If you missed Assignment #4, you can read it here.
So, um, I had all these grand ambitions that I was going to get this post up before 7:30 p.m. EST tonight… and instead, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get the last minute technical stuff taken care of for the webcast.
But, it all got done in time, the webcast went well (despite some technical issues — thanks for your patience and for all of you who took time out of your busy evening to show up!) and I’m finally able to post my update on my home organization today.
My day started out like usual with my early morning coffee, Bible reading, and to-do list writing.
After that, it was blogging, running, homeschooling, and a radio interview (I’ve been doing a lot of interviews recently and this is how my office looks when I do one — I spread out all my notes and sit in the middle of them and use them for reference depending upon which questions are asked!)
Then it was more homeschooling and just keeping up with everything and everyone here. I finally got to jump in the shower mid-afternoon. And then I tackled the home organization projects.
My bedroom was first on the list. It wasn’t too bad and was quickly whipped into shape. {I didn’t get an after photo, but it looked like this.}
Next up, I tackled the bathroom — which was still a mess because I’d just finished my shower and getting ready for the day {nevermind the fact that I got “ready for the day” at 3:00 p.m. Hey, better late than never!}
Ah, so much better!
And then I braved cleaning out underneath the couches.
Truthfully, I was horrified at what I found underneath our basement couches. {Can you tell this is the couch we sit on when we have snacks and watch movies? Maybe we need to stop that ritual!}
Yes, this entire handful of miscellaneous food items was stashed underneath one couch. {I can’t believe I’m posting these photos. But maybe they’ll make you feel better about how clean your couches are!}
Here’s the final stash of stuff collected from underneath all the furniture. {Why yes, that’s a shriveled up carrot. You mean you don’t store carrots underneath your couches?! Yikes!}
And here are the 7 items I came up with to get rid of today — including two earrings without matches. Don’t ask me why I’ve hung onto them. I guess I figured that maybe the matches would turn up or something? After six months, I say it’s high time I let ’em go.
How did you do on Assignment #4? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
Day four done. I finished all the goals on my list for today I cleaned out under all the couches. found seven items to donate and clean the bathroom including the tub and the sink and the toilet. unfortunately I did not make it to the cabinets and clean those out like I wanted. Today is the last day of this week and when it comes to my five goals for this week I’ve done three of two.
I’m so glad you decided to post those pics!! The couch pictures made me feel a little better about finding a petrified strawberry under our couch, as well as plenty of misc snack crumbs (or chunks…lol).
Thank you for posting the under the couch pics! I am horrified each time I clean under the couch and cushions and feel so inadequate that I can’t keep them clean! I am so glad to know I am NOT the only one!!
You’re so welcome! 🙂
Last week I discovered a moldy tomato under the floor-length curtains in the dining room!
Now that’s pretty gross! LOL.
Crystal, maybe you could put a sheet over the couch when you have snack times. 🙂
We have a rule that we don’t eat on our couch, and it does help make cleaning a snap, but sometimes I do want to just pop a bowl of popcorn and watch something on the couch. 🙂 I have learned to move my laptop into the kitchen and eat it there, but it’s just not the same. 🙂
I think this summer I might try to just take my computer in the back yard and eat in the grass – like a drive-in – hey, I could set it on the hood of my car and watch from the car – but then I would be making cleaning the car out more annoying – we don’t eat there either. 🙂
WE FOUND JESUS – UNDER OUR COUCH! Our Fisher-Price baby Jesus from the Little People Nativity Set has been missing since the day we got it – yesterday, thanks to this assignment, we found Him. Just in tiem for Easter! My 2-year-old was thrilled!
I LOVE it!!!
Thanks for the pictures Crystal, but I still feel like your house doesn’t look lived in (despite the couch findings). You work miracles with three kiddos! I have really random questions though. Where is the soap, towels in the bathroom? No nightstand/alarm clock, etc. in the bedroom? I love your minimalist approach and would love to know how you function with so little. I feel like all the little things are what contribute to the clutter at my house.
Soap/towel are on the other side. We primarily just use one sink so I keep the things on that side.
And our bedroom is pretty sparse. We are saving to buy a bedroom set and hope to do that soon. When we do, we’ll be getting a nightstand or two.
Just wanted you to know I appreciate the “real” pictures that aren’t so perfect. Makes me feel like I may not be the only one whose house isn’t perfect all the time. I like posts that make me feel normal.
This is really keeping me on track. Thank you so much for this challenge! You are always very encouraging and I love that you are honest about your messes too.
Just yesterday I was cleaning out the van and found part of a grilled cheese sandwich under the passenger seat. I don’t remember the last time the kids had grilled cheese in the car. Talk about gross.
I am completely distracted by the photos of your bathroom. Why is there something taped to the wall in the reflection in the mirror, but not taped to the actual wall? It’s making my brain hurt! 🙂 I am really enjoying the series…and still trying to figure out that mirror, lol!
