Stacy's page - Under the Bed

Oct. 29, 2008 - Under the Bed

Ok, I have to admit something to you gals. I rarely clean under my bed.

Now I will admit -- I do have a very good excuse for it. I have had a lot of back problems for the last 20 years. Doing strenuous work can easily throw my back out of whack for at least 7 days.

However, we reached the point where we had to turn on the furnace. I've had nothing but misery ever since. The dust that is blowing about, due to the furnace, is causing me to have itchy, watery eyes, bouts of sneezing, along with constantly blowing my nose. Ok, I know, that was TMI.

I was desperate by Thursday of last week. I decided I was going to tackle my bedroom. Thankfully, I was wise enough to only do half of it. I will have to wait to clean the rest of it when dh is here to help me move the furniture. There is no way I can do that myself. What I did manage to do was pull the bed out far enough from the wall that I could wash the wall behind the bed. I also pulled everything out from under the bed. Thankfully, I have an Oreck (dh's wonderful gift to me a few years ago)

so I was able to vacuum under the it w/o moving the entire bed. I also pulled all of the drawers out from my jewelry armoire, moved it out, and cleaned behind it. Next, I pulled out the drawers from the night stand and moved it so I could clean that space. Now half of the bedroom is clean!

When I washed the walls, I added a few drops of mango mandarin essential oil to make the room smell nice and fresh.

Later that day, I got inspired to do Fly Lady's 27 Fling Boogie. I cleaned out two kitchen drawers and the cabinet above my in-wall oven. I found more than 27 items to either pitch or add to the boxes that are going to the consignment shop soon. It is nice to have some extra space in the kitchen. I am seriously considering pulling EVERYTHING out of my kitchen cabinets and completely revamping them to see if I can find a better way to do things. Those of you who have been in my kitchen know that will be no small undertaking.

Another thing I may do soon is change the contact paper in some of the cabinets. The marbled-looking stuff that I've had in there for years is looking rather worn. Perhaps I should buy that first, then follow up with revamping and "kill two birds with one stone." For those of you who actually visit my home occasionally, be forewarned -- if I get this done, I will have to show you what I've done.

Here are a couple of pics from when I decluttered in the kitchen:

The measuring cups you see in the above photo had previously been stored next to my plates in the previous photo. It made more sense to store them in their new location because now I can use ALL of the shelf space and store crackers, etc. next to the plates.

Here is one of the drawers after I cleaned it:

In the bottom, right corner, I have a small box where I keep some family sized tea bags handy for when I need to brew some tea. It makes it nice and convenient for me.

Here is my catch-all drawer:

It's hard to see, but on top of the bag of rubberbands, there is a homemade funnel. It is the top part of a 2-liter bottle of pop. I often use it when I make fabric softener and laundry soap.

I also cleaned out our CD-roms. There were several there from early elementary that dd never plays. I am getting rid of over 1/2 the computer games!

In fact, I use some creative thinking,

and managed to clean out the large CD stand that dh never liked. DD's CD-roms are in a small plastic basket. My educational CD-roms are in a basket. The music CDs that I wanted to keep now fit in my nightstand drawer where they are completely out of sight. I rarely listen to music, so not having them in an especially accessible manner isn't important to me. Hiding them is!

Here is a photo of our old CD-stand (which was completely filled):

Here is where our CD-roms are now:

Obviously, we got rid of a LOT of CD-roms!

Here is a photo of our computer table after I decluttered it. (Yes, that is my blog on the screen.)

Dh pointed out a stain on the bedroom so I managed to clean it with rubbing alcohol -- a much easier (and cheaper), way to take care of it w/o using harsh chemicals.

Saturday I cleaned out the big cabinet under the oven. It is very wide, and very deep. I managed to make things a little more accessible:

I also organized all of my essential oils. Can you tell I have a weakness for those?

Monday, I managed to brainstorm and start the planning for a "gifts in a jar" afternoon with some of the hs girls. I have the ideas in place as to what we will make and I also have a list made out for what supplies I need to purchase. If we do pull this off, I will try to remember to take lots of pictures and post them.

That's all folks! Have a great day!

~~Stacy~~

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Comments

Oct. 29, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by CandyFoote

Wow!
I love FLYLady.

Hey, head over to ByHisGraceInColorado.
She is having a contest, and the prize is one of my books!!!

Candy

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Oct. 31, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by solidrock

Wow you have been busy girl! A spurt of energy for sure! Looks great. I cannot belive that you got rid of that many CD Roms!
I never clean under the bed either. It gets done when we rotate the matteress and with the help of the kids cause I cannot get down there. Years ago I removed everything from under the bed except two boxes for our shoes. So its usually just a quick pick up of kitty toys and treasure and a vacuum.

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Oct. 31, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Canadagirl

I nominate you as "super" woman this week ! I have some much things like this that need to be done but I am so pooped that I can't do it at the moment. I have to remember 15 min. a day. The master bedroom is bein worked this week for me too. [0= Laundry has over taken it. ((sigh))

Sending you blessings and ((HUGS)) my SSiC
In Him<><
-Mary

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Oct. 31, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by kympossible