Finally finished all the sorting and getting rid of the excess clothes. Take a look at the clothes in the boxes sitting in my laundry room waiting to go!! I am so pooped. It took a full 7 days to wash, sort, try on, get rid of, hang up and be done with it. I have NEVER been done with it. I would be just getting rid of summer stuff, by the time summer rolled around again. I don't know what is with me, but my brain CANNOT sort this organizing thing out. It sucks. I am a perfectionist when I put my mind to it, but because of that, I just don't want to do it. Its mentally draining. I will have the cleanest one square foot of something, but the big picture is never done. Well, that is all changing with what I am doing. Getting rid of all the excess is going to help, because when you don't have it, it cant be messy, can it?
This is a huge stack of boxes filled with the clothes. Sorry about the side view, but its the point that counts. There were so many boxes that I had to take two pics.
This is the bottom of the boxes and the huge bags full. I have actually added MORE boxes, but I didn't want to take another picture.
This is just the jeans!! For a couple of people!! There were too many, so each child now has 6 pairs of jeans, 6 shorts, 5 long sleeved shirts, 6 short sleeved shirts, 5 pair of underwear. I should clarify that this pertains to the younger 4 (not counting Rachel.) My oldest 3 are very attached to their clothing, and while they did pare down, just not to that degree. They will be held accountable if it gets out of hand again. Also, hubby and I have more than that, but will keep up on the laundry and get rid of stuff should we bring new stuff in. Not likely though...I hate shopping for clothes.
I can already feel the relief on the laundry front, and now the books. there is just as many boxes of excess duplicate or otherwise books...but they are in the garage. The more clutter gone, the more my brain feels less foggy. I don't know if it was because i grew up poor that i feel the need to hoard so much stuff....but whatever the reason, I have reached the breaking point. No more, I say!!
Getting my life in order is just what I need. To be able to deal with 8 children effectively...to be able to deal with Rachel's disability. To be an effective wife. To be an effective Christian. When one if afraid to open the door to strangers or even people they know, its a big problem. I cant do it anymore.
Is this what getting old will do to a person, or is it just finally getting fed up enough? Whatever it is, I like it. I just wish it would have happened sooner. The Lord is stretching me, that's for sure!
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6 comments:
Holly, thanks so much for the link to your blog!
Looks like we are in the same boat with the clutter issue, and it's so encouraging to see your progress. Looks like we have almost the same amount of books. That's on my to-do list = go thru the books!
I love reading about large families and stealing all the great managing-a-large-family-ideas! lol. :-)
Thank you!
Well, I definitely have issues with clutter... I will have lots of areas to blog about. This accountability, even though I am somewhat private (your now the 2nd person to know about my blog), still works for me. And encouraging each other will be great.
I too have problems with clutter! Mostly mail and bills and paperwork, but I can relate to the issues of "too many clothes" and "too many books"! Plus, Paul and I are both bibliophiles...when we move we literally have dozens of boxes of books to pack. But then it gets worse, because Paul has to pack his hundreds of CDs and DVDs and his THOUSANDS of vinyl record albums (I'm not kidding)! At least he keeps the records organized in bookcases. We are trying to sell our townhouse so we recently had to clear the clutter...it was a huge job! But we had to do it in order to be able to let perfect strangers walk through our house.
Holly, you should pat yourself on the back for accomplishing so much! That's a lot of clothes to sort!!
P.S. I love the picture of Rachel on top of the books! What a cutie!
Vinyl records??? Oh my! I hope you guys have a record player. I know someone who had a large collection of records, and he displayed them all around the room...on the floor....propped up on the baseboard. Very odd, but he liked it. You could have that problem, you know. :)
Thanks for the encouragement!
Paul is a true audiophile! He does not have a "record player", he has a "turntable" (he says there's a difference). He also has a reel-to-reel tape player (professional, Revox) and actual tapes to play on it, and a professional grade CD player, and so on and so forth. Paul was a radio DJ many years ago, and he's never gotten over it! :-)
But you're right, it could be worse! He does manage to keep his things put away neatly. Plus, I must confess, I do love music and it's great to have a husband who loves music too. He's very knowledgeable about classical music (really, about any type of music).
The babies love it when he plays music for them! Matthew dances and Emma moves her arms and legs and smiles alot.
I love music too! My husband studied to be a band director in college. He is the classical nut. I love anything with a good piano rift. Music soothes me, and if I never heard any more music, I think it would be torture.
It's funny how music soothes children. They just stop what they are doing, and listen...or dance.
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