Misplacing Control: Operation Organization

We have lived in our house for a little over a year. Well, a little over a little over a year at this point! Our moving experience was a bit frantic, to say the least. We moved from our house to our apartment when I was 24 weeks pregnant and then from the apartment to our house when Ellen was 5 months or so. Needless to say, unpacking took a backseat.

Now that the kids are a bit older, I am working hard to finally get this place organized! We have plenty of space and one of my main motivations for moving was to have an organized living space - a place for everything, and everything in its place. Operation Organization is in full swing!

I have been working my way through the house. I redid the playroom and moved all of the obsolete toys into the basement. I went through the kids' closets and moved all their outgrown clothes into the basement. I went through the china cabinet and moved all of the unused items into the basement. I went through the butler pantry cabinets to make space for those things I don't want the kids to have easy access to (art supplies, things with small pieces, projects, etc) and moved the extra stuff to the basement. I went through the cabinets and cleaned out the sippy cups, dishes, and "junk" cabinet and moved all of the stuff to the basement. See a theme?

Now that all of the major organizing projects are done throughout the first two floors of the house, it is time to move onto the big one - the basement. I began on President's Day - I had the day off and I sent the kids to daycare anyways. It was a LONG day of moving things, going through things, and cleaning. But finally I began to see the floor. I made it through the corner, the freezer area, and the shelves before going to get the kiddos.

Over this past weekend, I made it through most of our tubs, reducing our "sentimental" items down to 3 tubs. I found office supplies that were packed before we moved into our first house! Eek!

Today I took another day off and finished (mostly) the project. We now have a storage space, a tools/equipment space, and a consignment space (I sell a lot of the kids' old stuff at the Just Between Friends consignment sale). Above all else, I know where things are! Want Easter decorations? I can do that for you without spending a day or injuring myself getting to them. :)