2025 House Cleanout + Projects - Mid-May Update

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Every year in January, I start the process of cleaning out our entire house from top to bottom and I also focus on projects that need to be done around the house, big and small.  I also take some time at the beginning of each year to alleviate any pain points around the house.  Typically, I’m super motivated in January and I get a ton done, but with our pup, Maui, getting sick and then passing away in late February, I chose to spend as much of my free time with her as I could, and I didn’t get much done the first couple of months of the year. 

Right after she passed away, I had a lot to catch up on and we started our busy season of the school year, so I’m waaaay behind on my yearly cleanout.  I have tackled a little bit here and there, and I’ve checked a few projects off the list, though, so I figured I’d put together a post to share the progress with all of you today…

My Office

Accomplishments:

-       Finished styling my new acrylic shelves (ignore the cord at the bottom of the picture… that is not usually there, and somehow I didn’t even notice it when I snapped the picture for this post)

-       Bought new frames for my desk (finallyyyy).  The ones that were on there were banged up and mismatched… I bought these gold frames that are stunning, and I updated the pictures for them.  I now have a picture of myself with Brian, Jacob, Olivia, and Maui.

-       Moved Echo Show to sit right in front of my computer, freeing up space on my desk.  (Getting new picture frames made this possible!)

-       Moved giant stack of sticky notes from my desk to our junk drawer downstairs… I didn’t use them in my office, so this freed up some more space.

-       Updated bulletin board to display my beloved keepsakes of Maui – her little paw print that I got the morning she passed away, my favorite picture of her, a sweet card with a hand drawn picture of her from a dear friend, and a sweet rainbow beaded keepsake from my friend, Emily, with Maui’s name engraved on it.  I miss her so dang much every single day.

-       Rearranged a few other things on my bulletin board and added a few new things to it, like my new stickers from Nashville!

 

Acrylic shelves styled

Old frames on desk

New frames on desk with Echo Show

Maui memorial on my bulletin board

New Nashville stickers added!

Bulletin board all updated

Primary Bedroom

Accomplishments:

-       Photographed giant pile of clothes behind our door to sell… these have literally been sitting there for, probably, two years so this was a huge accomplishment!!!!

-       Listed and sold all clothes worth selling on Facebook

-       Donated the ones not worth selling

Said Goodbye To:

-       A massive stack of the kids’ old clothes that they’ve outgrown

Behind our bedroom door... although, I had already pulled some of the stuff out by then

Behind bedroom door after!!

Olivia’s Bedroom

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out the clothes in her closet

-       Listed and sold all clothes worth selling on Facebook

-       Donated the ones not worth selling

Said Goodbye To:

-       10 tops

-       9 dresses

-       3 pairs of shoes

-       1 costume

Everything we got rid of

Everything I sold

Kitchen

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out and reorganized the cabinet that held the kids’ lunchboxes and accessories.  Our school now serves lunch every day that’s included in tuition, so we don’t pack lunches anymore. 

-       Moved all lunchbox stuff that I kept (we still use them for outings and field trips occasionally) to the top two shelves which meant that I was able to move our kitchen gadgets down to the bottom two shelves, so I can actually reach them now!

-       Opened up so much breathing room in that cabinet.  I forgot to take a picture of the cabinet before, but I do have an after picture!

-       Cleaned out and reorganized my spices cabinet

-       Cleaned out and reorganized our plates, bowls, and mugs cabinet

-       Cleaned out and reorganized our kitchen gadgets drawer

-       Cleaned out and reorganized our kitchen utensils drawer

-       Cleaned out and reorganized the pots and pans cabinet

-       Cleaned out and reorganized the kids’ cabinet

-       Cleaned out and reorganized our junk drawer

-       Added a big stack of sticky notes to our junk drawer since we need them often downstairs… this alleviates a huge pain point as we were always hunting for sticky notes for the kids to write down reminders for themselves for school, etc.

