Attack of the Bins! I feel better

    As much as I find it difficult to stay organized, when I get things in order man do I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders! My heart rate seems to slow down, the tenseness (is that a word?) leaves me, my anxiety melts away.  It allows me to slow down my thought processes and be more clear minded.  I can breath.  When things are messy and cluttered I feel anxious and my brain can't seem to settle on any one thing.  I can't imagine how much more exaggerated that must be for people with OCD!  Having things in order is wonderful.  
   I have the capability of organizing, but I'm better with other people's stuff, I think I put blinders on when it comes to my own mess.  Growing up my room was always messy, my dorm was messy, my basement is a disaster.  I'm not sure how I can let things get like that when I crave a simple, clear space.  I think I'm a minimalist at heart, but I like my stuff, and my family likes their stuff.  I just don't like the look of it being out.  I'd like to blame being a mother, wife, daycare provider, cook, and many more things, as the reasons for why I have trouble keeping organized spaces neat and tidy, but I've had that problem my whole life... just ask my mom... which you could do because she's reading this too:o)   I think it may be my nature to not want to throw things away.  Maybe it's because I'm part of a generation that began being taught that garbage is bad, and maybe it's because I do daycare and think of things as possible craft material or daycare toys.  Maybe it's because I'm a little stingy and don't want to get rid of things that I know cost someone money.  Whatever the reasons are, I know I need to get rid of stuff we're not using.
   It seems that the people who are the most organized are REALLY good at throwing junk away!  I was watching a late night show and Reese Witherspoon was being interviewed.  Who knew she was a bit OCD about organizing? Not me!  She had asked someone who knew what they were talking about if she had obsessive complulsive disorder about organizing.  The person told her its only OCD if you spend about 3 hours a day on organizing.... apparently Reese spends about 5 or 6 hours a day organizing.  The point is that she shared that she is obsessed with the garbage and throws things away all the time. I must remember this.

  Reese on Conan O'Brien 

Remember this photo?  My girls' room before I attacked it with clear plastic containers?

   

 

Same room after the bin attack!

This is fun!   Before...

 After!

 

 and the closet... 

Are you adding a note or a person?

After

 I wish I took pictures of my art supplies before I got to work on those, but I didn't.  Just imagine a boat load of paints, paper, crayons, markers, confetti, colage material, glue, beads, and so much more, mixed up in several different places in the house.  I'm still not done getting them adequately organized, but I've started.  Here's what I have so far.

 

 

 

You can totally do this too!  You just need some of these...

And you need to kick your kids out of their room for an hour or so, so they don't object to your garbage pile, or give you too much input on what gets packed away!  They will thank you when you're done, mine did!

They even promised to keep it clean forever... we'll see.