The John's Bathroom

I know John is anxiously awaiting to find out what I threw away from his bathroom. So, here it goes. NOTHING. I didn't throw away a single thing.

This is his "under the sink" zone. A half dozen full bottles of man soap, and a carrying case. And one lone roll of toilet paper. Everything there is something he is or will be using.
There is a scary corner in his bathroom. Right now, there is a rolled up large IKEA rug, toilet plunger and random plastic bags in it. The rug is from our old house, 5 years ago, and has not been unrolled. Maybe I could get rid of it, or use it. I'm not ready to make a decision yet. So there.
And here is the behind-the-mirror storage area. Just more stuff he actually uses. Well, maybe not the cologne, but who knows.
And here is ME! I know, you are probably thinking, "What is with the pink flowers and shower curtain?" They are all from our old house (I'm sensing a pattern) and since I NEVER use this bathroom, I don't think about it, and if John didn't like it, he knows where Target is.

Bathroom Organized

I want to make this clear, I am utterly aware of how bad the bathroom looks. I know that there is forest green sponge painting with rose wall paper. I know. I go in there several times a day. You should take a close look at the floor in there! Redecorating is NOT what this is about. That is a summer time project, decoration efforts and FUNDS are concentrated to living room/kitchen right now.

The Before:

The After:
You can't really see much of a difference, I just cleaned things up and out. I got rid of old make up, unused bath products, razors, and Con's little potty. Consolidated pill bottles and Band-Aid boxes, don't really need 3 boxes of Band-Aids open, when they can easily be made into one (one Diego, one Hello Kitty and one regular).

I had this idea, that everytime I need some pills, I have to pull out every bottle to find the right one, messing it all up and just tossing them back in. SO, I took a black Sharpie marker and wrote the name of the med on it. So I can just pull the bin out and peek in at the top.


The Befores:

The After:
I just got rid of the excess stuff on the counter, and got rid of junk underneath. Underneath is pretty much empty now, except for a bucket of cleaners and toilet paper. Behind the toilet paper is an old shower curtain liner, that I cut up in to 3 big strips and use as a drop cloth for painting. Seriously, works wonderfully.

And here is the bag of stuff I tossed (minus the plastic and glass containers that were able to be recycled). And because John reads the blog, I can't disclose EVERYTHING that was in the bag. But it was one of those standard Wal-mart bags, so you can get an idea of the quantity of stuff.



Week 2 of De-Cluttering has been a success, watch for an update on John's bathroom!

Week 2

Week 1 of de-cluttering the playroom pit went well.  I tossed out all sorts of broken, loud and sad toys.  I took about half away, and they are in their storage bins in a room Connor does not have access to.  And a bunch are in the pile of things to be sold.  Gotta nail down a garage sale date now.

Onward!

Week 2: Bathroom
I'm begining work on de-cluttering the bathroom.  I have made great strides in orgainzing the bathroom.  Awhile back I redid the whole closet to look like this:

And now it looks like this:

 Yikes, it got messy!

 WTF is going on here????  Seriously, I don't give my dogs baths (shhhh....) and I don't use pads.

Messy, Messy, Messy!

So, I am going to go through all those adorable pink/green/blue baskets, purge out old make up, and unused bathroom products.

And, I'll use my nice camera instead of BB to capture the transformation.

AND, I may do some tricks to Jbiz's bathroom, but that place is NASTY.

Brussel Sprouts

Toss the fresh brussel sprouts in olive oil, sprinkle with fresh pepper and kosher salt. Roast in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, tossing them a few times while cooking.

"these taste like the bad part of the egg roll" ~from the man who eats nothing green.

I liked them, and they were easy!

12 Week Decluttering Plan

I was reading Women's Day (don't laugh, it's an awesome magazine, and even if you are in your 20's!), and there was an article in the April 2011 issue about decluttering, and gave a 12 week plan on how to do this.  I have been real good about it lately, but could always use some more help.  So, I'm up for the challenge!
Here is a link to the complete article.

But, here is my recap of it.

• Week 1: Attack the Obvious.  Connor and the pit of toys for me.
• Week 2: Bathroom. 
• Week 3s and 4: Public Rooms.  This will be my living room and sun room.
• Week 5: Kitchen.
• Week 6: Clothing
• Weeks 7 and 8: Bedrooms (I've got 3, mine, con's,and guest)
• Weeks 9, 10, 11: Attic (don't have one), Basement, Garage, Home Office (AKA room of computer doom)
• Week 12: Throw Yourself a Party!

So, Week 1 is under attack.

Women's Day says "Begin with the area that's motivated you to declutter in the first place".  That for me is the pile of toys in the basement.  I had made up a wonderful toy room for Connor, and moved all the toys to the basement (except books and a few board games).  You can see the transformation here.

I have come to realize there is just too much stuff down there.  So I am purging.  I am tossing anything that is broken, missing pieces, or generally pisses me off.  This means, McDonald's toys, cars without wheels, and things that make noise.  I have a growing pile of things that he has outgrown and will be put in a garage sale this Spring.  I will work on pictures later.  Wish me luck!

Peanutbutter Banana Chocolate Chip Sammy

• 2 pieces of bread (whole wheat, of course)
• Peanut Butter
• Chocolate Chips
• Thinly sliced Banana

Spread peanut butter on two slices of bread, put chocolate chips and banana in between.  Put inside the waffle maker for 3 to five minutes.  Enjoy!

Sticker Stain

Connor loves this shirt. I don't. Neon yellow/green, it just is not my color.

Anyway, he put one of those big square stickers on his shirt, the kind you get at the bank. I didn't check his clothes carefully enough before tossing it into the washing machine. And then into the dryer. So the sticker left an awful residue.

Fortunately a few months ago I recalled reading about what to do if this happens in a magazine, maybe Good Housekeeping or Real Simple. Get out your Goo Gone, or WD-40, a washcloth and a toothbrush.

First, soak the area with Goo Gone. You will want to put a towel or something in between the layers of fabric, to avoid getting the Goo Gone all over the shirt. The stuff stinks, and can leave an oil mark. Allow the Goo Gone to soak for about five minutes. Then gentle brush it away with the toothbrush. When I did this, all the glue residue came right off.

I wanted to avoid an oil mark, so I sprayed it down with some Tide brand spray-n-wash, and laundered it up right away.

The shirt came out nicely. There is a slight oil mark if you look real close at it, but it's nothing compared to some other stains that are on the bottom of this shirt.  The marks you see in this picture is actually the back side number 6 showing through.  So, soccer jersey lives another day!

The shirt did smell like the Goo Gone, even after laundering it. So, I am going to rewash it.