Spring Cleaning

2.04.2014

Is February too early to start spring cleaning?

I hope not because that's exactly what the fiancé and I did the majority of this past weekend. We cleaned, we organized, and we got rid of a bunch of things that we have never and will never use. When it was all said and done, it felt amazing. I actually felt like my house we decluttered for the first time since we moved in six months ago. Closets were organized, moving boxes were (finally) unpacked, and those pesky little dust bunnies hiding deep behind the furniture were removed.
I probably should have taken before pictures so you could really see what we were up against, but I didn't think about it at the time. In fact, I didn't even go into the weekend thinking that we do all this work. It just kind of, happened.

It all started when I went into my closet to find a pair of shoes that easily slip on so I could walk outside. I never did find those shoes, but I did drag every pair that I own out of the closet along with every dress, jean, shirt, and jacket, then organized everything by category, and gently placed everything back in my closet(s).

The first problem I ran into was an obvious one. Too many clothes, not enough space. Our house was built in 1950, and apparently in 1950 no one believed in closet space. My clothes (as organized as they may be) are currently jammed packed into two closets. The fiancé also has two closets for his clothes because I'm almost positive that he owns more clothes than I do. I've never had a closet even close to this small, so it's definitely an adjustment. However, having an organized closet(s) makes all the difference in the world.
In order to give Steven room for all of his clothes we had to clean out the small hall closet, which for the last six months has been home to unpacked moving boxes full of kitchen supplies. After (finally) unpacking those boxes I realized that we have absolutely no room in the kitchen cabinets to put everything. It just so happened that we mentioned to Steven's parents a few days ago that we really needed a pantry, so in-laws to the rescue with the perfect wedding present - an oversized pantry big enough for food and kitchen utensils. Steven and his dad spent a few hours putting it together last night, and I couldn't wait to start organizing the kitchen! The only thing I was able to get to doing last night was moving food from the former "pantry" (nothing more than a kitchen cabinet) to the new and improved pantry. Now all I can think about is getting home to finish up the rest of the kitchen organization! 


Once the kitchen is done Steven and I have a few more projects on our to-do list that we really want to get done before the wedding. However, with wedding showers and family birthdays coming up in the next few months, we are running low on free weekends. I am determined to mark everything most things off our to-do list before we say I do (which if you are keeping up is only 67 days away!). It's definitely time to get a move on all things house related!

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12 comments:

  1. Oh girl- it's never too early. And I REALLY need to get on that before we move! I'm going from a walk-in closet to a MUCH MUCH smaller closet. So I need to figure out good ways to organize myself because there is no way it is all going to fit.

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  2. It is never too early for spring cleaning my friend! Over the next three months I have lots of "projects" on my list to clean, declutter, purge, organize, etc. I pretty much "spring clean" all year! What a great feeling when you can cross something off your list, right?!

    PS- Small closets are the devil.

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  3. I really need to do some spring cleaning. I have three closets all to my self and they are all full!! Plus two dressers. It is awful. I am trying to do one room a month and really get rid of stuff. My kitchen is a nightmare but that pantry looks awesome, I really need to look into one for my house. My small appliances are taking over.

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  4. i definitely need to do this like majorly.

    Come join the hop and tell us how you and your significant other met. How you met your boyfriend, husband, fiance etc. http://pinkowl07.blogspot.com/2014/02/love-story-link-ups-2014.html

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  5. call me nerdy but I friggen love cleaning and organizing!!

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  6. It's definitely not too early for spring cleaning! Kudos to you for tackling it already! But then again, the wedding is only 67 days away! How crazy time flies! And that new pantry looks amazing! Serious craft skills there.

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  7. I definitely need to do this! Good for you 2 for getting it out of the way!

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  8. Our house was built in the 50s (or maybe 60s) too, and is lacking major closet space. I use the closet in our office and part of our bedroom closet. Our kitchen has the same pantry problem too. I LOVE that pantry that you guys built, it's perfect! I don't have room for something like that in my kitchen, but we just purchased some shelves for our basement for a little pantry area and I'm loving it so far.

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  9. I too don't have a pantry, just a cabinet - what were people thinking back then!

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  10. What a great solution! I wish we had room for one of those pantrys! We live in a tiny condo, and while we have a walk-in closet in the master, I have the same problem where my husband has a TON of clothes. So his clothes take up 2/3 of that closet, mine take the other 1/3, and then the rest of my clothes, purses and shoes, are jammed into the guest bedroom closet. Who were these people that designed these closets?! Do they hate clothing?! Nudists. They're probably nudists.

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  11. I love it!! We still haven't unpacked everything either. It's stuff in the storage closets and bedroom closets that we don't use. Our old closet was an entire room, pretty much, so it sucks having a smaller one but at least it's a walk in. I can't wait to get the pictures hung and everything decluttered. As soon as it stops being so crappy outside!!

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  12. Can you come organize my apartment now?!?!? I pay in wine :)

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