-       Purchased a new cabinet for my record player

-       Put said cabinet together and got it moved to the kitchen

-       Started styling cabinet

-       Bought a new brown extension cord to get rid of the white one that stuck out like a sore thumb on our brown floors (see picture below)

-       Cleaned out and rearranged our drop zone

-       Removed baskets that kids’ backpacks no longer fit in

-       Removed coat rack that kids’ coats used to hang on when they were smaller (it had fallen off the wall months prior, anyway, and I was tired of seeing it sitting there on top of the shoe rack)

-       Moved shoe rack where baskets were (now it’s no longer blocking the doorway when we walk in – praise!)

-       Moved backpacks to sit on top of shoe rack… they now have plenty of room

-       Moved dance bag to the second shelf of the shoe rack so it no longer sits in the middle of the floor (eye roll)

-       Moved one of the baskets where the shoe rack was so Olivia can dump her jackets in there (no more jackets in the middle of the floor since she doesn’t even have to take the time to hang them up)

Said Goodbye To:

-       5 old bento box lunch containers

-       2 old snack containers

-       4 plastic organizers (that I put in a box to save for future use)

-       2 glass containers

-       1 can of really old sprinkles

-       8 mugs

-       2 bowls

-       8 kid cups

-       3 old snack bowls

-       A bunch of straws

-       An entire bag of trash

-       Old candy

-       Several old candy dispensers (Pez, etc.)

-       1 basket

-       1 coat rack

-       1 jacket

-       1 dance bag that we weren’t using anymore

-       A bunch of trash and old school papers and bubbles(?) that were randomly laying in the area

Cleaned out and organized kitchen gadgets... look at all that space now!

All of the stuff we got rid of from that cabinet and the spice cabinet

All the mugs and bowls I got rid of

The kids' cabinet cleaned out and organized.  Wish I had a before picture... it was bad

All the stuff we got rid of from the kid's cabinet... that Target bag is full of trash.

Junk drawer before (it really wasn't too bad)

Junk drawer after - organized, replenished, and now with a big fat stack of sticky notes

This area of the kitchen before the record player stand...

Putting together the cabinet

The cabinet put together and partially styled... look at the upgrade for that space!

The drop zone before... with my notes... haha

The drop zone before

The drop zone in progress...

The drop zone after

All items we got rid of... aside from one of those white baskets... we kept one for jackets

Front Room

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out games cabinet

-       Cleaned out side table

Said Goodbye To:

-       8 games

-       9 mini games

-       1 puzzle

Everything we got rid of from the games cabinet

Outdoors

Accomplishments:

-       Bought outdoor plants for spring and summer

-       Got all ferns hung and herbs and flowers planted

-       Planted Olivia’s annual sunflowers

-       Cleaned off back porch

Plants we bought for outdoors

Flowers all planted

Herbs all planted

Sunflowers have already sprouted!

Cleaning off the back porch

Miscellaneous

Accomplishments:

-       Updated pictures in frames all around the house

-       Added new pictures of Maui around the house

-       Found a resting place for Maui’s ashes

-       Made Maui’s paw print Christmas ornament to hang on our tree this year

-       Trimmed, added new soil to, cleaned up, and propagated all 11 indoor plants

-       Cleaned out my everyday bag

-       Dropped all donation items at our church’s outreach center

Picture wall in living room before

Picture wall in living room after... all updated with new pictures, and more pics of Maui

Picture wall in kitchen before

Picture wall in kitchen after to include another picture of Maui

A few of the pictures we put around the house... in my office and the kids' bedrooms

Resting spot for Maui's ashes

Maui's paw print ornament

Plants in primary bedroom before

Plants in primary bedroom after

Plant in primary bedroom before

Plant in primary bedroom after

Plant in my office before

Plant in my office after

Stuff I cleaned out of my bag... I cleaned it out more drastically just a few days ago

Donations I dropped off at church

Okay, once I got all of this typed out, I realized that I accomplished way more than I thought I did.  It’s still not as much as I normally have done by this time of year, but it’s progress! 

Hopefully this summer, I can knock out a few more things.  Priorities right now are Olivia’s bedroom and the playroom… again.  Because it’s already a junkyard since I cleaned it out in January.  Sigh.

Happy Monday, y’all!