Living Life In the Fast Lane

Over the past few weeks (since we went to the Unclaimed Baggage Store), I've been trying to go through things and get cleaned up. Justin and I tend to get lazy (him moreso than me) about cleaning when our schedules are hectic. All of a sudden, paperwork and mail has piled up, you have a closet full of clothes that you never wear, there are a billion or so books that you've maybe read once and plan to never read again, and your house slowly becomes this pile of stuff.

I'm definitely a hoarder. I have mail (meaningful, but still) from over 10 years ago. My closet at my parent's house has clothing I've been meaning to sell from when I got married 3 years ago. (!!) And then, there was that one time I tried to take a stuffed animal my grandmother had given me to Goodwill and my mom said "you can't take that!" (Note: my grandmother is still alive and did not make the stuffed animal. Instead she made me Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that I did not take to Goodwill. Which do you think is more meaningful to me?) Of course, when people say things like that to me, I start to second guess myself. Second guessing is never good when you have hoarding tendency. If at one particular moment you think to yourself "I should get rid of this", do it! Right then!

The one notable difference is this Ikea table that Justin has had since bachelorhood. It is so not my favorite. I would have (and tried to) gotten rid of it a few years ago. Instead, it just hung out in my parent's basement until our recent cleaning spree where we changed out furniture so that Justin would have a desk to work on. Don't get me wrong – I still don't love this desk, but it does serve a useful purpose – allowing Justin's stuff to accumulate there rather than anywhere else in the house. Of course, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if that's necessarily a good thing…

So then I moved on to attack the closet. (We also cleaned out drawers, but I figure you don't really want to see whats in those…) I pulled out every piece of clothing I owned and only put back the things I had worn in the past year. Then, I had Justin go through the remaining items with me. Did he like it on me? If not, it went to the sell pile. Did I still like the item on me? Would I buy it again? Was there a particular reason I didn't like the item that could be fixed? We bought a rod to hang clothes on near the sewing machine, so that I could hang my sell and need-to-be-fixed items. Doing this gave us a little more closet space, although I have to admit I liked our smaller closet from the last house we lived in. It made me be even more decisive about the clothing I was keeping versus getting rid of.

Just for the fun of it, I organized all of my dresses and tops by color. They say you should decorate your home in the color you wear the most and I wanted to know what that color was. I discovered that I have way more dresses than tops and my dominant colors seemed to be blue and pink. One cool thing I noticed was that I have dresses in nearly every color! (Only missing orange! Does peach count?)

We also loaded up our new suitcases with unused blankets and sheets and put them on the top shelf to save room elsewhere in the house. Then there is my tupperware of camera equipment and an Anthropologie bag of random stuff that is being saved for when we actually purchase a house… And a door that leads to the attic, in case you were wondering…

By far, the most successful thing I have accomplished is picking out the items for the next giveaway! Most of these are leftovers from previous giveaways. (I usually don't list everything I have to giveaway in case something gets lost in the mail or I miscount or something silly like that…) Anyway, I want these items out of my house and in your hands. I need to make room in my giveaway drawer for more awesome things to give to you all!

So here's what to expect in the prize package:

• Coupon for $1 off any EcoTools makeup brush
• Splenda jump rope
• EcoTools Sleek+Shine Finisher Hairbrush
• 3 teabags of Honey Vanilla Chamomile Herbal Tea from Celestial Seasonings
• Splenda Measuring Cups
• 2 Sweet'N Low Samplers
• Sample of Garner Clean Nourishing Cleansing Oil
• 2 samples of Vichy Idéalia Life Serum
• Bottle of purple KleanColor Nail Lacquer
• Splenda spatula
• Perfume sample
• 2 samples of Neutragena HydroBoost Water Gel
• 2.75 oz. bottle of Skintimate Moisturizing Shave Gel in Raspberry Rain
• small package of Carefree Acti-fresh Bodyshape Unscented Pantyliners

Want to help me clean my house and win some fun prizes in the process? :) Share your ideas for organizing and house cleaning with me by July 9th midnight EST and maybe you'll win!

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