It’s a quote taped onto the mirror. 🙂 Does that make you feel better?! 🙂
It does! I have been ‘seeing’ it on the wall, and didn’t ‘see’ how it could be anywhere else (like on the mirror) until you said it. I think I had an optical block or something, LOL!
It looks like it is just something taped to the mirror -probably an Scripture or an inspirational quote. Or if it is like my house-it may be something my kids taped to the mirror.
So glad I’m not the only one with stuff under the couches. You make me feel so NORMAL!! Thank you!
I didn’t even bother with my couches. I can’t move them easily myself, and we’d done them recently.
But under my bed, I scored a bag of peanut M&M’s from Christmas! They came in really handy restoring my sanity after my 16 month daughter found a 6 oz container (also an under-bed find leftover from Christmas) of a bath scrub (mostly sugar, with almond and coconut oils) and ate at last half of it. (I had to call Poison Control because the essential orange oils in it aren’t meant to be taken internally. But she’s fine.)
Yikes on the bath scrub! Glad she’s okay. The things kids find and eat .. LOL.
When we do our heavier cleaning on Mondays, it is my 13 year old son’s job to move all the living room furniture and vacuum underneath. It doesn’t take long since we do it weekly, and it never gets too bad! This is one of the best things I’ve implemented.
Wow. If that amount of stuff is horrifying to you I think I will never share what I have found not only under our couch, but in our cushions as well.
One time when my piano tuner cam he found half a baked potato in my baby grand! In my defense I had just bought it from a friend who was moving and it seems it was one of her 5 boys who didn’t want to eat his dinner!
i cleaned out my kids rooms this past weekend while they spent a couple nights at grandma’s….my son’s (5) was mostly toys (pulled out 3 diaper boxes full to donate)….my daughter’s (7) on the other hand was a full bag of trash….your small pile from under you furniture was NOTHING in comparison to what i pulled out from under her bed, desk, dresser, chest, and shelf. i was shocked that that much stuff could fit under those things!!! it was mostly papers and broken crayons and the occasional ponytail fastener but i found crackers and food wrappers too (they are not allowed to have food in their rooms so someone has been sneaking). i am loving these assignments, they come at the perfect time for me as i am due with baby #3 on mother’s day and am really wanting to get the house ready before he gets here!!! now if the motivation sticks i will be good to go!!!!
I didn’t do the “cleaning under the couches” portion of the challenge. I subscribe to the “doomsday prepper” philosophy of under-furniture cleaning: if the apocalypse were to happen tomorrow, I probably have enough food and supplies under my couches and beds to last for a month or more 😎
My couches are much, much worse – mounds of toys on a regular basis.
Be easy on us today, I’m tired!;)
Thanks for keeping it real. Your blog is SUCH an encouragement to me! And I’m not usually observant, but did you move you bed around since your last post with pictures of your bedroom? Thanks again for everything!
No, it’s the same. Just a different angle for the picture. 🙂 I usually move furniture about once every… never. Much unlike my mom who likes to rearrange the furniture twice a year! 🙂
Baha!:)
I got 2 out of 3 bathrooms done. While I was vacuuming, it started to smoke! Oh well, couldn’t finish that task, but will do it over the weekend. Picked out more than 7 items of my clothes to donate.
I hope today’s assignment is easy, I’m tired!:)
I got under my couch and chair monday so I just gave the bathroom a good scrubbing(which it was due for anyways)
Things I got rid of
My 5 year old’s play tennis shoes since one of the velcro straps broke
5 lids that didnt have bowls anymore
1 half used box of baby rice cereal(from pups and kittens, there will be no more of them any time soon :()
You did a great job with the webcast! My husband commented that he and Jesse both want to spend their blow money on the same things.
Good job today, it’s amazing what we can find under our furniture!
That’s funny about our husbands. 🙂 And thanks for your kind encouragement!
I’m diggin’ the carrot.
Crystal, will you be compiling these daily assignments at the end of the 4 weeks? (Your personal pictures of before and after are optional. :))
Got rid of 7 things today! And they were clothes that I don’t wear anymore which is a big plus! Didn’t get to the vacuuming though, but there’s always tomorrow 🙂
No carrots, but plenty of other food and nonfood items. Thank you for doing this series. These are all projects I have needed to do but never mdee time for – until now.
under my couch isn’t too bad – mostly dust bunnies… but under the couch CUSHIONS…yikes!
exactly 🙂
Oh my, you don’t keep ANYTHING on your bathroom counter!? And you have a big one!! And your handful of “goodies” you found under one of your couches? That might be between 2 cushions in one of my couches! 🙂 Yikes! I better get busy! Thanks for sharing with us Crystal! Love it! 🙂
I have say a huge thank you for showing us the real you. The person that has crumbs, messy bed, and everything else that goes wrong and does in a house of kids, business and homeshooling. Thank you for the real you. It is truly appreciated.
