Cleaning House

How do you overcome the complete drudgery of cleaning house? I don't just mean dusting and vacuuming...it's the clutter.

When Jeff and I were married, our first place together was a 1 bedroom condo which was about 750 sq. ft. We had EXACTLY what we needed and nothing more. We had extras like plants, wall hangings and a few candles and knick knacks to pretty-up the place. But everything had a place. If there was no place to put something, out it went.

Then came our first house in New York which contained everything from our first condo, because, well, we needed that stuff.

But then something happened.

Jeff discovered the holy man-church named Home Depot. This is where men go to worship the Construction God. They bring home idols: hammers, screwdrivers, buzz saws, jig saws, miter saws, spackel, drywall tape, sandpaper, nails, screws (deck screws, drywall screws, screw it all!!!). Jeff created shrines of these idols on shelving bought at, you guessed it...Home Depot where they remain and have never been touched.

Then we inherited furniture from people who were buying new for their own home, or were simply purging because THEY had too much stuff in their homes. We received couches, tables, beds, dressers, kitchen sets, an entire dining room set including glassware, plates, serving pieces, etc. I took it all because we had the room.

Then we had kids. And in came so much crap, for one, tiny 21" 6 lb. person. Diapers, wipes, bottles, nipples, receiving blankets, nail clippers, nose bulbs (gag), shampoos, soaps, lotions, carriers, strollers, monitors, breastpumps, supplies for the breast pumps. We had two more kids and even more crap came pouring in. Let's not leave out games, toys with a million parts per, school papers that I feel too guilty throwing out, crayons, scissors, glue, books, and on and on and on.

*Note: I haven't even skimmed the surface of all the crap we have.

My problem is that I get rid of stuff, but then I buy "organization" products to help contain the stuff I kept. Now I'm cluttered with so many organization products that I've made it even more difficult for myself to put things away, because there are now so many different places to store things.

It's time for Spring Cleaning. My goal is to decrease our crap and only keep what we need and keep ONE of each thing. Good luck to me.