OK, I assured her it was just a plate and a thing isn't nearly as important as a person. I decided to include in here in ProjectTwentySix because I will not replace this item. I will use something else I have.
8 to 13. Various keys to things we don't own anymore
14. Bag of long balloons
15. Earrings I won't ever wear
16 & 17. Pins of a fire truck and dalmation
18. Jewelry gift box
19. Single stem flower keeper
20. 35MM film - unused
21. Bottle brush
22. Some gadget that is supposed to seal bags and worked only one time for me, but has cluttered up my fridge for almost 8 years
23. A ranch dip mix that is hardened with age - no date on packaging
24 & 25. Seasoning mixes included with long ago meal swap meals.
26. A stopper for a sippy cup we no longer have

Katie

Day 45 - Linens & Cookbooks

I've been cleaning out my linen closet in an effort to create more space for my canning jars. I don't like storing preserves in the garage because of temperature fluctuations and my regular pantry just can't handle the weight or space of 200 full jars!

1 & 2. Throw pillows purchased 7 years ago at a garage sale.
3 & 4. Throw pillows given to me but they don't match my decor
5. Lovely throw blanket, but again it doesn't match anything I have
6. Really nice twin mattress pad, but it's not waterproof and with littles it's not practical.
7 to 10. Tablecoths I never use
11 to 18. Birthday cards
19. Binder from my youth group volunteer days
20. Emergency medical care book - never used - just called someone or looked it up online
21. MOPS book
22. Another copy of Consumer Reports' How to Clean Anything
23. A baby feeding guide - think I got this down
24 to 26. Cookbooks I never used

Katie

Before Photos - Master Bedroom

I must begin by confessing how very hard it is to share these particular photos. While the photos of our living spaces showed some messiness, it is much more personal for me to show the pictures of our messy bedroom. We do manage to make the bed every day, or nearly, but there is a huge amount of clutter.

The view from the doorway. Not so terrible.


DH's nightstand and clean laundry.


My nightstand and stash of items for ProjectTwentySix.


Pile o'junk on the floor. In my defense some of this is related to the linen closet project.


Dresser with all sorts of junk and my clean laundry.


It's really not always this bad, but for dramatic effect it was a good day to take the photos. You can see why I really want to get rid of things and simplify!

Katie

Day 44 - Math Magnet Book

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!


This is a great learning tool, but I am tired of picking up little square magnets and finding them in odd places. Here is the book, 24 magnets and a set of pony keys that belong to toys I got rid of awhile back.

Katie

Day 43 - Big Stuff! Ebay, Consignment, & Given Away

Following is a big series of photographs of a variety of things that are now out of my house. As you look through these photos today you'll see all four of our daughters! 1. Leap Frog Table - donated to church

2. Loveseat! - given to a friend

3. Couch/Hide-a-bed - given to a friend

4. Boucer Seat & 5. Jumperoo - both donated to church

6 to 15. Clothing items taken to consignment

16. Styrofoam cooler - given to a friend

17. Crib Mattress - donated to church

18. Spider costume - sold on ebay

19. Horse costume - sold on ebay

20. Lion costume - given to a friend

21 & 22. Not Your Daughter's Jeans - 2 Pair - sold on ebay

23. Moster costume - taken to consignment

24. Another costume (martial arts) - taken to consignment

25. Elephant costume - again consignment

Finally 26. Lion costume - sold on ebay

There you have it. Some big things, some little, all gone. Hurrah!

Katie

Day 42 - More kid clothes

Even more clothes I've decided to part with as I sort through our boxes. Some of these are a result of my rule that all the clothes have to fit in their respective boxes. If they don't fit, I obviously have too many items!

1 to 7. Pants - Too worn, small stain, or sweatpants (bleh.)
8 to 14. Tops - Don't like, don't use enough etc.
15. Skirt - white so impractical
16 to 19 - Dresses
20 to 25 - Three pairs of PJs. I had Nine pairs in this size, so I pulled out the pilled and stained ones.
26. A baby shower favor. So cute, but I don't need to keep it.

Katie

Day 41 - Kid shoes & clothes

I continued to switch out kid seasonal clothes and found more items.

