Before and after

So, over the new year my family went to Hilton Head for a little getaway. My mother-in-law has a timeshare there and goes almost every year. I decided, however, that I needed to stay here and tackle some projects around the house that I'd been putting off for way too long.

First was my kiddos room. It had been almost two years since I'd really gone through their stuff. The difference between three and five when you're talking about toys is vast. At three, there's still an interest in baby things, and at five, well, you're a big girl and have no room for anything babyish. Thankfully there's not such a huge difference between five and seven, so there were fewer things to sort through of my son's. He did, however, inform me that it was okay to get rid of his Brio trains since he was too old to play with them anymore :( It's a hard thing to realize your kids are growing up.

Second was my office. Somehow over the months my office became the dumping ground for anything that needed to be put away but didn't have a home. My space isn't that big to begin with, so it quickly became unmanageable. I literally, I'm embarrassed to say, had a path to my desk and that was it. You couldn't go anywhere else. About four months ago I decided to paint my office but never could seem to find the time (or the energy) to do it. Having the house to myself for a week was the perfect solution.

I decided 2009 is going to be a year to clean up and clear out. What I didn't expect was how clearing out all this junk also cleared out my head! So without further ado (and for all the world to see) here's my mess. I hope it inspires you to clean up and clear out a little too.



My kiddo's mess. To be fair, we had already started the process of going through some of their things before they left so this isn't a true representation of before.

This filled my car. 5 garbage bags, 2 tubs, 1 box, and a toy box filled with toys and books.

And after. The best part is that is still looks like this!

Um, yea, this is my mess. Wow. Hard to believe it looked like that.

My beautiful, new office freshly painted and almost finished. (I'm on the lookout for some new curtains.)



BTW...I also deleted over 4000 (not a typo) old emails. I'm on a roll!

Cheers,