Ten Things Thursday

Well, it's January and you know what that means. It's time to clean out and re-organize. I always get a bit obsessive. I started on Christmas Day in the afternoon--as soon as the kitchen was cleaned up!

Here's what I've accomplished so far:

Put away all of the Christmas stuff

Washed and put away all Christmas linens, napkins, rugs, and throws.

Cleaned and Re-organized:

2 refrigerators

Pantry

Wrapping supplies

Bags in pantry

Master linen closet

Went through all medications and discarded expired stuff

Guest bath vanity

Mindy’s bath vanity

Mindy’s bath linen closet

Cleaned out 4 kitchen cabinets

Sorted all spices and got rid of anything older than 10 years

Cleaned out Margarita’s closet (it’s pretty bad when you have to clean for the cleaning lady!)

Put away the Advent Calendar puzzle (it was 24 mini puzzles in one, so it     required some time to divide it up again for the next person)

Got my entire closet cleaned out

I started to clean out the rec room cabinets but then realized that they are still perfect from last year. Which leads me to want to get rid of everything in them!!

Okay, here are some pictures. 

After the holidays, the pantry is always a mess. Things get put in there in any haphazard way--not always by us! I told Butch that we would be tackling it the next day. Luckily for him, I cannot sleep when there is work to be done. I was cleaning it out at 4 a.m. By the time he got up, I was already finished!

We have 10ft. ceilings, so anything on the top shelf is not easily accessible. That's why we use it for our Christmas stuff.

We tend to accumulate so many bags through the year that the bags that hold them rips. It's just a mess. Here they are neatly re-organized. One is not a paper bag, so maybe that will hold up better. 

Next it was on to our spice, coffee, tea cabinet.

Butch helped me with this as I will not get on a step stool. He also wiped out and cleaned all of the shelves. 

I cleaned out our linen/medicine closet.

I use ziplock bags marked with the type of medicines located inside--like:

"cough, cold, flu"--"first aid, bandaids"--"stomach, indigestion, anti diarrhea". I sorted it all and got rid of anything expired. 

I've known for years that this is expired. In fact, you cannot even buy it anymore. But, it was the only thing that worked for my migraines back in the day. Considering I never have migraines anymore, I decided to let it go. It expired in 2007!! I have to admit, it was a little sad. I don't know why they quit making it--simply the BEST pain reliever on the market--ever!

I got rid of quite a few t-shirts. I only wear them for working out. How many do you need for that? 

I had already sorted through my pashmina and scarves last year, so didn't get rid of any this time. I did get rid of a few pairs of shoes. 

So, the closet is done. 

All I have left to do is the game closet and the butler's pantry. I'm having a games party in a couple weeks, so I'll get that done when I get up there for the game I plan for us to play. 

As for the butler's pantry--it is so full and crammed. I need to just get to it!

We give most of the stuff that we are getting rid of to Margarita. I know that she sends clothes to her family in El Salvador. Sometimes we feel like we overwhelm her. When I try to ask if she really wants it or would rather not bother with it--you know, it's kind of hard to communicate--she said "it's beautiful, thank you miss!" I guess that means she really likes it. I hope she can sell it and make a few bucks. I really don't know what she does with it all. I have visions of her condo filled to the brim with my crap!!

What about you? Do you do any type of major clean out at this time of year?   Send me some pictures and I'll post them. Befores and afters would be good. For me, I never remember the "befores". I'm just too anxious to get started. 

There's nothing I like better than making order out of chaos!