1 to 4. Flip-flops that are worn out
5 & 6. This pair had the toe thong pull through
7 to 14. These are shoes DD#4 has outgrown.
15 & 16. PJs that are too big for the girls and Christmas-themed so not uber-practical
17. Cute summer top, but a little short and eyelet trim is getting worn
18. Love this Gymboree top but I have to spend a lot of time on buttons so not worth it
19. Dress that is cute, but not my style
20. Sweatshirt - I just don't like sweatshirts
21. Pants with a little stain and going out of style
22. Pants that are going out of style
23 & 24. Tank tops that are so cute and DD#1 loves them, but we're trying to phase out bare shoulders
25 & 26. One more pair of shoes up top.

My kids really have tons of clothes so giving something up just because I don't like it or because I think it's getting too far out of style is reasonable. Two or three years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of parting with something useful for so petty a reason, but I have the freedom to do so with ProjectTwentySix.

Katie

Day 40 - Silly Bands

I know, I know. More tiny stuff! But good news: I'll have a posting of several large items later this week. Whoo-hoo! Hint: It includes couch photos!

Katie

Day 39 - Kid Offal

Today's selection is an array of kid junk that DH and I have been picking up and setting aside for ProjectTwentySix. It's amazing what just floats around a house!

1. Fake flower
2. Fake flower
3. Baby comb
4. Hair clip, dirty and never used anyway
5. Broken dollhouse bed
6. Jack
7. Jack
8. Oreo game piece - game gone at last summer's garage sale
9. Silly Band
10. Broken beads
11. Hanger that doesn't match the rest
12. Broken wind-up mouse toy
13. Magnet from Belle set
14. Quasimodo finger puppet
15. Sticker sheet from a long-ago sticker book
16. Minature Barbie playing cards
17. Pony wig
18-20. Stencils for another toy gone at last summer's garage sale
21. Baby bottle that liquid leaked out of
22. Marker lid
23. Pencil grip
24 -25. Perler bead guides
26. Outfit for long-gone paper dolls.

Katie

Day 38 - Summer Clothes from Older Girls

I have been transitioning out the girls' seasonal clothes over the course of the last two weeks. I usually manage this task twice a year in April and November. Sometimes it's quick (like when mom is visiting and we can do all 4 kids in one day), but this time I did one kid at a time a few days apart. But it's done - PHEW! And everyone has nice, long-sleeved shirts to wear and the sundresses and sandals are hidden away so I don't have to make anyone change their clothes in the morning starting our day with a major meltdown.

Here's some of the summer clothes I am parting with from my first two daughters' drawers and even a few warm items I realized we don't really need to keep. My girls wear dresses primarily in the summer so I'm getting rid of most of the shorts. DH also objected to the length of some of the shorts so it makes no sense to keep them.

Also included are sundresses that weren't favorites, looked wrinkly, or just had too skinny of straps.

The red shirt down in front was hard to part with. I found it at a thrift store for something like $0.30 over a year ago. I thought it was hilarious with three bears in a row in their white undies. Two are dressed appropriately, but the bear on the right decided to sport his shorts on his head. The words underneath say "Be Weird". I just thought it was hilarious, but the reality is my oldest won't be able to wear it for another two years and knowing her personality, she wouldn't want to wear it. And should I encourage her to wear it? I think it's hilarious but maybe it's not so appropriate for a six year old! Now DD#2 would love it and wear it without hesitation but that doesn't mean I should keep it. Goodbye hilarious weird underwear shirt!

Katie

Where's the Big Stuff?

A friend has twice mentioned to me that if she were doing ProjectTwentySix she would get rid of the big stuff - just make a big dent immediately. She sees the things I've gotten rid of so far as baby steps when I could be making leaps toward less clutter and more sanity.

I think my friend has an excellent point, but I can't do much at this point to correct the problem. The first issue is that there aren't all that many "big" items to get rid of. We've identified a few large things (like pink, floral couches) but mostly it's small stuff that causes clutter and that I'm constantly picking up. Second it's easier said than done to actually remove any those huge things from the house. We have to have a place/person who wants it and a way to move it. Finally, a lot of our smaller stuff is currently being contained by large items. I'm hoping to part with so many small things by the end of this project that some large items will be 'free to go.' For example, bookshelves holding CD's, movies, and books and filing cabinets that have completely unnecesary papers in them.

