Stories of Spring Cleaning!

Warning:  This post is full of photos of disorganization at its worst.  People suffering from OCD should not continue reading!

** Okay, so maybe it's not THAT bad, but I am a little embarrassed at some of these photos of my worst-of-the-worst spots! **

True Confessions:  We are renting a too-small apartment.  We have one detached garage, but we have to use it for storage, and this is what it looks like!  Yes, it would stress me out a whole lot more if I had to see it more often.  But luckily it stays pretty contained, and when I have to go in there, I try to close my eyes. There is just no avoiding the fact that we have too much STUFF in here including
* Four, yes FOUR, industrial-size printers/copy machines.
* A motorcycle.
* My husband's "office."
* My old first grade classroom, still boxed up, including 6 tubs of just children's BOOKS.
* Oh yeah, and plenty of baby toys and clothes, past and present.

So all day long Saturday, I had a date with this handy dandy gadget:  My label-maker!!  We set to work at least consolidating the mess and labeling everything and putting everything in logical sections rather than the nonsensical MESS it was before!  Mr. Oopsey Daisy is a traveling salesman.  Any given week, his company ships at least 2 packages of supplies to our house.  We store them in the garage, so now they are all neatly labeled.

Funny story:  For some reason, each time my husband travels, he absolutely insists on bringing home all of the free soap that he can.  I don't know how some of these hotels are still in business honestly!!  All of these soaps really tell a story about where he's been and the places he has traveled.  I can only put up with so much hoarding, however.  So now our deal is that once this neatly-labeled container is full, that's it!  (By the way, if there is ever a world shortage of soap, I am more than willing to share!)

We threw away SO MUCH junk, but I also came across these treasures:  Several storage containers from my first grade classroom.  So after the garage was labeled from floor to ceiling, I washed up these little treasures and found good uses for them all over the house:

I considered doing a "before" and "after" shot, but honestly, the before shot is just too embarrassing!!  These storage containers found their way into those icky under-the-sink places, my bathroom closet, and even my craft drawer!  I stayed up way too late, but I slept easy knowing my house was organized.  Hip hip hooray!

But my celebration can only last so long.  This is the mountain of laundry waiting for me today.  My husband and I were betting how high up the wall the pile would climb.

PS I was inspired by reading all last week about the organization that Sisters Stuff has been up to.  Thanks, ladies!