2025 House Cleanout + Projects – End of August Update

Every year in January, I start the process of cleaning out our entire house from top to bottom.  After a slow start this year due to all of the things happening in our lives, I finally had a chance this summer to tackle a huge chunk of the house, and I’m happy to say that my list is almost complete!  Today I’m giving an update on what I’ve been working on since my last update in mid-May…

Olivia’s Bedroom

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out her dresser

-       Cleaned out her bookshelf

-       Cleaned out her nightstand

-       Cleaned out under her bed

-       Cleaned out her desk

-       Cleaned out her closet

-       Sold her old wall décor

-       Hung string lights

Said Goodbye To:

-       8 tops

-       5 dresses

-       9 pairs of pants

-       3 skirts

-       3 pairs of shoes

-       3 pairs of tights

-       3 scarves

-       5 pairs of socks

-       6 bags

-       2 blankets

-       8 stuffed animals

-       1 pillow

-       32 books

-       1 bag of trash

-       1 bag of recycling

-       1 bag of other random donations

Olivia's Bedroom Before

Olivia's Bedroom Before

Olivia's Bedroom Before

All of the stuff we got rid of from Olivia's bedroom

Olivia's Bedroom After

Olivia's Bedroom After

Olivia's Bedroom After

The sweetest wall decor that we sold from Olivia's room

Jacob’s Bedroom

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned off his bookshelf

-       Cleaned out his desk

-       Cleaned out under his bed

-       Cleaned out his dresser

-       Cleaned out his closet

-       Hung his new Mega builds on his wall

Said Goodbye To:

-       4 tops

-       5 pairs of shorts

-       1 pair of shoes

-       1 belt

-       1 old Halloween costume

-       12 stuffed animals

-       6 books

-       Small pile of trash

-       Small pile of recycling

-       Small bag of donations

Wall in his bedroom before

Wall in his bedroom after hanging his creations

Stuffed animals we got rid of

Other items we got rid of

More items we got rid of

Kids’ Bathroom

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out cabinets

-       Cleaned out drawers

-       Cleaned off shelves

-       Cleaned out shower

-       Organized and wiped down all drawers and cabinets

-       Wiped down all organizers inside drawers

-       Added baskets to Olivia’s drawer to organize her accessories

-       Deep cleaned the entire bathroom

-       Restocked toilet paper, tissues, and soap

Said Goodbye To:

-       Several old makeup kits

-       Lots of old makeup

-       Lots of old bottles and trash

Cleanout in progress... I didn't get any before pictures because Olivia started without me

All the stuff we got rid of from the bathroom

Olivia's freshly organized cabinet under her sink

New bins to organize brushes and such

Playroom

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned off shelves

-       Cleaned out all baskets

-       Cleaned out under couch

Said Goodbye To:

-       1 bag of trash

-       1 bag + 1 pile of recycling

-       1 bag of donations

Playroom Before - OMG

Playroom Before - OMG

Playroom After

Playroom After

All the stuff we got rid of from the playroom

Kitchen

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out table that holds art supplies

-       Cleaned out kids’ art baskets

-       Cleaned out the coat closet

-       Removed all toys from the coat closet to free up bins

-       Moved toys to playroom and outdoor cabinets where they belong

-       Moved pool floats, pool toys, and beach bag to coat closet so they will be closer to the door where we leave… plus, this got them out of the linen closet upstairs since it made no sense for them to be there

-       Styled my new record player stand

-       Updated bulletin board for the new school year

Said Goodbye To:

-       3 cookbooks

-       1 cooking set

-       Massive pile of recycling

-       Small pile of trash

-       Pile of old toys

-       1 jacket

-       2 kites

Art drawer before

Art drawer after

All the stuff we got rid of from the art drawer (the slime... ugggghhhh)

Olivia's basket after... I didn't get before pictures because they started without me

Jacob's basket after... I didn't get before pictures because they started without me

Everything we got rid of from their baskets

A few more things we got rid of from their baskets

Coat closet after... I forgot to take a before picture

Everything we got rid of from the coat closet

 