In short, you may not be seeing items with a big mass going out just yet. But they will go eventually. I hope.

Katie

Day 37 - Cookie Shooter

1. & 2. Pot & lid I bought at a garage sale this summer. It came as a set of two and I am keeping the larger pot
3. Cookie Shooter
4. Cap
5. to 10. Tips
11. to 26. Powder design things.

My sweet aunt gave me this cookie shooter about 5 years ago and I've never managed to use it. I love, LOVE to bake, but can't see keeping this any longer if I haven't used it in all this time.

Katie

Day 36 - Hair Stuff, Cartons, & Random Toys

I little bit of organizing out in the garage turned up these egg cartons (1&2) and plastic containers (3-9). They must have fallen behind our *extra* barbeque at some point when I was still saving them.

10. A Carebear costume
11. Huge hair clip
12. Bubbles that keep getting left out (I warned her)
13. A train toy that got left here by someone
14 to 19. Hair claw clip things
20. Rubber freebie bracelet
21 & 22. Random dog toys
23 & 24. Lidless markers
25 & 26. Hair bands I didn't make use of with my full-haired baby. Gave to a friend.

Katie

Day 35 - Plastic boxes & Magnet Toy

This is another toy I've slipped away and DD#2 hasn't asked for. Almost 3 years ago we lost all but one of Belle's 'shirts' and pieces have been disappearing and littering my floor since we got it. We also have a Cinderella set of these but it has stayed more intact and I want to offer it as consolation when DD#2 figures out Belle is gone.

These plastic containers I saved and we put the sets of "squishy princesses" in them. Each princess with her own clothes/accessories in each box. Now it's too much of a pain to keep them separate. They all swim together in a plastic shoebox and my life is easier. I just keeping telling myself that it's really OK if Flounder mingles with the Briar Rose dress.

There are also a couple more fake flowers, a Color Wonder marker that is all dried out, and a Princess pin that is rusting.

One random, additional thought: Today I had to throw away my Sunday newspaper. A few weeks ago I resolved that if I hadn't read my Sunday paper by Monday night I had to put it straight into the recycling bin. No more stacks of Sunday papers on top of the fridge until I have "time" to read them! Well, it happened last night. A Sunday paper not even opened. So this morning I flipped through the ads to pull out coupons, pulled out my very favorite (small) section, and recycled the rest. Then I stood over the recycle receptacle, perused the front page of my little section of paper and then let it go. Ouch! But hurrah for one less thing littering up the kitchen.

Katie

Day 34 - VHS tapes

This is our first pass at the VHS tapes. We helped the girls pick out many of their own movies that they don't watch. Interestingly we vetoed many of their choices, so perhaps we are more attached to their movies than they are. Hm.

Here's a list:
1. Puff the Magic Dragon - they could care less
2. Secret of Nimh 2 - watched once and too scary
3. Lion King - duplicate
4. Snow White - duplicate
5. Kids is Kids - Donald Duck compliation including a scene where he makes his nephews smoke a bunch of cigars! - they never watch it
6. Joseph - we have the DreamWorks one)
7. Abraham - have a few other cartoons about Abe
8. Moses - we have many, many Bible story movies
9. Santa Buddies - fun movie, but we like others better for Christmas
10. Romy & Michele - mine, too many yucks
11. Steel Magnolias - mine, too depressing
12. Big Bird goes to the Hospital - never watch
13. Noah
14. Kingdom Under the Sea - too scary
15. Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched
16. Thomas the Train
17. You are Special
18. Bible Songs
19. Random Christian movie with puppets
20. Little Engine that Could
21. Peter Rabbit
22. Wishbone
23. BibleMan
24. Hermie - duplicate
25. Madeline
26. CD of kids' songs that never gets played.

I gave a lot of these away at MOPS recently but I have a few left that I'm hoping to offer to the church library.

