Clean-Out Continued

This is the room my husband affectionately calls the game closet. It includes all our technical aides, like the DVD, cable box, and surround sound. It also includes the Wii and all its accompanying stuff, as well as all our puzzles, crafts, games, school supplies, and toys that never made it back up the stairs.

 

In short, I cleaned the thing on a weekly basis with no success. No matter how I organized it, or how many sessions I gave the family on how to keep in that way, it never...EVER...stayed that way.

 

In short, I discovered that the problem was that there was just too much STUFF.

 When I finished with a few rooms upstairs, I decided to take a break and tackle this mess. After all, when we have parties (and we had two in the last two weeks) this closet gets opened (GASP) in front of our guests so we can turn on the party music.  Also, Nelson likes to show this room off to random people so he can gush about all that there technology on the left.

 

To me this was comparable to showing off the contents you keep under your bathroom sink - you just don't do it...EVER...under ANY circumstance. Can I get an amen?

 Well folks, I started by taking every single toy out of that closet. This solved the problem of Max and his buddies creating a gigantic mess when they popped in. I ditched the DVDs we had outgrown (think Barney and Barbie and the Princesses). I got rid of half of our games (this part I did when I was alone so I didn't hear the moans of every single family member about how we can't live without any of them. The crafts went out of reach so I can control when and where they are used. I counted every card in every deck and went through every game for every piece. Anything incomplete went bye-bye.

As you can see, we still have plenty of everything. The difference is that I can now walk into that closet without tripping over pencils and toys.  I can put stray pencils I find around the house right where they belong. The kids can reach the games they like to play. And, here's the kicker...two weeks later it still looks just like this!

 

Now I took on this project the week I was also hosting a dinner party for 17 at my house. That was kind of insane, but the purge bug has bitten and I didn't want to lose momentum. 

 

The result? It takes my breath away every time I open the door. It brings me peace and makes me happy. I guess it's my way of getting my inn ready for Christmas.