Project De-Clutter Complete

I'm a horrible blogger sometimes. With this huge project you would think I would have busted out the camera and took detailed before, during and after photos, but no... and my only explanation is when I get a mind to do something, I'm tunnel-visioned until it's complete. Our Project De-Clutter was no different, so sadly, I don't have photos to show you any magical transformation, but I thought it might be fun to share what we did, why, and some of our after photos. {Hey, at least I took those!}

If you weren't already aware, J and I listed our house for sale last year, and we just discovered the market has tanked since we listed. We went from being $15k cheaper than the next house to being almost $80k more! Talk about shock! Our price isn't to get rich, or to make anything other than to pay the mortgage and have a little to put down on another house. You know, so we're not homeless. So, what can we do to compete with the tons of new construction and vacant homes nearby? No, seriously, what can we do? The almighty Google suggested removing our family photos {which we totally get}, trying to make the rooms appear as spacious as possible, and any sort of home improvements your budget can allow (fresh paint, landscaping, etc.). From this Project De-Clutter was born.

Believe it or not, the house really doesn't look any different now that Project De-Clutter is complete, aside from no family photos, a few pieces of small furniture and random personalizations. However, the little we did remove has brightened the rooms and, in some areas, does give the illusion or more space. The garage, basement and spare closets were our biggest tasks, and now that we're finished, here are our performance statistics:

• 3 Car loads of donations for Goodwill
• At least 6 extra-large yard-sized trash bags full of garbage

The laundry room was somewhat organized with some bins purchased from the Dollar Tree. Sure, it doesn't look "neat", but it's better than items strewn across the shelf. Some containment can make a huge difference. I also created extra space in the coat/vacuum closet with the help of Space Bags.

Oh, those Space Bags... I'm a true believer now! I purchased a combo box for our linen closet... it was a real mess. We have this small closet that's supposed to house all of our towels, linens and whatnot? Yeah, right! Well, Space Bags allowed me to consolidate our bulky comforters and not-often-used sheets and pillow cases freeing up room for other things. The bags are too long to fit in the closet, so I had to place them on the floor of another closet, but both closets are still way neater than before!

I placed our linens into the lower bin we had laying around, and used the top bin for a blanket L sometimes uses on her bed. To save space, I rolled our towels rather than folding, and it really does create a neater look. I put our spare bathroom rugs on the lowest shelf, and used a prettier bin for the floor to house our extra toilet paper.

Here's our office, which had things all over the place. While our desks are still "untidy", the rest of the room is very tidy... you know, less those socks J left on the left-hand side and my camera boxes I haven't found a home for. We're not perfect....

Anyway, here's what we did:

• Went through L's baby things in the basement to consolidate as many boxes as possible into plastic storage bins for a more uniformed and space-saving look.
• Packed up unused items from the kitchen and placed them in the basement.
• Packed up all the DVD's/Blu-Rays and other items from the living room and placed them in the basement. Took the DVD/Blu-Ray stands to Goodwill. {We won't be using them in our next home.}
• Took down all family photos, packed them up and placed them in the basement.
• Packed up the office and placed the items and a bookcase in the garage. Moved the table to where the bookcase used to be.
• Cleaned out and organized the laundry room and coat closet.
• Cleaned out the garage, throwing away unused/broken items and re-arranging for a more spacious appearance.
• Organized the linen closet.
• Cleaned out L's room, throwing away broken toys and donating others.
• Cleaned out the spare bedroom {would-be nursery} closet.
• Cleaned out both J and I's closets, packing up not-often-worn clothing and donating clothing we no longer want/need.

That's all that I can think of for right now. It took us approximately three days, with me working on it from first-thing in the morning till bed time. J was a huge help in lugging around the heavy items and helping me load up the car, and a huge thanks goes to Goodwill for helping me unload. Also, Space Bags, I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for being so affordable and so easy-to-use! {Would you care to see a review? Let me know in the comments!}

Our next task is to rip up some things from the front yard and try to make that a little neater looking. We're doing whatever we can to spruce the place up without having to spend a lot of money.... we're broke don't ya know?

I'd love to know what you think of our Project! Will you be embarking on a similar project for your home? Any tips on how to make our home more appealing to buyers?

Trying to relax,