KonMarie Declutter series: Makeup

Finally I have gotten a start on the decluttering!! The book starts out by saying start with something you have he least attachment towns work up to things that will be harder together rid of!! For me makeup was easy!! I know I have a lot and years worth of Ipsy bags just added to the madness!! So it was time to get back to only the stuff I use frequently in my collection. It will sure make doing my makeup easier!! So without further ado here is my makeup Declutter!!

Top is all my eyeshadows; bottom right is what I'm keeping, left is going to my niece.

Top is all my face products; bottom left is what I'm keeping, right is going to my niece.

Top is all my lip products; bottom left is going to my niece, right I'm keeping.

Top is all my liners etc...; bottom left I'm keeping, right is going.

I even decluttered makeup bags!! Top is all the bags I had or could find; bottom left is all I'm keeping the rest got filled with makeup and is on its way to Nebraska to my niece!!

Here is everything I'm getting rid of!! Crazy to think that much is gonna be gone, but my makeup drawer is gonna be easier to use, and now has space to try out more new stuff!!

Random ramblings from a WFHM 2

This week in my ramblings....how long after a move until you are really moved in?

6 months. That's what I say anyways. We just reached the 6 months mark, and I think we are finally in a routine, know where everything should belong, and are starting to do more of the settled in type projects.

I'm pretty sure those first 6 months you spend trying to figure out where everything should go. Maybe you moved in somewhere larger or smaller, either way a new area brings new storage issues. And just trying to really make sure every box has been opened and put away is a long task. I decided I had finally reached the point we are officially moved in this week or so. When I started to do those little tasks here and there that I had pushed to the side because they weren't the meat and gravy of things that needed to be done.

For me that means, decluttering. I do a pre-move Declutter of big things that we don't need to bring with us to our next place. Baby stuff that Darren wasn't gonna need, broken or way to used furniture, clothes in sizes we don't plan on wearing anytime soon etc... So I am so excited that after this weekend of Darren Birthday madness, we will be settling in, decluttering, and possibly having a big garage sale to get rid of things. I really would love to live more minimally and spend less time cleaning up things all the time.

Today I reorganized Dustins closet because I hadn't helped him set it up when we moved in, and for those of you married you probably know what I mean. He is fairly good about keeping things in their place if I put them there to start with. Otherwise things will just end up heaped in piles and he will complain about how little space he has!! Well now he has an army closet and a civilian closet and both are completely in order so hopefully they will remain that way!!

On a completely different note, does anyone have tips on how to get a dog to stop chewing up everything? We have managed to eliminate the chewing of kids toys, but she loves to get into the trash. And destroys anything that gets left in the yard, she is compulsive. And it's making me crazy!! We tried an antler and she devoured that puppy in a day. 

Catch up days

You probably saw in a previous post that I mentioned doing a catch up day each month. Throughout the month I have created a list of tasks that I want to get done. Everyone has one of these honey-do lists. Little tasks that need to get done, or you want to do for fun sake, but just don't have time to do on a regular day to day basis!!

Well a blogger and YouTuber that I follow, Kayla from Microscope Beauty,  http://www.microscopebeauty.com/ mentioned how she was going to tackle this list rather than just adding and adding hoping it will do itself. I found the idea very intriguing and wanted to try it myself this year. So one day a month (I am going to do the first Monday of each month) instead of doing your regular tasks you take the day crossing off as many of the thins off this list!! 

I am really looking forward to doing these days and being able to catch up on things I fall behind on!! And I will continue to blog about them too!! Maybe I'll even get her planner stickers to remind me the day is coming up!!  

Have you ever thought about setting aside a day to finish your honey-do list? 

House management

So one of my resolutions every year that I have the hardest time with is getting my house organized and de cluttered!! As a self proclaimed slob married to another slob, we have always had this problem!! We never leave trash around or anything, but we tend to collect stuff and frankly the main problem is not everything has its own home so it sits everywhere around the house. I knew the first step to trying to solve this problem was going to have to be establishing a routine for cleaning!!

My first step was finding an app that had a check list of things to do each day, week, and month. Having something interactive to look at and see what I was getting done everyday really helped me focus on doing them. 

The daily chores I do now are: 

Dishes

Clean the kitchen counters

Laundry

Put away clothes 

Pick up toys 

Clean bathroom counter

And take out trash and recycle.

For a while I wasn't sure why those things needed to be done daily, but I have learned from experience when I skip days that it makes the next days chores take twice the time. And there is just something about cleaning the dishes and counters and having a clean kitchen to cook dinner. It gives me more space to work with and be creative cooking new meals!!

