Junk Busters

Yesterday the kids and hubby and I cleaned the downstairs. And I don't just mean a little bit. I mean the deep down kind of clean that gets the dirt out of the corners of the corners.

We've lived in our house for eight years this October. We have accumulated more "stuff" than I ever could have imagined. Some of it was sentimental (Awww... Keith wore that the first time he threw up on my mom...). Some of it was something one of the kids just couldn't part with (because, of course we'll use the barbie doll with her hair burned off, one arm and a blue face from the sharpie marker). And some of it was stuff we had meant to throw away, but it got shoved behind other stuff and we forgot about it (Why did we keep this glass duck ashtray again?)

Yesterday, it went away to the trash. And then we cleaned the space it had been in. And then we organized what was left.

Ahhhh... It felt so good to go to bed last night knowing our downstairs was clean and orderly.

The upstairs will be tackled at a later date. So for now, just close your eyes and only reopen them when you come back downstairs.

Hubby commented that the trash collectors are going to wonder what in the world happened in our home this weekend. Our trash cans were full to over-flowing, and we had multiple other garbage bags and boxes stacked beside them. I'm sure we do look a little like we're moving or on a home make-over show (like "Hoarders").

The kids complained at first, as I expected they would. But after they began seeing the results, they were happy (well, that may be too strong of a word) to help.

Next weekend, my little army of dusters, wipers and organizers will join me upstairs as we tackle the bonus room (with VHS tapes of Barney on my list of "out of here's") and the bedrooms (ACK!). Then, at some point, (like when I've had a lot of wine) we'll tackle out the two storage spaces (the "ultimate" storage of junk!).

But for today, I take great satisfaction in looking at my clean kitchen and family room. The floors are shiny, the counter tops are cleaned off and the pantry is completely reorganized. What a great way to start the week!  :-)