Closet Under Stairs

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned off all shelves

-       Cleaned out all bins

-       Switched out blue bins for clear ones so all bins are finally uniform

Said Goodbye To:

-       11 candles

-       1 video camera

-       1 professional camera

-       1 GPS

-       3 bags

-       2 plastic bins

-       1 set of headphones

-       2 lanterns

-       Old parts for items we no longer have

-       Old paint supplies

-       Old expired cleaners

Closet Before

Closet Before

Closet Before

Closet Before

Cleaning out the bin that holds extra parts

All the stuff we got rid of

Closet After

Closet After

Closet After

Closet After

Dining Room

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out cabinet

-       Cleaned off wine rack

Said Goodbye To:

-       1 drink carrier

-       2 platters

-       1 serving bowl

-       Some old wine corks that kept spilling out of our wine cork holder

 

All items I got rid of

Living Room

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out all cabinets

-       Cleaned out all drawers

Said Goodbye To:

-       6 DVDs

-       1 book

-       All old junk under the coffee table (the kids had shoved so much crap under there over the past year)

-       1 neck roller

Everything we got rid of from under the coffee table... this pile is much larger than it looks

My Office

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out all cabinets

-       Cleaned out all drawers

-       Cleaned off bookshelf

-       Cleaned out closet

-       Reorganized my office supplies drawer

-       Restocked items I keep at my desk (hand sanitizer, chapstick, pain reliever, highlighters)

-       Wiped everything down and sanitized keyboard and mouse

-       Put away acupressure mat that’s been laying permanently on my floor for years since I don’t need it anymore!!!!

-       Bought new pink keyboard and mouse

Said Goodbye To:

-       Old snacks that had expired

-       Old ink cartridges

-       Old cords 

This mat has been laying here for years, and I was finally able to put it away

All items I got rid of

Desk before the new keyboard and mouse

Desk after the new keyboard and mouse... brightens up the whole space!

Primary Bedroom

Accomplishments:

-       Bought new rug to put under our bed (and I looooveeee it)

-       Cleaned out bathroom cabinet

-       Reorganized shoes in my closet

Said Goodbye To:

-       Lots of expired medicines and toiletries

New rug

New rug

Organized bathroom cabinet... I forgot to take a picture of the before

All the items we got rid of from our bathroom cabinet

Brian’s Office Closet

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out entire closet

-       Cleaned off three shelves that were a horrible mess

-       Organized fireworks (yes, we keep some on hand for special occasions)

-       Organized all items that we plan to sell on Poshmark, eBay, and Facebook

-       Designated a shelf for things to sell that have already been listed

-       Designated two shelves for things to sell that haven’t yet been listed

Said Goodbye To:

-       A pile of items that we intended to sell but decided to donate instead

-       The kids’ old Playdoh

-       The kids old Kinetic Sand (we stored those items in there because we didn’t want them to have access to them all the time since they were messy)

Closet Before

All of the stuff we got rid of

Closet After

Got rid of a bunch of empty boxes

Outdoors

Accomplishments:

-       Cleaned out garage

-       Blew all leaves out of garage

-       Hung our huge cooler and got it out of Brian’s office where it’s been sitting for over a year

-       Sorted the bucket of shells that has been sitting there for years from one of our previous beach trips

Garage in progress

Garage after with cooler hung and shelves cleaned off

Electronics

Accomplishments:

-       Unsubscribed to numerous emails to declutter my inbox

-       Cleaned out and reorganized nearly my entire List Master app that I use on my phone

Whew!  It was a productive summer, y’all!  The rest of the year will be busy with events, traditions, and holiday things, so I’m not sure how much more I’ll get to tackle, but thankfully, this last bit that I got done during the summer almost wrapped up the entire house.  I still have a few areas that need to be done including the downstairs bathroom and the laundry room + the rest of the cabinets in our primary bathroom, but none of those areas are too bad off, so I imagine it won’t take long!  I do also want to work some more on the electronics items as well, but at least the house is in pretty good shape!

Hope y’all are having a happy Wednesday!