If you love the earrings, you can hook the back through a chain and turn them into necklaces. (Or you could make turning cushioned chairs upside down and cleaning out all their crevices the next project. Can you tell where I’ve found lost earrings before?)
I turn my un-matched earrings into necklaces too. It affords me many necklace charms.
When I was a kid and Mom would make me eat things I didn’t like, I’d often find ways to stash them under the chair or couch. I never got caught but I’m sure she wondered about the food she found…..
🙂
When I was little my mom made my sister and I take vitamins. There was a register on the floor between our chairs in the dining room and that is where most of my sister’s vitamins went. 🙂
I cleaned under/behind the couch last week and found a ton of stuff, including popcorn. 🙂 After I cleaned the hardwood floor and put the couch back, I rolled up two play rugs (the kind to roll cars on) and put them right up under the couch. They are just out of sight, and they keep things from getting pushed under the couch.
I wish that was all that I found under our couches. It was very humbling writing up a post for that assignment. I must say though I am glad it is done and am looking forward to tomorrows assignment. I caught a few minutes of your live webcast, it looked great!
I think getting rid of mismatched earrings could keep me going for a while… I keep hoping the missing match will show up.. that and my box of mismatched kids socks!!!
You are doing good if thats all you have got under your couch. Mine always look way way worse lol
Ha,ha, a shriveled up carrot! That is hilarious. I am so proud of you for sharing that! I’ve found things like it under my couch (and under the car seats in my car).
A pity about those earrings, they are nice ones. That is always so sad. Good for you letting them go.
I’m amazed you did any cleaning today with the webcast tonight. I would have had such a hard time focusing!
P.S. I don’t think you should stop the snacks and movies ritual. It’s worth the mess. It is 🙂
My exact thoughts as well! 🙂
Me..too!..:)
That was the first thing I thought too when I read that! Instead of stopping that fun family ritual, I would just see this as a reminder that I need to clean under the couch more often than I thought!
Well, I will make YOU feel better and tell you that when I cleaned under my couch the other day, I filled a whole laundry basket!!
We’ve only had our couch for a couple of months. But it is a magnet for our daughter’s toys. And we found a cell phone that had been missing. lol.
That is EXACTLY how I like my bathroom countertops to look! Visual clutter = mental clutter.
aww, don’t be horrified! We ALL from time to time get collections in our sofas, under them and other places we’d rather not think too much about (anybody else just think about under their oven or fridge?). Our sofas have pretty high feet and toys end up under them daily, so I have to clean it out daily….what did horrify me was without thinking of it, I posted a photo of the mountain my boys created with all of the sofa cushions while I was in the next room doing some of my home business stuff onto my business facebook page!! Without even thinking to check to see if there was anything on the bare furniture!! Man did I get lucky…and you never know, maybe someone *was* saving that carrot. -thank you for your honesty and not being afraid to share yourself with us. It’s the high point of my day.
I am really loving this challenge.
I have been getting rid of seven things each day, and doing the 15 minute task for each day. I have a long, long way to go in getting my house clean and organized, but this is helping without feeling overwhelming.
How can I get the assignment from 1-3? I have been trying to organize and would love to follow your tips!!
Thanks,
Buddy Lake
I was wondering the same thing. Did you ever find out where assignments 1-3 can be found?
They are here: https://moneysavingmom.com/tag/4-weeks-to-a-more-organized-home/page/2
Love the pics! I’m sure we all have stuff like that under our furniture. Didn’t get as much done today, but I will rejoin the effort on Monday. Going to visit our new town that we will move to once our home sells. We have boxes there that I’m going through. I need to bring some things back for the warmer weather, but will take some things with me to leave there. The joys of being in limbo, but hopefully things will settle down soon. 🙂
You can always see underneath our living room couch so it was clean but the living room floor did get a vac and steam today (it’s wood). The bathroom, kitchen and my bedroom got a once over as well as the coat closet being cleaned out and decluttered. We got rid of 18 things, I was hoping for 21 so I would be caught up but didn’t quite make it.
So for now I am behind on 2 things to get rid of.
3 things…..not 2 🙂
LOL @ the carrot!
I have found dehydrated food in my couch before too not today though =) Great Job on the Web cast 1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
http://logansinmo.blogspot.com/2012/04/money-saving-moms-4-weeks-to-more_05.html
Amazing job! I am quite behind on the assignments and had high hopes of tackling quite a bit before work this morning. Unfortunately, my little one decided 4:30 am is a perfect wake up time and so my work time fizzled into entertaining the toddler time. I am working on my goals for Friday and hope to be on task by tomorrow evening. Thank you for this series as it is helping guide me through organizing and cleaning.
Got caught up in stuff so I didn’t even print up Assignment #4….