Purge 2012 Day 1: The Master Bath

[aelfie]

One of my goals for the summer is to purge the house of stuff.

Ike is doing in-house therapy for the next two weeks. We can't leave the house and Elli and Gwen are across the country. Sounds like an opportunity for me!

I decided to start slow today. The Master Bath. I pulled everything off of shelves, opened drawers, tossed ten year old makeup, expired medicine and products that are just OLD. I even cleaned the drawers and shelves themselves. Everything in that bathroom is reorganized and has a beautiful mise en place. I was even able to move the first aid supplies from the bookcase in the bedroom (with the adult reading collection) to one of the medicine cabinets.

Then I washed the entire bathroom down. Woot! Go me!

I wanted to start small. A small room that I could go over with Gray in tow. I then folded a couple of loads of laundry. Logic would dictate that I do the Master Bedroom next, but since the girls aren't here...I'm going to go do their room next. It will go a whole lot faster with them gone.

Currently Gray is napping and Ike is working with the therapist. I need to figure out what to do for dinner. But next? Another load of laundry I think.

Comments

[aliyna.livejournal.com]

Seriously nothing like a purge to make you feel better about your life! =D

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

So true!

[ccangel42.livejournal.com]

Doesn't it feel oddly good to throw a whole lot of crap out? :) I find when I get in a purge mood I just throw out everything and get really into it that I really do a good job of getting rid of all of that 'use once in 5 years' kind of stuff.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I rarely wear makeup, so I have a tendency to hang onto it. Most of the stuff I threw out today was approx 15+ years old. Yuck! Like I really want that on my face.

Downside is that now I need to go out and reinvest in the basics for a makeup kit again.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

That is a HUGE accomplishment. Go you!

If there are bigger areas to work on, I'd suggest the timer approach. Work on it for an hour. Then do something else. Prevents overwhelm.

(I figure a bathroom is about three hours total, including decluttering and deep cleaning. So you could even break a bathroom down. When I'm really fried, I break it into... clean shower enclosure. clean tub bottom. clean glass walls that are crusted with hard water goo. Yes, that's a three session tub cleaning, but each session is less than 30 min, and accessible when I'm too fried to do the full thing in one go.)

My timer is my friend.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

I try to break things down as well so I get that sense of accomplishment. First, this medicine cabinet, then under the sink, then the top drawer, etc.

I need to get more cleaner and go over the shower walls again. First pass didn't get everything, but it's a huge improvement.

I don't need a timer. I have four work stoppers living with me. :)

I even managed to get started on the girls room. I haven't seen the top of their dresser in months!