And a long debated topic is doing laundry daily or having a laundry day, I used to do it so I did laundry on one day a week. But man switching over to daily is so so so much easier to keep up with!! We bought one laundry basket for each of us, and when there is a full load I wash it. And dry it. And fold it. All in one day. It gets put away and takes a lot less time. Folding one load of clothes a day is better than having a whole mountain of clothes to fold at once. I know from experience how stressful that can be, often times it made me not want to even touch it.

The only chore that occasionally gets skipped is the trash and recycling because honestly we don't fill up the trash every day.

So as you can see with just doing these chores three rooms ( kitchen, bathroom, and laundry) stay clean all the time and really with little effort I spend maybe 30 mins actively cleaning these areas a day!! It took me a while to keep up with the routine but now that I have it all down I rarely actually check off the list as I just know what needs done and do it!!

There are also weekly chores in the app too. Which include cleaning the bedrooms, vacuuming, moping and cleaning other areas of the house. We usually pick a couple each weekend and do them to keep the rest of the house as clean as the main rooms.

This routine has started to teach Kyra responsibilities too. Every evening after dinner before bath she is asked to pick up all her toys from the living room. She has gotten really good about getting it done in no time!!

So having the house cleaned up had been very helpful but really hasn't done much for organizing or decluttering the house. At least now the clutter is sustained to bookshelves, table tops, couch backs etc.. Haha a lot of the problem right now is us planning the declutter and than moving the clutter to a more central location in hopes of selling them before our move. But unfortunately I hate dealing with the online garage sales and people not showing up. Luckly for us most of the stuff we want to sell is kids stuff and there is a kids stuff sale coming up this month can't wait to get rid of a bunch of stuff!!

I am really hoping as we progress on the process of this pcs we are able to get rid of a lot of clutter and not bring it with us to Texas so we can start out with an organized home there so it's easier to keep it that way!! I really hope by the end of this year I will have accomplished this goal once and for all. I am sure it's all a matter of establishing a good routine!!

Fall Weather = Fall Clothes

So I love fall but one thing I don't have nearly enough of is fall clothes!! In reality I need to go on a shopping spree and stock up on long sleeves and jackets.

As one of my good friends pointed out on Facebook today our 10 day forecast has only one day where we are even gonna reach 70. I think it is fair to say that the cold temperatures are among us. So some of my friend said their favorite thing about fall is the clothes, maybe I should bring them along on a shopping trip to the mall to help me find some capture clothes for the season. 

However, one thing I do have quite a few of is scarves. I want more, lots more! But before I could buy any last year I first had to figure out where to put them all. A pile in the closet was just not going to cut it. 

So in a creative manner I figured it out!! We had a box of shower curtain hooks laying around that didn't fit our shower and never did get taken back. So I attached them to a plastic coat hanger as though hanging the curtain. I than looped my scarves through each one! It hangs so super neat in my closet and keeps them all in one place. Now I can guilt free shop for scarves!!

And it fits right into my closet taking up no more room than a sweater would.

Necklace holder

As you all know my grandmother recently passed away! September 2nd was her Birthday I thought about her all day. She meant a whole lot to me and her passion for painting as inspired me to finally start putting more focus on my art. It is the one thing that when I am doing it I feel completely like myself. There is nothing like working on a project to relieve all my stress and worries.

So in her honor I am picking up the paint brush more often! I want to carry on her traditions and legends. Painting has never been my strong suit I do better with a pencil than with a paintbrush. But I want to learn and you never get better with out practice.

I thought what a better way to do so than by creating a beautiful necklace holder. All of her granddaughters and of course my mom were all given a chance to take what we loved most from her massive collection of jewelry. It is an honor to have so many beautiful necklaces and they shouldn't be tucked away somewhere. They should be displayed for everyone to see.

So I bought this peg board thing with intentions of making it into something for Kyra's room but than I saw it! It was perfect so I sat down and redid the paint job adding some details to it. All I have left now is to get another wall mount and hang everything up!

Update, 6 months resolutions.

     So I was gonna wait to write this until the 1st but than Kyra decided she was gonna sleep all day, tho had I joined her it would have been a 30 min nap but that is okay I was able to sun tan, eat lunch, and get everything thing ready for next week!! So although I miss all our time we would normally be playing I am glad she is sleeping she must need it!! She slept in til 9 than took her nap at 11 and is still in there at 2.

   Well anyways its been 6 months since the year began, yup we are already half way to 2014 can you imagine. But at the beginning of the year I started 3 resolutions:

1.Save money
2.Loose weight
3. Be positive.