Katie

Day 33 - Children's Books

It's always heart-wrenching for me to part with books. A friend recently asked me, "You aren't getting rid of books are you? You can never have too many books!" Oh, how I wish that were the case! But alas, I have to part with some and you will see many more before ProjectTwentySix is over. I probably have somewhere between 900 and 1,000 books in the house. This is just a tiny tip of the iceberg. I'll try to do at least one day of books each month.

Katie

Day 32 - Baby Clothes, Hats, Bibs, Formula, Gear

Today it's lots of baby items.

1. dishwasher basket
2-3. formula given to me that I'll pass along to a bottle feeding friend
4. A broken Barbie chair I decided not to fix
5. A broken Cinderella that was cake topper I decided not to fix
6-7. Shoes that give DD#3's feet an owie
8-12. Bibs that don't give good enough coverage anymore
13-14. Slippers DD#1 really wanted to contribute to ProjectTwentySix.
15. Wipes container I used to carry in the diaper bag
16. Broken kid sunglasses
17-21. Sunhats we don't get enough sun to use
22-26. Outgrown baby clothes

Sweet DD#1 really wants to be involved in ProjectTwentySix and frequently brings me a pile of things to get rid of. Usually very little of it is stuff that would qualify, like trash/papers, or it's stuff I can't let her get rid of, like shoes that she needs or will keep for the next sister. I'm trying to think of ways to get her involved but haven't been able to do much yet other than let her take photos with me. I'm hoping we can focus on the Project here in the next couple of days and do a big clothes purge as we pack up and part with many summer clothing items. She would be a big help with that.

Katie

Day 31 - Shirts & Pony toys

1-8. Shirts that don't fit. I sent most of these to a friend.
9. Galaxy Quest on VHS. Can you believe we actually had two copies of this one?
10. A flimsy book that got scribbled on. On of my biggest peeves is defaced books.
11. A pair of tights that are way too big for the girls. I picked them up used and figured I'd just stow them for later, but I haven't managed to stow them and I want them off my dresser. Be gone!
12. A candle plate that would totally work as a serving plate if it were dishwasher safe. As it's not, I'll just part with it.
13-26. My Little Pony figures and various pieces. One of my girls loves these, but I slipped them away three weeks ago and she hasn't even noticed. I'm trying to trim down how many "sets" of toys we have. Grandma has an impressive collection of these particular ponies so we'll just play with them at her house.

Did you notice the background is different? I was changing my sheets at photo time so instead of blue bedspread you see white mattress pad.

Katie

Before Photos - Upstairs Living Spaces

Two weeks ago I showed you my scary basement. Today I'm sharing some of our upstairs, where we spend most of our time. It's cluttered, no question, but I hope you'll agree it's not as bad as the basement!

This is a photo of our formal living room. That's 3 couches, 5 tables, 2 chairs, 3 lamps, a curio cabinet, and a plant. On the right, hidden from view, is a secretary desk. We were recently given one of these couches and are trying to get rid of the matching floral couch & loveseat. If we can't manage to sell them on Craig's List or find someone who wants them, we'll try and donate them.

This is the view from the opposite side of the room.

This is the kids' bathroom. I am purposefully showing these rooms in their "natural" state without tidying up. We toss the curtain up for baths, there is usally hair or teeth stuff lingering on the countertop, and that potty training seat is irritatingly often pulled out from the cabinet.

This is a view of our hall closet. Many, many things get tossed in here. It's pretty organized, but it has to be because there's so much stuff in there! You can see we keep the diaper stockpile, toilet paper, gifts, gift wrap, birthday party supplies and more here.

The view into the opposite corner shows more gift wrap.

This is the kitchen. The island usually has some piles, the cupboards are full of Bible verses and lists, and the fridge has lots of photos of friends, family, and missionaries we pray for conveniently out of the little kids' reach. Up above the cupboards are things rarely used, but requiring parent supervision. In truth, I'm not sure how different this room will look after ProjectTwentySix. We spend so much time in here it's destined to be the most cluttered, but I'm sure there will be some improvement.

