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I didn’t make it to the gym today – 5 am was just too early, and while I could have gone at 4:30 pm, I just didn’t. What I did do is continue with the master closet challenge and got the portable closet rack assembled in the basement and moved all the gowns and keepsake items out of my closet and into the basement closet. Then, I pulled out all the shoes and vacuumed and put them all away again. And then, I moved most of the rest of the craft stuff to the basement closet. And finally, I pulled all the wedding gifts out and moved my special stuffies over and organized the bags I am keeping.

Getting closer! Tomorrow, if I have time, I will go through my clothes again. I just did that a few months ago, but I feel like there’s a few items that could still go.

The best part about the challenge is that I found some closet treasures… One is a sketch my grandma did of me when I was little and the other was my pointe shoes. Yes, I tried them on. No, they don’t really fit and I think I injured my foot. But, this prompted me to look into one of my dreams and 2015 resolutions about taking ballet again and I emailed a local ballet studio an inquiry. Hey, if what’s her name can do it, why can’t I?

Oh, and since I am decluttering my magazine stash, I have been speed reading some of them first…I read that yoga will help decrease and or prevent the dreaded dowager’s hump!!! Yes!!! I am definitely maintaining my Thursday PiYo practice and may try to incorporate even more yoga into my regimen. I do not want a dowager’s hump*.

*This runs in my family. A dowager’s hump is an exaggerated rounding in the thoracic spine. For more information, see Medicine Net; WikiPedia; Mayo Clinic. For treatment, see, “LiveStrong – Exercises that Correct; osteopenia

This reminds me… I think I have a really talented personal trainer. She is certified in some thing that assess posture problems by taking a look at profile pictures and then she recommends exercise. Well, sure enough, the exercises she gave me are the same ones I paid a lot of money to be prescribed to me by physical therapists. I guess I need to do these things. Arg.

I’ve felt awful all day due to the time change!  Ugh. I hope this feeling goes away fast.  I had to get up at 4 am and I have dragged.  Oh well, such is a busy life.

After work I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to look for a few items, namely, a new shower caddy since the old one wouldn’t fit over the new shower head as well as a new laundry hamper.  I also picked up a free standing closet rack for the basement so I can move the wedding dress and other long items out of my master closet.  I wanted to find a drawer for my unmentionables, but I couldn’t find one.  

Then, I puttered around in my closet to begin the de-clutter process and I got rid of a huge black bag of bags.  Whew! I cannot believe how many bags I own. I also learned that retirement homes will take old magazines which is nice because I have about 30 of them I’ve been “meaning to read” dating back to 2005.

Finally it was time to go to BMO.  The good news is my personal trainer let me count all those hours of deep cleaning as exercise. Yes! I may make the 6 hour a week goal yet.

Tomorrow is a new day though and I hope to feel better.

I get a bit crazy when I have my mind set on something and I want to do it all NOW. I have to tell myself to slow down so I don’t burn out.

I’ve posting about this 91-Day Challenge and I keep going back to the The 3rd Annual 91 Day DeClutter Challengepage to see the schedule… Obviously I cannot be expected to just wait and see what each week brings, can I?

The official schedule is as follows:

1. Master Bedroom
2. Master Bath & Closet
3. Bathrooms
4. Kitchen
5. Dining Room & Pantry
6. Laundry Room
7. Office & Paper Clutter
8. Storage Area & Closets
9. Craft Area & Supplies
10. Living Room
11. Kids/Spare Rooms
12. Play/Family Room
13. Garage

There’s some genius to this schedule. I like garage last because the garage is where I tend to send all the crap from the rest of the house that needs to be trashed or donated. I imagine my garage will be a disaster when I get there. I like how the master bedroom was first, because now I have the floor space to really pull everything out of my closet and see what I’ve got. I believe I will be able to get rid of a lot of items from in there.

My floor plan will require a bit of rearranging from the schedule after weeks 1-3. My Kitchen/Dining Room/Living Room are really one big area, so I will have to combine those. It probably will take three weeks to go through them. My Pantry/Laundry Room are one room. This will take a while as well. There is so much in there that is unnecessary. I don’t have an office, but I have a lot of random paper clutter. My kids are in charge of their own rooms and they are expected to help their little brother. Finally, the “craft area” and family room are pretty much my entire basement.

I have this vision… This vision is going to require some items.

So today’s declutter challenge area was the master bathroom. Ours was disgusting.  It took me almost as long to clean the tiny 3/4 bathroom as it did to clean the bedroom yesterday!  And, I’m still not done.  

What I did do was deep clean the shower stall.  I’m looking for tips on getting the soap scum off the shower floor.  Eew! I tried baking soda/vinegar/dawn.  I tired Clorox bleach spray. I tried foaming bubbles.  I tried magic eraser. I haven’t tried bar keepers friend, metal brush, shaklee’s, krud kudder, zep, awesome, clr, lime away, toilet bowl cleaner, or a razor blade.

What I need to do is clean out and down the cupboards and finish the floor.  I also have to convince myself that I don’t need all the nail polishes and makeup I will never use.

I found a bag with the twins hospital stuff. So cute.  :). I let go of some things like a candle that someone gave us at our wedding.

Well, onto the photos:

So you might remember last year when I started the 91 day de-clutter challenge and petered out… Well, not this year my friends! 

I am once again doing Mary Organizes 91 Day De-Clutter Challenge. I will finish this year!

This year we started with the master bedroom. This is good because my bedroom tends to be the dumping ground of “all things belonging elsewhere but I don’t have the time or desire to deal with it.”  It also becomes the place for “my” things like knitting, crafts, and art. 

The idea is to spend a little time each day of the week on the assigned area, but since my weeks are busy with work, workouts, and kids, I only really have the weekends.

Yesterday was master bedroom for me:

The before, as you can see, is Mary Kay stuff that still needs to be delt with, workout gear, and just plain junk. 

The after is much better! I actually hung the mirror that has been sitting on the floor since we moved here in 2003, my jewelry box has reemerged, and the last of the Mary Kay and craft stuff has been relocated to a location nearer to its new permanent home.

The flower art is temporary since I think I may take it to my office, but it’s off the floor!

I still have to shampoo the rugs.

I think the best part is that we moved everything away from the windows so we can actually get to them.

Long-term goals: paint, new furniture, and art.

NB laundry is not usually visible, but yesterday was also hand wash/hang dry day 🙂