I would like to say coming into this month we are doing great on all of the above....well that would be a lie. Things have been going a bit crazy it seems. My dad came to visit in March which was amazing and I am sure you all saw all the great things we were able to do while he was here. That being said we spent a lot of money we should have been saving. But it was worth it to see many great places in Europe and experience it with family!! But we have gotten my student loan which was defaulted and owed over 3,000 dollars down to under 2,000 which to me is a big deal! I can't wait to have that done. We are paying 50 dollars a month until it goes out of default status than we will pay it off so it won't be until about February next year that we will finally be out of default and can pay our tax return towards it one less thing to pay.

Also we are still paying towards the car, I am unsure how much we still owe as of today, but we pay 500 a month on it so hopefully we are getting down. And we are paying 260 to insurance every month. So with all that going out monthly its hard to save but we are managing to keep 1000-1200 in savings. We could cut back on spending, specifically in the eating out range. But sometimes a girl gets tired of cooking dang...

As far as loosing weight I have adjusted this goal. I have realized that worshiping the scale isn't gonna make me happy. So I have changed my goal slightly to only 5 lbs at a time, but focusing more of my time now on improving my 1 mile time I figure if I set smaller goals I will more likely acheive them and soon be at my original goal. My 1 mile run as of last night is 12 mins exactly. I wanna try to knock a min off a week until I am well under 10 mins. Than I will start adding distance!

And with being positive I try, but I am a girl who is run by her emotions and they sometimes get out of control! But I am realizing in order to be more positive and happy person I have to be happy with the person I am. To do this I am doing things I enjoy, like tanning! I am improving myself with school which I start on monday, with writing my blog and getting tons of views each week, and with trying to be a better wife. By getting my home life(aka chores and house work) under control. A clean house, good meals, and happy hubby makes a happy wife!! So lets hope we can keep all this going.

Speaking of school, don't be surprised if in the next couple months you hear more than you ever wished to about psychology and history as I will probably start blogging about it. But don't worry as busy I figure I will be I know I am gonna do at least a couple cute crafts this summer with Kyra she will still be getting most of my attention, haha I just may be sleep deprived!!!

My closet post Frank Lee!!

      So as to prove I am not insane I got all the clothes in my house cleaned and put away than took to getting rid of stuff. I have a massive pile that my friends are coming to look through today. But yet some how I don't feel like I got rid of enough. Maybe I wasn't being Frank enough with myself about what I needed to keep. But for now it will help at least everything fit in the closet now, and the drawers aren't over filling!! The closet is kind of small so its good enough for now..I will probably get the urge to get rid of more later. I am going to do the backwards hanger thing and stuff I don't use by end of the summer. That isn't winter clothes. Will go in the fall.

Before the closet was stuffed full!

The dresser was unable to shut it was so full.

Not a huge difference but It is a start.

You can see the bottom of the drawer!!

All the clothes that are being given away!

I am coining a new term.

       Call me nerdy if you want, but sometimes I say things to Kyra....haha its the new way to talk to yourself without looking completely insane. But sometimes when I am having these conversations I think man that is so smart. And I think about it like crazy and think who can I tell this without looking utterly insane?  Well my crazy blog followers that is who!!!

    So the term your waiting to hear all about is Frank Lee. Hahaha it makes no since now, but this is my new word for spring cleaning. Because I am starting to believe that spring is not ever gonna come. So I am not going to put off the cleaning due to the weather. So this way of calling it will make it so I can Frank Lee my closet any time of the year.

    So why did I choose to call it Frank Lee you ask. Well cuz I thought it would be more imaginative than Frankly haha. But what it means to Frank Lee your closet is to take a look at every article of clothing in your closet and remember back to when you got it, if you wear it, if it fits, and if you need it. A lot of things in my closet are there cuz I think someday this will fit when "frank lee" I need to just get rid of it. Or they haven't fit/nor have I worn it in years, and "frank lee" I am just holding on to it cuz it holds memories or something.

   So I am currently in the process of Frank Lee'ing my closet. First step is to wash all my clothes and put them away. Than I am gonna take a good look at each thing and get it out of my closet. I was starting this and trying to sell stuff but as I was doing this I realized its not worth the hassle. Besides I would rather have my friends have my clothes for free. So if you are reading this and live in the area and want a chance to go through all the clothes I am going to be giving away let me know!! I will set up a time for you to come scavenge!!  There is gonna be some good stuff!!

   Than after everyone goes through what they want the rest will get donated to some greater good!! "Pat on the Back" Well I hope you all have a good time reading my random rambling. And maybe take my inspiration and Frank Lee your closet too!!