This is the playroom. You can see many toys stacked in those bins on the shelves. Under the window are piles of clean laundry. That's more laundry folded on the couch and tossed over the back. It looks like this about twice a week. My kids have so many clothes that I can do NO laundry for 3-4 weeks and they'll still have clothes to wear. Clothing is one of the big elimination goals for ProjectTwentySix. Back in the corner is an old dinosaur desktop that the kids use for CD-Rom games. It isn't hooked up the internet.


It's humbling to share these "real" photos with you. I know all of us have messy houses sometimes, but usually we can clean up before friends come over. And in truth, my friends have seen my house in much worse shape than these photos show! I'm hoping ProjectTwentySix will make the "real" state of my house better and better!

In a couple more weeks I'll share bedroom pictures. *sigh*

Katie

Day 30 - Princess House Glass & Kitchen

1. Baby food grinder - a very practical gift from my mom that I didn't use once. Sorry Mom! But she used it when she visited.
2. to 6. the last bottle and parts - Hurrah!
7. Princess House bud vase
8. & 9. Random vases
10. Coffee mug from one of my husband's contract jobs
11. & 12. Peeler/corer/slicer and mounting block
13. parmesan grater
14. to 21. Princess House water goblets - bought for $8 at a yard sale 7 years ago and I've not used them once.
22. salad knife from my sister-in-law. Cool idea, but I can use the chef's knife and keep one less thing in the kitchen.
23. tiny scoop
24. tiny cheese spade
25. extra can opener
26. garnish knife - I don't use the one in the knife block, much less this extra!

My grandmother had a huge collection of Princess House glass and I have always loved the design. However, it doesn't make sense to 'collect' something I almost never use so I'm letting these items go.

Katie

Day 29 - Baby Clothes & 1st Pass at Books

1. to 5. Outgrown baby clothes
6. to 11. Old birthday cards
12. & 13. Letter candles
14. to 16. Toothbrush covers - we never use them and I'm constantly picking them up
17. Random toy construction cone
18. Rubber bracelet
19. Pink, fake hair braid from the dentist
20. Purple hair clip
21. Destroyed belt - As I lost weight I ran out of 'holes' and used some of the design cutouts. Apparently this wasn't the best idea because the belt actually ripped from the cutout to the top edge. Hmm.
22. & 23. Dilbert comic books
24. Consumer Reports' How to Clean Anything. I can look it all up online.
25. Bring Out Baby in Seattle - from 2001 and never used anyway
26. 2007 Consumer Reports Best Buys.

It's so hard for me to part with books! This will be my hardest to part with while DH will struggle with the movies, I think.

Katie

Day 28 - Recycle Event

Dh took a whole Suburban load to a Recycle event in our city. He took 8 big black bags of construction debris, along with another 8 or so bags of insulation. He also took a few electronics items including a fax machine, a broken CD player, and our old broken digital camera. A couple days later we found an old broken toaster we meant to take but it got lost in a black hole corner of the garage. Whoops!

Lots of cities have reycle events at least once a year. You should visit your city's website and see when you might have one. Ours takes construction debris, wood, cement, prescription drugs, and anything that plugs in among other things. I am so thankful for this service that keeps us from putting things in the landfill!




Katie

Day 27 - Misc. Kid Items

1. to 3. Kid hangers that don't match
4. & 5. Kid books, one destroyed
6. & 7. Birthday cards
8. Cool hat I got back in college, but don't wear anymore
9. to 15. Jacks
16. Broken garden trowel
17. Cinderella hairbow that is bloodstained. Could clean this easily with peroxide, but not worth the time.
18. Broken beads
19. to 22. More fake flowers
23. Broken egg timer
24. Another bath toy
25. Cool magnet that I totally love, but it sticks out from the fridge and is forever getting knocked off. Just tired of picking it up.
26. Barbie McDonald's toy shawl.

It's pretty easy to find kid stuff to get rid of. There's just so much of it! And so far they aren't asking for anything I've included in ProjectTwentySix. DH and I were talking this weekend and we are already noticing a difference in the amount of kid flotsam floating around. Yahoo! It's totally motivating to see some results of our efforts already!

Katie