When you're feeling discouraged, declutter

Yesterday started out to be a bad day. The girls were whiny and uncooperative, Robert was sick with a cold and possibly teething, and Jordan and I were discouraged. Ever feel like all the cleaning you do is pointless because the kids are just going to mess it all up again within minutes?

So we decided to do the only form of cleaning we've found to be semi-permanent: decluttering. Pack the crap off to Goodwill and you'll never have to sort it again! We took six garbage bags of stuffed animals, toys, and clothes, plus at least five large items out of the girls' room. And that is not a large room. You would think the girls might have been sad about it, but we involved them in our decision-making and they were fine. It feels so good to be able to walk into that room without sidestepping and twisting around. The girls might be able to play together in there now without getting into each other's space and fighting. And the best part may be that it is now totally possible to rearrange and fit a toddler bed in there for Robert. Yep--we could have all three of our kids in one room. It would allow us to put off remodeling our house or moving for an extra couple of years.

I'll probably put up pictures of the girls' decluttered room once we get it looking nice. We had to get rid of a chalkboard/whiteboard easel that didn't fit and was blocking access to the bed, and Jordan had the idea to paint a space on their wall with chalkboard paint instead. There are a couple of other little improvements we could make as well. Meanwhile, I want to take six bags of stuff out of every room in our house! I felt a little panicked yesterday dropping it all off, but I love the results and doubt we will miss anything. I think we will go through my sweater stash (for crafting) next. I am a bit of a sweater hoarder, I'm afraid!