keepin it real... don't judge!

WARNING:  If you only come here for pretty pictures, you might want to skip today's post.  The pictures you will find here today are a bit disturbing.  BUT, there is a happy ending!

I've talked several times around here and on Facebook about my whole house declutter project.  It has turned into quite the project.  Little by little.  One space at a time.  Sometimes just one drawer at a time.  Or one kitchen cabinet at a time.  Whenever the mood strkes, I try to stop what I am doing and clear out a space and clean it.
Fast forward to yesterday afternoon.  Cooper asked me if he could play with play dough.  I went into the laundry room to get the play dough off the shelf , and when I pulled it down, a basket of plastic Easter eggs dumped on my head. 

"THAT'S IT!"

That was the my queue that it was time to tackle the laundry room. 
Remember when I said I try to declutter when the mood hits me?
Well this time the clutter actually hit me!

I sat him up at the kitchen table with all the play dough and immediately began dragging stuff out of the room.  But first, you know me, I took a picture!

So at the risk of a lot of judgement, here is what the room looked like before I started!

Before I begin, let me apologize now if you purchased any of the items that I am pulling out of this room for my children or I.  Please forgive.

 

Seriously.  How many pull ups and swim diapers does a kid need?



And then after I took this picture, I discovered another bag with more pull ups in it.

Are you kidding me???

Don't even get me started on the number of Halloween buckets and Easter baskets that were stored in here.  And after I took this picture, I found two more buckets that had fallen behind a rack.

Do you know when the last time any of my children did a craft project?

Me neither!


AND, my initial thought about these crafts was that I should save them because Peyton might enjoy them someday.

NO NO NO!

By the time she is old enough to use them, they will probably be dried up and ruined from sitting for so long.  Heck, they probably are already dried up and ruined.  Instead I decided when she gets old enough, I will buy her a craft kit or two to play with.  NOT 10 or 12 projects! 

OK, moving on....

Can anyone tell me why the laundry room is the most logical place to store football equipment?

Then I came across these cute drinking glasses that a sweet friend of mine gave to me a LLOOONNNGGG time ago.  I immediately loaded them into the dishwasher.  I am going to donate my old ones and start using these ones.  I like change.

Some more stuff that was taken out of this little room:  coloring books, 2 inhaler tubes, kids artwork, booster seat tray(don't know where the booster seat is), Bearcats poster (??? Bearcats???), potty chair, flower vases, electric broom, posterboard, bath rugs, old curtains, fabric, soccer shin guards, Gatorade, sling for a broken arm, and a baby harness.

Can you believe there was that much stuff in this little room?

So now that all of this junk is removed and either thrown away or donated, this is the final outcome!

Ta Da....

Yes Jenny, that is your sweater and scarf!

P.S.  In case you are wondering what the kids were doing while I was cleaning all this out, this is how they kept themselves entertained!  The play dough is the one thing, out of all that craft type stuff, that they do play with.

P.S.S.  And then the play dough box got consolidated too!